Presidential Ramblings

December is when we hold our annual meeting. This is our best attended meeting, but this fact is undoubtedly due to John Patrick rather any sense of excitement over the club elections. DACS is a corporation and just like all of the corporations in the news lately, the owners (members) of the corporation elect a board of directors as their representatives. The board then selects officers to handle the day to day operation of the corporation (club). Given all the recent news about corporate governance, it should come as no surprise that DACS has a skeleton in it's the closet.

When I was elected to the board last year, I found that the club bylaws limited directors to serving two terms. At that point, I was the only "legal" director. Now I want to immediately make clear that everyone on the board is an honest, hard working person doing what he or she believes to be the best interest of the club. Plus they had all totally forgotten about the term limits in the bylaws. Presently we elect directors to a term of two years and stagger the terms of directors to ensure continuity on board.

So, in addition to electing a slate of directors, we have the opportunity to bring the bylaws into conformance with what has been the practice of the club since before it was incorporated. Personally I have mixed emotions about this change. I thought term limits were a good idea for Congress, and I think those same benefits could apply to other organizations as well. However the decision is up to you, the members. Please read the proposed amendment and vote what you think is best for the club.

Homeland Security Act

There is a little known provision in the Homeland Security Act that creates what might be the biggest software project since "Star Wars" of the Regan era--the Total Information Awareness Program. This project will allow the federal government to collect records on every thing you do: every charge card transaction, every book you buy or check out from the library, every time you use your EasyPass, every travel ticket you purchase. Given all this information, the feds could trace all of your activities every day of the week. Could this information help catch terrorists? Possibly. Could this information be abused? Definitely! A version of this bill has already passed the House. Please call, write or email both of our senators and tell Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Dodd how you feel about the federal government watching everything you do. Remember, they will not be watching just the terrorists or even just criminals or suspected criminals, they will be watching YOU. It may make you feel better to know that this entire program will be run from within the Pentagon.