President's Message
Issue 1.10
January 2006

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a joyous holiday season.

Before I get in to the nuts and bolts of this months column I’d like say something to the thousands of our fellows Americans who are at this moment on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq… Thank you, and God bless you.

News & Notes
Annual Meeting Recap–We held our annual meeting in December. Sean Henderson & Lisa Leifels were elected to the board directors; they join incumbents Howard Berger, Charles Bovaird, Richard Corzo, John Gallichotte, Bill Keane, Bruce Preston, Jeff Setaro, Jim Scheef & Jamie Yates. Lisa and Sean replace retiring directors Marc Cohen and Anna Collens. I’d to thank Marc & Anna for their tireless dedication and service to DACS. They’ll both be missed.

Election of Officers–In March the board of directors will be electing the officers who will conduct the day-to-day operations of DACS for the coming year. Currently we have five officers - President, two Vice Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer. I’d like to add another vice president who will be responsible for marketing and public relations. If you’re interested, please contact me or any board member.

Changes–We’re looking into making some changes to the format of the general meetings. Before we make any final decisions, I’d to hear your ideas. E-mail me with your comments, criticisms and/or suggestions.

Commentary

Blogs Matter
I’m an information junkie; I routinely read the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The New York Sun, and The Times of London. I’ve also taken to reading a variety of blogs, for news and analysis.
Blogs have had a fundamental effect on the way we gather and exchange information. It wasn’t that long ago that the delivery of news and analysis was controlled by a relatively small number of “media companies.” That’s changed dramatically over the last decade—first with Matt Drudge “searching the wires looking for fires” and now with an ever increasing number of bloggers who are relentlessly searching the news wires for stories that might otherwise go unnoticed, or who provide commentary and analysis on the major events of the day.
In addition to commentary and analysis, bloggers often provide valuable first hand accounts of events. A case in point is many soldiers who blog about their experiences in Iraq… If you haven’t read their blogs, please do. The stories they tell provide an important balance to reporting done by the major media outlets.

Some of my favorite’s are:
· They Call Us, “Doc”, (http://278medic.blogspot.com/),
· J Barne’s Coffee Shop (http://jbarnescoffee.blogspot.com/),
· Major K. (http://www.visetveneratio.com/),
· America’s Son (http://americas-son.blogspot.com/),
· One Marine’s View (http://shepherdaway.blogspot.com/),
· A Soldier’s Diary (http://soldiersdiary110.blogspot.com/),

Some of my other favorite blogs include:
· The American Thinker (http://www.americanthinker.com/),
· Power Line (http://www.powerlineblog.com/),
· Captain Quarters (http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/),
· ThreatsWatch (http://www.threatswatch.org/),
· F-Secure’s Antivirus Research Weblog (http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/),
· Mark Russinovich’s Sysinternals Blog (http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/).
Check them out.

End Notes
I’ve been making concerted effort to catch up on reading of late. Here’s my winter reading list so far. If you have any suggestions send me an e-mail.

· Chain of Command, by Caspar Weinberger and Peter Schweizer,
· Consent to Kill : A Thriller, by Vince Flynn,
· White, by Christopher Withcomb,
· Inside CentCom: The Unvarnished Truth About the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, by Michael DeLong,
· The Last Big-Gun Naval Battle: The Battle of Surigao Strait, by Howard Sauer,
· The American St. Nick, by Peter Lion,
· War Stories III: The Heroes Who Defeated Hitler, by Oliver L. North and Joe Musser.

That’s it for this month… Your comments & questions are always welcome. You can reach me at jasetaro@mags.net or jasetaro@yahoo.com.

—Jeff Setaro