The Daily Caller’s Suhail Khan has a piece that is absolutely stunning in its moral relativism and hypocrisy…as he compares the plight of Muslims in America with that of the Jews in Holocaust era Germany:

“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then…they came for me … And by that time there was no one left to speak up.” -Pastor Martin Niemöller

Members of Congress plan to host a National Day of Prayer event in May featuring evangelist Franklin Graham. The invitation to Graham, who has described Islam as “a very evil and wicked religion,” came in the wake of an invitation extended to Graham for a similar event at the Pentagon the same week. Before being subsequently withdrawn, the invitation sparked widespread criticism from both within and outside the Pentagon. Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said inviting Graham to speak “would be like bringing someone in on national prayer day madly denigrating Christianity.”

Graham’s statements are nothing new. Following a report on a recent terrorist incident on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club,” host Pat Robertson called Islam “not a religion, but a political system,” and called for Americans to treat its followers “as we would members of the Communist party, or members of some fascist group.” And after a report on Muslims in Minneapolis seeking religious accommodations at school and work, Robertson warned, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have to recognize that Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination of the world.” In yet another telecast, Robertson railed: “These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it’s motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with.”

Robertson and Graham are not alone in condemnations. Scores of politicians, columnists, various bloggers, radio and TV hosts, particularly since the 9/11 tragedy, have emphatically claimed that Islam as a faith calls on its followers to dominate the world through violence and terror. Are there some extremists who promote violence in the name of faith? No doubt, but zealots of all faiths have done so for time immemorial, and blanket condemnations of an entire faith community do nothing to help fight the murderous enemy we currently face and must defeat.

Anti-Muslim blogger Robert Spencer proclaims that the Muslim prophet Muhammad was a guilty of host of heinous crimes including the rape of a child because he was betrothed to Aisha when she was nine years old. Of course, most are keenly aware that a betrothal and actual marriage are two separate things and readers of the Old Testament recall that Isaac was betrothed to Rebecca when she was three years old. Like Wilders, Thomas, and Coulter, Spencer’s bigotry easily morphs into anti-Semitism.

Anti-Muslim bigotry is simply anti-Semitism on training wheels. Americans of the Jewish faith, Catholics, Mormons and so many others recognize this when they see it, and we can be thankful that the majority of Americans stand strong against this kind of divisiveness. Instead of making every effort to bring together all freedom-loving people, some seek to divide us, cynically questioning the ability of millions to embrace freedom based solely on their faith.

Uhhh…Mr. Khan? Do you think that some of the jihad events of the last few years (Beslan, Ft. Hood, the two WTC bombings, homicide attacks against Israeli civilians, Mumbai, Nigeria, Theo Van Gogh’s murder on the streets of Amsterdam or a thousand others I could mention) might just have had something to do with how people perceive Islam? Just maybe?

Likewise, your attempt to misrepresent both the Qu’ran and the Bible at one shot. I will let everyone make their own judgments, but the hadiths clearly state( Sahih-al-Bukhari 5:58:236 is typical) that Mohammed married Aisha at six and consummated their marriage when she was nine. Rebecca, on the other hand is described in Genesis 24: 26 as a young woman who spoke as a young woman, not a child. And she was old enough to draw water from the well not just for Abraham’s servant but for all all his camels, and old enough to be of the age of consent to make her own decisions ( Genesis 24:58).

What was that again about disrespecting someone’s religion?

Oh, and your conflating genocidal, government sponsored violent attacks on Jews in Germany with the relatively mild response of Americans to Muslims, even those who have been found guilty of aiding and abetting jihadist terrorism is duly noted, sir.

If you really want to see fascism at work in today’s world, look at Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Hamas, Hizb-al-Tahrir, The Taliban, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood or Ikhwan, Abu Sayef and a host of others, all populated by very devout Muslims.

You know where Pastor Neimoller’s little homily really fits nowadays? As a comment on the silence of far too many decent Muslims who refuse to actively work against Islamist violence and bigotry.

I’m speaking directly to you, Mr. Khan. You’re a member of the board of directors of the Islamic Free Market Institute, a group founded by prominent conservative activist and Muslim revert Grover Norquist with the help of thousands of dollars from Hamas and Hezbollah supporter Abdulrahman Alamoudi, who was later revealed as a top Brotherhood leader in the U.S. As you know, he was a major Hezbollah and Hamas operative involved in massive terrorism fundraising operations and is now imprisoned.

And what about the money that your group got from the International Institute of Islamic Thought,(IIIT) a Muslim Brotherhood front whose name should ring a few bells to people familiar with Islamist terrorism here in America. The IIIT also has an important connection to President Obama’s new Brotherhood friendly ambassador to the anti-Semitic and Islamist Organization of Islamic Conference(OIC), your good friend Rashad Hussain. Have you ever had a single thing to say about any of that, Mr Kahn? Not to mention returning that blood money?

