Usually, when a behavior is repeated enough to get its own “label,” it means that the behavior has become common enough to warrant its own shorthand.

That is apparently the case at the NSA, where some employees, in the business of collecting intelligence, decided to turn the spy powers of the NSA on their love interests.  This became prevalent enough at the NSA to develop its own nickname – LOVEINT, as in “love intelligence.”

The NSA wishes to point out that this is “very rare” and that those who violated the law by spying on their significant others were punished, either by “administrative action or termination,” according to the Wall Street Journal article covering this.  The article also says that most of these cases of LOVEINT were self-reported, because taking a polygraph is part of renewing one’s security clearance.

All those who think that this behavior was so very rare, raise your hands.

If a behavior is “rare,” it wouldn’t have its own nickname.  It means everyone knows about it, even if not everyone does it.  That most of the cases are “self-reported” should be no comfort to the public at large.  And what on earth is an “administrative action” – just a reprimand?  A demotion?  A revoking of security clearance?  What?  Naturally, the NSA does not want to provide actual numbers – like how many cases have been reported and why all of the employees spying on significant others were not summarily fired with cause.

And whatever the “very rare” number of cases is, you can bet your bottom dollar that there are actually more unreported cases out there.

Following this most recent example of bad behavior by government bureaucrats, is the story of a Homeland Security employee who runs a website called “War on the Horizon.”  This website is apparently so racist and hateful that even the Southern Poverty Law Center listed it as a “hate” site.  Once the Homeland Security employee, Ayo Kimathi, who works in the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was outed as running the site, ICE was forced to say that they would have to investigate and that they do “not condone any type of hateful rhetoric or advocacy of violence of any kind against anyone.”  SPLC said that Kimathi deliberately misrepresented his website to ICE, since he, as a law-enforcement official, has to get approval for any activities outside of work.  But it is also equally obvious that ICE took Kimathi’s word that his website was selling “concert and lecture videos.”  He is now on paid administrative leave.

Will he eventually be fired?  Who knows.  If an NSA employee can get away with only an “administrative action” for spying on a love interest, Kimathi may be able to escape termination, even if he is advocating a race war against whites, and people of mixed race, and gay people.

I could spend all day – and write many, many more paragraphs – writing about government employees who use or abuse their positions to further their own interests.  But I don’t have all day.  However, I do have a warning.

The IRS is going to be tasked with implementing and checking in on people’s health insurance via Obamacare.  Are YOU comfortable with knowing that some government bureaucrat is going to have access to your health records?  And are you confident that your information will never be exploited or abused?

If you are, let’s talk.  I may have some fine waterfront property to sell to you.  Some people may call it a bridge, but it is really waterfront property.