Watcher's Council Nominations, 03/15/07

Every week, the Watcher's Council members 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 the site of our fearless leader, Watcher of Weasels


Watcher's Council News: We have a new member, Dafydd ab Hugh at Big Lizards - check him out!


OK, here's this week's Council lineup:

1. J O S H U A P U N D I T: What are Europe's options? In this week's entry, I examine Europe's leetle problem with home grown radical Islam and how it's likely to play out in the future, using a piece by Dr. Daniel Pipes as a jump off point. Regular members of Joshua's Army have read things on this topic by me before and will guess that in my view, Europe's options are fairly stark and uncompromising.


2. Done With Mirrors: Back in the DDR Callimachus writes about, of all things, an East German rockn'roll icon, American -born who became a flack for the communists.


3.Soccer Dad: Persistent libels From Soccer Dad, an examination of a couple of urban legends in the anti-Israel world - the supposed butchering of 1,000 unarmed Egyptian prisoners' during the 1967 war and the Israeli `attack' on the USS Liberty.Like the Protocals of Zion and Deir Yasin, these fantasies have a life of their own,no matter how often they're debunked...yet another indication that Hitler and Goebbels knew what they were talking about..


4. Right Wing Nut House: NOT QUITE READY TO DANCE THE DABKE IN LEBANON Here, Rick examines the trials and tribulations of Lebanon on the edge of civil war, and examines the developments there.

I would only point out, additionally, that when Lebanon was at least 50% Christian, it was a stable democratic and prosperous nation. That ended when Yasir Arafat and the PLO moved in and set up a defacto country within a country there, followed by Iran's establishment of Hezbollah, which drove many of the Christians out - and now it's a hellhole.

Food for thought...

5. The Sundries Shack: Here are the Moderate Muslims This week, Jimmie Bise focuses on the very undereported Secular Islam Summit in St. Petersburg, Florida and wonders why the US government doesn't have a presence there. Simple, Mr. Bise: This administration prefers to hang with the Saudis and the Islamist groups they fund like CAIR and the MPAC.

6. The Glittering Eye: Star Wars, 300, History, and Whatnot You never know quite what The Glittering Eye's Dave Schuler is is going to come up with. This week, he cites similarities between `Star Wars' and `300', as well as getting into the actual historical background behind Thermopylae. I would only add that neither film is history - but both represent a triumph of leadership, heroism and good over evil, a message our culture is starved for, particularly in light of recent history.

7. Rhymes With Right: An Idea I can get behind Greg comments on an item that I'm still drafting a piece on, proposed disciplinary action at San Francisco State against the college Republicans for `disrespecting Allah' by treading on the terrorist flags of Hamas and Hezbollah.

8. The Colossus of Rhodey: Best War Movies Hube picks his top favorite war movies! Ilike his choices, but hey, what happened to `The Longest Day' `Bridge on the River Kwai' and `The Great Escape'?

9. Vile Reuters at it again: Bookworm Room This week, Mrs. Bookworm takes on al-Reuters and their ridiculous reporting on the hemorrhage of Christians from the Palestinian areas - which, if you believe the Palestinian stringers who write for al-Reuters is Israel's fault.

As in Lebanon, the diaspora of Arab Christians began with the advent of Yasir Arafat, as I wrote here: J O S H U A P U N D I T: Last Christmas in Bethlehem?


10. Eternity Road; Serving while Republican Francis examines the penalty for moral lapses done as a Democrat versus the penalty for those done by Republicans, and old, tried and true topic.

11.The Education Wonks: San Francisco's Pre-School Class System EdWonk discusses th e Class struggle in Pacific Heights and the Marina....at least when it comes to getting your kid in the `right' pre-school.

12. Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “The "Burqini" - Shaken and Stirred” In his debut post, Dafydd examines the `burqini', the latest fashion for Muslim women on the beach in Australia and uses that as a riff to examine the one sided and frankly racist coverage by the NYT of the Cronulla beach riots last year.

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