Here.

Their news feed is here.

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But after that, the Siggraph coverage starts, which should be fun. (At least, it will be for me!)

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. . . and what it says about modern-day feminism. ("The Clinton wound was mortal.")

Well, I don't think I know what feminism is—as with Art, I just know what I like. If men can be gentlemenly (perhaps even, on special occasions, gallant) without patronizing me, thas cool. and without it being this desperate endless striving to get to the door first, so he can be the one to open it for me: how about seeing which one of us gets there first, and he/she will hold it for the other?

If lesbians can stop pretending that I'm an idiot because I (as they say about polling data) "trend straight," that's a good thing, too. [After all--can we admit that some of the worst sexists out there are dykes, and a few tall women of miscellaneous orientations?]

But instead of that blunt "I didn't love her," Silky would have been better off with "I had tremendous respect for her"—instinctively moving his hands forward, as most of 'em do, like heat-seeking missiles—"frontal lobes. I mean, she had a first-rate intellect. That's why we don't need a paternity test: the child just doesn't seem vain enough. No sitting in front of the mirror, trying on various hairstyles. What a waste of money that would be."

Actually, I liked Breck boy, because he just wasn't ever afraid to kind of brainstorm about ideas for what we could do to improve the country. I didn't agree with most of 'em, but I liked the fact that the wheels kept turning.

Likewise, I have a soft spot in my heart for a politician who's been caught out in an affair that's tawdrier-than-average (when one's wife is diagnosed with cancer isn't a great time to go clitting around), and yet he admitted that Universal Truth in a way I hadn't ever heard Clinton articulate, and doubt even Ted Kennedy has ever put into words. "I thought I was special."

Does everyone have moments of sociopathy? More, perhaps, than might want to publicize that fact. Edwards scores lower on the sociapath scale because he admitted it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:17 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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. . . has turned into that Monty Python skit, "Blackmail." At least, according to Iowahawk.

Via Dan Collins at the Protein Pub.

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It's Zubrin vs. Pickens, at PJ Media!

America owes a debt of gratitude to T. Boone Pickens for stepping forward to sound the alarm over this national emergency. This is all the more true, since as an oilman, Pickens could simply have followed the model of others in the business and just sat tight, enjoying record profits while the country goes under. Instead, he chose to act as a patriot.

So hats off to Mr. Pickens. That said, the plan he is advancing for dealing with the crisis — build windmills to release natural gas from electricity generation so it can be used to power compressed natural gas (CNG)-driven cars, displacing gasoline in the process — is technically flawed and needs to be revised.

Continues stud/god Zubrin:

The total known reserves of natural gas in all of North America are 274 trillion cubic feet. And while new reserves are always being discovered, launching a heroic effort to shift our transportation system to critical dependence upon a fuel whose known domestic reserves amount to little more than ten yearsÂ’ supply is simply not prudent.

Finally, compressed natural gas is an inferior technology for vehicle fuel. This is so because it is a gas, not a liquid, and so must be stored in heavy high-pressure tanks. A standard steel K-bottle compressed gas cylinder, which weighs about 133 lbs, can only store enough natural gas to match the energy content of two gallons of gasoline. So CNG cars are either limited to short range, or must carry massive tank systems that increase their cost and reduce their mileage. Lighter graphite composite tanks are possible, but these are very expensive and unsafe in the event of a crash, as they are susceptible to breakage followed by gas release and explosion.

So the Pickens plan, as written, won’t work. Fortunately, however, there is a way to modify it so that it can. The key is for Congress to pass a bill, such as the current Open Fuel Standards Act (S.3303, HR.6559) requiring that all new cars sold in the U.S. be fully flex-fueled — that is, capable of running equally well on gasoline, ethanol, and methanol. Such technology is currently available and only adds about $100 to the cost of a car (in contrast to CNG capability, which adds about $2,000). The reason why establishing a full flex-fuel standard is the answer is that methanol — a very safe and practical liquid vehicle fuel — can be made from a vast array of feedstocks, including not only natural gas, but also coal, recycled urban trash, and any kind of biomass without exception.

