Biden Tells Americans to stay off all Airlines and Subways and to Close Classrooms!
"I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said when Matt Lauer asked whether he would advise family members to use public transportation. "I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now. It's not that it's going to Mexico, it's you're in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation suggesting they ride the subway. " The vice president also implied that schools should be closed as the threat of swine flu increases. "If you're out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes that's one thing. If you're in a closed aircraft or a closed container or closed car or closed classroom it's a different thing." About two hours after the interview, Biden's office issued a statement attempting to clarify the vice president's remarks.

White House Press Secretary Tries to Explain Biden Comments
Watch Gibbs try to explain Biden’s “Flu” Comments! Amateur Hour!

Obama targets tea bags at town hall
At his 100th-day town hall meeting in St. Louis Wednesday, President Barack Obama took direct aim at the anti-tax “tea party” demonstrations that have cropped up over the last month and took a veiled shot at the Fox News Channel, the cable news network closely associated with the protests. ??Asked about fiscal discipline and entitlements reform, Obama seemed to be repressing a smile as he jabbed critics of his spending plans. ??"Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, Obama said, “let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security.

NYC financial workers see low-flying planes, panic
A Boeing 747 used by the president was escorted over lower Manhattan by two Air Force fighter jets Monday as part of a government photo opportunity, causing a brief panic among office workers near ground zero. Workers from several office buildings poured out onto the streets before they learned that the flights were innocuous. John Leitner, a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building, said about 1,000 people "went into a total panic" and ran out of the building around 10 a.m. after seeing the planes whiz by their building, near the World Trade Center site.

NY Plane: Obama wanted to just update website
An administration official says a presidential Boeing 747 and a fighter jet flew low near ground zero in New York City Monday because the White House Military Office wanted to update its file photo of the president's plane near the Statue of Liberty. This official said the White House Military Office told the Federal Aviation Administration that it periodically updates file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks, like the statute in New York harbor and the Grand Canyon. The official requested anonymity to give more details than the official White House announcement that took the blame.

Air Obama Stunt Cost Taxpayers $328,835
Obama’s publicity-photo shoot with one of the planes that serves as Air Force One has cost taxpayers $328,835 and caused a furor in New York City. The low-altitude flight over New York Harbor, which rattled windows in New York’s financial district, prompted some office workers to flee buildings in fear it was a terrorist attack. “It was a mistake,” Obama said today before a meeting at FBI headquarters in Washington. “It will not happen again.” The incident continued to reverberate in New York and Washington today with two senators demanding an accounting of how the flight was approved, its cost and procedures aimed at avoiding a repeat. There was also no mention of the carbon footprint that the use of the plane had on the people of NY and the World. “The supposed mission represents a fundamentally unsound exercise in military judgment and may have constituted an inappropriate use of Department of Defense resources,” Senator John McCain of Arizona wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

President Teleprompter
President Obama’s speech at the National Academy of Sciences Monday morning hit a brief snag when Obama got ahead of his script. Laying his plan for a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Obama began to name the members of PCAST listed in his prepared remarks – before realizing he’d already introduced them, earlier in his speech.

Obama Speech To Cost Networks Millions in Lost Revenue
The primetime slot requested by President Obama for a news conference marking his 100th day in office is going to cost the broadcast networks millions of dollars in lost ads.According to the latest ad pricing data from Nielsen, the Wednesday slot between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. generates some $21.5 million for the big four.

Senator Loser
Republican voters have sent Arlen Specter to the Senate five times, but faced with the prospect of a strong challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in the GOP primary and the state trending Democratic, Specter announced Tuesday he is jumping ship and becoming a Democrat. He never voted the right anyway. Good riddance!

Senator Two-Face Pledges to stay Republican last month
News of Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch today comes after months of strong statements to the contrary by the Pennsylvania Senator. In a March 17th interview with The Hill, Specter said he absolutely would not switch parties: [Democrats] are trying very hard for the 60th vote. Got to give them credit for trying. But the answer is no. I'm not going to discuss private talks I had with other people who may or may not be considered influential. But since those three people are in the public domain, I think it is appropriative to respond to those questions. I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That's the basis of politics in America. I'm afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle atlantic. I think as a governmental matter, it is very important to have a check and balance. That's a very important principle in the operation of our government. In the constitution on Separation of powers.

Political Correctness: Swine Flu No Longer Swine Flu, Pigs Offended
What's in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu. At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the "H1N1 virus." "This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that's not what this is about," Vilsack said.

