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
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 (27)
Posted by The Mechanical Eye | September 22, 2007 12:17 AM
It's hard to believe that Blackwater USA could get in worse shape after being deemed officially unwelcome in a nation we're forcing our peculiar brand of "democracy" upon.
After all, one could claim by arming the PKK, Blackwater was only doing what the "surge" is doing in Anbar -- arming the local non-government strongmen in order to secure an uneasy, fractious peace.
DU
Posted by NahnCee | September 22, 2007 12:18 AM
Any chance that Turkey planted whatever they passed on, perhaps via Iran? I suppose if they caught Blackhawk employees, though, that's reaching ...
Posted by coldwarrior415 | September 22, 2007 12:31 AM
Apparently Blackwater is not exercising any sort of reliable background checks and in the field oversight of its employees, nor discipline over them. Prosecution of these gun smugglers seems appropriate.
[I'll say one thing for the U.S. military, they keep very good records. We scarfed up a number of weapons on the Horn of Africa back in the day, and were able to trace them back, through a surplus arms dealer in Singapore and the Vietnamese government, to the American units that lost them some 20 years earlier.]
If the numbers match, it's go to Court time. The cowboy-like attitudes of some of these private security companies and some of their employees, having dealt with a few over the years, rankles me. Seems oversight and regulation is needed.
Posted by ajacksonian | September 22, 2007 4:32 AM
This is an outgrowth of the shift from government run programs to 'outsourcing' programs to contractors. That was started in the 1990's to change the 'tooth to tail' ratio via the DoD A-76 and other processes. When the process started replacing government security at DoD facilities with private security, I knew something was going seriously wrong. It is one thing for janitorial staff, grounds keeping and even infrastructure maintenance to be done by contractors... it is quite another for security of installations to fall to such organizations. Especially in the day and age of terrorism.
If the State Dept. wants a separate organization to do such overseas, they can very well go to Congress and ask it to certify organizations with Letters of Marque and Reprisal so that they may fall under the military purview and command, and yet have separate operations which will not endanger such missions as State requires. That requires such organizations to wear uniforms, insignia and follow a chain of command and be beholden to the UCMJ and Federal contracting laws. Security to chase of muggers is one thing, security to keep you alive in a firefight is something else, again. And contracting for warfighters outside of the Letters language is something this Nation only does in extreme times and is decided by the Executive on such pressing need as will not brook delay, and we are far from that today.
State Dept. cannot have a private army. It is time for us to realize that and require proper authority over such firms and authorization from Congress via those lovely old means of the Letters language. So that law is upheld, not only our law but the law of nations, so those seeing such know them to be officially sanctioned and accountable to the United States.
Posted by Angus | September 22, 2007 4:36 AM
What I want to know is why in the heck security for State Department convoys is being done by mercenaries rather than the U.S. military?
Posted by ChrisO | September 22, 2007 5:40 AM
Some points for Angus to consider:
1) Blackwater's $1 billion, five-year contract with State was let without competition;
2) Blackwater is a major contributor to the Republican Party and individual candidates;
3) The U.S. military can't be tapped for political donations;
4) There aren't enough U.S. troops in country to provide security for State convoys anyway, due to the administration's deliberate decision to go in light and not build up the U.S. military in advance of the invasion.
Posted by Terrye | September 22, 2007 6:04 AM
I think that after that incident in Fallujah people kind of gave Blackwater the benefit of the doubt, but someone has to be able to exercise authority over them. That should be a given.
Posted by Mike | September 22, 2007 6:52 AM
Blackwater, and the other contractors there, DO have someone that can exercise authority over them.
They are covered under the UCMJ as of the 2007 Military Authorization Act.
As far as I know, no one has yet been charged in this manner.
Posted by theblacksheepwasright | September 22, 2007 7:17 AM
Chris..
I'm sure you have credible sources you can link to for this data... if so can you provide them?
Posted by just me | September 22, 2007 7:48 AM
This is one reason I am not so keen on security oriented tasks being privatized.
Outsourcing meals to a private company makes some sense, but outsourcing security work doesn't.
Posted by John | September 22, 2007 7:57 AM
They are giving Cowboys a bad name.
Posted by John | September 22, 2007 8:00 AM
Angus- The State department wants independence from Defense, an old rivalry. Your tax dollar at work!
Posted by Terrye | September 22, 2007 8:05 AM
Mike:
I would have assumed that something like that was true, but last night on Fox news Special Report the panel was talking about Blackwater and I got the distinct impression that the military could not charge these people. I have to admit, I was wondering how such a thing could be true.
Posted by Jeff | September 22, 2007 8:17 AM
Mechanical Eye said we're forcing our peculiar brand of democracy on Iraq.
Yet we all remember the pride shown by the Iraqi people when they waved the purple fingers in the air and came out in droves to vote.
Those images didn't look forced to me.
Nor was there anything peculiar about them.
You can't revise history, my friend.
Posted by ChrisO | September 22, 2007 8:30 AM
theblacksheepwasright, see this post on The American Prospect's group blog on this subject.
