{"id":655,"date":"2013-06-23T06:30:37","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T10:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=655"},"modified":"2013-06-23T08:17:51","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T12:17:51","slug":"presidents-reality-tv-and-technical-truth-telling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/presidents-reality-tv-and-technical-truth-telling\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidents, Reality TV<\/span> and Technical Truth-Telling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"People<\/a>

Peo\u00adple say the darn\u00add\u00adest things when \u201cCheaters\u201d host Joey Gre\u00adco catch\u00ades them in com\u00adpro\u00admis\u00ading posi\u00adtions. Pres\u00adi\u00addents, too, some\u00adtimes find them\u00adselves on the defen\u00adsive. When they do, we should think care\u00adful\u00adly about what they\u2019re saying.<\/p><\/div>\n

Admit it. You enjoyed the eight-year real\u00adi\u00adty show that was the Clin\u00adton White House as much as I did. Before there was \u201cCheaters,\u201d there was the Pres\u00adi\u00addent lyin\u2019 and denyin.\u2019 Before there was a \u201cReal House\u00adwives\u201d fran\u00adchise, there were rumors<\/a> of the First Lady throw\u00ading a lamp (or was it a Bible?) at her hus\u00adband (or was it a Secret Ser\u00advice agent)?  Before we were Keep\u00ading Up with the Kar\u00addashi\u00adans, we were delight\u00ading to gos\u00adsip about the First Fam\u00adi\u00adly of Dys\u00adfunc\u00adtion. The sto\u00adries didn\u2019t have to be true, only believ\u00adable. And they almost always were.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When Repub\u00adli\u00adcans resort\u00aded to the con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal arti\u00adfice of impeach\u00adment to try to can\u00adcel the show, we pun\u00adished them at the polls. As a reward, Pres\u00adi\u00addent Clin\u00adton promised to build us a \u201cBridge to the Twen\u00adty-First Cen\u00adtu\u00adry<\/a>,<\/span>\u201d  as though absent his inter\u00adven\u00adtion the earth would cease revolv\u00ading around the sun and we would be for\u00adev\u00ader trapped in 1999. But he must have built it because Jan\u00adu\u00adary 1, 2000 arrived right on sched\u00adule. (I know. The Twen\u00adty-First Cen\u00adtu\u00adry actu\u00adal\u00adly began in 2001, but the Pres\u00adi\u00addent insist\u00aded it began in 2000 and we all went along. Heck, we knew he didn\u2019t real\u00adly build a bridge, but we went along with that too.)<\/p>\n

Then came that frigid win\u00adtry day when we got a new Pres\u00adi\u00addent, one whose per\u00adson\u00adal life offered noth\u00ading of his predecessor\u2019s tit\u00adil\u00adla\u00adtion. He was fol\u00adlowed by Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma, whose high char\u00adac\u00adter, per\u00adson\u00adal integri\u00adty and devo\u00adtion to his fam\u00adi\u00adly make him, well, bor\u00ading as hell.<\/p>\n

Pres\u00adi\u00addent Clinton\u2019s depar\u00adture left a void that no mere Pres\u00adi\u00addent could fill. It\u2019s no coin\u00adci\u00addence that the ascen\u00addan\u00adcy of real\u00adi\u00adty TV<\/span> rough\u00adly coin\u00adcid\u00aded with the end of his tenure. In his absence, celebri\u00adty gos\u00adsip was too spo\u00adradic for our pruri\u00adent appetites. So Hol\u00adly\u00adwood began to man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adture sleaze for our con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adal consumption.<\/p>\n

Mean\u00adwhile, we find our\u00adselves con\u00adtem\u00adplat\u00ading a Hillary Pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adcy. Imag\u00adine her hus\u00adband back in the White House, this time with the trap\u00adpings of pow\u00ader but none of its encum\u00adbrances. The urge to reprise this 90s clas\u00adsic in the age of social media is irre\u00adsistible. Who needs Ken Starr when we will be get\u00adting the pho\u00adtos on Twitter?<\/p>\n

In the mean\u00adtime, we are stuck with the very upright Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma. Though he could not dif\u00adfer more from Pres\u00adi\u00addent Clin\u00adton, some lessons learned from his predecessor\u2019s Pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adcy are still rel\u00ade\u00advant. In par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar, we learned that when a Pres\u00adi\u00addent (or any oth\u00ader pub\u00adlic fig\u00adure, for that mat\u00adter) is on the defen\u00adsive, we need to pay strict atten\u00adtion to the words they use in their defense.<\/p>\n