Fortenberry calls Secretary Clinton on the carpet for Abortion
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry dialogues with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on foreign policy and why Margaret Sanger was a hero to Clinton. Good job Jeff!

Alumni Restoring Catholic Tradition at Notre Dame
ReplaceJenkins.com is a national effort consisting of Notre Dame graduates and financial supporters. We feel strongly that the University should not honor President Barack Obama given his well known commitment to abortion in the broadest possible context. Father Jenkins’ decision to honor President Obama directly violates the 2004 US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ directive on Catholics in Political Life and is offensive to all Catholics. That decision, together with other poor decisions over the years, calls into question Father Jenkins’ judgment and leadership. Although we love Notre Dame, our conscience requires that we withhold all financial support from our University until such time as Father Jenkins is replaced as Notre Dame’s President with someone who will be more loyal to the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Mary Ann Glendon refuses to accept Laetare Medal from Notre Dame
Less than a month before Notre Dame’s Commencement, the former Vatican ambassador Mary Ann Glendon has written President Jenkins to refuse the university's Laetare Medal, rebuffing his claim that her acceptance speech would somehow “balance” the event. Mary Ann Glendon, a pro-life feminist and Harvard professor, today released an open letter to Notre Dame President John I. Jenkins, in which she told Jenkins that she could not speak alongside President Obama at the May 17th Commencement exercises.

Read Mary Ann Glendon’s Letter to Notre Dame President
When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Federal Hate Crimes Statute: Unconstitutional
Every decent person abhors violent crimes that are motivated by prejudice or bias. Thus, the case for congressional legislation that would expand federal authority that already prohibits some "hate crimes" may seem compelling. But the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913, HCPA) is based on serious analytical and constitutional flaws and would actually be counterproductive to prosecuting violent crime.

Supreme Court upholds tough fines for broadcasts of ‘fleeting’ expletives
In what family advocates called a “huge victory,” the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may impose significant fines on television broadcasters for airing “fleeting” expletives.??The justices, in a 5-4 decision, said federal law has long prohibited the broadcast of indecent language. According to the Los Angeles Times, Justice Antonin Scalia referred to the perpetrators of several incidents as the “foul-mouthed glitteratae from Hollywood.” One such incident cited by Scalia involved the entertainer Cher using the “F-word” during a live Fox network broadcast at the Billboard Music Awards. The event had about 2.5 million minor viewers, Justice Scalia said.

Awesome super-president makes guy faint with the power of his oratory
Another fainting spell for listeners of the Messiah. Was this really taped at FBI headquarters? It sounds like a concert with the women squealing and shouting.

Obama Fails the Kids in the DC Voucher Program
D.C. public schools are violent, chaotic places that have among the highest dropout—and the lowest graduation—rates in the country. Less than half of its children are "proficient"—meaning they perform at grade-level—in reading and math. Against this grim reality, one would have thought an administration that ran on the theme of hope would do anything to nurture a program that offers a way out of D.C.'s hope-killing factories and into other schools. Instead, the Obama administration has done everything in its power to strangle it. Obama cheerfully signed a spending bill that gratuitously included a provision phasing out the program next year unless Congress expressly reauthorizes it. Of course, making water flow uphill will be easier than winning approval from a Democrat-controlled Congress with strong ties to the teachers' unions who contribute tens of millions of dollars to Democratic campaigns. Education Secretary Arne Duncan rescinded the scholarship offer to children admitted for next year, making the program's shuttering a fait accompli. And now it turns out that, while the program's fate was being sealed in Congress, the administration deliberately sat on a study its own Department of Education completed weeks earlier. Why? Because the study found not that the program was failing, but that it was succeeding.

Letting States Keep Gas Tax Money, Opt Out of the Highway Trust Fund
Texas is one of several states that pays more in federal gas taxes that it receives back in federal highway money, making it a "donor" state. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison proposed legislation yesterday that would allow Texas and other donor states to "opt out" of the highway trust fund.

