Watcher's Council Nominations, 9/20/06

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

It was an interesting week, and there was a lot of great stuff, mainly dealing with the Islamic fury over Pope Benedict's speech.



1. J O S H U A P U N D I T: Bush & Ahmadinejad - live in concert at the UN!! I chose to point out the ridiculous nature of Bush and Ahmadinejad's dog and pony show at the UN with a little satire.

2. Gates of Vienna: That Was Not a “Blunder.” It’s Just An Excuse to Kill Infidels Dymphna makes the same point I did in my own examination of Pope Benedict's speech; that, far from being a blunder, it was intellectually rock solid and a rather clever way for the Pope to give Muslims a chance to either open a serious dialogue on the issues he raised or react violently and prove that 14th Century Byzantine Emperor entirely correct in his characterization of Islam and Mohammed. Three guesses on what the adherents of the `religion of peace' chose!

3.Done With Mirrors: `You'll Never Know What We Did' I'm so-oo glad somebody wrote this. Callimachus writes about the uncelebrated heroes of one of the few good things to develop out of the Iraq war - the civilian contractors and their sincere aid to the Iraqi people, including contractors from the much maligned Halliburton.


4. ShrinkWrapped: Pope Benedict, Islam, and Reason ShrinkWrapped, as always, goes for the deeper motivation on this story, and correctly points out that Pope Benedict extended an invitation to the Muslim world to engage the issues he brought up with reasoned dialogue. Their response is a matter of record.


5.AbbaGav - An Israeli Dad Blogs Israel, the Mideast and the World Abbagav's take on the Islamic fury over the Pope's remarks examines what was said in detail...and finds very little for Muslims to be rationally upset about. Though of course, that key word is `rational'!

Key quote from his piece: `I am not anti-Islam; I'm anti-Jihad. The fact that so many AK-47 wielding masked Muslims object to the second position as if it is identical to the first is a big problem..' Guess what, Abbagav? if you read the Qu'ran and the Hadiths they are identical, for the most part. Islam without jihad is like Christianity without the Resurrection. And yeah, it's a big problem...

6. Right Wing Nut House: THE POPE’S DILEMMA A fine, fine piece by Rick Moran as always on what he considers both Pope Benedict's and the west's dilemma; whether or not to engage Muslims by challenging them or try and address their grievances and appease them. Rick makes the point that the Pontiff has chosen the latter. I agree.

7. The Sundries Shack: A Letter to Eugene Robinson In one of the few `non-Pope' pieces this week, Jimmie writes an open letter to a columnist who was bloviating on the horrors of the `torture' legislation in Congress this week. As Jimmie cogently points out, the real debate is not on whether torture is wrong - it is- but on the definition of torture. great job.

8.Rhymes With Right: Benedict Quotes Fourteenth Century Emperor -- Muslims Enraged Greg examines the Pope's remarks in typical no-nonsense fashion, and points out that violent jihad and intolerance for any deviation has always been a part of Islam. I agree.

9. Soccer Dad: Between the canary and the alligator Soccer Dad is on a roll; last week's post was a superb analysis of three major factors that led to 9/11 and are still very much with us, this week he takes on the role of the Jews - the canary of western civilization - and the interaction of the Jews with the appeasors of the west who want to feed them to the alligator in Winston Churchill's often quoted definition: `An appeasor is one who hopes that the alligator will eat him last.' Killah piece.


10. The Glittering Eye � Blog Archive: Not arbitrary or inconsistent Dave continues to examine the history and motivation of the US role in the Middle East. As he points out, The United States is frequently accused of being arbitrary or inconsistent in its policies in the region..none of which is true. An interesting, well done read.

11.Where the New York Times is coming from : Socratic Rhythm Method Matt examines the motivation of the New York Times in criticizing Pope Benedict's remarks and shilling for radical Islam.

12. The Education Wonks: Students Suspended For Wearing 9/11 Shirts: A Bad Call? EdWonk writes about teenagers in Michigan being suspended for wearing patriotic shirts on 9/11 to school as a violation of school dress codes.

Considering what else the Michigan schools allow when it comes to Islam, this does seem a bit much.

Enjoy!