When Pres\u00adi\u00addent Clin\u00adton, for exam\u00adple, emphat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly denied hav\u00ading \u201csex\u00adu\u00adal rela\u00adtions with that woman<\/a>,<\/span>\u201d he was using his own high\u00adly spe\u00adcial\u00adized def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtion <\/a>of \u201csex\u00adu\u00adal rela\u00adtions.\u201d When his lawyer claimed that \u201cthere is absolute\u00adly no sex of any kind in any man\u00adner, shape or form<\/a>\u201d between Clin\u00adton and his alleged para\u00admour, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent said that the truth\u00adful\u00adness of that claim \u201cdepends on what the mean\u00ading of the word \u2018is\u2019 is<\/a>.\u201d  Since the Pres\u00adi\u00addent was seat\u00aded at his lawyer\u2019s elbow when those words were uttered, the state\u00adment was tech\u00adni\u00adcal\u00adly true.<\/p>\n

I thought of Pres\u00adi\u00addent Clinton\u2019s tech\u00adni\u00adcal truth-telling as I looked over the tran\u00adscript of Pres\u00adi\u00addent Obama\u2019s recent inter\u00adview<\/a> with Char\u00adlie Rose.  The Pres\u00adi\u00addent seemed unchar\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly defen\u00adsive at Rose\u2019s gen\u00adtle but prod\u00adding interview.<\/p>\n

He made three points in sup\u00adport of NSA<\/span> pro\u00adgrams that col\u00adlect phone records and mon\u00adi\u00adtor online activ\u00adi\u00adties that I believe were telling. The first had to do with what the gov\u00adern\u00adment could and could not do under the pro\u00adgrams; the sec\u00adond with the pro\u00adgrams\u2019 pre\u00adsumed \u201cchecks and bal\u00adances\u201d that guard against abuse; the third with the pro\u00adgrams\u2019 pur\u00adport\u00aded successes.<\/p>\n

In deal\u00ading with what gov\u00adern\u00adment can and can\u00adnot do, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent said:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Now, one last point I want to make, because what you\u2019ll hear is peo\u00adple say, \u2018Okay, we have no evi\u00addence that it has been abused so far.\u2019  And they say, \u2018Let\u2019s even grant that Obama\u2019s not abus\u00ading it, that all these process\u00ades \u2014 DOJ<\/span> is exam\u00adin\u00ading it. It\u2019s being renewed peri\u00adod\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, et cetera \u2014 the very fact that there is all this data in bulk, it has the enor\u00admous poten\u00adtial for abuse,\u2019 because they\u2019ll say, you know, \u2018You can \u2014 when you start look\u00ading at meta\u00adda\u00adta, even if you don\u2019t know the names, you can match it up, if there\u2019s a call to an oncol\u00ado\u00adgist, and there\u2019s a call to a lawyer, and \u2014 you can pair that up and fig\u00adure out maybe this person\u2019s dying, and they\u2019re writ\u00ading their will, and you can yield all this infor\u00adma\u00adtion.\u2019 All of that is true. Except for the fact that for the gov\u00adern\u00adment, under the pro\u00adgram right now, to do that, it would be ille\u00adgal. We would not be allowed to do that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Pres\u00adi\u00addent begins by taunt\u00ading his crit\u00adics, sug\u00adgest\u00ading that they have no evi\u00addence that gov\u00adern\u00adment has \u201cabused\u201d the data it has secret\u00adly col\u00adlect\u00aded. That is obvi\u00adous since, giv\u00aden the program\u2019s secre\u00adcy, we\u2019re not allowed to know what the gov\u00adern\u00adment is doing with our data. More to the point, he does\u00adn\u2019t know either. It\u2019s true that the NSA<\/span> has pro\u00adce\u00addures in place that are sup\u00adposed to pro\u00adtect the infor\u00adma\u00adtion from abuse. It\u2019s also true that Edward Snow\u00adden, a 29-year-old con\u00adtrac\u00adtor, sat at his com\u00adput\u00ader ter\u00admi\u00adnal in Hawaii and some\u00adhow gained access to all sorts of infor\u00adma\u00adtion that he wasn\u2019t sup\u00adposed to have. Snow\u00adden is liv\u00ading proof that while the gov\u00adern\u00adment can gath\u00ader data, it can\u00adnot con\u00adtrol its use. The bur\u00adden is on the Pres\u00adi\u00addent to show that there are no Edward Snow\u00addens among NSA<\/span>\u2019s 30,000 employ\u00adees or among the employ\u00adees of oth\u00ader fed\u00ader\u00adal agen\u00adcies and their con\u00adtrac\u00adtors who can cir\u00adcum\u00advent inter\u00adnal con\u00adtrols and gain access to infor\u00adma\u00adtion they\u2019re not sup\u00adposed to have. He has not met that burden.<\/p>\n

