What was that word from 2000 again? Oh yes...gravitas.

Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.

Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: “Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”

Next week, "Foreign Affairs" will publish an essay by Danzig entitled "Everyone Poops: We're More Alike than We Are Different so Can't We Just All Get Along?"

Posted by: Slublog at 06:15 AM | Comments (97)
Post contains 186 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:13 PM | Comments (35)
Post contains 163 words, total size 3 kb.

Right now on all the cable channels (except Fox) Saint Al Gore is officially blessing endorsing Obama.

An interesting note, Gore says he respects McCain's willingness to address global warming. Oh joy.

Gore was plausibly lifelike this evening. As Karl Rove pointed out, rolling Gore out in Michigan is kind of an odd choice considering the toll Gore's policies would take on the auto industry if adopted.

I'll try to find a transcript but Gores speech really did have the whole revival meeting feeling. It's rather creepy to say the least.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:08 PM | Comments (55)
Post contains 95 words, total size 1 kb.

This is from the London Times, so it's not just some goofball website, but I always doubt these miracle-of-science stories. Everyone involved here (including the reporter) has a vested interest in hyping this as much as possible.

But...

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.

...

What is most remarkable about what they are doing is that instead of trying to reengineer the global economy – as is required, for example, for the use of hydrogen fuel – they are trying to make a product that is interchangeable with oil. The company claims that this “Oil 2.0” will not only be renewable but also carbon negative – meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.

...

Inside LS9’s cluttered laboratory – funded by $20 million of start-up capital from investors including Vinod Khosla, the Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Sun Micro-systems – Mr Pal explains that LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-de-signing their DNA. “Five to seven years ago, that process would have taken months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says. “Now it can take weeks and cost maybe $20,000.”

Because crude oil (which can be refined into other products, such as petroleum or jet fuel) is only a few molecular stages removed from the fatty acids normally excreted by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, it does not take much fiddling to get the desired result.

For fermentation to take place you need raw material, or feedstock, as it is known in the biofuels industry. Anything will do as long as it can be broken down into sugars, with the byproduct ideally burnt to produce electricity to run the plant.

The company is not interested in using corn as feedstock, given the much-publicised problems created by using food crops for fuel, such as the tortilla inflation that recently caused food riots in Mexico City. Instead, different types of agricultural waste will be used according to whatever makes sense for the local climate and economy: wheat straw in California, for example, or woodchips in the South.

Sounds good, but, the scaling, as usual. We just don't have billions of tons of organic waste material just lying around to feed to bugs. Or at least, we wouldn't have that for very long, should these guys start buying it all up. At some point you'd have to start producing the feedstock, and that, too, takes time, money, and energy.

Though it might take a lot less than $140 a barrel.

Thanks to oops.

Posted by: Ace at 02:08 PM | Comments (90)
Post contains 534 words, total size 3 kb.

Wow. I knew this was a different kind of politician, but I had no idea he'd be willing to upset the apple-cart like this!

He actually dared to express the controversial sentiment that 1) fathers are important and 2) fathers should good fathers, when possible, and all other things being equal.

And I thought McCain was the "maverick!"

BARACK OBAMA: Too many fathers are M.I.A., to many fathers are AWOL. They've abandoned their responsibilities. They're acting like boys instead of men. You and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African-American community.

[REPORTER's COMMENTARY]: In a sharp, challenging speech, Obama evoked his own absent father and took African-American men to task, saying more than half of all black children live in single parent households. A number that's doubled since he was born. And he said more of those children wind up in trouble or in prison.

Ummm... yeah, no one knew any of this. Before Obama's "sharp, challenging" speech, I had no idea there was a problem with fatherlessness and rampant out-of-wedlock births in the black community.

But Obama must be praised for having the courage to say that water is wet and night is dark.

Building on his breathtaking courage, Barack Obama plans to shake us further out of our complacency by delivering a "major speech" on the hotly-contested proposition that "the children are our future."

Remember all the initial joking about the MSM crediting Obama as some kind of genius for just managing to do shit everyone else does?

Yeah, well it's back in force. Apparently Obama is to be praised for doing the simplest and easiest things, like he's a fucking retard who needs to be unduly complimented for making it through a tapioca break without shitting himself too much.

Maybe the MSM knows something about Barack Obama's cognitive powers we don't. Maybe he should be lavishly praised for a shit-free tapioca.

Posted by: Ace at 01:17 PM | Comments (61)
Post contains 354 words, total size 2 kb.

I don't know. Kind of seems like progress when the crazed warmonger-in-chief thinks we can withdraw such a substantial number of troops from a war he's insanely still attempting to win.

