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 position on the Watcher’s Council has been filled by Cheat Seeking Missiles. Welcome, Laer.

The Glittering Eye, “Greece and Mesopotamia: Origins of Greek Thought”

In my submission this week I consider the contributions of Mesopotamia to Greek thought. East vs. West is, shall we say, an enormous oversimplification.

The Colossus of Rhodey, “Student Press Rights”

Do student journalists in a high school or college environment have the same rights as other journalists? The SCOTUS has found that they don’t and Hube suggests implicitly that protestations to the contrary have a an ideological bias.

Eternity Road, “Demographics and the Medicalization of Human Existence”

There are so many good, true, and interesting observations in Francis’s post on why and how the Baby Boomers are using their political and economic clout to maintain the way of life to which they’ve become accustomed that it’s hard to summarize them. Read his post in full.

Done With Mirrors, “O Believers”

Callimachus posts a brief lament on a sad truth: that pain and misery has produced some great art.

The Education Wonks, “More Hollywood Idiocy: ‘Wristcutters: a Love Story’”

EdWonk takes note of the advertising campaign for a comedy film targeted at teens about suicide.

Cheat Seeking Missiles, “NanFran’s Cool Investments”

I can’t get as exercised about Nancy Pelosi and husband’s investment portfolio as Laer does but I agree with his conclusion:

NanFran can get all hoity-toity about environmental destruction (while she lobbies for a bigger jet!), but the fact of the matter is, unless we’re willing to go back to the Dark Ages (a fine time for global cooling), the production of greenhouse gases is indelibly tied to even the most careful investment portfolio.

However, I think there’s a larger issue here. There’s a very fine line between making your investments consistent with your political beliefs and exploiting your political influence to feather your own nest. Speaker Pelosi (not to mention former Vice President Gore) should be very, very careful.

Rhymes With Right, “Tinker Must Be Preserved”

Tinker v. Des Moines is on Greg’s mind this week, too, in his case in a commentary on the recent protests on controls on the political (and religious) messages in what students wear.

Bookworm Room, “The Scary Nihilism of the Left”

Since I don’t have the time right now to watch the video to which Bookworm links, I’ll have to take her word for it. While I agree that there are far too many these days whose objective is the overthrow of the existing order of things in the name of race or gender or “social justice”, I think that the real objective is not nothing but power. For its own sake. Unfortunately, that seems to be too true for both those on the Left and those on the Right.

I’ve said it before but I consider myself neither of the Left nor of the the Right but something of both: I’m a liberal conservative, a Whig. I think we should be predisposed to retain, understand, and refine the wisdom of the past rather than simply discarding it. I think that both ends and means are important and I’m wary of grand solutions, especially grand solutions administered from far away.

Soccer Dad, “Dollars (and Respect) for Dahlan”

Soccer Dad considers where the money being given to the Palestinians by well-meaning Westerners is going. I’d like to see a sociological or, maybe, anthropological study of this. Are those involved members of the old Palestinian aristocracy or is there a new Palestinian aristocracy exploiting the twenty dollar bill left on the kitchen table?

Big Lizards, “What the Meaning of ‘Fizz’ Is”

Dafydd ab Hugh comments on the ongoing Gonzalez/U. S. Attorneys 8 scandal. To me this continues to look like a completely political squabble, one which the president and his supporters are losing. Mark of a weak presidency.

Joshuapundit, “3 Card Monte—the Palestinian Aid Scam Continues”

Freedom Fighter, too, is commenting on aid to the Palestinians which, as he and Soccer Dad have both pointed out, has actually increased under the embargo. And the lack of oversight thereon. It’s certainly an odd world in which one spending increase is a cut and another increase an embargo.

Right Wing Nut House, “Politicizing Science”

I’m afraid that I must disagree with something implicit in my friend Rick Moran’s post. Science is a human activity and, as such, is intrinsically politicized. Politics and science are indivisible. However, where I will agree is that it’s enormously easier to make a comfortable living without producing much via rent-seeking than it is in private industry (unless you’re in the top echelons, of course, in which case all bets are off). And, as I noted above, when you leave a $20 bill on the table an walk away from it, somebody is just bound to pick it up.

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