The Crows Nest
Crow's Nest Mostly Unmanned
Yes, I know the Crow's Nest has mostly been moribund since the site's relaunch. I do plan on using it more often in the future, I promise. I'll be spending a little more time on these posts as a way to link out to the blogosphere. Keep an eye on this space.
Also, please note that I've put the Amazon search bar on the main page, in the right sidebar. If you want to do some shopping at Amazon -- and who doesn't? -- be sure to shop through Captain's Quarters. Amazon does pay a small percentage of the sale to me, and it helps pay for a few sundries related to the blog. Much appreciated!
OpenCongress Web Widget
Ever wanted to announce your support or opposition to Congressional legislation? OpenCongress now has a web widget that allows bloggers to do exactly that. Take a look at this, and check out how easily you can build your own.
Maybe They're Flotation Devices?
The Australian Navy foots the bill for breast augmentations. The Labour Party would like to know why, and probably so would most of the voters in Australia.
The Thinking Blogger
Congrats to Fausta, who won a Thinking Blogger award. She thanks me for my friendship, but the truth is that Fausta makes it easy to be her friend. She's always positive and energetic, and she epitomizes the notion of a thinking blogger. Make sure to put her on your must-read list!
Ensign Calls For Return Of MoveOn Money
NRSC chair Senator John Ensign calls for Democrats to return all campaign funds donated by MoveOn, after their despicable New York Times ad today accusing David Petraeus of treason. "If Senate Democrats are serious about moving our country forward, they will denounce this outrageous ad and return the campaign funds MoveOn.org has lavished on them as well as the donations made through MoveOn.org -- the choice is theirs." Ensign's right, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the refund ...
Support The Al-Dura Petition
Roger Simon at Pajamas Media is circulating a petition to demand accountability for the discredited al-Dura report from France's Channel 2. This is, as Roger calls it, the "Father of all Fauxtography," and C-2 has never acknowledged its fault in airing the supposed murder of a Palestinian child. He wants C-2 to show all of the unedited footage of the incident in order to show that C-2 faked the murder. If they're resisting the demand, I'd say they have something to hide ....
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 ....
Comments (18)
Posted by Morgan | October 18, 2007 10:51 AM
Please guard against miss-reading the evangelical vote. Senator Brownback also happens to be Catholic--not an evangelical (Protestant). Some evangelicals may have voted for him due to his pro-life stance, but many more are frustrated that a true evangelical can't get a political break (why are the pro-life judges appointed to the SCOTUS always Catholics?).
I do not care necessarily to be understood (as a Reformed evangelical), but perhaps a little more research into what evangelicals really think and believe may be in order if they're going to be analyzed and referred to within the political context.
Perhaps a quick read of "Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism" by George M. Marsden may help with your understanding.
Posted by Adam Graham | October 18, 2007 11:02 AM
The Evangelical vote is large, but due to tactics, it's split several ways. You'll find several social conservatives backing Thompson and Romney among others.
Posted by Sherwood | October 18, 2007 11:14 AM
Agree with Morgan. Another issue is that the evangelical Right delivers votes, not mountains of cash. Candidates raise money from corporations, businesses and comfortable donors. Most of the evangelicals I know give our excess money to church, charities and other Christian giving purposes, not political campaigns. They show up and vote for moral candidates and that's what counts in the end. I wouldn't read too much into a Catholic pro-lifer not gaining traction with fundraising and possible votes months before the primaries and a year before the election.
Posted by Skip | October 18, 2007 11:58 AM
I think it's pretty clear that the evangelical vote is not sufficient in itself to gain the nomination. We'll find out in the next few months if it's even necessary.
Posted by Rodney A Stanton | October 18, 2007 12:07 PM
"His failure, however, calls into question just how powerful the evangelical Right remains..."
Captain - I beg to differ
Most evangelicals in SoCal are against pardons for wanton criminals. This man voted for a mass pardon of 12,000,000 - 15,000,000 criminals just 5 months ago! Evangelicals here in SoCal remember his vote, and remember it well!
