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 (13)
Posted by len | October 17, 2007 10:01 AM
perhaps a 300-fold return on investment...?
Posted by Kevin | October 17, 2007 10:11 AM
In the spirit of the reconquista, maybe the earmark should be paid out as 500,000 Pesos.
Posted by mike | October 17, 2007 10:39 AM
I have mixed feelings about the values and wisdom of anything that supports any organization that promotes the interests of people based on race, ethnicity, religion etc. But that aside, I think it is entirely appropriate for people who do want to support such groups to be able to do so. I also think it would be appropriate for our government to help facilitate personal donations to such causes, for people who wish to contribute. That could be done by making donations tax deductible, or even by placing one of those check boxes on the 10-40 from where you agree to have X% of any refund donated to a charitable cause of your choice; like the one about presidential campaign funds.
But the real point behind all this is that groups like La Raza know they are not attractive enough to a sufficient number of people with money to donate for them to be able to rely on free will donations or contributions. So, by lobbying to get an earmark grant, they are asking for something other than free will donations and contributions, which is contributions under the force of the federal government, to be enforced by people with guns in the form of our own IRS.
The real questions is why do we sheeple continue to tolerate this from of oppression for us and our children?
Posted by D Kosloff | October 17, 2007 11:04 AM
Perhaps Harkin traded earmarks with somebody who would have taken more heat for the crime. Sort of like that movie (and its remake) about the guys on the train who each wanted to kill somebody else on the train. They traded victims so that each would be killing somebody who would not be connected to them. Cris Cross?
Posted by Laura | October 17, 2007 11:10 AM
In Kansas City, La Raza is currently pulling an "extortion" stunt against the new mayor and the city itself. The new mayor appointed a women to the parks board (yeah, that all powerful parks board)by the name of Frances Semler. The head of the parks board belongs to a group called The Coalition of Hispanic Organizations (COHO). After the appointment, it came out that Semler is a member of the Minutemen. Now La Raza and (somehow the NAACP) are threatening to pull their future planned national conventions from the city if the mayor does not remove Semler from the parks board. So far, the mayor has refused to do so but the pressure is building and The Kansas City Star has been four square behind the La Raza/NAACP cause with editorials and opinion pieces almost every day calling for Semler to resign.
Posted by Bombast | October 17, 2007 11:55 AM
Amazing how in their disavowal of "reconquista" they translate "La Raza" as "The Community."
Every Spanish dictionary I can find translates it as "The Race."
Posted by flenser | October 17, 2007 12:07 PM
La Raza is not exactly hard up for the money. They are bankrolled by large American corporations to the tune of about $20 million per year. WalMart is a generous donor for instance.
The hard left and American corporations may seem like strange bedfellows, but that does not stop them snuggling up to each other.
Posted by Jay | October 17, 2007 12:12 PM
Harkin or Bush or Kennedy or McCain or Clinton or Rudy...what's the difference? La Raza has them all in their backpocket.
Mexico IS invading our country and our political leaders are helping to finance it and not objecting to it in any way.
Learn Spanish (and get a muslim prayer rug) cuz both Latinos and Muslims are flooding into this country and bringing their cultures with them.
Posted by Patrick | October 17, 2007 12:16 PM
And by paying protection money WalMart avoids any unwelcome demonstrations or boycotts. La Raza is merely picking up on a technique perfected by race hustlers/shakedown artists like the "Rev." Jesse Jackson and the "Rev." Al Sharpton.
Posted by eaglewings | October 17, 2007 1:08 PM
Sorry but la communidad is 'the community' even in Mexico. La Raza means the RACE. And La Raza's alleged 'disavowals' of reconquista promotions on its websites is about as sincere as CAIR's disavowels of Hamas funding and/or Arafat's diavowals of each terrorist episode inside Israel.
One need only remember last year's 'immigration' protests, and the La Raza Banners with reconquista sloganeering to know how disingenuous this militant racist organization is.
Posted by flenser | October 17, 2007 1:19 PM
And by paying protection money WalMart avoids any unwelcome demonstrations or boycotts.
You give them too much credit. American corporation are in favor of the third world invasion. One, it gives them lower priced labor, and two, it gives them more customers to buy whatever they sell. It's no coincedence that the Chamber of Commerece files lawsuits to block any sort of genuine immigration reform.
It's not protection money. To a large extent, La Raza is a front for American business interests. Why do you think so many allegedly conservative Republicans are lining up with them?
The McCain/Bush/Graham/Kyl immigration bill, defeated a few months ago, included a provision to give bushels of money to La Raza.
Posted by syn | October 17, 2007 3:07 PM
Well now, let's see who was it screaming racist, bigoted nativists at those who were against Illegal Immigration?
Flenser
You speak as if Mexican corporations and the Mexican government have nothing to do with La Raza and are somehow not in favor of a third world invasion.
THe actions of the the open borders crowd marching on behalf of international corporatists speaks for itself.
Posted by flenser | October 17, 2007 3:29 PM
Well now, let's see who was it screaming racist, bigoted nativists at those who were against Illegal Immigration?
Many prominent Republicans were among them. For instance, Graham, Chao and Chavez. And don't forget Huckabee.
You speak as if Mexican corporations and the Mexican government have nothing to do with La Raza and are somehow not in favor of a third world invasion.
I do? I'm just pointing out who funds them. Reality is what it is.
I don't expect Mexico and Mexicans to have the best interests of America at heart. I do expect that from Americans. But too many Republicans have joined the Democrats in becoming globalists who find the concept of "America" to be rather old-fashioned.