Your friends at Watcher of Weasels would like to extend a Happy Easter to you and yours!!

Hello Weasel Watchers! A mixed post by me, Terry Trippany, your old watcher! As of today I pass the baton off to council member Soccer Dad who will take over my duties as The Watcher.

While this is a sad event for me it will certainly be exciting times for the Watcher’s Council.  Soccer Dad will become the third Watcher for a site that has been on line for at least 6 glorious years.

We have come a long way in that time. The earliest record of the Council dates back to August 27, 2004, where the Way Back machine archives the original site.

Here is how it looked back then:

I will continue to work with the Council as “The Watcher Emeritus”. My role will be a technical role. A role that builds on my strengths and works better with my schedule. Time willing I will return with more regularity to Newsbusters.

Please give Soccer Dad a warm welcome. David will continue the great tradition of the Watcher’s Council and introduce a fresh new perspective.

Remember, a weasel only wins if you let him get away with his weasely ways! Please help the council to expose such weasel’s by passing our posts off to your friends. If you have a blog and have written that great post please send an e-mail to .

Thank you for your support. We couldn’t do it without you.

Still on the road. Wanted to get the votes up however. Congratulations to First place council winner – Wolf Howling - with the winning council entry: Public Sector Unions: A Toxin, A Crisis & An Opportunity

On the non-council side is a submission by Chicago Boyz with the winning article : - Why Alternative Power Is and Will Remain Useless

See you next week on Wednesday for a new contest!

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 2 2/3 points! – Wolf Howling - Public Sector Unions: A Toxin, A Crisis & An Opportunity
• Second place with 2 points – Soccer Dad - The sophistication of antisemitism
• Third place with 1 2/3 points – American Digest - Frequently Answered Questions
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 points – Joshuapundit - Hey, It’s Purim!
• Fifth place with 1 points – Bookworm Room - The common bonds between Iranian Mullahs and the Democrats
• Sixth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Right Truth - Maj. Nidal Hasan moves to county jail.
• Sixth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – The Razor - The 2010 Healthcare Games
• Sixth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – The Colossus of Rhodey - Lessons from Vietnam? Or just about any Third World country?
• Seventh place with 1/3 points – Rhymes With Right - Dodd Introduces Amendment To Strip Americans Of Right To Donate To/Spend On Behalf Of Political Candidates

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 3 2/3 points! – Chicago Boyz - Why Alternative Power Is and Will Remain Useless
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – Victor Davis Hanson - Obama Fatigue
• Third place with 1 points – (T*) – Seraphic Secret - Welcome to College Where You Can Major in Jew-Hatred
• Third place with 1 points – (T*) – Slate - Searching for SaddamA five-part series on how the U.S. military used social networking to capture the Iraqi dictator.
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Against Monopoly - Dancing on the Head of the Fair Use Pin
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Solomonia - Guess Who’s Dining at CJP’s Trough? [Hillel]
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Doug Ross @ Journal - Illegal Immigration by the Numbers
• Fifth place with 1/3 points – (T*) – The Economist - Spirit level
• Fifth place with 1/3 points – (T*) – Hot Air’s Greenroom - “Outting Myself” or “We Now Interrupt This Broadcast”
• Fifth place with 1/3 points – (T*) – Althouse - Al Gore would like you to lie back and accept what the government decides is good for you.

Hi. I wanted to get these submissions up early because I will be on the road most of the day.

Each week, the members of the Watchers’ Council nominate one of their own posts and a second from outside the Council for consideration by other council members in a contest for the week’s best post.

This week’s entries are as varied and excellent as any that have been submitted over the years. Please read these fine articles and pass them on to your friends. Check back on Friday for the council’s picks for winner of the best submission for the week of 3/1/1010.

