Volume 1, Issue 12 Virginia Blog Carnival

It is my extreme pleasure and honor to be allowed to host the 12th issue of the first year's edition of the Virginia Blogger Carnival. May it continue in the years to come as a valuable resource to future Virginians. Many thanks to Chad Dotson for coordinating our feeble efforts.

J.R and Squeeky at "Hampton Roads' Number One Source For Conservative Stuff" gets us started with what will become a regular feature on their newly redesigned blog. It's a great look and with this development in just a short time they may outrank NPR on the Hampton Roads Arbitron Ratings.

Next, the still recuperating Kilo is also on a sound subject with this post. I certainly intend to follow his advice as soon as possible. Be sure to check out the link contained in his post, it's awesome.

Norm, at One Man's Trash has discovered shorter (not to mention quicker) is not always better.

Continuing on somewhat the same theme, (my previous post even fits, though not intentionally, maybe there is something to this subliminal consciousness stuff after all...), Waldo revisits every audiophiles greatest quest and simultaneous nightmare. How can anyone winnow a subjective art like music down to a top ten list? Maybe it's the age difference, but his list looks nothing like mine. I'm 50; he's younger than my daughter. We do share a couple of artists though. That alone is enough to justify those artists place on anyones list, I guess. How about it Waldo, I'll trade you a Newbury Mp3 for one from the artist of your choice.

Brian Patton breaks us out of the audio theme with a post about some friends from Kentucky that dropped in on him Saturday-before-last. (That's a SWVA'ism, y'all). He also has one of the best blog pics I've seen in some time. Those of you who visit here regularly know how deep my roots run into his area of the state. (I've ridden motorcycles with Phillip Puckett, bet you and Chad can't claim that Brian...) This picture was a very welcome memory jog. Thanks Brian.

Next I want to present Adam Gurri, at Sophistpundit. He has an insightful take on the Hatfield, McCoy oops, Hucheson-Rodokankis feud. Of course this piece goes deeper than the feud. I have been tempted to post on this, but after reading Adam's post, I'm glad I didn't try to rise to his level of quality thought and prose.

Xyba at Once More Into The Breach offers his thoughts on the future of politics, in both Parties.

The Blue Dog and Steve oops again, The Blue Dog and Steve are lusting for a Mark Warner Presidential run, but not necessarily for the reasons you may think. (Get that other thought out of your head. The Horizontally striped shirt Steve is not capable of lust, but this one in the Valley most certainly is.)

From Burke, we have Bwana at Renaissance Ruminations explaining why nominating conventions are not utopia as they have recently been described by those with either a selective memory or none at all.

Come back with me now to my beloved Southwest where we find Jerry reminiscing about his college days. Well, not really, but those days do figure into the subject at hand.

As Host of this week's Carnival, I have reserved to myself the right to add one or two "Host's Picks" from among the Virginia Blogosphere.

For my first pick, I noticed there had been no submission from Black and White; upon checking I suspect this is the reason. So, I'll pick this one.

Hans sometimes does and sometimes don't. So I've picked this one.

Earlier this week a couple of our newer Virginia blogs were profiled on a few blogs, here I present one from Mason Conservative ,(BTW, thanks Chris for getting rid of the white on black text, older eyes don't handle that well) , one from SouthArlington and finally one from Adam Tolbert in the saltbox of the Confederacy at Smyth County Conservative.

Finally, my neighbor to the west in Meadows of Dan, Barnie Day, and I are polar opposites politically, but the man is a good writer. I have to include this from him.

I want to thank all our contributors this week for allowing me to host links to your excellent writing. After reading the submissions this week, I only hope that through some perverse type of osmosis I have absorbed some of your talent and will present better blogging from here in the future.

Next week, Brandon Myer, the author of this election analysis will get to enjoy this experience.

