Today, I heard author and blogger Andrew Bard Schmookler speak about the problems in our society. The reason he says that liberalism frequently doesn't have spine is because it has difficulty recognizing the concept of good and evil. I think that this concept can very easily be applied to our Democratic leaders frequently. Although they have done better this time around, especially in their questioning of Chertoff, they still have a long ways to go before developing the kind of spine that we would like to see here in this community.

Schmookler discusses spirituality in applying his concepts. He says that spiritual well-being and goodness involves wholeness, while evil involves brokenness. Before the 1960's, there were very clear institutions that defined right and wrong. They were the school, parents, churches, and society. All our movies had black and white endings in which the good guys had a clear point of reference to look forward to.

So, someone let it slip that the intelligence budget is about $44 billion. Now, that seems a bit low, considering that the Department of Defense Budget (which I believe is separate) is some $400 billion. Now, let's look to how that budget is used.

Not much has been made in the blogosphere about the fact John Negroponte, intelligence czar, is called to testify in Congress this week about why he performs so pathetically at his job. Well, those are my words. The real reason is "to answer concerns about whether his new office is meeting the goals Congress envisioned in a 2004 intelligence overhaul".

Short answer to that inquiry: hell no.

Tomorrow's closed door meeting can be expected to be a contentious one, with staffers on both side of the aisle alluding to great frustration with Negroponte: