The Council Has Spoken!

The Council has spoken!

This week's council winner was The inanity of the rest of the West by the Colossus of Rhodey. There was a tie between Colossus of Rhodey and Mere Rhetoric, but as per our arcane by-laws, The Watcher broke the tie by voting foe Hube's fine piece. Here's a sample:

On Wednesday night I caught a segment on O'Reilly's show where he interviewed a reporter from Canada about Ann Coulter's attempt to give a talk at the University of Ottawa. It was indeed interesting to listen to the differences between the concept of "freedom" -- specifically freedom of speech -- in Canada and the US. Us Yanks have to keep in mind that to our north (and over in Europe, too) there is no First Amendment-like right to free expression.

It should be stupefying to us Yanks that the provost of the University of Ottawa had threatened Ann Coulter with prosecution before she had even entered the country. As Coulter said of her trip:

This has never, ever, ever happened before — even at the stupidest American university... Since I've arrived in Canada, I've been denounced on the floor of Parliament — which, by the way, is on my bucket list — my posters have been banned, I've been accused of committing a crime in a speech that I have not yet given, I was banned by the student council. So welcome to Canada!

The Non-Council winner was The Doctor is In for In the Doldrums, a reflection by a practicing physician on the changes coming to his profession:

The doldrums.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in his epic poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner, depicts the dread of all ancient sailors: becalmed, abandoned by nature and fate, powerless to move forward and at the mercy of vast forces and spirits beyond their control.

In some measure, these have been days much like that. The past few months have been some of the most difficult of my professional career. There has been a sense of fatigue, of purposelessness, of weariness with the routine and the rush, the frustrations and failures inevitable in any life pursuit, but perhaps nowhere more so than in the practice of medicine.

It is a high calling, this profession — words which, while true, seem fatuous and hackneyed in an age marked by hard science and even harder cynicism. It is a vocation fraught with paradoxes and contradictions: compassion and cold steel; empathy and enervation; arrogance and humiliation; deep satisfaction and bone-wrenching sadness. Its rewards, while rich, seemingly come at the cost of your very life, as the slow extravasation from countless battle wounds weaken the spirit and shock the soul, sapping your strength, leaving but an empty, fractured vessel, gloriously engraved on the outside but pervious and parched within.

Here's a complete rundown of the voting tallies on our weekly competition..there's some great weekend reading here:

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 3* points! -The Colossus of Rhodey – The inanity of the rest of the West
• Second place with 2 points – Mere Rhetoric – Liberal Anti-Tea Party Outrage Overflowing With Nuance, Amnesia
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – The Provocateur – Catching Up With Chad Harris of No Insurance Club
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point – Bookworm Room – Has there ever been a more ungracious man in the White House?
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point – Joshuapundit – Obama Administration Strikes Disgraceful Plea Bargain With Mumbai Jihadi
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point - Wolf Howling - Race Cards Flying While The DNC Plays Theatre
• Fifth place with 2/3 point - American Digest – Click to Fade
• Sixth place with 1/3 point – Right Truth – This is a day that the Lord has made…

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 2 points - The Doctor is In – In the Doldrums - Submitted by American Digest
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – Stewart Baker/ The Volokh Conspiracy – Swift Justice Submitted by The Razor
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – Paul A. Rahe/Big Government – America And Israel: Tick , Tock Submitted by JoshuaPundit
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point – Max Boot / Contentions – A Lie: David Petraeus, Anti-Israel Submitted by Mere Rhetoric
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point – The BlogProf - Despite evidence to the contrary, Leonard Pitts Jr repeats lie that tea party movement is racist Submitted by Wolf Howling
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 point – The Rubin Report – Has the Obama administration, against U.S. interests, declared diplomatic war on Israel? Submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 point - Before It’s News – Why Israel Would Decisively Beat Iran Submitted by Right Truth
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 point – The Corner - Great Moments Journalism Submitted by The Provocateur
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 point – GayPatriot – Liberal Organization Calls Gay Activists Neo Nazis? Submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Sixth place with 1/3 point – Michelle Malkin - How the Left fakes the hate: A primer Submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey

Council Note: We currently have a seat open for a qualified blogger on the Council up for grabs. If you're interested, you may apply here...or e-mail me for details.

As always, congratulations not only to the winners but to the participants.

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