On The Bright Side

The job of blogging for the right side of the blogosphere just got easier.

The first segment comes from “The Situation Room.” If you missed the story about the Military Times editorials, read Bryan’s post. You’ll need that as background to appreciate her ignorance. The second segment’s from “Special Report” and runs a bit longer than necessary to include her restatement of the Powell doctrine, which remains an attractive policy for doves trying to look hawkish. She’s all for using overwhelming force once we go in, so long as we never go in.

Now she wants a say in Iraq planning.

‘Fess up, righty bloggers: as bummed as you are about last night’s washout, you’re kind of enjoying the thought of how much easier your job’s about to get.

I know. I am too.

Greg Tinti points to the new target for the netroots - as defined by the netroots. And the winner is *drumroll* Rahm Emanuel!

Later in the day, Jane Hamsher chimes in with a post grouping Emanuel with, get this, Robert Novak and Rush!

I know it is serving the purposes of Robert Novak, Rush Limbaugh and Rahm Emanuel to paint this as a victory for conservatives who don't exist, but I can only hope that as time goes on the wingnuts who place all their hopes in Rahm's illusory candidates have their little parades rained on.

It might take a while for journalists who like to have their stories pre-chewed by crack teams of DC establishment PR flacks to catch on, but this "triumph of the centrists" meme is a Rahm Emanuel spittle-soaked fantasy. The country ran from conservatives like a bad case of crotch lice and no amount of PR spin can re-write that.

It's almost sidesplitting funny. Yeah, I'm sure Rahm Emanuel really is indebted to Jane Hamsher and Christy Hardin Smith for the Dems big win yesterday. If it wasn't for them and all the firedoglake readers, who knows what would have happened…

Jesus. They are freaking narcissists. And once again, we have another example of the major difference between the nutroots and the right side of the blogosphere: they actually believe they have an fundamental impact on elections while acknowledge that our effect is much more limited, mostly shaping the debate on the right.

(Greg got this via Sister Toldjah, by the way, who linked this to me earlier).

“Why Do You Want To Do It?”

The beginning of a series of quite short posts on how to write. John Baker has a number of posts on the craft of writing that are worth reading. It won't take you a very long time if you're actually thinking you want to journey that particular path. It won't make you an instant Hemingway (thank God, I never did like his writing), but it will give you some valuable pointers and some things to think - hard - about. I like this one:

If you think you’re boring your audience, go slower not faster.
Gustav Mahler

I got the pointer to this from a good friend to the Crabitat, Brandywine Books. Thanks for finding that, Phil. 

A Question Of Timing

Frankly, Ed Morrisey raises some very good points about the Rumsfeld resignation. He also points out something that worries me.

However, the timing of this move seems ludicrous. Just two weeks ago, Bush riled up the electorate by pledging unwavering support for Rumsfeld for the next two years. I'm sure that a number of Republican politicians who find themselves out of a job wonder why this decision didn't get made two months ago, and why Bush had to issue that unhelpful statement in the midst of the midterm struggles. Obviously, Bush can live without Rumsfeld, and obviously the White House now understands the drag that Rumsfeld had on the GOP. Otherwise, he wouldn't be out today. Why didn't anyone at the White House figure this out two or three months ago, when the transition to Gates could have demonstrated a little more flexibility on Iraq?

Robert Gates sounds like a fine choice to replace Rumsfeld, at least in terms of experience. I think a skilled politician on the Hill might have been a better choice, perhaps even Bill Frist, who has to know that his presidential ambitions just hit a brick wall in the midterms. (Insiders will not win in 2008.) However, Gates served under Brent Scowcroft and is a member of the new commission headed by Jim Baker to rethink Iraq policy. This looks like a big shift away from democratization and a realignment to something much closer to the foreign policy of Bush 41.

The timing of this was really bad. It really would have been better to have done it earlier rather than on the day after the election. But that isn't what worries me so much, something else does. The choice of Gates, who has been on the commission deciding on a new direction for Iraq sounds an awful lot like putting in a steward for the new policy, doesn't it? That worries me. A lot.