Rod
Cerritos, Cal
Posted by AH·C | October 18, 2007 12:10 PM
Ditto on Morgan. Plus there's his smugness factor that creeps me out a la Goracle.
Posted by thatcher | October 18, 2007 12:34 PM
Christian conservatives look at the over-all conservative positions of a candidate. Brownback is pro-life but the rest of his politics was less than inviting. Same can be said of Huckabee, who appears to be a major nanny state candidate although is good on social issues.
Posted by Rose | October 18, 2007 12:41 PM
"His failure, however, calls into question just how powerful the evangelical Right remains. Brownback may have been one of two candidates who most closely tracked with their agenda."
**************************
This makes NO sense to me at all. NOBODY could be FURTHER from the Christian Evangelical positions OVERALL that John McCain - and Brownbakc has consistently made it plain that McCain is "his hero".
McCain Feingold Thompson ALONE is reason NOT to even vaguely CONSIDER Brownback.
When did Brownback EVER make a case for representing EVANGELICALS when the RINOS like McCain and Brownback have already made a fabulous case for themselves of MOST SUPPORTING THE DEMOCRATS.
Posted by Rose | October 18, 2007 1:01 PM
Oh, yeah, BTW, Huckabee isn't MY choice of a Christian candidate either, since he is OPENLY VYING for competion with DEMOCRATS on micromanagement SOCIALIST STYLE of American's personal lives - usually on an expremely stupid and ill-conceived foundation, i.e. his own personal weight-lose experiences, which are totally irrelevant to the battle most human beings fight.
I.e., it is perfectly obvious his own overweight was due to over-eating, and had no underlying PRE-EXISTING major medical causation, as most adults, especially women, and many of their ch ildren do suffer, in spite of them thinking it is merely couch potato, like parents, like children - too many snacks and video games.
For instance, some children they find who were grossly underweight due to pre-existing conditions at birth and for the next few years, tend to be overweight when they get a few years older. I've seen children who fought through severe hernia and heart-related problems as new-borns, bone thin for many years, suddenly, looking initially like they are only on a routine and normal growing spurt, suddenly go from fighting for their life to gain ENOUGH weight, to a bad haywire metabolism problem and look like chubby couch potatoes NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO. Exactly like one of my friends did as she discovered the cause of her problems were haywire metabolism associated with Epstein Barr Virus. Fighting for her life with AIDS'like UNDERWEIGHT for 5or 6 years, suddenly overnight reversed and became OVERWEIGHT, and cannot get it back off again for anything.
I know women who have been banned by their doctors from taking hte thyroid and other hormones they need because of bad hearts, so the docs tell them and well-backed research that if they take the hormones, they will burn up their vital organs. I saw my aunt do that with diabetes.
She was bone thin all her life and unlike most diabetics NEVER went through a period of weight GAIN. Everything was normal til she had 2 children - everything went hairwire and never returned to normal, and her organs burned up on her, she died very young.
Now, she was bone thin - what if that because as unpopular, PC wise - because of distate for an "anorexic" appearance??? As MANY diabetics go through WITH weight gain, which they have been equally u nable to control???
And then add threats of NO MEDICAL CARE???
AT GOVERNMENT SOCIALIST POLICY CONTROL?????
IN AMERICA??????????????????
New studies find that name calling and attempts to SHAME CHILDREN INTO DIETS to lose weight actually cause stress that causes more severe weight gain.
So sending those FLUNKING WEIGHT CONTROL REPORT CARDS home from schools where teachers, coaches and fellow students are allready DAILY calling some students "FATTY" and worse, even when they are ALMOST NORMAL WEIGHT...
I find this horrendously vicious, and am NOT IN THE LEAST amused by Mike Huckabee's threats to withhold medical attention from overweight people.
I find him thoroughly DISPICABLE, long before we get to the fact that he considers ILLEGALS ENTITLED TO AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP BECAUSE "AMERICA TREATED THEM LIKE SLAVES"??????
