Keeping an eye on the weasels of the world

Once again, the votes have been cast, the Council has spoken and the results of this week’s Watcher’s Council contest of are history.

This week’s winner was Joshuapundit for Turkish PM Erdogan Consolidates His Islamist Regime By Purging The Military, my look at what’s going on under the wire in Turkey while the West’s eyes are focused on Egypt and the Arab world…and why it may end up being much more significant. Here’s a slice:

Turkey’s 1982 constitution proclaims Turkey’s system of government as democratic, secular, and parliamentary and the country’s original Constitution makes the military the guardian of Turkey’s secular rule. The largely secular Turkish military has historically been a check on both Islamist and Leftist elements in the country.

Having finished appointing his hand picked new judges, Erdogan is using them to get rid of political opposition to him in the military and civil society, and to further consolidate the AKP’s rule and the increasing Islamization of Turkish law and society.

Our non-council winner, Gulag Bound scored with Top 5 Revolutions Backed by George Soros an examination of how busy the ex-Nazi collaborator and outlaw billionaire has been in fomenting Hope n’ Change around the world.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Joshuapundit--Turkish PM Erdogan Consolidates His Islamist Regime By Purging The Military
• Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Right Truth-Lies That Lead To War And Death
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Simply Jews – In Doubt About Multiculturalism
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –The Razor – The Real Problem With Libertarianism
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – VA Right – Ron Paul’s Drug Problem
• Third place with *t* 1 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room – Obama suffers an empathy failure when it comes to Israel
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Rhymes With Right – Odd, No Liberals Objected To Political Activity By This Judicial Spouse
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Noisy Room - Soros, the Youth, High Tech and the Fundamental Change that is Revolution
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Glittering Eye- From Memory
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – L’Etat C’est Moi

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 votes! – Gulag Bound- Top 5 Revolutions Backed by George Soros submitted byThe Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with i 2/3 votes – Ace of Spades – Thank G-d Obama Gave That Cairo Speech, Eh?submitted bySnapped Shot
• Second place *t* with i 2/3 votes – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – The Muslim Brotherhood’s Five-Year Plansubmitted byThe Watcher
• Third Place with 1 1/3 votes –Wolf Howling – http://wolfhowling.blogspot.com/2011/02/battles-that-changed-history-chip-yong.html submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Melanie Phillips -The Palestine Paper That Got Away submitted by Joshuapundit
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -USNI Blog -HH104, WWATMD… submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Zero Hedge – Jim Quinn -Guest Post: Grapes Of Wrath – 2011 submitted by The Razor
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Danger Room – Wired – ‘Armed Humanitarians’ Kill People Between Sips of Tea submitted by Right Truth
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Project Syndicate – The Poverty of Dictatorship submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Modernity Blog – Chomsky And The IHR submitted by Simply Jews

Sixth place *t* with 1/3 voteThe Best Defense – What can Ike and Lawrence of Arabia teach us about Army personnel policy? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD

• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Ray Gross/American Thinker – Sarah and the San Francisco Poster Wars submitted by The Watcher

See you next week!

2 Comments »

Ah,love and happiness…what would we do without it? Al Green understands,y’know.And so do I.

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, The Political Commentator and The Grouch took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

You can, too. Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply e-mail me a link at rmill2k@msn.com with the subject heading ‘Honorable mention’ no later than Monday 6PM PST to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Soros, the Youth, High Tech and the Fundamental Change that is Revolution
• Joshuapundit -Turkish PM Erdogan Consolidates His Islamist Regime By Purging The Military
• Simply Jews – In Doubt About Multiculturalism
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – L’Etat C’est Moi
• VA Right - Ron Paul’s Drug Problem
• Snapped Shot – A Medicine Factory, Of Course
• Bookworm Room – Obama suffers an empathy failure when it comes to Israel
• Right Truth – Lies That Lead to Wars and Death
• The Glittering Eye -From Memory
• The Colossus of Rhodey–Let’s kill some minorities, even though it makes no economic sense!
• The Razor – The Real Problem With Libertarianism
• Rhymes With Right – Odd, No Liberals Objected To Political Activity By This Judicial Spouse

Honorable Mentions

• The Grouch – Thank You FDA!
• The Political Commentator – Lambs Being Led To Slaughter Or…