So if a bold wind or nuclear energy initiative can in fact free up enough natural gas to make a difference to the vehicle fuel market, flex-fuel cars can readily make use of it in a much safer and more practical form as methanol. But if not, then we — and the rest of the world (since an American flex-fuel requirement would effectively make flex-fuel the international standard, as all foreign car makers would need to switch their lines over to conform to it) — would also be able to make our fuel from a wide array of alternative resources. Indeed, we have enough known coal reserves for hundreds of years’ worth of supply, and enough crop residues available globally that, converted into methanol, could replace all the oil of OPEC. The key is not to pick one particular fuel resource, but to open the fuel market to all comers. Setting a flex-fuel vehicle standard is the quickest and most efficient way to achieve that goal.

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But I think I'd prefer to hear "no, I'd rather not do you a favor," as opposed to "I'll do you a favor, and reserve the right to publicly humiliate you over it."

Perhaps that is peculiar on my part.

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They should have stuck with pandas.

It's called "leading with the chin."

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Via Hot Air.

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Via #DontGo:

The Republican Senators joining this Gang are Lindsey Graham , John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson.

As of now there is no solid evidence showing the Gang of Ten will succeed. Especially considering the fact that these Senators organized BEFORE #dontgo kicked off. I would imagine there are conversations going on that suggests the Gang of Ten should back off because Republicans are now dominating on the #dontgo issue.

But if the Gang of Ten sticks to its guns, even after a full week of movement style activism and center-right based rallying, I think a revolt against these Senators might be in order.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, let's see:

“Faced with the prospect of having the ban on offshore energy production expire at the end of September if Congress does nothing, this headline-hungry gang decided it had to do something before leaving town for the August vacation,” Murphy said. ““The New Era plan is the same as the era we find ourselves stuck in today – flush in subsidies, tax credits, and various other government handouts, but short on the energy supplies our economy and our consumers need to prosper. American families would be better served if the Gang and the entire Congress simply stopped trying to help, stepped aside, and let the offshore ban expire.”

IER Analysis: Key Flaws in the ‘New Era’ Plan:

• The Gang of Ten calls for additional offshore production in areas currently under moratoria, but proposes a process that fails to guarantee/deliver any new supplies whatsoever. New production on federal offshore lands is left to the discretion of several state legislatures.

• Production potential is severely limited. Only four coastal states would be granted the ability to “opt out” of energy bans. Arbitrary 50-mile buffer zones would exclude potential resource deposits, such as the Gulf of MexicoÂ’s Destin Dome, which is some 25 miles offshore.

• The plan ignores the urgent national need to repeal the offshore energy exploration and production bans that have contributed to the very problem their plan purports to solve. It may even give the ban the force of permanent law for the first time ever. This is an especially short-sighted, as the Congressional ban is set to expire in less than two months, on October 1, 2008, which will open the entire 1.76 billion acre outer continental shelf (OCS) to energy production.
Spending $85 billion on tax credits, subsidies, and various other federal handouts in lieu of increasing domestic oil and gas production is the kind of failed approach to energy policy that helped deliver the crisis we find ourselves in today. Government continues to be the source of the problem; government-centered ‘solutions’ will only compound our problems.

• Dedicating additional, inordinate sums to biofuel programs is especially unwise, as they represent up to 75 percent of the recent spike in food prices, according to the World Bank. They are not as “renewable” as their proponents claim, and may not even provide any environmental benefits whatsoever.

Except (to a very small degree) for that point, since I think ethanol is part of our energy future, along with methanol. But it looks like the subsidies might be skewed, and I'd rather save our mandates for flex-fuel vehicles and let the market sort this out to the degree that's possible.

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Rage against the machine . . . and the "Gang of Ten."

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Is that close enough?

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. . . discusses energy possibilities with the "Don't Go"/"Drill Now" people. (Video is in the upper-left-hand corner.)

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Or, as James Joyner would have it, "hell or New York City."

The terms are too general for me, inasmuch as a lot of quiet streets lined with condo developments and apartment buildings are still considered "suburbs" by some definitions, and the "suburbs" I lived in for almost a dozen years were pretty extreme in their degree of isolation from any conveniences.

I think my husband's jury is still out most of the time because the noise levels are so high here (although the shrieking of neighborhood children, while shrill, cannot compete with the occasional sound of a rabbit dying via coyote or owl—that was severe).