Leftist Battle Cry: Death To Burger King!

Mark in Mexico reports on the latest in leftist logic. The leftists who have occupied the university in Oaxaca decided to strike a blow against "multinationals". So they attacked and destroyed the local Burger King. Which was a locally owned franchise that used to employ about 30 people. They, of course, no longer have jobs or any prospect of getting another since there is no local economy left after five months of leftist logic. Mark has pictures, including one sad one that shows the children's play area that no children will enjoy any longer.

There are a few hopeful signs that people are just plain fed up with the leftists, though. Around 15,000 people marched in support of the governor as a response to a leftist march of around 20,000.

OAXACA, Mexico - More than 15,000 white-clad supporters of Oaxaca's embattled governor marched through this colonial city Tuesday in their biggest show of strength in a six-month conflict that has left at least nine people dead.

Tuesday's demonstration came two days after more than 20,000 leftists marched to demand the ouster of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, illustrating the sharp polarization of the state after months of street fighting and shootings that have scared tourists away and shattered the local economy.

The pro-government march came as Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal told reporters that Ruiz should leave if he can't reach an agreement with his opponents.

"Either the governor convinces these groups that some sort of unity pact with the government can be re-established … or the governor takes a leave from his post. There's no other way," he said.

Carrying placards calling for "criminals out of Oaxaca," protesters shouted chants in support of the 4,000 federal police officers who stormed the city last month to push protesters out of the center.

"It is not ideal having federal forces and tanks here, but it is better than having criminals and terrorists in control," said marcher Ponaji Toledo, a 27-year-old restaurant owner who says her business has plummeted.

It is going to be a long road back for those people after all the "help" the leftists have given them.

What A Load Of…..

….Heat. An Iowa man is hoping to market the invention he has been working on for around twelve years or so. He calls it 'Nature's Furnace' and it is fueled by nature. Or a by-product of nature.

It burns manure.

Waukee, Ia. — John Kimberlin hopes to light a fire under mountains of manure and other biomass sources and turn them into heat and electricity.

For more than 12 years, Kimberlin has been tinkering with an idea about how to build a better fire.

Now, he thinks he's perfected a small-scale furnace that can be adapted to farms, racehorse tracks or anywhere else biomass crops and livestock waste pile up.

Inventors have long tried to tap into the energy of manure, and scientists and others say it could help Iowa become a power producer. The state has enough manure to meet the energy needs of 325,000 homes, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has estimated. Tax incentives are encouraging the development of methane digesters to create electricity and control odor, for example.

The inspiration for Nature's Furnace - as Kimberlin calls his invention - grew out of the tons of horse manure and bedding that Kimberlin had on his acreage west of Des Moines.

A former horse trainer, Kimberlin had to find some way to rid the place of the refuse. He couldn't spread it on the land without contaminating the water. Having it hauled off would have been too costly.

The furnace is undergoing emissions tests. Kimberlin holds several patents on the device and has attracted the interest of some investors. There's a lot of interest in the furnace in Europe (insert gratuitous joke of choice here).

One customer wants to order 30 of the furnaces as soon as the emissions test results are known and there are a number of people who want to order single units, he said.

"There are inquiries on a daily basis from all over Europe, so we are expecting a lot of business in the next 12 months," Lyttle said.

The size of the Nature's Furnace is ideal for small poultry producers, Lyttle said.

Each producer needs to find a way to dispose of about 25 tons of litter every 12 weeks, he said, "so the size of this unit is just ideal."

At first, Nature's Furnace will be used primarily for heat, but Lyttle said he thinks it will also be used for generation of electricity by the European producers. "Small-scale power generation is very big in Europe," Lyttle said.

Matt Keeling, president of Nature's Furnace, said the furnaces also will be marketed in the United States for sale to ethanol plants. "That's been a dream of mine for five or six years," said Keeling.

Kimberlin and Keeling said they want to sell the furnaces in sizes that can be used on farms for heat or for generating electricity.

