Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week’s question: Do You Think The Obama Administration’s decision to Get Actively Involved in The Syrian Civil War Is A Good Idea?

 Simply Jews: The WH need to respond to the Syria Civil war makes me commiserate with the lose-lose situation WH is in regarding this conundrum.

To provide arms to the people that will almost certainly turn the weapons against the people who provided them in the first place is not an appetizing choice. It has already happened during the so called “Arab Spring”, the best example being Libya,as it happened in Afghanistan and in other places.

To do nothing and to watch the numbers of dead and wounded mounting, as do the numbers of fugitives all around Syria, is also not a pleasant alternative.

Many good people call for the military assistance to be provided immediately, and of course there is no good explanation why not to do it. Many other good people warn about the dire consequences of providing the military assistance to raving Al Qaeda and other fundies, and there is no good answer for these too.

So there.

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD: Syriavention? Too little too late. All indications indicate an upcoming blitz on Aleppo is like in the last bit of planning and a Gotterdammerung battle will last perhaps two or maybe even 3 weeks.

Unless 44 plans on using American troops on station in Jordan to split Syrian forces (either by crossing the border or just by making tons of noise to distract forces needed for Aleppo), by the time Great Satan is all crunk up for intervention it will only be like an honor guard for the rebels trek to annihilation.

For now – right now – looks like 44″s posse wants both sides to lose – including civilians – and will most likely not go much further than maintaining a bloody stand off stalemate.

What is also evident is that ebberdobby else involved in the conflict—and the cats that are sponsoring them—is still waiting on 44. On Assad’s side, Russia, Iran, HizBAllah, and Iraq have helped to somersault the tide of conflict against Syrian Free Army and Rebellious rebels, and they’ve sweetly enjoyed prett much free rein in light of 44″s tardiness and limited response (only civilian and medical stuff so far). NATO like France and Great Britain – are holding back for 44 to lead.

The real quiz is: Can 44 continue a neither-in-nor-out approach to ye olde Suriya al Kubra since it’s like a real live humanitarian and regional disaster that could threaten the unstable stability of the entire Middle East?

See, the influx of foreign weaponry- Iranian drones, HizBAllah brigades, and more better and more effective Russian style tactics have allowed the Syrian military to isolate the rebels into urban pockets before handing them their assets and defeating them in detail. Supplying hot up to date anti-panzer and anti-aircraft weaponry might give the rebels a chance to counter attack heavy duty forces constricting their areas. Yet the fear that MANPADS and Kornet rockets might end up in Western nations are carnage creators for terrorists is a real threat

It looks like Bashar’s cats and allies have compromised the rebels’ communications networks, so secure communication abilities might help conduct surprise ops without giving away their plots and advertising it to their enemies.

This stuff alone is prob not near enough to turn the tide though. Syria (on paper anywrought) has an armed to the teeth military of ginormous size and appears to have learned some dang hard lessons in the last 6 months.

The best option would most likely be for Great Satan to give up unconventional warfare advice and training from Special Ops.

 JoshuaPundit: America has never had a dog in the Syrian civil war. But an intervention in Syria has several benefits for President Obama, if not for America.

First, from a political standpoint it provides an important  distraction from the myriad scandals now confronting the administration.The Obama Administration has known about what was going on in Syria for a long time, but only now has it suddenly become imperative that we intervene there.

From standpoint of this president’s agenda, an American intervention accomplishes several things.

The aim of President Obama and his cronies from day one has been the idea that  ending  America’s problems with the Muslim world involves  promoting Islamism at home and abroad and creating ‘daylight’ between America and Israel by destroying the alliance between the two countries.

We have already seen President Obama do his part to create and fund Islamist regimes in Libya and Egypt as well as funding  the Hamas regime in Gaza. He wants to do the same in Syria, even if it means arming and financing al-Qaeda jihadis.

The chief financial backers of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists worldwide and the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda dominated rebels in Syria have been Saudi Arabia and  Qatar, while logistical support for the Syrian rebels has come from the Islamist regime of Turkey. What’s evolved in Syria is a Sunni vs. Shi’ite  proxy war somewhat similar to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980′s. The Syrian Sunni rebels have been augmented by Sunni jihadis from various places while the Assad regime has drawn on Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as well as Russian support. The rebels are losing because they’re running short on manpower, and the Saudis and Qataris want someone else to do the fighting.

That’s why they’ve dragged the United States into this.

If the rebels win, not only has President Obama gained some points with the Saudis, Turks and Qataris by putting together yet another hardline Islamist regime, but this one, like Egypt, will be on Israel’s borders. Jordan, where the Brotherhood is also quite strong will also be destabilized and may very well be the next piece of the Caliphate that is forming.

   President Obama and his Secretary of State are already making demands of Israel that even Israel’s most  die hard  Leftists can’t support.  When push comes to shove and if  the inevitable war starts, don’t be surprised if President Obama cuts Israel off from armaments and supplies.

The Noisy Room: Emphatically, no. Not for us, any way — it’s a good idea for the Obama Administration as it creates more confusion for Americans and supports Islam. It depletes our military resources; it guts our Treasury (by 50 million a day), it creates illusions of security, while creating anxieties about security… in summary, if you are in the chaos business, this is a good thing.

We have just aligned ourselves with Turkey, al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. We are now at war, not only with Syria, but also — by proxy — Russia and Iran. There are bad guys on both sides, but by siding with the Muslim Brotherhood, we are actively pushing forth a worldwide Caliphate and Obama knows this. The CIA just announced that they are going to arm the rebels, which gives cover to the whole Benghazi atrocity and gives plausibility to Ambassador Stevens and the CIA running guns for the rebels. So, helping the rebels will provide cover for Obama and Clinton to a certain extent to justify their monstrous misdeeds. Glenn Beck predicted this and was right on the money. President Obama also signed a secret order giving support to Syrian rebels and John “we-have-nothing-to-fear-from-an-Obama-presidency” McCain visited them and gave them credibility as well. See a picture forming here? I do.

I firmly believe we have entered WW III and don’t even know it yet. Thanks to Obama, not only has this Administration destroyed America financially with the Cloward and Piven strategy and Alinsky tactics, he has discredited our military and defense agencies and now is ushering in the mother of all wars. Hell, he’s not reshaping America, he’s melting her down and helping to beat her into servile plowshares on the radical Islamic forge.

You are seeing radical Islam align with Marxists to accomplish ‘change’ globally into a hellish worldwide dictatorship. Under cover of this war, the Jihadists will attempt the destruction of Israel to further solidify the Caliphate. And I predict, either directly or indirectly, the US will help them. We have chosen the wrong side and are heading down a very dark path. Syria is the gate to global hell.

