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.
Done With Mirrors, “Bullshit!”
Callimachus responds to the assertion that the words “God” and “Allah” should be taken to mean the same thing. That reminds me of one of my favorite jokes. An American got off the plane in Shannon International Airport and on the wall spied two clocks, one reading 11:00am, the other reading 11:10am. He turned to one of the Irishmen working in the airport and asked “Why do the two clocks on the wall show different times?” The Irishman responded, “Now what would be the p’int of having two clocks if they both showed the same time?”
The Glittering Eye, “The Candidates on the Economy: Taxes”
My submission this week is the part of my series on the candidates’ positions on the economy dealing with tax policy.
Hillbilly White Trash, “Does America Need a New Enemy? One Brit Thinks So…”
Lemuel Calhoon fisks a piece by a chap named John Laughland from The Brussels Journal in which the author seems to long for the rise of a power to challenge the United States. I must say I’m in substantial agreement with Lemuel on this one and can only point out the Will Rogers’s observation probably applies to Mr. Laughland: he don’t know nothin’ but what he reads in the newspaper.
Soccer Dad, “Painting?”
Soccer Dad puts in his two cents on “Bittergate”, Barack Obama’s imprudent statement of his real beliefs about small-town folks. I agree with Soccer Dad in that, contrary to what the Democratic leadership intelligentsia seems to think about the last election, the reason that John Kerry lost was that he was a lousy candidate. Not how he was painted. Just a lousy candidate. Democrats must reform their primary system. It’s producing losing candidates and may well this time around.
Bookworm Room, “The MSM — Mis-educating the Masses”
Bookworm takes note of the fact that whether it’s the echo chamber or wllful ignorance or the vast amount of information that must be sifted through or who knows what all, contra Pat Moynihan, everybody now has his own facts.
The Colossus of Rhodey, “Further Proof That the Western P.C. Left Is Akin to the Societies They Admire”
What do you get when you abandon the Enlightenment, rules of logic, and the “golden thread that runs through British law”? As Hube points out, you get the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Cheat Seeking Missiles, “Warmie Psychic: Global Headache Coming!”
I’m not as dismissive of global warming as Laer seems to be but the article he quotes does seem to omit one teeny, tiny, little fact: much of the increase in carbon emissions since 2000 is due to a single country—China. I’m certainly open to suggestions as to how we might curb Chinese production of carbon dioxide (not to mention sulfur dioxide and methane). To insist that, say, the United States take the bulk of the steps to reduce carbon emissions is to place the reins of our economic policy (and, possibly, the fate of the species) in the hands of the leadership in Beijing.
Joshuapundit, “Bedtime For Bonzo? The Clinton Eclipse”
Freedom Fighter is not saddened by the flagging fortunes of the Clinton campaign.
The Education Wonks, “Censorchimps: The Mandarin Subspecies”
EdWonk reports another critique of the Beijing regime’s receiving yet another draconian sentence and launches into a tirade again the regime with which I substantially agree. I think our policy with respect to China should be one of strict reciprocity but, unfortunately, too many, including highly place politicians, have their hands in the Chinese cookie jar for that every to happen.
Wolf Howling, “The Next Moves In An Existential Chess Match”
I can’t quite make out whether GW is advocating the use of force against Iran in his post on the recent moves of Iran. I’ve been pretty clear here in my position: I think that, short of an exterminatory attack, we can’t accomplish anything that we want with such an attack and we’ll almost certainly accomplish a lot that we don’t want with one. It certainly looks as though we’ve gotten about as much in the way of sanctions against Iran out of the UN Security Council as we can expect to get. What we’re doing isn’t working. What’s left is negotiating and being willing to give something the Iranian regime really wants.
Rhymes With Right, “Wright’s Eulogy For Black Fascist Parishioner”
I think that Greg is a bit harsh in his statements about the late R. Eugene Pincham. De mortuis… etc.
Right Wing Nut House, “Elitism and the Elitist Elites Who Think They’re the Elite”
Rick Moran wonders if today’s progressives are the intellectual descendants of the Founding Fathers. My own feelings about the self-proclaimed elite is that I’m as elite as any of them (probably more so) but I don’t have the sense of entitlement.
Well, I’ve decided which posts I’ll vote for this week. Which posts would get your votes?
Hello Dave:
A point of clarification. Yes, as I state in the concluding paragraphs of my post, I am advocating the use of force against Qods force command and control set up inside of Iran, as well as the known traiing bases for the special groups. Our soldiers are being killed by Iranians. I am a former soldier and have one child in the military awaiting deployment to Iraq, the other soon to be inducted. Allowing this situation to continue is simply not an option. Such an act would be one of self defense and not be aimed at their nuclear assets. One does not stop an opposing combatant by allowing them a free base for which to launch attacks, nor by playing defense.
I laid out in my piece all of the mayhem in which Iran is directly involved – and believe me, that was a very truncated list. The goals of the theocracy are completely clear from their 30 years of actions. They wish to spread their revolution as far as they can and they wish to dominate the Middle East. To these ends, they have regularly turned to murder, mayhem, kidnapping and large scale hostilities irrespective of the human cost – except when their own skins are threatened. Wherever you find their footprint, you also find they have imposed their medieval Shia variant of radical fundamentalism. The only real difference between al Qaeda and the velyat-al-faqi of Iran is that the latter is part of the government of a nation-state. I have Persian relatives who spilled blood fighting with the MEK against Khomeini’s theocracy and college classmates and friends who were executed when they returned to Iran following the 1979 revolution, so my knowledge of the regime and its truly evil bent is garnered from more than just the MSM.
I would be curious what you think that we could give to Iran that would change them one iota? Indeed, the perils of negotiating with Iran seem very much parallel to Britain’s negotiations with Hitler. Had Britain listened to Churchill instead of Chamberlin in the 30’s and challenged Hitler rather than placating him, the number of lives saved in the end would have reached into the tens of millions. A nuclear armed Iran poses an even greater danger than Hitler. Allowing it to fully develop and hope that the regime moderates is a course of action that can only be followed if one ignores the history of the theocracy and, for that matter, the history of the world in the 20th century.
I would love to debate this one with you.
At any rate, just tossing in my two cents. And by the way, I was curious, do you walk all three hounds at once, and if so, do you have a special lead? Walking my three dogs at once has proven ridiculously difficult, but it seems that you have mastered the art from the comment you left on the anti-library post. I would be curious to hear more.
It’s gotta be Moran- great title.
Dogs first. I’ve occasionally walked three at once. It’s a good trick. I strongly recommend a skijoring belt for the purpose.
I don’t dispute for a moment that we have a casus belli against Iran. I also don’t dispute for a moment the vileness of the regime. I believe that Carter erred in not responding forcefully to the taking of our embassy. Heartless of me to say it but standing up for the fundamental principle of international law pertaining to embassies was more important than the lives of the hostages. We wouldn’t be in the fix now if he had.
I, too, have college classmates who were executed after the revolution.
I believe that any U. S. attack on Iran will result in a rally-round response for the regime, strengthening it rather than weakening it. Consequently, there are no half-measures. It’s regime replacement or nothing.
That’s politically impossible here right now.
Consequently, we’re left with negotiating. Basically, security assurances. Acknowledging the legitimacy of their interests in the region. Maybe aid.