Damaged Goods

NCIS is off to  a great start in season#7. Good ole surprises and a number of where did that come from and wonder where they will go with thats. At the en dof last night’s episode, Ziva petitions or requests  to become  a full fledged special agent and even resigns from Mossad. We note Gibbs’ hesitation as the show ends. Previews show Director Vance referring to her as “damaged goods” which he has done before.

This really set Mrs THT off  since she is more pro Ziva and  particularly since she did not like  the term  goods as referring to an individual. I tended to agree with her on both counts. But, having reflected a  bit today, i wonder if the description is more apropos than we realized at first glance, not to Ziva, but to us all.

I do not want to go too far theologically,since my son and his wife ae better versed in that area than I. But I do want to toss out an idea or two. I think that based on scriptural teachings,an excellent case can be made that we are all damaged goods. And, by that, I don’t mean it in the way that the NCIS writers probably  did.

We are not taught to do wrong, rather it seems to come  somewhat naturally. We are taught to do right.We must learn right from wrong rather it being innate. I am less inclined to believe in the effects of surroundings  or environment on how we act but instead it is just our nature that we bring into the world.

The astors and theologians  can expound better than I but I would just toss a scripture reference or two to illustrate. There is none good  from the New Testament book of Romans and from the same source, all have fallen short.

Just a few thoughts to ponder.

Shalom.

The Arctic Sea

For our purposes, this Arctic Sea is not a body of water, but rather that which travels on a body of water. This is a  Russian manned cargo ship that last month disappeared on its way from  Finland to Algeria. The ship which subsequently was”found” by the Russian navy was supposedly carrying a load of timber.Countless theories by a number of experts  were offered. The ship  was involved in a commercial dispute of some kind, it was running drugs or perhaps it was carrying more sinister.

In all likelihood, the truth will probably never surface. The ship’s captain and crew have been detained as  have  the hijackers. Who is holding them, why the Russians of course. They also provide the official explanation. This was  a thwarted hijacking, the Russian navy at its best. At this point, we should remember that said navy has been  increasingly active in recent months.

The theory I like is that the Israelis intercepted the ship as  it  carried  a secret cargo of weapons to the Middle East. You know, Algeria, Arab country etc. An Estonian  admiral, Tarmo Kouts, who has a position with the European Union put forth this theory. The Russian response to this, Nyet.

But, to add juice to all this, one must note that Russian employed a significant number of military resources, just to retake a ship with a crew of 19. And there is  precedent for Israel to be concerned about Moscow’s dealing with Arab states and arms sales. On the Israeli side, neither the government nor Mossad would comment at all. Maybe we could learn from that. Don’t tell everything you know.

Remember the Winston Churchill statement about Russia many years ago.”Russia is a riddle wrapped in a  mystery inside an enigma.” True  then and still true today.

Why Not Just Get Rid of It

Just announced this week, Attorney General Eric ( pardon Marc Rich) Holder will be conducting an investigation of the CIA. This comes after the President had said he wanted to move forward and not dwell on these things. However, in language eerily similar to that used by Bill Clinton in the Janet Reno days, Obama said that the investigation is Holder’s alone, not his deal at all. But in 2007, then Senator Obama came out for these same types of investigations. A bit of hypocrisy, it doth seem.

Anyway, no telling what these investigations might reveal, I have no doubt that Holder’s Justice Department contains people who would dearly love to turn this into something akin to  a witch hunt. That, I think, will  not happen. Methinks that the investigation, just  as the leaks have done to this point will do enough to infuriate conservatives but but so little as to infuriate liberals.

So, I have a solution. Just abolish the CIA. We in a civilized society don’t  need these rogues out terrorizing people in the name of information. They are always making mistakes and never have the right info anyway. What we can very easily do is to contract out our intelligence gathering program. It happens all the the time in business and government, why not intelligence. This is sort of how I envision it. Contract the job out by regions of the world. Have Mossad handle the task in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. In Europe, we might even have a choice. There is MI5 and  the French DGSE or General Directorate for External Security. That leaves most of Africa as well as Latin America and South America. I don’t know, Brazil maybe or Mexico could help. And just think of all the money we  would save. Don’t know the CIA budget, they probably don’t either. But I am sure that the savings would help pay for part of the health care reform. Gotta run, must  fax this to the Vineyard for Obama’s approval.