About
Captain Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather. He lives with his wife Marcia, also known as the First Mate, their two dogs, and frequently watch their granddaughter Kayla, whom Captain Ed calls The Little Admiral.
Read More
The Crows Nest
Rule 1: Drag The Corpse On Over First
If I've learned anything in four years of blogging, don't try to be out in front of the death rumors, especially with the villains of the world. Saddam died a hundred deaths before we caught him alive in his spider hole, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi almost as many before his demise last year. Osama may or may not be alive, but everyone's avoided speculating on his fate for a while now. Maybe Val at Babalu Blog will get luckier with his "Castro Is Dead" story. We all hope so. I'll wait for the announcement ....
Hobbs Choice
Volunteer Voters is holding its annual "Best of Nashville" on-line polls, and one of the categories is for the best political writer. Our friend Bill Hobbs, now posting at Newsbusters, and he'd like his on-line fans to cast their votes. Drop by and put one in for Bill if you get a chance!
Murtha Getting Backlogged On Apologies
Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring sees another case collapsing on the Haditha charges. He's called for Murtha to apologize earlier, and adds another reason to the tally.
No Such Thing As 'Moderate' Islam?
Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan told a television interviewer that he finds the label "moderate Islam" offensive. Shrink Wrapped has a lot more on this, but at least in the same interview Erdogan acknowledged that "radical Islam" exists, and that it's been a catastrophe. Be sure to read the whole post.
MS-NBC Gets Punk'd
Power Line has a great post on a lack of journalistic effort on the part of MS-NBC. In covering the Michael Vick story, they reported on what they thought was Al Sharpton's website proclaiming Vick's innocence. I guess Alex Johnson and two other MS-NBC reporters couldn't bother to read the title bar of the site, which proudly proclaims it as a "parody site".
New Instapundit Podcast On Pharmaceuticals
I just caught this e-mail from Glenn Reynolds about his new podcast with Richard Epstein, the author of Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but the topic is important enough to make sure I carve out time for it tomorrow. Get their first and tell me what I'm missing ....
Fed Trying A 'Stealth Easing'?
The Federal Reserve seems to have conducted a quiet campaign to steady markets that started spinning out of control, according to King Banaian at SCSU Scholars. He thinks that the Fed has conducted a "stealth easing". Be sure to read his explanation and follow his lnks.
A Shameless Bit Of Sel-Promotion
Gateway Pundit and Val at Babalu Blog note a crass PR move by Hugo Chavez. Venezuela has responded to Peru's eathquake disaster with food shipments -- and with Hugo's smiling picture on the cans. He also uses the tuna-can label to undermine President Garcia of Peru, who narrowly defeated Chavez' pal Ollanto Humalla, whom the labels extol for his "solidarity" with Chavez.
Tacky beyond belief.
Bush Going After Palestinian Terror Financing?
George Bush's new orders to USAID forces them to review the executive management of all NGOs to ensure that they have no terrorist connections. Carl in Jerusalem says at Israel Matzav that the order specifically intends to target Palestinian front groups for terrorists. Let's hope he's right.
Slow Start!
Yes, I'm off to a slow start today, thanks to some scripting issues, a bad back, and an alarm clock that needs replacing. Bear with me -- I'm ramping up, I promise...
And Now, In Little League Action Last Night ...
I once played in a Little League game where we lost, 30-1, obviously before mercy rules came into being. The only comfort during that shellacking was that 13-year-olds don't have to justify their salaries for being on the field. You have to wonder what the Baltimore Orioles have to feel without that caveat today, after losing 30-3 to the Texas Rangers. Sixteen of the runs came in the last two innings .... (via TMV)
Bush Speech On Iraq
I got a couple of e-mails wondering why I haven't linked to George Bush's speech today. I liked it; I just didn't have much to add. Rush Limbaugh covered it well on his site, and Power Line also links approvingly but has nothing much more to say. Michael Goldfarb notes that the Weekly Standard had made a similar argument regarding Vietnam a year ago.
Rove Fears Me -- No, Really!