Liberty’s Spirit: There are almost 100,000 dead and millions of refugees, but the redline for Obama was 150 killed with chemical weapons? What even happened to the “responsibility to protect” that was touted so much when he illegally intervened in Libya? Apparently that theory only works if your country has oil reserves that the Europeans want to protect and if Russia is not their “sugar daddy,” nor Iran their ally. Quite frankly this move at this time is insulting to the world’s intelligence. He is two years too late.

Interesting how when Obama could have intervened and perhaps influenced in some manner any democratically aligned members of the opposition he refused. Instead, those that helped the opposition were Sunni Islamists, mostly Wahhabis. So we are now going to help Islamists in Syria who think that after they destroy Assad their next goal is to destroy Israel and then United States. The opposition has also been shown to commit many war crimes. They have butchered non-Sunnis and have slaughtered Christians. Their goal is to drive out any non-Moslem from Syria. These are not Jeffersonian democrats, but another group of mass murderers.

In truth, Obama allowed Syria to become the new juxtaposition of the old “cold war,” with Putin asserting his influence in the Middle East through Assad and the west trying to catch up by influencing the Islamists on the opposition. (As if the Islamist have respect for the United States. Use the US yes they will, and then they will turn us in no time, just like in Libya.) If the west had not waited Russia would not be as strong as it is today in the region and neither would Iran. But the problem is that the Obama administration has no idea what it is doing vis-à-vis foreign policy and especially in the Middle East. It has spent the last four years blaming every Middle East issue on Israel and specifically the settlements in Judea and Samaria. These foreign policy clowns allowed the Arab world to fall into chaos, they supported Islamist take overs in major American allies, have threatened the few pro-American Arab regimes that still exist, and created a much more dangerous world for everyone.

The best part will be when this “Arab Winter” is all “over” the Obama administration is going to demand a “Peace Conference” where Israel is to give up Judea, Samaria, part of Jerusalem to the Islamist supporting and aligned PA ( to appease the Saudis and all Obama’s Islamists friends)and then give back the Golan Heights to the murderers that will be governing Syria, whoever that will be. It’s already started with the US Secretary of State saying how the world blames Israel for all the Islamo-terrorism. This is the next phase in Obama’s foreign policy plan: sacrifice the Jews of Israel to appease the Islamists, as the world once sacrificed the Sudetenland to appease Hitler. Israel will sanely refuse. The war that will come between Israel and the Islamists, will finally at least decide the region’s stability for a decade. And Israel will survive as she always has, because she relied only on herself and did not ask the world’s permission to survive. Meanwhile, Obama , because the inadequate can never take any blame themselves, will blame any and all devastation in the Middle East and its repercussions throughout the world, on the Jews and undercut Israel as much as he can. In their true nature as well, the leftist-Jewish-American-Obama-sycophants in the US will join in the Obama-blame-Israel-chorus. It’s coming you mark my words.

 The Razor:  As a superpower we’re involved whether we want to be or not. Obama failed to realize this two years ago, but now evidently recognizes that saying “Assad’s days are numbered,” is meaningless unless you actually do something to make that statement true. Back then the Syrian opposition was much more secular and broad; today it’s devolved into a Sunni vs Shiite brawl with al Qaeda leading the most effective elements of the opposition. If al Qaeda suddenly renounced terror and promised to rescue kittens and give presents to dying children I’d still want to see them at the business end of a hellfire missile. The only thing we should help al Qaeda do is kill themselves.

When the enemy of your enemy is still your enemy, there isn’t much you can do except support both sides. So far we have supported the Iranians and Hezbollah by doing nothing, so in a sense that’s not a bad thing considering lots of jihadis have been sent to Paradise without us firing a shot – proof that inaction is an action of sorts. Now that they are losing, it is time to alter the balance in favor of the jihadis so that body bags get sent back to Teheran and south Lebanon. The easiest and safest way to do this is through a no-fly zone that would prevent Assad from using air attacks against the jihadis and resupplying his regime’s, Iran’s and Hezbollah’s troops.

With the addition of Susan Rice to the National Security Advisor, and Samantha Powers to UN ambassador, two liberal interventionists to posts of power, I’m not surprised to see Obama end his Hamlet imitation. They are probably fretting about the dead Syrian civilians, and although the humanitarian impulse in me exists, there is no reason I would risk my stepson’s life, or anyone else’s son or daughter, to fulfill this impulse. But the Machiavellian in me appreciates a good opportunity to bash America’s enemies on both sides of the dispute, and a no-fly zone allows this to happen without very much risk to American life or property.

I doubt you anyone else would support intervening in Syria for this reason, and it’s a shame. It’s exactly what our politicians should be doing: thinking about what is best for America first, and letting the world sort itself out on its own.

Rhymes With Right: The problem here is that Obama’s commitment to the war is so vague that it can mean anything.  Today it is weapons — how long until it is troops?  And how will he ensure that the weapons given to fight in Syria will end up in the hands of non-terrorist, non-Islamist forces?  II don’t see how he can.

Of course, maybe he can put each rebel through the same background check he wants for American citizens before they get guns — and then limit the number of rounds of ammo each gets to the same number he and other gun grabbers want to impose on American

 Bookworm Room: No.  It might have been a good thing two years ago, when a little American oomph could have knocked Assad out of power and allowed room for reform.  Two years and eighty-thousands dead bodies later, it’s too late.  Syria is now mired in a proxy war between Iran and al Qaeda, with us now siding with al Qaeda — and we know how well that alliance will turn out based upon our experiences in Libya. 

I predicted this in 2008.  Not precisely this, of course, but I predicted that, with an obviously weak horse in the White House, all Hell would break loose somewhere or everywhere.

  Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results  for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity.

CICERO, Pro Publio Sestio

History is philosophy teaching by examples.

THUCYDIDES, The History of the Peloponnesian War

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s  The Anniversary Of A Miracle – Israel’s Victory In The Six Day War is my attempt to combat a certain strain of revisionism quite popular nowadays in some circles and write about a time not so long ago when a free people fought alone, outnumbered and without allies against tyranny and won an amazing victory.  Here’s a slice:

 Today is the anniversary of a modern miracle, the Israeli victory of the Six Day War, מלחמת ששת הימים, or Milhemet Sheshet Ha Yamim in Hebrew. It saw an outnumbered Israel beat back an attempt at destruction and genocide, reunite Jerusalem, and bring the strategic Golan and the historic Jewish homelands of Judea and Samaria back under Israeli sovereignty. It’s worth recounting 46 years later, when Israel’s mortal enemies once again gather to attempt to destroy her.

Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser had formed a military alliance with Syria, the United Arab Republic (UAR) and with the aid of the Soviet Union, both countries had built up a substantial military force, vastly outnumbering Israel in tanks, planes and manpower.

After the 1956 war,the Israelis had agreed to withdraw from Sinai based on President Eisenhower’s guarantees that provided for a UN peacekeeping force to be stationed there to prevent feydayeen terrorist raids on Israel, the main cause (at least from the Israeli standpoint) of the ’56 war.

Another part of the ceasefire agreement that ended the 1956 war concerned the Straits of Tiran, a waterway connecting the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea and Israel’s sole Red Sea outlet for the port of Eilat.

According to the ceasefire ratified by the UN, the Straits of Tiran were to be considered an international waterway with full access to Israeli shipping.

On May 17th, 1967, after a huge amount of rhetoric about annihilating every Jew in Israel, Nasser demanded an immediate withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping troops from the Sinai. Secretary General U Thant immediately complied in less than 24 hours without informing the Israelis until Egyptian forces had already reentered the Sinai.

Nasser subsequently deployed a huge force of troops,tanks and artillery in the Sinai. The Egyptians massed over 100,000 troops in the Sinai, including all of its seven divisions (four infantry, two armored and one mechanized), four independent infantry brigades and four independent armored brigades. At least one third of them were veterans of Egypt’s intervention into the Yemen Civil War, and the Egyptian forces included 950 tanks, 1,100 APCs and more than 1,000 artillery pieces, many of them of the latest Soviet models.

On May 23rd, Nasser announced a blockade of the Straights of Tiran, saying in a speech to his troops in Sinai:

… Yesterday the armed forces [of Egypt] occupied Sharm el-Sheikh. What does this mean? It is an affirmation of our rights, of our sovereignty over the Gulf of Aqaba, which constitutes Egyptian territorial waters. Under no circumstances can we permit the Israeli flag to pass through the Gulf of Aqaba. The Jews threaten war. We say that they are welcome to war, we are ready for war, our armed forces, our people, all of us are ready for war, but under no circumstances shall we abandon our rights. These are our waters …

At the same time, the Syrians began massing 75,000 troops, artillery and armor on the Golan Height to the north of Israel, where they held the high ground and were dug in.

Jordan, to Israel’s east signed a mutual defense pact with the UAR on May 30th and moved 55,000 troops and 300 tanks to the border.

Documents captured by the Israelis from the Jordanians show that contrary to popular belief, the Jordanians always intended to go to war against Israel – it was by no means a last minute decision. The Arab Legion’s Hashemite Brigade had orders to capture the Israeli town of Ramot Burj Bir Mai’in in a night raid, codenamed “Operation Khaled”. This was to be the base of operations for the capture of Lod and Ramle. The “go” codeword to be was “Sa’ek” and end was “Nasser”. The Jordanians also planned for the capture of Motza and Sha’alvim in the strategic Jerusalem Corridor. Motza was the target of Infantry Brigade 27 camped near Ma’ale Adummim: “The reserve brigade will commence a nighttime infiltration onto Motza, will destroy it to the foundation, and won’t leave a remnant or refugee from among its 800 residents”

Along with these forces, at Jordan’s invitation the Iraqi army sent 100 tanks and an infantry division to join in the fighting along with two squadrons of fighter aircraft.

The Israeli troops even with their available reserves were out numbered by more than two to one, and in tanks and combat aircraft by more than three to one.

Efforts to try and resolve the crisis in the UN came to absolutely nothing as the Soviets and the European nations who found Arab oil far more valuable than Jewish blood combined to torpedo any meaningful settlement as Israel’s economy began to falter and the Arabs continued to mass troops and equipment for an obvious coming attack meant to wipe out every Jew in Israel, a goal the Arabs made no secret of.

The final push towards war came when Israel chief arms supplier, President DeGaulle of France abruptly informed the Israelis on June 1st that he would no longer sell them arms or spare parts for French-made equipment like Israel’s Dassault Mirage and Super Mystère jets or even fill existing orders.

Surrounded and outnumbered, the Israelis now also had to contend with the problem of resupply in a combat situation. They literally had no choice but to throw the dice and gamble on a quick and decisive victory before their equipment broke down for lack of spare parts and components.

So the decision was made to launch Operation Focus ( in Hebrew, Moked), a massive attack on the Egyptian Air Force.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Mark Steyn with  The All Seeing State submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s Steyn at his best as he  examines the effect of a permanent, rooted in place bureaucracy on a free society and its institutions. Do read it.

OK, here are this week’s full results. The Razor, due to a storm and the resulting loss of power was only able to vote for Council Selections, having been unable  to read this week’s non-Council selections.Send some thoughts, prayers and good energy his way.

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit –The Anniversary Of A Miracle – Israel’s Victory In The Six Day War
• Second place with 2 votes – The Right Planet – What Are Some Good ‘Liberal’ Books?
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Bookworm Room- Game of Thrones and how the things that we watch reveal something about who we are and what we’ve become
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 vote –VA Right! –NSA Leaker Snowden: Hero or Traitor?
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 vote –The Noisy Room –Samantha Power: The Hand That Rocks A Nation
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –TheRazor- The Power of Islamic Propaganda
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Liberty’s Spirit- Autism-Meme as Political Insult
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi- My First Fist-Fight in the Navy
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Poll Shows Support for Affirmative Action Dwindling
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Nice Deb –National Organization for Marriage’s John Eastman RIPS Democrats At IRS Hearing + Proof IRS Leaked Confidential Donor List to Political Rival
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews –More fun and games with Alice Walker

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Mark Steyn- The All Seeing State submitted by Joshuapundit 
• Second place  with 2 1/3 votes – Sultan Knish – We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here   submitted by The Noisy Room
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Victor Davis Hanson –Obama is Just Obama    submitted by The Razor
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3  votes – Doug Ross@Journal –The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format [Updated]      submitted by Nice Deb
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes -Alexis Simendinger/RealClearPolitics - Privacy, Security and Obama’s Uphill Quest for Trust    submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote  The Texas Scribbler -Our Creepy President   submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote- This Ongoing War –Will Appeasing Hezbollah Work Better Now Than it Did With Nazi Germany?   submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Michelle Malkin –Assimilation, Not Amnesty   submitted by VA Right!
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The National Journal –NSA Spying Scandal: 2006 or 2013?   submitted by The Right Planet
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Long War Journal –Iran’s Latin American Terror Network   submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Israel Thrives – The Nakba Stratagem   submitted by Bookworm Room
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Reason.Com –Obama’’s Last Gasp at a Legacy   submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Chicago Boyz –Peggy Noonan is figuring it out …   submitted by The Mellow Jihadi

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

Ch-ch-ch-Changes: Council Members Gay Patriot and The Independent Sentinel have departed the Council due to the need to concentrate on other pursuits, although they will still remain members of the WoW community. We’ve greatly enjoyed having them as part of our group and wish them well in their future endeavors.