I hope it doesn’t happen, but in the end, that kind of hypocritical silence is what might really lead to your fears about Muslims being victimized becoming a reality…not anything Robert Spenser, Geert Wilders or Frank Graham have to say.

-selah-

The Democrats just successfully voted to allow Nancy Pelosi to urinate on Article I of the Constitution and use the Slaughter Solution to ‘deem’ ObamaCare passed without an actual roll call or vote.

In other words, the fix is in.

The rollcall of Jackasses who voted for this travesty is here:

And courtesy of the NRO’s Jim Geraughty,here’s a list of highly vulnerable Dems that need to be punished for going along with this and thus violating their oath:

* Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania.
* John Barrow, Georgia.
* John Boccieri, Ohio.
* Allen Boyd, Florida.
* Leonard Boswell, Iowa.
* Gerry Connolly, Virginia.
* Steve Driehaus, Ohio.
* Joe Donnelly, Indiana.
* Brad Ellsworth, Indiana.
* Baron Hill, Indiana.
* Marcy Kaptur, Ohio.
* Dan Maffei, New York.
* Jim Marshall, Georgia.
* Jim Matheson, Utah.
* Michael McMahon, New York.
* Betsy Markey, Colorado.
* Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania.
* Earl Pomeroy, North Dakota.
* Nick Rahall, West Virginia.
* Mike Ross, Arkansas.
* Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania.
* Carol Shea Porter, New Hampshire.
* Ike Skelton, Missouri.
* Zach Space, Ohio.
* John Spratt, South Carolina.
* Charlie Wilson, Ohio.

This list does not count retirees.

I pretty much see this as the real vote on ObamaCare. and I note that John Boccieri, Joe Sestak and several other supposedly solid ‘no’ votes decided to go along with what amounts to a de facto vote for ObamaCare.

Perhaps Pelosi made a deal with some of them to support this so they would be spared an actual vote.

Either way, none of them deserve to be allowed into the halls of Congress in the gallery,let alone serve.

I think my previous prediction was pretty much accurate. Pelosi will avoid an actual vote and use the Slaughter Solution to get this to Obama to sign, after which he’ll leave town to go hang out in Indonesia with his Muslim homies.

There will follow a number of procedural and court challenges that will keep this tied up for quite a while, but meantime Obama can claim a ‘win’ and move on from this poisonous turf to his next campaign..amnesty for illegal aliens, if I were to hazard a guess.

Now the real fight – the Court challenges, retaking Congress and repeal – begins.

Ah, this made me feel good.

The beautiful building pictured above is the historic Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, which dates from the 1700′s.

In 1948, it was vandalized and desecrated by the Jordanians, along with 28 other historic synagogues and shrines in the Old City. But it has now been beautifully restored and will be rededicated this Sunday and Monday, the 28th and 29th of Adar.

And that just drives the Palestinians insane:

Naturally, the Muslims are furious at Jews daring to rebuild a synagogue in a spot that they had lived continuously for well over two thousand years. As I reported a few months ago, what really bugged them was the height of the structure, because in Islamic tradition mosques should always be the tallest buildings in the area. Since the Jewish Quarter is on a hill, the Hurva dome will be higher than the domes on the Al Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock.

And we can’t have that, can we?

What really fries the Palestinians is two things – first, that the Hurva Synogogue being restored like this gives the lie to their claims that East Jerusalem was ever ‘traditionally Arab’, except for a brief 19-year period between 1948 and 1967 after they ethnically cleansed the original inhabitants . And second, once again, the very fact that Jews build, while they destroy. That’s how it’s always been.

Ponder for a moment the mentality of people like that and imagine trying to live in peace next to them.

BTW, below are pictures ( click to enlarge ) circa 1940 showing the old Hurva Synagogue before it was destroyed by the Arabs, and how it dominated the Jerusalem skyline. No wonder the Arabs wanted it to remain merely a memory.

Today, Andrew Sullivan continues his descent into the most febrile, frenzied Jew-hatred imaginable.

If there were ever any doubts about Sully’s anti-semitism ( there aren’t as far as I’m concerned ) and general dementia, he’s put them to rest.

Today’s racist screed consists of Sully using an unsourced, anonymous video sung in badly accented Hebrew that could have been made anywhere to accuse Jews of glorifying Baruch Goldstein, a doctor who killed a number of Arabs in a mosque and on whom more later:

Having forcibly evicted Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, the new inhabitants sing songs in praise of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. And you really think the decision to make the site of that massacre a national heritage site for Israel had nothing to do with this association? Maybe AIPAC will wake up one of these days and see the reality that less informed and educated observers cannot miss.

As with most things in life, ol’ Muscle Glutes is looking through the wrong end of the telescope.