Non-Council Submissions

• Gulag Bound – Top 5 Revolutions Backed by George Soros submitted by The Noisy Room
• Melanie Phillips – The Palestine Paper That Got Away submitted by Joshuapundit
• Modernity Blog – Chomsky And IHR submitted by Simply Jews
• The Best Defense – What can Ike and Lawrence of Arabia teach us about Army personnel policy? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Hot Air – Democrats plan to battle GOP to keep Planned Parenthood funding submitted by VA Right
• Ace Of Spades HQ – Thank G-d Obama Gave That Cairo Speech, Eh? submitted by Snapped Shot
• Wolf Howling – Battles That Changed History:The Battle of Chipyong-ni, Feb. 13-15, 1951 submitted by Bookworm Room
• Danger Room – Wired -‘Armed Humanitarians’ Kill People Between Sips of Tea submitted by Right Truth
• USNI Blog – HH104, WWATMD… submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Project Syndicate – The Poverty of Dictatorship submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Ray Gross/American Thinker – Sarah and the San Francisco Poster Warssubmitted by The Watcher
• Zero Hedge – Jim Quinn – Guest Post: Grapes Of Wrath – 2011 submitted by The Razor
• Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – The Muslim Brotherhood’s Five-Year Plan submitted by The Watcher
• Phyllis Chesler – The Steady Erosion of Women’s Rights in Egypt: A Photographic Story submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy!

4 Comments »

1 Comment »

The votes have been cast, the sacred runes read and the results of this week’s Watcher’s Council contest of are history.

We ended up with a tie this week in the Council category.

Joshuapundit’s Is Egypt The Next Iran? examined a number of similarities between the political climate in Egypt today and the revolution in Iran in 1979..as well as a few important differences.

In his penetrating piece A Message To The CPAC Boycotters Rhymes With Right took a penetrating look at the controversy surrounding the participation of GOPProud, a gay conservative group in the conference:

As far as this lifelong Reagan conservative is concerned, this should settle the matter of whether or not GOProud is welcome at CPAC and whether or not a boycott of CPAC by social conservatives is the proper course of action.

Ronald Reagan recognized the men and women of good will can differ on issues yet still remain friends and allies. Such differences are the basis for discussion, not excommunication from the greater conservative movement. And as I look at GOProud’s platform, i find them to fall within the mainstream of conservatism.

As per our arcane bylaws, I put on my Watcher’s hat, cast the tie breaking vote and Rhymes With Right carries off the honors this week.

Our non-council winner, Egypt’s democratic mirage written by Joshua Stacher in Foreign Affairs likewise focused on the events in Egypt and how the Mubarak regime is reacting.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 1/3 votes! – Rhymes With Right--A Message To The CPAC Boycotters
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit-Is Egypt The Next Iran?
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Hyper Puissant
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Noisy Room – Obama’s Pal George Soros And The Fall Of Egypt
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Right Truth – Irreconcilable Differences
• Fifth place with 1 vote -Bookworm Room-Defining our terms when we speak about Egypt
• Sixth place with 2/3 vote -The Razor- Lost Friendship
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Colossus of Rhodey – “Cap” movie poster
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Glittering Eye – How Much Did the Stimulus Stimulate?
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Snapped Shot – Egypt In A Nutshell
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right – Republican Victory in November Leads to Lower Unemployment – Now at 9%

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 1/3 votes! – Foreign Affairs- Egypt’s Democratic Mirage submitted bySimply Jews
• Second place with i 2/3 votes – Ann Althouse – Professor Tribe would like you to know how nonpartisan the Supreme Court Justices are … I mean, will be, when they decide the individual mandate question the way he would like. submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Third Place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –The Radio Patriot – Bill Kristol, Rich Lowry and Joe Klein Gang Up on Glenn Beck submitted by The Noisy Room
• strong> Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –Victor Davis Hanson – Clueless In Cairo submitted by The The Watcher
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 vote -Iowahawk – Stay Hungry For Learning submitted by Joshuapundit
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Atlas Shrugs -Virginia Military Institute Infiltrated by Islamic Supremacists submitted by Snapped Shot
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Commentary -Beck’s Fevered Mind submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place with 2/3 vote -Daled Amos – Dear Washington Post: The Muslim Brotherhood Is NOT Your Father’s YMCA submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote -UN-PC in the USA – Liberal “Logic” on Gunssubmitted by The Razor

See you next week!

