Watcher's Council Nominations, 12/05/07

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, the infamous Watcher of Weasels


Do take the time and check out the non-Council links..they are always rewarding.

Council News: We have a new member this week, Wolf Howling. Aside from the fact that I love the name of the site ( reminds me of one of my all time fave singers) he has some killer content and will no doubt be a welcome edition to the Council. Check him out!



Now, here's this week's Council lineup....

1. JOSHUAPUNDIT: Bush Signals Iran: US Military Option Off The Table The new NIE on Iran took a lot of people by surprise, although it's been obvious to me that the president was leaning this way for some time. While many on the right are claiming `disinformation' or State Department perfidies, they forget that the president picked these men himself and chose to release it at this time...and it was obviously a direct message to Iran and others. I analyze why the `good news' on the report is highly unlikely, and what may have been behind the president's decision, and the likely fallout.


2. Done With Mirrors:The Greatest Generation Callimachus pays tribute to the Greatest generation in a frequently overlooked area..bureaucrats and administrators.To get a birds' eye view, I suggest a reading of General Eisenhower's `Crusade in Europe' or Manchester's `American Caesar' on Douglas MacArthur, with particular emphasis on his stewardship of Japan.

3. Soccer Dad: Hard Cell This week Soccer Dad has a great post on a distinctly unreported story - the advance in stem cell research that shows that the use of embryonic stem cells is unnecessary. He recalls the hoo hah over the issue during the `04 campaign, and Presidetn Bush's stand on the issue, for which he was roundly vilified.

4. The Glittering Eye: The Politics of Immigration Dave looks at the immigration issue an dhas some modest proposals. I would quibble with his take on it in a number of aspects. First of all, we are not speaking of `immigrants' but illegal aliens. That's an important distinction. And the earlier wave he sites was much less of a percentage than the flood from Mexico and points south, there were massive incentives for immigrants to learn English and assimilate that aren't being used today, and most importantly, there's a national security aspect that exists today that didn't exist when most immigration was controlled. I'm hardly anti-immigrant, but the illegal alien issue is is not something that will gradually `evolve' into a manageable problem without effective action.

5. Bookworm Room: Two Different Worlds Ah, the Red and Blue divide... Ms. Bookworm looks at it from the inside and relates how she copes, and also has some interesting things to say about how where we get our information effects our perception.

6. Rhymes With Right:Joe Biden: I Don't Know Sh!t about the Constitution Greg has a fair amount of disdain for Senator and presidential wanna-be Joe Biden and points out, quite correctly, that he doesn't know beans about the Constitution or its separation of powers...

7.Colossus of Rhodey:The Illegal Immigration Debate: Why You Can't Mix Religion With Politics Hube also looks at the illegal alien problem ( why do people refer to them as `immigrants'?) and takes to task a Franciscan priest who odiously compared them with Rosa Parks and Anne Frank.
As Hube points out, Rosa Parks was a legal citizen. And given the response of a significant number of Catholics during the Holocaust, particularly in Eastern Europe, Germany and France, I don't think a Catholic priest bringing up Anne Frank is exactly wise, aside from the fact that she and her family were hiding from genocidal murderers and not illegal aliens.

8. Cheat Seeking Missiles:FBI Rebuts CAIR Scare Tactics Here, Laer writes a fine post on the FBI 's debunking of CAIR's whining about `Islamophobia'. It seems that the numbers show that the minnions at CAIR are wildly exaggerating the number of incidents involving attacks on Muslims, just as they wildly exaggerated the number of Muslims living in America.

9. The Education Wonks:The Teddy Bear That Blasphemed EdWonk's piece this week concerns Gillian Gibbons who was jailed and threatened with lashes and execution by the practitioners of the Religion of Peace for letting her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear `muhammed'.

10. Right Wing Nuthouse: If The Huck Wins, The Right Loses Rick has a number of things to say about Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who reminds me of no one so much as Jimmy Carter in his approach in a number of areas.

11. Big Lizards: Bored Now - Turn The Page Dafydd uses John Murtha's mea culpa over the Iraq as a springboard for a piece on how the Democrats are now trying to feverishly distance themselves from Iraq as a campaign issue. If President Bush cares to, now would be the time to relentlessly and forcibly hammer the Dems to do the right thing and stop obstructing the funding for our troops in harm's way...but I digress.

12. Wolf Howling: Of Islamist Foxes, British Chickens For Wolf Howling's debut, he has a fine post of the utter dhimmitude of Britain's Labour government in the face of Islamism at home, and an examination of the recent decision to put some Islamist foxes in charge of Britain's Muslim hen house,hence the title.

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