The View From the Outback© 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
A great deal of what we read in newspapers, magazines, and books, and what we see in the movies and on TV is written and produced in New York City or Los Angeles. Much of the "political wisdom" comes from the PR machines of the White House, the Congress, and from the Washington media corps. In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood. I am now a senior citizen, in my 7th decade. My experience was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. Some insights come from talking with ham-radio operators in every major country and such idyllic places as the Cook Islands. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 15 years. Since most visits to my pages come from searches, I am no longer trying to keep on a regular schedule for updating the Outback. Click on a Topic to go directly to that topic. Feb. 2, 2006: Rather consistently, I am able to answer from four to six questions on JEOPARDY! that the contestants are unable to answer. Most always, the questions relate to life experiences, sports I have played, the various careers I have had, my stateside and international travel, ham-radio contacts with over 200 countries, and just being aware of what is going on around me. The point is: the contestants have read most of the great literature, have memorized various facts books and historical facts. But, they often do not know what is actually happening in the world around them, both in the U.S. and overseas. I prefer to know what might affect my life, or make it more enjoyable, rather than what Queen Victoria ate for lunch. When are the contestants on "Wheel of Fortune" going to start listening to me? Many moons ago, I postulated a theory that if you had around $1500 on the board and knew the answer to the puzzle - solve it! The incidence of Bankrupt with those carrying a total over $1500 are statistically very high. Just today, a lady had about $5000, and the puzzle's answer was pretty obvious. She chose to spin again. I yelled, "I hope you go bankrupt!" And she did. It happens over and over and over again. A bachelor's lament: When I am making love to my imaginary girl friend, I fantasize that she is Charlize Theron. You would hope that AP and Reuters would try to just report the news, since they are quoted verbatim in literally thousands of newspapers. For example, here is a typical report from Reuters, but it just as well could have been from AP: "Alito joining the nation's highest court could move it to the right on abortion and other social issues." Yes and he could move it to the left or toward the center. Justices have a history of not following the playbook that everyone thinks is given to them by the president who appoints them. Give this "He's going to overturn Roe v Wade" a rest. We just don't know what he will do. In fact, he probably does not know until he is on the Court and a set of facts is put before him. Jan. 26, 2006: In the Outback for June 19, 2004 I wrote about "Wives's Financial Veto Power." A recent article in The Washington Times stated that women control 88 percent of electronic purchases, whether they make the purchase or influence what their spouse (or cohabiting boyfriend?) buys. This is changing much of how electronic equipment is marketed and how it is displayed in showrooms. Something is wrong with this picture. Men, I leave it to you to discuss this with your spouse, if you have the nerve - and a comfortable couch. Jan. 26, 2006: It took a long time for my observations about environmental and animal-rights terrorists to be vindicated. In the Outback for March 24, 2001, in writing about these ecoterrorists, I said in part: Recently, the Justice Department released a 65-count indictment against 11 members of an ecoterrorist group who used fire and explosives to damage or destroy facilities to which they objected. What took them so long? Jan. 25, 2006: Ford has joined GM in announcing massive layoff plans. In the Hazelwood, Missouri, Ford assembly plant, the average wage (with overtime) is $65,000 per year, twice the normal salary statewide. (Wash Post) Add to that the generous health and pension benefits and contributions to a fund that pays out-of-work employees, and it is easy to see why foreign car sales are up and domestic auto-company sales are down dramatically. There are a lot of teachers, fireman, policemen, white-collar workers - and even many in middle-management who would like to make $65,000 a year, plus have a terrific benefit package. Of the nearly 40 foreign-car assembly plants in the U.S., none are unionized. These companies looked at the wages (around $30 an hour) and benefit packages of the big American auto makers and decided they could not be competitive, and/or make a profit, with these kinds of labor agreements. Now, the