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
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 (7)
Posted by Kent | June 18, 2007 5:31 PM
Transcript! Transcript! Transcript!
Many of us really don't like audio.
Posted by gahrie | June 18, 2007 6:36 PM
I would like the LDS to answer one question:
How can you call yourself a Christian church when you believe:
A) God was once mortal
and
B) All men have the capacity to become a God?
Posted by Random Guy | June 18, 2007 7:18 PM
I've never once heard a political candidate pushed in Church, and I've been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life. The Mormon Church practices, as well as preaches, political neutrality.
Gahrie: Mormon Christianity is certainly philisophically freewilling, and it permits speculation regarding the nature and history of God. Probably only a minority of the Church member believe God was once mortal. But most of us believe that Christ is able to lift us far, far above what we are now, that we might become "gods" in a sense. See John 10:34: Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Anyway, I'm probably not going to respond to any more "Mormons aren't Christians" posts, given that they're off topic.
Posted by RBMN | June 18, 2007 7:45 PM
Re: gahrie at June 18, 2007 6:36 PM
I don't know exactly what Mormons believe theologically, but I know that for the last hundred years plus, as a group, Mormons have been good hard-working citizens and generous neighbors. Can't ask for more than that. Can you?
Posted by gcarlston | June 18, 2007 11:26 PM
As a lifelong member of the LDS Church, I've often been fascinated by the obsession some people seem to have regarding my beliefs. I'm familiar enough with Catholic and mainstream Christian beliefs to know that there are many differences between us. I don't really have a problem with that. I don't really care whether anyone else thinks I'm a 'Christian' or not. That's between me and my God...
As a voter, I care a LOT more about the political philosophy of a candidate than his or her religious one. I know the two may cross paths here and there, but one doesn't necessarily give a clear picture of the other (the insufferable Harry Reid should make that clear).
With regard to the topic, in 42 years of regular church attendance, I have NEVER heard a candidate endorsed from the pulpit of an LDS chapel (overtly or otherwise). I can only think of two issues that even came close to having the official backing of church leadership (the fight against the ERA and the various Defense of Marriage initiatives). Anyone who thinks the LDS church represents one huge voting bloc doesn't know much about the LDS Church or its people.
Posted by aloysius | June 19, 2007 7:15 AM
Gathrie how do you call yourself a human being when you make comments like a pig.
Posted by Kent | June 19, 2007 9:21 AM
I don't think Gathrie was really looking for an answer, but I'll give a straight one anyway:
Because I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and my personal savior.