West Virginia Mine Explosion

UPDATE:
I'm bumping this to the top. I know most of my readers also read Kilo's blog. For those who don't (yes, both of you), he has kept me remarkably up to date on this tragedy.

Prayers are needed for 13 miners trapped underground by an explosion this morning.

At this time there is still no word as to suvivors, rescue attempts having been thwarted by high carbon monoxide levels.

Oxygen generators carried by these gentlemen are good for several hours (under the best of circumstances). It's already been much longer than that.

UPDATE:4:45am, Wednesday.
Kilo has details...
12 found dead, 1 survivor in hospital.

Note To Paula...

Don't even think about picking up a DVD copy of "Terms Of Endearment" instead.

What Programmers Do When They're Bored

Waldo has provided a Virginia General Assembly RSS Feed. He's even gone so far as to break it down into feeds for each patron. Very cool. Click the link, select either the master feed or any combination of legislators, and paste 'em into your aggregator.

Thanks Waldo, I for one will certainly make use of this tool.

Just Wondering When...

Kilo will be out and about enough to get more photos like this... Photo by Kilo

Somebody's Gotta Answer Richard, Guess It'll Have To Be Me

A few days ago The Roanoke Times had this letter from a reader;

Never have I longed so much as now for the days when Clinton was our commander in chief. He could have authorized the same surveillance safeguards against the terrorists as Bush has done, and you would have never heard a peep out of the media.

Richard C. Long
Salem

Uh... Richard, he did. But not against terrorists, instead he used this same power to aid in the apprehension of Aldrich Ames (at least, he may have used it further, but I have no reference to other uses).

Once again it appears the Roanoke Times is willfully striving to keep their readers ignorant. It's been well over a week now since Richard posed his question, Instead of educating Richard and other readers on the proper and prior uses of NSA surveillance Wendy (Zomparelli, Publisher) and Tommy (Denton, Editor and former Lloyd Bentsen staffer) have decided to print several editorials and guest commentaries critical of President Bush's use of NSA surveillance. Including this one written by Dr. Robert Schultz, the John P. Fishwick Professor of English at Roanoke College, praising Frederick Boucher (D, Abingdon);

Rep. Rick Boucher, who represents our district as a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, did all of us a service when he carefully reviewed the legal questions surrounding President Bush's authorization of domestic spying by the National Security Agency ("Has the president violated the rule of law?" The Roanoke Times, Dec. 21). And now that the administration has formally defended these practices, the question that faces us has become clear: Is the president above the law?

What Richard does not know, and The Roanoke Times, Dr. Schultz, and Rick Boucher most certainly would prefer he remain ignorant of, is the pesky little fact that Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter each have used the same provision of the US Code Title 50 > Chapter 36 > Subchapter I > § 1802. They would also prefer not to announce to the world that it's use has been upheld in Court. (link in pdf form)

I'm not a lawyer, but a reading of the code seems fairly straightforward to me. I have a link above to Cornell Law School's page which contains the text of this portion of the law. Allow me to paraphrase what I read there.

This section authorizes the President, through the Attorney General, to authorize electronic surveillance without a court order in order to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year if the Attorney General certifies in writing under oath that the surveillance is directed at communication between foreign powers and not directed toward communication to which a United States person is a party. (emphasis mine)

I will even go so far as to use a broad definition of the phrase "United States person" to mean not only a citizen, but anyone residing legally or illegally in the United States.

The problem seems to be that most casual readers of this section of the US Code stopped reading right there. (If the Editorialist, Professor, and Legislator mentioned above have even read it at all.) As I said before, I'm not a lawyer, but I at least know that one should never stop reading a contract or anything else written by a lawyer at the point where one thinks his question has been answered. At that point it usually has not yet been answered, or the answer can be changed completely by any paragraph that may follow. In this case, if you stop reading there, you have not yet found the answer. The answer you think you have found will not be changed in any following paragraph because it was already changed on a previous page.

