Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Council Picks for 5/9/06


Every week, the Watcher's Council 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 is here



Dr. Sanity: CDS - CHRISTIANITY DERANGEMENT SYNDROME
In which the Doctor examines how the sensitive toes of every conceivable group are respected..except for Christianity.

She also examines the way people constant express fear and loathing of Christianity but lean over backwards to put a positive spin on Islam..which in Pat's words, wherever it exists is trying to impose a theocracy. Yes, I know, there are exceptions, but they are rare and go against the central tenets of the faith, which mandates sharia as the sole arbiter of everything...a reality many people don't realize but would do well to wake up to. Good job, Dr.


2. The Glittering Eye : Annotations on the Cole kerfuffle
Dave talks about the Chris Hitchens/Juan Cole cage match. My take on this issue is here. Amazing that anyone takes Juan Cole seriously as a scholar of anything!

3.Done With Mirrors: White House rules- Callimachus weighs in on the White House's disregard for law and contrasts Bush's approach with Lincoln's.
4. The Education Wonks: Leet: The Secret Online Kids Code provides a handy dandy guide to Internet acronyms and lingo as used by kids. Kinda fun.

5. The Strata-Sphere: The 2006 Elections: Kadima IIAJ compares the current dissatisfaction with Congress and the direction the two major parties are going in with the situation that led to the Kadima Party of Israel. I don't agree with his conclusion entirely , because the parliamentary system is different and the reality on the ground in Israel is different than here. I DO think that a possible third party COULD emerge, but not from the same impulses..and in any event, I hope that if it does emerge that it is NOTHING whatever like Kadima...which will be history by the next Israeli election, when the Israeli people wake up to the fact they have an existential war on their hands. Interesting read with AJ as always..

6. The Paper of Broken Record : New World Man Matt takes apart the New York Times coverage over their coverage of the recent Zarqawi tape (and the bloopers version).
7. Gates of Vienna: Are the Kurds a Steam Valve? Dymphna strikes again with a great piece on the history of the Kurds and their role in Middle Eastern politics today....at one point, she speculates they might have Jewish DNA - who knew??
8. ShrinkWrapped: The Singularity & the 12th Imam: Part IVThe Shrinkster examines the link between millennialism and increased information processing..and the backlash against progress. Fascinating, as always

9. Rhymes With Right: An American shame Greg takes issue with the contrast between the official diplomatic visit of the leader of the PRC. Welcome to realpolitik, I guess...
10. Right Wing Nut House : THE INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY OF THE OPEN BORDERS CROWDRick takes on the open borders crowd and does it well


11. J O S H U A P U N D I T: Ahmadinejad's letter..a call to Da'wa
Ok ok..here I go upsetting people again. In terms of caliphate Islam, Ahamadinejad's 18 page screed has a very different meaning than the Main Stream Media's take on it. And remember, Iran and the Council of Guardians see it this way, not the way the Washington Post or the NYT does,I try toprovide an analysis of why this letter is much more important than we perceive.

12. The Sundries Shack:A Gitmo backpedal? Jimmie Bise argues for shutting down Club Gitmo. I'll go along with it..provided we've squeezed all the intel possible out of these creatures and some quick military tribunals, followed by summary executions and a pigsin burial shroud for the guilty are prepared.

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