Council Submissions

• Wolf Howling - Public Sector Unions: A Toxin, A Crisis & An Opportunity
• The Provocateur - Glenn Beck: Are You Serious
• Mere Rhetoric - Syria Responds To Obama’s Engagement, Publicly Mocks Clinton And Embraces Iran
• The Colossus of Rhodey - Lessons from Vietnam? Or just about any Third World country?
• Rhymes With Right - Dodd Introduces Amendment To Strip Americans Of Right To Donate To/Spend On Behalf Of Political Candidates
• Right Truth - Maj. Nidal Hasan moves to county jail.
• The Razor - The 2010 Healthcare Games
• Soccer Dad - The sophistication of antisemitism
• The Glittering Eye - A Reason to Believe
• Joshuapundit - Hey, It’s Purim!
• Bookworm Room - The common bonds between Iranian Mullahs and the Democrats
• American Digest - Frequently Answered Questions

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Op Ed News - ACORN Whistleblower / Anita Mailroom MonCrief
• Submitted By: Wolf Howling – A. J. Strata - Liberal Ideology Is Creating Economic Madness
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – Seraphic Secret - Welcome to College Where You Can Major in Jew-Hatred
• Submitted By: The Watcher – Heritage Blog - Morning Bell: The Edifice Falls
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – The Economist - Spirit level
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – Hot Air’s Greenroom - “Outting Myself” or “We Now Interrupt This Broadcast”
• Submitted By: Right Truth – Slate - Searching for SaddamA five-part series on how the U.S. military used social networking to capture the Iraqi dictator.
• Submitted By: The Razor – Against Monopoly - Dancing on the Head of the Fair Use Pin
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Solomonia - Guess Who’s Dining at CJP’s Trough? [Hillel]
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – Althouse - Al Gore would like you to lie back and accept what the government decides is good for you.
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Victor Davis Hanson - Obama Fatigue
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Doug Ross @ Journal - Illegal Immigration by the Numbers
• Submitted By: American Digest – Chicago Boyz - Why Alternative Power Is and Will Remain Useless

Winning council member Soccer Dad takes on the liberal weirding crowd that has enveloped themselves so much in the fake science of global warming that they have elevated junk science to the point that contradictory example are constantly being made to support their nefarious claims about global warming.

In science there is a concept of falsifiablity. Though it isn’t accepted by everyone, the concept introduced by Karl Popper is that an experiment cannot prove a theory, if there isn’t some result that would prove the theory wrong. So if you claim that that anthropogenic global warming will cause BOTH an increase in fog AND a decrease in fog, (h/t Seraphic Secret) you aren’t making a scientific claim. Since both contradictory results lead to the same conclusion, that conclusion isn’t based on science, but faith.

Consider Thomas Friedman’s latest:

Avoid the term “global warming.” I prefer the term “global weirding,” because that is what actually happens as global temperatures rise and the climate changes. The weather gets weird. The hots are expected to get hotter, the wets wetter, the dries drier and the most violent storms more numerous.The fact that it has snowed like crazy in Washington — while it has rained at the Winter Olympics in Canada, while Australia is having a record 13-year drought — is right in line with what every major study on climate change predicts: The weather will get weird; some areas will get more precipitation than ever; others will become drier than ever.

In other words, every single climactic change “proves” global warming. Aside from the fact that this isn’t necessarily so, Friedman’s assertion means that any result “proves” his desired thesis. Again this makes it faith, not science. Or as Ann Althouse put it:

So weather is not climate — which, duh — but he still wants to use weather as climate. And he even gets to say that cold is evidence of heat, because we shouldn’t be saying heat anymore, we should be talking about weirdness.

James Taranto:

See, it works either way! More fog? It’s global weirding, man! Less fog? Also global weirding! What if the amount of fog stays exactly the same? Well, how weird would that be!

But the best response to Friedman came from Charles Krauthammer, 14 years ago.

We’ve been lectured incessantly on how prideful man is spewing tons of fossil-fuel carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing global warming. We’ve been told further that this desecration of nature will ultimately wipe out winter, turn Kansas to desert and put Long Island under water. Now comes the exact opposite climatic event — a monster snowstorm — and that, too, is caused by our sinning against Gaea? Yes, holds the newest variation in environmental scolding. Global warming is now the cause not just of warming but of all weather “extremes,” i.e., calamities. How? Warming increases water evaporation, adding moisture and energy to the atmosphere, making for more rain and storms — and, mirabile dictu, “more severe droughts” as well. Huh? Exact opposites again? Yes, writes the Times’ William Stevens: “in cases where atmospheric circulation conspires” — a deliciously revealing anthropomorphism — “to keep rain away from a given area.” So global warming has now become a theory of everything, or at least everything bad: rain, snow, heat, cold, storms, droughts. You name it, we caused it. When anything unpredictable and unwanted occurs — particularly if it occurs near a media center like Washington or New York — we can now blame it on global warming and, by extension, on us. Is there a primitive religion that can match this one for attributing natural calamity to the transgressions of man — this time around, to man’s sins against Mother Earth and her environmental priesthood?