If we all didn't know better, we'd think the coalition is winning the war or somethin'.

Meanwhile, the AP not only notes significant progress in Iraq, but actually (get this) kinda-sorta wonders why the public hasn't taken note of it.

Signs are emerging that Iraq has reached a turning point. Violence is down, armed extremists are in disarray, government confidence is rising and sectarian communities are gearing up for a battle at the polls rather than slaughter in the streets.

Those positive signs are attracting little attention in the United States, where the war-weary public is focused on the American presidential contest and skeptical of talk of success after so many years of unfounded optimism by the war's supporters.

That's rich. The MSM has reduced its coverage of the war by ninety-two percent over the past year, conveniently since the US has been winning the war, and AP blames the lack of public attention on the public itself. As if the public sent a petition to the AP telling them "please embargo all information about any American/coalition victories in Iraq, we'd just really rather not know. Oh, PS, more Haditha and Abu Ghraib, yes please!"

In related news, OJ Simpson wonders why Niccole Brown never calls him anymore.

Thanks to CJ and Dave P. (of Dean's World).

And thanks to JWF for providing the site on the ludicrous reduction in MSM war coverage since we began seriously winning.

Funny how the MSM only pushed the issue and dedicated so much coverage to the war when it was going badly.

And yet... that darned public just isn't taking notice.

Posted by: Ace at 12:50 PM | Comments (25)
Post contains 319 words, total size 2 kb.

A small but possibly helpful increase of supply.

Of the 200,000 additional barrels of oil the US and the terrorist-sympathizing kleptocracy of Saudi Arabia will soon begin producing together, the US will be producing zero barrels, and Saudi Arabia will be producing the remaining 200,000.

Democrats heralded the breakthrough, and stated that they hoped the "US could continue expanding its oil production by zero barrels every year into the near future."

"By the year 2040," one Democratic strategist explained, "all those zero-barrels of additonal production will add up to an eye-popping total of zeroty-zero million barrels," possibly reducing oil prices by up to zero percent.

The additional US revenue from the expanded production is estimated conservatively to run into the zero quadriillions of dollars.

A quadrillion is a 1 followed by 15 zeroes, except if it's zero quadrillion, in which case it's a zero followed by another 15 zeroes. "That's even more zeros than a normal quadrillion," enthused Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. A Democratic-leaning mathematician agrees: "Zero quadrillion is functionally equal to zero quntillion or even zero octillion."

Taking a page from Newt Gingrich's six-point Contract with America, Pelosi unveiled her party's zero-point plan to increase domestic production, in a press conference which lasted zero minutes and consisted of extensive hand-outs of blank sheets of paper including a novel display called "the invisible pie chart."

Republicans have decided to only half-heartedly oppose the Democratic plan, preferring instead a less-confrontational course which may help them in the 2008 elections. "By navigating a 'middle course' between the Democrats' obstructionist plan to produce zero additional barrels of oil, and John McCain's bold but unrealistic promise to produce as many as zero additional barrels, we can pick up possibly zero sets in November, or maybe even twice that," said a Republican strategist.

Although some critics charge that this position is "weak" and "pointless," the strategist explained: "It's taken the GOP a long time and hard work to garner zero confidence from the public on energy policy, and we're not about to jeopardize our one advantage over the Democrats."

...

McCain, meanwhile, fashions a gutless political stance by which he can claim he supports further oil exploration while actually ducking his responsibility as a would-be President by dumping the question off to the states.

He wants to end the moratorium on offshore drilling -- good, to be sure -- but then give states the right to determine if oil can be drilled far, far off their coasts, a right they really don't have. (Offshore drilling is a federal question.)

He will offer states "additional revenue" from the oil money if they allow drilling, which could be a small inducement, but don't expect the enviro-wacko state of California to allow it no matter how much money they're paid.

I can sort of understand the reason for this gutless politically-convenient non-position -- he doesn't want to lose Florida, a state he must win in 2008 -- but this is hardly the bold and honest leadership he's been promising since 1999.

...

BTW: I guess the post's crack about Congressional Republicans isn't really fair, as they're trying to expand production. Still, I don't think they're doing enough, and I'm still pissed off they didn't take care of this when they were in power.

Posted by: Ace at 11:49 AM | Comments (53)
Post contains 579 words, total size 4 kb.

The wily al-Sadr is just toying with us. Once he actually feels safe enough to re-enter Iraq, and then manages to exert control over his own Shiite forces, he'll take command of all the Anbar Sunnis and give us a double-dose of what's what.