Park ban is no picnic for Florida church
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of St. Faustina Old Catholic Church against the city of Pensacola after a police officer ordered the church’s pastor to cease holding picnics at a popular historic public park downtown. Police declared Plaza Ferdinand VII a "non-event park," even though no city ordinances designate it as such, and public access and events occur there on a regular basis. "Christian groups shouldn’t be kicked out of public parks for engaging in peaceful activities related to their faith," said ADF Litigation Counsel Daniel Blomberg. "The police told the church it cannot hold picnics in this very public meeting place because it’s a 'non-event' park, but just one week earlier, more than 2,000 people showed up for an event at the exact same location. There are some serious inconsistencies here." The officer suggested that the picnics could be moved to two other public parks: one located in a high-crime area under a highway overpass and the other by a nearby sewage plant. "Church groups have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in America," said ADF Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt. "Sadly, because of the city’s unconstitutional and unfounded refusal to allow the church access to the public park for its picnics, the fellowship and Bible study outreach to the community no longer take place at the park."

The Flip Side of the Perfect Prius
Sometimes the cars accelerate on their own. Sometimes they stop dead. Drivers of the hybrid Prius have discovered they can be an unexpected adventure.

A Real Life Gunfighter
An amazing story of a business owner in LA that was involved in four shootouts in about a three-year period.

100 Days – 100 Mistakes
After 100 days in office here is President Obama 100 mistakes thus far.

Obamamania or overkill?
Such is his star quality that, 100 days into his Presidency, most of the world is still in thrall to Barack Obama. In this extraordinary series of photographs taken during his first weeks in the White House, the full power of Obama's charm and charisma is on display. From walking the pet dog he had promised his daughters he'd get them when he was elected, to playing with a football in the Oval Office or using 3D glasses to watch the Super Bowl on TV with his family, this is a President who plays to the cameras for all it's worth.

“Communist” University may come to KC
Imagine a prestigious national academy, modeled after the highly selective U.S. military academies, but with the mission of building future public leaders. Now imagine 5,000 of the nation’s top liberal-arts students roaming a West Point-like campus — in Kansas City. Some Kansas and Missouri leaders, along with one of the founders of the proposed U.S. Public Service Academy, will meet for the first time this afternoon at Union Station. “We are going to build a case for Kansas City,” said Bobby Patton, a former president of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, who is leading the local effort. For now, the proposed academy has an office in Washington. It also has a Web site — USPublicServiceAcademy.org — a 105-page blueprint that includes a curriculum, and a broad base of bipartisan backers. If Congress approves, it would get more than $205 million a year in federal funding.

Roberts/Brownback Vote for Sebelius Confirmation
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius won confirmation as HHS secretary with a vote of 65-31. The roll call just ended at 5 p.m. One of those 65 votes came from home-state senator Sam Brownback. Although his press shop promised a floor statement, Brownback never made one. Sebelius also was supported by Missouri Sens. Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill and Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.

Pro-Life Advocates Blast Senate Confirmation of Sebelius
"With Sebelius, we can expect to see increased protections for predatory abortionists, taxpayer funded abortions, and rationed health care that could cost lives," he said. Mary Kay Culp, the head of Kansans for Life, which also provided extensive information on what Sebelius did in her home state, said "the nomination process shed some light on the extreme nature of Gov. Sebelius' views." She says she is also worried about what Sebelius will do on other issues of concern to pro-life advocates ranging from embryonic stem cell research and human cloning to euthanasia and assisted suicide. "Her extreme views are not limited to abortion. They extend to cloning and issues at the end of life," Culp added.

Sebelius Governing Kansas from New Orleans Jazz Festival
Two days before the Senate vote on her Cabinet nomination, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was wearing shorts and flip-flops, listening to the blues at a jazz festival. A music writer for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans wrote on his blog Tuesday that Sebelius waved her hand in the air and danced in place Sunday in the Blues Tent at Jazz Fest. She was with her husband, Hawaiian shirt-clad federal judge Gary Sebelius, a female friend and a security officer. I wonder if the trooper had flip flops on too?

Archbishop: “Catholic backdrop makes president’s policies appear palatable”
With many other bishops, priests and faithful Catholics, I was dismayed to learn that the University of Notre Dame had extended an invitation to President Barack Obama to deliver this year’s commencement address, as well as to receive an honorary degree. I do not fault the president for accepting this invitation, but the university for offering it.?Notre Dame’s action is inconsistent with its Catholic identity and harmful to the efforts of the church to advocate for the protection of innocent, preborn human life.

Democrats poised to consider changes to state unemployment compensation laws
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Kansas stands to gain $69 million for its unemployment trust fund if it codifies three provisions. Democratic lawmakers, including state Sen. Tom Holland of Baldwin City, and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka, said the proposed changes would not only help unemployed workers, but businesses as well by shoring up the unemployment trust fund, which is funded by employers. But the Kansas Chamber of Commerce has testified that some of the proposed changes would hurt business by placing “undue pressure on the solvency of the trust fund during a time when the economy is already unstable.”