It’s his Arab pals that glorify murderers on a routine basis, not Israel. In fact, I defy this sad excuse for humanity to find me one example of an Arab the Palestinians have punished in any way for killing a Jew. Israel, on the other hand, has a long record of insisting that its citizens obey the rule of law when it comes to the Arabs.

That double standard in and of itself is proof that Sullivan has a ‘problem’ with Jews.

As for the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the Israelis actually attempted to share that with the Muslims. Their reward for this open-mindedness was to find anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled all over the shrine and to discover that the Palestinians had actually urinated and defecated in the area used to store the Torah scrolls.

I realize that Sully delights in being a G-dless cretin except when it suits him, but the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron is a Holy site for Jews that the Israelis need to protect because of the routine desecration it receives from the Palestinians, just like every other Jewish religious site the Arabs have ever gotten their hands on.

So…who was Baruch Goldstein anyway? He was a skilled medical doctor who found himself operating as an emergency physician during the Palestinian intifada and was charged with treating the civilian victims of Arab terrorism on a daily basis.

On February 25, 1994, Dr. Goldstein was passing by the mosque in Hebron, allegedly heard the worshippers inside chanting “Chrad al Yahood!” ( “kill the Jews”)and snapped. He entered the mosque and opened fire on the assembled Arabs, killing 29 Muslims there and wounding another 150 before he was disarmed and lynched by the survivors.

Far from being honored, Goldstein was vilified by the Israeli government…very unlike the way the Palestinians treat people like child murderer Sami Kuntar and others of his ilk.

One has to condemn Dr. Goldstein’s actions, but – just as we’re always told about the Palestinians and their murderous rampages – you have to understand his rage.

It’s really a pity for Sully that Der Stürmer or The Völkische Beobachter are no longer in publication, as I’m sure he could find a ready market for his talents there. However, I’m certain that Al Ahrum or Al Manar can fill the gap and make up for it.

The Council has spoken, choosing the winners in this week’s competition. And there’s some superb weekend reading in in store for you, believe me!

In the Council category, the winner this week was Bookworm Room with her fascinating take on the abortion issue, The need for an honest, 21st century debate about abortion :

I dreamed last night about the first ultrasound I had when I was pregnant with my daughter. I was sixteen weeks pregnant, and had been throwing up non-stop for 15 1/2 of those sixteen weeks. I was not happy. I resented the parasite within me. And then I saw the sonogram image and discovered that the parasite had a little round head, two arms and two legs, and an incredible spinal cord that looked like the most exquisite string of pearls. That image did not instantly reconcile me to the next 26 weeks of non-stop vomiting, but it made me aware that “the fetus” is not simply an aggregation of cells, or a thing indistinguishable from a dog or a chicken fetus. It’s a baby.

By the time I had my second child, I knew, without question, that every “fetus” is a nascent human being. I finally recognized on an emotional level that the zygote created on the first day is the same life as the baby you hold in your arms on the last. It is also the same as the toddler that lisps “I wuv you,” and the pre-teen who says “Y0u’re the best mommy ever.” They all start there, right inside each mother.

You’d think, of course, that this realization should have been obvious to me, and should have long predated the birth of two children. But I grew up in the feminist abortion oriented culture, and that culture shies away assiduously from focusing on the life within the woman and focuses, instead, only on the woman herself. There’s a great deal of logic to that focus. During my lifetime alone, there was little to focus on other than the woman. Doctors doing autopsies and medical students studying anatomy might have had a sense of fetal development but, really, no one else did. We weren’t peeking in the womb just a few decades back. Premature babies died as often as not, so our cultural sense of their viability was limited. Heck, in the old days, huge numbers of full-term babies died as often as not. In the pre-modern era, up to 50% of all children died before their 5th birthday — and that’s just counting live births.

In the non-Council category, the winner this week is a great piece in American Thinker by Rabbi Aryeh Spero on the president’s seeming inability to be an adversary against the global jihad levied against the West, President Obama Must Choose Sides :

There appears to be a battle raging within Barack Obama. How this war is resolved will decide how we fight the war on terror and determine if we win it at all. In his speech last spring in Cairo, Mr. Obama said, “I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.” Defending the honor of Islam and protecting Muslims is one of the goals that Barack Obama has set for himself. It constitutes a personal definition of his presidency. But is he doing so to the point of misleading the public in general, and at the risk of jeopardizing the American people in particular?

The near-deaths of three hundred people on Christmas due to an Islamic terrorist plot — an act of war against America — did not rouse Obama from golf and relaxation until three days later. When he finally spoke, he disrespected us, as before, by claiming that this was a “lone event” disconnected from anything larger. But most Americans knew what it was, and the subsequent reports and al-Qaeda announcement told us that this was an act of jihad, a part of the larger scheme of radical Islam in its war against America.

