Change the under stood meaning of both "morally" and "straight".

Maybe,

... physically strong, mentally awake, and morally tolerant?

I tend to remember fondly. Even incidences that, at the time, weren't a pleasant experience (military training, relational heartbreak), I remember as the "good old days". What a horror it would be if the opposite was true and I remember my history as bleak? Being aware of this does help me to analyse my memory as not nessecarily accurate.

  I think this is related to why AGW is so successfull in gaining traction in the public psyche. I think people tend to remember weather "way back when" as mild, sunny and perfect. Looking around from time to time, current weather abnormalities are disturbingly incongruent to what we rember as "what was". Rendering us susceptible to panic.

And perspicacity is your strength.

Perfect. I will definitely wear out this analogy. Thank you.

I am just asking your honest opinion. Do you think that these IRS personnel were narrowing their pool of likely violators, or, were they purposefully throwing sand in the gears of groups they don't like politically?

Is anyone else hearing a familiar ring to this story? It is kind of reminding me of the FBI files that the Clinton Whitehouse was combing through. That, I believe was just low level staffers being overly diligent in performing their security duties, or something.  It seems that it only takes the flimsiest of excuses to research the opposition under the guise of governmental duty.

Not to address the character revealed by resigning the Governorship, but I must say that the State of Alaska came out on top in the whole deal. Sean Parnell has been quiet  (even boring to the chagrin of the chattering class), but he has been steady and may even have guided a softer landing for this State's resource development based economy. From where we were in the middle of Gov. Murkowski's term, any semblance of a conservative leaning government was a  pretty bleak prospect. If you were to, eight years ago, predict that the only real power that the Ak Dems would have, today, is one U.S. Senatorship, it would have not seemed likely.

May I humbly suggest adding The Life and Times of... by Black Happy.

 It seems that Gov. Palin has long ago determined that a path to National influence is through developing a national base and not through the Senate. She has carefully visited support on candidates in Texas, South Carolina, Virginia and seems have a modicum of support in Colorado. As to Alaska, she has not weighed in on any issues that pertain to Alaska and its relationship to the Federal Government. There have been opportunities to back Gov. Parnell in his confrontations via ACA and EPA regs and such, but she has not voiced a position. That indicates to me that the Senate is not in her long term plan.

It is very early in the process, here in Alaska.  I don't see a scenario where Gov. Palin wins the Republican nomination.  I think the early prohibitive favorite is Lt. Gov. Treadwell. He seems an eminently decent man with solid character. More importantly, he can cobble together the support form the key influence centers (i.e. Oil, resource development,Pro-life/religious, a few Native organizations perhaps). A dark-horse may be the former Lt. Gov. Loren Lehman, a straight-forward sort. Any rate, it is safe to say that this state is not in the mood to elect famous.  Gov. Palin is not as hated statewide as the local press and talking heads would have you believe, but her "high-profilyness" is not craved.

The man who stops, is the more remarkable, I think. I am surprised, heartend and encouraged to know that these people exist. The man who does not stop is unsurprising. He's inexcusable by any standards of character, but not surprising.

Sure, but what is the reward/penalty for a moral/immoral act? In an increasingly secular world, what is the mechanism to behave correctly in this situation? A fear of getting caught? Perhaps ,after all, he is behaving in a way that doesn't inherently "feel wrong" to him (speculating, of course). Are we to rely on an undefined, internal empathy that we assume is naturally there for all?

 At the same time, there is a concerted effort to stifle all proselytizaton in the military. Not entirely connected but there is an element of irony, I think.

Are there more rapists now then , say, twenty years ago?

Are women in the military more empowered, now, to report instances?

Are there societal changes that have occured that has brought this about, seemigly from nowhere and from parts unknown?

Maybe, yes, and in my mind, definitely. I think there is validity to the notion that the secular hook-up, sex without meaning and responsiblity culture  has warped a significant portion of young males today. A legal and cultural shift in emphasis in the military is warranted as good public and military policy. I hope there is recognition that this problem is not the military's, alone. It is ours.

Granted that I am way over my head in this discussion but what about Ennio Morricone as a great soundtrack composer? The more I listen to it, the richer it is in detail.  I personnally consider Duke Ellington as the great composer of the 20th century.
I am stuck in a "Peer Gynt" rut, as of late. (Incidental music for the Ibsen play of the same name by Edvard Grieg)

My sense is that nothing will change. There is a uptick in shrill, but until disgust in the current administration exceeds the lefts hatred of all things conservative, the ship remains on course. No epiphanies here.

At the beginning of Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different, there is the "How Not to Be Seen" sketch. At the point of the first expolsion, I could not get air for a solid seven minutes. I think of it as an inflection point. That was thrity years ago.