Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Watcher's Council Nominations, 08/06/08


Once again,it's time for a tasty slice of some of the best of the blogosphere, the Watcher's Council.

Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. As you know, our infamous leader,the Watcher of Weasels retired and is now our leader emeritus. Last week, the Council was hosted by my friend Ms. Bookworm at Bookworm Room. This week, the Council is being hosted by none other than our own Scott Kirwin at The Razor, and a full list of entries, including the non-Council ones can be found here.

As I mentioned Friday, Terry Trippany will be filling the Watcher's spot and hosting the Council as soon as the next week or two...I'll keep you posted.

So, let's see what we have today:

Joshuapundit: Winning in Afghanistan - This piece began germinating about two weeks ago, as I gave some deep thought to what a victory in Aghanistan would look like, whether it's possible and how we could achieve it...provided we're willing to reassess our goals and adopt new strategies. Will we do so? The jury's still out.

Soccer Dad: Hello martyr, hello fatah- Soccer Dad has a great post on exactly how the Palestinians are educating their children for peace - not.

I would point out that one of the key provisions of the real estate deal known as Oslo that the Palestinians signed on to called for them to end the constant ginning up of incitement and hatred in their schools, mosques and media for Jews and 'Zionists' and to As far as I'm concerned, their cynical failure to abide by that in the years since Oslo was signed made the deal null and void, along with any claim they have on Judea and Samaria aside from mere squatter's rights.

Of course, as we now know, Arafat and his minions, including Mahmoud Abbas never had any intentions of abiding by Oslo or any subsequent agreements in the first place.

The Glittering Eye: Strategic Objectives in Afghanistan- Dave Schuler looks at some of Barack Obama's sweeping statements on Afghanistan and has the temerity to ask follow up questions the dinosaur media
refuses to. Somehow, I wouldn't count on him getting a straight answer out of the candidate anytime soon.

Bookworm Worm: Marin County’s Hidden Conservatives- Ms. Bookworm writes about the phenomenon of `secret conservatives' hidden in predominantly blue territory, a subject she knows full well living in the San Francisco Bay Area's Marin County. As she points out, many conservatives or Republicans quite rightly fear the spittle invoking rage and professional consequences if 'they only knew '. Even worse is the boorish behavior of some 'progressives' in loudly trumpeting their questionable views in public at inappropriate forums, assuming that any normal person agrees with them and reacting with venom if anyone questions them. Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism was exactly correct in essence if a bit off in some details.

Cheat Seeking Missiles: Time to Fire Bob Herbert- Laer looks at some of NYT columnist Bob Herbert's idiocies over the recent McCain 'celebrity' ad and satirically wonders whether it's time he was sent packing. All jokes aside, I'd say Herbert is just about perfect for the paper he writes in. There's certainly no way the Times would want to do without what passes for his intellectual discourse!

Done With Mirrors: Heroes- A fascinating piece by Callimachus, as he compares the legacy and outlook of the late writer Solzhenitsyn with that of American film maker Michael Moore.

Rhymes with Right: What is a Windfall Profit?- Ooh, I'm glad Greg wrote this, even if he beat me to it. In view of the proposals by Obama and the Democrats to put into effect a windfall profits tax on Big Oil, Greg compares the oil company's average 8.4% profit margin with that of other industries. One 'profit' he didn't cite for comparison is the Government's piece of the action on a gallon of gas. As a matter of fact, where I live, the combination of federal, State and local sales tax adds up to a whopping 20% windfall profit, figured at an average price of $4.19 per gallon.

The Razor: Red Man in a Blue Family-Scott recently went back home to visit his family, and reflects on his feelings at being a conservative in a predominantly Democrat family...and more importantly, how the GOP could win some of them over this November.

Colossus of Rhodey: Obama Wants Slavery Reparations- Hube writes this week about Obama's dancing around the question of reparations to American Blacks for slavery..and admits he might consider it provided it led to an end to minority set asides, quotas and affirmitive action.

My own view is that I'd also consider it, provided every Black family in America agreed to sign a paper opting in or opting out of a final settlement, and that it signified the end to all of the above. And then I'd insist on an honest accounting..which would not just include the price of labor not paid to slaves, but the cost of the Civil War in Union lives and property damage, the one trillion dollars spent on the War On Poverty, and the actual dollar cost of affirmative action programs, college educations granted through quotas, minority set asides, section 8 and other public housing programs, and the like, all adjusted for inflation.

This would never happen of course, but if it did, I have a feeling that those people who opted in would be cutting checks to the Federal government instead of collecting.

Wolf Howling: Part III: Why Exploit Our Domestic Resources- GW gives us the last of a trio of pieces on the subject, in his usual no-nonsense style.


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