After the Fort Hood massacre, the president’s first reaction was to intone the silly assertion that we “do not know what prompted this outrage.” In fact, everyone immediately intuited what was verified more each day after the carnage: that devotion to the Islamic cause generated Nidal Hasan’s decision to kill American infidels. The president was strangely unwilling to tie these murders to Islam or jihad or imams, even knowing that the jihadist yelled “Allah aqbar” as he mowed down innocent Americans.

In all these matters, Mr. Obama’s first concern seems to protect things Islamic rather than name and fight the Islamism intent on destroying us. This attitude predates his presidency, and it is one of the animating and personal goals of his worldview. Even before becoming senator of Illinois, he tells us in The Audacity of Hope (pp.261) of his earlier decision: “I will stand with them [Muslims] should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” For Barack Obama, the recognition that this is not simply generic “extremism,” as he likes to call it, but specific to Islam and carried out by devout young Muslim men borders on the “ugly direction” against which he promised to stand. But by so doing, Mr.Obama is misleading the country and standing in the way of the measures needed to protect the American people and win the war on terror.

Council Notes:

Some very good news…after last weeks server problems, the WoW site updated to new levels of technological innovation, with new servers and vastly expanded capacity…yes, we hired more monkeys.

Here’s the complete rundown of this week’s results. Only Soccer Dad and the Colossus of Rhodeywere unable to vote, and only Soccer Dad was affected by the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty.

I can’t wait to see next week’s exciting entries, and as always, congratulations not only to the winners but to all the participants.

Council Submissions

• First place with 2 2/3 points! – Bookworm Room - The need for an honest, 21st century debate about abortion
• Second place with 2 1/3 points – Wolf Howling - National Security At The End Of Obama’s First Year
• Third place with 1 2/3 points – (Tie*) Joshuapundit - It Begins: Obama Threatens Aid Cutoffs For Israel
• Third place with 1 2/3 point – (Tie*) –Soccer Dad - Mitchell on negotiation: getting to “no”
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) –American Digest - The 2010 Election Season is Now OPEN: “What Happened to the Republicans I Used to Know?”
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) –The Razor - Republicans Aren’t Ready
• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (Tie*) – The Glittering Eye - Reinventing “Reinventing Government”
• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (Tie*) – Mere Rhetoric - Obama Loosening Border Enforcement, State Dept. “Diversity Visas” Bringing In Thousands From Terror-Sponsoring Countries

Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 3 1/3 points! – American Thinker/Rabbi Aryeh Spero - President Obama must choose sides
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (Tie*) –Jules Crittendon - Damn The Naughts
• Second place with 3 points– (Tie*) – Big Lizards - Voting Rights for Felons: “Race Neutral” = Race Biased
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – The Chronicle of Higher Education - Green Guilt
• Fourth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Call Dems Bluff On Refusing To Seat Scott Brown
• Fourth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Family Security Matters/ Dr. Sami Alrabaa - Is Muslim Blood More Precious than Christian Blood? The Hypocrisy of Western Politicians
• Fourth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Dick Morris - Urgent: Help Us Win in Massachsetts
• Fourth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – The Chicago Boyz - America: You Need A Policy Chimp
• Fifth place with 1/3 point (Tie*) – Tnooz - Ex counter-terrorism official labels TSA rules ‘criminal negligence’ and calls for tech solutions
• Fifth place with 1/3 point (Tie*) – Ace of Spades - Culture Clash on Video: CNN Anchorette Wants to Know Why Truck Dealer’s Motto Is “God, Guns, Guts, and American Pick-Up Trucks”

Anybody know whom these people are?

Welcome to the latest edition of the Watcher’s Council nominations, some of the best writing from a group of the most incisive blogs in the`sphere. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The Council votes to pick the winners in each category and the results can be seen in this space on Friday morning.

COUNCIL NEWS:

No one took advantage of our generous link whorage offer this week, earning an honorable mention. If you wish to have your blog earn an honorable mention and have a piece of yours appear on the Watcher’s Council page next week, the opportunity is open and up for grabs.

Here’s how you do it:

So, without further ado, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• Wolf Howling - National Security At The End Of Obama’s First Year
• Joshuapundit - It Begins: Obama Threatens Aid Cutoffs For Israel
• Rhymes With Right - On The Left-Wing Freak-Out Over Brit Hume’s Public Christianity
• Right Truth - By Hook or By Crook – How Democrats Plan to win in 2010 and 2012
• Soccer Dad - Mitchell on negotiation: getting to “no”
• Bookworm Room- The need for an honest, 21st century debate about abortion
• Mere Rhetoric - Obama Loosening Border Enforcement, State Dept. “Diversity Visas”
  Bringing In Thousands From Terror-Sponsoring Countries
• The Glittering Eye - Reinventing “Reinventing Government”
• American Digest - The 2010 Election Season is Now OPEN: “What Happened to the Republicans I Used to Know?”
• The Provocateur - The 355th and our Agent Orange Legacy in Thailand
• The Colossus of Rhodey - The Politics of “Avatar”
• The Razor - Republicans Aren’t Ready