While Compiling VBC

Listening to the late Mickey Newbury while writing up this week's Carnival...
Bio... Interview

Keep a candle burnin' ever low
Don't be moved by every wind that blows
Save your cryin' for the picture show
Give your love to one you truly know

Let it go let it flow unchained
You know time will wash away the pain
All you're feelin' is a cleansing rain
Shake that rusty chain and let it go

It's alright if you need to cry
It always hurts to say goodbye
Wash away the memory from your eyes
Shake that rusty chain and let it fall

You can make it day to day
You are broken only if you break
Save the good and throw the rest away
Give your love to one you truly know

Let it go let it flow unchained
All you're feelin' is a cleansing rain
mmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm
Shake that rusty chain and let it go

(Don't worry, I'm not going to start cat blogging next)

Wow! What power! I ask for it, I get it.

Was I precient, or was it inevitable after all the demogoguery?

UPDATE:
FYI, Congressman Murtha voted against immediate troop removal, after he quoted for it.
UPDATE II:
Tommy and Company at the Roanoke Times would just as soon you forget this quote from last Saturday's editorial regarding the wisdom of John McCaine;

But to withdraw now courts disaster by leaving Iraq to fall into a fully engaged civil war, vulnerable to its terrorist-sponsoring neighbors, Syria and Iran...
To cut and run is to invite a "jihad wave."

Instead you should now refer to this quote from today's (Saturday) editorial;

Before Thursday, Murtha's name and influence weren't well known outside Pennsylvania or Washington, D.C., where it is legendary. He might not carry the name recognition of Sen. John McCain, but he is McCain's peer when it comes to military service and knowledge of national defense.

The RT continues with;

Murtha's dramatic assessment coincides with the Senate resolution demanding that Bush develop an exit strategy.

Congress is finally doing what it failed to do three years ago before foolishly ceding the power to declare war. Members, finally, are questioning the validity and prosecution of a mismanaged military campaign that has unnecessarily put troops in harm's way.

UPDATE III
Jerry has taken a slightly different tack on this Roanoke Time internal conflict.

Dogbert, Look In Stuart!

Heh...
For the answer to this,

Begin your search here...

Virginia Blog Carnival Vol.1 Issue 12

J.R. at Bearing Drift did a great job with the Carnival last week. (Check out the new look over at Bearing Drift, very nice, guys.) Now it's my turn. Hopefully I can rise to the standard set by all our previous hosts. I'll be looking for your submissions soon.

Please submit your entries to imnotemeril(AT)yahoo.com with the subject heading "VBC" not later than 5 p.m. EST Sunday Nov. 20. Or you can use this online submission form.

In the text of your email, please include a permalink to your entry and a link to your profile, should you have one, and/or your preferred public email address.

Typically we keep VBC light on the politics, so to our political bloggers (and you know who you are...) show us something a little different.

Thanks, again!
Alton

Once Again, Sparse Posting...

We are getting down to "crunch time" at the new plant in Stuart. I will strive to place at least one post per day here, but even that will take some major effort on my part.

I am in that part of the project that requires me to be in every part of the plant at all times. A physical impossibility, but still it must be done.

I justify it all with two statements.

One; This has always been my favorite part of a major project. I love a challenge and this part of a project is the ultimate challenge. To bring together the efforts of all my electrical guys and make their contributions work in union with the results of the work of their mechanical counterparts.

Two; I know that when I have completed my contribution to this overall effort, I will have contributed in some small way to the employment of at least 50 of my fellow Southwest Virginians, with more employment opportunities to come in the following weeks and months.

PS: Hey Kilo, come on over to the morning side of the mountains and apply to run the QC lab here. Hey, it could work, no?

OK, Congressman Murtha...

Put your money (credibility) where your mouth is.
I expect a resolution will be introduced within the next few weeks stating your position that America should pull it's military presence from Iraq.

Or maybe a resolution removing monetary support from the effort in Iraq.

You have many options, Mr. Murtha, exersize one of them.

Two New NOVA Blogs

As Chad points out, Chris at The Mason Conservative is somewhat new on the Virginia blogscene.

Adding a touch of leftward balance is Mark T. Blair doing business as SouthArlingtonVA.

UPDATE: I almost forgot this one I found at about 4:30 this morning in the comments at Brian Patton's.

