Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” – words that have been attributed to Thomas Jefferson. Two centuries later, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stated “no man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” We often hear these words paraphrased during times of great challenge (e.g., 9/11), but the attention level is often too short and the message is sometimes completely lost.

Today, the economy is in crisis and it’s easy to allow it to monopolize the news and all of our efforts, but we still have a persistent cyber and physical threat that can not be left unattended.

In many contact sports, it’s not a good strategy to go in thinking you are going to deliver a knockout punch or a submission hold to win right away. You need to break down your opponent’s defenses, hurt him, then go for the knockout or submission.

The economic crisis has broken down our “defenses”. We are down and hurt, but far from out; however, our enemies are seeing an opportunity. They know they can’t deliver the one shot knockout or submission – they tried and failed on 9/11, but if we are already hurt, they have a better chance at coming in for that shot or two and getting closer to a victory.

Maybe it’s a coincidence that we are seeing increased provocation. Maybe it’s a strategy to see if America is still powerful enough (or willing) to keep the world’s troublemakers at bay. Regardless, there are threats that we can’t ignore. Iran has helped create and sustain crises in the Middle East while they continue to pursue a nuclear weapon. North Korea is preparing to take their next step in testing a long range missile and Venezuela and Russia continue to provoke us any way they possibly can.

We’ve often heard it’s not a matter of “if”, it’s “when”…I submit that it is also “who” is going to be the first to test us and see if we can handle another crisis.

We must take every threat as a clear and present danger or we will pay the price. None of us know what the next attack will be, but it will probably be something asymmetrical and we better be ready to respond with speed, agility and decisive fury.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.  Sun Tzu – The Art of War

Middle East in Crisis (again) – Is Iran Preparing for Battle?

Originally I was going to write about what I believe are two of the most immediate and dangerous threats to America:  first, Africa due to  the many lawless hot spots that are harboring and training terrorists. It’s becoming Afghanistan on steroids and we need a clear strategy on dealing with the issues. The second threat is Mexico – not only because of illegal immigration, porous borders, etc., but because of the drug trafficking and brutal killing that has been occurring. Drug lords are decapitating victims, including children, and displaying their bodies to terrorize citizens. They’re also using other methods of torture and murder that I won’t describe here – you can research by googling “mexico drugs murders”. It’s disturbing and it’s carrying over to the U.S. and must be stopped.

While Africa and Mexico are still a clear and present danger, recent actions in the Middle East combined with the timing (U.S. POTUS transition) may be a warning shot that this particular crisis is about to escalate.

Iran has blood on its hands in nearly every conflict in the Middle East. They support Hezbollah, Hamas and several other terrorist organizations that provoke conflict at an opportune time that reduces pressure and attention toward their nuclear program and other covert activities. It appears that Iran is once again behind a terrorist proxy (Hamas) provoking Israel with missile strikes as they did with Hezbollah in 2006 , which led to the Israel/Lebanon war. Any kind of cease-fire or semblance of progress toward peace in the Middle East, along with success in Iraq, spells doom for Iran; however, when the world is focused on other crises, Iran can continue to work on their nuke program and be confident that international sanctions will be limited.

So, why not throw a few bucks at Hamas and order them to break the cease-fire and get things fired up again? At the same time, why not instigate and fund protests around the world to make it appear that the world is condemning Israel. Why would Iran do that? In addition to refocusing international attention, could it be that Iran is setting the stage for an attack on Israel in the very near future?

The Israeli response to Hamas breaking the cease-fire may have been unexpected and the nominal reactions from other Arab countries may have been disappointing to the Iranians, but Iran may have things in place to take the opportunity to launch an attack. With a fresh Israeli offensive, an agitated Arab/Muslim community, and a U.S. in government transition – this may be Iran’s chance to take on Israel.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this, but not be surprised.

Blog-ojevich: Pay to Play in Illinois

I have to admit, I mistakenly thought that Illinois and Massachusetts were the two most corrupt governments in the U.S., but I did a little research and found a N.Y. Times article (blogger’s note: given the lack of journalistic integrity at the NYT, I checked and this data came from DoJ) that lists Florida, N.Y. and Texas as the states with the most convicted public officials in a 10 year period (824, 704 and 565 respectively). Illinois came in 7th and Massachusetts 18th. Interesting.

