SOME COOL “HURRICANE BLOGGING” from Rick Lee, whose photos are, as always, amazing.

A MODEST civil rights victory in San Francisco, as a gun-ban bill is struck down in court.

RYAN SAGER REPORTS that Rudy Giuliani is going nuclear:

There’s a reason Giuliani outpolls Sen. John McCain regularly when it comes to who conservative Republicans prefer for the presidency – while also maintaining great popularity with centrists – and it was on full display in this Manhattan Institute-hosted talk on energy policy. . . .

Drawing on his experience managing New York City’s power problems, Giuliani spoke of the government red tape that makes it virtually impossible to build power plants, oil refineries and (especially) nuclear-power facilities.
Summing up U.S. energy policy since the 1970s, he was blunt: “We haven’t done anything.” We haven’t drilled in Alaska. We haven’t built oil refineries. We haven’t ordered a nuclear power plant since 1978.

We need to start doing these things, he said, to diversify. Energy independence, he said, is simply the “wrong paradigm,” despite the idea’s popularity in quarters of both the Left and the Right. Instead, in a global economy, “We have to diversify, that’s our strength . . . You can be independent by being diversified.”

And there’s room to reach out to the Left on building more nuclear plants now. The technology has grown safer – and nuclear use could reduce emissions that lead to global warming.

Read the whole thing.

MORE of Alberto’s awful aftermath.

D’OH!

JAMES WEBB is reported to have won the Democratic primary in Virginia. That’s probably bad news for George Allen.

UPDATE: More here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails: “Don’t you think it’s also bad news for the left fringe of the Democrat party? I think it shows that voters will not support the Howard Dean-Kos-fringe and it makes for interesting times as Democrats try to find a presidental candidate for 2008.” Yes, when Democrats move to the center, it’s bad news for both Republicans and the Democratic far-left.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jonathan Hamlet writes:

I know you like Jim Webb. I like him too, and I even was a campaign volunteer for him, but I find your characterization of him as centrist a little off. I find it off, because frankly I WISH Jim Webb was more centrist. In the primaries he has opposed free trade and hammered his primary opponent for saying outsourcing might not be such a bad thing, opposed the Iraq War (saying he would have voted against authorization of force if a Senator), and he also is a supporter of gay rights. While I think that’s far from being really “liberal” or “left,” he arguably was the less centrist of the two people running.

Yes, I knew he was antiwar, though I haven’t followed his campaign very closely — I’m mostly a fan of his books. (More here.) And other readers (including Markos) write to note that Kos endorsed him, so I guess Kos and I like the same guy, though I suspect we see different virtues in him. And if supporting gay rights makes you a left-liberal, then what am I?

Upside for the Dems — they’ve got a Kos candidate with crossover appeal! Like fellow Democrat Phil Bredesen, he doesn’t exude contempt for Red-State America. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep that going through November.

STILL ANOTHER UPDATE: On the other hand, maybe — as Mickey Kaus is claiming — it’s really Kos who’s tacking toward the center!

Of course, David Boaz says the whole election is a battle for the libertarian center!

AND MORE: Further thoughts on the “libertarian center” from Brink Lindsey. Responding to a post by Jonah Goldberg, Brink writes: ” whether Jonah likes it or not, libertarians are in the center of the American political debate as it is currently framed. In the red vs. blue culture wars, libertarians find themselves in the middle, along with that large, nonideological chunk of the electorate that is equally squeamish about the religious right and the countercultural left. This is a new and unaccustomed position for libertarians to be in, but I am coming to believe it represents a unique opportunity for us if we can figure out how to take advantage of it.” Centrism is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

I’m not sure that Webb really fits this — like me, he’s pro-gay rights and pro-gun rights, but he’s also (I think) anti-free-trade, which isn’t really a “libertarian” stand. (Libertarians split on the war, so I don’t think his position on the war tells us much either way.) But I may be misstating his position on trade since I’m not all that familiar with his political career, as opposed to his writing.

Conn Carroll at the National Journal Blogometer blog scores me — fairly enough — for not knowing that Kos was backing Webb. On the other hand, Carroll apparently thinks that I don’t like Webb. I don’t know where that idea came from, as I’ve been pretty positive in my treatment of him, and certainly wasn’t unhappy with his primary victory. It’s certainly wrong to lump me in with those who “want no part of a Webb candidacy.”

