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.
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The Crows Nest
Would Early Primaries Allow More Donations?
Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot believes that candidates will benefit if primaries and caucuses get pushed into 2007. A loophole in campaign finance regulation appears to allow an extra $2,300 per donor for candidates if those elections are held this year. Be sure to check out Jim's analysis, and the surprising candidate that may benefit the most.
When Tom Met Jeralyn
One of the interesting aspects of politics is finding out that opponents are people, too. Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft met Rep. Tom Tancredo backstage at NBC's studios, and found him more likable than she had anticipated. Perhaps it was their mutual interest in Dog, The Bounty Hunter ...
Joe Lieberman A Right-Wing Nut?
That's what CAIR says, according to Joe Kaufman. He has a link to a CAIR official's blog post that calls Lieberman, along with John Bolton, former CIA director James Woolsey, and the Heritage Foundation's Peter Brookes as "extremists". Affad Shaikh also calls Dick Cheney a "fat bastard of a liar," apparently not meant as a pop-culture reference to the Austin Powers movies. (via Let Freedom Ring)
Broadband Homelessness
The Japanese have made homelessness more efficient, and more Net-friendly, too. Their Internet cafés have become homeless shelters for the struggling manual-labor sector. The problem has grown into such a problem that government intervention will shortly become a political priority.
Found My Law Firm
Power Line links twice to this story regarding an attorney at Faegre & Benson who refused to become a victim and helped capture a very dangerous man. Keith Radtke is a partner in the firm as is Power Line's John Hinderaker. Radtke is listed in satisfactory condition after getting shot in the back, but that didn't keep him from locking up his attacker in a wrestling grip until police could arrive. I don't know about you, but that's the kind of man I'd want as my counsel ....
Don't Click That YouTube E-mail
The latest in spam seems to be redirections from YouTube links in e-mail to IP addresses without domain names. They attempt to entice people by making it seem that they have been inadvertently YouTubed. I'm sure most people can see through this scam, but just in case, you've been warned ....
Rick Moran Escapes The Floods
Rick Moran has kept us up to date on his travails along the Algonquin River. Yesterday, the police showed up to get him evacuated before the river flooded his home -- but today, Rick finds that a minor miracle has taken place, and that his house survives ... at least for now. Keep Rick in your prayers, and keep checking in at Right Wing Nut House for updates.
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.
Comments (13)
Posted by daytrader | July 3, 2007 8:42 AM
Captain
I have commented elsewhere and maybe here that there are many other immigration reform measures also on the floor.
Both sides agreed during the debate there were broken borders and broken laws that needed fixing.
Sure you are not going to get comprehensive reform and all the faults in that bill show exactly why.
But to now totally ignore ANY reform with proposed bills on the floor that aim to fix specific issues is wrong headed.
At least getting some fixes done is better than nothing.
If no fixes come forward then a good case can be made that the comprehensive bill was a purposeful intended to fail smokescreen done for political reasons rather than a true effort to enact reform.
Posted by TomB | July 3, 2007 8:58 AM
What looks simple on the surface is really just a tip of an iceberg and touching it is like opening a Pandora box. No politician wants to do it even with 70% public support (which can evaporate in no time after leftist MSM will zero-in on the details), as we can see even with a 10ft pole.
Securing the borders is really a complex process, and border controls and enforcement is just a first step. We need a scary legal system to send undocumented people for processing to camps, best somewhere in Alaska; we need a robust national biometric ID, to be able to weed out illegals, who skipped past the border enforcement. Then we need find an acceptable way to deal with people, often well established who entered the country and were staying here illegally for a number of years (due to our intentional neglect of the problem). And this is just for starters.
All this needs a really determined administration, which we do not have and, dare I say, WILL NOT HAVE in a foreseeable future.
Posted by bulbasaur | July 3, 2007 9:03 AM
Your expectation makes sense only if you still believe congressmen see themselves as agents of the people. They don't. They see the people as adversaries.
That's why democrats and republicans together, in defeat, began issuing veiled threats to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.
Posted by Gregg | July 3, 2007 9:08 AM
How despicable if some members of Congress refuse to secure our borders against human traffickers, drug runners and terrorists (and many good people who are desperate to get to the greatest country on this planet any way they can) if they can't get other pet legislation passed. I am disgusted that they would refuse to protect and defend this country if they can't get their way.
Posted by BoWowBoy | July 3, 2007 9:14 AM
It's clear that the American people will have to lead on this issue. Neither the executive branch or legislative branch of our federal government are interested in doing the right thing for America and American workers.
Homeland Security Agency has tipped their hand that they will not prosecute employers for hiring illegal aliens. They are taking their cue directly from the POTUS.
The scum suckers in the U.S. Senate are still interested in how they can exploit this security problem for their best interest ............which at this time is to take the lead and funding from the business community .....to just make this issue go away.
This is why it is critically important that patriotic Americans join a citizen border group and attend a border operation or attend a day labor operation in their communities.