The idea is to keep the size of the furnace small so it's portable. That way, you can move the furnace, which can be mounted on a flatbed trailer, and not have to move bulky volumes of biomass fuel.

In the power industry, one nickname for coal fired power plants is the term 'dirt burner'. I can give you three guesses what nickname this one will attract. But I can't write it because of my own comment rules.

Google: ‘Fun And Interesting’ Worm Sent Out!

If you happen to subscribe to the Google Video Blog group, you'll want to run your antivirus software. Because the blog group, used to notify people of 'fun and interesting' videos sent out the 'fun and interesting' Kama Sutra worm. Just to make things 'fun and interesting'.

"On Tuesday evening, three posts were made to the Google Video Blog-group that should not have been posted," Google said in a statement, posted late Tuesday night.

"Some of these posts may have contained a virus called W32/Kapser.A@mm– a mass mailing worm. If you think you have downloaded this virus from the group or an e-mail message, we recommend you run your antivirus program to remove it," said the statement, which was attributed to the Google Video Team.

Malicious E-Mail

W32/Kasper.A@mm is better known as the Kama Sutra worm. Discovered in January of this year, it deletes files and registry keys on affected systems. It is blocked by most antivirus software.

Google uses its Video Blog group to let subscribers know when "interesting and fun" videos have been highlighted on the Google Video Blog. E-mail to the group's mailing list are posted by a handful of Google employees, called Google Video Team.

This team was responsible for sending out the malicious e-mail Tuesday night, said Gabriel Stricker, a Google spokesman.

So, if the 'fun and interesting' worm eats your hard drive, you can have a 'fun and interesting' time arguing with Google!

A View From Britain

Janet Daley, writing in the Telegraph, takes a look at what the election was - and what it was not.

These elections clearly were a referendum on the Bush presidency, but they were about more than the conduct of the war.

The country was deeply disillusioned by the administration’s failures in handling the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, but it was probably angered as much by the collapse of promises on immigration and fiscal responsibility.

To the disgust of its traditional party base, the Bush White House spent money at record levels.

To the disappointment of its more radical supporters, it backed away from its major project to reform social security.

And perhaps most damagingly, it dithered over controlling illegal immigration.

So defending the war became the only story that Bush had to tell: his adherence to the Rumsfeld-Cheney strategy came to look like a pathological state of denial rather than courageous consistency.

But for all that, the Democratic victory was not as sweeping as it might have been.

The average number of net Congressional gains for the opposition party in a sixth-year election (half-way through a president’s second term) is around 31, and this result does not look much different from that.

And that is really the key here. There are a lot of different ideas on what went wrong, many different takes on it. But it actually was probably a bit of all of the reasons being put forward. There are a lot of disappointed people today. But the Democrats themselves are among them, I think. Because this could have been a landslide and it was not. They do not have a supermajority in either house. And a lot of their candidates had to run right or to the center to pull off the win.

Don't get me wrong, this was a bad election for the Republicans, but now the Democrats have to actually accomplish something other than criticize. Or their bad election will come in two years.

What You’re Not Seeing

I've looked at a number of sites I visit fairly regularly on the right side of the sphere and there is one thing that I am, thankfully, not seeing.

I haven't seen anyone saying the election was stolen. Had the outcome been different, we had already been informed what the reaction on the left would be. Nancy Pelosi and numerous left leaning bloggers had informed us of that.

So, no tit-for-tat; most people are disappointed or upset or angry at their own party, but I haven't seen anyone screaming 'fraud!'. I think that's important.

UPDATE: On the other hand, you are seeing some sore winners. Link courtesy of The Anchoress, who has a roundup of a number of classy reactions, as opposed to the temper tantrums.

Choose A Line

And stand in it. Eject! Eject! Eject! has some words about the election.

Democratic Party Victory Endorsed!

Ringing endorsements are coming in from around the globe on the Democratic party election victory. And what a proud group of folks think it's just peachy.

"Of course, the citizens of the United States are humans with a conscience. It's a reprisal vote against the war in Iraq, against the corruption" within the Bush administration, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said. "All this fills us with optimism."…..

