Keep ’em coming, Ken. I’m an instafan.

Airman- Thanks for dropping by. I don’t deny that some kind of cooperative efforts exist, only that they are not an exactly concerted effort- too many individual goals making the single effort that much more convoluted. Streamlining is one aspect of reform, but useless without a common cause and a common duty to serve and protect. Too many politicians running the show seek only eventual personal profit and thus run their own agenda’s.

Courtney- thanks for dropping by. I’ll be sure to visit your blog.

Windspike- I think your definition of integrity sums it up pretty well. Thanks for the link.

With regards to being able to admit ones errors, by having an open and forthright communications arm of intelligence, the people would have enough information to preclude any rational leader from misstating the events too much. Spin becomes useless and loses its pseudo-credibility when information is readily available.

An open society thus reclaims its integrity through honest alliances and transparent actions and by living up to its own words and creeds.

SheaNC- We think of spies in Hollywood terms because we have little other reference. And in that regard, the politicians are happy to reinforce that image. It makes the entire “intelligence” apparatus somehow more effective, mysterious, and noble than it really is.

Human intelligence is necessary, but such secrecy and game playing is not. It is far more effective to support your ideals with honest action than with surreptitious intrigue.

I do believe we should have a contest to replace the word “intelligence” with something more appropriate.

As to your response to my comment on the prior post, I am with you on the difficulty of disconnecting truth from perception. When one tosses faith into the equation, it is difficult to know which end is up, or what intelligence is relevant to act on; which is why I believe that integrity is the penultimate value for public servants. Not finding an adequate definition, I developed my own synthisis long ago. You can finde it below.
http://educationalwhisper.blogspot.com/2004/06/integrity.html#comments

The rub lies in the disparity between the opperation or acting on intelligence and the failure to admit when wrong. Admission of guilt only goes so far. So,I may at this point add one other element to my definition to integrity: The ability, desire and actual motion forward to correct misdeeds.

This is where our administration today, goes afoul of ethical practice. It is not so much that W, Rove and Co. acts, but that they narry admit when they were wrong, nor do they work to fix past mistakes. Sooner than later, we run out of cultural, policitical and social capital to spend on any issue and there is no thread of integrity left in this torn apart nation.