Eye on the Watcher’s Council

As you may know the members of the Watcher’s Council each nominate one of his or her own posts and one non-Council post for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week’s Council nominations is here.

The Glittering Eye, “What To Do When a Dog Is Lost”

In my submission for this week I recounted the story of Mira’s disappearance from our yard, how we got her back, and provided a few tips for other people who might find themselves in this situation. I struggled over which of my posts to nominate this week. This post arguably wasn’t my best post of the week but it was the most heart-felt.

Soccer Dad, “A Loaf of Bread, a Toga, and No Go”

Soccer Dad critiques a Washington Post editorial which in turn critiques a Bush foreign policy that divides the Middle East between extremists and moderates. Perhaps a better characterization would have been that countries in the Middle East are divided between bad and worse (at least from our point of view).

Soccer Dad’s post does bring up something I’ve been mulling over for some time. Does the Bush Middle East foreign policy which for good or ill includes the invasion of Iraq constitute a departure from previous U. S. policy or the evolution of that policy. I’ve argued from time to time that it’s a development of previous policy in the light of more recent developments. Evidence of that: I recall an interview with Bill Clinton back in 2004 in which he said that, if he’d been in Bush’s shoes in 2003, he’d probably have invaded Iraq, too.

If stability in the Middle East is an objective it seems to me that in the short term there are only a couple of ways of achieving that end. Either it’s going to be imposed from outside or it’s going to be produced by the major powers in the region. The U. S. is the only candidate for the first approach that’s presenting itself (and it’s becoming increasingly clear that the U. S. is getting cold feet). And, absent Iraq, the region’s major powers are Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Eternity Road, “On the Abuse of Religion in Politics”

Francis’s submission this week is a really wonderful post on the abortion issue, religion, politics and l’affaire d’Edwards/Marcotte/McEwan.

American Future, “The Blogosphere and American Politics”

Marc, too, comments on the bloggers who were first hired by the Edwards campaign and now have, er, resigned, predicting that the triviality and dirtiness of politics will snowball. He’s probably right.

The Colossus of Rhodey, “More Thoughts on ‘Articulate’”

I think that Hube is right, too, in his criticism of Barack Obama’s being characterized so often as “articulate”. It rather reminds me of Johnson’s comment about women preaching being like a dog walking on its hind legs: it’s not done well but one is surprised that it’s done at all. Condescending, no?

Hube has further observations on Ebonics and Afro-centrism being taught in the schools that are worth reading.

Bookworm Room, “San Francisco Has Bigger Scandals Than a Debauched Mayor”

Bookworm notes a couple of San Francisco stories other than San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s affair with his campaign manager’s wife: the assault of Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel in a San Francisco hotel by a Holocaust-denying nutcase and the increasing radicalization of San Francisco State University, my wife’s alma mater.

Done With Mirrors, “What a Tangled Web”

Callimachus looks at the tension between equality and multi-culturalism, using an situation in the Netherlands as a point of departure.

Rhymes With Right, “Televise Supreme Court”

I agree with Greg that Supreme Court oral arguments should be televised. Even the imperial Court has no right, IMO, to conduct the public’s business out of sight of the public.

The Education Wonks, “Was This Teacher ‘Framed’ By a Computer Run Amok?”

I’ve run into the problem of runaway pornographic pop-ups appearing on seemingly innocuous websites myself so I can definitely sympathize with the substitute teacher in the case that EdWonk reports here.

Joshuapundit, “Squeeze Play: How the Palestinian Summit in Mecca Overturned Bush’s Middle East Policy”

Freedom Fighter is highly critical of the agreements reached at the Palestinian summit held in Mecca. A lot of what he points to seems very troubling to me, too. I don’t know that I’m quite as critical of the Saudis as he is: as I noted above somebody has to exert themselves for stability in the region and there aren’t too many candidates presenting themselves.

The Sundries Shack, “At Least He Speaks the Truth”

Jimmie Bise is also highly critical but this time it’s of Newsweek’s Evan Thomas who recently said that it was a journalist’s job to bash the president. We’ve seen a number of these gaffes lately cf. Barack Obama. You know the definition of “gaffe”, don’t you? It’s accidentally telling the truth.

Right Wing Nut House, “Obama and the Assassination Factor”

Repeat after me, everybody: B-A-R-A-C-K. Barack.

Rick considers whether Barack Obama’s race makes him a target for assassination. Well, there are certainly a few nutcases out there and he has greater prominence now that’s he’s seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency than he did as a senator but the country is enormously different than it was, say, 40 years ago. I honestly don’t believe he’s nearly the target he would have been 30 or 40 years ago. Were there genuine assassination attempts against Jesse Jackson?

Either I’m loosing my edge or the Council members are: I agreed with nearly everything everybody wrote this week. Well, I’ve decided which posts I’ll vote for. Which posts would get your vote?