United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders say that the layoffs are going to make for more difficult bargaining agreements. They mean, I am sure, that they are going to ask for more or at least cling stubbornly to a pay structure that has handsomely rewarded factory workers while literally bankrupting the car companies. Fine, Mr. UAW. Stick to your guns. Then, when the major U.S. car companies are all bankrupt, some of the workers can migrate to the growing foreign-car workforce in the United States. In that arena, there will be no unions, but fair pay and good treatment of the workers. The UAW can then devote its energies to looking after the workers in the go-cart industry - or whatever. They brought this all on themselves with what many view as "extortion" over many decades. Jan. 25, 2006: Each time I see an article from a respected source that advocates the "off label" use (that is, not approved by the FDA for the particular use) of Amiodarone for Atrial Fibrillation (AFIB), I lose more respect for the medical profession. Here are some comments from a recent article by several doctors: "Amiodarone .... has numerous side effects involving the thyroid, liver, lung, eye, and skin that significantly limit its use. Given the cumulative toxicity of amiodarone, it is often not considered an appropriate choice of therapy for younger patients with a longer life expectancy." Terrific! Don't take a chance with screwing up younger patients, but it is apparently okay to foist the "cumulative toxicity" off on older people. Very comforting. The Statin Hyperbole Press-Release Factory has been strangely silent in recent weeks. In fact, the only prominent mention I found was a news release that said in two studies statins had not been found to help prevent Cancer. Could it be that they have run out of diseases and medical conditions for which they can claim statins will help? If so, this will be only a temporary lull. The 800-pound-statin Gorilla has a voracious appetite that must be fed. Jan. 22, 2006: Until I saw a promo for "Miss America," I did not know that Country Music Television (CMT) was in my list of subscribed channels on satellite TV. My son and I handicapped the contest via cell phone. He picked Miss Oklahoma as soon as she appeared in the initial lineup. I spread my first-round picks over Miss D.C, Texas, Florida, and Georgia. During the talent competition, Miss Oklahoma, Jennifer Berry, did a ballet number with considerable skill. I called my son. "Unless Miss Georgia plays classical piano, she is out of this thing. People love girls who play classical piano." I had never heard the name of Miss Georgia, Monica Pang, until this telecast. And then came the classical piano solo. I laughed so hard at my "off-the-wall" piano comment coming true, that I could not enjoy the piano solo. She's back! Finally, it came down to either Miss Oklahoma or Miss Georgia.
After the "common question" segment, I called my son. "Your girl, Miss Oklahoma, is in." Here is my theory as to why Miss Georgia lost. Two times, Monica Pang spoke about the "the stigma of growing up as an Asian-American." Her dad is Chinese, her mom is white. She is so young, that I question how much of a stigma there is today against Asian-Americans, half-blacks like Halle Berry, and so on. In fact, in my book, they have a leg up on the "cookie-cutter" blondes and brunettes in America. So, I don't think Monica should have played the "race-pity card." I'm sure it turned off a lot of people, myself included. And it did not help that during the "common question," she got flustered and started to describe her Chinese father as "blonde with blue eyes," when she meant to describe her mother. Monica, being Asian-American is a plus for you. Stop apologizing for it. Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segments on his TV show are a depressing look into the failure of our educational system. Here is a great question for Jay to ask: "When is the birthday of Jesus Christ? Just tell me the month and day - not the year."
If I see one more use in computer and electronic reporting of the phrases "it sports a wide screen..." or "it weighs in at 5 pounds," I am going to hit myself in the head with a frying pan. Wait! Why punish myself? It is the trite writers and editors who need to be smacked up side the head. An inanimate object likely cannot "sport" anything. Dictionary: "to wear or display something, usually proudly or with the intention of impressing others." A computer cannot "weigh in." Boxers and jockeys "weigh in." A person can "weigh in," that is, express an opinion. A computer weighs five pounds - period. Leno and Letterman, and virtually every Internet news site, commented on the study that concludes that having a TV in your bedroom will cut your sex life in half. This is very