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
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 ....
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!
Comments (25)
Posted by swabjockey05 | September 17, 2007 8:10 AM
CE. What's more worrisome, the "childishness" or the “coherent” lefty whose goal is the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government?
Ignoring the former, or not taking him serious may be a good tactic...but "civil discourse" with the latter does nothing but give him (and his cause) more "credibility".
Posted by Bennett | September 17, 2007 8:25 AM
I didn't even know I could email you. But my preferred epithet is idiot. Idiot or maybe lunatic, crazy nutso lunatic (I enjoying being redundant).
As to my Mother calling me, according to Sally Field at the Emmys last night the world would be a peaceful place if mothers ran everything. Not that I actually saw her say this. I was occupied in a far worthier endeavor, watching the Patriots prove they don't need no stinkin' defensive signals to put a hurting on you. But it's in the papers this morning, Sally Field I mean, well and the Patriots too.
Hopefully you aren't going to ban rambling, pointless comments anytime soon.
Posted by FedUp | September 17, 2007 8:44 AM
CE... thanks for making my day! It's Monday and one can always use a bit of humor to start the day off right!
ps... I can't watch Sally Field without thinking of that stupid Boniva commercial. Guess mothers would be more concerned about osteoporosis than more mundane things, like the economy, foreign relations, immigration... and probably one or two other items that have escaped my notice (Hey, I said it was Monday1)
Posted by Dr. Mercury | September 17, 2007 8:45 AM
With all due respect from a longtime reader, this article was retarded. It makes you come across as petty, like someone said a mean word to you and YOU'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE! (stomping foot dramatically)
And, by focusing on this one word, it raises a delicate question:
Are you implying that "moronic" is okay?
How about "Neanderthal", "hackneyed" and "myopic"? In essence, you just said it's okay to call you whatever we want and you'll give it full consideration -- as long as we don't use the dreaded word "retarded".
How about if it's used in analogy?
"Dear Ed. My car's been running rough lately so I brought it to the mechanic. He put a big fancy testing machine on it and said the timing was retarded. It reminded me of your column!"
Where there's a will, there's a way. :)
Have a fun week,
Doc
Posted by Steffan | September 17, 2007 8:47 AM
"Retarded" is such a silly argument, even Monty Python would swear off it.
So who was *that* silly?
Posted by Bennett | September 17, 2007 9:12 AM
"Guess mothers would be more concerned about osteoporosis than more mundane things..."
Well and there are some moms who send their kids off gladly to be suicide bombers and other moms who sell their kids for some crack and well, I could go on...
so yeah, moms everywhere are all about peace, love and understanding. It's the typical Hollywood bobblehead claptrap, although now it's not enough to be a woman, you have to have popped out a kid or two and that's all it takes. Moms of the world unite...except maybe those who endorse honor killings and forced marriages...maybe you should hang back a little, let your western sisters lead the way.
Not to put down moms generally, after all we all needed one at the start at least (and beyond that, too, of course)....okay I'm abandoning this comment now.
Posted by Jazz | September 17, 2007 9:14 AM
This is why I always refer to Ed as "Captain Poopypants" when I e-mail him. He always answers.
Posted by fourpointer | September 17, 2007 9:27 AM
So, will you delete this post if I say that Dr. Mercury's response was "retarded"? Because it was.
Methinks the point Dr. Mercury is missing is this--it is NOT the USE of the word "retarded", but rather that liberals--many of whom are confounded by things like facts, logic, and common sense--who cannot put together a decent rebuttal often resort to simple name-calling (i.e., homophobe, Islamophobe, racist, bigot, etc.) rather than using a part of their body called "the brain" in response to the Good Captain.
Posted by LarryD | September 17, 2007 9:37 AM
I consider that resorting to Ad Hominem amounts to conceding the argument.
Posted by Bookworm | September 17, 2007 9:56 AM
Bravo. I'm all for lively discourse, but I strongly disapprove of bathroom language or other personal insults.
Posted by Eno | September 17, 2007 10:06 AM
But Captain Ed, your blog has clearly "retarded" the spread of disinformation among the MSM and members of the lunatic left. I think your early exposure of the "Swift Boat" people and the fact that nearly everyone who fought with Kerry in Vietnam "retarded" the spread of his campaign throughout the nation. Does this mean I'm banned?
