Wednesday, August 16, 2006


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 can be found at our fearless leader's site Watcher of Weasels


1.J O S H U A P U N D I T: Two ways the West can end `terrorism' Yup...you're ol' pal Freedom Fighter gives you the skinny on not one, but TWO ways to end `terrorism'..starting with defining the problem correctly. You're welcome.

2. Done With Mirrors: The Brady Bunch Here, Callimachus talks about Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, the original photojournalist. I've always been fascinated by the American Civil war, and own a number of books on the subject, including a collection of Brady photographs.

Callimachus also makes the point that Brady posed certain photographs from dramatic effect, and appears to be making a point to excuse the reuters and AP photographers manipulation of photos from the Lebanon War. One difference..whereas Brady may have manipulated photos for the purposes of drama, the people at AP and al-reuters did so to support a political agenda - in other words, propaganda, which is very different than Brady's intent.


3.Gates of Vienna: Europe Silences Another One Dymphna writes about the shameful muzzling and harrassment of Paul Belien of the Brussells Journal in the name of dhimmi-itis. Sad.

4. ShrinkWrapped: A Questionable AssumptionShrinkwrapped does it again with a post about the assumption that we can meaningfully effect the course of Islamic fascism short of total full scale war is a fantasy. I agree with him. Well done, doctor!


5. Security profiling deserves a more thoughtful discussion than it's getting : Socratic Rhythm Method Matt examines the idea of profiling in a thoughtful and incisive way. I actually agree with him, especially as the ummah is turning to`white Muslims' as terrorists and jihadis. A middle Eastern or obviously Muslim appearence should be a red flag, but not the only one. El Al has this down to a science, as anyone who's ever flown them knows...

6. The Glittering Eye : The solace of diminishing returns Dave Schuler provides an interesting examination of the question of whether there are diminishing returns in terrorism. Like me, he believes that rather than becoming simply innured to Islamic terorism, we will one day simply have had enough and deal with it effectively. As of yet, we aren't.

7.The Education Wonks: Wonkitorial: Beaumont's Hormone High Yee Hah! The dirt on the Beaumont high school sex scandal!

8.Rhymes With Right: The NYT Lives in a Fantasy World Yup, Greg..they sure do. Greg does a smackdown on the newspaper I refer to as `the paper of refuse' in a little play on its snooty name for itself.

9. Right Wing Nut House: A HINGE OF HISTORY Rick Moran reflects on what appears to be obvious to a lot of us..that we are in the middle of historic times. He worries that the West is too divided to win the coming struggle. I'd only point out that the US was just as divided in the run-up to WWII, and that what the Left is saying nowadays eerily reflects what the isolationists and appeasors were saying in 1938. The West will be victorious in this struggle, simply because we have so much to lose..but the sooner we cast off our illusions and get down to the job at hand, the fewer of us will be killed and the easier the task will be.

10. The Sundries Shack: It’s Hell in a Handbasket Day! Jimmie Bise writes a post on similar ground, reflecting on much of the Left's basic dishonesty and disloyalty to the country. He ain't wrong.

11.AbbaGav -Oh, how they hate occupation Abbagav makes a point about Lebanon and Hezbollah that could just as easily be made about the `Palestinians': to them, Israel's very existance is `occupation'. Goo-ood stuff, Gav.


12. Soccer Dad: Losers Last but certainly not least, our newest member, Soccer Dad examines the winners and losers in the Lebanon war.

2 comments:

Callimachus said...

Well, not quite an excuse. That is, it's not excusing A to point out that B also did the same thing. But if people are going to argue against A by invoking B, they might want to be aware of that fact in advance, lest it trip up their debate strategy before they get very far. I'll leave it up to the readers to do as you did and discover the difference between rearranging a battlefield for artistic effect and doing it for a political agenda. But then, those motives aren't always crystal clear.

Freedom Fighter said...

Hi Calli,
Nice to see you falling by! There a cold one in the fridge with your name on it anytime...

Ok...point taken.

But I think the difference between Matthew Brady posing a corpse for dramatic effect and al-Reuters or AP Arab stringers manufacturing a `maasacre' scenario as poitical propaganda is pretty evident to most people.

I mean, Brady didn't invent Devil's Den or the Peach Orchard..they happened. Where as Qana most likely din't..at least in the way the MSM presented it.

But to me the