MORE: Virginia blogger John Rosenberg has more thoughts on Webb as a centrist, or maybe former centrist. And Conn Carroll emails:

Yeah, I know you are pro-Webb, and re-reading the tag I put above your first quote, it probably does read like you don’t like him, but…I was trying to underscore sentiment on the right that Webb is a formidable candidate who can give Allen a real campaign, I wanted to use some non-NRO quotes, and I don’t get to quote you as often as I would like (what with the more campaign/inside politics subject matter of the Hotline). So forgive me for taking a shortcut at your expense.

No sweat — campaign/inside politics stuff isn’t among my chief interests. But obviously I should be reading Blogometer more to keep up.

MORE BAD NEWS FOR BUSH: “Aided by surging tax receipts, President Bush may make good on his pledge to cut the deficit in half in 2006 — three years early.”

The New York Times headline: “Bush deficit reduction plan falls off-schedule.”

STEPHEN HAWKING:

The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there’s an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth, world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday.

The British astrophysicist told a news conference in Hong Kong that humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years. . . .

“It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species,” Hawking said. “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.”

I agree.

ALBERTO’S DEVASTATION: One of several chairs blown over on our deck. A reader writes: “You’re in the middle of a hurricane and blogging about Rove?” Well, the two added up to about the same thing — lots of noise on cable news and not much underlying substance.

FROM FITZMAS TO FIZZLEMAS: Karl Rove won’t be indicted.

John Podhoretz weighs in: “Karl Rove won’t say it, and his lawyer won’t say it, but I’ll say it: Patrick Fitzgerald’s conduct in the Rove matter has been disgraceful.” Any comments from Jason Leopold?

There’s a big Rove non-indictment roundup right here, and Austin Bay has some further thoughts. And there’s lots more from Tom Maguire.

And there’s this: “Rove Cleared, Zarqawi Dead, Bush doomed.” Well, I predict he won’t be reelected in 2008, anyway. But he’s in Baghdad at the moment.

And while Bush is in Baghdad, Hillary’s getting booed by the left, according to Dave Weigel. The Republicans are doomed!

MORE: Jim Lindgren observes: “It would be interesting to compare the false statements made by Rove and Libby to the investigators with the false statements made by Joe Wilson to the press and the public.”

ANN ALTHOUSE is guestblogging over at GlennReynolds.com this week.

“GOING TO HELL” in the court of public opinion.

WITH WAL-MART SELLING ORGANIC FOOD and fair-trade coffee, what new reasons will the haters find for hating ’em? I’m sure they’ll come up with some.

MICHAEL YON’S FIGHT with HFM/Shocked magazine continues.

“RUM, SODOMY, AND THE LASH:” Heh. Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

Meanwhile, after attending YearlyKos, Ryan Sager thinks that what the Kos Krowd needs is another good run of defeats: “Nothing smothers a growing movement of the politically disaffected quicker than premature victory.”

UPDATE: I think it’s Tim Blair who’s providing the lash. . . .

And I would say that this Davey Jones has nothing to do with “rum, sodomy and the lash” — but he was probably intimately familiar with at least the first two. . . .

And Eric Scheie has thoughts on politics and child-rearing.

AUSTIN BAY covered the Zarqawi autopsy briefing.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Iraqpundit autopsies Juan Cole’s treatment of Zarqawi.

Mary Katharine Ham is conducting a post-mortem on Haditha coverage.

And Thomas Lipscomb is conducting an autopsy of sorts, too.

MORE: Jihadis become JiHasbeens.

And though they’re not dead yet — they’re feeling better, in fact, and think they’d like to go for a walk — Michael Barone issues a troubling diagnosis for the Democrats.

And at Wizbang it’s an Amber Alert for pollsters.

SEVERAL PEOPLE HAVE EMAILED TO ASK IF I’M OK: Yes, actually, though we’re on the Florida Gulf Coast and keeping an eye on the hurricane warnings, which have gotten considerably stronger all of a sudden. Looks like we’ll miss most of it.

The “High Speed Internet” at our beach house doesn’t work, though, and there’s no Verizon coverage. I’ve used that as an excuse to take a break; right now I’m in a wifi-equipped cafe in Apalachicola. I’ve been reading Andy Kessler’s The End of Medicine : How Silicon Valley (and Naked Mice) Will Reboot Your Doctor. It’s really good, and we’re going to try to get Kessler on for a podcast interview soon. I certainly hope his vision for the future comes true, and soon!

UPDATE: The Cafe is called Veranda’s — it’s got a nice wine bar, too, but it’s a bit early for me. I can recommend the Key Lime pie, though.

Meanwhile, speaking of matters medical, some interesting kidneyblogging from Jeremy Floyd.