Posted by ChrisO | September 22, 2007 8:36 AM
Terrye, apparently it's unclear whether the UCMJ applies. According to the Washington Post,
The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette also has an informative article about the issue here, which notes that although "Congress has moved to establish guidelines for prosecuting contractors under U.S. law or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but the issue remains unresolved." As far as I know there've been no UCMJ proceedings against mercenaries in Iraq.
Posted by theblacksheepwasright | September 22, 2007 9:42 AM
Thank you Chris..but when a page starts with..
liberal intelligence..It'll be biased..
I asked for credible.. what I did find on my own was $300 mil in contracts since 03 and yes no bid. That proceedure however started during the Clinton years..in fact 97..
Point is you are ascerting nefarious activities because the firm's founders donate to a certain party.. yet the proceedure was in play prior to this admin being in office..
The same is true of Halliburton.. no bid contracts were awarded to them in the 90s...
Change the policy.. that started with Clinton.. but don't use as tool to say see..we gotcha when you don't
Posted by Terrye | September 22, 2007 9:46 AM
The thing is we have gotten so used to trumped up charges, outrageous charges, unfounded charges etc that it is hard to know what to believe.
Posted by Terrye | September 22, 2007 9:50 AM
Chris:
Considering the fact that liberals are willing to let some nutjob like the President of Iran who is openly supporting murder and mayhem to come to the US so that they can pander to him face to face I really do not think there is any room for moral superiority here.
If the Democrats were not openly supporting the enemy maybe we would not need the services of security agencies like Blackwater.
BTW, it is true, Clinton did give the same kind of contracts out.
Posted by KW64 | September 22, 2007 9:55 AM
Before everyone throws the Blackwater out with the bath water, remember we have not had our diplomats killed in four years(unlike the UN's brief mission. Those who complain that Bush gets no credit for not having any terrorist attacks in America since 9/11 should acknowledge this accomplishment in a tough environment.Also, if Abu Risha had Blackwater security, he might be alive today; it seems his own guards sold him out.
It may be that the diversion of weapons to the PKK was unauthorized and done by a few members of this large group. We really do not know the details. Let's wait to see. It may be that the attack earlier this week was a set up by the Interior Ministry of Iraq and the Blackwater people heroically saved our people; or it may be that Blackwater performed recklessly Let's wait and see the details of the investigation.
Posted by rick schwag | September 22, 2007 10:34 AM
The Iraqis should cut down these murderous thugs.
Then do a Falluja on them!
Posted by NahnCee | September 22, 2007 10:43 AM
Apparently Blackwater is not exercising any sort of reliable background checks ...
Where *does* Blackwater recruit its gunslingers from? I had been thinking they were American ex-military, but what are the chances that they're military from France (lazy and sex perverts), ex-military from UN Smurf units (sex perverts and bribe-able), and/or Arabs from Mookie's militias and Iran's Qud. I'm thinking that Blackwater might be just as eager to hire Arab-speaking people as anyone else, which is an open invitation for infiltration by mujahadeen.
Although if Blackwater *has* been infiltrated, they seem more interested in personal enrichment than in setting up bushwhacks of the people they're guarding.
Posted by DaMav | September 22, 2007 10:49 AM
Having failed in their attack on General Petraeus and the troops, the left is going full tilt boogie after Blackwater and contractors as a means to weaken our forces in Iraq.
That's not to say that there might not have been some bad eggs in the soup there regarding the arms smuggling. If so, Federal prosecutors are already acting on the matter.
But what is showing up in the press and in discussion groups is a wholesale effort to malign those men and women who are risking their lives to protect diplomats and construction contractors and the like in Iraq. It seems we have another case of Haditha, in which people were branded "cold blooded murderers" before the investigation was even complete.
There is an agenda driving this. Another attempt to damage the US effort in Iraq. If that were not the case people would at least wait for the facts before broad brushing and attacking.
Posted by ChrisO | September 22, 2007 1:03 PM
NahnCee, according to the Christian Science Monitor:
So the odds are that the Blackwater people involved in this shooting were mostly Americans.
Posted by Terrye | September 22, 2007 4:21 PM
It just amazes me how people could ignore outright thievery like the Oil for Food scam that went on for years and then get all self righteous about something like this. If these men are guilty of some crime they will be punished, which is more than can be said for the people who pulled off the largest heist in history.
Posted by dougf | September 22, 2007 4:34 PM
I don't care if Blackwater is eventually proven guilty as charged and drummed out of business after being sued for for everything but the kitchen sink. If they are wandering around abusing everyone who wanders bt then they deserve what they get
What concerns me is the 'coincidental ' nature of this story. Absent the usual doom and gloom disaster recitations out of Iraq, is it merely happenstance that this is the MSM delight of the day ?
After years of this , I REALLY question the timing.
"There is an agenda driving this. Another attempt to damage the US effort in Iraq. If that were not the case people would at least wait for the facts before broad brushing and attacking."
Agreed. Regretfully but agreed.
Posted by sestamibi | September 23, 2007 11:53 PM
Oh, Black Water, keep on rollin' . . .