old news. Every book or article I have ever read about getting proper sleep says to use a bedroom for only two things, sex and sleep. A lot of TV shows depict couples in bed, with one or both reading a book or magazine. There are better ways to spend your time. FYI: the Italian study showed that those without a TV in the bedroom had sex twice a week. Whatever happened to twice a day? Ah, the pressures of modern living. What sacrifices we make. The Senate hearings for Supreme Court justice nominee Judge Sam Alito were a joke, as these hearings tend to be. Alito was not going to say anything that would give a clue as to how he would vote on any issue. The Republicans mostly gave speeches in which they praised the Judge or attacked the Democrat's line of questioning. Democrats would do the same thing if the candidate was a Democrat. The Democrats, desperate to derail the seating of a conservative judge, mostly grasped at straws, and/or insulted the judge or impugned the judge's integrity. Additionally, they talked for minutes (up to nine minutes non-stop) making a speech about Democratic issues dear to them, before they ever got around to a question. Thanks to "Comedy Central" for the great split-screen gabfest posing as questions. My favorite Democrat, Sen. Joe Biden, suggested that maybe we ought to just skip the hearings in the future. "Just go to the Senate floor and debate the nominee's statements," Joe said, "instead of this game." Amen. Surely the Senators have something better to do with their time, like take bribes from lobbyists or do fund raising. New football helmets may reduce the number of concussions suffered. But what about the outside of a helmet? Smashing into another player helmet-to-helmet is like hitting him with a sledge hammer. Has anyone given any thought to also putting some padding on the outside of the helmets? What difference would a little more weight make to players who have necks the size of tree trunks? There is little hope for the U.S. Postal Service. Both the local post office and a larger one in a nearby town ran out of 2-cent and 1-cent stamps by the day the rate went up to 39-cents for a first-class letter. The total stamp sales are logged into a computer and sent via satellite, presumably to HQ in Washington. The post office should know exactly how many pieces of first class mail they handle. Would it have been too hard to subtract the number of pieces of mail handled in recent months from the number of 37-cent stamps sold - to come up with a ballpark figure for how many 37-cent stamps were issued but not yet used? The problem is that individual stamp sales by value are not transmitted - only the total sales! Duh. And regional distribution centers apparently sold 2-cent stamps on an arbitrary basis to branch post offices, some getting 50,000 and some as few as 100 stamps. They should have let Wal-Mart, Best-Buy, UPS, or Fed-EX handle the transition, since they know how to do inventory control and tracking. Oh, and the USPS.gov is using tracking Cookies. Not on my computer, since I don't buy anything from the PO online - and block cookies. Update Feb. 17, 2006: Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, testifying before a Senate committee said: "Our logistics capability in Katrina was woefully inadequate. I was astonished to see we didn't have the capability most 21st-century corporations have to track the flow of goods and services." He announced reforms that he hopes will go some way toward making FEMA more like FedEx or DHL. Gee, Mike, I could have told you that DHS, or any government entity, like the U.S. Postal Service is still operating in the "green eyeshade" era, without a clue about inventory control, tracking, etc. The new U.S. First Class stamp costs 39-cents for one (1) ounce. A two ounce letter costs 63-cents (39-cents + 24-cents). Why didn't the USPS make the new stamp 40-cents? This oddball pricing is ridiculous. Compared to rates overseas, our postage rates are a real bargain. Ham-radio friends in Europe and elsewhere speak of First Class International mail being as high as $2.00 an ounce! Our overseas rate is now 84-cents for a 1/2 ounce letter. The magic word is "privatize." The Post Office is closed today for yet another one of their many holidays - Martin Luther King Day. Suppose someone had asked MLK, "In remembering you, would you want the government to close down for that day?" He might have replied, "They have too many holidays already. Just print a stamp with me on it, and stay open on my birthday in order to sell those stamps." I poked fun at SBC when they bought AT&T - for all the expense it would be to rename SBC into AT&T. Corporate honchos thought AT&T had better name recognition than SBC. And they changed AT&T to at&t (a brilliant inspiration?), and slightly changed the blue bands on the AT&T