KDHE Secretary Uses Swine Flu as a Political Toy to Ask for Money
The Kansas secretary of health and environment says the state's response to the swine flu outbreak is stretching its resources and more will be needed. Secretary Rod Bremby told legislators during a briefing on the outbreak Wednesday that the agency was incurring additional expense to keep additional staff working at its laboratory and other offices. He said the agency would be asking the governor to seek additional funds, but an exact amount won't be known until at least Friday. President Barack Obama is seeking $1.5 billion in federal funds to assist with the response to the flu outbreak. Bremby said it was unclear how much states can expect in the way of federal money or when it might arrive. Kansas has two confirmed cases of swine flu, both in Dickinson County.

Missouri House GOP moves quickly on tax break plan
Over Democratic objections, Missouri House Republicans are quickly advancing a proposed $1 billion tax cut to be financed with federal economic stimulus dollars. The Republican-led Tax Reform Committee endorsed legislation Monday authorizing the tax cut. It's expected to be debated by the full chamber on Wednesday.

School Districts Sitting on $1.36 Billion
Data obtained by the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy shows that local school districts’ unencumbered cash balances totaled $1.36 billion as of July 1, 2008. These balances represent money that has accumulated over time, mostly as a result of spending less money than they took in; ‘unencumbered’ means that the cash is not being held to meet specific obligations and is available for use.

Cessna increases layoffs in Wichita
Cessna is laying off an additional 2,300 people, extending its summer shutdown, suspending its Citation Columbus program and closing its Bend, Ore., plant, the company said today. Cessna began issuing layoff notices today to about 1,600 workers at every level of the company, Cessna spokesman Bob Stangarone said. Of those, about 1,300 are Wichita employees. By mid-June, the company expects to cut an additional 700 salaried positions. The cuts are in addition to previously announced layoffs of 4,600, including 4,000 in Wichita.

Cuts freeze hiring for KC police
Kansas City police officials don’t plan to lay off employees, force unpaid time off or ground the helicopter unit to make up a $15 million budget shortfall. But they will halt hiring, leaving an estimated 97 law enforcement positions vacant by the end of the fiscal year that starts Friday, according to the budget approved Tuesday by the Board of Police Commissioners. The vacancies include 42 currently unfilled positions and expected retirements and resignations over the next 12 months.

KC Police Cut But Baseball Field Gets $277,000 for Face Lift?
Satchel Paige Memorial Stadium (which is really just a baseball field) will get a $277,000 makeover in a project approved Tuesday by the Kansas City park board. The work, to be paid with sales tax dollars, will include renovating the restrooms, waterproofing, and improving the concession stand and press box.

See Satchel Paige Stadium for Yourself
See the Stadium that will get $277,000 for renovation! Meanwhile police services are cut to the bone in Kansas City. Incredible!

Pittsburg Unsure How to Spend Stimulus Money
Pittsburg hit the stimulus lottery yet again. Pittsburg city staff announced Tuesday night that the city received more than $640,000 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That money will come in the form of loan forgiveness for two projects underneath the city’s $4 million Kansas Department Health and Environment loan used to deal with various sewer issues. John Van Gorden, interim Pittsburg city manager, said he wasn’t sure what the city would do with the excess funds.

Crawford County Gets $167K to Change Light Bulbs and New Air Conditioner
Crawford County won’t have to pay back the money it will spend on its energy improvements, thanks to money allocated through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “We received $166,900 in federal money through that program,” said Don Pyle, Crawford County Clerk. “That money will allow us to do some things we probably wouldn’t have been able to.” Crawford County Commissioners still haven’t decided what those things will be — other counties are doing everything from replacing street lights with LED lights to replacing old heating, ventilation and air conditioning units.

Liberty superintendent arrested in Florida on charges relate to stealing
A former Liberty school superintendent was arrested and booked into a Florida jail late Wednesday night on a Clay County warrant for two counts relating to stealing during his time with the district. William Scott Taveau, 60, of Hudson, Fla., was arrested by the Pasco County sheriff’s office and booked into the Land O’ Lakes, Fla., detention center about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to booking information on the sheriff’s Web site. He was being held on charges relating to stealing stemming from an indictment handed down in Clay County.