Adam Tolbert's blog is not "real new" at apparently 5 months old, but this morning was my first encounter with Smyth County Conservative. It has everything I look for to add to my "favorites" list, It's Conservative, the subject is primarily Virgina Politics, and it is SWVA based. Go by and check out this UVA at Wise student from Saltville.

Tommy Adds New Lines To Same Tired Editorial

Tommy Denton is still beating his dead "Bush Lied" horse. Only now it's our fault for intimidating the Democrats in the House and Senate when it was time for them to vote on the resolution authorizing war in Iraq.

The prewar buildup of impending doom took place during the midterm elections when members of Congress could not risk appearing soft on potential terrorism while the nation was still gripped in the shadow of Sept. 11.

Many Democrats, cowed by the fear they would be perceived as less than patriotic, didn't probe too deeply, trusted the president's word and acquiesced to his hurried demands for war powers.

OK, Tommy, if that's your main argument, tell us who "cowed" these foreign leaders. Were they also scared of the voters like you suggest your Democrat compadres were?
French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin:

Right now, our attention has to be focused as a priority on the biological and chemical domains. It is there that our presumptions about Iraq are the most significant. Regarding the chemical domain, we have evidence of its capacity to produce VX And Yperite. In the biological domain, the evidence suggests the possible possession of significant stocks of anthrax and botulism toxin, and possibly a production capability." (United Nations Security Council, 4701st Meeting, New York, 2/5/03)

And this guy,
German Ambassador To The United States Wolfgang Ischinger:

I think all of our Governments believe that Iraq has produced weapons of mass destruction and that we have to assume that they still have that they continue to have weapons of mass destruction. we have not yet seen evidence produced by the inspectors.
(NBC's "Today," 2/26/03)

Tommy, you can argue that your Democrat heroes should have investigated further, or you can complain that their staffs did not search the records deeply enough. But you have only them to blame for not seeing then what you claim to see so clearly today.

Stand Up For Yourself

UPDATE: This Press Release. I have bumped this to the top.

Most conservatives have been wanting only for President Bush to stand up and defend himself and his administration from the rediculous "Bush Lied" accusation.

Well, now he has.

In a response to this in WaPo the White House has released this Press Release "Setting The Record Straight"
Just a sample from the White House Press Release;

The Washington Post Implies That There Have Been No Findings On The Use Of Intelligence. "But the only committee investigating the matter in Congress, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has not yet done its inquiry into whether officials mischaracterized intelligence by omitting caveats and dissenting opinions. And Judge Laurence H. Silberman, chairman of Bush's commission on weapons of mass destruction, said in releasing his report on March 31, 2005: 'Our executive order did not direct us to deal with the use of intelligence by policymakers, and all of us were agreed that that was not part of our inquiry.'" (Dana Milbank And Walter Pincus, "Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument," The Washington Post, 11/12/05)

But Congressional And Independent Committees Have Repeatedly Reported No Distortion Of Intelligence

* The Bipartisan Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Report "Did Not Find Any Evidence" Of Attempts To Influence Analysts To Change Intelligence. "Conclusion 83. The Committee did not find any evidence that Administration officials attempted to coerce, influence or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. Conclusion 84. The Committee found no evidence that the Vice President's visits to the Central Intelligence Agency were attempts to pressure analysts, were perceived as intended to pressure analysts by those who participated in the briefings on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, or did pressure analysts to change their assessments." ("Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq," U.S. Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, 7/7/04, Pg. 284-285)

But, since this is a press release, just how much of the press will actually release it? My guess is, not much.

New Blood From NOVA?

GOPHokie points me to a new Blog, The Mason Conservative. It's new, but good, unlike mine which is 2 months old and mediocre.

Chris has in mind a Republican "dream candidate" that has proven electability in NOVA. Some "New Blood" for the leadership of the Party.

Chris makes some excellent points. Especially as they apply to past Gubernatorial elections, won by both sides.

But a candidate that has proven electability in NOVA would also have to bring much more to the dance.