Of course, that is the number of convicted officials and doesn’t really reflect the extent of the corruption nor does it highlight the types of crimes the officials committed.

This goes right to the heart of what I wrote about previously, Integrity. We continue to lower the standards and make excuses for the lack of integrity and look where we are – government officials are corrupt and buying votes and selling favors; mortgage companies have screwed people out of their homes; and financial institutions are stealing money.

Our New Years resolution should be to hold those in charge of our livelihoods – from the President right down to the Selectmen or Councilors – to the highest ethical standards. If there is overwhelming evidence of malfeasance, and especially if there is an indictment (e.g., Blagojevich), we should remove the offenders out of office – quickly. I believe in due process, but these folks can’t do their job while they are trying to save their butts.

It’s time to change from “pay to play” to  “if you play, you will pay (dearly).” No more excuses. Zero tolerance.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy and Healthy 2009!!

Bailout or Bankruptcy?

GM, Ford and Chrysler were the latest to lobby Congress to help them help us save the economy (sarcasm intended). Rick Wagoner, GM CEO, stated in written testimony “This is about much more than just Detroit, it’s about saving the U.S. economy from a catastrophic collapse.”  How noble. The situation was so dire, Wagoner, et. al. had to fly in on their corporate jets to avoid having to pay the $25 luggage charge on commercial airliners. I hope everyone appreciates that $75 cost savings.

Didn’t the execs from the financial sector give us the same song and dance? We threw taxpayer money at the financial sector and it did nothing but send our portfolios south. Since a downturn in defense spending will soon be upon us, I guess we’ll expect to see all the defense companies in line with their hands out as well?

I was going to do my part and buy a new SUV in the next couple of months. Mine has 60K miles on it and it’s ripe for trade-in. I went to Cadillac to check out the 2009 models expecting to see lower prices (to reflect the economic conditions and the desire to move inventory). The 2009 Escalade is almost $80K! Keep in mind that the high cost of these vehicles is not because of high end materials, it’s due to the high labor costs. Cadillac did the right thing by making hybrids, but they have overpriced them to the point nobody will buy one. Needless to say, I’ll wait for the $20-30K depreciation to get my 2009…

Back to the bailout. The auto companies are asking for at least $25 billion of our money. When asked what they will do with the money, they didn’t know. I heard someone say “let’s hold a lottery and raffle off 1 million $25K cars”. Sounds like a better plan to me then sending all that money to companies so they can continue to mismanage it.

IMHO there are two choices: let the auto companies go Chapter 11, restructure, and start making a superior, environmentally friendly, and economical product – or – throw more money (our tax money) at them to continue executing a failed business plan. I predict the latter option will be the end of the U.S. auto industry and I will have to buy my first foreign car.

Integrity – Lost Value?

Webster defines Integrity as “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” Integrity is one of the core values of any good leader, yet Americans seem to be viewing this as a “nice to have” rather than demand it.

With all the stories of infidelity, extortion, bribery, voter fraud, and much more, we have to wonder what message this is sending to the younger generation. Integrity leads to trust, respect, and loyalty, yet we turn our backs and devalue it, which has resulted in a lack of trust, respect, and loyalty at home and abroad.

In the news, we have had a long list of scandals that show the lack of integrity with some of our leaders, including:

• A Massachusetts State Senator was indicted for accepting a bribe.
• An Alaskan Senator was convicted on 7 felony charges.
• A Louisiana Congressman was indicted for accepting bribes.
• The New York Governor is linked to a prostitute and his successor admits numerous affairs
• A Former Presidential candidate admits affair
• A Congressman forgets to pay tax on rental property
• Non-profit organization commits voter fraud

I can go on for quite a while, but that was the stuff off the top off my head and I don’t want to research or I’ll get real depressed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not without sin, but I’m an angel compared to these folks and may actually have a chance to get by St. Peter.