But hey, just looky what we have here!

This week marks the stellar debut of Liberty’s Spirit and Nice Deb, two awesome writers we’ve been fans of for some time. They’re definitely going to add something special to the Council mix…check out their submissions this week and see if you don’t agree.

This week, Ask Marion, Right Truth, and The Pirate’s Cove took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then just return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning.

Simple, no?

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

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

Council Submissions

• The Political Commentator – Connecting the radical dots in Boston!
• Simply Jews – More fun and games with Alice Walker
• The Noisy Room – Samantha Power: The Hand That Rocks A Nation
• Liberty’s Spirit – Autism-Meme as Political Insult
• The Razor – The Power of Islamic Propaganda
• Joshuapundit-The Anniversary Of A Miracle – Israel’s Victory In The Six Day War
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Poll Shows Support for Affirmative Action Dwindling
• Nice Deb – National Organization for Marriage’s John Eastman RIPS Democrats At IRS Hearing + Proof IRS Leaked Confidential Donor List to Political Rival
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Beirut Is The Next Benghazi
• The Right Planet – What Are Some Good ‘Liberal’ Books?
• Bookworm Room – Game of Thrones and how the things that we watch reveal something about who we are and what we’ve become
• VA Right! - NSA Leaker Snowden: Hero or Traitor?
• The Glittering Eye -Weasels
• Rhymes With Right – A Long Distance Dedication To Obama Voters
• The Mellow Jihadi – My First Fist-Fight in the Navy

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – NSA Whistleblower Snowden in Exile as the Obama Scandals List Grows
• Right Truth – Soldier Who Read Conservative Books Faces Charges…
• The Pirate’s Cove – Bummer: NY Times Admits To 15 Year Pause In Global Warming

Non-Council Submissions

• Zero Hedge -Are Central Bankers Losing Control? submitted by The Political Commentator
• The Texas Scribbler – Our Creepy President submitted by Simply Jews
• Sultan Knish –We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here submitted by The Noisy Room
• This Ongoing War: A Blog – Will Appeasing Hezbollah Work Better Now Than it Did With Nazi Germany? submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Victor Davis Hanson –Obama is Just Obama submitted by The Razor
• Mark Steyn – The All Seeing State submitted by Joshuapundit
• Reason.com – Obama’’s Last Gasp at a Legacy submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Doug Ross @ Journal – The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format [Updated] submitted by Nice Deb
• The Long War Journal – Iran’s Latin American Terror Network submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• The National Journal – NSA Spying Scandal: 2006 or 2013? submitted by The Right Planet
• Israel Thrives-The Nakba Stratagem submitted by Bookworm Room
• Michelle Malkin – Assimilation, Not Amnesty submitted by VA Right!
• Alexis Simendinger/RealClearPolitics – Privacy, Security and Obama’s Uphill Quest for Trust submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Red State – IRS lectures pro-life group on acceptable speech, practice of religion. submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Chicago Boyz – Peggy Noonan is figuring it out … submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Gatestone Institute/Raheel Raza – On Israel’s President’s Conference submitted by The Watcher
• Ann Coulter – Tips For Right-Wingers On The IRS Scandal submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

The Razor: Elections have consequences, and unless it is proven that Obama stole the 2012 election outright or another scandal puts Obama personally in the cross-hairs of the American electorate, I do not expect him to resign based on what I know today.

For all the scandals of this administration going back to the refusal of the DoJ to prosecute the Black Panther voting intimidation case, I do not find it broken and collapsing around itself the way Nixon’s did in 1974. To reach that point Obama’s base is going to have to become disillusioned with him to the point where they are embarrassed they voted for him, and I don’t see that happening yet. He’s losing the legal Left supporters of the party, and I suspect Labor may be wavering with Obamacare and an immigration bill on the horizon, but he has not lost the black vote nor the limousine liberal elite that fund his machine. I’m familiar with Chicago politics having followed politics there for many years, and there’s nothing that his administration hasn’t done that wasn’t done before on a smaller scale in Chicago. The more people resist it the more vicious the administration is going to become, and I fully expect that when fall 2016 rolls around the country will be exhausted from the damage done by this administration to its enemies who will by that time include the majority of the Left, being that he’s done about all the damage he can possibly do to the Right aside from jailing it and banning the GOP.

There’s a reason why people hate Chicago politics; it’s complete bulls—t. The city doesn’t run better because of it. People’s lives aren’t better because of it. And it’s petty, corrupt and downright nasty. Americans don’t like seeing their national government reduced to such a state, and when the time comes they will do what is necessary to fix it. At least, that’s the hope. But maybe the right wing crazies are right and Obama will take power permanently. I had laughed at them before when they claimed the IRS was shaking them down, and the federal government was tapping their phone lines and following them online. I’m not laughing now.

Simply Jews: 1. To some degree. We usually overestimate the “wrath of the people”, especially in democratic societies. Vox populi tends to switch to the next topic only too frequently, and our “political memories” are too short.

2. Yes. Unless the economy lurches downward too strongly, he will stay glued to the chair.

The Noisy Room: My initial response is, “God, I hope he doesn’t finish his second term.” But reality tends to throttle that back and I imagine he will. Obama has definitely worn out his welcome with the American people, but even if impeachment proceedings are set in motion, with a Progressive Senate, I’m not sure it will bear fruit.

To the specific question, “has Barack Obama worn out his welcome with the American people?” I would have to say the answer is decidedly yes. The trouble is that it isn’t the “American people” who count the votes, choose the news, select the justice-du-jour and report the “facts” of what’s true, what’s popular and … oh! Look! A dandelion! Squirrel!!

Will he finish his second term? That depends. Unhappily it “depends” on a pet Justice Department, a compliant Senate, a dysfunctional House and, most importantly, an incurious, sycophantic Press. Now, if the “American People” can somehow penetrate that wall of blue-pill-ism, then maybe — very long odds, but maybe — we can exert enough pressure to effect real justice. Given the kind of awakening required for that, maybe we could have a meaningful impeachment. It would require Americans to recognize and deal with the Enemies Within — and there are a lot of them. So far, we seem to lack the intestinal fortitude to confront the evil that has infected our Republic.