SWVA and southside are both filled with conservative Democrats. They tend to vote Republican in Presidential elections, but would never consider leaving the Party that Dad and Granddad were affiliated with. At some point in my lifetime the Republican Party, at least on the national level, gained some favor in their sight. This was due primarily to the extreme swerve to the left taken by the Democrat Party on the national level. Local Democrats throughout SWVA kept their heads and remained conservative (see Virgil Goode) or at least worked very hard to appear conservative (see Rick Boucher). This strategy allowed the voters to continue with "tradition" (not a small thing here in SWVA) and continue to vote for "Dad's Party", while feeling justified for voting against that same Party on the national level.

A "proven Republican winner" in Fairfax would have to be able to assure the conservative Democrats in SWVA that he shares their values and that he understands the culture and traditions. This was in some small way even a problem for locally born Jerry Kilgore. Us lifetime Republicans believed that Jerry had not lost his roots, but he wasn't able to convince those conservative Democrats that his time spent in Richmond hadn't somehow changed him. Democrats such as Mark Warner and Rick Boucher face no similar problem. Both are (or were) able to convince these conservative Democrats that they not only represent their ancestral party, but also share their values. Not too hard to do if you're going in somewhat "disguised" to begin with by your familiar Party affiliation.

Your NOVA "dream candidate" may have that ability, I don't know. What I do know is that any Republican campaigning for a regional or statewide office here in SWVA must have that ability.

Good News...

From Chad I see another mention of the possibility of a challenge to Rick Boucher. I keep hearing this, from various sources.

This is good and welcome news to those of us in northwestern Henry County.

This Is Good

Found in this week's edition of the Magnolia Blog Carnival. A mother's daily journal while her son Wayne is in Iraq.

Magnolia Bloggers Carnival

Alabama Improper is this week's hostess for the Magnolia Bloggers Carnival. The Southern Blog Federation, a group of exclusively southern blogs presents this carnival each week on Monday.

Last week's Carnival was filled with some very intersting writing here, and this was also representative of the quality last week. This week it should be just as good.

Martinsville First Virginia City To 'Adopt' Military Unit In Iraq Through ASA-USA

The third story in the Martinsville Bulletin Online Edition is about this organization.

To those of you who have influence in your City, County, or Town Governments, let's try to get more blue stars in Virginia on this map.

Add One More To Jerry's List

Yesterday morning quite early, as he is prone to do, Jerry posted a response to a snippy e-mail he had recieved. Somewhat deep into his response he listed the following SWVA busineses that had either closed or severely cut back operations.

Smyth County alone has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs since 1988. Chilhowie has lost damn near more jobs than it has people.

Add to the losses in Smyth County the losses in Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke, Washington, Carroll, Tazewell, Wythe, Wise, Grayson, Buchanan, Lee, Dickenson, Russell, Pulaski, and Floyd County - add the losses sustained at Spring Ford Industries' knitting mill and Tultex and Buster Brown and Natalie Knitting Mills (all cited in the article) to those at Mack Truck and Ethan Allen and Renfro and Celanese and Johnson & Johnson and Lear and Dan River and American of Martinsville and Virginia Glove and Virginia House Furniture and Lea Industries and ArvinMeritor and Alcoa Wheels and VF Knitwear and Burlington Industries and Hooker Furniture and Stanley Furniture and Thomasville and Bassett Furniture Industries and Pulaski Furniture, and a picture of the devastation emerges.

Well, Jerrry, now we add a large furniture manufacturer in Galax to your list. I learned this afternoon that Webb Furniture will no longer operate 60 days from now.

From This Weeks Enterprise

Bull Mountain Arts To Open Downtown Gallery

Bull Mountain Arts is pleased to announce the opening of an art gallery at the former Depot Emporium on Patrick Avenue in downtown Stuart.
The gallery will be open every Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. When the Historic Star Theatre (located next door) is open, the gallery will remain open until 8 p.m. The gallery will also be open on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. when there are theatre productions, and may be open at other times during the week.
A variety of media and styles of art works will be available at the new Bull Mountain Arts Gallery.
Bull Mountain Arts is responsible for organizing the annual J.E.B. Stuart Art Show, which showcases the area's talented artists.
The members of Bull Mountain Arts invite everyone to stop by the gallery during business hours.