At the end of his column Friedman lectures Americans once more:

China, of course, understands that, which is why it is investing heavily in clean-tech, efficiency and high-speed rail. It sees the future trends and is betting on them. Indeed, I suspect China is quietly laughing at us right now.

On the winning non council side we have a runaway with an article by Michael Yon. Whenever Yon is submitted in the Watcher’s Council competition you can expect that it will be a tough draw. He consistently comes out on top and today is no exception.

Today’s winning Yon entry is about the brave men and women in the military that care for our troops and other personnel in Afghanistan. These men and women heroes put their lives on the line on a daily basis yet are often relegated to obscurity because interest in Afghanistan is much lower than that of Iraq. Personally I believe this is another casualty of a completely inept media that has their heads so far up Obama’s butt that they have to be taken kicking and screaming to cover an event that might not put him in the best of light.

In any event Yon provides a great photo essay and delivers in a manner that few in the media have.

“Johnny Boy” Captain John Holland was walking out to the aircraft just as I arrived at the flight line.

Captain Holland asked, “Are you ready?”

“Yes Sir.”

The Marjah offensive—billed as the biggest US/NATO/Afghan assault on the Taliban ever—had begun.  With it, the attention of nearly all the reporters covering Afghanistan is focused on Marjah.  Yet fighting continues across the country, in provinces with names unfamiliar to most people.  Men and women are wounded.  Some die.  Some are saved by dedicated medical crews, and by the pilots who fly into combat to ferry wounded to some of the best trauma facilities in the world, right here in Afghanistan.  This story is about the people who care for our troops, wounded correspondents, and many other people, day in, day out.

And thus the story that is often ignored by the media is told by a man that puts them to shame on a post by post basis.

Congratulations to all the winning entries. Join us next week for a new contest!

GO TEAM USA!!!

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 2 points! – Soccer Dad - Cry havoc and let slip the fog of (agw) lore
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – The Colossus of Rhodey - Go Figure
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – Wolf Howling - Brown & The Jobs Bill
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – Joshuapundit - Obama Appoints Jihad Friendly Ambassador To The OIC
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – The Razor - How Global Warming Alarmists Irreparably Damaged Science
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – American Digest - Obamacare Now! Because What We’ve Got Isn’t Bad Enough
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Mere Rhetoric - Aww… Glut Of Gaza Products Putting Small-Time Smugglers Out Of Business
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Bookworm Room - Jon Stewart: genuinely ignorant or just hiding the ball when it comes to socialism
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Right Truth - Obama Funds Offshore Drilling … in Brazil

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 3 1/3 points! – Michael Yon/Big Government - Whispers
• Second place with 2 1/3 points – David Bellavia - Our Mission is Finally Accomplished… Anyone Care?
• Third place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – Walter Russell Mead - Sunday Jeremiad: Petty Prophets of the Blue Beast
• Third place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – Contentions - A world historic find in Jerusalem
• Fourth place with 1 points – (T*) – Legal Insurrection - Will Obamacare Kill Miracle Cures
• Fourth place with 1 points – (T*) – The Fingerman - Jewish Fact Check #6: Who’s really using the term “anti-Semite”?
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – I Have A Title For This - 75 reasons to be skeptical of “global warming”
• Sixth place with 1/3 points – Chicago Reader - It Pays to Have An Alderman in Your Pocket

Conventional wisdom says I am supposed to start this article by pointing out that John McCain is a war hero.

Conventional wisdom sucks.

There are some truths in the world and it is certainly a truth that a young John McCain was the hero we all knew him to be. But nowadays John McCain is doing an immense damage to the country he sacrificed so much to protect.

This is a story about two John McCains. One a selfless hero that I am supposed to talk about anytime I get ready to criticize him, and the other, a back stabbing Senator from Arizona that can’t help but feed his face at the trough of power all for the sake of a backwards ass appearance of bi-partisan cooperation, conservatives be damned.

