Now that Gen. Hayden has been confirmed as the next CIA director, let's take a look into our future.

We can assume the NSA's version of TIA will find a new home at the CIA.  For the sake of argument, let's assume everyone involved in this program is committed to the rule of law and seriously interested in protecting America from threats.

Even if that is all true, we still have a problem.  How do you demonstrate the program's value to the people who pay for it without sharing classified information?  It turns out, Ronald Reagan had a solution to that sort of problem; he called it "trust but verify."   We can apply that approach to solve this impasse while meeting the legitimate needs of all the stakeholders.  Here's the proposed test:

A horrifying example of our broken health care system gone wrong took place in Yelm, Washington recently. A man on Wellbutrin, an antidepressant, attacked and nearly killed his wife of 60 years after being diagnosed for depression and being placed on Wellbutrin. This is one more example of our health care system gone horribly wrong and a graphic example of how the Bush administration places a price on human life. This forces me to rethink my support of laws against the so-called hard drugs like meth and cocaine.

In what would be a horrifying nightmare for anybody in this community, Eric Attwood, in the middle of the night, took a knife and tried to stab his wife. He stabbed her once, but then she got away and got help. Now, Attwood and his wife are separated by court order and he is charged with attempted first-degree murder.