Of course, when it's time to pay the bills, the husband is back on board with this.

And both of us love, love, love being able to walk to the store, to church, to a restaurant.

And I filled up my gas tank all of twice in July, which rawked.

P.S. James, I don't have any degrees at all. Not a one. But I'm willing to bluff my way through things, which is an ability that my mom—a schoolteacher—impressed upon me many years ago.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:48 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I like to think that I'm contributing to the fucking cause all on my very own. No commenters (or readers, for that matter) required.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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What a freakin' redneck that guy is.

Via Jammie Wearing Fool, via Insty.

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Over at The Swamp:

The recent exchange of letters between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner occasioned by the debate over drilling has been typical for the two leaders when they have been divided over an issue.

Less so is the gambit by Boehner today.

The Ohio Republican and his colleagues in the GOP House leadership are bypassing their Democratic counterparts with a letter sent directly to the majority party's rank-and-file. They're asking Democrats to join the Republicans who have been staging a floor protest this week in calling on Pelosi to reconvene Congress for a vote on "increasing American-made energy.

. . . . . .

Republicans will not rest until the American people have been heard and Speaker Pelosi has allowed an up-or-down vote on the energy reforms our nation needs," he said.

Republicans, who have been giving speeches in the dimmed House chamber since last week, want to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas exploration.

Democrats, who have dismissed the revolt as a stunt, say oil companies should focus first on developing the tens of millions of acres on which they already have permission to drill. They also want President Bush to release supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Both sides acknowledge that there is little they can do to reduce prices at the pump in the short term. The text of the Republican letter follows.

Dear Member of the Democratic Caucus,

The American people expect Congress to work toward solutions for their everyday problems. Right now, the biggest challenge facing most American families is the price of energy. But on August 1st Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned the House of Representatives for a five-week vacation, continuing to ignore this crisis. Americans rightly expect more from us as their elected representatives.

House Republicans have remained on the floor speaking directly to the chorus of Americans filling the House Visitors Gallery requesting that Speaker Pelosi reconvene the House and allow a vote on a comprehensive, common-sense approach to reducing the price of energy.

If you agree that Congress should not be taking a five-week vacation until we address the energy crisis, will you join us in publicly calling on Speaker Pelosi to reconvene the House and allow a vote on increasing American-made energy?

We, and the American people, anxiously await your reply.

Sincerely,

John Boehner
Republican Leader

Roy Blunt
Republican Whip

Adam Putnam
Republican Conference Chair

Eric Cantor
Chief Deputy Whip

Thaddeus McCotter
Republican Policy Chair

Kay Granger
Republican Conference Vice Chair

John Carter
Republican Conference Secretary

Tom Cole
Republican Congressional Committee Chair

David Dreier
Ranking Member, Rules Committee

Via Boehner's blog.

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Keeping the pressure up on Reid and his Senate, too:

Nice to know that the Republican Senators are working as hard as our guys in the House to keep this issue on the front burner—and that they also favor an all-of-the-above approach that includes alternative electrical sources, innovative vehicle designs, increased use of biofuels, and conservation.

Via a Twitter Tweet from Sean Hackbarth of The American Mind.

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Hm.

I'm actually of two minds about the ethanol situation; corn ethanol seems a lot less destructive to me than a lot of other things we do in order to prop up agribusiness, and I don't believe that corn/soy ethanol are behind the rise in food prices, simply because we have increased production in corn in the past few years by a greater margin than we've been diverting it for ethanol production.

Also, as Zubrin points out in Energy Victory, enhanced world-wide markets for crops that can be used for biofuels (which, as the research rolls along, will be darn near anything, including a lot of material that grows well in the developing world) will lift a lot of people out of poverty, because if ethanol use goes up, the richer countries can lift that tariffs that keep poor countries poor.

But let's look back at Brazil for a moment, and remember that part of the reason they are energy-independent is that their consumers have a choice in which types of fuels they use: because most of their vehicles are flex-fuel, their petrochemical companies have to compete with their biofuels. Service stations are required to have pumps that dispense both types of gas.

