Watcher's Council Nominations, 10/18/06

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


This week, you've got a treat in store...American Future joins the Council with their debut post. I'm sure you'll enjoy their contributions.

1. J O S H U A P U N D I T: Nobody but us `moderates' here, Condi! Aside from her recent meeting with Palestinian terrorists belonging to Fatah's Tanzim, US Secretary of State Condi Rice made a special point of speaking at a pro-Palestinian dinner in front of a group with some..shall we say..questionable members. In her remarks, she said the `Palestinians deserve a better life..free from the humiliation of occupation' andreferred to a second Arab Palestinian state as `the best legacy America could have.'

Given the Palestinian's history of hatred for America, their positive joy over 9/11 and their alliance with our enemies, in spite of all the largesse and attention they received, I examine why I question that notion. Not to mention the hypocrisy, given the `Bush Doctrine'.

One of my blogpals, Dave at The Glittering Eye characterized me to me as `being upset that realism has finally returned to American foreign policy.' I respect Dave immensely, but I think he's wrong. This isn't so much realism as slow suicide. Destroy a strategic ally in favor of an enemy and you suffer the consequences. The West found out exactly how damaging this kind of `realpolitik' is once before..with a country called Czecholslovakia.


2. Gates of Vienna: Arab Sport: Crucifying Christian Children in Iraq Dymphna writes an essay on the tolerance of the Religion of Peace for other religions..in this case, Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Egypt, Anatolia, Syria, Iraq/Mesopotamia, the Levant and North Africa were originally Christian, until they were put to the sword by their Islamic conquerors and either converted by force or subjected to `Jim Crow ' status and worse as dhimmis. Those of you who think this is ancient history and not applicable today should read this.

3.Done With Mirrors: `I wasn't chasing blood' Callimachus continues his story about his friend Kat and her response to coverage by the media in the Iraq war.

4. Soccer Dad: Baker's follySoccer Dad continues writing about the return to prominance of ex-Secretary of State and long time Bush family crony James Baker and his views. This time, he focuses on Baker's leaks from the Iraq Study Group Report...which seems to call for us basically abandoning the Bush Doctrine in favor of terrorists we like and approve of, and laying down for Syria and Iran.


5. AbbaGav :: Running Down the MiddleAbbaGav has some pungent things to say about Arianna huffington's supposed `concession speech' for Democratic senate candidate Ned Lamont after he loses to Joe Lieberman.

6. Right Wing Nut House : NO GREATER LOVE I loved this..Rick Moran looks at the heroism of Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor. As long as we continue to produce men like this, our country's freedom is assured.

7. The Sundries Shack: Kim’s Last Days? Jimmie Bise speculates that North Korea's Kim Jong Il may have overplayed his hand and ticked off the wrong people.

8. Rhymes With Right: So Julia Wilson And Her Parents Are Idiots, But Hey What Else Is New? Greg examines the case of a teenager who put up an anti-Bush page threatening President Bush's life on `My Space'. This of course, is a felony. But what's really interesting is the way her parents reacted to the Secret Service having the temerity to investigate their lil' darling. As Greg puts it: " Actually, you fool, they don’t know what the situation is until they investigate. Suppose that, instead of an ill-informed little brat raised by overly-indulgent parents, the site was operated by a nascent Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris? No one took them seriously before they attacked their high school and murdered 13 people. How was the Secret Service to know that your daughter wasn’t a mentally and morally disturbed sociopath?"

Indeed.

9. ShrinkWrapped: Trauma, Passivity, & the Fear of Aggression ShrinkWrapped compares what he considers the feminization of our culture and its effect on our ability for self-defense. He has a point about the feminization aspect, but fortunately it's not at a termoinal stage yet.and I have a feeling that coming events will negate it almost entirely.


10. The Glittering Eye: The discouraging situation in Iraq Dave examines the problem of Iraq, and some of the alternatives being voiced.

11. The Education Wonks: Restricting Kindergarten: Treating Equals Unequally? EdWonk examines bias in access to kindergarden.

12. AMERICAN FUTURE - Trying to make sense of a world in turmoil � Sanctions on North Korea: The Weakest Link Last but certainly not least, new Council member American Future examines the probability of sanctions being effective against the North Korean regime. A nice summation of where we are with this today...

That's this week's lineup..enjoy!