Watcher's Council Nominations, 4/18/07

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



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

1.J O S H U A P U N D I T: When Sorry is really....`sorry'. This week, I take a look at the phenomenon of public `apologies' designed to stave off the consequences of one's actions. This is something that seems to have become all too common and, to my way of thinking negates the entire purpose and meaning of what an apology should be...and I give several recent examples.

Key words, as many people from various religious traditions picked up: repair and repentance.

2. Done With Mirrors: happy netted nose This week, Callimachus looks at the Imus firing and takes exception to Andrew Sullivan's contention that Imus was fired because of of the mainstream or the marketplace. Instead, as Callimachus points out "He was done in by a handful of corporate executives, spurred by two self-appointed censors (in the old, Roman sense of the word)."

3. Soccer Dad: Hero and villain Soccer Dad has the Virginia tech killings on his mind this week, and writes about the killer - and more importantly about 77 year old Liviu Librescu (z"l), a professor who beat the odds to survive the Holocaust and the repression of the communist regime in his native Romania, escaped to Israel, became an internationally known academic...and died while protecting his students at Virginia Tech and helping them to escape the killer.

4. Right Wing Nut House: CONFESSION: I HATE DEMOCRACY Ah, Rick...the taxman cometh.

5. The Glittering Eye: They Should Get Out More This week, The Glittering Eye's Dave Schuler drops the bomb on a particularly inane NYT editorial on possible trade wars with China.

You really have to wonder sometimes if anyone is in charge of that particular Gotham Asylum.


6. Rhymes With Right: Hokie horror Greg also has Virginia tech on his mind, and makes the exact point I did in my brief mention of this incident - that the campus was a gun free zone, and rather than all of the post mortem exotic security programs that are being touted, a couple of armed and prepared students or faculty are the only thing that could have stopped the killer and saved lives. I suppose we'll learn this elementary fact eventually.


7. The Colossus of Rhodey: Desegregation consternation Hube looks at desegregation in his local Delaware district, and how bussing has been a non-starter.

When it came to dealing with the lousy quality of public schools, I was fortunate enough to be able to opt out by sending my children to private school, even though it means I pay for services I'm unable to use through my taxes. It will be a great day when working parents, minority and otherwise are able to likewise exercise school choice through voucher programs. And the ironic thing is, that solution will engender competition that would actually improve the public schools.


8. Recognizing that there is another side to the coin: Bookworm Room The erudite Ms. Bookworm compares the viewpoints of Ann Coulter's `Godless' and leftist Susan Estrich's `Soulless', a sort of reply number like the old R&B singers used to do way back when.

Ms. Bookworm goes on to describe her own conversion from the Church of Liberalism as a way of showing that she agrees with Coulter's basic premise..that Liberalism ( or as I prefer to call it `leftism')is indeed a religion, and uses it as an example of how important the realization that there might be some legitimacy to the `other' is.

BTW...It's ironic that my post this week is on apologies, since I owe Bookworm one!

She wrote an excellent piece last week, Heart-rending stories about the MSM's refusal to cover heroism in Iraq as opposed to stories about disabled veterans trying to cope. For technical reasons, I wrote a correct description of her fine effort, but neglected to change the link from the previous week..and just realized it today! Mea culpa...my face is indeed reddened with embarassment.


9. Eternity Road: The beast among us Francis also writes about the Don Imus firing and the Duke LaCrosse case as he examines the idea of `victimist' politics.


10. The Education Wonks: Principal Pornstar Meets Ms. Horndog The Teacher EdWonk looks at some extra curricular activities in a local school...ummm, electives, OK? Extra credit projects?

11. Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Fighting Back Was Not an Option, Part 2” Dafydd Ab Hugh takes an in-depth look at what happened at Virginia Tech and makes the point that the circumstances of the Virginia Tech shooting and of the British hostages in Iran as illustrating the the same very poignant -- and dangerous -- perspective: helplessness as a virtue.

I agree with him that it is something to be considered...but I would say that it is difficult to defend oneself when your college administrators have helpfully made your campus a gun-free zone like the nice liberals they are.

12. Cheat Seeking Missiles: Media At Its Worst On Display At Virginia Tech Laer also writes about the Virginia tech killings, and focuses on the disgraceful behavior of the media Jackals grilling the local chief of police.

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