When John McCain ran for President I rationalized his presence as the better of 2 bad, no, reprehensible choices. Now that his efforts to be elected as top dog have been rejected twice he is continuing down the path of his own selfish political expediency; all the while dragging down the momentum of a party that is in desperate need to distance himself from the John McCain;s of the world. John McCain is a liberal hero, not because of his policies that are aligned with their agenda, no. John McCain is a liberal here because he has a knack for inserting himself into politics in a manner that damages the conservative movement. In this sense John McCain continues to damage conservative efforts to take back this nation from the radical agenda of Barack Obama. Thus John McCain, Mr. Maverick, is a liability. One that will continue to be praised under the lying breath of people that like him as much as they like chewing on broken glass.

We have seen this most recently on his quest to get endorsements by people that ordinarily should have no business associating themselves with McCain. He cornered Sarah Palin with an impossible option to support the man she stood beside despite his bumbling ideas. She had to choose. To reject McCain after standing beside him for so long would have painted a huge target on her back; one that would have been huge fodder by the Democrat lapdogs in the media. So Palin did what she could only do, she endorsed John McCain. Damage done. And the tea party patriots are angry. Good job John.

Then comes Mitt Romney standing up for the man McCain, the very essence of what ails the GOP. Count another one damaged by sir John; another casualty of a man that just doesn’t know when it is time to retire.

This trend will continue until the GOP gets a clue. John McCain is the problem and the GOP is his victim.

In other weasel related news we have a new slew of fine articles that are must reads for Weasel Watchers throughout the world. Please enjoy. We will vote on the top articles and release our results on Friday. See you then.

Council Submissions

• American Digest - Obamacare Now! Because What We’ve Got Isn’t Bad Enough
• Wolf Howling - Brown & The Jobs Bill
• Joshuapundit - Obama Appoints Jihad Friendly Ambassador To The OIC
• The Razor - How Global Warming Alarmists Irreparably Damaged Science
• Bookworm Room - Jon Stewart: genuinely ignorant or just hiding the ball when it comes to socialism
• The Glittering Eye - Wishful Thinking from Tom Friedman?
• Rhymes With Right - My Endorsement — Harris County District Clerk — An Endorsement I Didn’t Expect To Make
• Right Truth - Obama Funds Offshore Drilling … in Brazil
• The Colossus of Rhodey - Go Figure
• The Provocateur - MGM Building Up By Tearing Down
• Soccer Dad - Cry havoc and let slip the fog of (agw) lore
• Mere Rhetoric - Aww… Glut Of Gaza Products Putting Small-Time Smugglers Out Of Business

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: The Watcher – Legal Insurrection - Obligatory “Obama Was Against The Nuclear Option Before He Was For It”
• Submitted By: American Digest – Walter Russell Mead - Sunday Jeremiad: Petty Prophets of the Blue Beast
• Submitted By: Wolf Howling – Legal Insurrection - Will Obamacare Kill Miracle Cures
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Michael Yon/Big Government - Whispers
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Contentions - A world historic find in Jerusalem
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – David Bellavia - Our Mission is Finally Accomplished… Anyone Care?
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – I Have A Title For This - 75 reasons to be skeptical of “global warming”
• Submitted By: Right Truth – Making Sense of Jihad - Too many dots to connect (expanded edition)
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – Delaware Libertarian - CPAC Surprise: Ron Paul Wins Presidential Straw Poll
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Chicago Reader - It Pays to Have An Alderman in Your Pocket
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – David Bellavia - Our Mission is Finally Accomplished… Anyone Care?
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – The Fingerman - Jewish Fact Check #6: Who’s really using the term “anti-Semite”?

In the Olympics it is hard enough to compete knowing that the weight of you nation is on your shoulders. But for Joannie Rochette of Canada she bore an unimaginable burden. The six time Canadian national champion figure skater was preparing for the upcoming events with her mother by her side, as always. But on Sunday, shortly after arriving in Vancouver to watch her daughter compete, 55 year old Therese Rochette died suddenly of a massive heart attack.

This is not the first time that tragedy has struck before an athlete took to the world stage in fulfillment of a lifetime’s worth of training with parents, family, friends and countrymen by their side. One recalls the plight of American speed skater Dan Jansen in the 1988 Calgary Olympics whose sister Jane lost her battle with Leukemia on the morning of one of the biggest races in his career. Jansen skated in his scheduled events as his sister had wished from her hospital bed and fell down twice; knocking him out of the gold. Six years later Jansen won gold as he had promised his sister Jane before she died. Jansen proceeded to take a victory lap with his 2 year old daughter in his arms. Her name, Jane.