You must remember, in law, words have a specific meaning. Sometimes not the meaning they have in normal conversational english. In this case you must go backward to Title 50 > Chapter 36 > Subchapter I > § 1801 for a listing of definitions used in this subchapter, again I provide a link to Cornell Law School's page referring to this section. I quote it below;

(b) "Agent of a foreign power" means;
(1) any person other than a United States person, who;—
(A) acts in the United States as an officer or employee of a foreign power, or as a member of a foreign power as defined in subsection (a)(4) of this section;
(B) acts for or on behalf of a foreign power which engages in clandestine intelligence activities in the United States contrary to the interests of the United States, when the circumstances of such person'’s presence in the United States indicate that such person may engage in such activities in the United States, or when such person knowingly aids or abets any person in the conduct of such activities or knowingly conspires with any person to engage in such activities; or

OK, paragraph (1) clearly excludes "United States persons", doesn't it? Ooops. Notice that it ends with the little word "or". Go on to Paragraph (2) to see who else might be considered an "Agent of a foreign power", and notice that this time it does not begin with the phrase "any person other than a United States person", instead it begins with;

(2) any person who;
(A) knowingly engages in clandestine intelligence gathering activities for or on behalf of a foreign power, which activities involve or may involve a violation of the criminal statutes of the United States;
(B) pursuant to the direction of an intelligence service or network of a foreign power, knowingly engages in any other clandestine intelligence activities for or on behalf of such foreign power, which activities involve or are about to involve a violation of the criminal statutes of the United States;
(C) knowingly engages in sabotage or international terrorism, or activities that are in prepthereforetherefor, for or on behalf of a foreign power;
(D) knowingly enters the United States under a false or fraudulent identity for or on behalf of a foreign power or, while in the United States, knowingly assumes a false or fraudulent identity for or on behalf of a foreign power; or
(E) knowingly aids or abets any person in the conduct of activities described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) or knowingly conspires with any person to engage in activities described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C). (all emphasis added by author)

This section of the US Code (in paragraph (2) sections (A),(B),(C),(D),&(E) clearly allows surveillance without a warrant against "United States persons" if there exists reasonable suspicion that such person is involved in, among other things, espionage, (ala Adrich Ames) or terrorism.

UPDATE:
While the above explores the nuances of the FISA law in general, and how it may be interepreted to allow just the type of surveillance currently being discussed. This law was passed by Congress in 1978. Those Legislators now decrying it's use have available to them the power to work for it's demise. Mr. Boucher, you could simply introduce legislation withdrawing the FISA act of 1978.

It should also be remembered that G.W. Bush also cliams validation for these actions under powers granted to the President by both the War Powers Act and Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution.

Comments from my more legalistic friends welcome... (Chad, Steve, & Brian)

New Year’s Resolution for Bloggers

Will, acting as substitute for Chad, who is taking a well deserved break, asks us Virginia bloggers to commit to a New Years Resolution . I'm not sure what constitutes a "Shakespearean hipster or a cynical Emily Dickinson" but I do hereby resolve to always be a "Southern Gentleman".

Perspective Means Everything....

And Steve at Blue Dog puts the Iraq military death toll in perspective. And no, it's not another comparison to WWII.

The Rehearsal Went Awry?

Ooops...
Would-be suicide bombers blown up in Afghan blast - Yahoo! News

What Is It Called If It Doesn't Come From Glenn Reynolds?

It's not an "Instalanche", but a link from RealClearPolitics will completely destroy the symmetry of your graphical hit display.

In his post, Thursday Morning Observations: Always Follow Cheney's Advice, Tom Bevan saved the best for last.

Heh

Growing Exponentially

The ODBA (Old Dominion Blog Alliance) is growing like a deer's antlers. To those of you who are not familiar with that analogy, it means fast!

Let's welcome our newest member Brown Hound. I tried to find a link to the hound's profile, but was unsuccessful. If you know who this is, (information need not be too specific, just a location and gender would suffice) or if the hound himself (herself?) reads this and would care to provide a little more information, I would be appreciative. (An E-mail link can be found in the sidebar.)

UPDATE:
OK, it was late (at least in my world 9:00pm is late) last night when I posted this. Upon revisiting this blog I see that the hound is "John" and he is a father. That answers the gender question. I also learned that he is a duck hunter, and that is a good thing. Hunters here in SWVA don't get a lot of shots at ducks so I'm going to assume he is located somewhat further east.