In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as "the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world" and gloated that they left the Bush administration "seriously weakened."…..

People across the Mideast also reacted swiftly, saying it appeared the U.S. president had paid the price for what many view as failed policy in Iraq.

Most governments across the region had no official comment, but some opponents of the United States reacted harshly. "President Bush is no longer acceptable worldwide," said Suleiman Hadad, a lawmaker in Syria, whose autocratic government has been shunned by the U.S……

Passions were even higher in Pakistan, where Bush is deeply unpopular despite billions in aid and support for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

One opposition lawmaker, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said he welcomed the election result but hoped for more. Bush "deserves to be removed, put on trial and given a Saddam-like death sentence," he said. ….

Well, there's a list of people endorsing the win that should give the Democrats a little bit of a pause. If you're appealing to these foks, are you really sending the message you intended? The endorsements from (T)Hugo and the Syrians should really be something to brag about. One note of caution from the Arab world:

"The problem for Arabs now is, an American withdrawal (from Iraq) could be a security disaster for the entire region," said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi analyst for the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.

UPDATE: It Shines For All has a release by Kofi Annan's spokesman. It seems the UN is celebrating. It also seems that the UN does not normally comment on internal elections of member states. But if it gives them a chance to bash America, hey, what the heck.

UPDATE: Others: Captain's Quarters, Kesher Talk, Cold Fury,

Rumsfeld Resigns

Donald Rumsfeld has resigned as Secretary of Defense.

Word came a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

Earlier today, a spokesman for Rumsfeld said he'd given no indication that he would step down in the wake of Democratic election gains. The spokesman said Rumsfeld would work with Congress on Iraq but added that the focus on stabilizing the country will remain the same.

H/T Crosspatch in the comments section.

UPDATE: Washington Post coverage here.

President Bush was expected to announce Rumsfeld's departure and Gates' nomination at an afternoon news conference. Administration officials notified congressional officials in advance.

Last week, as he campaigned to save the Republican majority, Bush declared that Rumsfeld would remain at the Pentagon through the end of his term.

Rumsfeld, 74, was in his second tour of duty as defense chief. He first held the job a generation ago, when he was appointed by President Ford.

Gates is the president of Texas A&M University and a close friend of the Bush family. He served as CIA director for Bush's father from 1991 until 1993.

Gates first joined the CIA in 1966 and served in the intelligence community for more than a quarter century, under six presidents.

Transit Of Mercury Today

The planet Mercury will appear to move across the face of the sun today in a very rare astronomical event.

But Mercury is also scheduled to make a most unusual - albeit brief - appearance on Nov. 8.

On that day, more than half the world will get to see a rare event - Mercury crossing the face of the Sun at inferior conjunction.   Observers throughout the Americas, as well as across eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand will be able to observe all or at least part of this striking celestial phenomenon with small telescopes, as the innermost planet slowly crosses in front of the solar disk.   Such a phenomenon is known to astronomers as a transit.

Mercury and Venus are the only major planets we can ever see crossing the face of the Sun.   Transits of Venus happen less than twice a century (the next one is scheduled for June 6, 2012).   Those of Mercury are some 10 times more frequent. Nonetheless, only 14 transits of Mercury occur during the 21st century - or about seven years apart on average.   The November 8 event will be the second Mercury transit in this century, the first having occurred in May 2003.  

The entire transit will be an east-to-west passage taking just 4 hours and 58 minutes.   The Sun will be above the horizon for the entire transit over western sections of North America, much of the Pacific Ocean (including Hawaii), New Zealand, and a small slice of eastern Australia and adjacent Tasmania.  

Take note that since they are all located to the west of the International Date Line, eastern Asia, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand will experience the transit on the calendar date of November 9.   For all of these locations, it will be morning and with the exceptions of New Zealand, easternmost Australia and Tasmania, the Sun will rise with Mercury already on its disk.

