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 (8)
Posted by Philip | July 19, 2007 11:42 AM
All the more reason for the British people to have taken the fight against Islamist terrorism more seriously. Now they have two lukewarm battles.
I feel sorry for the Russian people. It seems they will never get it. Together we could have been riding motorcycles on Mars by now. Putin has failed his people - he has failed the world.
Posted by Blaise MacLean | July 19, 2007 11:55 AM
This is an issue which, I believe, highlights the essential laziness of the media. Anyone who follows the news knows that Scotland Yard detectives went to Moscow to investigate the murder of Mr. Alexander Litvinenko. As a result of their "enquiries" they have concluded that Mr. Andrei Lugovoi ought to be charged with his murder and have requested his extradition.
But Mr. Lugovoi is a Russian citizen. In refusing the extradition request, the Russian government has said that their constitution prohibits the extradition of Russian citizens.
So, all the media dutifully report these facts...he said /she said style.
But I ask you: what would a halfway industrious reporter do to follow up this dispute? Wouldn't any reporter with the slightest curiosity about the issue check to find out what the Russian constitution actually says on this point?
This is worth reporting. If the Russians are being truthful, then it would be illegal for them to extradite Mr. Lugovoi. Futher, the British should know this (or at least be able to confirm it, as should any modestly curious reporter). Thus, if the Russians are being truthful, then the British expulsion of 4 diplomats would look a bit disingenuous, wouldn't it?
On the other hand, if the Russian constitution contains no such prohibition, then their refusal to extradite Mr. Lugovoi takes on a completely different texture, as would their "retaliation" in expelling 4 British diplomats. It would raise questions about why the Putin government is protecting Mr. Lugovoi.
In other words, a lot of fundamentally important questions which really should be reported on, and even the laziest of reporters could get started on this by Googling "Russian constitution ". Then they could check out Article 61.
And then, if they had even a modicum of curiosity, they could start to ask a few questions.
But they are gut lazy.
Posted by Dusty | July 19, 2007 2:22 PM
"Moscow also announced that it would withhold future co-operation with Britain in the war on terror, and stop issuing visas to British officials."
I haven't followed the details, Ed, but did the Brits say they would stop co-operating with the Russians in the war on terror and stop issuing visas to Russian officials?
If neither nor both, then isn't it the case that the Russians raised the stakes or do I have to learn new rules for playing poker?
Posted by SkyWatch | July 19, 2007 3:43 PM
us Western nations should call his bluff and stop cooperating with his intel services. Let him go in the dark for awhile.
Posted by ShochuJohn | July 19, 2007 7:43 PM
"it calls into question Putin's commitment to global security against Islamist terrorism."
I think you'll find that Pootie-Poot is less interested in the war against Islamojihadifascototalitarianism, then say, your average reader here. This is strictly self-interested. Russia's fights with Muslims tend to be related to Chechnya. Russia would prefer not to blow that conflict into an epic battle for civilization because that will be a nonstop pain in his ass. He'd prefer to frame that issue as a simple appeal to Russian nationalism. That way, it sells at home without convicing every Salafi on the Arabian peninsula that those vodka-swilling Chechen "Muslims" are deserving of financial backing in their struggle against, if not the Great Satan, then at least a lesser Satan.
Posted by ChrisO | July 20, 2007 2:56 AM
In answer to Blaise's question, yes, the Russian constitution does contain such a prohibition. The thing is that the Russian government only follows its constitution when it suits it. Several Russian citizens accused of anti-government activity in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (both very nasty dictatorships) have already been extradited despite what the constitution says. In fact, 90% of such cases reportedly proceed without even a formal hearing. The insistence on constitutional niceties in the Lugovoy case is, shall we say, somewhat unusual.
Posted by chris edwards | July 20, 2007 6:00 AM
Why would comrade Brown bother about our sovreignty? he and his scottish buddy Bliar hav given it ti the EU, our vestigal government have no control over our borders, waters, immigration and now taxes, Putin is probably "nicer" to us than our masters in Brussels. Dont forget the Labour party are niced up communists so have big symathies to Russia.
Posted by Blaise | July 20, 2007 5:07 PM
ChrisO: Right, but it provides a lot more context to the debate, doesn't it. For example, the Russians have sought extradition of a number of citizens from the UK. These requests have been denied. One of those whose extradition was denied was a well known Chechen terrorist leader.
There are a lot of issues to balance and to examine in respect of this case. For example, there is the possibility of fair trials in Russia, or the personal security of the accused. Nonetheless, informed public discussion of this matter is impossible, in my view, if the people do not know that, at law at least, Russia has a point about the constitutionaility of extradition, and the British knew this when they sought extradition.