Watcher's Council Nominations, 12/12/07

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.


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

1. JOSHUAPUNDIT: Pearl Harbor...And 9/11 It pretty much went unnoticed, but December 7th was the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, an attack that took 2,403 lives and destroyed most of America's Pacific fleet. Sixty years after that terrible morning, there was another sneak attack on American soil. I have a few things to say about these two events,why they were handled so differently,and the lessons from the past for the future.


2. Done With Mirrors:How Kennedy Said It Callimachus looks at Mitt Romney's speech on faith, compares it with John Kennedy's famous address and makes some discerning comparisons between the two.

3. Soccer Dad: Making NIE This week Soccer Dad does a type of post he does exceedingly well...comparing different views on a given subject an dexamining them to allow the truth to pop up of almost of its own accord. This time his subject is the NIE, something that was on a number of minds within and without the Council this week. By this time, most of you know how I feel about the matter...

4. The Glittering Eye: What the NIE on Iran's Nuclear Weapons Development Doesn't Say Dave likewise looks at the NIE, and to his credit looks at the actual non-classified part of the report to draw his conclusions, as opposed to the public perception. he's correct in that it hedges its bets almost to irrelevancy. Bureaucrats, after all, have developed CYA into an art form, almost.

Unfortunately, the public perception is what's going to carry weight,(which is exactly what was intended, IMO) and it has already had quite a lot of fallout, especially in the Middle East.

5. Bookworm Room: Explaining Americans Jews' Love for Israel and America Ms. Bookworm takes something head on that's been bubbling under the surface for some time, but has been exacerbated by Jimmy Carter, the Angry Left, Mearshimer and Walt and their ilk- the dual loyalty American Jews supposedly feel towards Israel as opposed to loyalty for the US.

Of course, one would have to make the case that supporting an important American ally is somehow being disloyal to America or not in America's best interests. The Saudis have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to make that case, or at least buy adherents for it and have definitely met with a certain degree of success.

6. Rhymes With Right:Another Sign: Islam Is a Human Rights Violation Greg looks at the case of a British young woman who's under death threat for being an apostate from Islam, and draws some conclusions about the way the Qu'ran and Mohammed's recorded revelations, sayings and deeds (the Hadiths) are applied by a significant number of his followers.

For those interested, the Islamic notion is that we are all Muslims at birth regardless of our religion and that Islam's mission is to get the entire non-Islamic world ( dar harb, literally `the place of war') to embrace dar-Islam, Muslim practices and rule. This gives rise to a certain confusion, since many people misunderstand that when many Muslims talk about peace, they actually mean dar-Islam.

Once one has recited the shehada and accepted Islam, attempting to leave the religion is considered a capital offense, according to both the Qu'ran and sharia. And while not all Muslims feel this way, the fact that many accept this is indeed cause for concern.

7.Colossus of Rhodey:U.S. "Stingy" on Foreign Aid Hube looks at a TIME magazine piece quoting no less than ex-UN oil-for-food scamster Kofi Annan that purports to judge what would constitute a fair amount of US aid. Since part of the raison-de-etre of that aid is to make friends and influence people, I suggest that some curtailments might be in order...starting with the UN.

8. Cheat Seeking Missiles:Burying A Hate Crime Here, Laer writes a post about the hidden side of the recent Colorado church shootings, and highlights an obvious fact that was glossed over, that the shooter hated Christians. he's quite correct IMO that had it been a mosque or a synogogue and their were similar motivations, it would have been the entire focus of the media blitz.

I would also add, thank G-d for the bravery of one woman who prevented a great many deaths in this incident.

9. The Education Wonks: Babies Having Babies: Now a Generational Problem Edwonk looks at the effects of teen pregnancy and draws some obvious conclusions. And as an educator, he rightly deplores the schools being expected to deal with the resulting mess..

10. Right Wing Nuthouse: Release of Iran NIE a Remarkable Testament to American Exceptionalism Rick makes the case that the recent NIE report is a tribute to America's openness and freedom, that such a thing could be released at all. In my view, that public release was deliberate and designed as part of a foreign policy gambit, but I digress...

11. Big Lizards: Hoodwinkers and Their Codependents: In Search of Intelligent Intelligence on Iran Dafydd's take on the NIE focuses on an item I examined here on site, the views of British intelligence that the CIA had been `hoodwinked' and subjected to Iranian disinformation.

12. Wolf Howling: A Deeply Flawed NIE Changes Nothing & Everything Wolf Howling likewise looks at the NIE, and does a fine job of eviscerating it. I particularly liked the line about how the last line in the report should read "and they all lived happily ever after"!

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