globe. Now, AT&T is running ads which in essence say "Don't worry about your service from at&t. SBC is really the solid core behind your at&t service." For this they get paid millions. For at least 17 years, I have been using WordPerfect instead of Word. Recently, a friend sent me a complicated Word document, with photos, tables, charts, and so on. I imported it into WordPerfect 12 and it was perfect. WP12 will also publish a document to HTML or PDF. What a shame that through its monopoly position with computer makers Microsoft was able to install Word exclusively on millions of computers - before they got sued. One reason I build my own computers is so that I don't have to "accept" Microsoft Office, McAfee antivirus, et al., on my hard drive. Deleting some of these programs can cause many problems. Now, Microsoft has a beta suite of virus, spyware, etc., programs. I'll stick with EZ-antivirus, ZoneAlarm Pro, and Webroot's Spy Sweeper, thank you. By the way, Microsoft has a free PowerPoint Reader program available for download. Almost half of the 31,750 people treated at Duke University for major heart problems in a seven-year study acknowledged that they were not taking beta blocker drugs, aspirin and cholesterol-lowering drugs exactly as their doctors had ordered. Some give up because of bothersome side effects. Some quit because of the cost of drugs. I suspect that the majority simply find it too much trouble or don't see any overt benefit from the drugs. So, they quit taking the meds or take them sporadically. Abrupt withdrawal from some drugs can have serious, even life-threatening, consequences. Doctors need to do a better job of monitoring compliance with drug regimens. One way is to constantly impress upon the patient (and family members) that the results might not be apparent, but the results of skipping the drugs might become apparent - an early death. And to report any perceived bothersome side effect immediately. Another way is to monitor refill orders by patients. If a patient has a prescription that is supposed to last for 90 days and they only seek a renewal in six months, that is a red flag. It would also help if doctors spent more time trying to determine the exact nature of a medical problem and not reach for the prescription pad to get the patient out of the office quicker. From copious research over the years, I know that as a nation we are grossly, grossly, over-prescribed. "Ask your doctor if XXXXXX is right for you," the TV ads intone. Probably not, or he/she would have already prescribed it. Three recent experiences have brought home to me something that I already knew - but with added emphasis. I had a brief chance to subscribe to a cable modem while living temporarily in another city. Back here in the Outback, with only a dialup connection, I put a new hard drive in my computer and did a fresh installation of Windows XP and all of my programs - with untold updates. And, the local library, in a town of about 1700 people, has a WiFi connection in the reference room. Programs increasingly have huge updates (into the 30MB range), which would take several hours to download on a rural dialup connection. More and more software is being sold via "download." My new install of WinXP SP2 greeted me with 32 updates on the Microsoft Update Web site, and took nearly two hours to download. Unless your have infinite patience, or your family does not ever care about making phone calls on your single line, you are virtually precluded from downloading paid-for music, movies, watching large streaming-video files, or the newest wrinkle "video-on-demand." You cannot send or receive a large e-mail attachment. I have to caution friends not to send any large .JPG files or even a lengthy Word document as an e-mail attachment. I set my Eudora Pro 7 e-mail to reject incoming mail over 400KB. If I see a larger one being rejected, I go to Webmail and see who it is from and try to get a clue as to how useful the file would be to me. To pay a single bill at my online banking site takes several minutes, waiting for the various screens to load and the passwords to be accepted. Today, I updated my antivirus engine and then downloaded over 3MB of virus definitions to get current. While that was going on, I completely cleaned off a conference table loaded with junk and papers, made some rice, sorted through several boxes from my move, and charged some batteries. My family and friends know to call me on my cell phone, because my landline is nearly always busy. For surfing now, I use Propel accelerator on AcademicPlanet and block all graphics on most pages by right-clicking in Firefox 1.5 and checking "block images." I also use Flashblock in Firefox to keep those KB-intensive Macromedia ads and splashy content from loading. I am basically down to what amounts to reading text files