Senator Roberts says media is ‘terrifying’ Americans on swine flu threat
Sen. Sam Brownback said Tuesday that the possibility of a swine flu pandemic was a major reason he supported Gov. Sebelius’ nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. But the next day, his Kansas colleague, Sen. Pat Roberts, issued a statement suggesting that the threat of a pandemic was being overblown, particularly by the news media.

$14 Million of Pork Money for New Buses in Kansas
Topeka Transit took another step toward updating its aging fleet of buses with the announcement of $2 million in federal funds being allocated through the Kansas Department of Transportation. Kansas Secretary of Transportation Deb Miller said that allocation will be in addition to $2.5 million announced earlier. Other cities in Kansas also will be receiving a share of the new $14 million to be distributed in Kansas, including $1 million for the purchase of new buses in Lawrence.

Former Chiefs coach Frank Gansz dies
Frank Gansz, who served as the Chiefs head coach during 1987-88 has died, the club announced Monday night. He was 70. Gansz's teams went 4-11 and 4-11-1 before he was replaced by Marty Schottenheimer in 1989. Gansz's real forte was as a special teams' coach. He served as the Chiefs' special teams coach in 1981 and 1982 and again in 1986.

“I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don’t have a set of beliefs.”

– Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)

From Proverbs 16:8
Better a little with virtue, than a large income with injustice.

Gospel - John 6:44-51

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Security Before Politics

Since leaving my post as CIA director almost three years ago, I have remained largely silent on the public stage. I am speaking out now because I feel our government has crossed the red line between properly protecting our national security and trying to gain partisan political advantage. We can't have a secret intelligence service if we keep giving away all the secrets. Americans have to decide now.

A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation's intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaida.

In the fall of 2002, while I was chairman of the House intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA's "High Value Terrorist Program," including the development of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and what those techniques were. This was not a onetime briefing but an ongoing subject with lots of back and forth between those members and the briefers.

Today, I am slack jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as "waterboarding" were never mentioned. It must be hard for most Americans of common sense to imagine how a member of Congress can forget being told about the interrogations of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. In that case, though, perhaps it is not amnesia but political expedience.

Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:

The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high value terrorists.

We understood what the CIA was doing.

We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.

We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.

On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaida.

I do not recall a single objection from my colleagues. They did not vote to stop authorizing CIA funding. And for those who now reveal filed "memorandums for the record" suggesting concern, real concern should have been expressed immediately to the committee chairs, the briefers, the House speaker or minority leader, the CIA director or the president's national security adviser and not quietly filed away in case the day came when the political winds shifted. And shifted they have.

Circuses are not new in Washington, and I can see preparations being made for tents from the Capitol straight down Pennsylvania Avenue. The CIA has been pulled into the center ring before. The result this time will be the same: a hollowed out service of diminished capabilities. After Sept. 11, the general outcry was, "Why don't we have better overseas capabilities?" I fear that in the years to come this refrain will be heard again: once a threat or God forbid, another successful attack captures our attention and sends the pendulum swinging back. There is only one person who can shut down this dangerous show: President Obama.

Unfortunately, much of the damage to our capabilities has already been done. It is certainly not trust that is fostered when intelligence officers are told one day "I have your back" only to learn a day later that a knife is being held to it. After the events of this week, morale at the CIA has been shaken to its foundation.

We must not forget: Our intelligence allies overseas view our inability to maintain secrecy as a reason to question our worthiness as a partner. These allies have been vital in almost every capture of a terrorist. The suggestion that we are safer now because information about interrogation techniques is in the public domain conjures up images of unicorns and fairy dust. We have given our enemy invaluable information about the rules by which we operate. The terrorists captured by the CIA perfected the act of beheading innocents using dull knives. Khalid Sheik Mohammed boasted of the tactic of placing explosives high enough in a building to ensure that innocents trapped above would die if they tried to escape through windows. There is simply no comparison between our professionalism and their brutality.

Our enemies do not subscribe to the rules of the Marquis of Queensbury. "Name, rank and serial number" does not apply to nonstate actors but is, regrettably, the only question this administration wants us to ask. Instead of taking risks, our intelligence officers will soon resort to wordsmithing cables to headquarters while opportunities to neutralize brutal radicals are lost. The days of fortress America are gone. We are the world's superpower. We can sit on our hands or we can become engaged to improve global human conditions. The bottom line is that we cannot succeed unless we have good intelligence. Trading security for partisan political popularity will ensure that our secrets are not secret and that our intelligence is destined to fail us.