>>June, 2008
FISA Follow-up
Posted by: Gary S. Trauner on 6/24/2008
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Let’s return to the words of the founding fathers themselves:
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams.
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both” – Benjamin Franklin
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. - Thomas Jefferson
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. - James Madison
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
“Information is the currency of democracy.” - Thomas Jefferson
"Free government is founded in jealousy, not confidence . . . . Let no more be heard of confidence in men, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitutions." “Information is the currency of democracy.” - Thomas Jefferson
As I tell people all the time, the words “trust me” are nowhere to be found in our Constitution, and there is no “patriotism” exception to the laws of our land. Undue secrecy, signing statements that disregard laws passed by Congress, and a theory of government that anything is permissible as long as it is in the name of National Security are all unnecessary threats to the freedoms we hold so dear. President Bush said “they hate us for our freedoms”; yet, as the founding fathers made so clear, it is the erosion of those freedoms from within that they feared the most. Now it is our solemn duty to ensure we never sacrifice those freedoms in the name of preserving them.
FISA, Telecoms and the Constitution
Posted by: Gary Trauner on 6/21/2008
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Wow. I am deeply saddened today by the news that the US House has voted to pass a bill amending the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which strikes at the very core of American democracy – our Constitutional Bill of Rights and the rule of law. It enables our federal government to intercept, without probable cause, all international communications of American citizens, and it provides retroactive immunity for companies that may have broken the law (if they did nothing wrong, why would they need immunity?).
All you need to know about the action Congress took today is contained in a quote from Republican Senator Christopher Bond (as quoted by Dow Jones): Bond said,
“I'm not here to say that the government is always right, but when the government tells you to do something, I'm sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do."
Wow! Is that what it’s come to? Our federal government says you must do something, even if it is against the law, and we “need” to do it? Well, I don’t care whether it’s the Republican Leadership in
- I want to ensure that my children, and all of our children, are safe from terrorist attacks by beefing up our intelligence capabilities, protecting vulnerable targets, proactively taking out terrorists such as Al-Qaeda in their hideouts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world, and working to remove safe havens for terrorists by winning the battle of ideas, not simply the battle for Tikrit.
- I believe in the Constitution and rule of law, the two things that define our great American experiment. We must not gut our freedoms in order to save our freedoms. If we do that, those who use terror as a tactic will achieve their goal – after all, what would we be fighting to protect?.
- We can protect our nation without sacrificing everything our founding fathers and millions of veterans fought for; the FISA law, already updated in 2001 after 9/11 and recently patched to fix some omissions due to changing technology, works.
- I would rather bring Osama Bin Laden to justice than help large corporations avoid justice.
- If we value our Constitutional rights such as the 2nd amendment right to bear arms, we better think twice about ignoring other Constitutional rights, such as the 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant and probable cause. Because once we cherry pick the Constitution, someone will eventually come after the rights we hold most dear.
As for the actual facts about the FISA law:
o The law was passed in part to specifically ensure that private companies could not violate our individual privacy, because they had abused that right in the past;
o There was a specific “good faith” exemption for companies under which, if they acted properly, they were not liable;
o In emergencies where we need to act fast, the law provided for wiretapping first and getting warrants after the fact;
o Lack of retroactive immunity would not stop telecom companies from helping to protect America – in fact, if the Government gets a warrant from a judge as the original FISA law provides, telecoms have to comply; and
o The current law allows for continuing surveillance under the expired Protect America Act for up to one year – so nothing in our national security ability has been compromised.
What the FISA law did not protect is the actions of private companies based on someone telling them they can break the law.
Finally, the truth is that Congress last year passed a temporary extension of the Protect America Act that was vetoed by the President and voted against by the Republican leadership and certain Democrats. They said they would not accept a bill that does not include giving a free pass to companies that might have broken the law! Incredible. It deserve saying one more time – these so-called leaders are telling us the Protect America Act was so important, without it America is not protected from terrorists; however, they were willing to block this incredibly important Act, and leave America unprotected, unless large corporations were let off the hook for knowingly breaking the law. Because unlike you and me, who in the event of potential wrongdoing only get off the hook by presenting our case in a court of law, they think large corporations should be held to a different standard – no accountability.
>>April, 2008
Gas Prices
Posted by: Gary Trauner on 4/28/2008
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>>December, 2007
The Joys of the Season
Posted by: Gary Trauner on 12/27/2007
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This will be a short post, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on a special day.
Of course, our two boys couldn’t wait this morning to see what Santa had brought them, so they made sure Terry and I were up early. We opened presents in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace, and spent a lazy morning enjoying each other’s company (it was cold outside – below zero when we woke up).
This afternoon, Terry decided to go cross-country skiing with our younger son Aaron, while Ben and I drove to the local outdoor rink to skate. When we reached the rink in Wilson (all they do is flood the riding/rodeo grounds and put up some wooden boards), there were already a bunch of local folks skating around. Within a few minutes, a spirited pick-up game began.
Our game included all ages, from a 7-year old boy to high-schoolers (girls included) to college kids to moms and dads. Several dogs roamed the snow mounds just outside the rink, every once in a while wandering on to the ice and having to be politely led away from the frenzied action. Players moved in and out of the game as they got tired and then rejuvenated, with others watching from the sidelines. Even skaters who were not participating in the full rink game were able to skate around the rink, as players made sure not to get in their way, even when the puck would not cooperate. At some point, I looked around and thought, “This is the essence of family and Christmas and the joy of living.” A clear, crisp day; small town friends, family and neighbors; and an impromptu gathering full of fun and joy.