on the Web, or I would never get through my appointed rounds. Even though I have Web pages currently on Neto.com and Earthlink.net, I use AcademicPlanet to surf, get my e-mail, and FTP to my sites, because the other two ISPs never log me on faster than 28.8 - and AcademicPlanet ranges from 37.2 to 40kbps. To add to the irony, AcademicPlanet is the cheapest of the three, if you don't count introductory offers. There is a chance that a Wireless network may soon be able to reach out here in the sticks, or that the new WildBlue satellite will prove to be dependable (max 1.5 Mips for about $80 a month!), or that maybe by the end of the year, we might have BPL (broadband over powerlines). In the meantime, I spend up to an hour or two a day just keeping my programs up to date. Not to mention the time I sit and pick my nose waiting for Web pages to load during my daily scan of about 10 news sources. I don't know how anybody with a real job can keep their computer current on a dialup connection. Remember, out here a 56K modem logs on anywhere from 26.4 to a max of 40kbps. I am not building or buying another computer until I get broadband. My beloved home-built Athlon 64, with 2GB of RAM, two hard drives, a DVD/CD-ROM reader drive, a DVD burner, and two LCD monitors run from a Matrox dual-output card, is increasingly becoming a boat anchor, as content provider assume that you have broadband. After I finished this piece, I went to four auto maker's sites on the Web. Every one had Flash! One startup screen said it was going to be 890KB. Not on a dialup, thanks. They apparently don't care about selling trucks or cars in the country, only in cities to people who have broadband. Lifespan - A Graduated ScaleIn the Outback for Nov. 16, 2005 - and following, I posted these comments: Dec. 8, 2005: U.S. life expectancy has hit another all-time high — 77.6 years.... I find it depressing that apparently I have only 3.7 more years to live. Probably that 77.6-years average includes those who smoke, never exercise, eat donuts for breakfast, drive 20 miles over the speed limit, do not wear a seat belt, drink and drive, drink alcohol excessively, live in smog-ridden large cities with anxiety-producing traffic, fight with their wives, bungee jump, get 3 hours of sleep a night, don't have a rubber mat in the shower, engage in promiscuous sex with partners of questionable health profiles, snort Cocaine, inject Heroin, smoke Crack, and take life too seriously. Life is too serious to be taken seriously. My assumptions about mitigating factors in lifespan are borne out by several bits of subsequent information from various sources. My health-insurance provider sent me a book covering many health-care issues. One topic is life expectancy. In a chart, it became obvious that the longer you live, the better is your chance at exceeding the "normal" life expectancy. And there are mitigating factors which you can quantify to arrive at an "adjusted lifespan." In the chart, if you are a White male, age 60, your unadjusted life expectancy is 80 years of age. If you are 70, your unadjusted life expectancy is 83 years of age. That really says "the longer you live, the longer you can expect to live beyond the average lifespan." Accompanying the chart are some questions about lifestyle, which can add or subtract from the projected lifespan age listed in the chart. If you never smoked, you add two years. Wear a seatbelt and you can add one year. Drink alcohol in moderation, you add one year, and so on. The chart ends at age 70. I used the available progression to arrive at an unadjusted lifespan for a 74-year-old to be about 84. When I added in my "brownie points" for lifestyle, I came up with a projected lifespan of 91 years. Now, you're talking! Forget that 77.6 year average lifespan nonsense. At www.liveingto100.com, Doctor Thomas Perls, a longevity expert, has a lifespan quiz of 50 questions about your health and family history. You then get a projected lifespan when you press the last button. Dr. Perl says that "most healthy people are genetically engineered to live to about 88." Women, on average, live 10 years longer than men. I tried to answer the questions truthfully. Perhaps I exaggerated the lifespan of my grandparents, because I have no firm data on their lifespan. I just remember that my Grandma lived to be quite old. When I finished answering the questions and clicked to get my answer, the result shocked me. "Congratulations! You will live to be 97." I have now averaged this rosy prediction with the one derived from the health book chart and quiz and have settled on a probable lifespan. I will live to be about 94-years-old, give or take a year or two. Adjusting once again for not being married or in a satisfying ongoing relationship, and the fact that my dog died (don't scoff - pets are important, especially