What’s disturbing is that we just try to brush all this scandal aside. We make excuses – infidelity is a private matter. He forgot to pay $70K in taxes. I don’t know how the $20K got stuck in her bra – it’s not important, she’s nice. We ignore the unacceptable behavior and, in essence, condone it; then wonder why we have so much corruption.

The worst outcome of all this is with our younger generations. According to an exclusive U.S. News poll:

• 84% of college students believe they need to cheat to get ahead in the world today.
• 90% of college students say cheaters never pay the price; 90% say when people see someone cheating, they don’t turn him in.
• 63% of college students say it’s fair for parents to help with their kids’ homework; 20% of adults think it’s fair to do it.
• Students say parental pressure (40%), peer pressure (40%), and the availability of new technology (31%) make them cheat.
• Over 90% of college students say politicians cheat often. Who else do 90% think are cheaters? The media–and high schoolers.

Further, the Josephson Institute for the Advanced Study of Ethics reports that in 2002, 37 percent of high school youths would be willing to lie to get a good job and that’s on an upward trend.

The moral of the story is that we are in danger of having the “I deserve it” generation enter our workforce and integrity is not on their minds. The same generation will be responsible for our national security, our government, and our money.

It all starts at home and we all need to walk the talk. It’s time to start holding people accountable for their actions and demand integrity from ALL of our leaders. It’s non-negotiable!

WE the People…

The elections are almost over and it appears that we will have two and soon to be all three branches of government controlled by Democrats (i.e., there will be retiring SJC justices in the next 4 years that will be appointed by the new POTUS).

I’m not sure there will be any less partisan bickering in Washington and I don’t think the American people will stand for anymore of the constant fighting – we are worn out; however, we can do a little something about it.

I have sent messages to several Senators to try to have a rule change put in place that would require Congress to start each day (after the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance) by reciting the Preamble of the Constitution to remind them what they are for – for we the people and to:

• form a more perfect union
• establish justice
• insure domestic tranquility
• provide for the common defense
• secure the blessings of liberty

Once the oath is taken and the 111th Congress gets to work, these goals will soon get lost if we don’t do something to remind them everyday they are in those hallowed halls.

It only takes a minute…please copy the following, modify as needed, and send it to your members of Congress:

Dear Senator or Congressman/Congresswoman:

I would like to propose a rule change for Congress that would require recitation of the Preamble of the Constitution each day after the Pledge of Allegiance to remind members of Congress why we sent all of you to Washington:

To “form a more perfect Union”, “establish Justice”, “insure domestic Tranquility”, “provide for the common Defense”, “promote the general Welfare” and “secure the Blessings of Liberty”.

These are very powerful words that I feel are lost in all the partisan bickering that goes on. This election is supposed to be about change, let’s start with this simple change to keep everyone focused on what unites this country.

Link to send to your Representative

Link to send to your Senator

“The Constitution is not a Suicide Pact”

I said I would be writing about the PATRIOT Act in a future post, so here it is…

The attacks on September 11, 2001 exposed significant weaknesses in the United States’ intelligence apparatus and security controls. On October 26, 2001, the President signed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act, which was intended to deter and punish terrorist attacks and enhance law enforcement investigation capabilities. The “PATRIOT Act” has been heralded by law enforcement agencies, but civil liberties organizations have described it as an assault on our Constitutional rights.

The PATRIOT Act was enacted to provide more investigative tools to law enforcement agencies and to close some of the gaps that allowed 19 Islamic extremists to hijack four commercial airliners and murder thousands of innocent human beings. Some of the capabilities that the PATRIOT Act provided are similar to tools being used to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking, including wiretaps. The Act also allows more flexibility for notification of search warrants, investigation of business records, facilitation of information sharing between agencies, and more severe penalties for terrorism crimes.

The PATRIOT Act has many features that have kept America safe since the 9/11 attacks. Dr. James Carafano highlights in his article “U.S. Thwarts 19 Terrorist Attacks Against America Since 9/11“, that, as the title implies, 19 terrorist plots that have been disrupted since September 11, 2001. This includes, most notably, Richard Reid, Jose Padilla, the Lackawanna Six, the Fort Dix Six, and the JFK airport plot. Arguably, some of these plots were interrupted by luck and a more vigilant public, but investigations went much smoother and information was shared much more effectively because of the PATRIOT Act provisions.

