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 (10)
Posted by The Drill SGT | October 24, 2007 8:11 AM
nice to see some rational thinking by somebody.
Posted by rbj | October 24, 2007 8:15 AM
Well Pelosi couldn't muck up things with Iraq & Turkey, via the Armenian genocide resolution. Maybe she got her friends the PKK (who are communists) to do the work for her.
/tongue in cheek.
Posted by mrlynn | October 24, 2007 8:54 AM
The Kurds should have had their own country decades ago, but history and arbitrary map-drawing have denied it to them.
That said, history once again militates against them. We and the Iraqis cannot afford a conflict with Turkey at this time.
However, there are pieces of Kurdistan in Syria and Iran, too. So here's a word to the PKK: Forget about Turkey and harrass the others. We won't object.
/Mr Lynn
Posted by Kendrick | October 24, 2007 9:07 AM
It's good to see Barzini make these demands, but what did the heads of the other 5 families of New York think about it?
Posted by M. Murcek | October 24, 2007 9:16 AM
The Kurds have a good thing going in a region where that's a rarity. They have lots of incentive to not let that be screwed up. I think a lot of observers here don't give them enough credit for understanding which side of the bread the jelly is on or of being sophisticated enough to handle the situation well. I think they will do better than many in Washington and the media expect with this issue, and this story is an example of that perhaps being true...
Posted by Mike M. | October 24, 2007 9:55 AM
I've really got to hand it to the man: in spite of all of the mistakes he's made to this point, it looks like President Bush really handled this one masterfully, in spite of the Democrat party's sickening attempt to escalate the instability and undermine all of the progress that has been made in Iraq in the last few months.
Nancy Pelsoi and the rest of her extreme left wing ilk in the Democrat party must be crying right now at this latest bit of good news.
Posted by El Hombre Malo | October 24, 2007 10:28 AM
The PKK is a communist terrorist group that targets both turkish military AND civilians. To suggest, even joking, that they should target some other country not allied with the USA is...sickening to say the least. A bomb in a civilian bus is a bomb in a civilian bus, no matter where the victims are from. No such thing as "good" terrorism should be contemplated.
Moreso, it would only become yet another excuse for those regimes to tighten their grip on the few civil liberties in those countries.
Posted by Sammt | October 24, 2007 10:43 AM
So the US caves into Turkey again? What do we get for it? Nothing! Some ally.
Posted by daytrader | October 24, 2007 1:10 PM
The PKK which is a relatively small group should be forced out and displaced to Turkey or Iran.
Why screw up the world for everyone else just because they have their panties in a bunch?
Posted by BB | October 24, 2007 4:52 PM
Time to kick some Communist rear-end! The Kurds should work with the Iraqi and US militaries to push the PKK north, and invite the Turks to come the other way. We are struggling to get Pakistan to cooperate in a similar pincher movement in Waziristan, so why not eliminate these PKK spoilers the same way? Iraq could not only reach accomodation with Turkey, they could make a friend, and they need such.