if you live alone), my figure is age 90. Adjusting again for overall health, I regress to age 88. Even so, I am going to start looking in earnest for a younger woman. Of course, a 65-year-old woman is a "younger woman" to me. There is probably a placebo effect from thinking you will live to a ripe-old-age. If you think positively about your chances for living a long and healthy life, you probably add years just by being optimistic. All of this prognosticating did not focus on past diseases or surgical procedures. For example, if you have had a heart bypass operation, where does that put you on the life-expectancy scale, once you have considered all the lifestyle and family-history implications? The bad news is that you had clogged arteries. The good news is that you got new ones attached to the heart. But the newly-attached arteries or veins have their own lifespan. Many experts claim that a bypass operation only relieves Angina pain and does not extend life. But, what about the fact that if your old ateries were severly blocked, you were suceptible to a heart attack? I will write more about this complex and controversial subject in a later piece. Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr., Henry Kissinger, and Larry King, for example, had heart bypass operations many years ago. That seems to portend well for the longevity of bypass patients. Alexander M. Haig had a triple bypass operation in April of 1980, when the operation was not as perfected as it is today. He was then about 55 years old. Last I checked, Mr. Haig is still with us. Henry Kissinger had a triple bypass in 1982 and is still active. Larry King had a heart attack, then quintuple (5) bypass surgery in 1987, and subsequent angioplasty. Although Larry is still yakking it up on CNN, he looks sickly to many. David Letterman had quintuple (5) bypass surgery on Jan. 14, 2000, at the age of 52. Dave is still just a kid, so we cannot learn much about the longevity of bypass patients from him. Some time back, he quit doing his classic toe-touch when he first came on stage. Who knows what that is all about. Bill Clinton had bypass surgery not all that long ago. But, he will not be statistically relevant, as he will no doubt die from being shot by an irate husband. NSA Intercepts Completely Politicized - Facts Don't CountThe NSA "Domestic Spying" discussion is largely devoid of facts. Democrats, the liberal media, and liberal law professors are completely distorting, and simply lying about, what the NSA signals intercept program is all about. I studied Constitutional law and criminal law under two of the finest legal scholars then in our universities. As an ATF agent, and later a CIA covert operative, I had experience in wiretapping and intercepting communications both in the United States and overseas. The ATF experience was in the U.S, and the CIA experience was completely outside the United States. In an almost unprecedented appearance, former NSA head Gen. Michael Hayden, now with the office of the Director of National Intelligence, made a speech and took questions at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. I saw that speech on C-SPAN and downloaded the complete text from www.dni.gov. One of my consistent themes in writing over the years about Federal-government surveillance programs is that they don't have the equipment, the time, or the manpower to cast a wide dragnet over innocent Americans. Gen. Hayden alluded to this with regard to the question of whether NSA is doing domestic spying. Here are some excerpts: "I said this isn’t a drift net. I said we're not out there sucking up comms and then using some of these magically alleged key word searches. ‘Did he say jihad? Let’s get --’ That is not -- do you know how much time Americans spend on the phone in international calls alone? Okay? In 2003, our citizenry was on the phone in international calls alone for 200 billion minutes. I mean, beyond the ethical considerations involved here, there are some practical considerations about being a drift net. This is targeted. This is focused. This is about al-Qaeda." "Those were really interesting times. As we were being criticized for being incompetent and going deaf, at the same time others seemed to be claiming that we were omniscient and we were reading your e- mails. The Washington Post and New Yorker Magazine during that time -- I'm talking 1999 now of 2000 -- they wrote, incorrectly, that -- and I'm quoting -- 'NSA has turned from eavesdropping on the communists to eavesdropping on businesses and private citizens." And that -- and I'm quoting again -- 'NSA has the ability to extend its eavesdropping network without limits.' We are also referred to as a, quote, 'global spying network that can eavesdrop on every single phone call, fax or e-mail anywhere on the planet.' " "You