Two great examples of the complete ineffectiveness that accompanies political stubbornness showed up in recent days. Not only are Mississippi lawmakers stalled on a compromise for a bond bill to help create jobs, Congressional leaders &045; who have had months to hammer out a deal &045; have almost allowed efforts to reform U.S. intelligence agencies to die.

While there is a chance lawmakers could come back next month to look again at the reform efforts &045; which largely come from recommendations of the 9-11 commission &045; there is no excuse for Congressional leaders not to have acted on these issues.

The compromise was bipartisan. Members of the 9-11 commission, key Congressional negotiators on both sides of the aisle and leaders from the White House worked out a deal to create a new position to overseee the CIA and several other nonmilitary spy agencies. With so much criticism in the wake of the terrorist attacks three years ago focused on the inability of agencies to communicate, these reforms make sense &045; and they could save lives.

If this bill dies this year, Congress will have to start all over again next year.

While change is difficult, isn’t it also difficult to explain to the families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that lawmakers couldn’t get out of the way of their own egos in order to compromise?

And wouldn’t it be next to impossible to explain to the American people that the next terrorist attack could have been prevented if only our elected leaders in Congress could have stopped their stalling and agreed?