As we drove home after a couple of hours (I’m already beginning to feel the aches, pains and soreness that comes from playing hard and getting older), my son Ben looked at me and said, “Dad, that was soooooooo much fun. We’re pretty lucky, aren’t we?” At that point, I couldn’t have agreed more.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Iraq, America’s CEO and it’s Board of Directors
Posted by: Gary Trauner on 12/1/2007
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The news is full of reports that the Administration wants Congress to pass a military funding bill for Iraq once again with no restrictions and no benchmarks for success or accountability.
Of course, the argument is that if Congress does not pass this bill in the exact form the Administration wants, Congress won’t be “supporting the troops”.
Way back last March, the newly elected Democratic Congress debated an emergency Iraq supplemental spending bill (why Iraq spending is not part of the normal budgeting process is a matter for another post). At the time, I had the opportunity to talk to many of the Representatives debating the funding legislation.
What I told them then was, and still is, my view on changing direction in Iraq; a view that comes from being a businessman for my entire professional career. The way I see it, Congress is the Board of Directors of the largest, most important enterprise in the history of the world – the United States of America. The President is the CEO, surrounded by his management team, the members of his administration. In the case of the Iraq War, the facts show that the CEO and his team a) made initial strategic decisions by knowingly and purposefully relying on partial or faulty information – ignoring information that did not conform to pre-conceived ideas; b) never properly defined strategic goals or the definition of project success; c) planned poorly, d) executed poorly; e) didn’t give employees - i.e., the troops – the tools to do the job; and f) had no real contingency plans.
In the business world, when a Board of Directors is confronted with this type of situation, at a bare minimum, the Board has a fiduciary duty (a business term meaning a special obligation in trust for others) to its shareholders – in this case, every American citizen – to intervene with specific parameters to change the strategic course of the organization. This isn’t micromanaging and it isn’t politics –it’s called good governance and demanding accountability. And it is even more important when we are asking our sons and daughters to put their lives on the line for our country.
The Board of Directors of the United States of America must hold the CEO and his team responsible for their actions – by putting stringent and measurable conditions on any continued funding of the war. This should have been done last March and must be done today.
In March, the House initially supported out troops by voting to give the President every single penny he asked for to fund Iraq (and the troops) without restrictions on where that money could be spent. All the House said was, in essence, “you’ve had 4 years to run this war and it has not worked by any definition, and therefore, if you cannot show progress within a short period of time, we will make sure America pursues a different, more productive path.”
The American people have been let down by the Washington status quo – an Administration that is unwilling to admit error or to reassess it highest level strategy, and a Congress that was elected to make change and has been unwilling to muster the courage of its convictions. If I were a member of Congress back in March, I would have insisted that any funding bill include concrete measures to support our troops and change our path. The same holds true for today. Because in the business world, anything less would be considered negligent behavior.
>>November, 2007
Why Media Accuracy Matters
Posted by: Gary Trauner on 11/28/2007
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Running a campaign for office is extremely challenging, however it becomes even more so when the media does not do its job. More importantly, when the media doesn’t do it’s job, it makes it harder for every American to productively participate in our democracy.
There has been an interesting story developing lately involving Time Magazine. A Time columnist, Joe Klein, recently wrote about the FISA (warrantless wiretapping) bill recently passed in the US House. Here’s what Klein wrote:
[the bill] “would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court, an institution founded to protect the rights of U.S. citizens only. In the lethal shorthand of political advertising, it would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans. That is well beyond stupid.”
Here is what the bill actually says: 'CLARIFICATION OF ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE OF NON-UNITED STATES PERSONS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES' Sec. 105A. (a) Foreign to Foreign Communications- (1) IN GENERAL - Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, a court order is not required for electronic surveillance directed at the acquisition of the contents of any communication between persons that are not known to be United States persons and are reasonably believed to be located outside the United States for the purpose of collecting foreign intelligence information, without respect to whether the communication passes through the United States or the surveillance device is located within the United States.
The bill’s language is very clear. Simply put, Klein was wrong. Factually wrong. Demonstrably wrong. Obviously wrong. It appears that Klein related what he was told by a partisan political source without checking to see if it was accurate and without even bothering to read the legislation to which he was referring.
As one legal scholar notes, The Center for Citizen Media -- jointly affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University Law School -- has picked up on the Klein/Time story, labeling Klein's behavior "Shameful 'Journalism'," and contending that the "flagrantly inaccurate and misguided Time magazine column by Joe Klein" is "[o]ne of the most amazing episodes in modern American journalism." They concluded: Klein's "work in this case may become Exhibit A for what's wrong with the craft today."
In response to criticism, both Klein and Time magazine have gone through several versions of what happened, never actually acknowledging that Joe Klein either made a mistake or purposefully misled time’s readers.
An analytical and critical media is essential to the success of our democracy. This means being able to ferret out truth from bluster, and fact from fiction. Simply transcribing talking points from political parties, government figures or any “newsworthy” person does a disservice not only to our democracy, but to the people it was created to serve - and we are all the worse for it.