see, NSA had, NSA has an existential problem. In order to protect American lives and liberties, it has to be two things: powerful in its capabilities, and secretive in its methods. And we exist in a political culture that distrusts two things most of all: power and secrecy." "Let me repeat that: Inherent foreign intelligence value is one of the metrics we must use to ensure that we conform to the Fourth Amendment's reasonable standard when it comes to protecting the privacy of these kinds of people. If the U.S. person information isn't relevant, the data is suppressed. It's a technical term we use; we call it 'minimized.' The individual is not even mentioned. Or if he or she is, he or she is referred to as 'U.S. Person Number One' or 'U.S. Person Number Two.' " "You know, the 9/11 commission criticized our ability to link things happening in the United States with things that were happening elsewhere. In that light, there are no communications more important to the safety of this country than those affiliated with al Qaeda with one end in the United States. The president's authorization allows us to track this kind of call more comprehensively and more efficiently. The trigger is quicker and a bit softer than it is for a FISA warrant, but the intrusion into privacy is also limited: only international calls and only those we have a reasonable basis to believe involve al Qaeda or one of its affiliates." "Let me talk for a few minutes also about what this program is not. It is not a driftnet over Dearborn or Lackawanna or Freemont grabbing conversations that we then sort out by these alleged keyword searches or data-mining tools or other devices that so-called experts keep talking about." "So let me make this clear. When you're talking to your daughter at state college, this program cannot intercept your conversations. And when she takes a semester abroad to complete her Arabic studies, this program will not intercept your communications." "The purpose of all this is not to collect reams of intelligence, but to detect and prevent attacks. The intelligence community has neither the time, the resources nor the legal authority to read communications that aren't likely to protect us, and NSA has no interest in doing so." "Let me emphasize one more thing that this program is not -- and, look, I know how hard it is to write a headline that's accurate and short and grabbing. But we really should shoot for all three -- accurate, short and grabbing. I don't think domestic spying makes it. One end of any call targeted under this program is always outside the United States."When pushed about why NSA did not, or could not use FISA warrants to authorize the communications intercepts, the discussion got a little vague. Part of it has to do with the government not wanting to discuss "sources and methods." Anoher facet is the complex application process for FISA warrants which can take a very long time. This talk by Gen. Hayden was already much too specific for my tastes. More than we needed to know, perhaps. Since our enemies can watch C-SPAN. The "Sea Lawyers" among the media present pounded Gen. Hayden about the NSA warrantless intercepts being in violation of the Fourth Amendment's Search & Seizure provisions. Earlier, there had been what purported to be a hearing on the NSA intercepts before a sub-committee chaired by Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat. The only people I heard ask questions were Democratic Representatives. The witnesses I heard were at odds with the NSA program, including Johnathan Turley, a liberal law professor, and James Bamford, an author who has made a lot of money exposing NSA operations in two books (which I think border on treason). This "hearing," aka a Democratic Press Conference Trashing NSA and the President, ran the Search & Seizure argument into the ground. The conclusion of several was that the President was in criminal violation of the laws and should be impeached. That helped clear the air a lot. As simply as I can, here is the argument of the anti-NSA group regarding the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment says: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Gen. Hayden insisted that the only standard the NSA intercepts had to meet was that they were not "unreasonable." The opposition's contention was that there also had to be "probable cause" and a warrant. Well, this will end up in the Supreme Court and will not be decided by a gaggle of journalists, or "the-sky-is-falling" civil libertarians, or Democrats who are looking for a campaign issue. In the meantime consider this. Not every "search & seizure" requires a warrant - as long as it is not "unreasonable." If a policeman stops a car for an outdated license tag and sees a gun in the open on the front seat, he is justified in searching the car and driver