Joannie Rochette might be too young to remember Jansen’s ordeal but she has the heart of an Olympian. Fighting back tears as the crowd cheered her on Joannie skated her heart out and scored a personal best in the short program. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

Too often we concentrate on the negative influences in a world filled with weasels.

Whether or not Joannie leaves Vancouver with an Olympic medal she is the best of the best. A true champion. Her’s is a story of character, style and courage; all traits that can be passed on to all that know her story and can learn from her example.

Joannie Rochette and Dan Jansen remind us that role models are everywhere, some living in obscurity and others right under our eyes. It is through their example that we can realize the hope of human perseverance.

Go Joannie! You are in our heats and minds in your time of need. You competed for your country at a time when you needed them more than they needed you. To your nation and others you are a true hero. One whose character exemplifies the very essence of a true champion. We celebrate your greatness and honor your courage. The world needs more people like you. You did your mother proud.

Congratulations to winning council member Joshua Pundit. After surviving a heart attack last week JP penned a retrospective of what is important in life, to him, you, me and others.

Having a heart attack has a funny way of making people look back on what is important in life. In the world of politics we tend to become consumed; almost to the point where this obsession taking over our lives. Before you know it years have passed and things that were once important have a tendency to slip away. It is important to take the time and look back at things from a different perspective. For Rob it was his heart attack, for others it can be Rob’s retrospective. The other members of the Watcher’s Council agreed.

Having a heart attack tends to focus you on what’s important. Like breathing, which I thoroughly recommend.

There I was, coming back into the house after swimming some laps when I suddenly became aware of pains that were roughly like a bad case of heartburn and shortness of breath. And no, I did not immediately think heart attack.

It didn’t go away after about a half hour..in fact,the pain increased and was joined with a certain light lightheadedness and a cold sweat. So I dialed 911.

Contrary to popular legend, I was able to get through immediately and was promptly switched from the main operator to the paramedics, where the dispatcher took me through my symptoms, advised me what to do and literally stayed on the line with me and held my hand – I do not exaggerate – until the paramedics got to my home.

On the non-council side Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser looks at the failings of the Pentagon report in the case of the Fort Hood massacre. Dr. Jasser has a unique perspective as a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, and more importantly a Muslim.

“On November 5, 2009, the United States Army was viciously attacked from within by an ideologue bent on pursuing an agenda of Islamist extremism. This ideologue fell under the separatist influence of political Islam while serving as an officer. It is incumbent upon our force to begin to understand this theo-political ideology that threatens our soldiers internally and externally.”

These critical lines are completely missing from the Pentagon’s 84-page report reviewing the massacre of 13 U.S. soldiers and contractors at Fort Hood. Yet this is only one of many omissions that the Pentagon should pursue from this incident.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on Nov. 5 because his adherence to extreme Islamism overrode his allegiance to his country and his sworn oath to protect it against all enemies. While issues of post-traumatic stress will surely be pursued by his defense team, Hasan’s defense is not the job of the Pentagon. The Pentagon has a duty to honestly assess the root of the attack and to ensure that the military is adequately protecting our forces from the threat from within and without.

As a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, I know the culture of the U.S. military. While I served my 11 years pre-9/11, the culture of political correctness was pervasive. This travesty of a report is front and center evidence of that paralyzing culture.

As a Naval physician and former chief resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital, I can also speak to the inadequacies in the counterterrorism, counter-radicalism and insurgency training of commanders like those being held to blame for Hasan’s promotion and movement up the chain of command. Studying theo-political internal threats is simply not part of the training of any military physician. Hasan’s superiors are medical professionals trained to evaluate his abilities as a physician and a psychiatrist. As we have all heard, his commanders were seriously concerned about his actions and the role his faith played in his everyday interactions with patients. Had they brought those concerns to his review process, they would have been vilified as Islamaphobes. Even had Hasan’s superiors appropriately identified his behaviors, a military discharge is light years down the path of administrative counseling and punishment he would have received. Which begs the question, would a demoted Hasan have been any less of a threat?

As a Muslim, I am most fearful that our entrenched mindset of victimization and political correctness is precluding a vitally necessary open discussion of faith-based issues both inside and outside of the military. The current military and governmental culture precluded Hasan’s superiors from questioning anything relating to his faith.

