The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks' Watcher's Council Results

 

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week's Watcher's Council match up.

"You can't hit what you can't see" - Hall of Famer Walter Johnson

"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" - Professor Snape, in 'Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix" by J.K. Rowling




This week's winner, The Right Planet's Defining the Enemy — Islamic Terror   is an excellent look at what happens when people, for whatever reason, are victims of what psychiatrists call 'category error', the inability to solve problems because of the difficulty in properly defining or naming them.  Here's a slice:

Fight them; Allah will torture them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the chests of a believing people. He will remove the rage from their hearts. Allah turns to anyone he wills. Allah is all-knowing, all-wise. (Qur’an 9:14).

You know, I’m getting sick and tired listening to leaders from both sides of the political spectrum try and blow sunshine up our collective posteriors when it comes to Islamic terrorism. Just as I have predicted all along, there’s not going to be any “moderate” Free Syrian Army. For all the radical leftists out there who have deluded their minds into believing Zuccotti-style democracy is going to take hold in places like Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria … well, they need to extricate themselves from the very murky, dark place in which they find themselves so firmly and perpetually ensconced.

 

Churchill’s words are about as politically incorrect as you could can get these days. That’s why the truth they contain hits hard. Islam is a theo-political movement of conquest, period. It always has been, and always will be, “until the faith of Islam ceases to be a great power among men.”

Churchill’s words are about as politically incorrect as you could can get these days. That’s why the truth they contain hits hard. Islam is a theo-political movement of conquest, period. It always has been, and always will be, “until the faith of Islam ceases to be a great power among men.”

And herein lies the problem, in my opinion: the whole notion of a “war on terror” misses the mark. What we are talking about is a “war on Islamic terrorism.” If one cannot define the enemy, then one does not know thine enemy. If one does not know thine enemy, then one cannot defeat the enemy.

I realize there are Muslims who could be described as “moderate” or “peaceful.” But, quite frankly, their silence is deafening regarding the astonishing brutality exhibited by terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, Boko Harem, al-Shabab, Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Lions of Tahwid, and plethora of like-minded Islamic terrorist groups waging “jihad against the infidel” across the globe today.

It’s not that terrorist groups like al-Qaeda et al. have hijacked the religion of Islam–quite the opposite. Islamic terrorists see themselves as true fundamentalists who are faithfully carrying out the commands Allah and his prophet–specifically, to wage war against the unbelievers–the infidels. There is no greater accomplishment, according to the Koran, than to die the death of a martyr in jihad against the infidel. When Osama Bin Laden said that Americans love life while Muslims love death, it is in reference to the Koran’s promise of paradise for the martyr.

More at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Victor Davis Hanson with  Our Truest Lies  submitted by Joshuapundit. It's a trenchant examination of what can best be called 'progressive legends and myths'. Do read it.


OK, here are this week’s full results. Both The Mellow Jihadi and Rhymes With Right were unable to vote this week, but neither was subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 2/3 votes! The Right Planet –Defining the Enemy — Islamic Terror


• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit  - This Time It's Nairobi's Turn


• Third place with 2 votes – The Razor - Ignore Iran Today - But Not Tomorrow


• Fourth place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Bookworm Room -Is Ted Cruz’'s promised Obamacare filibuster the equivalent of King Leonidas’s stand at Thermopylae?


• Fifth place with 1 vote – Liberty's Spirit-Politically correct dilettantes devoid of morality and a spine


• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Glittering Eye-Life in the Petri Dish


• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room- Parent Arrested from Common Core Meeting for Speaking Out of Turn


• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – John McCain vs Vladimir Putin: an abject failure of good intentions


• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! –‘Impotent Eric’ Cantor WILL APPROVE Obamacare Before All is Said and Done. Virginia WILL GET Cantorcare


• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Rhymes With Right –Palin Is Right On Ted Cruz Attackers


• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Political Commentator – Bernanke's successor will be caught between reality and a hard place!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Victor Davis Hanson-Our Truest Lies     submitted by Joshuapundit


• Second place  with 2  votes – Mark Steyn –Next Stop, Banana Republic   submitted by Liberty's Spirit


• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Melanie Phillips – A Devastating Truth     submitted by The Watcher


• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -The Passing Parade-Interesting times we live in, aren't they?      submitted by Simply Jews


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote  Adam Garfinkle -More Curiouser   submitted by The Razor


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes - Accuracy In Media –New York Times Exposes Marxist Mayoral Candidate    submitted by The Right Planet


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote - John Hayward/The Conversation –Peeling back the banana republic   submitted by Nice Deb


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Glenn Reynolds –Obama selfish, stubborn on health care    submitted by Bookworm Room


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -DoD Buzz – AirSea Battle Adds Substance to Concept   submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -NewsBusters –MRC Study Documents Virginia Newspapers' Viciously Negative Slant on GOP Gubernatorial Candidate    submitted by VA Right!


• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Self-Styled Siren  –The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler    submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Independent Sentinel –New York City’s Bleak Future with Bill de Blasio submitted by The Watcher


• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Mises Daily –Fear the Boom, Not the Bust submitted by The Political Commentator


• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Gates Of Vienna –On Force, Control, and Freedom  submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.....'cause we're cool like that!