Addendum To Earlier Post

UPDATE:
After reading Jerry's reaction, and re-reading this post, I feel that some clarification is in order.

When I was traveling like Jerry does now I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 days a year in a hotel room. I typically chose the best accomidations available, but after some time even the best hotel room is still a somewhat restrictive cell. You learn early that all the people are downstairs in "the bar". Since everyone else in "the bar" is drinking, you feel obligated to join them. Consequently, during that time in my life I drank way too much. I remember (vaguely) several occasions when I would wake up in the local Denny's, finish my breakfast, and go to the jobsite for a new day's work.

Today, I leave here (Collinsville) at 5:30am, get gas, coffee, and The Roanoke Times at the Valero station here, and drive to Patrick Springs and Kaye's Kitchen. After a breakfast of eggs and grits (sometimes 'taters instead), (and views of that semi-famous butt) I arrive at at work sometime before 7:00am. I leave there around 5:30pm, stop again at Kaye's Kitchen (and an entirely different, but equally delightful, butt) before arriving back at home around 7:00pm. I now limit myself to one, sometimes two, short glasses of the aforementioned Bushmills before an early bedtime.

Simple Pondering

In one of his posts today Jerry was left wondering about Virginia’s odd method of dispensing alchoholic libations to a paying public.

Someone needs to fill me in on the bizarre state liquor store system (ABC) here in Virginia. It's as if I fell asleep and woke up to find the Soviets had finally invaded and took over the local packaged hootch business.

Jerry, you travel quite a bit, as I once did. I learned quite quickly that there are no “normal” liquor laws. In Pennsylvania, if you want a six pack of beer to take back to the hotel room, you can’t buy it from the local Quick Stop. Beer is sold in case quantities only from “Beer Distributors”. Six packs “to go” may be purchased only from the local tavern. The “Hard Stuff” is only available from a State operated store similar to Virginia.

Maryland has a completely different set of laws for each county... Consequently, no one knows what’s legal there and what’s not.

In Utah, where the company I used to work for was based, you can buy 3.2 beer in supermarkets and convenience stores 7 days a week. Anything stronger has to come from a State owned store similar to Virginia and Pennsylvania. Even in the heart of Mormon Territory most restaraunts do serve mixed drinks and cocktails, but you must ask for them. The law prohibits your waiter or waitress from telling you that they are available. This makes for a twentyfirst century speakeasy type of atmosphere.

Several states, Oklahoma comes to mind, have a bizzare “Private Club” provision whereby a bar can proclaim itself a private club, charge a minimal “initiation fee”, (known elsewhere as a "cover charge") and operate much as any bar or tavern anywhere else.

Finally, there are the more “civilized ?” places like California, France, and New Jersey where most any grocery store can sell you a bottle of Bushmills along with your apples and cheddar cheese. (A nice McIntosh and a very sharp Cheddar along with a short glass of Bushmills being my favorite after dinner before bedtime snack.)

Merry Christmas To All..

I'll be back on Monday Tuesday. Here's wishes for a joyous time with your families today and tomorrow.

"I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." ~ Luke 2:10-11

I'm Not Emeril Discovers A Good One.

I like this guy. He is now on my daily read list.

Football In ANWR

Recently efforts to extract known oil reserves in Alaska's Arctic coastal plain were defeated once again. The coastal plain area of ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) is shown in green on the drawing to the right. If you open the image to full size you will see in red the area the Senate wants to open to drilling. The entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge covers 19.5 million acres. The drawing shows it to be roughly the size of the State of South Carolina. The Coastal Plain (green) covers 1.5 million acres. The barely discernible red square represents the 2,000 acres proposed for drilling. I would like to credit the source of this image, but frankly, I've had it on my hard drive for some time and do not remember were I obtained it.