Hot Air notes the latest fundraising letter from John Edwards. No longer content to indulge his paranoia when Ann Coulter mentions him, now he wants to indulge it when Karl Rove doesn't. Has any candidate seemed this desperate before now?
Racism Or Hard Truth?
Angela Winters looks at an editorial cartoon and the controvery it has caused in Jacksonville, Florida, especially in the black community. Truth or racism? When rap artists tell young listeners not to cooperate with the police, how much responsibility do they have for the victimization that follows? Read all of the essay at The Moderate Voice.
Support Citizen Journalism
Bill Ardolino at INDC Journal reminds us that there is a reporter shortage on the front lines. The best way to solve that problem? Donate to Public Multimedia, the citizen-journalist organization that supports Bill Roggio, Bill Ardolino, and others. (And a direct donation to Michael Yon would be much appreciated as well.)
Comments (14)
Posted by Ripper | April 17, 2007 7:58 AM
There is a saying in the Talmud (I am paraphrasing) "He who saves a single life, it is as if he saved the entire world."
Posted by tommy1nut | April 17, 2007 8:18 AM
This kind of shit has gotta to stop. My condolences go out to all the victims and their families. This is also not the time to start arguing about gun control or law enfornment or any of that BS. This was a fucking tradegy and I'd send cash to help pay for the funeral expenses. That's what we should all do.
Posted by RBMN | April 17, 2007 8:31 AM
From today's news conference: The shooter, Seung Hui Cho, was a Korean-national english major at Virginia Tech.
Posted by Tom Shipley | April 17, 2007 8:35 AM
Maximilian Kolbe's spirit was alive yesterday in that classroom.
Posted by RBMN | April 17, 2007 8:45 AM
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_(Korean_name)
Posted by oldcrow | April 17, 2007 8:54 AM
My condolences go out to the victims and their families.
It’s a sad commentary on our culture, when it seems like the only person with the guts to do anything was a 75 year old Holocaust survivor. He’s a true hero.
Posted by docjim505 | April 17, 2007 9:45 AM
God bless Dr. Librescu.
Posted by NahnCee | April 17, 2007 9:58 AM
I wonder how many stories of heroism by students named Mohammad we'll hear in the coming days.
Posted by Tom Shipley | April 17, 2007 10:19 AM
"I wonder how many stories of heroism by students named Mohammad we'll hear in the coming days."
Or women or blacks.
Posted by Mark | April 17, 2007 12:30 PM
That explains it. He was an English major.
Posted by docjim505 | April 17, 2007 12:44 PM
NahnCee wrote (April 17, 2007 09:58 AM):
I wonder how many stories of heroism by students named Mohammad we'll hear in the coming days.
I'm sorry, but I really don't see your point. If there was a person named Muhammed who performed an act of bravery, then I would hope we'd hear about it to provide some tiny ray of hope and decency in the wake of this horror. Ditto a person named Joe, Jane, Jose, Katerina, Ivan, Nguyen, Takeo, or Mogden.
Or, in this case, Liviu.
Posted by Lew | April 17, 2007 8:40 PM
Once in a great while, someone like Dr. Liviu Librescu comes along and does something so unspeakably courageous and purely noble, that the whole tawdry and cynical world seems somehow new again. As if the sun had suddenly broken through a cold leaden gray overcast and suddenly warmed us all, one more time.
Ripper's Talmudic paraphrase above is worth more than just a little passing glance, because in reality the Professor not only saved his students with his sacrifice, but in a real sense he saved a little piece of all of us, as well. Saved us from our cynical lack of faith in our neighbors and friends, and in the end - from our lack of faith in ourselves and our possibilities.
There are still heroes, and because of what that old man did, we became more than we were. Remember his name and pray for his soul, for he made us and all of our possibilities, greater than we ever knew.
Posted by nolakola | April 18, 2007 12:51 AM
I wonder if anyone wants to take back some of the things they wrote here yesterday about academics? probably not.
Posted by flicka47 | April 18, 2007 1:25 PM
While it may be a little too soon to think about,have any of our congresscritters (or anyone else for that matter) mentioned giving this heroic man a Congresssional Medal of Honor?