Council Winners
The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are up, and it's a fine selection, headed by in-council winner Our Liberties Are Our Liberties, Even if, and Especially if, That Pisses Mohammed Off by New Sisyphus. Second place went to Guess What, Professor Cole? by Dr. Sanity. It's a piece that really resonated with me; where I work, the Bush-haters were beside themselves with cynical elation over the Hamas victory in Palestine. For no other reason, I suppose, than that it was an embarrassment to the President, but what does that say about you? Sanity catches the supposed friend of the Palestinians, Juan Cole, at the same act.
Hell, even the BDS-ridden Paul Krugman wrote a sane column recently explaining that this is what you're going to get when you go right from secular dictatorship to free elections in the Muslim world, and it's the painful but necessary first step out of the swamp -- provided other things are done right, too.
Third place went to "Flight 93" -- Live-Blogged as Far as I Can Go by The Sundries Shack. You wouldn't think that reading the notes of someone watching a TV show would be at all gripping, but I was hooked by this one.
The non-council winner was A Mind Is a Difficult Thing To Change -- Part 6 B (After 9/11: War Is Interested In You) by my friend Neo-Neocon. Hooray! I know I nominated this one (but others may have, too). It's the Recognition Scene moment in her continuing series on her personal-political saga.
Second place went to Not Joel Stein's Kind Of Men by
Villainous Company; a blistering fisk-job on the already well-roasted newspaper columnist who said he finds it hypocritical to say you support the troops but oppose the war. As Dean Esmay and many others point out, this is not only a sensible position, it's what a lot of people who support the war have been saying, too. Stein just happens to follow that path in the opposite direction from Dean, et al. They salute him for his frankness, then rip him for his position.
Finishing third in a strong field was Surveillance and the Eyes of Al Qaeda, by another friend, American Future. I nominated this one, too; it's yet another of the tours de force from Marc, who is spoiling us by the consistent thoroughness of his posts. He recently lamented that he has so few commenters at his site, but the answer came back from many that his posts are so airtight there's really no need to add anything to them.
Hell, even the BDS-ridden Paul Krugman wrote a sane column recently explaining that this is what you're going to get when you go right from secular dictatorship to free elections in the Muslim world, and it's the painful but necessary first step out of the swamp -- provided other things are done right, too.
Third place went to "Flight 93" -- Live-Blogged as Far as I Can Go by The Sundries Shack. You wouldn't think that reading the notes of someone watching a TV show would be at all gripping, but I was hooked by this one.
The non-council winner was A Mind Is a Difficult Thing To Change -- Part 6 B (After 9/11: War Is Interested In You) by my friend Neo-Neocon. Hooray! I know I nominated this one (but others may have, too). It's the Recognition Scene moment in her continuing series on her personal-political saga.
Second place went to Not Joel Stein's Kind Of Men by
Villainous Company; a blistering fisk-job on the already well-roasted newspaper columnist who said he finds it hypocritical to say you support the troops but oppose the war. As Dean Esmay and many others point out, this is not only a sensible position, it's what a lot of people who support the war have been saying, too. Stein just happens to follow that path in the opposite direction from Dean, et al. They salute him for his frankness, then rip him for his position.
Finishing third in a strong field was Surveillance and the Eyes of Al Qaeda, by another friend, American Future. I nominated this one, too; it's yet another of the tours de force from Marc, who is spoiling us by the consistent thoroughness of his posts. He recently lamented that he has so few commenters at his site, but the answer came back from many that his posts are so airtight there's really no need to add anything to them.
