Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Watcher's Council Nominations, 05/28/08




Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one from the Council members and one from outside for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week's Council nominations can be found at the site of our fearless leader, the infamous Watcher of Weasels

Do take the time to check out the non-Council links as well - they're always worthwhile.


Council News: This week, we welcome aboard a new Council member, Scott at The Razor.Please check out his fine site.

So here's this week's lineup...enjoy!

Looking At The Last Full Measure Of Devotion Joshuapundit - There was apparently a glitch in getting my nominations over this week, so the Watcher decided to pick this piece as my submission this week..which deals with my feelings about what Memorial Day actually means and why it's important.

Dear Mr Hoyt Soccer Dad - This week, Soccer Dad writes a letter to the New YorkTimes attempting to correct a bit of Middle East mythology uncritically repeated by the Times and Susan Sontag - that the intifada was sparked by Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount.

One bit of additional information SD chose not to include - both Yasir Rabbo, Arafat's Goebbels ( 'Minister of Information') and the late Faisal Husseini, Arafat's Head of Office in Jerusalem have publicly acknowledged that the intifada and Arafat's war on Israeli civilians were planned long before Sharon set foot on the Temple Mount, which was just a convenient excuse for unleashing something that had been in the works for months. Faisal Husseini, in fact characterized the entire Oslo peace process as a 'trojan horse, designed to fool the Jews.'

Enough said.

In Which It Gets Worse Done With Mirrors- Callimachus reflects on the abysmal quality of our public schools today, particularly when it comes to civics and history. I agree with him.

Cowbama Diplomacy and Iran Wolf Howling - GW delivers an incisive piece on the fallacy of diplomacy with Iran.

Something I've written before on these pages; in order for negotiations between two parties to succeed three elements need to be present. First, the parties must both acknowledge the need and desirability for negotiations in the first place. Second, the parties must each have something the other needs and be willing to give up something the other wants to get it. And third, there needs to be mutual trust between the parties that the agreements made will be kept.

In the case of the US and Iran, none of these elements even remotely exist.

An Honest Assesment of the MSM's Problem Rhymes With Right - Greg looks at the dinosaur media and tries to assess what causes their bias.

Reflections on the State of the Republic Hillbilly White Trash- Lemuel wonders what it would take to bring on a revolution in the US. Maybe outlawing TV?

All kidding aside, I think the key is the degree to which people still have confidence in the system. Our direct predecessor is the Roman Republic, which lasted 500 years and eventually morphed not into a more just and democratic society,but into a dictatorship - when people got tired of a bunch of idiot politicians squabbling among themselves and not addressing the major problems of peace and prosperity, and looked for a guy on a white horse with simple answers.

Why Jews Are Right To Suspect Obama's Advisers Bookworm Room - Ms. Bookworm looks at Obama's advisers and finds a lot of people with questionable views on Israel in the mix, among other things.

As far as I'm concerned, Americans in general ought to be reacting to Obama and his minions like a vampire to garlic- not just Jews!

Will History Redeem President Bush? The Colossus of Rhodey - Hube takes the position that Dubbya's historical legacy will be affected because he chose to keep us in Iraq even after no WMDs were found. Personally, I think there's a lot more to it than that.

Strange Device The Glittering Eye - Dave is a huge fan of Walter Russel Mead and reviews his new book,G-d and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World. Interesting stuff!

Peacekeepers Raping Children... Again Cheat Seeking Missiles - This week, Laer looks at at a BBC report that shows that many supposed UN 'peacekeepers' are little more than sexual predators, trading desperately needed food and aid for sexual favors - with a special predilection for young children.

Your tax dollars at work,ladies and gentlemen.

Say Goodnight, Hillary The Education Wonks - nana nana, nana nana,hey hey hey,goodbye!

Memorial Day 2008 The Razor - In his debut post,Scott honors Memorial Day by looking at the service of one particular American.

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