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 4 1/3 points! – Joshuapundit - Life 2.0
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – The Razor - Of Chinese Wheelbarrows and Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program
• Third place with 1 points – (T*) – Mere Rhetoric - Confirmed: College Doesn’t Make Kids Smarter, Just More Liberal
• Third place with 1 points – (T*) – Wolf Howling - A Dangerous Retreat From The War Of Ideas
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Soccer Dad - The administration’s goldstone omission
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – American Digest - Notes on Love and Death
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – The Colossus of Rhodey - “Iron Man was right”
• Fifth place with 1/3 points – The Glittering Eye - Sometimes You Need More Than a Narrative

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 2 2/3 points! – M. Zhudi Jasser @ DC - Failing at force protection: The misguided Pentagon report on the Ft. Hood massacre
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – Harry’s Place - Hate speech, Israel’s legitimacy and the “war” on Andrew Sullivan
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Plank’s Constant - Christians Driven out of Holy Land
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Armed and Dangerous - Who bears the costs of moral vanity?
• Fourth place with 1 points – The Chronicle of Higher Education - The Night They Burned Ranum’s Papers
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Peach Pundit - The Curious Case of Ken Hodges
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Texas Conservative’s Blog - Inside the Medina Movement, A Scary Look
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – The Pakistan Policy Blog - Pakistani-U.S. Raid Nabs Mullah Baradar: Kayani Doctrine in Full Effect
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Legal Insurrection - More Rights for Terrorists Mean More Dead Terrorists
• Sixth place with 1/3 points – Ken Blackwell @ American Spectator - Dawn, Go Away

Bookworm Room did not participate in this week’s contest.

Please enjoy this week’s submissions. They represent the finest examples as sought out and found by the Watcher’s Council and passed onto you as exhibit A in the quest to expose  weasels digging holes in your backyard. Many of the Weasels you are about to read about have been written about many times before in these pages. Some weasels are harder to stop than others

As the saying goes, “this has happened before and it will happen again”. That is unless you and I do our collective parts and pass these many fine articles onto others so the weasels have less and less cover; leaving them vulnerable to being outed by the very truth’s they seek to hide. No goal could be better or more important.

Please pass these articles on and make it impossible for the weasels in these pages to find a comfortable place to hide. Then come back on Friday to see which author took home the prize for the best in this class of articles for this week’s contest.

Until then…

Council Submissions

• Mere Rhetoric - Confirmed: College Doesn’t Make Kids Smarter, Just More Liberal
• The Provocateur - Intern Dispute Turns Into First Amendment Battle
• Right Truth - Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Captured
• The Colossus of Rhodey - “Iron Man was right”
• Rhymes With Right - Mayor Parker Considers Making One Ride Free – And Another More Expensive
• The Glittering Eye - Sometimes You Need More Than a Narrative
• Soccer Dad - The administration’s goldstone omission
• Joshuapundit - Life 2.0
• Wolf Howling - A Dangerous Retreat From The War Of Ideas
• The Razor - Of Chinese Wheelbarrows and Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program
• American Digest - Notes on Love and Death

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – TongeLashing - Why doesn’t Jenny Tonge allow an investigation into her life?
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Peach Pundit - The Curious Case of Ken Hodges
• Submitted By: Right Truth – Plank’s Constant - Christians Driven out of Holy Land
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – The Chronicle of Higher Education - The Night They Burned Ranum’s Papers
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – Texas Conservative’s Blog - Inside the Medina Movement, A Scary Look
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – The Pakistan Policy Blog - Pakistani-U.S. Raid Nabs Mullah Baradar: Kayani Doctrine in Full Effect
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Legal Insurrection - More Rights for Terrorists Mean More Dead Terrorists
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Harry’s Place - Hate speech, Israel’s legitimacy and the “war” on Andrew Sullivan
• Submitted By: Wolf Howling – M. Zhudi Jasser @ DC - Failing at force protection: The misguided Pentagon report on the Ft. Hood massacre
• Submitted By: The Razor – Stormbringer’s Thunder - Working on the Minimalist Philosophy
• Submitted By: American Digest – Armed and Dangerous - Who bears the costs of moral vanity?
• Submitted By: The Watcher – Ken Blackwell @ American Spectator - Dawn, Go Away

The winning entries are in and the image and first line appearing in Winning Member American Digest’s entry pretty much says it all. In Barack Obama: Imaginary Friend of Democrats. Cause and Cure Venderleun wrote:

Atheists, like songwriters, are always seeking lines more glib than true. Glib is golden because it obscures the fact that deep down atheism is, like a pop song, shallow. One of the more tedious quips, oft repeated with a tone that oozes ‘What a good boy am I,’ is “God is just an imaginary friend for adults.”

