While it’s a tad early for this neck of the woods, the first tomato in my small garden finally reached full redness and ripeness today. (All of its brothers and sisters are still quite green.) With that, today marked the date of an annual ritual, as I brought it inside, washed it and, after admiring it for a bit, sliced it up to eat with just a dash of salt. If you’ve never experienced this, there’s really nothing like food that is so fresh that it’s less than two minutes...

In one of the sillier and least productive political stunts in this season of props, hi-jinks and distractions, ABC’s Rick Klein notes that the GOP will be handing out tire gauges to members of the press during Barack Obama’s visit to Michigan. For serious proponents of energy solutions, the humor of this may rightly escape you. Look for a tire gauge at a political event (or cable outlet) near you on Monday. Obama’s comment last week, about how proper tire inflation could save more gas...

One of the major hurdles which the Bob Barr campaign (along with any other third party candidates) must overcome is the sheer volume of footwork required to even get on the ballot in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. There are a dismaying number of hoops to jump through, none of which are required of the Republicans or Democrats. These can involve not only armies of boots on the ground, but daunting amounts of money. Just for one example, an independent candidate running for president...

I was reading the full text of John McCain’s speech to the Urban League today, but when I went to look for the media coverage of it, what I found was, shall we say, disappointing. The primary buzz in both newspapers and television was about the “cool” reception he received for some remarks concerning the policy proposals of his opponent, Senator Barack Obama. (Though the majority of reports were generous enough to note that Senator McCain received a respectful standing ovation from...

Yesterday, when Gary Hart delivered remarks suggesting that Barack Obama might soften his opposition to domestic oil drilling, I penned an unpopular opinion piece suggesting that the Illinois Senator might face some political fallout from such a move. It was even suggested that I must live in some sort of fantasyland for predicting that Obama’s detractors would label him, yet again, as a flipflopper for making such a move and that some of his supporters might revolt. Well, Gary Hart clearly...

For all of my enthusiastic, energy policy oriented readers, take a peek at this recent item from the Wall Street Journal. It recognizes, as I have been hammering on repeatedly, that the American public has been experiencing a sea change on domestic energy production. Gary Hart, acting in his capacity as an avid Obama supporter, had some remarkable things to say. Even the Obama campaign, stung by a new John McCain commercial that contrasts his celebrity cult status in Europe with his refusal to address...

My friend Ed Morrissey of Hot Air and I don’t generally see eye to eye when it comes to matters involving Iran, and his column today on that country’s nuclear power ambitions isn’t likely to change that. Most of the fuss arises from this short item from the BBC. It includes reports of a statement by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani (pictured to the left) given as part of a speech delivered to students in Tehran. The official Iranian news agency (IRNA) quotes Expediency Council...

I am in the unfortunate position this week of learning far more about Paris Hilton than I ever wanted to know. It seems that the heiress and unintentional pornography star feels she coined the phrase “that’s hot” which all the cool kids are saying. (Apparently I don’t know any cool kids.) But the only “hot” involved between Paris and the McCain team is that the Hilton family is a bit hot under the collar. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems that...

It’s been a big week for NASA, no doubt about it. Not only did we find liquid lakes on Titan, but we have now finally proven beyond doubt that there not only was water on Mars, but it’s still there today. Laboratory tests aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander’s robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples. “We have water,” said William Boynton...

Look, I’m not opposed to anything that saves some energy. If you can leave your lights on less often, take less trips in your car or cook more meals at home you’ll probably save some money and use a bit less fuel. Good! But Obama’s recent comments about keeping your tires properly inflated to save energy have been around for a while. Check out this YouTube video. Here’s where it came from: The Carter Administration Published A Study That Proposed “Mandatory Tire Inflation...

Our guest author, Paleo-Pat of Political Byline, has looked across the silly season and found reason to sink into dismay. Today’s topic is on… shoes. Please note that Guest Voices do not necessarily reflect those of Joe Gandelman or The Moderate Voice. Honestly, is this the best that the liberals can do? There have been times, when I, as a Blogger, have wanted to bang my head on the desk. There are times, when I have become so frustrated at the level of stupidity being served by both...