U.S. causalities in Iraq's once-volatile Anbar Province have dropped in recent months to the lowest levels since the U.S. invasion in March 2003, a fact some analysts attribute to the success of the 2004 Battle of Fallujah and the more recent "surge" strategy that increased U.S. troops in the province, reports CNSNews.com Staff Writer Kevin Mooney.

U.S. casualties in Anbar peaked in November and December of 2004 and January of 2005, during a U.S. offensive aimed at Sunni insurgents and terrorists who were then occupying the city of Fallujah, a CNSNews.com analysis of Defense Department data shows. The U.S. offensive there began on November 8, 2004. That month, U.S. forces suffered more than 300 casualties in Anbar. In December 2004, U.S. forces suffered more than 100 casualties in Anbar. In January 2005, they suffered 53. U.S. casualties in the province were never that high again.

In the first five months of 2008 combined, there have been 14 U.S. casualties in Anbar, according to U.S. Defense Department reports. That is a decline of 89% from the 124 casualties that took place in Anbar in the first five months of 2007.

Democrats, of course, are spurning Iraq's attempts to forge an alliance with us.

The WaPo is mystified as to why this should be. Or rather, they pretend to be. But I suppose their gentle chiding is the best way to get through to those few Democrats who still actually care about US national security.

They're so hatefully partisan they would spurn a pro-Western, (relatively) progressive (relatively) functioning democracy -- and a possible shining light to the rest of the Muslim world -- just to demonstrate how much they hate George W. Bush.

Posted by: Ace at 11:36 AM | Comments (16)
Post contains 337 words, total size 2 kb.

Things are going so bad for the coalition in Sadr City and Basra that coalition troops are in full retreat, this time retreating to a secondary Sadrist stronghold and preparing for a major security sweep.

al-Sadr's power is so great, his position so unassailable, that he can afford to openly mock our feeble efforts against him by acquiescing to them:

Followers of Muqtada al-Sadr wonÂ’t resist a military operation in the southern city of Amarah unless government forces commit human rights violations and arrest suspects without warrants, a senior official and member of the clericÂ’s movement said Monday.

Â…

The tone differed from the defiance of Sadrist officials in the runup to past security operations in the southern oil hub of Basra and BaghdadÂ’s Sadr City, indicating Amarah may not witness the fierce fighting that accompanied crackdowns there.

Al-SadrÂ’s main office in Amarah also was evacuated and turned over peacefully to the local government on Sunday, a provincial spokesman said, declining to be identified because of security concerns.

"Senior Pentagon strategists" quoted anonymously in the MSM all agree that al-Sadr's strategy here -- the famous "I could beat you, if I wanted to" gambit employed most successfully by uncoordinated and undersized eight-year-olds -- is "textbook" in its execution and almost certainly a sign that "all hope is lost" for Maliki and US troops.

Obama "Pleased" by Reductions in Violence, Making it That Much More Important to Begin Withdrawing Troops: In a call to Iraq's foreign minister, Obama casts his reckless plan to immediately begin withdrawing troops as just a friendly reassurance that the US has no intention to keep foreign bases in Iraq. Even if they want and/or need them.

It's not quite clear to me why this non-intention has to be demonstrated by unleashing a genocidal civil war on Iraq.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda representatives were quick to say "Well, we'd like permanent bases in Iraq, of course."

Posted by: Ace at 10:29 AM | Comments (29)
Post contains 334 words, total size 2 kb.

Jammie Wearing Fool points to this unhinged conservative blogger at the notorious conservative blog-site the Huffington Post:

John McCain was in the navy and then he was in the U.S. Senate. He has never cashed a check a bureaucrat didn't write. I'm not trying to be glib, and I realize he was doing a solemn and dangerous job, killing people from the sky. But it was still government work.

Wait, except for those years as a POW. A sick but undeniable fact about John McCain: The only period in his life when he wasn't living off the American taxpayer, he was living off the Vietnamese taxpayer.

John McCain's father was in the navy and his father was in the navy. The last McCain who didn't live in government housing owned a plantation in Mississippi when the state still had slaves.

Which is why John McCain always sounds so emotional when he gets to this line in his stump speech:

"I am absolutely committed to reducing the size of government."

What he's promising is eventually he'll die.

"I'm not trying to be glib."

Gee, I wonder what kind of heat conservative bloggers (that is to say, the more conservative conservative bloggers, as opposed to liberal conservative bloggers like Larry "Mr. Conservative Blogger" Johnson) would catch if they routinely made jokes about the death of Barack Obama.

Posted by: Ace at 10:16 AM | Comments (44)
Post contains 233 words, total size 1 kb.