6 Comments »

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

And yes, Sarah Palin had something instructive to say about it:

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, The Political Commentator and Boker Tov Boulder took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

You can, too. Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply e-mail me a link at rmill2k@msn.com with the subject heading ‘Honorable mention’ no later than Monday 6PM PST to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members and reaping the resulting traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• Joshuapundit -Is Egypt The Next Iran?
• The Noisy Room – Obama’s Pal George Soros and the Fall of Egypt
• Rhymes With Right – A Message To The CPAC Boycotters
• Simply Jews – Gideon Levy, the baron of deceit industry, strikes again
• VA Right - Republican Victory in November Leads to Lower Unemployment – Now at 9%
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Hyper Puissant
• Bookworm Room – Defining our terms when we speak about Egypt
• Right Truth – Irreconcilable Differences
• The Colossus of Rhodey – “Cap” movie poster
• The Glittering Eye -How Much Did the Stimulus Stimulate?
• The Razor – Lost Friendship
• Snapped Shot – Egypt In A Nutshell

Honorable Mentions

• Boker Tov Boulder – Moslem ‘Authorities’ Dug up Temple Mount “to Erase Traces of Jewish Altar”
• The Political Commentator – Financial Derivatives Explained As Only A Bartender Can!

Non-Council Submissions

• Iowahawk – Stay Hungry For Learning submitted by Joshuapundit
• The Radio Patriot – Bill Kristol, Rich Lowry and Joe Klein Gang Up on Glenn Beck submitted by The Noisy Room
• Hot Air – Unemployment rate goes to 9.0%, only 36K jobs added; Update: 504K disappears from labor forcesubmitted by Rhymes with Right
• Foreign Affairs – Egypt’s democratic mirage submitted by Simply Jews
• Red State – Hey Barack, Resign Now, and Now Means Yesterday submitted by VA Right
• Small Wars Journal – Realism, Idealism, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Islamic World submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Commentary – Beck’s Fevered Mind submitted by Bookworm Room
• Resa Laru Kirkland: War Chick -OH MY FREAKIN’ GOSH! DID GLENN BECK READ MY RESPONSE AT HIS SITE?submitted by Right Truth
• Common Sense Political Thought – Creeping Statism submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Althouse – Professor Tribe would like you to know how nonpartisan the Supreme Court Justices are … I mean, will be, when they decide the individual mandate question the way he would like.
• UN-PC in the USA – Liberal “Logic” on Guns submitted by The Razor
• Atlas Shrugs – Virginia Military Institute Infiltrated by Islamic Supremacists submitted by Snapped Shot
• Daled Amos – Dear Washington Post: The Muslim Brotherhood Is NOT Your Father’s YMCA submitted by The Watcher
• Victor Davis Hanson – Clueless In Cairo submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy!

3 Comments »

Neither rain, nor snow,nor power outages stop the Watcher’s Council! The Council has rendered its judgment and the results of the Watcher’s Council contest this week are history.

Our winner this week was Joshuapundit for Lipstick On A Pig – Whitewashing The Muslim Brotherhood. I don’t mind admitting it…over the past week, I have been appalled ( to put it mildly) by the Obama White House’s new embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood, echoed by the administration’s fanboys and fangirls on the Left who now proclaim the Brotherhood as ‘non-violent’ and ‘democratic’. So I decided to present a little history to remind my readers of who these people really are, as opposed to the revisionist version :

‘Non-violent’ and ‘democratic’ is an interesting way to describe the Muslim Brotherhood, the chief inspiration of jihadists worldwide, including its ‘Palestinian’ branch, the Islamic Resistance Movement, better known as Hamas.

While they have no compunction in using violence to advance their agenda at a time of their own choosing, their official preferred model is is to undermine a society politically and socially first. However, they have no problem with more violent jihadists, and a number of Brotherhood adherents have played a prominent role in violent jihad. Sheikh Abdul Rahman of WTC bombing fame and al-Qaeda’s Number Two Ayman Zawahiri both came out of the Ikhwan, among many others.

Our Non-Council winner by TPM was Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks: The Untold Story , a heart rending and impeccably sourced account of what happened at Mumbai and who was involved in the planning, training and execution of the attack.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! – Joshuapundit--Lipstick On A Pig – Whitewashing The Muslim Brotherhood
• Second place with 2 votes – The Razor-Accepting the Change In Egypt
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – Bookworm Room – The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Future Pyramidland
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Right Truth – You have options if government shuts down Internet
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Colossus of Rhodey- A “shut up and write” protest doesn’t quite work, but …
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Of Philanthropists and Monsters – Rockin’ the Casbah
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Law Prof Gets It Wrong On Right To Revolt
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – Egypt revolution: so this is what it’s all about…
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right – Obama Observes 30 Days of Silence on Egypt