Alternatively, I hear Ace Hardware is having a sale on pitchforks and the lawn & garden place up the street has some handsome torches. We could always storm the castle.

 JoshuaPundit: I’m fairly sure President Obama will finish his term for several reasons. First, because no one, not even Darrell Issa wants to undermine the F I R S T   B L A C K  P R E S I D E N T no matter how dysfunctional and corrupt he might be. Among other things, they’re afraid it might spark urban riots among a certain segment of society.

Ironically, the AP, IRS and .NSA scandals make it even less likely. This president has already shown a real readiness to use federal agencies to punish what he considers his political enemies, something that’s never been done before to this extent in our history.

And now that it’s known that all that data on ordinary Americans and their domestic communications has been hoovered up and digitally stored, does anyone doubt that when push comes to shove, this president and his regime would be willing to use things like private conversations, internet activity, communications with your doctor, lawyer, or  accountant, family, e-mails, credit card transactions, medical records, everything we’ve always presumed was private against anyone too troublesome?

Or to coerce people to support his agenda? Perhaps  to get a troublesome Supreme Court justice of two to ‘resign’ ? After all , isn’t that what was done with David Petraeus to get him to go along with the Benghazi fairy tale, and then discredit him and get him out of the picture? His mistress was using hotel networks to e-mail him and the NSA tracked those private e-mails and compared them with computerized hotel registration records.

This is a weapon of tyranny and coercion Hitler and Stalin only dreamt of.

In fact, I’ll be happy if we’re able to get rid of him by January 2017. There’s a distinct possibility we may not. One can only hope that the midterms will see a congress incoming that act as a shield against this president and his agenda. We’ll see.

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD:Oh, 44′s chance of continuity? Much as I’d love to see Americans realize this cat and his admin view taxpaying, non atheist, constitution, Bill of Rights, individualistic Great Satan fans as a way more dangerous threat than al Qaeda, China and Black Veil Brides rolled into one – thus giving his entire presidency the old heave ho – I personally doubt it.

VdH says it best methinks:

Is pursuing a rogue IRS or a John Mitchell–like attorney general really worth wounding the second term of a reelected liberal president? Do we really need another Watergate or Iran-Contra, when the possible outcome this time around is not stopping the regressive efforts of a Richard Nixon or a Ronald Reagan, but rather endangering the political survival of the first black president, and the first northern liberal to be elected president since John Kennedy a half-century earlier — and, with him, a long-overdue progressive agenda that so far has given us needed higher taxes, socialized medicine, more entitlements, and liberal social initiatives?

 The Glittering Eye: Barring some catastrophe, Barack Obama will serve out his complete term. He might be impeached by the House. After all, “high crimes or misdemeanors” are whatever the House thinks they are. However, even in the unlikely event of that taking place, there is no conceivable way the Senate, even a hypothetical Senate after 2014 with a Republican majority, would vote to convict.

Given those circumstances and recalling that the Republican Party of the 1990s did not benefit by impeaching Bill Clinton, I think it highly unlikely that the House would even take the step of impeaching the president.

It’s high time the Congressional Republicans moved on. Their task now is not removing President Obama but gaining control of the Congress. Anything that distracts from that task is wasted motion.

 Liberty’s Spirit: Here’s the answer to this weeks forum question. It is short and sweet.

Barack Obama has not worn out his welcome in the sense that he is President and will remain President until 2017. People may be unhappy with him as their choice right now, but that does not lead to the point where he would be impeached or forced to resign. Simple low popular polling does not a resignation nor an impeachment make.

Now everything may change if it is shown that he gave the direct order to use the IRS as a political weapon. At that point his actions would become an impeachable offense. But the other scandals, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, etc, are simply incompetence. Deadly incompetence to say the least, however not impeachable unless it can be shown that the President was in concert with our enemies to foment these disasters. Again I don’t think he is anything more than a complete incompetent, who surrounds himself with like minded venal anti-American incompetents.

He is here to stay until the next election whether we like it or not. Does this mean however, that he will be able to push his agenda through? That all depends on how well the GOP plays the incompetency card against every democratic candidate. If the GOP can attach each and every democrat to the failed policies of the Obama administration, the GOP has a good chance of retaining the House and picking up the Senate. At that point it doesn’t matter what Obama does. The Congress will be a bulwark against his programs.

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

Alea iacta est…the Council has spoken, the votes are in, and we have the results  for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

Some folk wisdom my father of blessed memory repeated to me early and often from a very young age: ‘Figures lie, and liars figure.’

This week’s winner,  The Myth Of The Hispanic Tidal Wave   by  Joshuapundit  was actually written a few weeks after the 2012 election, and was inspired by one of the myriad of commentators writing about how the tidal wave of Hispanic votes that re-elected Barack Hussein Obama spelled doom for the Republicans unless they abandoned conservatism and out-pandered Democrats for this vital new constituency. The way the article was written got my truth-meter ( something for which my parents had a far earthier barnyard-level term for) tingling, I did a bit of research and my father’s wisdom once more redeemed itself.

In view of the Gang of Eight’s recent antics with their amnesty bill, and a related piece that came out last week by Byron York, I decided it was more than relevant to unearth this one from the archives. Here’s a slice:

The latest rage among Republicans and Democrats alike is the Hispanic vote.

The Democrats smirk that the muscle of the Latino vote is going to make them a permanent majority and make the Republicans extinct, while GOP establishment types (and even some self described conservatives) pontificate that the election of 2012 is a message for the Republican to embrace amnesty for illegal aliens, to try to outdo the Democrats in gimmees and in raising taxes to pay for it and to drop any vestige of social conservatism.

One of these articles (in American Enterprise, no less) by Charles Murray points out that in his view the argument that Latinos naturally skew towards social conservatism is bogus..and as proof he offers another non-white group that went primarily for Barack Obama..Asians, who are another minority that ‘should have voted as natural social conservatives’ :

My thesis is that the GOP is in trouble across the electoral board because it has become identified in the public mind with social conservatism. Large numbers of Independents and Democrats who are naturally attracted to arguments of fiscal discipline, less government interference in daily life, greater personal responsibility, and free enterprise refuse to vote for Republicans because they are so put off by the positions and rhetoric of social conservatives, whom they take to represent the spirit of the “real” GOP.

This isn’t much of a thesis, frankly. First, Asians are an extremely diverse group..everyone from Chinese, Vietnamese and Koreans to Filipinos, Pakistanis and Indians ( a fairly diverse group in themselves). The figures cited make no mention of which Asians we’re talking about. I would bet my dollar to your dime that Koreans voted substantially different in the last election than Pakistanis, for example.