I've been trying to get this representation of size down to something more conceivable. Luckily, I have AutoCAD and I ain't afraid to use it. AutoCAD is a software application designed for drawing to exact scale. The greatest attribute of the program is that it allows you to draw in full scale, then when you are ready to print your drawing, you specify the size of the sheet being used and the finished drawing is correctly scaled to fit the sheet. In other words, if the device I am designing is to be 20 feet long, I can draw a line 20 feet long on the screen and then zoom in or out to see the entire line.

For example, in this screen capture I drew a football field. In AutoCAD (and in the real world) the distance from endzone to endzone is 300 feet. The dimensions are all perfectly scaled when the drawing will be printed, regardless of the size of the paper I decide to use.

I drew this football field in order to bring the ratios discussed in the first paragraph into a context more relevant to those of us who do not use acres as a daily measurement, not to mention acres in the millions. I assume nearly all of my readers have seen a football field and can conceptualize it's size.

The hashmarks between the full yardlines are each 24" long and 2" wide. Roughly two whole Subway sandwiches laid end to end. Consider the entire field, including both endzones represents Alaska's Coastal Plain that lies within the ANWR (the green part above). All four of the hashmarks between the 45 yard line and the 50 yard line would then represent an area equal to the area of the ANWR coastal plain that is set asiede for drilling. Eight Subway sandwiches lying on a football field represents the small area of the coastal plain proposed for drilling.

Next, I wanted to show the proposed drilling area in relation to the entire 19.5 million acres of ANWR. If you were to download this image you would see a small dot within the zero of the numeral 30 on the opposing team's side of the field. That "dot" does not represent the correct ratio of ANWR to drilling site, assuming the entire field represents all of ANWR. No, that "dot" was something I had to draw there in order for you to see that something was in fact drawn inside the opposing team's 6 foot high "30".

I drew the United States Quarter coin, again in exact scale, that the referee dropped after using it for the game opening coin toss. That Tic Tac just above George Washington's head represents the size of the drilling area in relation to all of ANWR.

If the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were the size of a football field, the area being proposed for drilling would be much smaller than a Tic Tac breath mint. Estimates of the oil reserves that can be extracted from this Tic Tac range between 10 and 20 years at current consumption.

With the power of AutoCAD at my disposal, I could continue and extrapolate a drawing that represents the drilling area in relation to the entire State of Alaska and even to the area of all 50 states combined. But if I did this experiment with just the State of Alaska the resultant drawing would end up being so small as to have no relevance to the real world in the opposite direction.

A Little Mental Exercise

OK, I know you're intelligent. If you're a returning visitor to this site, you simply must be. I'm going to challenge your intellegence in this post, but not in any mentally superior way. I would never deign to be mentally superior to you, my dear reader.

I want you to imagine nothing. That's right, consider a complete vacuum. You do not exist. Your neighbors do not exist. Even the Earth and all it's animate inhabitants do not exist. No stars, no moon, no sun.

This exercise is getting difficult, is it not? I contend it is impossible for the human mind to imagine a complete "nothingness". Yet that is the question we are faced with regardless of whether we choose to believe in "Darwinism" or "Intelligent Design".

Let's suppose for a moment that you choose to believe in the Darwinian theory of evolution. Extremely simple life forms developed over time into more complex life forms that eventually inhabited the planet we call home.

But remember, we started with a vacuum. Nothing. Nada, zip, zero. Where did the "something" that eventually became "something else" come from?

I don't really care which side you decide to begin from, the "rabbit from a hat" magical phenomena has to occur somewhere within the theory.

Pardon My Appearance

Via e-mail I've been informed that this page does not appear as it should in Internet Explorer. I'm told that on occasion the entire left sidebar is gone in IE. I have been aware of some appearance issues with IE for some time now, and that has been one of my many reasons for investigating Wordpress and commercial hosting. That development is coming at some point in the new year.

CR UVa Joins Alliance

Welcome to The ODBA, CR UVa. Your blog "The Red Stater" has been on my blogroll for some time. I'm pleased to move that link up in the list.

The Old Dominion Blog Alliance continues to grow with this quality addition.

Christmas...Personified

The Red Queen Affair: Jesus Has Arrived

Waldo Jaquith Shows In This Post...

the class that merits being included in my daily reads.