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 1/3 votes! – TPM- Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks: The Untold Story submitted byJoshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Big Law Firm Takes Down Big Conservative Blogger submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Second Place *t* with 1 2/3 votes –Energy Tribune – Is It Really The Warmest Ever? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes –Iowahawk – B.Y.O.B. submitted by The Watcher
• Third place with 1 vote –Doug Ross – Constitutional Crisis Brewing: Administration Refuses To Submit to Subpoena Requests submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Center For Security Policy -The Muslim Brotherhood: the enemy in its own words submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -American Thinker-The Story Of The Egyptian Revolution submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Passing Parade-State Of The Union submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Cato @Liberty-Judge Vinson’s Greatest Hits submitted by VA Right
• Fifth place with 1/3 vote -The Pagan Temple – Sarah Palin Responds To Obama’s State Of The Union submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey

4 Comments »

Neither rain, nor snow,nor power outages stop the Watcher’s Council! The Council has rendered its judgment and the results of the Watcher’s Council contest this week are history.

Our winner this week was Joshuapundit for Lipstick On A Pig – Whitewashing The Muslim Brotherhood. I don’t mind admitting it…over the past week, I have been appalled ( to put it mildly) by the Obama White House’s new embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood, echoed by the administration’s fanboys and fangirls on the Left who now proclaim the Brotherhood as ‘non-violent’ and ‘democratic’. So I decided to present a little history to remind my readers of who these people really are, as opposed to the revisionist version :

‘Non-violent’ and ‘democratic’ is an interesting way to describe the Muslim Brotherhood, the chief inspiration of jihadists worldwide, including its ‘Palestinian’ branch, the Islamic Resistance Movement, better known as Hamas.

While they have no compunction in using violence to advance their agenda at a time of their own choosing, their official preferred model is is to undermine a society politically and socially first. However, they have no problem with more violent jihadists, and a number of Brotherhood adherents have played a prominent role in violent jihad. Sheikh Abdul Rahman of WTC bombing fame and al-Qaeda’s Number Two Ayman Zawahiri both came out of the Ikhwan, among many others.

Our Non-Council winner by TPM was Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks: The Untold Story , a heart rending and impeccably sourced account of what happened at Mumbai and who was involved in the planning, training and execution of the attack.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! – Joshuapundit--Lipstick On A Pig – Whitewashing The Muslim Brotherhood
• Second place with 2 votes – The Razor-Accepting the Change In Egypt
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – Bookworm Room – The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Future Pyramidland
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Right Truth – You have options if government shuts down Internet
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Colossus of Rhodey- A “shut up and write” protest doesn’t quite work, but …
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Of Philanthropists and Monsters – Rockin’ the Casbah
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Law Prof Gets It Wrong On Right To Revolt
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – Egypt revolution: so this is what it’s all about…
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right – Obama Observes 30 Days of Silence on Egypt

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 1/3 votes! – TPM- Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks: The Untold Story submitted byJoshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Big Law Firm Takes Down Big Conservative Blogger submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Second Place *t* with 1 2/3 votes –Energy Tribune – Is It Really The Warmest Ever? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes –Iowahawk – B.Y.O.B. submitted by The Watcher
• Third place with 1 vote –Doug Ross – Constitutional Crisis Brewing: Administration Refuses To Submit to Subpoena Requests submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Center For Security Policy -The Muslim Brotherhood: the enemy in its own words submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -American Thinker-The Story Of The Egyptian Revolution submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Passing Parade-State Of The Union submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Cato @Liberty-Judge Vinson’s Greatest Hits submitted by VA Right
• Fifth place with 1/3 vote -The Pagan Temple – Sarah Palin Responds To Obama’s State Of The Union submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey

Comments Off

(This video especially dedicated to those fun lovin’ Ikhwan cray-zees! نظرة على تلك الفتيات وكشفت!)

