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, “They Don’t Understand the Incentives (Updated)”

Spurred by Virginia Senator John Warner’s comments, I ponder suiting the means to the ends in Iraq, specifically, I don’t see how politicians who don’t understand political realities in Iraq can make sensible recommendations for political progress there.

Done With Mirrors, “What Do You Think?”

Callimachus wonders if today’s “anti-imperialists” aren’t really anti-militarists.

The Colossus of Rhodey, “’Sanctuary’ Cities”

Hube considers whether declaring Newark a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants might not have had something to do with the murder of three college students there recently.

‘Okie’ on the Lam, “Victor Davis Hanson—Why We Must Study War”

‘Okie’ expands on a Victor Davis Hanson article on the value of studying military history.

Cheat Seeking Missiles, “Lotsa Dead Terrorists!”

Laer posts on the post-Viet Nam abandoning of the body count metric and delves into metrics for progress in Iraq. Honestly, I’ve had it with metrics. As I noted above, means must be suited to ends. So, what are our objectives?

Soccer Dad, “Separate But Unequal”

Soccer Dad compares and contrasts Khalil Gibran International Academy with Ben Gamla Charter School. The former is an Arabic curriculum charter school in Brooklyn; the latter a Hebrew and Jewish studies charter school in Florida. As long as I can recall there have been Japanese and Hebrew schools. They’ve been completely supported by tuitions and donations by their respective communities, I have no problem with that, and think it should continue. Since the public schools became consciousness-raising centers nearly 40 years ago for things other than traditional U. S. culture and values, I haven’t believed that publicly-funded charter schools for anything other than sciences, performing arts, or, maybe, classical studies, should be allowed to exist, especially not for interest group studies and I don’t much care what the interest group is. The interest groups should fund their own damned schools.

Bookworm Room, “The New Conspiracy Theorists”

Bookworm reminisces (if that’s the right word for it) about her teenage encounters with then-teenaged Naomi Wolf and finds that Ms. Wolf hasn’t changed a great deal over the years. Was it Georges Clemenceau who said “Any man who is not a socialist at age 20 has no heart; any man who is still a socialist at age 40 has no head”? Child-like inoocence and naivete is charming. In children.

Rhymes With Right, “Local Blogger, Democrat Leader, Urges Jasper-Style Truck-Drag of Jewish Republican”

If you’ve been reading my work for any length of time, you may have noticed that civility in discourse, demeanor, and thought is a topic to which I return frequently. I don’t think it’s a nicety. Civility consists in the virtues necessary for people to live together in a city. Moderation is the necessary virtue for democracy: it enables us to agree. I agree with Greg that the exhortations of a blogger and Democratic activists are simply beyond the pale.

Joshuapundit, “Iraq As Vietnam… Or Vice Versa”

Freedom Fighter considers the similarities between Iraq and Viet Nam, following George W. Bush’s invocation of last week. As I’ve written before I think there are stunning similarities between GWB and LBJ. The press looked down their noses at LBJ but I think that if they’d savaged him the way they have George Bush he’d have gotten even. It was a different age.

The Education Wonks, “Washington Watch: Another Hypocrite Exposed”

EdWonk considers the case of Idaho Senator Larry Craig, recently arrested for “disorderly conduct”, and comes down against Craig. I don’t know and, honestly, I don’t care.

Big Lizards, “NYT: Analogies Are Meaningless (Unless They Favor the Left)”

Dafydd ab Hugh, too, is posting about George W. Bush’s invocation of Viet Nam.

Right Wing Nut House, “Jesus, Lord! Are They All Hypocritical Bastards?”

Why, yes, Rick. They are all hypocritical bastards. Otherwise they’d never had been elected to higher office.

Well, I’ve decided which posts I’ll vote for this week. Which posts would get your votes?