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: Wolf Howling – Big Lizards - Voting Rights for Felons: “Race Neutral” = Race Biased
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Call Dems Bluff On Refusing To Seat Scott Brown
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – American Thinker/Rabbi Aryeh Spero - President Obama must choose sides
• Submitted By: Right Truth – Family Security Matters/ Dr. Sami Alrabaa - Is Muslim Blood More Precious than Christian Blood? The Hypocrisy of Western Politicians
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – Tnooz - Ex counter-terrorism official labels TSA rules ‘criminal negligence’ and calls for tech solutions
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – Chicago Boyz - America: You Need A Policy Chimp
• Submitted By: American Digest– Rough Type - Mr. Tracy’s Library
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Ace of Spades Culture Clash on Video: CNN Anchorette Wants to Know Why Truck Dealer’s Motto Is “God, Guns, Guts, and American Pick-Up Trucks”
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Dick Morris - Urgent: Help Us Win in Massachsetts
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – The Chronicle of Higher Education - Green Guilt
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Neo-Neocon - Can Mr. Brown Go To Washington?
• Submitted By: The Razor – Newsbusters - Newsweek’s Fineman: ‘Pretty Much Everybody’ Favors Dems Vs. GOP’s ‘Terrible Record’ on Race

The Council has spoken, choosing the winners in this week’s competition. And there’s some superb weekend reading in in store for you.

In the Council category, the winner this week was American Digest with his in depth essay on the Christmas crotch bomber # Lowballing Death: Keeping the Northwest 253 Numbers Down:

I’ve noticed the chant more and more as the days have gone by. It’s a chant usually preceded by the world “only;” as in “Even if the bomb had gone off it would have ‘only’ killed 290.”

“290″ is by far the most magical number in the morass of magical thinking that’s subsumed discussion of the “near disaster” of the Christmas attempt to give Northwest 253 a “premature landing”. The number “290″ is the number of passengers and crew on board the aircraft. “290″ is a number we hear a lot in conjunction with discussion of this failed attempt at mass murder. A lot of people in the administration, the TSA, and those on the left attempting to excuse what happened would be happy if “290″ stuck. If “290″ can be made to stick then the disaster, tragic as it might have been, is merely a “pinprick” and can be, like so many other aspects of this monumental failure, lowballed.

But “290″ is, looked at from any reasonable point of view, at the bottom of the scale when it comes to discussing how many might have lost their lives. The ultimate outcome of NW253 being brought down could have been much worse and, like the attacks against the World Trade Center on 9/11, easily have risen into the thousands.

When referring to “290″ the Obama administration along with their media cohorts and apologists are assuming that the =/-400,000 pound Airbus 300 would have vaporized in thin air and, like some event in the Bermuda Triangle, the aircraft, passengers and crew would have simply gone to their reward in the middle of the sky with only a puff of pixie dust left behind. This is sweet nonsense since airliners, when bombed in mid-heaven, have a nasty habit of coming to earth. In flames and sometimes in pieces.

In flaming pieces is what happened to the closest parallel to NW253, the downing in Lockerbie, Scotland of PanAm 103. In that “incident” the parts of the aircraft fell onto a village of a few thousand people and killed 11 people on the ground as well as the 259 on the plane.

At that point comparisons between PanAm 210 and NW253 diverge. Flight 210 was on climb out from London and, interestingly enough, on a course that would have taken it into Detroit. NW253 was on final approach to the same airport on a flight path that took it over the Detroit metropolitan area with a population of some 3,900,000. It is a much, much denser area; one that might be described as a “target rich environment” for a 400,000 pound flying bomb.

In the non-Council category, the winner this week is a moving piece by Michael Yon ( and as always with Yon, the accompanying photos are all worth a thousand words) on Afghanistan, with Into Thine Hand I Commit My Spirit :

Arghandab, Afghanistan
New Year’s Eve, 2009

On this small base surrounded by a mixture of enemy and friendly territory, a memorial has been erected just next to the Chapel. Inside the tepee are 21 photos of 21 soldiers killed during the first months of a year-long tour of duty. The fallen will belong forever to the honor rolls of the 1-17th Infantry Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and they will join the sacred list of names of those who have given their lives in service of the United States of America.

The symbol of the 2nd Infantry Division is the Indian Head. At night, soldiers of the “Indian Head Division” can be seen passing by the tepee, sometimes stopping to peer inside before walking into the darkness.

Sometimes the soldiers walk by carrying lights that are red or green, or sometimes white. Tonight, Cobra Battery was firing illumination rounds from the cannons, which boom from the darkness, arcing a round into the night, where miles away a canister unsheathes, and the parachute opens, and brightness floats silently, shimmering over the valley where these soldiers died.

