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
There Goes The Undefeated Season
Notre Dame managed to get its first loss out of the way as soon as possible -- and as badly as possible. Georgia Tech came to South Bend and stomped the Irish, 33-3, in the worst home opener loss in school history. The offense fumbled twice and allowed seven sacks on Evan Sharpley, who must have longed to have Brady Quinn back on the field instead. If Charlie Weis doesn't turn this debacle around fast, he may want to start asking Ty Willingham for some career counseling ....
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.
Comments (9)
Posted by Teresa | August 31, 2007 11:54 AM
Of course the distinction is that the breast feeding advocates actually had science on their side.
Why is it that letting lobbyists/fundraisers sleep in the Lincoln bedroom is so bad, but allowing them to rewrite policy is no big deal -- even when it endangers children's health and safety?
Posted by Barbara O'Brien | August 31, 2007 3:20 PM
The other distinction is that nobody makes a profit from breast feeding.
Posted by Cycloptichorn | August 31, 2007 3:28 PM
Not many responses to this, I see.
Cap, you really don't see a difference here?
Posted by Ben | August 31, 2007 3:57 PM
How is this any of the Federal Government's business?
You breast-feeding advocates seem to think that states and cities and families and mothers don't care about children.
Every child in the world doesn't need the US Federal Government to try to be his/her mother. Breast feeding advocates should mother their own children and leave the rest of us alone.
Posted by bayam | August 31, 2007 5:49 PM
Ben,
You seem to take breast feeding personally. I hope you haven't had a bad experience breast feedeing or feel that the government is putting undue pressure on you to start breast feeding.
The government and Surgeon General have traditionally shaped public opinion abouth health and provided Americans with factual information crucial to protecting the public's health. In an age of multi-million dollar corporate advertising budgets, the government is often the people's only reliable advocate. It turns out that smoking wasn't a great family activity, a message that big tobacco pushed into the public's heads for years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3jsnKhuF60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI&mode=related&search=
If you had a sister or wife about to deliver a baby, wouldn't you want her to know that breast feeding was scientically known to greatly improve the chances of her child avoiding the development of a chronic health condition? Or are you more worried about the truth hurting the sales of infant baby formula and harming corporate profits?
Posted by FedUp | August 31, 2007 6:22 PM
Soooo... when do these idiots get involved with potty training... or did I sleep through that one?
Posted by foobius | August 31, 2007 6:33 PM
(Canadian viewpoint)
Three rules:
1. Every pregnancy is different.
2. Every birth is different.
3. Every post-partum is different.
Almost every "Breast-is-best" advocate is following a standard script, either mindlessly or according to official directive. It was the same script after the birth of each of my three kids (aged 5 yrs to 6 mos). The script doesn't account for the above Three Rules.
Due to various reasons, my wife couldn't nurse, was mostly successful with pumping but lost production after about one month (a sudden, high fever each time). So, formula it is. Every public health nurse acted as if a disaster had occurred. Their words and behaviours suggesting she wasn't a good mother only made her angry; imagine if she was suffering post-partum depression. My kids aren't dead, but they would have been without formula.
Putting out ads with "Studies say that feeding your bady formula will destroy his life" are more of the same "but it's for the children" garbage that gets everyone worked up and feeling guilty with little or no justification.
Better to have pre-natal instruction on the options and opinions, without guilt attached.
Education, not propaganda.
Posted by Ben | September 1, 2007 11:20 AM
I take it personally when pushy busybodies steal my tax money and try to use it to force their point of view on people.
These are the usual people who think they know how you should live you life. If you keep letting them get away with forcing their will on you, eventually you'll never be allowed to make any decisions for yourself, because they will have made them all.
I actually don't care about breastfeeding one way or the other. I care about freedom of choice. I care about my taxes.
And I care about stopping these people who, if they had their way, would have the police come to your house and arrest you for not living your life according to their choices they made for you.
Posted by newton | September 1, 2007 11:39 AM
Count me in as a (formerly breastfeeding) mother who doesn't want the government or any organization controlling what I give my eight-month-old to eat.
Before my child was born, I was in the "breastfeeding camp" all the way. Then, post-partum happened. Total exhaustion; baby not happy with the milk supply; husband willing to give baby formula so that I could catch some sleep.
Eventually, it became both mom and bottle. By the fifth month, she refused mom. She now gets bottle. She had just begun solids, though. She's a good eater now.
I have seen zero decline in her development. Zero indications of allergies. Zero problems. And no, no formula rep pushed me or her into it. Bottom line: it was my choice - and, of course, hers.
The fact of the matter is that few moms can handle being the "milk factory" for six months, let alone a year. I know of one who couldn't continue feeding her twins after six weeks. In her own words: "I couldn't do it anymore." Oh: and how about the single new moms? If I had plenty of difficulty, they probably have triple of it.