Since they’re not broken down but lumped together as a group, the best figure available is that Americans of Asian descent constitute 3% of the electorate, about 6, 450,000 voters.

So, what percentage of the Asian electorate actually voted? I couldn’t find those figures but let’s be very generous and say it was a 40% turnout. This would have been huge given that this was a very low turnout election. 73% of the Asians that actually voted went went for Obama, so we’re talking about 1,883,400 votes mainly concentrated in Blue states like California, New York, New Jersey and Michigan ( if we’re talking Pakistanis and Asian Muslims). That’s a grand total of 28% of the available Asian electorate if we’re talking a 40% turnout. It’s probably a lot less, especially when you break it down by individual groups.Barack Obama probably did better among Muslims than any other demographic except blacks.In any event, that means that 72% of the Asian electorate is either Republican or available.

Now, that got me thinking along the same lines when it comes to the Hispanic vote.

Hispanics, for example, are 9.07 of the current electorate ( 23.7 million voters). Of those,  only 12 million or so  of that 23.7 million voted and they went for Barack Obama by 67.5%,  a whopping 8 million  of the 12 million whom voted ..or  just about one third of the entire Hispanic votes available.

That means two thirds of the current Hispanic vote is either Republican or up for grabs.

That’s what all the verbiage and punditry is about….a grand total of less than 3.5% of the entire electorate, much of it already living in Blue States like California, New York and New Jersey. And that doesn’t even account for voter fraud in places like California where there are no voter ID laws.

There’s a lot more on this and what it means at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Ayaan Hirss Ali with The Problem of Muslim Leadership  submitted by Joshuapundit. In it, the renowned author and ex-Muslima looks at Islam-inspired terrorism and puts her finger on the real problem. Do read it.

OK, here are this week’s full results. Only The Right Planet was unable to vote this week, but was not subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit –The Myth Of The Hispanic Tidal Wave
• Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Simply Jews- Rachel Shabi speaks up, or the wail of the muzzled
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room-Could it be that CO2 has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the earth’s temperature? *UPDATED with help from Zombie*
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Noisy Room- The Gang of Eight Needs to Ride Into the Sunset with Their Amnesty Bill
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – VA Right!- Weaponizing the IRS Alinsky Style
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator- Fast and Furious finally grabs the attention of Americans!
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Glittering Eye-Downgraded Again
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Ottoman Spring
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor –To The Father of The Girl I Drove Behind on a Rural Highway in the Rain
• Fifth place  with 1/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi –Where I Write of My Nether Regions

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Ayaan Hirss Ali-The Problem of Muslim Leadership   submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 2  votes – Mark Steyn –The Lois Lerner Defense submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with 2  votes – Strategy Page –Believing The Islamic Lie     submitted by Bookworm Room
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes - Gates Of Vienna -The West Has an Irrevocable Duty to Help the Christians of the World    submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with  1 1/3 votes Flashpoints -China’s Amphibious Game Changer?   submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Mick Hartley –After Woolwich   submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Stately McDaniel Manor –Micro Intellects = Micro Stamping   submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Gavin McInnes/Taki’s Magazine – Gays Didn’t Kill Marriage, Divorce Did   submitted by The Razor
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Norman Podhoretz/Commentary  – “My Negro Problem-and Ours” at 50   submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Liberty’s Spirit, Ask Marion, and The Pirate’s Cove took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor  by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning

Simple, no?

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

Up For Grabs: I would like to remind our readers that there is a vacancy currently available in the Watcher’s Council. This is a very special group and a superb opportunity for a blogger to reach a wider audience, increase their traffic and showcase their work. If you think you qualify and are interested in applying, leave a comment with a link to your site, your e-mail address (which will remain confidential) and any questions you might have as a comment on any article over at Joshuapundit.

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – The Gang of Eight Needs to Ride Into the Sunset with Their Amnesty Bill
• Simply Jews – Rachel Shabi speaks up, or the wail of the muzzled
• The Political Commentator – Fast and Furious finally grabs the attention of Americans!
• Joshuapundit-The Myth Of The Hispanic Tidal Wave
• The Razor – To The Father of The Girl I Drove Behind on a Rural Highway in the Rain
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Ottoman Spring
• Bookworm Room – Could it be that CO2 has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the earth’s temperature? *UPDATED with help from Zombie*
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Boss Obama’s Post-Racial America
• VA Right! - Weaponizing the IRS Alinsky Style
• The Mellow Jihadi – Where I Write of My Nether Regions
• Rhymes With Right – Just Try And Prosecute Me!
• The Right Planet – ‘They Are Liars’: Beck Says These Then-And-Now Obama Videos Prove It
• The Glittering Eye -Downgraded Again

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – America’s Patriotic Season
• Liberty’s Spirit – Tiananmen Square Massacre Anniversary
• The Pirate’s Cove – 1st World Problems: Talking To Your Kids About “Climate Change”

Non-Council Submissions

• Mark Steyn–The Lois Lerner Defense submitted by The Noisy Room
• Mick Hartley – After Woolwich submitted by Simply Jews
• Ralph Peters -Middle East Genocide submitted by The Political Commentator
• Ayaan Hirss Ali – The Problem of Muslim Leadership submitted by Joshuapundit
• Gavin McInnes/Taki’s Magazine –Gays Didn’t Kill Marriage, Divorce Did submitted by The Razor
• Flashpoints – China’s Amphibious Game Changer? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Strategy Page-Believing The Islamic Lie submitted by Bookworm Room
• FrontPage Magazine – Obama Inc. Seeking Someone to Teach Al Qaeda in Gitmo to Paint Watercolor submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Western Journalism – Congressman’s Epic 1 Minute Obama Critique! submitted by VA Right!
• Stately McDaniel Manor –Micro Intellects = Micro Stamping submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Urban Grounds – Redistricting in the #TXLege — Time to End Minority-Majority Gerrymandered Districts submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Gates Of Vienna – The West Has an Irrevocable Duty to Help the Christians of the World submitted by The Watcher
• Sarah Honig – Another Tack: The light from London submitted by The Watcher
• Norman Podhoretz/Commentary –
  “My Negro Problem-and Ours” at 50 submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

The Razor: You make it sound like it’s a rational decision, like choosing between dishwasher detergents. Maybe I’m still romantic at heart but I don’t think reason plays much role in selecting a partner. Smarter people than me have written at length about attraction, including Desmond Morris, one of my favorite scientists. Where it comes in is after a long stretch of time, of unconscious day-to-day experience.

