Ever wonder why the Securities & Exchange Commission missed some of the warning signs of the financial meltdown?

It could be that some employees had something far more interesting on their computer monitors. According to a report in the Washington Times last week, more than two dozen SEC employees and contractors during the past two years underwent investigations after they were caught viewing pornography on government computers.

According to the story, one unnamed regional supervisor had more than 1,800 attempts to view porn in less than three weeks. “It was kind of distraction per se,” the paper said he told investigators.

“They're simply just stealing time,” Allan Bachman, education manager for the Assn. of Certified Fraud Examiners, told the paper. “They're getting paid to do something that they're not supposed to be doing.”

The SEC disciplined the employees, but taxpayers may still have cause for concern. After all, some of the financial information that should have been coming into the SEC as the economic system tottered was nothing if not shocking. Had they paid closer attention to their jobs, the porn-watching employees might have found more than enough to satisfy prurient interests of the financial variety, which is the only kind of prurient interests that should be permitted on their jobs.