Reply #4: When we are talking federal empoyees allegedly embarrassing the U.S. abroad,

[No Elephants]

I am not sure where the line is between a personnel matter and news in which taxpayers/U.S. residents may have a legitimate interest.

It's not as though a couple of librarian in the Library of Congress took a longer lunch hour than they should have.

If the advance security detai for the Queen of England had done this, I think it would have hit the papers, unless someone succeeded in hushing it up in the country where the incident occurred and keeping everyone in the detail and the hotel quiet, too.

And they were supposed to be making as sure as they could that the President would be safe once he arrived. They don't need distractions.

Meanwhile, word to Secret Service agents: If you take a prostitute to your hotel room in a foreign country, have the sense to pay her.

As far as how it hit the news, I expect the same way almost everything out of D.C. that is not announced officially hits the news. Someone leaked it for their own reasons.

I am very grateful that happens because our media are not exactly investigative reporting oriented. And it seems that our government gets more secretive every year.