The latest National Journal bloggers poll results are up, with thoughts from several council members. At issue is the expected voter anger come November and the likelihodd of a Republican takeover of the House. Debbie Hamilton (Right Truth) gets a special mention.

Congratulations to the Provocateur, Mike Volpe, for getting mentioned by op-ed columnist John Kass of the Chicago Tribune. Like Kass, Volpe is fascinated by (and studies and reports on) the corruption that permeates Chicago’s political class. Great job!

The National Journal features a weekly bloggers poll on hot political topics. A number of Council members are part of this panel. This week’s poll is now in the Blogometer section and Bookworm gets a special mention at the top.

She was answering whether President Obama is likely to end up serving only a single term. Unlike Bookworm, and the other council members, I still think that he’ll be a two term president. While his politics may not be popular, I believe he is a skilled enough campaigner that he will be able to run on his personality not his record. Clearly, on the right side of the blogosphere, I am in a minority.

Do you have an opinion?

First of all happy 6th blogiversary to council member The Glittering Eye. Much continued success!

Many thanks to Council friend Doug Ross for recently mentioning council members American Digest, Wolf Howling and Soccer Dad!

As Watcher, I’d like to keep the blogging world apprised of the activities of the Council members. A number of us are polled weekly by the National Journal. The latest bloggers poll is here. The question were whether passing health care reform will help the Democrats or the Republicans and between Rahm Emanual and David Axelrod, who helps and who hurts the White House.

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.

If you have a Facebook account I recommend that you look us up and become a fan at the Watcher of Weasels fan page. I will try to give previews of the upcoming contests and use it as the main conduit of communication between our readers and The Watchers Council.

Don’t be shy! Come on over and join in the discussion!

If you don’t have a Facebook account yet you should. Of all the social networking sites this is one of the most secure sites and allows you to tailor your anonymity and privacy to suit your own needs.

While you are up there invite your friends with the “share” link after becoming a fan of our page.

Hope to see you there!

- The Watcher

I am a bit ahead of myself on tomorrow’s competition so I decided to take this moment to link up a couple of articles that might keep you occupied for today.

In the failing our children slowly section comes this article about some California schools receiving “bathrooms in a box” as an emergency measure for classrooms that are under lock down for various reasons but mostly because of school wide fights.

They are now fixtures in every classroom in Turlock, California.

Teachers returned from winter break to find a bathroom-in-a-box on their desk, complete with toilet paper and all the accessories, marked For Lockdown Only.

Staff members assembled the kits to use during long-term lockdowns like the four hours Patterson High School students spent in their classrooms last fall when fights broke out on campus.

Shielded by their classmates, Patterson teens used trash cans as toilets until police allowed students and teachers outside.

The incident spurred school superintendents across Stanislaus county, to discuss ways to make sure history did not repeat itself.

Hence, in Turlock, the emergency toilets. Maintenance workers put together 701 of them over the winter break, enough to supply every classroom in the district that needed one. They cost $20 (£13) each, or about $14,000 total – the equivalent of nearly 200 high school textbooks.

I attended high school in the late 70′s in a Chicago suburb and can’t remember there being a rash of school violence. Sure there were incidents but they were relatively few. Crap, schools even had rifle and archery clubs back then. In our high school fights could be settled on the top floor gym that was set up as a boxing ring. Most people didn’t go there more than once.

Nowadays however it seems that school administrators and teachers have completely lost the ability to control their students; something I consider an ugly product of liberal policies and rampant litigation by parents that are offended when their children get disciplined. Sad.

Speaking of weasels (the nicest thing I can say about the people I am making reference to) make sure you head over to Zombie Time to see how pro-Hamas morons in California protest Israel. Some of these people are professional protesters but most are just joooohaters.

Pretty embarrased to be American at times like these. What a great lesson for the kids of America.

See you tomorrow.

After a long and arduous selection process we are proud to announce two new members to the Watcher of Weasels Council.

Please join me in welcoming Mere Rhetoric and The Provocateur as our newest members.

We have spent a couple of months revamping the site and looking for writers that will bring the most compelling topics to your attention.

Please visit our new members and read what they have been up to.

Regards,
The Watcher