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, The Political Commentator, The Grouch, Thinking Strategically and Liberty’s Spirit took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

You can, too. Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply e-mail me a link at rmill2k@msn.com with the subject heading ‘Honorable mention’ no later than Monday 6PM PST to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Of Philanthropists and Monsters – Rockin’ the Casbah
• Simply Jews – Egypt revolution: so this is what it’s all about…
• Rhymes With Right – Law Prof Gets It Wrong On Right To Revolt
• Joshuapundit -Lipstick On A Pig – Whitewashing The Muslim Brotherhood
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Future Pyramidland
• The Razor – Accepting the Change In Egypt
• Right Truth – You have options if government shuts down Internet
• Bookworm Room – The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy
• VA Right - Obama Observes 30 Days of Silence on Egypt
• Snapped Shot – Abnormals
• The Colossus of Rhodey – A “shut up and write” protest doesn’t quite work, but …
• The Glittering Eye -The “Emotionless Man” in American Cinema

Honorable Mentions

• Liberty’s Spirit-Cultural Relativism, Political Correctness, Elitist Racism and the Death of Freedom in the Arab Middle East
• The Grouch-Beware of that Deadly Hickey!
• Thinking Strategically-Shi-lang!
• The Political Commentator – Rutgers University: Publicly funded institution or restricted country club?

Non-Council Submissions

• Center For Security Policy
  – The Muslim Brotherhood: the enemy in its own words submitted by The Noisy Room
• The Passing Parade – State Of The Union submitted by Simply Jews
• Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Big Law Firm Takes Down Big Conservative Bloggersubmitted by Rhymes with Right
• TPM – Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks: The Untold Story submitted by Joshuapundit
• Daily Gut – Pro Bowl Of Revolutions submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• The Other McCain – Massive New Protests In Egypt submitted by The Razor
• The Rubin Report -Egypt: The Turning Point, The Regime’s Plan on What To Do Next submitted by Right Truth
• Energy Tribune – Is It Really The Warmest Ever? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Doug Ross – Constitutional Crisis Brewing: Administration Refuses To Submit to Subpoena Requests submitted by The Watcher
• The Pagan Temple – Sarah Palin Responds To Obama’s State Of The Union submitted by The Colussus of Rhodey
• Cato@Liberty – Judge Vinson’s Greatest Hits submitted by VA Right
• Iowahawk – B.Y.O.B. submitted by The Watcher
• American Thinker–The Story of the Egyptian Revolution submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy!

3 Comments »

The Council has rendered its judgment and the results of the Watcher’s Council contest this week are history. We had a very tight competition this week as you can see below, a testimony to how especially good all the entries were.

Our winner this week, The Razor, took a look at an interesting problem in East Asia’s most prosperous societies that it shares with Russia and much of Western Europe – a low birth rate among the native population. Some of these Asian societies have a built in animus towards migrants settling there, and the Razor came up with a fascinating look at Japanese culture to tell us why he feels Japan Will Not Be Saved Through Immigration:

…the Tokugawa Shogunate cut off all ties to the outside world. They cut loose the Japanese outposts in East and South Asia, forcing hundreds of thousands of Japanese there to fend for themselves. They banned contact with foreigners, making it punishable by death. Any foreigner found on Japanese soil (the Portuguese outpost of Nagasaki notably excluded) was immediately executed. And any Japanese that left Japan could never return. This policy was known as “Sakoku” – isolated country. That situation lasted until 1853 when the American Commodore Perry shelled Yokohama and made the Japanese accept foreign ships at their ports. I think Perry had to shell it a couple of times before the Japanese got it through their top-knotted skulls that he was serious.

Skipping to the modern era, sakoku thinking lives on in Japan today. The Japanese aren’t comfortable with foreigners at all. There is simply no place in their culture for them. It’s difficult for us to relate to this because our nation was built by immigrants, and our national identity for better or worse has been forged in the melting pot. Not so with the Japanese. For 90% of their history they have lived isolated amongst themselves. Some Japanese try to change things, but change is impossible; I learned that the hard way in Japan. Japan beat the liberal right out of me.

Japan will never accept foreigners. It will most likely automate (Japan leads the world in robotics) and eventually fade away. Don’t get me wrong, I love the crazy racist bastards – they are unimaginably interesting to watch – but I don’t think their future is bright. It’s a shame, because they gave us anime, addicting video games, and excellent electronics – not to mention Yukio Mishima, Akira Kurosawa and Zen.

In the Non-Council category we had a tie between:

Barry Rubin’s SCOOP: Explaining How The “Palestine Papers” Story Is A Fabrication That Teaches Us The Truth – a total fisking of the wikileaks-style journalistic joke pulled off by the Guardian and al-Jazeera and Sultan Knish’s Anglophobia or Islamophobia – What’s the Real Problem? – an examination of Islamism’s death grip on Britain.

In accordance with our by-laws, I put on my Watcher’s hat and broke the tie. While both pieces were excellent, Sultan Knish’s hit a little harder and closer to the bone to me personally, so the honors this week go to Anglophobia or Islamophobia – What’s the Real Problem?

