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.

Done With Mirrors, “Greatest Generation”

Callimachus muses on a topic not much mentioned: the great group of administrators and bureaucrats in America from 1940 to 1960.

The Colossus of Rhodey, “The Illegal Immigration Debate: Why You Can’t Mix Religion With Politics”

I agree with Hube this far: comparing opportunistic economic refugees to Jews in fear for their lives from the Nazis is pretty outrageous. However, I think that Hube should consider the source. Franciscan friars aren’t intellectuals, indeed, the order discourages such things. His calling is to charity and mercy and, in that light, his attitude towards immigration is fully understandable. The good brother errs in wanting to harness the coercive forces of government, which has another calling entirely, to his desired ends.

The Glittering Eye, “The Politics of Immigration”

In my submission this week, my thoughts, too, turn to immigration. I’m not nearly as concerned about it as some seem to be. I do, however, think we should tailor our preferred solutions towards accomplishing the problems we actually have. Unforeseen secondary effects and all.

Wolf Howling, “Of Islamist Foxes and British Chickens”

Welcome, GW, to the Watcher’s Council. In his first weekly submission, GW complains about Islamists in Britain. I’ll say no more about the post other than that I disagree with his diagnosis and his analysis although I agree somewhat with his prescription: “There are Muslims in the world today like Tawfiq Hamid and Zuhdi Jasser, voices in the wilderness at the moment, who are trying to evolve their faith. They need our full support. And they need to be the people who are appointed to MINAB.”

The Education Wonks, “The Teddy Bear That Blasphemed”

EdWonk comments on the case of Gillian Gibbons the well-intentioned but naive schoolteacher who got herself into hot water in the Sudan by letting her second grade class name a teddybear Mohammed. What bugs me about this story is that too many people are pointing to it as an instance of the horrors of Islam rather than the horrors of unIslamic actions posing as Islam.

Rhymes With Right, “Joe Biden: I Don’t Know Sh!t About the Constitution”

I’m not quite as hostile to Joe Biden as Greg seems to be in this post about Sen. Biden’s promise to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush were President Bush to invade Iran. He reminds me of Dr. Johnson’s comment about Lord Chesterfield: “This man I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!” Sen. Biden is undoubtedly what passes for a foreign policy expert in the Senate (and maybe even a constitutional scholar) in the Senate. The Senate has neither an IQ test nor a civics requirement.

Big Lizards, “Bored Now; Turn the Page”

Well, darn it, of course Democratic politicians will want to change the subject when the issue they’ve been drumming falls off the front page. What else would one expect? One of the reasons I opposed the invasion of Iraq was the short attention span of Americans, fully borne out by the latest polls. We’d all like it to just go away. It’s a bit early to proclaim the topic a dead issue, however. We’ll be in Iraq a long, long time.

Cheat Seeking Missiles, “FBI Rebuts CAIR Scare Tactics”

I have only one thing to add to Laer’s post on CAIR’s exaggeration of Islamophobia in the U. S. The very notion discounts George W. Bush’s single best accomplishment during his term. Following 9/11 he could very easily have stirred up anti-Muslim sentiments in the U. S. He did the precise opposite, dampening such sentiments. A great and noble
deed.

Soccer Dad, “Hard Cell”

Soccer Dad posts on the politics of stem cell research. Good title.

Bookworm Room, “Two Different Worlds”

Bookworm takes note of the fact that one’s perception of events may be frighteningly framed by the sources one chooses for news and opinion. That’s the reason I try to garner information and opinions from all sides of the political spectrum in arriving at my own views. I don’t just want to hear the echo of my own thoughts but try to give everybody a fair hearing.

Joshuapundit, “Bush Signals Iran: US Military Option Off The Table”

Freedom Fighter proposes an intriguing explanation for the release of the recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear weapons development program: that the Estimate was released deliberately released by the Bush Administration as a signal to the Iranian regime. He thinks it’s something we’ll regret.

Right Wing Nut House, “If the Huck Wins, the Right Loses”

Rick Moran isn’t happy about the prospect of Mike Huckabee, whom he sees as more rather than less like George W. Bush, rising in the national polls.

Well, I’ve decide which posts will get my vote this week. Which posts would get your votes?