Watcher's Council Nominations

Each week, the members of the Watcher's Council nominate one of their own posts and a second from outside the Council for consideration by other council members in a contest for best post. The Watcher publishes the results each Friday morning. The Watcher also has a process for anyone who would like to submit one of their posts for consideration as part of the weekly contest. You can find out more about that here. This week's nominations are:

Council Posts:


1. Rhymes With Right - WWRD?
What would Ron Regan do when an individual he disagreed with won the Republican nomination for President. That question was answered in 1976. Regan campaigned as hard as he could for Jerry Ford. Conservatives stayed home. Carter was elected. And we are paying for that mistake in the war on terror today.

2. Done With Mirrors - -Wiring the Problem
DWM attacks some facetious logic equating the peculiar problem in Islamic cultures with "honor killings" with domestic violence in the rest of the world. It is well argued. There are also distinctions made in a very recent study of honor violence in England.

3. The Glittering Eye - Le Figaro on the Upcoming American Presidential Election
This is an interesting analysis of a foreign article attemptint to explain the U.S. presidential landscape to its readers. It gest some things right and some wrong. I find similar, though slightly more subtle, misunderstandings in the British press.

4. Wolf Howling - Iraqi Political Progress Leaves Few Places For The Left To Move The Target
My tongue in cheek look at the strategems applied by the left and they lengths they will go to in order to justify legislating withdrawal from Iraq. Given that Iraq is making great strides in terms of security and politics, the reasons given are now becoming absurd.

5. Big Lizards - When a Man Stops Believing in God...
BL slithers behind the arguments of a troublesome priest.

6. Soccer Dad - Anti-Terror Fantasies
SD questions the accuracy of the reports of attriburtion for the hit of Mughineyah. Well, whoever did it and for whatever reason, my hat is off to them.

7. The Colossus of Rhodey - Why You Should Roll Your Eyes and Laugh at Democrats Who "Want Every Vote Counted"
So will the Democratic candidate be chosen by vote or by coup? CoR does not know the outcome, but he is enjoying the spectacle.

8. Cheat Seeking Missiles - On The Mountaintop With Obama
Obama the political televangelist can only maintain himself high on the mountaintop through election day.

9. Joshuapundit - Muslims and the Right Not To Be Offended
The by now expected Muslim response to offense is wearing thin. The interesting thing about this is that if these folks refrained from such demonstration of savagery, the Muslim Brotherhood trojan horse strategy might actually have a chance of succeeding. As it is, the chances grow ever greater that there will be a back lash against this savagery long before the Brotherhood can succeed.

10. Bookworm Room - Dumb Question
The answer is home grown lefties. I intend to post on that next week.

11. The Education Wonks - The Disastrous D.C. School System
It would seem that throwing money at the problem will not redeem failed schools.

12. Right Wing Nut House - Make Washington's Birthday a National Holiday Again
George Washington is truly underappreciated in America. I am familiar with the story Rick tells here. It is one of many about Mr. Washington that mark him as a truly pivotal figure in history.

Non-Council Posts:

1. Paperlicious - Dear Paperlicious -- Stamping and Politics

2. National Review Online - The Book of Love

3. Commentary Magazine - Obama Imitates Olmert

4. EU Referendum - Politics, Policy and the Internet

5. BeldarBlog - Best Advice (From a GOP Perspective) So Far In 2008 for the Eventual Democratic Nominee

6. The Terror Finance Blog - U.S. Rewarding Palestinian Terrorism

7. Oliver Kamm - Moscow and la Hudson

8. Israel Matzav - How Rachel Corrie Really Died (Hint: Not Protecting a House)

9. Michael J. Totten - The Dungeon of Fallujah

10. Captain's Quarters - Feels Like the First Time

11. Say Anything - North Dakota Treasurer Kelly Schmidt: Sometimes I Think It Would Be Easier To Be A Democrat

12. The Queen of Swords - Vote For McCain? Never.

13. TFS Magnum - Executed for the Crime of Being Different

14. Dodgeblogium - Moronski on the Potamac votes

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The Nominatons Are Up

Each week, the members of the Watcher's Council nominate one of their own posts and a second from outside the Council for consideration by other council members in a contest for best post. The Watcher tallies the votes and publishes the results each Friday morning. The Watcher also has a process for anyone who would like to submit one of their posts for consideration as part of the weekly contest. You can find out more about that here.

This week's nominations in the Council category are:

1. The Colossus of Rhodey - What Is "Freedom"?
Our founding fathers had the good sense to ensconce the freedom of speech as part of the very first right granted all Americans in the Bill of Rights. CoR ponders how that very freedom is at the very center of any concept of freedom, and to have meaning, it must not be neutered by codes that would limit speech in light of offense that others may take to your words.