Posted by Mentant | July 3, 2007 10:06 AM
They will not pass border enforcement becaue those who are in favor of "comprehensive" reform understand that the only way to get amnesty-esque provisions passed is to make them appear palatable through enforcement provisions.
If they just pass robust enforcement provisions, any future attempt at the kind of sweeping amnesty they almost passed would be futile. So they won't. And two years from now we will again hear that the "only way" to fix the border is to pass another "comprehensive" bill.
Posted by AnonymousDrivel | July 3, 2007 10:20 AM
RE: daytrader (July 3, 2007 8:42 AM)
If no fixes come forward then a good case can be made that the comprehensive bill was a purposeful intended to fail smokescreen done for political reasons rather than a true effort to enact reform.
You're being far too generous here, daytrader. We both know that case has already been made and the jury screamed bloody h*ll to stop the railroading.
As much as we'd like to think there was no way this legislation could have passed due to the public outroar, history will show that the Senate was very close in spite of the lopsided vote during the second cloture. Reid's inverted "clay pigeon" process was working until the Baucus-Tester amendment (which was narrowly passed) stripped the Real ID security fig leaf some needed to justify the legislation's passage. With Real ID gone, the camel's back was broken.
A few other timely events made the ultimate cloture appear legislatively devastating... but it really wasn't. Many "nays" came in after the 40-vote threshold had been reached. Brownback, McConnell, and Voinovich were the most embarrassingly transparent "nays" and should serve as textbook examples for legislative rookies on how to CYA (well, learn the method but not the style).
All of that security "urgency" has evaporated. Our highest levels of governance have yet to spell c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e, much less act it. Perhaps they'll recall the practice of acting on things that have not yet been written like a nice piece of legislation. They could just do it without understanding it.
Posted by Old Mike | July 3, 2007 10:58 AM
If we secured the border and got a tamper proof ID card, I would be willing to consider all sorts of options, even generous ones, for dealing with illegals already here. I am not, however, willing to put the cart before the horse a second time.
Posted by Lew | July 3, 2007 11:29 AM
What is needed at this juncture are what the conflict resolution consultants call "confidence building" steps. Small incremental measures designed to build trust between two estranged parties to a dispute, and advance some progress toward a solution that both sides can tolerate. Because the problem here is not the border or the illegals or the wall or whatever; the problem is that Americans have absolutely NO faith in their government's intention to enforce the laws that they enact. None! Zero! Nada! Zilch!
Until we face that problem head-on and get it resolved, then no other problem is solvable. What's the point of passing all kinds of nifty looking laws when nobody believes they'll be either funded or enforced?
In the end, the people holding elected office right now need to admit in public that the American people simply don't trust them, and with damned good reason. Until they admit the problem, they can't solve it. Maybe some kind of "Twelve-Step" program would be in order?
Posted by MarkD | July 3, 2007 1:33 PM
We were promised enforcement for amnesty once, got amnesty, no enforcement.
So how stupid do we have to be to take the same deal when it's offered again by the same liars? I say liars because I don't see much of the wall they are supposedly building. Or would that be a virtual (ie imaginary) wall?
I just want the borders secured and the laws enforced.
Then we can figure out what to do with the 12-20 million estimated illegals. Maybe Bush can pardon them.
Posted by RichPete | July 3, 2007 2:40 PM
To: Lew at July 3, 2007 11:29 AM
By "Twelve-Step" program do you envision "Contract with America?"
Posted by Project Vote Smart | July 3, 2007 3:58 PM
In her article for The Hill, Jackie Kucinich mentions Representatives Pete King, Lamar Smith, and Zoe Zofgren of the House who are currently pursuing new legislation on immigration.
Rep. King’s history of speeches on immigration can be found at: http://votesmart.org/speech.php?keyword=immigration&daterange=&begin=&end=&phrase=&contain=&without=&type=search&can_id=26968&go2.x=0&go2.y=0#Results
For Rep. Smith’s history of speeches on immigration, please visit: http://votesmart.org/speech.php?keyword=immigration&daterange=&begin=&end=&phrase=&contain=&without=&type=search&can_id=27097&go2.x=0&go2.y=0#Results
For Rep. Lofgren’s statement on the updated visa bulletin, please visit: http://votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=299308&keyword=&phrase=&contain=
For more information on the legislative activities of these representatives, and on immigration, please visit http://www.vote-smart.org or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.
Posted by Lew | July 3, 2007 9:50 PM
RichPete,
Nope, what I have in mind is more like AA's sequence of steps beginning with the sincere and public confession that "I am an alcoholic!". Only in this case the sincere public confession would be "I am a fraud!".
Once that step has been sincerely taken, then they can move through the other steps to final self control and responsible adult life.
After all that is done, then perhaps we might believe them when they once more indulge us with a "Contract with America". Until then, all the "Contracts" in the world are just so much gas!