It has come to my attention that the art of civil disobedience has fallen on hard times. The ousting of Mary McCarthy is the latest example of the poor state of this time honored art. Though Martin Luther King is the great modern day example, it is “Deep Throat” appears to be the role model for today’s pretenders. Before we knew her name we could empathize with her plight of knowing about prisons that most people would consider to be not representative of American policy and that revealing that secret information was illegal and disloyal to her employer. Now that we know her name and her background, we are dismayed, cynical, and our priorities have shifted. The issue of the “greater good” is overwhelmed by Mary’s conspicuous history of political appointments and donations. The focus would have remained on the prison issue if she was apolitical. Since she is so political, the focus has moved to Mary’s political motives. The important issue has become about a CIA employee abusing the trust given her to further her personal political agenda. I doubt the CIA promotes politicizing secret information as an employee fringe benefit. For her personal gain she has further damaged a wounded organization. Both Mary and Valerie Plame are examples of what we do not want to see in role models. Both woman abused their position with the CIA to further their political agenda. My wife was aghast to hear that the person who leaked secret information about the prisons was a woman with a history of Democratic party contributions. In a year with so much discussion about a potential woman president and the good characteristics of women, this a sad reminder that each woman must be judged individually. Some women behave badly.