2. The Glittering Eye - The Radicalization of American Politics
GE posits that race, gender and religion will is playing a central role in politics becasue so many of us have been trained to interpret all messages through the prism of one or more of those topics. As GE puts it, this development is "wholly pernicious" and it ultimately threatens the ability to discuss and compromise.

3. Done With Mirrors - Liberal Fascism
DWM ponders Jonah Goldberg's book and the inadequacy of using simplistic political labels as the tool for analyzing motivations and actions that are too complex to fit within the perameters of such labels.

4. Wolf Howling - Hillanomix 101
Hillary's latest pronouncements in response to the mortgage crisis and then in an NYT article left me dumbfounded. I had no idea she was either that sophmoric or anti-capitalist. This article is the result of my efforts to find out what I could about Hillary's economic positions. She lays it out, but she does not go quite as far as actually saying "from each according to ability, to each according to his needs." But she is much closer to that philosophy than I had realized.

5. Rhymes With Right - If Ever We Needed a Special Prosecutor (BUMPED)
RWR sets out an appropriate case for appointment of a special prosecutor. A Texas Supreme Court Justice, allegations of arson and insurance fraud, the return of an indictment by a grand jury, and the dismissal of the case on grounds of lack of evidence by a DA who may be biased.

6. Soccer Dad - Rose Colored Rudy
SD sets out a compelling case for why he likes Rudy for President. SD also laments that Rudy's strategy of waiting out the early primaries may fail.

7. Cheat Seeking Missiles - Di Caprio Lies and Hustles Bucks
Remind me not to send Laer any junkmail. A less than honest solicitation from the Natural Resources Defense Council asking CSM to donate to save the polar bears has CSM spitting blood.

8. Bookworm Room - The Problem With Obama's Race
The problem with the left's victimhood and identity politics is that all criticism directed towards a member of a "protected class" is deemed racist, sexist, or, well, pick you '-ist.' In this case, BR takes offense at the suggestion that her dislike of Obama on numerous substantive grounds, none of which have anything to do with his genetics, is none the less the product of racial animus.

9. Joshua Pundit - 'I Have A Dream' -- The Democrat's Version
MLK dreamt of racial unity. The modern left has dreamt of classes of victims - and it is the latters dream which is playing a big role in the Democratic primaries.

10. Big Lizards - Mike Huckabee for Minister in Chief?
Mike Huckabee is apparently seeking a modern reformation in our secular political arena. My view, he is pandering as hard as possible to the evangelicals as it is his only demographic and he has neither the time, money or message to expand his appeal beyond it.

11. The Education Wonks - Our Out of Control Borders: Who's Accountable?
The wonks are posting about our government's inability or refusal to get our southern border secure. They note the recent murder of Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar is just the very tip of the iceberg of the problems caused by lack of border security.

12. Right Wing Nut House - Grim Choices Confront GOP
The demise of Fred Thompson's campaign has left Rick Moran feeling like the glass is a bit less than half empty. I admit that its a matter of judging the negatives in deciding how to vote amongst the rest of the field. That said, I think each would make an acceptable president - and that Obama or Hillary would be a disaster for our national security and economy.

The Non-Council nominations are:

1. Oliver Kamm - Media Lens Tries History, Yet Again

2. The QandO Blog - About the Anarcholibertarians

3. The Onion - Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

4. Pajamas Media - The Navy's Failing China Policy

5. Shadowscope - Texas Landowners Refuse to Give Up Their Land

6. The IgNoble Experiment - Doctors and Death and Doctors Death

7. Iowahawk - Bylines of Brutality

8. Dr. Sanity - Let's End the Cold War and Get Rid of Marxist BS Once and for All

9. Gates of Vienna - It's All Israel's Fault

10. Power Line - A Relatively Scientific Experiment

11. Classical Values - The Guy Who Wasn't In Last Night's Debate (But Might As Well Have Been...)

12. BobKrumm.com - What Might Have Been... And What Was

13. Webloggin - Ex-Congressman Tied to Many Current and Former Congressmen Indicted in Scheme to Aid Terrorists

14. Dodgeblogium - Pondering the Google Slap

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If You Would Like To Take Part In The Watcher's Council . . .

Every week, the members of the Watcher's Council submit one of their own posts and one post from the web for consideration in a weekly contest of writing excellence. Each council member has to vote and the results are published in the wee hours every Friday by the Watcher of Weasels. The Watcher also provides a method to join in for anyone who would like to submit one of their own posts for consideration in the weekly contest. The Watcher has indelicately named the method "link whorage." If you are interested and would like to learn more, all will be made clear here.

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The Watcher's Council

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

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