His assur\u00adance that \u201cunder the pro\u00adgram right now\u201d it would be \u201cille\u00adgal\u201d for the agency to abuse our data looks sus\u00adpi\u00adcious\u00adly like tech\u00adni\u00adcal truth-telling. The \u201cright now\u201d recalls Pres\u00adi\u00addent\u2019 Clinton\u2019s \u201cdepends on what the mean\u00ading of the word \u2018is\u2019 is.\u201d It sug\u00adgests that the pro\u00adtec\u00adtion against abus\u00ades is oper\u00ada\u00adtive at this moment, but maybe not in the past or future. Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal safe\u00adguards have no expi\u00adra\u00adtion date.<\/p>\n

His assur\u00adance that cer\u00adtain abus\u00ades would be ille\u00adgal \u201cunder the pro\u00adgram\u201d is vac\u00adu\u00adous. \u201cThe pro\u00adgram\u201d is just that \u2013 a data col\u00adlec\u00adtion scheme estab\u00adlished by a fed\u00ader\u00adal agency. It is not a law. It makes noth\u00ading ille\u00adgal. So the President\u2019s asser\u00adtion that there are no abus\u00ades \u201cright now\u201d because \u201cunder the pro\u00adgram\u201d they would be \u201cille\u00adgal\u201d real\u00adly con\u00adcedes nothing.<\/p>\n

His effort to dif\u00adfer\u00aden\u00adti\u00adate him\u00adself from for\u00admer Vice Pres\u00adi\u00addent Dick Cheney, whom he believes was involved in improp\u00ader intel\u00adli\u00adgence gath\u00ader\u00ading, rests on a \u201csys\u00adtem of checks and balances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>My con\u00adcern has always been not that we shouldn\u2019t do intel\u00adli\u00adgence gath\u00ader\u00ading to pre\u00advent ter\u00adror\u00adism, but rather are we set\u00adting up a sys\u00adtem of checks and bal\u00adances? So, on this tele\u00adphone pro\u00adgram, you\u2019ve got a fed\u00ader\u00adal court with inde\u00adpen\u00addent fed\u00ader\u00adal judges over\u00adsee\u00ading the entire pro\u00adgram. And you\u2019ve got Con\u00adgress over\u00adsee\u00ading the pro\u00adgram, not just the Intel\u00adli\u00adgence Com\u00admit\u00adtee and not just the Judi\u00adcia\u00adry Com\u00admit\u00adtee \u2014 but all of Con\u00adgress had avail\u00adable to it before the last reau\u00adtho\u00adriza\u00adtion exact\u00adly how this pro\u00adgram works.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here the Pres\u00adi\u00addent, a for\u00admer law pro\u00adfes\u00adsor, must know that he is play\u00ading fast and loose with the Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion. He argues that, since all three branch\u00ades of gov\u00adern\u00adment have agreed to allow the NSA<\/span> to col\u00adlect our phone records, our lib\u00ader\u00adties have some\u00adhow been pro\u00adtect\u00aded. Not quite. It should first be not\u00aded that the FISA<\/span> \u201ccourt\u201d<\/a> is a unique body whose delib\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions are secret and whose deci\u00adsions are not sub\u00adject to Supreme Court review.<\/p>\n

More to the point, in issu\u00ading sweep\u00ading orders, the court behaves as though it were not teth\u00adered to the Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion. The Fourth Amend\u00adment <\/a>cre\u00adates a right of the peo\u00adple to be \u201csecure in their per\u00adsons, hous\u00ades, papers, and effects\u201d and stip\u00adu\u00adlates that gov\u00adern\u00adment can\u00adnot col\u00adlect your data with\u00adout a war\u00adrant.  War\u00adrants have to be spe\u00adcif\u00adic as to per\u00adson and the thing sought. That is a sub\u00adstan\u00adtive pro\u00adtec\u00adtion of your lib\u00ader\u00adty that no court can ignore. A court can\u00adnot con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly issue a war\u00adrant to scoop up everybody\u2019s phone records on the the\u00ado\u00adry that some\u00adbody some\u00adwhere is doing some\u00adthing ille\u00adgal and this might help catch him.<\/p>\n