Traffic Shifts Onto New Route 58 at Meadows of Dan

Weather permitting, on Friday, Nov. 11 around daybreak, eastbound and westbound Route 58 traffic is expected to be switched from the existing two-lane road onto one lane of the newly constructed section around Meadows of Dan in Patrick County.
In the event of inclement weather on Friday, the switch-over will take place on Monday, Nov. 14.
Route 58 drivers in both directions should expect five to 10-minute delays on the new roadway, as flaggers will be stopping traffic. Motorists should use caution, pay attention and be aware of the change in traffic patterns.
Due to construction on the connection from the existing two-lane road to the new four-lane road, traffic must be switched onto the new roadway and stopped for a short period of time.
Highway workers plan to work on the tie-in all day Friday and continue until work is completed, possibly into the early evening hours.
Once the tie-in is completed on Friday, all four lanes of the Route 58 bypass around Meadows of Dan will be opened to traffic.
On Monday, Nov. 14, additional work to widen a curve will begin on Route 58 just west of Cockram's Mill. Flaggers will stop traffic on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Route 58 drivers should expect short delays. The curve widening is expected to be completed in late November.

Virginia Blog Carnival XI

Bearing Drift is hosting Volume 1, Chapter 11 of the Virginia Blog Carnival. Go on over and check out all the rides.

And a note of thanks to Chad Dotson, our very capable organizer.

Bureaucracy Lives!

While cleaning up some files I found this. I have no idea where I got it from originally.

History or Bureaucracy?

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches, an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England and English immigrants built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that is the gauge they used.

Why did they use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used the same wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they all had the same wheel spacing.

The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

Specifications and bureaucracies live forever. The Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear-ends of two war-horses.

Cut to the present...

The Space Shuttle, sitting on its launch pad, has two booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs.

Thiokol makes the SRBs at its factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs wanted to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel-which is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So... A major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system (space shuttle) was determined two thousand years ago by a horse's ass.

Which is pretty much how most government decisions are made.

Work, Work, Work. We Got Work. Get Your Work Here!

Many of you know by now that I have been working to bring a new industry on line in Stuart. Many of you also know that we have been behind schedule.

Well, we will make our first board sometime this week. We recieve our first load of wood on Wednesday. We now have a (almost) completed fiberboard plant. I have a (almost) completed software program to run it. I look for a board to come off the line sometime Thursday, maybe. Watch for pictures. Also, don't expect much activity here, as I expect long days and late nights for the next week as we work the bugs out of my software and hardware.

Anyone in the Patrick, Henry, Floyd, Carroll County area of Virginia and the Surrey County area of North Carolina in need of employment, with a good locally (Hickory, NC) based company, come on by and fill out an application. We are in need of not only production personnel, but also good maintenance people. Mechanics, electricians, electronics technicians are all needed.

Because we "inherited" a lot of existing equipment that came with the physical plant we have been engineering on the fly. We are using much of the stuff that International Paper abandoned when they abandoned Stuart. This has resulted in some major cost savings, but the opposite side of that coin means that we could not spend the up-front time engineering the final configuration of the new plant. Each section of the new facility has been built using as much of the existing parts as possible, requiring us to "trial fit" many segments. We re-used probably 90% of the existing conveyors, and roughly 80% of the existing electrical motor control centers. But in nowhere near their original locations or configuration.

Just because we are finally going into production, my life will not get easier. In fact, the reverse may be true. I am not only the electrical engineer, I am also the only one here qualified as an AutoCAD operator. I have hundreds of mechanical drawings that will need to be consolidated into final drawings. The same applies to my electrical drawings, only more so. Most of the electrical has been done using quick sketches I made on legal pads. Other circuits were verbally described, and exist only in my head.

If you are a qualified AutoCAD operator, I especially invite you to come on down.