From the United States, those situated to the east of a line running from roughly Bonners Ferry, Idaho to El Paso, Texas will be able to see the beginning stages of the transit, as Mercury moves onto the lower left part of the Sun.

Mercury's transit will begin within a minute of 19:12 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) at every site from which it is visible. That translates to 2:12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time or 11:12 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.  

….

WARNING:   Transits of Mercury are not visible with the unaided eye.   A telescope must be used, magnifying at least 30 to 100 power to bring out the "dark dot" of Mercury in silhouette against the Sun's disk.   To see Mercury as an actual disk will be a challenge because its angular diameter is small, only 10 seconds of arc at this inferior conjunction.   As Mercury moves across the face of the Sun, it will appear absolutely jet black in contrast to the lighter gray of any sunspots that may also be present on the solar disk.

So, please refrain from staring into the sun. We'd kind of like to keep our readers. Here are some places that will have webcasts:

NASA

University of Hawaii

AstroDay.net

University of North Dakota

Exploratorium

Do Those Kids Look Weird To You?

Authorities in Pakistan got a report that something wasn't quite right about one privately run primary school that was receiving government funding. It seems the kids there were really funny looking.

In fact, they looked like chickens.

So-called ghost schools — where people pocket government funds for education but use the schools for their own purposes — are a common problem in Pakistan.

"Chickens, television sets, video recorders, playing cards and breeding cages were found in what were supposed to be classrooms but no students," Kanwar Naved, the mayor of the city of Hyderabad told Reuters Wednesday.

"According to education department records, the school had 59 students and two teachers," he said.

Now, they say they are going to go after the owner of the school, but we think they are missing the obvious here. This is yet another manifestation of the animal uprising. The chickens ate the students and staff. Remember, you heard it here first.

“While The Nutroots Are Fervent, They Are Also Cheap”

The Bull Moose weighs in on the Lieberman victory in Connecticut. And he is having a LOT of fun with it.

Yes, there is justice. Joe took a brave stand by putting country before party. Despite the fevered efforts of the McGovenites with Modems, the sensible voters of Connecticut rejected polarization and partisanship.

Don't believe the pathetic nutroots spin. In August, they engaged in premature triumphalism believing that they vanquished the vital center. One even indicated that he had ominous plans to obliterate the organization that Joe once led. No, they did not need the dreaded establishment. All they needed were their trusted keyboards and their internet access.

Bloviating bloggers had rushed to the Nutmeg State to hop aboard the Lamont bus with laptops in hand. Indeed, the candidate was their creation. He was their central project. And this "people power" populist plutocrat poured millions of his own fortune into the race. While the nutroots are fervent, they are also cheap.

As the Moose used to say in Texas, the nutroots were all hat and no cattle. Alas, the internet emperors wear no clothes! MSM take note. Kos and Sirota are out. Gerstein and Sun are in.

The obvious thing to take away from this election is that the Democrats ran, for the most part, well to the right of the netroots and won on that basis. The center, not the extremes. There is a lesson there for both the left and the right purists.

Nuts Escaping!

Nuts in the news. It seems there is a growing problem with nutjackings. Or nutnapping. Or something like that.

FRESNO, Calif. - At first, Larry Ladd just let it go. But after the farmer caught six thieves plundering his walnut orchard in less than a day, he knew he had a problem.

He's not the only one. As prices for almonds and walnuts rise with demand, a growing black market has emboldened nutnappers to cut holes in fences, sneak into distribution centers and drive off with truckloads of nuts.

"At first, I'd just ask the deputy to impress upon them that this is the wrong thing to do," said Ladd. "But then it got ridiculous."

California farmers like Ladd have reason to be vigilant: Growers here produce about 80 percent of the world's almonds and 99 percent of the nation's walnuts.

The state's walnuts earned nearly $4.4 million in 2004, according to the latest figures available from the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Savvy scoundrels target both walnuts and the more valuable almond.

Last month, a Fresno County task force that tackles rural crimes recovered 44,000 pounds of processed almonds taken from a distribution center.

That is a lot of nuts. It is California, though!