One of the most significant issues that limited our ability to prevent the attacks of 9/11 was “the wall” between intelligence agencies and even within agencies. Amy Zegart states in her book, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11, that there were 23 opportunities to disrupt the 9/11 plot, but the organizational weaknesses in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency prevented any response to the threats. Specifically, the culture within the FBI allowed stovepipes to be formed where information never made it past the organization that discovered it. Some of these organizational boundaries were for good reason since the bureau was, in essence, a reactive organization that gathered information after an event and protected it so it could be used in trial. The FBI’s mission prior to 9/11 wasn’t to disrupt terrorist plots. Zegart also points out that protecting information vs. sharing and responding to a disaster vs. preventing one were two of the culture shifts that needed to occur in the FBI, CIA, and other agencies. The PATRIOT Act helped break down the intra and interagency walls by allowing information to be shared legally and it has improved greatly since the attacks at all levels. Further, the National Response Plan/Framework was developed to facilitate cooperation and has enabled the public and private sectors to effectively work together to prepare for and provide a unified national response to any hazard. Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISAC’s) have been set up to help share threat information to all the potential stakeholders and the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) provides and online collaborative environment to post unclassified intelligence to authorized users within the public and private sectors. Finally, the Act paved the way for the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which has enabled agencies to share people, equipment, and most important, intelligence.

As previously mentioned, the PATRIOT Act allows for similar tools and tactics that have been successfully employed for investigating organized crime and drug trafficking. The Act allows Federal agents more freedom to use electronic surveillance to investigate many of the crimes associated with terrorism, including procurement of weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, and financial transactions associated with terrorists and/or terrorist organizations. The Act also allows roving wiretaps to be conducted in order to better track terrorists who are capable of detecting and avoiding detection.

The Act addressed shortfalls in criminal law for terrorist offenses as well. Harboring of terrorists is a new offense that is more severe than a “conspiracy before the fact” charge, which is not applicable unless there was actually a crime. Other conspiracy offenses were upgraded as well to address the severity of the offenses, especially attacking critical infrastructure and interference with flight crews. The Act further addressed aging laws that did not account for 21st Century technology. While not solely for terrorist acts, the Act allows law enforcement to monitor and investigate hackers, which will be especially useful as terrorists yearn to use the Internet as a force multiplier and attack America virtually.

It’s evident that the PATRIOT Act has provided many benefits for law enforcement and prosecutors, but it does have some shortfalls. There are many opponents of the Act who feel it infringes on civil liberties. As we get further away from the events of 9/11, resistance to the Act is increasing. In fact, in 2001 the Act only had one dissent, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), and no amendments; however, in the reauthorization act of 2006, the PATRIOT Act was watered down with amendments and 9 Senators joined Senator Feingold in dissent. Some of these amendments include narrowing the scope of delayed notification search warrants, which in effect can unravel an investigation.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one of the lead opponents of the PATRIOT Act. They suggest that the Act violates the First Amendment by authorizing investigations of American citizens for exercising their freedom of speech; Fourth Amendment by allowing foreign intelligence searches without probable cause; and Fifth Amendment by allowing indefinite incarceration and denying due process.

Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once said “the Constitution is not a suicide pact” and his quote was the rallying cry for the changes needed to better protect the homeland, even if we had to yield some of our civil liberties. The changes came in the PATRIOT Act and law enforcement agencies are now better equipped to prevent, detect, and deter attacks on the homeland and have succeeded since September 11, 2001.

Terrorists are trying to get to us every day. They only have to be lucky once – we have to stop them every time. We must not be caught sleeping again and if we don’t enable our law enforcement and intelligence agencies with capabilities granted in the PATRIOT Act, we will give the terrorists another advantage.

Share on Facebook

Polls vs. Election Day – What will happen Tuesday?

