A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of The NRA The first comment from the White House about today's tragedy: A White House spokesman said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia. ``The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed,'' spokeswoman Dana Perino said This is compassionate conservatism at its best.

Why Don't Republicans Testify Under Oath?

John McCain's Campaign Is Over ...Well, not yet--but it should be. His recent field trip to Iraq underscores not only his detachment from reality, but also his complete disregard for the troops and the Iraqi people: "...he told a talk radio host that there are "are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through." Then, when the claim was widely mocked, he went to Baghdad to prove his point, strolling around a local market. "I've been here... many times over the years... Never have I been able to go out into the city, as I was today," he said in a Green Zone press conference. Of course, McCain neglected to mention that his outing was into an area just a "three minute" drive from the Green Zone. Or that he was wearing body armor, at the time. Or that he was accompanied by "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead." Read It Here: Can anyone guess what happened the day after his stroll though the market? Read it:

The Spanish Power Tower No, it's not someone's Porn nickname, it's the future of solar energy, and it's happening now... Europe has gained a new source of renewable energy with the inauguration of the continent's first-ever "power tower" at the centre of a field of mirrors near the southern Spanish town of Sanlúcar la Mayor. The 115-metre-high tower (377ft) is the key element in what is being hailed as the world's first-ever commercial power tower plant. Rings of huge mirrors laid out around it reflect and focus the sun's power, beaming it back up to the top of the tower where the intense heat is absorbed and transmitted to a steam-driven generator. Read It: The power tower will produce enough energy to power an estimated 6,000 homes. When I was young, the conventional wisdom was that wind, solar, and geothermal energy could only meet the tiniest fraction of our energy needs. People who installed solar panels and windmills were considered crackpots and hippies. As the world moves toward intractable conflict over finite resources, the smart money will move toward renewables.

After reading Dan Stout's recent Maufactured Environments post on the untimely demise of many a fine blog, I realize my own writing has come to a crossroads. If my blog is to survive, I must give you my worst. The problem I have is the same problem everyone else seems to have: I don't have the time or energy to come up with something good as often as I'd like. My ego would rather have me write well than often, so I write infrequently. What I've come to realize is the road to writing well travels down the road of self-abasement; in order to write well, one must write often. There is no other way. Here's what I've decided to do: I'll try to post something five days a week. Some days, you'll get my worst. I pledge to be a half-assed slacker blogger rather than an occasional blogger of higher quality. If I can't come up with anything, I'll phone in and post a youtube video or quote. This is my pledge to you, gentle reader.