Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Watcher's Council Nominations, 9/17/08




Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.

A full list of entries, including the non-Council ones can be found here.

Council News: There’s a spot available on the Watcher’s Council. If you have a blog of your own and feel you measure up, you're welcome to find out what's involved and apply here. Or you can leave a comment in the comments section on this post.

So, let's see what we have this week...

Joshuapundit - Obama’s Connection With The Nation Of Islam - Barack Hussein Obama has a long standing connection with the Nation Of Islam, with American Islamists and with the Saudis. That alone ought to disqualify him in most American's minds for the presidency.The pieces fit together in a quite interesting way....

Cheat-Seeking Missiles - Lipstick Not Only Pig-Hockey Mom Difference - This week, Laer takes on some typically biased coverage from that adjunct of the Obama campaign, the New York Times and examines their snippy critique of Sarah Palin's pipeline accomplishment in terms of the real world. He also includes a story on genetic differences between hockey moms an d pigs he claims appeared in the same paper, which I hope is satire - although I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out it was the real deal.

Bookworm Room - False Syllogisms - This week, Ms. Bookworm has an interesting post on the fallacy of false syllogisms and their effect- the imputing of the qualities of one experience or event to all similar ones.As one example, this is the equivalent of assuming that since your very first ever date was absolutely awful, all dates will be awful and therefore best avoided.

Wolf Howling - McCain, Fannie, Freddie & Obamafuscation -GW does his usual job of exhaustive research and detail to write about the relationship of the two presidential candidates to the current financial kerfuffle...and Obama's hypocritical attempt to use this as a club to beat McCain with.

Soccer Dad - Osama didn’t bark. Why not? -ala' Sherlock Holmes, Soccer Dad finds the fact that the dog didn't bark in the middle of the night most interesting, and draws some solid conclusions about the demise of al-Qaeda.

One quibble, SD..I think it's important to realize that while al Qaeda has suffered significant defeats the ideology they're part of is still going strong, and it's vital we don't confuse a defeat of one of its armies with a defeat of the jihad against the West as a whole.or will we defeat that jihad until we confront, forcibly or otherwise the countries that harbor, finance and help export jihad to the West.

As for al-Qaeda itself, they've been able to regroup in safe havens in Pakistan, affiliates like Abu Sayef and Jemaiah Islamiyah are still going strong, and I also recall that the first year of both the Clinton and Bush administrations was marked by a substantial challenge in the form of a major terrorist attack. We may not have heard the last of them...or their adherents.

Rhymes With Right - Hurricane Ike — The Pissed Off Post -Poor Greg..he ought to get the honors this week just for posting, given the frustrating conditions he's dealing with. A look at the travails of Hurrican Ike from the inside. Here's hoping it all comes out OK in the end, bro.

The Glittering Eye - The Anniversary - Dave deplores what he sees as the politicization of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by both the Left and the Right, particularly in the blogosphere.

The Razor - There Must Be Blood -Scott wants the CEOs of Wall Street companies responsible for the current financial mess to go into the tumbrels and face the music. I sympathize, Scott, but it's unlikely in an election year - just as it's unlikely that the Federal government would stand by and watch homeowners who either spent their equity or who bought properties
on speculation with little or no down get tossed out of their homes.

The Colossus of Rhodey - The Latest — and Lamest — Charge of Racism - Hube looks at a drive to get non-citizens to vote in New York City, and the charge that racism is at the bottom of people's reluctance to allow it.

Education Wonk - U.S. City Celebrates Mexican Independence Day -EdWonk looks at the city of El Centro, California, which apparently has money to burn celebrating the independence of another sovereign nation. And, as EdWonk points out, this city doesn't have a Fourth of July celebration.













1 comment:

Soccer Dad said...

I can buy that. I don't think I was arguing that Al Qaeda was defeated like the Terminator was when Sarah Connor turned on that hydraulic press. I do think that it is on the run in many places.

And also its ability to be an immediate threat to the United States has been significantly reduced.

That's not to say that it can't reconstitute. But it will take some effort to do so.

I'm not saying that the U.S. has done everything right, but it has, for now, done enough right. We must maintain our vigilance, which is why the election is so important.

BTW, a friend once asked me if I identified more with Holmes or with Watson. I'm more of a Watson guy. I'm not a bad follower but I don't think so well outside of the box.