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 (10)
Posted by Carol Herman | August 23, 2007 6:14 PM
I guess it depends where ya shop?
Today's Internet is REACTIVE. It's like the old "LEMON" signs that used to adorn the products coming off of Detroit's production lines. Back in the days when the engineers were told to take a hike. And, the high paying jobs went to the marketeers.
Sure, you bought cars that broke down a lot. And, the head honchos laughed a lot.
And, Japan took notice.
It sure doesn't pay to laugh at the public, whose complaints about your products went unnoticed.
Some Americans, upset and frustrated that their lemons didn't drive well, took to carrying signs, which were homemade. And, they stuck them UP for all to see. The word they carried was: LEMONS.
Today's Internet does the heavy lifting.
And, the media giants don't even know what's hit them.
I've read some great comments on the Internet. In my time.
And, yesterday, I saw a poster talking about the difference, between the skid marks left by Dan Rather; while TNR's haven't left any. BECAUSE THEY WENT OVER THE CLIFF. That's why skid marks didn't show up for TNR's mischief.
ILt's also why the Internet gets an audience. You know that, don't cha? Hundreds of thousands of people are "looking." And, lots of people, unpaid, are still active.
Just like when you go look at our US Constitution. Freedom are protected by the First and Second Amendments. It just how our FREEDOMS keep being freedoms.
Posted by Ledger1 | August 23, 2007 7:37 PM
Captain your link to the WaPo was just as biased as could be.
“Iraq government unable to govern itself.” That is all the farther I got before clicking to a different site.
Naturally, the reader is left to assume we should throw in the towel and take the last helicopter out.
I dislike the WaPo and its parent the NYT. They are spoiled hippies of the seventies with a political axe to grind. Give them your time and they will waste it.
I would advise your readers to take the WaPo's distortions with a grain of salt.
Posted by Captain Ed | August 23, 2007 7:47 PM
Ledger,
Well, that was the point, really -- to show the media take on the NIE as opposed to what it actually said. I probably didn't make that clear enough here, but I think it was pretty clear at Heading Right.
Posted by DubiousD | August 23, 2007 7:54 PM
Captain Ed:
The full NIE is available here.
http://billroggio.com/multimedia/Iraq-NIE-summer-2007.pdf
Posted by J. Gocht | August 23, 2007 9:15 PM
Gentlemen and ladies…
With respect to the release of the most recent NIE…!
Not to fast me camaraderie’s…!
Least yeah forget the last...?
Olde soldier sends...
jgocht@countryspeed.com
Posted by Carol Herman | August 23, 2007 9:55 PM
One reason so many people go to the Net, and bypass, the 'mainstream' media; is that they've figured out the "professionals" are working for one side of the street. They're NOT neutral! And, they have an agenda.
Okay. I think my point is well settled.
But we're a few years in since 2000. And, the media hasn't changed one iota.
They also didn't accomplish what they set out to do; which was to destroy Bush. And, his presidency.
I guess we've finally reached the place, "where the media doesn't have Nixon, to kick around any longer." Nixon folded. And, following our departure from Vietnam, it became apparent that our enemies, who had been on the ropes, then came in and demolished human lives. This same monstrosity is being "re-sold" as "something we could do to arabs."
Not very bright.
Not very successful, as operations go.
And, Bush, who has just a little time left in office, has a habit of GOING SLOW. So, other than Tommy Franks run-through, in 3 weeks of American fighting; what we were doing in Irak was done by poor planning. But not malice.
Okay. I think Bush thought Irak would become Sunni property. The Saud's would add more oil to their bank accounts. And, ya know what? It didn't happen.
As to what Harry Ried is doing now, is trying to recover from the fact that most Americans aren't buying Bonkey goods. So, it's a "shift," sort'a.
But it's still designed to fight Bush.
While, in Iraq, because of the Internet, lots of people get reports. Which they pick up on various blogs. And, they see that things aren't as bad as the press would have you believe.
Doesn't mean the Bonkeys don't have an anger level! That's the one thing they do have.
And, Maliki? He's way more experienced, and he seems to be "holding on." As a matter of fact, that the wave of money the Saud's are throwing into Madison Avenue; I imagine that Maliki is on the right track. And, that could mean among the Iraqis, he's holding his own.
I remember the "ad people" going after Olmert. Any day, Olmert was supposed to fall out of his chair. And, he didn't.
Since the PRESS is the enemy,and we've got to watch this war play out; as they try to destroy the GOP, ahead. It should get very interesting.
OR? Like TNR. They print their views. They don't back-track. And, they fly over and off the cliff's edge. The future is full of random roads, so who really knows how the mistakes will play out?
Posted by hunter | August 23, 2007 10:31 PM
Why should we now start putting any credibility in the intel community?
They blew Cold War, needlessly extending it by not seeing how vulnerable the USSR was to economic competition.
They blew the first Gulf War, not reading Saddam correctly.
They blew 911, ignoring the intel.
They blew the Iraq war runup, declaring the WMDs a slam dunk.
They blew their loyalty, waging war against this Administration by leaking top secret intel ops tot he NYT and everyone else.
This latest betrayal of an ally is chillingly similar to their total misperception of Vietnam when the winked or helped the coup against the only popular leader in Vietnam.
It is not that the intel community is left or right. It is that they are lacking in judgement and have a track record to prove it.
I think we will do right if we stand loyal to the Iraqi government in place and if we let them know we will be there for them. I know, I know: Americans, being loyal and steadfast to a struggling ally? No way! Well maybe we can do something a bit different and actually win the first war since WWII.
Posted by hunter | August 23, 2007 10:39 PM
Why should we now start putting any credibility in the intel community?
They blew Cold War, needlessly extending it by not seeing how vulnerable the USSR was to economic competition.
They blew the first Gulf War, not reading Saddam correctly.
They blew 911, ignoring the intel.
They blew the Iraq war runup, declaring the WMDs a slam dunk.
They blew their loyalty, waging war against this Administration by leaking top secret intel ops tot he NYT and everyone else.
This latest betrayal of an ally is chillingly similar to their total misperception of Vietnam when the winked or helped the coup against the only popular leader in Vietnam.
It is not that the intel community is left or right. It is that they are lacking in judgement and have a track record to prove it.
I think we will do right if we stand loyal to the Iraqi government in place and if we let them know we will be there for them. I know, I know: Americans, being loyal and steadfast to a struggling ally? No way! Well maybe we can do something a bit different and actually win the first war since WWII.
Posted by Neo | August 23, 2007 11:44 PM
There is something for everybody in this NIE.
For instance ..
Harry Reid et al won't like any of this.
Posted by swabjockey05 | August 24, 2007 4:44 AM
"...but we haven't lost yet, unless we quit."
"unless" we quit? "We" started to quit years ago...the dhimmis are just waiting to pull the final plug. I wonder who will be the the last soldier to die in this "lost cause" ?