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 (12)
Posted by davod | October 29, 2007 7:18 AM
Just maybe the King was telling the Brits who the bad guys were. The problem in the UK has been for some time that the Brits let people stay in the country who were actively fermenting terorism around the world. Even the French have complained about the Brits not oing anything about th problem. The Brit philosophy was if they don't do it here then that it is not a problem.
Posted by Immolate | October 29, 2007 7:19 AM
Sorry Ed, I think that the Saudis are correct in interpreting British policy as not proactive enough about anti-terrorism. They haven't managed to convince themselves that appeasement and open-door immigration policies are destroying them, and their response to terrorism is to err on the side of individual liberties... with predictable results.
The Saudis may be complicit in policy and enforcement of policy in terrorism is the US and Britain, but they are quite serious about anti-terrorism in Saudi Arabia and pursue it at least as zealously as Israel. You can fault them for contributing to the problem, but you cannot accuse them of a lack of seriousness about working to combat the symptoms.
Posted by daytrader | October 29, 2007 7:48 AM
Captain
Do yourself a favor and go over an read Melanie Phillips who just moved house to the Spectator UK or EuReferendum and their companion site DefenseoftheRealm and see what half measures a political ball games are being played in the WOT and their whiffle ball approach to the military has been. They have defense issues come up in parliament for discussion and you could fire a cannon load of grape shot into the room and not hit anybody because less than a dozen ministers have even shown up to debate the issue.
The new treaty of Lisbon has basically turned England into a county (not a country) of the EU.
They can debate till their blood runs on the floor about new edicts out of Brussels but that doesn't make a difference any more since they cant vote them down or even approve them. Parliament is adding to their days off schedule because they no longer have enough to keep them busy with the number of days they now serve.
They have become a figurehead signifying nothing. They are building a European gold plated GPS system that is behind schedule and way over cost and wont even become operational until way after the Chinese system is up an running and then have the stupidity to believe people will pay to use it rather than the free alternatives.
Then they have the Euro Fighter a state of the art combat aircraft from from maybe 15 years ago with a cost per unit that make Boeing look efficient.
Posted by patrick neid | October 29, 2007 7:52 AM
To be British about this, the King has a lot of "cheek" pointing the finger at anyone.
It is the royal family itself that is spreading the most vile of all forms of radical Islam--Wahabbism. All the 9/11 terrorists were from this school. Bin Laden himself has roots in this tradition.
Worse still is that the Saudis' finance mosques worldwide, including the US, preaching this evil ideology. Like I said, he has a lot of f'king nerve even discussing the subject. The only terrorism they fight are the people who are looking to overthrow his debauched family. Admittedly sometimes they are the same folks we are looking for, but that's just a coincidence.
Ultimately this entire war on terror will lead to their doorsteps. The sooner the better.
The best part--they don't get along with Rudy!
Posted by daytrader | October 29, 2007 7:58 AM
Sure MI5 is trying to do their job but they have a budget now that is as a percent of GDP ranking somewhere near what the dog catchers get. The big political issues of the day after if they are going to have a vote on the treaty is what is the trash collection schedule at the local level and how many post offices they have to close to meet the requirements of the EU so they are on equal footing with Lower Slobovia for post offices per person.
Posted by NahnCee | October 29, 2007 11:43 AM
When the religious cops - the Muttawa - are banned in The Kingdom, then I'll start to believe Saudi is serious about their little terrorism problem. Until then, if they have uneducated yahoo's prancing about beating ordinary people to death with no retribution, then it means the Wahhabi's are firmly entrenched and Saudi Arabia is and remains a backwards barbaric country committed to killing infidels.
Posted by LarryD | October 29, 2007 1:59 PM
The House of Saud made its pact with the Wahhabis at least as far back as the 1930s, some members now realize that they are riding the tiger.
And that is the problem they are now in: the tiger is eying them, but if they try and dismount...
Posted by LarryD | October 29, 2007 2:11 PM
The House of Saud made its pact with the Wahhabis at least as far back as the 1930s, some members now realize that they are riding the tiger.
And that is the problem they are now in: the tiger is eying them, but if they try and dismount...
Posted by Max | October 29, 2007 3:28 PM
Chutzpah. That's the only word that works.
Posted by Carol Herman | October 29, 2007 4:33 PM
We missed the boat!
Bush the elder, was rightfully tossed from office; after a single term.
As a matter of fact, Reagan's blunders into Beirut; and the bombing of the marine's barracks, happens to have Saudi fingerprints all over that fiasco.
Where Bandar says "he was forced to give up the name of his chauffeur. (In a world where the saud's have lots of cars. And, more than one pion driver.)
I won't be happy until the saud's cough up Dubya's 3-page letter; written to Fahd. In Agusut 2001, appeasing the angry saud's who took issue with Dubya "drawing close to Israel."
That letter is a doozy.
As to the "price tag" of $3-trillion and growing, for Irak; I think a whole flock of chickens, ahead, come home to roost. And, as they fly over the right wing of republican politics? What's dropping isn't gonna be called "fertilizer."
So sad. Saddam was very willing to toss the saud's out of saudi arabia. Why didn't we just let him?
Posted by Carol Herman | October 29, 2007 4:43 PM
Day Trader, I agree with you. The undesirable EU Constitution, might fly over Britannica; because Brown won't hold a referendum.
On the other hand? The much more popular Tony Blair is now out peddling his book. After losing so much of his strength in parliament. (A loss of over 100 seats!) He says, in his book, "he had sleepless nights."
While the 7 year mess in Iraq? What did we do? Give saudi arabia an ability to survive the easy battles that would have been Saddam's? We could have flushed this out of our world's toilet bowl, back in 1991.
You bet, up ahead, when this is analyzed, the Bush Family will go down in our history as worse, even, than the EU.
By the way. From experience. Where America "with all good intentions," saw our own first 11 years nearly bring the experiment to a halt ...
What would make you think that anything the EU does, to get itself some powers ... whose heads have to roll?
My answer? Queen of England's.
And, then all the other crowns.
And, in less than a dozen years, IF the EU tries to stick its "constitution" up the arses of folks who think it's crap ... how soon does it just turn into a version of toilet paper?
Up ahead? Bush has caused a terrible problem for US. We're back to diplomatic shilly-shall-y-ing ... I think. For awhile.
Until we rinse this $3-trillion-MESS up.
Vietnam? Where? We've got Vietnamese people in America who are math worthy. Smart. And, delightful.
And, what's our military got now? Not even the surrender flag from TNR.
Yeah. I said it. The military couldn't even capture a piece of underwear flying over a building in NYC. Oh, and liberals have ink by the barrel full.
Just because they're quiet ... doesn't mean there can't be a shift in what people have seen ... And, what may come out of a bit of introspection.
Recession? Never popular. Also there.
Good time to keep your cash supply, dry.
Posted by Fight4TheRight | October 29, 2007 5:59 PM
I'd like to echo the comments of Patrick Neid - you hit the nail on the head, Patrick.
For the Saudi King to point a finger at Britain for complacency on terror would be like John Dillinger blaming the banks for having money in their vaults.
Saudi Arabia IS the terrorist problem! If it ever came out how much terror activity has been funded by the Sauds in the past 20 years, it will knock your socks off. Can we remember the payouts to Hamas suicide bomber families????
The Wahabbis are the single biggest flash point of world terror and the old king sure knows that. They only have an issue with Al Qaeda because they've been attacked a few times.
I realize the importance of having some allies in the Middle East but for President Bush and the rest to ignore this terrorist elephant in the room has become ridiculous