But one quality that did attract me to her was her forthrightness. I had been emotionally weakened by a series of dramatic emotional vampires who all delighted in constructing elaborate tests and vicious psychological games that looking back on it was as abusive to me psychologically as anything they could have physically done to me. She appeared and there were no games, no drama, no loaded questions. What you saw with her was you got. This had scared others away, fearing that it was an act and that she would be like the others, but she wasn’t.

And now, decades later I rely on that same no-nonsense quality that attracted me to her in the first place to keep me grounded. Whenever I begin to stray from who I am she’s there to call me on it. Sometimes it can be frustrating, when she says that a reaction I have to a particular event makes appear to be an “extremist.” But I trust her and question my reaction and when I do I find that I often respond in a knee-jerk way to a response that is easily misrepresented, misquoted or misguided on my part. She helps me to question my reaction, explore what underlies it and either come up with a better response or perhaps question the underlying assumption that caused the reaction.

In order for this to work one needs trust, and after all this time together I trust her more than I trust myself, so whenever we hit bumpy spots in our relationship that trust makes it easier to address the problem, find solutions and make apologies, swallowing as much pride as necessary.

 Simply Jews: Yes, it’s an excellent and important question, the only problem is that:

1. I wouldn’t dare to consider that now, since SWMBO might misunderstand the direction of my thoughts, which may result… oh well, it’s irrelevant to the question itself.
2. The question itself is largely irrelevant in my age bracket.
3. And the truth is that I hardly remember anything of value about the whole “seeking a partner” business.

Still, from what I do remember about these early days, which happened to be my university years as well: seeking a partner is a highly distracting occupation that tends to cause unimaginable harm to one’s university studies and grades. Being young and… er… restless, one tends to focus on two main qualities of the potential partner: appearance* and the degree of readiness to show a merest shadow of sympathy to the clumsy advances one is displaying in such pathetic abundance.

Anyone who went through the process in his/her youth and mentions other qualities, may be considered unfit to belong to the brotherhood/sisterhood of mere humans. And start growing wings asap.

(*) If you are unsure of the meaning of that term, please don’t bother to ask.

 JoshuaPundit: OK, we’re talking Troo Luv here, not casual encounters. I would have to say character (or perhaps shared values would be a better term)  and what I can only describe as a quality of sensuousness. Intelligence is also a very attractive trait for me…and by that I don’t necessarily mean intellectual gymnastics.

Sensuousness to me means something  beyond appearance. It’s how a woman carries herself, how comfortable she seems to be with her  femininity, the way she smiles, how she speaks, the warmth she exudes, even how she smells to me.

Shared values are how you and someone else look at the world when it comes to the essential issues – what truth and honesty  mean, what  giving means, what ethics you embrace, how to treat someone you’re in a relationship with. With shared values you have someone you can build a life with. Without it, you’re constantly paddling in different directions.

When I met my wife I was a pretty happy and independent bachelor and not particularly looking to get married, but I was open to it (as almost everyone says) if I found the ‘right person’. We were set up on a date by a mutual friend who used a pretty devious strategy to get me to agree to it, and without going into t the hilarious details, it was a disaster. We were superficially  very different people at first meeting, she behaved  quite differently than the sort of women I was used to hanging out with, I’m sure I was not what she expected at all and she fled like an antelope as soon as she could. I never expected to see her again.

But a couple of days later, I got a call from her inviting me out to dinner. I had paid a decent sized tab at a restaurant for her and our friend,  and she told me she wanted to  reciprocate by taking me out in exchange. My first thought was to make an excuse and beg off, but then the following thoughts flashed through my mind in no particular order (a) it took real courage and a sense of fairness for her to call me back and offer to take me out after she’d had such an obviously lousy time – that really impressed me (b) she was pretty cute and (c) it was, after all, a free meal.

So I went on that second date.

We were married eight months later..

 The Colossus of Rhodey: Sense of humor. Or, if that is lacking a bit, at least the ability to laugh … to let things go, and also to laugh at ME (because *I* joke around a lot). This was probably the main sticking point in my marriage of 20 years; increasingly it came to a point where I constantly had to watch what I said for “fear” of angering (or “embarrassing”) my spouse. Four years ago the breaking point was reached.

I now am with someone who appreciates my sense of humor and always thanks me for making her laugh. I can never adequately express how good that makes me feel.

Bookworm Room: Bone-deep kindness, a basic sense of respect for people, and a good sense of humor.

   Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

“What does it matter? “ – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s Midnight In Benghazi – What Really Happened    deals with the who, what and most especially the why of what happened in Benghazi.And especially, why it matters more than many Americans perhaps realize. It was a piece I worked on for quite some time as information trickled in from various sources.  Here’s a slice:

The recent Benghazi hearings before the House Oversight Committee were extremely valuable in that America (or at least that part of America that was paying attention) heard three courageous whistle blowers testify as to the events on the ground as they happened. Even if it merely confirmed what a lot of us knew beforehand,it had value that these unimpeachable witnesses confirmed it. And also let the nation know the kind of pressure they were subjected to by the State Department and the Obama Administration to keep their mouths shut.

It’s been said that the problem with Benghazi is that the whole affair is now so convoluted that the average person has trouble following all the threads. There’s some truth in that, and the lack of dinosaur media coverage that would have been wall to wall if this were a Republican administration involved has aided and abetted that confusion. The one most honorable exception has been Sharyl Attkisson at CBS, and her honesty and conviction is likely to cost Ms.Attkisson her job, because she’s been a little too good at it.

Perhaps what’s really needed is a short summary that tells exactly what happened in Benghazi, to make it easier to follow.

What happened is that an American ambassador, Chris Stevens was stationed in the Benghazi consulate for some unknown reason, even though the British and the International Red Cross had already pulled their people out because it was too dangerous. The consulate was left without adequate security, even though Ambassador Stevens begged for it. On September 11th, 2012, that consulate was attacked by al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood forces armed with heavy weapons from Libyan government arsenals that the attackers obtained thanks to American aid in overthrowing Libyan dictator Moamar Khaddaffi. Four Americans died in the attacks, which were spread over nine hours. Even though there were ample security resources on the ground who could possibly have saved those four dead Americans, someone gave them the order to stand down. Instead, carefully edited talking points were concocted by the Obama Administration and an entire narrative was fed to the nation via a cooperative media that the attacks were a spontaneous protest over an obscure YouTube video, and that nothing could have been done to save the ambassador and the others whom were murdered.

The Obama Administration deliberately lied about what happened and has been trying to cover that up ever since.