How to give ourselves the same flexibility? (And I'm still borrowing from Zubrin, here.) Well, we could impose huge overhead costs on gas stations, by requiring each one to add an ethanol pump or two (for thousands of dollars), or we could impose a miniscule cost on the car companies by requiring that new cars be flex-fuel (which adds $100-$500) to the cost of each vehicle, and would lead the market to get ethanol—and methanol—pumps into our filling stations. (Yes: our cars must be able to take all three kinds of fuel: ethanol, methanol, and gasoline. And that goes for hybrids, too. Even the electric type. As the power grid expands to accommodate plug-in "mostly electric" hybrids, those "backup" internal combustion engines shouldn't be handcuffed to petroleum. After all, we don't want motorists stranded as we continue to work on those nuclear power plants, wind farms, and solar panels.)

I mean, I like a laissez faire policy as much as the next girl. But that isn't what we have now anyway, and energy is ultimately a national defense issue as much as anything else. We do much worse when we pay farmers not to grow anything than we do when we pay them to grow corn so we can continue to research biofuels.

I don't think the future of biofuels lies in corn or soy, but we have to start somewhere while we drill for more oil, work on methanol, and get algae to yield ethanol in a cost-effective way.

The trick is—for the next two decades, at least—to make our vehicles into energy sluts.

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. . . . or something like that The "Don't Go" movement responds to the speculation that Nancy Pelosi's antics are designed to provide political cover to vulnerable Democrats who are feigning an interest in domestic energy production:

This weekend, the Politico reported that Nancy Pelosi has released vulnerable Democrats to pay lip service to domestic drilling and ‘all of the above’ solutions. The Democrats are intending to divert the ire of the American people towards Speaker Pelosi and away from weak Democratic members who are enabling her inaction on energy. The Democratic leadership thinks vulnerable Democrats can get away with nothing but talk and decieve their constituents because Speaker Pelosi refuses to schedule a vote on the issue. We need to act now to stop the Democratic/Moveon.org ‘diversion and deception’ strategy from preventing the passage of a comprehensive solution to the energy crisis.

The American Energy Act, HR 6566, is precisely the kind of comprehensive, ‘all of the above’ solution that the American people have shown themselves to support in recent polls. According to Zogby International, 74% of Americans support offshore oil drilling in US coastal waters and 69% favor building new nuclear power plants in the US. According to a July 31st USA Today poll, Americans support tax incentives for conservation, eased restrictions on offshore drilling, and building more nuclear power plants by 49 percent, 26 percent and 6 percent margins. All of these real solutions to either conserve or produce energy are included in the American Energy Act.

. . . . . . . .

We need you to call the offices of vulnerable Democratic House members while they take their five week vacation and ask that they sign the petition to call Congress back into session and to sign the forthcoming discharge petition for HR 6566, the American Energy Act. If a majority of the House of Representatives signs the discharge position, the Speaker will be forced to allow a vote. We are confident that the House will respect the wishes of the American people and a majority will vote to approve the ‘all of the above’ energy legislation their constituents support. We also want to put the spotlight on their decision by encouraging those of you represented by these members to contact the local press and make them aware of what’s going on.

The following are conservative Democratic members with close races and their home office numbers:

Joe Donnelly (IN-2) 574 288-2780

Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-0 520 881-3588

Tim Mahoney (FL-16) 941 627-9100

John Barrow (GA-12) 706 722-4494

Melissa Bean (IL-0 847 925-0265

Brad Ellsworth (IN-0 812 465-6484

Baron Hill (IN-09) 812 288-3999

Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20) 518 581-8247

Mike Arcuri (NY-24) 800 235-2525

Zack Space (OH-1 866 910-7577

Chris Carney (PA-10) 866 846-8124

Nick Lampson (TX-22) 281 240-3700

1. Ask these members to sign the petition at www.callcongressback.com and respectfully ask Speaker Pelosi to bring the House back to work now.

2. Ask these members to sign the discharge petition to HR 6566, the American Energy Act, when it is introduced after the House returns to work.

3. If you are represented by any of these members, call local newspapers, tell them about the #dontgo Movement, the Call Congress Back petition and the American Energy Act, and refer them to this site and the Politico article about the Pelosi distraction strategy.

We cannot stress this strongly enough: The Democrats' willingness to sign the petition that would call the House back into session and get them back to work on this issue is where the rubber meets the road. Anything less than a signature on the discharge petition is just talk.

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