A Leader?

Is this a statement of a leader or more of an adminstrator?

To make the government more accountable, Obama said he would post all
non-emergency bills online for five days before he signed them into law,
allowing Americans a chance to weigh in on the legislation.

So in those five day, he would let those who scream the most make up his mind.

A Right to Privately Fund Killing (Updated)

There are several lawsuits against the Bush administration's warrant less wiretapping program, but this one is reported to be the front runner in order to achieve a shut down of the program.

Legal experts say that of the dozens of lawsuits alleging civil rights violations by the secret surveillance program, the one involving the Oregon charity that al-Buthi controlled has the best shot of succeeding. That's because al-Buthi and his lawyers claim to have proof their communications were monitored: a top secret NSA call log accidentally turned over to the defense team by government officials.

They probably do have proof because in all likelihood they were tapped.

Soliman al-Buthi is a prominent religious leader in Saudi Arabia, a father of three and a ranking government official. He's also a terrorist, according to the United States and United Nations.

To me this sounds exactly what I would expect the government to looking into. Although if he is a suspect, why is there a problem in getting a warrant?

If the charges against Soliman al-Buti are true, then he has been raising charity money all around the world and directing a portion of it to terrorist organizations. With this lawsuit he essentially demanding we protect his rights to plot to kill us. Of course he is doing this through proxies because...

Al-Buthi was not expected to attend the hearing at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because he remains a fugitive in this country. He's also listed on an Interpol "no fly" list and is subject to arrest and deportation to the United States if he steps outside Saudi Arabia, which does not extradite its citizens.

So a man, that is a wanted fugitive, is looking out for our right to privacy, and his right to help kill us.

Update:

Crossroads Arbia is also commenting on this

UPDATE: March 2, 2006The Washington Post has further
details of this story.]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Civil rights attorneys have sued the National Security Agency, claiming it illegally wiretapped conversations between the leaders of an Islamic charity that had been accused of aiding Muslim militants and two of its lawyers.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland asks that electronic surveillance by the NSA be shut down, arguing the agency illegally wiretapped electronic communications between a local chapter of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, both attorneys in Washington, D.C.

If these allegation are true about both calls orginating in the US then it should not have fallen into the warrantless wiretap as far as I understand. But as one reads on in the story it is revealed that it wasn't commincation between the local chapter and the lawyers but between
the director in Saudi Arabia and the Lawyers.

According to a source familiar with the case, the records indicate that the National Security Agency intercepted several conversations in March and April 2004 between al-Haramain's director, who was in Saudi Arabia, and two U.S. citizens in Washington who were working as lawyers for the organization.

Now the lawyers are US citizens and should be granted a certain level of privacy if they are talking about the legal issues (No proof that they weren't, that I know of).

Militas and Gangs

I keep hearing about how the different militias are part of the problem when it comes to the violence in Iraq.

U.S. forces say they have had success, especially against Sunni Arab militants who were their main enemies for the first three years after the fall of President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

But they have faced more violence from Shi'ite militia, who they say have ties to neighboring Shi'ite Muslim Iran.

Now when I hear the term militia I think of the ones that were prevalent here in the states during the 80's and 90's. A bunch of people (mostly guys) sitting around on some compound gathering food, water and guns while they rant at the oppresion of government. Many of these people just want to be left alone, not pay taxes and blame others for their problems. I imagine they still exist but keep a much lower profile, because if the government frowns on large groups of well armed criminals that get a lot of publicity (While large groups of well armed, law abiding citizens only makes the democrats nervous).

US militia group didn't go around killing, kidnapping and destroying property on a regular bases like what is happening in Iraq.

Mahdi Army militiamen have cleansed entire neighborhoods of Sunni residents and seized Sunni mosques. Day by day, hundreds have been killed and thousands have fled their homes, seeking safety in the shrinking number of majority Sunni districts.

The closest examples that I can think that match up to the Iraqi miltias are the KKK (definently evil done in the name of God), organized crime, current gangland and the wild west gangs. None of the them are perfect matchs, but of them have an element of similarity.

Save, not Kill

Sandy Rios column over at Townhall is a very on spot look at the the homosexual crisis . May homosexual advocates equate disapproval to hate. Some carry it farther, since we disapprove then we must want them dead. I have said it before, killing in the name of God is a path of evil. Christians are suppose to be agents of love, not of death.