FLUSH HIS ROYAL ELITIST SOCIALIST #$%$%&$#%$&#$&##$& PHANNY!
No! He doesn't represent anything NEAR resembling the Christian spirit to ME!
And as far as I am concerned, those who vote for THAT, fully deserve Hillary!
Posted by TBinSTL![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/nav-commenters.gif)
| October 18, 2007 3:51 PM
Again, I would point out that the, so called, "Evangelical block" is incredibly fractious and self willed. By definition, we have no "pope" and anyone that pretends to that role automatically drops in the eyes of most voters in this category.
Posted by David | October 18, 2007 5:15 PM
As for those above who think Most Americans are Fat because of Medical Conditions and not because they eat to much are positively out in Oz. If they stooped eating so much they loose weight.
I Am a Evangelical, and I vote on those issues. I blantingly refuse to vote for anyone thats Pro Choice, I refuse to vote for Anyone who would give a blanket amnesty (IE: Amnesty Brownback)
I am supporting Mike Huckabee because hes the only real copnservative that makes sense, hes the only one who represents the right. He also is a real person, and does not flip flop as the winds come. Anyways Brownback drooping out of the race will give some of the little guys more air to move in. I am quite sure brownbacks supporters will go to a Pro Life candidate that has not flip flopped
Posted by Eric Classic | October 18, 2007 5:29 PM
Morgan,
When did Catholics stop being capable of being "true evangelicals?"
Do you realize how badly your comment sounds? I think you demonstrated in your writing why people such as yourself are not being elected to the SCOTUS.
By the way, I'm a evangelic Catholic.
Posted by Bennett | October 18, 2007 6:32 PM
If the Evangelical Right didn't like Brownback because he's Catholic (per some of the comments here) then it's really not going to like Mitt Romney.
Posted by poodlemom | October 18, 2007 7:42 PM
David,
If you dislike Brownback for his stance on illegals, how in the world can you support Huckabee?
So far in the debates I've noticed that Huckabee has lucked out as far as not being asked about his position on immigration.
Do yourself a favor, Google Huckabee/immigration/LaRaza. Other articles show Huckabee's support in getting a Mexican consulate built in Little Rock. Can you say Tyson Foods?
Posted by Morgan | October 19, 2007 10:31 AM
Eric:
Because true evangelicalism (not the pop-ecumenical version that is so popular today)came out of the Reformation and is based upon the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide). The Catholic doctrine of faith plus works equals justification precludes Catholics from being evangelicals in its truest sense.
No offense was meant; just the facts.
The appointments to SCOTUS are self-evident.
Morgan
Posted by Sherwood | October 19, 2007 4:23 PM
Ditto Morgan. Any person of any faith can call him/herself or be labeled "evangelical". Most people would say that Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses do a lot of evangelizing and are thereby evangelical. You can even say the same thing about Islamo-fascists who evangelize with convert or die tactics. But if the connotation you imply is of the historic Christian reformed and regenerate Christ follower, then yes, Roman Catholics are excluded from the group. The media would apply evangelical right to a lot of people with a lot of different beliefs, I would not.
Posted by Morgan | October 20, 2007 8:07 AM
Sherwood:
I too am tired of having the truth of a theological concept or doctrine redefined to fit either one's personal agenda or the zeitgeist; hence my recommendation to the Captain to read up.
No wonder that the culture at large is so confused over evangelicals. Just about everyone can be one under relativistic, post-modern thinking.
Morgan
Posted by Dan | October 21, 2007 6:58 AM
Yeah, but I bet everyone will come ah callin when its game time.
The fact is, no modern republican national candidate can win without the help of the Religious Right. The more beltway republicans would rather have it otherwise, just wishing for dumb vote bots like those envied on the Democrat side, but the republicans will have to earn its voters. Each and every single time. And personally, I like it that way. There should be no such thing as a taken block of voters.