Council Notes:

Some of our readers noticed that the site was down for some time yesterday. What happened is that several of the highly trained monkeys who are responsible for site maintenance in our secret bunker in the American Heartland apparently did some belated New Years Eve celebrating, resulting in a fried server.

The Management promptly disciplined the offenders and has repaired the damage. Our apologies:

If you want to see your blog piece listed on the Watcher’s Council page as an honorable mention, our generous offer of link whorage remains open. Here’s how you take advantage of it:

Here’s the complete rundown of this week’s results. Only the Razor was unable to vote, and he was the only one affected by the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty.

I can’t wait to see next week’s exciting entries, and as always, congratulations not only to the winners but to all the participants.

Council Submissions

• First place with 3 2/3 points! – American Digest - Lowballing Death: Keeping the Northwest 253 Numbers Down
• Second place with 2 2/3 points – Bookworm Room - San Francisco: America’s homegrown anarchic totalitarianism
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – Joshuapundit - 58% Of Americans Want The Crotch Bomber Waterboarded – And the Left Is Outraged!
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) –Wolf Howling - Knee JERK Reaction Of Progressives
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) –Soccer Dad - The Very Model Of A Modern UN Bureaucrat
• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (Tie*) – The Colossus of Rhodey - Is This ‘Hypocrisy’?
• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (Tie*) – The Glittering Eye - Facing Chinese Mercantilism
• Fifth place with 1/3 point –(Tie*) – Mere Rhetoric - Iran To US: No Visa For Kerry, Please Consider Yourself Officially Humiliated
• Fifth place with 1/3 point –(Tie*) – Right Truth - Jihad vs Terrorism Today

Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 2 2/3 points! – Michael Yon - Into Thine Hand I Commit My Spirit
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – (Tie*) –Jules Crittendon - Damn The Naughts
• Second place with 1 2/3 points– (Tie*) – Villainous Company - The Official 2010 Villainous Company Banned Bloggers List
• Third place with 1 1/3 points – Media Backspin - 10 Significant Articles From the ‘Noughties’ Decade
• Fourth place with 1 point – Next Web - Google Blocking Negative Search Recommendations On Islam – Why?
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Powerline - John Brennan’s disgraceful performance
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Big Hollywood - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Military Blogger Michael Yon Detained, Handcuffed by TSA in Seattle Airport
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Bernard Goldberg - And What Exactly Is Wrong With Profiling
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – The Mudville Gazette - # Taliban Kill 8 CIA Agents in Afghanistan

Trust the Israelis to make a joke out of this…Menachem Jerenberg in the Jerusalem Post.

The Noughties are so over!

Welcome to the latest edition of the Watcher’s Council nominations, some of the best writing from a group of the most incisive blogs in the`sphere. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The Council votes to pick the winners in each category and the results can be seen in this space on Friday morning.

COUNCIL NEWS:

This week, LawGambit got the drop on the competition and took advantage of our generous link whorage offer this week, earning an honorable mention. If you wish to have your blog earn an honorable mention and have a piece of yours appear on the Watcher’s Council page next week, the opportunity is open and up for grabs.

Here’s how you do it:

So, without further ado, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• Joshuapundit - 58% Of Americans Want The Crotch Bomber Waterboarded – And the Left Is Outraged!
• Wolf Howling - Knee JERK Reaction Of Progressives
• Soccer Dad - The Very Model Of A Modern UN Bureaucrat
• The Colossus of Rhodey - Is This ‘Hypocrisy’?
• Bookworm Room- San Francisco: America’s homegrown anarchic totalitarianism
• American Digest - Lowballing Death: Keeping the Northwest 253 Numbers Down
• The Razor - Firing Napolitano Not Enough to Make America Safer
• Right Truth - Jihad vs Terrorism Today
• The Glittering Eye - Facing Chinese Mercantilism
• The Provocateur - Inside the mind of Dr. Anna Chacko
• Rhymes With Right - Talk about Insincerity
• Mere Rhetoric - Iran To US: No Visa For Kerry, Please Consider Yourself Officially Humiliated
  

Honorable Mentions

• LawGambit - Just Another Wannabe Lawyer

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: Wolf Howling – Jules Crittenden - Damn The Naughts
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Michael Yon Into Thine Hand I Commit My Spirit
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Media Backspin - 10 Significant Articles From the ‘Noughties’ Decade
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – Powerline - John Brennan’s disgraceful performance
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Big Hollywood - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Military Blogger Michael Yon Detained, Handcuffed by TSA in Seattle Airport
• Submitted By: American Digest– NeoNeoCon - Avatar: The War Against Humans
• Submitted By: The Razor – Radical Islam.Org - CAIR: Empowering Muslims to Ignore Terrorism
• Submitted By: Right Truth – Michelle Malkin - Airline security idiocy of the day: Milblogger Michael Yon handcuffed, Joan Rivers blocked
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – Villainous Company - The Official 2010 Villainous Company Banned Bloggers List
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Bernard Goldberg - And What Exactly Is Wrong With Profiling
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – Mudville Gazette - Taliban Kill 8 CIA Agents in Afghanistan
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – The Next Web - Google Blocking Negative Search Recommendations On Islam – Why?