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – The Razor --Japan Will Not Be Saved Through Immigration
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes –BookwormRoom-Comparing apples and oranges — federal projects old and new
• Third place *t* with 2 votes – Joshuapundit – Handling the Dragon Better – A Few Words On The China Visit
• Third place *t* with 2 votes – Right Truth – If you don’t want your daughters Westernized…
• Fourth place with 1 2/3 votes – Simply Jews – Hamlet – A Lebanese Version
• Fifth place with 2/3 vote-The Glittering Eye- Theodore Vail’s America
• sixth place with 1/3 vote-VA Right- America: : A Nation of Losers, but We All Get a Trophy
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote-Rhymes With Right- About That Cohen Speech

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Sultan Knish- Anglophobia or Islamophobia – What’s the Real Problem? submitted byRight Truth
• Second place with 2 votes – Rubin Reports – SCOOP: Explaining How The “Palestine Papers” Story Is A Fabrication That Teaches Us The Truth submitted by Simply Jews
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – New Zeal – Obama’s Radical ‘Go To’ Man Moves To The DNC submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Muth’s Truth’s – CPAC Committing Hari Kari by Allowing Conservative Menace In? submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Zombie/Pajamas Media – Human Rights Imperialism: Leftist Satire or Moral Collapse? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place with 1 vote – Mark Steyn – Dependence Day submitted by Joshuapundit
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Pirate’s Cove – Snap! Obama Plans To Reboot On Economic Advice submitted by Snapped Shot
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Discriminations – Obama And The Left’s Single-Issue Libertarianism submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Iowahawk – CSI: Tucson submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Michelle Malkin – The Philadelphia Horror: How Mass Murder Gets A Pass submitted by The Razor
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Danger Room – U.S. Navy Chief Isn’t Sweating China’s Sea Power submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD

See you next week!

6 Comments »

Ah, he never changes, does he? No, the president hasn’t changed a bit..he still thinks everyone’s stupid except him.

Here’s a shot of penicillin, courtesy of Paul Ryan:

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, The Political Commentator and Liberty’s Spirit took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

You can, too. Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply e-mail me a link at rmill2k@msn.com with the subject heading ‘Honorable mention’ no later than Monday 6PM PST to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• Rhymes With Right – About That Cohen Speech
• Snapped Shot – Fireworks
• Joshuapundit -Handling the Dragon Better – A Few Words On The China Visit
• Simply Jews – Hamlet – a Lebanese version
• The Noisy Room – Just Seein’, Just Sayin’
• The Razor – Japan Will Not Be Saved Through Immigration
• Bookworm Room – Comparing apples and oranges — federal projects old and new
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Boring!
• Right Truth – If you don’t want your daughters Westernized…
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Vision of the Anointed in action
• VA Right - America: A Nation of Losers, but We All Get a Trophy
• The Glittering Eye -Theodore Vail’s America

Honorable Mentions

• Liberty’s Spirit-Obama, Islamists and a New Middle East
• The Political Commentator – State of the Union address: Send in the clowns

Non-Council Submissions

• Muth’s Truths – CPAC Committing Hari Kari by Allowing Conservative Menace In?submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Pirate’s Cove – Snap! Obama Plans To Reboot On Economic Advice submitted by Snapped Shot
• Mark Steyn – Dependence Day submitted by Joshuapundit
• Rubin Reports – SCOOP: Explaining How The “Palestine Papers” Story Is A Fabrication That Teaches Us The Truthsubmitted by Simply Jews
• New Zeal – Obama’s Radical ‘Go To’ Man Moves To The DNC submitted by The Noisy Room
• Michelle Malkin – The Philadelphia Horror: How Mass Murder Gets A Pass submitted by The Razor
• Zombie/Pajamas Media – Human Rights Imperialism: Leftist Satire or Moral Collapse? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Danger Room – U.S. Navy Chief Isn’t Sweating China’s Sea Power submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sultan Knish -Anglophobia or Islamophobia – What’s the Real Problem? submitted by Right Truth
• Discriminations – Obama And The Left’s Single-Issue Libertarianism submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• American Thinker – Mark Fitzgibbons – How To Make Liberal Democrats Vote for Smaller Government submitted by VA Right
• Iowahawk – CSI: Tucson submitted by The Glittering Eye
• James Taranto–Palinoia, The Destroyer submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy!

4 Comments »