Morning Briefings

She turned to ‘borrowing’ from clients to cover her business and personal expenses with the intention of paying them back, but it just ‘spiraled out of control.’ In March, Durkee pleaded guilty to embezzling from more than 50 of her clients.

– Brian Joseph, The Orange County Register
Durkee sentenced to 8 years in prison, ordered to pay $10.5 million in restitution

I did this because I wanted to remain in good favor with my boss, and enhance my job performance.

– David Higgs, a former Credit Suisse investment banker who pleaded guilty to criminal charges
The Wall Street Journal

7500 Online Shoppers Unknowingly Sold Their Souls: A computer game retailer revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of online shoppers, thanks to a clause in the terms and conditions agreed to by online shoppers. The terms of service were updated on April Fool’s Day as a gag, but the retailer did so to make a very real point: No one reads the online terms and conditions of shopping, and companies are free to insert whatever language they want into the documents.

– FoxNews.com

We don’t make a conscious decision to turn towards the dark path of deceit. We don’t wake up one day and decide that being a person of good character is overrated. We don’t suddenly develop a penchant for dwelling in a pit. No, departure from integrity is more subtle and insidious than that, like taking a wrong turn and ending up lost–in a bad neighborhood.

– Kristin Armstrong
Living Faith

The three basic elements of a healthy nutritional program are: know thyself–and listen to thy body; satisfy your senses, and visualize an energetic, healthy body.

– Pamela Ammondson
Clarity Quest: How to Take a Sabbatical Without Taking More Than a Week Off

Cash-squeezed privately held companies are facing another threat in this struggling economy: rising employee fraud. Employees engage in check forgery, petty-cash theft; Managers sometimes mistakenly blame lower sales instead of foul play.

– Simona Covel, The Wall Street Journal
Small Businesses Face More Fraud in Downturn

Phones Will Soon Tell Where You Are: Would you want other people to know, all day long, exactly where you are, right down to the street corner or restaurant? Wireless carriers are betting that many of their customers do, and they’re rolling out services to make it possible.

– Amol Sharma & Jessica E.Vascellaro
The Wall Street Journal

Those who live in close proximity to their basic values are apt to agonize over choices that other people, drifting over the surface of their lives, might never even see as problems. Sound values raise tough choices; and tough choices are never easy.

– Rushworth M. Kidder
How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living

Vengeance is a passion to get even. It is a hot desire to give back as much pain as someone gave you. The problem with vengeance is that it never gets what it wants; it never evens the score.

– Philip Yancey
What’s So Amazing About Grace?