The recent controversy over an incident in the Strait of Hormuz involving five Iranian speedboats was punctuated by an allegation that an Iranian voice warned a U.S. ship, “I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes.” But the voice “may have come from a locally famous heckler well known to Navy crews.” The Navy Times reports:

In recent years, American ships operating in the Middle East have had to contend with a mysterious but profane voice widely known as the “Filipino Monkey,” likely more than one person, who listens in on ship-to-ship radio traffic and then jumps on the net shouting insults and epithets.

Rick Hoffman, a retired captain who commanded the cruiser Hue City and spent many of his 17 years at sea in the Gulf was subject to the renegade radio talker repeatedly, often without pause during the so-called “Tanker Wars” of the late 1980s.

“For 25 years there’s been this mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats,” he said. “He could be tied up pierside somewhere or he could be on the bridge of a merchant ship.” [...]

“He used to go all night long. The guy is crazy,” he said. “But who knows how many Filipino Monkeys there are? Could it have been a spurious transmission? Absolutely.”

Yesterday, the Tennessee House unanimously approved a resolution honoring Al Gore and his efforts to curb global warming:

We hereby honor and congratulate vice president Albert Arnold “Al” Gore Jr. on his receipt of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his exemplary efforts to inform and educate the public and promote understanding of the threats posed by global warming and the measures needed to counteract such change.

Gore is a former U.S. congressman and senator from the state of Tennessee. House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower now wants Democrats to vote on a similar resolution praising the late President Ronald Reagan.

Britt Peterson: “Unity08′s founders, old media hands Gerald Rafshoon and Doug Bailey, have just left to work on drafting Bloomberg, taking most of the credibility and experience Unity08 ever had with them and leaving celebrity promoter Sam Waterston to his own devices. Will he form a joint L&O ticket with Thompson?” Sounds good to me.

A U.S. appeals court ruled today that “four former Guantanamo prisoners, all British citizens, have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and military officers for torture, abuse and violations of their religious rights.” The judge ruled that the defendants — including Donald Rumsfeld — “enjoyed qualified immunity for acts taken within the scope of their government jobs.”

In an interview with NBC aired today, President Bush dismissed the notion that presidential candidates’ messages of “change” are a rebuke of his presidency. Bush said he would do the same right now if he were one of them:

Q: Do you see this message of change as anything other than a rejection of your presidency?

BUSH: No, listen. If you’re running for office, you can’t run for office and not say ‘I am an agent of change.’ It’s just American politics. If I were running for office at this point, I’d be saying, ‘Vote for me. I’m gonna be an agent of change.’

Watch it:

UPDATE: Tim Grieve notes that Bush 41 thought differently than his son. At the Republican National Convention in 1988, George H.W. Bush said:

Now, after two great terms, a switch will be made. But when you have to change horses in midstream, doesn’t it make sense to switch to one who’s going the same way?

Digg It!