Hav\u00ading failed both to estab\u00adlish the program\u2019s con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal basis for col\u00adlect\u00ading our data and to prove that it\u2019s not been mis\u00adused, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent offered a famil\u00adiar, though impor\u00adtant, final line of defense.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The one thing peo\u00adple should under\u00adstand about all these pro\u00adgrams, though, is they have dis\u00adrupt\u00aded plots, not just here in the Unit\u00aded States but over\u00adseas as well.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t mean at all to dis\u00adpute what the Pres\u00adi\u00addent says or to down\u00adplay its sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance. Ter\u00adror\u00adists already have suc\u00adceed\u00aded three times in car\u00adry\u00ading out fatal attacks on Amer\u00adi\u00adcans dur\u00ading his tenure. We all are grate\u00adful that there haven\u2019t been more.<\/p>\n

But there is great dan\u00adger in this \u201cend jus\u00adti\u00adfies the means\u201d line of argu\u00adment, how\u00adev\u00ader noble and impor\u00adtant the end might be. The framers estab\u00adlished lim\u00adits on gov\u00adern\u00adment, not so much because they feared that those who obtained pow\u00ader would delib\u00ader\u00adate\u00adly set out to harm the peo\u00adple. They lim\u00adit\u00aded its pow\u00ader because they knew that those with good inten\u00adtions would, in pur\u00adsuit of those inten\u00adtions, improp\u00ader\u00adly enlarge gov\u00adern\u00adment pow\u00ader at the expense of indi\u00advid\u00adual liberty.<\/p>\n

Gov\u00adern\u00adment pow\u00ader is nev\u00ader more dan\u00adger\u00adous than in the hands of those who are con\u00advinced that they are using it for the good of oth\u00aders. King George nev\u00ader saw him\u00adself as the colonists\u2019 oppres\u00adsor; in his mind at least, he was their pro\u00adtec\u00adtor. His inten\u00adtions were good. While the colonists might chafe under his min\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtions, he was only act\u00ading in their best inter\u00adests, or so he thought. The founders thought oth\u00ader\u00adwise and in throw\u00ading off the King\u2019s gen\u00adtle yoke they placed hard lim\u00adits on their new government.<\/p>\n

Those lim\u00adits are always in dan\u00adger of breach. The Pres\u00adi\u00addent has acknowl\u00adedged the dan\u00adger, telling Char\u00adlie Rose:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I\u2019ve stood up a pri\u00adva\u00adcy and civ\u00adil lib\u00ader\u00adties over\u00adsight board, made up of inde\u00adpen\u00addent cit\u00adi\u00adzens includ\u00ading some fierce civ\u00adil lib\u00ader\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adans. I\u2019ll be meet\u00ading with them. And what I want to do is to set up and struc\u00adture a nation\u00adal con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion, not only about these two pro\u00adgrams, but also the gen\u00ader\u00adal prob\u00adlem of data, big data sets, because this is not going to be restrict\u00aded to gov\u00adern\u00adment entities.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion spells out how to \u201cset up and struc\u00adture a nation\u00adal con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion.\u201d It\u2019s called Con\u00adgress. A board appoint\u00aded by the Pres\u00adi\u00addent lacks legal author\u00adi\u00adty to rein in gov\u00adern\u00adment over\u00adreach, how\u00adev\u00ader \u201cfierce\u201d its mem\u00adbers may be.  If the Pres\u00adi\u00addent were seri\u00adous in his inten\u00adtion to pro\u00adtect us against over\u00adly broad gov\u00adern\u00adment data col\u00adlec\u00adtion, he would do what he has done on issues that he cares about, like immi\u00adgra\u00adtion and gun con\u00adtrol: call on Con\u00adgress to pass leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adtion estab\u00adlish\u00ading clear lim\u00adits on gov\u00adern\u00adment snooping.<\/p>\n

Judg\u00ading from the President\u2019s care\u00adful\u00adly cho\u00adsen words, he appears dis\u00adin\u00adclined to do so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Admit it. You enjoyed the eight-year real\u00adi\u00adty show that was the Clin\u00adton White House as much as I did. Before there was \u201cCheaters,\u201d there was the Pres\u00adi\u00addent lyin\u2019 and denyin.\u2019 Before there was a \u201cReal House\u00adwives\u201d fran\u00adchise, there were rumors \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[158,268,19,157],"tags":[326,321,317,327,324,323,325,269,316,319,320,1191,315,1190,318,271,322,140],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-security","category-nsa","category-politics","category-terrorism","tag-bill-of-rights","tag-charlie-rose","tag-cheaters","tag-civil-liberties","tag-constitution","tag-edward-snowden","tag-fisa","tag-fourth-amendment","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-keeping-up-with-the-kardashians","tag-ken-starr","tag-nsa","tag-president-clinton","tag-president-obama","tag-real-houswives","tag-republicans","tag-surveillance","tag-white-house"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t