The possibility that God may have given glib atheists everything – space, time, a planet, evolution, and free will – that allows this bromide to roll trippingly off their tongues is something they will not and can not conceive. Their wetware is not evolved enough to perceive God should He deign to reveal himself. God is not finished buffing out their fatal flaw, although He will be, by and by. Until then they cannot grasp that, in some cases, “imaginary friends” can be as real as their friendship is illusory.

Exhibits A, B, and C today are the Virginia and New Jersey elections last fall and especially the Massachusetts senate election of Scott Brown. These established the new truth of contemporary American politics, “Barack Obama is the imaginary friend of Democrats.” This dovetails well with another of his many roles: Stand-in lower-case god for the vast majority of American atheists.

Psychologists will tell you that imaginary friends are good for children. As time goes on however imaginary friends can be quite detrimental. Mr. Obama is of the latter.

Winning non-council author Douglas Murray from the Telegraph UK looks at the witch trial of Dutch MP Geert Wilders and comments on the significance that the trial has on Europe.

There is nothing hyperbolic in stating that a trial which has just started in Holland will have unparalleled significance for the future of Europe. It is not just about whether our culture will survive, but whether we are even allowed to state the fact that it is being threatened.

The trial of Geert Wilders has garnered hardly any attention in the mainstream press here. Fortunately the blogosphere can correct some of this.

Wilders is a Dutch MP and leader of Holland’s fastest-growing party, the Party for Freedom. Just a few years ago he was the sole MP for his party. The latest polls show that his party could win the biggest number of seats of any party in Holland when the voters next go to the polls.

His stances have clearly chimed with the Dutch people. They include an end to the era of mass immigration, an end to cultural relativism, and an end to the perceived suborning of European values to Islamic ones. For saying this, and more, he has for many years had to live under round-the-clock security protection. Which you would have thought proves the point to some extent.

Now the latest attempt of the Dutch ruling class to keep Wilders from office has begun. Last week, apparently because of the number of complaints they have received (trial by vote anyone?) the trial of Wilders began.

Congratulations to all the winning entries. Please join us oin Wednesday for next week’s contest.

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 2 1/3 points! – American Digest - Barack Obama: Imaginary Friend of Democrats. Cause and Cure.
• Second place with 2 points – (T*) – The Razor - Symbols Aren’t Leaders
• Second place with 2 points – (T*) – Bookworm Room - San Francisco mulls expanding gay rights program at expense of academic programs
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – Wolf Howling - Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Change
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – The Provocateur - A Conversation with Wade Rathke
• Fourth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Right Truth - Palin’s RINO Problem
• Fifth place with 1/3 points – The Colossus of Rhodey - Why I haven’t bought a Marvel comic in a couple years

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 2 2/3 points! – Douglas Murray @ Telegraph Blogs - Geert Wilders: On Trial For Telling The Truth
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – Doug Ross Journal - The Sublime, Timeless Wisdom of Arianna Huffington Somehow Reduced to Ashes By Anonymous Commenter at Green Room
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (T*) – Jerome Ravetz @ What’s Up With That? - Climategate: Plausibility and the blogosphere in the post-normal age
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – Big Lizards - Here’s Exactly What We Don’t Need
• Fourth place with 1 points – Buckhorn Road - Apparently, our republic is “anti-democratic”
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Pajamas Media/Victor Davis Hanson - Why Fear Big Government?
• Fifth place with 2/3 points – (T*) – Zenpundit - Guest Post: Cameron on “A Response to a Most Remarkable Conversation”
• Sixth place with 1/3 points – Yaacov Lozowick’s Ruminations - Response to Naomi Paiss

(T*) – Indicates a Tie.
(D*) – The Provocateur received a 2/3 point penalty in the council submissions category for failing to vote in this week’s contest.