Today on Mid Stream Radio, we have a bit of a treat for you, should you care to stop by. (1 pm eastern, 10 am pacific today.) In the second half, Cindy and I will be talking to Derek Barr, representative of the Bob Barr campaign. (And probably only by coincidence, Bob’s son.) We’ll be talking to him about the campaign and asking some questions on issues raised by readers here at TMV. If you already have, or stop by early and pick up, a nickname for the live web chat at the BTR homepage,...

Observing the McCain campaign this week is becoming uncomfortably akin to watching a New York Jets game. Even if you really, really want them to win, you get a sick feeling in your gut as you see them drop passes, fumble and throw the ball to people wearing the wrong jersey. Opportunities are there, but flailing, wild swings are taken in the wrong direction. And now we see McCain comparing Obama to a pop star such as Paris Hilton or Britney Speares? “This is a typically superfluous response...

This is an exciting story coming out of NASA this week. Using the Cassini spacecraft, we have now determined that liquid lakes exist on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. PASADENA, Calif. — NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn’s moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, and have positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in our solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface. Scientists...

After Messiah One touched down back in the States, Barack Obama sat down for a meeting with fellow Democrats to cover some of the lessons learned during the trip. One of the big topics was, apparently, mideast relations. Obama told the caucus, according to an attendee, “Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran.” Others in the room recall this as well. Thank you, Captain Obvious. Look, Senator...

Lots of us in the blogging community will be attending the GOP Convention this September in Minnesota to cover the events live and report back to you. Would you like a chance to join us for free? Stop by the convention’s YouTube page for details of how you can submit a two minute video and possibly win a free trip to the big party. Ok, there’s one catch. You need to be a Republican, and the them of your video must be, “Why I’m a Republican in 2008.” The deadline is Friday,...

Pete Hamill, of New Yorker fame, made an appearance on Morning Joe today and decided to jump on the bandwagon with Joe Scarborough’s daily tirade against “the Cheetos brigade.” (His name for bloggers.) Joe was talking about some mass e-mail he received with smears against one of the candidates, and then moved into saying how unreliable bloggers were, as if they were one in the same with the mass smear-mails. Hamill had the following to say about blogging: It’s not journalism,...

Stop by the Ed Morrissey show between 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm today and I’ll be the guest. I know… you’re overwhelmed.

Even for second amendment supporters, there is a big difference between buying a gun for yourself and buying one for somebody else. With that in mind, your quote of the day: Buying a gun for your wife is another way of saying, “You know, I’d kind of like to kill myself, but I want it to come as a surprise.” Marc Maron

I had held off from commenting on the recent polling showing either John McCain pushing Barack Obama off his pedestal or Obama pulling into his widest lead in the last month. I find this pair significant, not for their informative value as to who is ahead or behind, but for the demonstration of exactly how increasingly useless these polls are. This rare case shows us the same company conducting polling during the exact same three day period and coming up with a set of results that are 12 points...

A blogger conference call was held today by the Bob Barr campaign, with the candidate giving opening statements and then taking questions from various bloggers. Bob has been doing some cross country travel for fundraising, but is now back in Atlanta. The candidate continues to aggressively pursue a solid relationship with the new media, giving us levels of access you simply don’t see with the two major parties. I was also impressed with the level of candor we saw, offering up very direct answers...

Well, ok… I know what it’s doing right now. It’s reading TMV. But there may be a fair amount of time when your computer is sitting around unproductively contributing nothing to society. Perhaps you would like to get that lazy processor off of its butt and help in the search for ET! SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes...

It was a cold, drizzly day in Laketown as Bard, descendent of Girion of Dale, lifted his bow toward the flying figure of the great fire-drake, Smaug. The dragon was covered in jeweled armor from nose to tip of tail, impervious to arrow or spear, but Bard had found a bare spot on the beast’s belly where the plating had fallen away. He launched his arrow skyward, striking the drake in its vitals and sending it crashing into the waters of the lake below. So ended Smaug, last of the great fire...

The Washington Post attempts to make some hay over oil company contributions to the McCain campaign following his call for increased domestic oil production. Here’s the lede, just to set the tone of the piece. Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling. Oil and gas industry...

Back in June, as I prepared to go on my annual vacation, I was invited out by some friends to a local watering hole for drinks and a few games of pool. Despite years of experience, good times with good friends stretched the evening out and the phrase “a few” rapidly disappeared from descriptions of both billiards and beverages. At one point I found myself engaged in a heated discussion – let’s be honest and just say it was an argument – with a woman who attends our church, on the subject...