Posted by Herkeng | September 17, 2007 10:41 AM
Capt'
I understand the frustration. Granted a chance to have a civil debate on issues I mostly see the American left going into personal attack and child like taunts. It is not a debate on issues that is wanted. The common lefty policy is "my way or the highway." When discussion degenerates down to name calling I fully support you in shutting down the conversation.
To those of the left who read this mans blog, try this simple experiment. Go to Huff Post or Kos and post a counter point to topic or disagree with the premise of the topic. Try it, see if the debate will be civil or you get the dander of the readers up. Will the readers post logical responses to your counter point or go to the bottom level of discussion which is personal attack? Go try it.
I have tried to discuss issues at the Daily KOS, those attempts were about an enlightening experience as smacking my head into a brick wall.
"Don't wrestle with a pig, you get covered in S^%$ and the pig likes it."
Have a good day everyone
Herkeng
Posted by David Tufte | September 17, 2007 11:45 AM
I approve of the policy, and am PC enough to avoid that word when I can.
But ...
"Retarded" is one of those words that George Carlin would love because of the way it rolls off the tongue with such forcefulness. Sometimes it's great for emphasis.
Posted by Trochilus | September 17, 2007 2:17 PM
Years ago, I had an English teacher who told us at the beginning of the semester that we would be writing quite a bit in her class. And further, she announced that we were all forthwith banned -- on a threat of receiving an "F" for any offending submission -- from the use of the word "interesting" in anything we wrote!
Imagine telling anyone under the age of about 30 that they should refrain from the use of the word, "like," in conversation?
My current recollection is that the ensuing class discussion of this rule bore a striking resemblance to some of the comments in this thread.
Through her insistence, she induced stubbornness. Remarkably, everyone tested and resisted, despite entertaining doubts.
A few of us in the class developed secret ways around the rule, including encoding the word into sentences or paragraphs. Now, that took work . . . and, a bit of organization! Finding just the right word was our real introduction to Roget’s.
We also quickly discovered that eleven (the number of letters in the word “interesting”) is a prime number, so in order to be mathematically consistent, you could only insert encoded letters one at a time if you wanted to effect a pattern.
Of course, her intended lesson was not lost on me, nor do I think on many others in the class. And I must concede, that year was my first real introduction to the fun inherent in language.
Posted by NahnCee | September 17, 2007 2:33 PM
Agree wholeheartedly with the Captain. Also think that the words "Nazi" and "fascist" should be looked at askance, as should "hegemony". And I'm developing a real dislike for "ad hominem", too, although it probably goes to prove whatever point is being made about playground name-calling.
Captain Poopy-Pants has a certain inventiveness to recommend it, although how it would pertain to any argument likely to come up on Captain's Quarters is a headscratcher.
Posted by jeff | September 17, 2007 8:59 PM
late for the short bus...
Posted by Eric | September 17, 2007 9:56 PM
Regarding your
Excellent request that we
Try to refrain from
Any use of the word
Retarded in any
Dedicated correspondence to you or your staff.
Okay.
Posted by Gregory | September 18, 2007 3:50 AM
Anyone wanting to insult the Cap by calling him or his writings retarded should hearby use the word "special".
Posted by T.G. Scott | September 18, 2007 10:16 AM
Captain, you're right about flippantly using the word "retarded." I've not called anyone that maliciously--ever--on a blog or anywhere else. However, somehow my husband and my friends and I have gotten into a bad habit(don't know where it came from) of calling each other that when we're acting goofy. Even in the context of having fun with each other, it's wrong and we acknowledged that recently; that we're adults and that has to stop. Period. You never know who's listening or who might have loved ones with Down Syndrome or mental disabilities.
It did all started with us in jest with my husband teasing me about the possibility of parking in a handicap parking zone (he didn't, BTW!) if I'd act retarded. I cackled and did my dead level best to embarrass him in the grocery store, and it's been like a running joke with us.
Posted by Trochilus | September 18, 2007 1:56 PM
Eric, I take it you caught my earlier comment?
Posted by Eric | September 18, 2007 3:50 PM
Trochilus,
Yes I did. I decided to make mine more obvious.
Posted by Eric | September 18, 2007 3:58 PM
Trochilus,
I know there is a second form of code as well, but it's more than I can decipher.
Posted by Shaprshooter | September 18, 2007 4:07 PM
Is "Ignernt" a legitimate word to use?
Posted by Trochilus | September 19, 2007 3:20 PM
Eric,
In yours, or in mine?
Posted by Eric | September 19, 2007 6:34 PM
I'm thinking yours...am I wrong?