Election day is right around the corner and the pollsters have been all over the place. I went to the Washington Post and used their interactive election map to see what might happen. No science here – just what I think will happen when people go to the voting booth and have to make a real decision on the future. It’s easy to answer a phone call and say what you think, but will that be the same answer on election day?

This is my prediction…what does yours look like?

Second Amendment and Fully Automatic Weapons

Last weekend, an 8 year-old Massachusetts boy was killed after he lost control of an Uzi submachine gun and shot himself in the head. A third-grader shooting an Uzi – are you kidding me?!

Let me start by saying I believe in everyone’s Second Amendment right to bear arms. I have a Class A license to Carry in Massachusetts and I am a member of the NRA. We all have an inalienable right to bear arms that allows us to lawfully protect life and property.

The Second Amendment assures: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

The first clause leads some to believe the Second Amendment was intended to provide for militias and that is partially true. James Madison once wrote “The Constitution preserves “the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

The second clause is what guarantees a right to bear arms that all citizens had prior to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Samuel Adams’ comments affirm this notion – “That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms … “

That brings us to the tragic accident with the 8 year-old boy. I am quite certain that throughout history, boys (and girls) learn how to fire a gun at a very young age. Some start with a BB gun; some a .22 rifle; some a small caliber handgun, but there is no reason for children to be firing automatic weapons!

WARNING: I am about to commit heresy here, so if you are a fan of automatic weapons, stop reading.

Firearms should be for two reasons – protection of life/property and hunting (and target practice that goes along with those two). I believe that was the intent of the Second Amendment – not to allow people to own an arsenal of automatic weapons that serve no rational purpose.

Fully automatic weapons, like the Uzi, are firearms that continue to fire as long as you depress the trigger and there is ammunition. Is that necessary for protection of life/property or hunting?! Hardly. Even Law Enforcement agencies who have a valid reason for using automatic weapons will seldom use weapons like an HK-MP5
on fully automatic because it’s hard to control. Once you fire the first burst, it’s anyone’s guess where the rest will go. That’s me in the picture to the right shooting an MP5 at the range. Single shot was dead on, but I was all over the place on semi-automatic, never mind automatic.

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 legislated a 10 year ban on “assault weapons”. It was not renewed in 2004 for a few reasons, one of which was because it was too broad – it should have focused on fully automatic weapons that truly had little use other than murder and mayhem.

Coincidentally, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where this young boy was killed, has an assault weapons ban signed by Governor Mitt Romney in 2004.

Bottom line - There is no rational reason for private citizens to own, possess or use fully automatic weapons.

To Drill or not to Drill – That is the Question

After months of record oil prices that caused a lot of pain at the pump, we are finally seeing some relief, but don’t be fooled, we still have a problem.

According to the DoE, the top 5 oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, China, and the United States. Twenty-five percent of the U.S. crude comes from offshore wells, but over 58% of our crude oil used in the U.S. comes from other countries.

Moreover, crude oil isn’t used only for gasoline. It’s used for fuel oil, jet fuel, diesel, liquid petroleum gases, lubricants, asphalt, and many other products.

While I fully agree we need to be more environmentally friendly and reduce our dependency on oil, our first goal must be to reduce our dependency on foreign oil (the 58% previously mentioned). It’s is just not logical to think that we will be able to wave a magic wand and reduce our >20 million barrel/day appetite.

Thus, the choice comes down whether we continue to get our oil from foreign countries and allowing it to impact our national security – or – we find/get more oil domestically.

Some will try to convince us that the oil offshore would take 10 years to hit the market and wouldn’t even make a difference. I bet Brazil said the same thing and now they are looking at 8 billion barrels offshore that will put them in the top 10 for oil producers!

I say let’s get crackin’. We have put this on the back burner for far too long and had we seriously looked at this problem over 10 years ago, we would have never had the problem we had.

Two things will happen if we allow offshore drilling: first, the markets will respond and realize that we are seriously going to attack this and prices will continue to fall. OPEC won’t even be able to control it at that point. Second, we will find ways to extract the oil much faster and safer and we will have the oil out in a few years not 10 years as opponents profess.

Drill here. Drill now. Don’t put off decisions until we go back up to over $100/barrell!