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. Here’s what the Council members nominated this week.

The Glittering Eye, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like…Korea”

In my submission for this week I commented on the proposal from William Perry and Ashton Carter that the U. S. make preventive war against North Korea.

Dr. Sanity, “Sanction of the Victim”

Pat Santy comments on self-destructive shame, the cult of victimhood, and the “sanction of the victim”.

Joshuapundit, “Wanted for
Murder”

Freedom Fighter notes the danger in the New York Time’s revelation of the monitoring of international banking transactions for detecting terrorist financing by the U. S. Treasury Department.

Done With Mirrors, “Summer Rerun”

Callimachus joins themes of the Olympics, individualism, religion, and politics to comment on the conflict between the West and Islamism.

Right Wing Nut House, “’What I Did On My Summer Vacation’ by Bill Keller”

Rick Moran comments on the NYT/SWIFT monitoring story in the form of a letter home from summer camp from NYT executive editor Bill Keller.

ShrinkWrapped, “The Dance of Escalation and Reaction”

ShrinkWrapped discusses the story that caught my eye this morning—the rising tensions in Gaza and suggests the inevitability of escalation in the conflict there.

New World Man, “Except”

Matt Barr comments on the other story that caught my eye this morning—the failure of the flag-desecration amendment and points out that we’ve never acted to amend one of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

The Education Wonks, “The Darwin Award in Education: Ben Clevenger”

EdWonk reports on a case of failure of chaperonage by a high school teacher during a European trip by a group of students. I wonder why he thought he was there?

The Strata-Sphere, “How Exposure Destroys National Security”

AJ Strata critiques expert testimony in another national security case, this one involving the Electronic Freedom Foundation and ATT.

Rhymes With Right, “Troops Charged—A Proper Decision”

Greg notes the essential justice of our system: we prosecute soldiers who violate the laws of war, in this case one of murder of Iraqis by our soldiers in Iraq. Tragically, the harm done by their crimes cannot be undone, many people in Iraq have a pre-Islamic mentality and believe in vengeance rather than justice and, consequently, won’t be satisfied at any sentence unless the men are put to death.

The Sundries Shack, “Answering a Dumb Question”

Jimmie Bise critiques an article from Dan Froomkin in defense of the NYT’s revelations of the surveillance of SWIFT transactions.

Gates of Vienna, “American Protestant Pogroms”

Dymphna’s submission is a lengthy, complex post on the manifest anti-semitism of some Protestant denominations in the United States these days.

We’ve got a very fine collection of council submissions this week. I’m a little surprise at the degree to which the NYT/SWIFT story struck a nerve in the Council. Perhaps Bill Keller’s letter poured fuel on the fire.

I’ve made up my mind. Which council selection would get your vote?