Meanwhile apostates like the "reverend" Fred Phelps represent the other side of this dangerous, deadly deception... purporting to be followers of Christ, while revealing their own side of evil by declaring "God hates fags." I've got news... God loves sinners, including fags and the rest of us so much that He sent His only son to die a brutal death to pay the penalty for their sin and ours.

We are not here to condem sinners to hell but to reach out to them so they don't go. And never forget, we are all sinners.

Utah Miners (update)

The news coming out of this disaster hasn't given any additional info about the fate of the 6 trapped miners, but has given a lot of speculation and finger pointing. What caused the cave-in is still in dispute, depending on your side. The company (and I mean from the CEO down to the miners) say it was caused by the earthquake. Those who oppose mining say that the cave-in was the seismic event. One thing for sure the individuals trapped don't care what caused right now. They may be trapped in total darkness right now. If they made it to the safe shelter, something all mines are required to develop and maintain, the could survive for quite sometime.

The miners have not been heard from since the mine, located in the Manti-La Sal National Forest in remote central Utah, caved in early on Monday. Officials say they could potentially survive for weeks in an underground chamber if they were not killed by the initial collapse.

Having actually been in one of these chambers, I have a good idea of what these individuals (I say individuals because women do have a very small but growing presence in mining) are faced with. If they are in an pre-made chamber, they have water, some food, possibly air if the lines didn't break and additional safety equipment. The requirements for these chambers are strictly enforced and if found deficient by MSHA, a Cease and Desist order would be issued during one of the quarterly inspection all underground mines receive.

The chamber I was in was design to hold up to 100 people for a week. Even with out an air supply, 6 people could remain alive for quite sometime. If they made in to a similar chamber then there is a real possibility they still live.

Senators being President

Martin Frost is not a someone I follow on a regular basis so I don't know much about him other than this story about senators possible being good presidents.

Senators do deal with foreign policy on a regular basis. Maybe electing someone with a demanding job like being a U.S. senator is not such a bad idea after.

I would whole hardly disagree with him on it though. I have never liked the idea of a senator being president. The biggest reason I am against it is because they really don't make decisions not the type of decisions a president, governors or even businessmen make. Senators get involved with a lot of committees, they make a lot of compromises and backroom deals and in truth accomplish very little on their own. They tend to focus on legalism and minor details without the greater/big picture view.

Martin Frank seems to think that sitting senators aren't elected because they don't have the time to campaign properly.

Thus it should come as no great surprise that no sitting member of the
United States Senate has been elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960. Senators have very demanding schedule...

While I think it has more to do with this second part.

... and they face the addition issue of actually having to cast
public votes on very controversial issues during the course of the
campaign.

They have to cast vote not just during but their past voting record comes in to play. John Kerry got cast as a flip flopper because of his voting record but almost any senator could be cast in the same light (except Obama because he really hasn't done anything). Even "Mr One Term" John Edwards got caught in this with his vote for action against Iraq. Hillary is caught up in this too. This is the reason, IMHO, why senators have a hard time, their records can be distorted too easy while still telling the truth. Senators have nuances and that is a bad thing to have as a presidential candidate.

Sidenote on Utah Mine Collapse

Let me first say that my prayers are with the the trapped miners. Over my mining career, I have only worked at one underground mine (not coal) and even then I think I went underground only about 10 times. But having that experience under my belt I see this excerpt a little different then most people.

Inspectors have cited Genwal for 30 violations in 2007, MSHA records show.
Recommended fines in the 10 cases where penalties have been leveled so far range
from $60 to $524.

Underground mines are inspected every quarter and always receive citations. The citations are divided up into three categories. The first being minor and are considered to be exceptions to the safety program. Something like a shovel or a hose not being where it should be. It could be one individual not wearing his safety belt. In general the minor violation are isolated events and are not consider a hazardous situation. When these minor violation become more numerous or repeated then that steps it up to a S&S.

Serious & Significant violations are what inspectors consider a hazardous work environment, an accident is imminent. These citations carry a heavy fine (in the thousands) and must be corrected in a reasonable time. If an operation does not correct them by the next visit, the repercussions are serious.

Which brings us to the next level, a Cease and Desist Order. This could be just the area where the violation occurred or the entire operation.

So back to the story, Genwal received 30 citation or an average of 7.5 per inspection. Only ten of them actual carried a fine and not a single one of then was an S&S. In the mining industry this is win and would have been seen as a very good year. Does this mean that Genwal ran safe mine? Without know their incident rate I can't say for sure but it is a good sign that they did.