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 Colossus of Rhodey, “The Never-ending U.D. Thought-control Saga”

Hube continues to cover the bargain counter Stalinists at the University of Delaware.

Done With Mirrors, “Carnage”

Callimachus comments on the ongoing struggle against the Iraqi insurgency.

The Glittering Eye, “The Visual Imagery Society”

My submission this week is a speculation on the unforeseen consequences of our increasing reliance on visual imagery for communicating information.

The Education Wonks, “Today’s Non Sequitur: San Fran’s Bohemian Intolerance”

EdWonk comments on the war against fireplaces in San Francisco. Something those concerned about fireplaces should consider: wood is a renewable resource and air pollution in the Northeastern United States has gone down as the burning of wood there has increased. If there really is a problem, they might consider emission standards as a solution rather than an outright ban.

Soccer Dad, “Legacy of Legacies”

Soccer Dad notes the repeating pattern of U. S. administrations in their waning days turning to solving the problem of the Israelis and Palestinians, presumably in search of a legacy. I can’t help but think that it’s related to the undeterrable optimism of politicians in the U. S. They just can’t take “No” for an answer.

Bookworm Room, “The Gap Between Critics and the Rest of Us”

Bookworm comments on the disparity between what the movie-going public likes and what movie critics like, a subject I’ve touched on here from time to time. The special target of her ire is the crop of anti-war pictures that have come out and flopped this year. There are lots of reasons for the disparity—critics watch too many movies and hold onto their jobs too long to watch movies the way the rest of us do. And there’s an intrinsic conflict between the reviewer’s role as a recommender of movies and the role most of them seem to want, that of defining what a good movie is.

Rhymes With Right, “Arabs Coming To Annapolis”

It’s pretty clear that Greg isn’t too happy with the conference going on at Annapolis. He sees a mad grab for a legacy in it, too.

Big Lizards, “”Apt Natural — I Have a Gub””

Dafydd ab Hugh’s submission this week is one on states, individuals, and the second amendment to the constitution which I found quite thoughtprovoking. To it I’d like to add that over the last 200 years there has been something of a trend to impute rights to things other than individuals e.g. states, corporations and for branches of the government to arrogate to themselves powers they were clearly never intended to wield sole control over e.g. the judiciary’s assumption of the power of legal review. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution it was thought that states and individuals had this power, not just the courts.

Joshuapundit, “Dealing With Disinformation”

Freedom Fighter responds to fellow Council-member Dafydd ab Hugh’s critiques of his satirical “Land for Peace” post.

Cheat Seeking Missiles, “Still No Evidence 9/11 Nuts Rule”

Laer considers a poll that suggests that an astounding number of Americans believe conspiracy theories about the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Right Wing Nut House, “Buchanan’s New Book: “Prepare Ye for the End””

Rick Moran, pooh poohs, correctly, the conclusions of Pat Buchanan’s latest book. My suggestion to Pat would be to stick to commenting on something he knows about, namely U. S. politics, and avoid subjects he doesn’t understand, e.g. China, Russia, and Islam.

I usually don’t step out as front and center as this but did the Council submissions this week strike you as particularly whiny? They really did me. Maybe it’s my eyes and not their keyboards. I’ve decided which posts I’ll vote for. Which posts would get your votes?