The Council has spoken, choosing the first winners of 2010 in this week’s competition. And there’s some superb weekend reading in in store for you.

In the Council category, the overwhelming winner – I don’t believe anyone’s ever gotten a higher vote total – this week was Wolf Howling with his excellent essay on the unrest in Iran Ashura – A New Phase To The Revolution:

It cannot be stated often enough that Obama’s lack of leadership and his lack of strategic vision in failing to decisively support revolution in Iran are mistakes of the highest order. While Obama plays golf in Hawaii, the people of Iran are fighting, bleeding and dying in the streets for freedom from the oppression of a regime that is every bit as much our and the world’s enemy as it is the Iranian people’s. While Obama’s foreign policy acts of his first year have been one misstep after another, it is this misstep that is exponentially the worst. [Update: Obama has since made a reasonably strong statement in support of the protesters (see here), though he still does not condemn the regime as illegitimate. I applaud Obama's decision to finally speak up. That said, it remains to be seen whether this marks a months late decision by Obama to lend decisive support to the protesters (something which even WaPo, in an editorial, is calling upon him to do) or whether Obama has made merely a pro forma statement that he does not intend to follow up.]

By all accounts, the Iranian peoples’ protests against the regime yesterday on the holy day of Ashura (see here) were the “largest,” “bloodiest,” and most wide spread of the protests to date. There are several things of significance about yesterday’s protests that suggest Ashura marks a new phase to the revolution.

In the wake of the mid level cleric-cum-Supreme Guide Khameini’s ever more brutal repression, the size of Iran’s protests had been dwindling since June. The people of Iran, other than a hard core at the center, appeared to be cowed. That has been reversed. The size of the protests that began earlier this week with Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral and culminated in yesterday’s holy day of Ashura were back to, if not in excess of, June levels. Moreover, they involved new and different classes of protesters. The protests now included many religious Iranians outraged at the regime’s lack of principals and many of the lower class. The protests show a very much revitalized opposition to the regime that is, as Michael Ledeen notes, “very broad based.”

In the non-Council category the winner this week is the always fascinating Robert J. Averach at Seraphic Secret with
his take on th edifferences between airline security in israel as opposed to the rest of the West, Suicide In Slow Motion:

Flying is unbearable.

Not because we’re jammed like sardines into a steel tube and frequently treated like cheap luggage by the obviously unhappy flight attendants.

No, air travel is a horror because radical Islam has terrorized the entire planet. If we did not have checkpoints in every airport, in every terminal, death would endlessly rain from the skies.

I’m always amused by those who decry the Israeli checkpoints that are maintained in order to thwart terrorist attacks.

Checkpoints in Israel are not restricted to the movement of Arab Muslims.

No, when you go to a mall in Israel you have to pass through a checkpoint. If you go to the movies, checkpoint. Restaurant, cafe, department store—everyone passes through a checkpoint.

In Israel, checkpoints are a way of life. The citizenry, right wing, left wing, Jew, Muslim, Mormon, Christian, Druze, Coptic, Catholic, Samaritan, Russian Orthodox, whatever, everyone submits because checkpoints are designed to protect, well, everyone.

The PLO pioneered airline terrorism—who says Islam isn’t an innovator?—and ever since their reign of terror began in the 60′s the world is held hostage by a growing number of caliphate Muslims, creatures who yearn for the 7th century even as they use the technology of the 21st century to bring about Armageddon.

When I move through our airports and observe the TSA workers, I do not feel safe. That’s because the TSA workers seem more like the product of some dopey works program. They are interchangeable with the angry bureaucrats at the DMV or the U.S. Post Office.

This is a stark contrast to the intense and eagle-eyed El Al security agents who are actually trained in counter terrorism, and whose methods are mostly invisible and involve vetting passengers before they get to the airport.Council Notes: If you want to see your blog piece listed on the Watcher’s Council page as an honorable mention, our generous offer of link whorage remains open. Here’s how you take advantage of it:

Here’s the complete rundown of this week’s results. Only the Provocateur and Mere Rhetoric were unable to vote, but only Mere Rhetoric was affected by the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty.

I can’t wait to see next week’s exciting entries, and as always, congratulations not only to the winners but to all the participants.

Have a wonderful New Year, from all of us at the Watcher’s Council!