to determine if a law is being broken. If the gun is illegally possessed, it can be entered into evidence at a trial, although no warrant was involved. There are many "stop and frisk" laws that have been held to be Constitutionally valid. Even a citizen can make an arrest without a warrant if he sees a felony being committed in his or her presence. So, why then, is it not possible, or even probable, that no warrant is needed to intercept communications, when they involve potential terrorists - and one end of the conversation is outside the United States? I would be comfortable with warrantless intercepts of terror suspects totally inside the United States, as would many, if not a majority of Americans. There has to be accountability, but there cannot be complete public openness in these matters. Congressional oversight, Inspector Generals, and leaks to the press for egregious violations, will all tend to smooth out the bumps. To repeat. The NSA program does not intercept conversations that are between two people inside the United States, and if such a call is inadvertently intercepted, it is taken out of the system and a notation made in a log that an inadvertent interception was made. To the media. It would help calm the waters if you stopped referring to the NSA program as a "domestic spying program," which it is not. And to the TV news producers. It would help if you stop showing telephone poles with nests of wires and speak of "wiretapping." Nobody at NSA is climbing up the pole outside your house to tap your phone. Somebody from the local police or the FBI might be doing that, but almost assuredly they will be acting under the authority of a court order. For the hundredth time, if you are not engaged in criminal activity or supporting terrorism, your phone will not be tapped, your overseas calls will not be monitored, and your e-mails will not be tracked - except by a fluke. The investigators have their hands full just trying to keep up with the actual threats. From my experience, they don't even do a very good job of keeping up with the real threats - due to lack of money, equipment, and manpower. If you had ever tried to process the "take" from just one wiretap or intercept, you would understand the inherent limitations. Update:Jan. 30, 2006: Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Debra Burlingame wrote in part: "Getting a FISA warrant requires a multistep review involving several lawyers at different offices within the Department of Justice. It can take days, weeks, even months if there is a legal dispute between the principals. 'Emergency' 72-hour intercepts require sign-offs by NSA lawyers and pre-approval by the attorney general before surveillance can be initiated. Clearly, this is not conducive to what Gen. Michael Hayden, principal deputy director of national intelligence, calls 'hot pursuit' of al Qaeda conversations." "NBC News aired an 'exclusive' story in 2004 that dramatically recounted how al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, the San Diego terrorists who would later hijack American Airlines flight 77 and fly it into the Pentagon, received more than a dozen calls from an al Qaeda 'switchboard' inside Yemen where al-Mihdhar's brother-in-law lived. The house received calls from Osama Bin Laden and relayed them to operatives around the world. Senior correspondent Lisa Myers told the shocking story of how, 'The NSA had the actual phone number in the United States that the switchboard was calling, but didn't deploy that equipment, fearing it would be accused of domestic spying.' Back then, the NBC script didn't describe it as 'spying on Americans.' Instead, it was called one of the 'missed opportunities that could have saved 3,000 lives.' " (Ms. Burlingame is a former attorney and the sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.) Please read the entire article, "Our Right to Security" By DEBRA BURLINGAME January 30, 2006; Page A18 WSJ. It is as insightful a piece as you will read about The Patriot Act and NSA intercepts. You should then no longer be inclined to side with the liberal media and liberal politicians and special-interest groups who talk about the NSA program as "Domestic Spying," or speak about the President's "unfettered use of power." And the absurd assertions that President Bush should be impeached for ordering the NSA intercepts of calls from the U.S. to foreign destinations, where there is a potential al Qaeda link on one end.Return to the List of TopicsCOPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I beg your forgiveness for the many mistakes that creep in. Suggested Reading From Past Columns Click Here for Suggested Reading List Archive of Back Issues Media List of Addresses and e-mails Postal Service State Abbreviations, etc. Postal Service Abbreviations - Richard C. Rhodes End |