Council Submissions

• First place with 4 1/3 points! – Wolf Howling - Ashura – A New Phase To The Revolution
• Second place with 2 points – The Razor - Hard Choices Needed to Stop Terrorism
• Third place with 1 point – (Tie*) – Bookworm Room - The Princess and the Frog — Disney’s Gift to American Blacks
• Third place with 1 point – (Tie*) –Right Truth - 300 terrorists in Yemen planning terror attacks: Bare your body and pay them money!
• Third place with 1 point – (Tie*) –Soccer Dad - What’s There to Debate
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) – Joshuapundit - # The Christmas Crotch Bomber – How He Almost Succeeded And How To Stop Him In The Future
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (Tie*) – Rhymes With Right - A Global Warming Observation
• Fifth place with 1/3 point –(Tie*) – American Digest - The Emperor’s new speech impediment
• Fifth place with 1/3 point –(Tie*) – The Colossus of Rhodey - Liberal Trek
• Fifth place with 1/3 point –(Tie*) – Mere Rhetoric - Obligatory Post About New Organ Harvesting Story That Provides “No Evidence” For Organ Harvesting Libel
• Fifth place with 1/3 point –(Tie*) – The Provocateur - Sarah Palin: Crazy Like a Fox

Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 3 points! – Seraphic Secret - Suicide in Slow Motion
• Second place with 2 2/3 points – Rhymes with Cars & Girls - The Smart People Crowd
• Third place with 1 1/3 points– The Volokh Conspiracy - The Unorganized Militia Once Again is Needed
• Fourth place with 1 point – Serious Medicine Strategy - Surgery For Life: How Romanticism and Religion Are Working With Science To Improve Medicine
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Doug Ross @ Journal - Judicial Watch Announces Most Corrupt Politicians of 2009 Awards
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Dick Morris - Griffith’s Switch Illustrates Death of Moderate Dems
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – The Volokh Conspiracy - Assessing Airport Security Measures
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Hudson New York - Shhh…Mubarak is building a wall
• Fifth place with 2/3 point (Tie*) – Gates Of Vienna - The Death Bells of the Occident
• Sixth place with 1/3 point(Tie*) – Commentary/Jonathan Tobin - Comic Book Hate: a New Chapter in Anti-Israel Bias at the New York Times
• Sixth place with 1/3 point(Tie*) – Impeach Obama Campaign.com - Does The Left Want To Impeach Obama Too?

Welcome to the latest edition of the Watcher’s Council nominations, some of the best writing from a group of the most incisive blogs in the`sphere. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The Council votes to pick the winners in each category and the results can be seen in this space on Friday morning.

COUNCIL NEWS:

This week, The OyVaY Blog took advantage of our generous link whorage offer this week, and earned honorable mention. If you wish to have your blog earn an honorable mention and have a piece of yours appear on the Watcher’s Council page next week, the opportunity is open and up for grabs.

Here’s how you do it:

So, without further ado, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• Wolf Howling - Ashura – A New Phase To The Revolution
• Right Truth - 300 terrorists in Yemen planning terror attacks: Bare your body and pay them money!
• The Razor - Hard Choices Needed to Stop Terrorism
• Bookworm Room- The Princess and the Frog — Disney’s Gift to American Blacks
• The Provocateur - Sarah Palin: Crazy Like a Fox
• The Glittering Eye - The Underwear Bomber
• Soccer Dad - What’s There To Debate
• Mere Rhetoric - Obligatory Post About New Organ Harvesting Story That Provides “No Evidence” For Organ Harvesting Libel
  
• The Colossus of Rhodey - Liberal Trek
• American Digest - The Emperor’s New Speech Impediment
• Rhymes With Right - A Global Warming Observation
• Joshuapundit - The Christmas Crotch Bomber – How He Almost Succeeded And How To Stop Him In The Future

Honorable Mentions

• The OyVay Blog - Tweeting About Iran

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By:The Watcher– Commentary/Jonathan Tobin - Comic Book Hate: a New Chapter in Anti-Israel Bias at the New York Times
• Submitted By: Wolf Howling – Doug Ross @ Journal - Judicial Watch Announces Most Corrupt Politicians of 2009 Awards
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Seraphic Secret Suicide in Slow Motion
• Submitted By: Right Truth – Powerline - Obama and the Iranian protesters — mutuality of interests but not of spirit
• Submitted By: The Razor – Volokh Conspiracy - The Unorganized Militia Once Again is Needed
  
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Impeach Obama Campaign.com - Does The Left Want To Impeach Obama Too?
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – Serious Medicine Strategy - Surgery For Life: How Romanticism and Religion Are Working With Science To Improve Medicine
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – The Volokh Conspiracy - Assessing Airport Security Measures
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – Hudson New York - Shhh…Mubarak is building a wall
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – Discriminations - Are Republicans More Principled Than Democrats?
• Submitted By: American Digest– Rhymes with Cars & Girls - The Smart People Crowd
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – Gates Of Vienna - The Death Bells of the Occident
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Dick Morris - Griffith’s Switch Illustrates Death of Moderate Dems