That’s essentially the basic summary of what happened. Or for those of you whom need a slogan to chant , here’s an even simpler one:

“Obama Slept and Hillary Lied
About how four Americans died”

The media is still very much involved in trying to bury this. Here’s the amazing testimony of Greg Hicks, a career diplomat and Ambassador Chris Steven’s Deputy. This is probably the biggest national scandal since Watergate, yet wasn’t carried on any major news outlet in full except FOX:

Among other things, Greg Hicks revealed that he called Hillary Clinton at 8PM EST that night to tell her that the consulate was under attack by al-Qaeda terrorists and that Ambassador Stevens was now missing.He called again at 9PM after he received a call from the then–Libyan prime minister, Abdurrahim el-Keib, informing him that Ansar al-Sharia had brought Stevens’ mutilated body into a hospital and that the ambassador was dead. Hicks immediately called Washington. 
Secretary Clinton wasn’t available..just not taking calls. And not only didn’t she call Hicks back that evening, but she didn’t bother getting in touch with him the following day. And President Obama? He dropped out very early in the proceedings, after he was briefed 5 PM EST by Leon Panetta. He had a campaign fundraiser to attend and decided to go to bed early.

It’s important to remember the time frame here. The attack was spread over nine hours, and no one in Washington knew how long it was going to last. We’re not talking about a game of basketball here, where the clock runs for a certain period and the action stops.The Obama Administration made a conscious decision not to get involved, so the nonsense peddled  about  ‘not having security assets who could get there in time’ is a despicable lie.

As Hicks testified and others have confirmed, Lieutenant Colonel Gibson had a special forces team in Tripoli that twice suited up to go to Benghazi to rescue the Americans under siege and twice got stand down orders. Meanwhile, back in Benghazi, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty held off the numerically superior jihadis for hours virtually alone before dying on a rooftop while waiting for back-up that never came.

Again, this is not some DC-based functionary. This is Ambassadors Stevens’ deputy, his second in command, the man who took over the Libya station after Ambassador Stevens was murdered before he was demoted for not keeping his mouth suitably shut. And he says his jaw literally dropped when he heard Hillary and Susan Rice blaming this on a video.

No one should be under the assumption that this ends with Secretary Clinton either. One of President Obama’s first acts as president was to remove the post of UN Ambassador from the authority of the Secretary of State and to make it a full cabinet post under his direct orders that reported to him.So if Ambassador Susan Rice was making the rounds of the Sunday shows lying about how the attack on our embassy was caused by an obscure video, she was not doing it without President Obama’s full knowledge and consent.And someone gave the orders to our military not to go in. That ordinarily would be a presidential prerogative – unless President Obama was AWOL again.

 One of the most despicable scenes in American history was played out at the funerals of the murdered men, where the president and Mrs. Clinton acted as though ‘Chris’ was their best friend. This was the same woman who lied repeatedly about ‘Chris’s’ death, who denied she’d received cables from him desperately asking for more security and even had the heartlessness to lie to the the Woods family about how Tyrone Woods died, telling them at the funeral that “we’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video.’

Okay, that’s the what, at least so far. Some aspects of ‘who’ are still in the process of being discovered. So let’s get to the far more important question, ‘why’.

To find out the all important why, read the rest.It’s the key to understanding the whole thing.

In our Non-Council  category, the prize was carried off  by Mark Steyn for To The Slaughter submitted by Joshuapundit. It is Steyn’s essay on the murder and beheading  of a serving British soldier in Woolwich in broad daylight last week and what it says about what the UK and about the West. Do read it.

I would like to remind our readers that there is a vacancy currently available in the Watcher’s Council. This is a very special group and a superb opportunity for a blogger to reach a wider audience and showcase their work. If you think you qualify and are interested in applying, leave a comment with a link to your site, your e-mail address (which will remain confidential) and any questions you might have as a comment on any article over at Joshuapundit.

OK,  here are this week’s full results. Only Gay Patriot was unable to vote this week and only he was affected by  the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 5 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit –Midnight In Benghazi – What Really Happened
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet – How the Liberal Media Would Report #Benghazi If George Bush Were President
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – VA Right!-Can We Just Let the Syrians and Allah Sort This Out Themselves?
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Noisy Room- Iran Deploys Long-Range Missile Launchers -– The Hawk is Set to Take Flight
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room- Sweden fiddles while Stockholm burns
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi- Conversations I Almost Had Today
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor-Electronic Health Records: The $6 Billion Cure For Bad Penmanship
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey –  Entitlement
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Glittering Eye –Memorial Day 2013
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Political Commentator –Divorce decree for the United States of America!  

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Mark Steyn -To The Slaughter   submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Sultan Knish –The Warrior’s Tale   submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – James Taranto/WSJ –See You in the Funny Papers      submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes -The Weekly Standard-Progressives With Bombs submitted by The Right Planet
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – Douglas Murray/WSJ -The London Terror Attack Was More Than ‘Unforgivable’ submitted by The Watcher
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - The Passing Parade –The tenacity of Democrats, or yogurting for fun and profit    submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -David Gerstman/ Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion -Thomas Friedman on Obamacare: It’s gonna be a bright bright bright bright sun shiny day   
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -NRO/Andrew Stiles – IRS Scandal: E-mails Suggest Findings of IG Report Delayed Until After 2012 Election submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Weekly Standard – Beyond the Pale    submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ Media/Zombie –Karl Marx Was A Tea Partier    submitted by Bookworm Room
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -FrontPage Magazine –A Memorial Day for Islamic Terror   submitted by The Political Commentator
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ Tatler –PJ Tatler Report: 20% of Ohio’s Registered Voters are Bogus   submitted by VA Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ O’Rourke – Stupid   submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence.

Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

This is your weekly magazine of the best in opinion and commentary from around the web..everything you need to know to stay on top of things.

This week’s contest is dedicated to Ray Manzarek…a wonderful musician and a sweet soul who finally broke on through to the other side.So long, Ray..RIP:

Council News:

Council alumnus Trevor Loudon of New Zeal has a new book out entitled “The Enemies Within” that focuses on the real details of communists, socialists and radicals now in the US congress. If you’ve sampled Loudon’s blog posts or his previous book, “Barack Obama And the Enemies Within” you know you’re in for a great, meticulously sourced read.

 “The Enemies Within” is due out August 20th,and you can pre-order here.

Up For Grabs – There is a vacancy currently available in the Watcher’s Council. This is a very special group and a superb opportunity for a blogger to reach a wider audience and showcase their work. If you think you qualify and are interested in applying, leave a comment with a link to your site, your e-mail address (which will remain confidential) and any questions you might have as a comment on any article over at Joshuapundit.

This week, The Pirate’s Cove, Right Truth, Maggie’s Notebook and SooperMexican took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning

Simple, no?

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members, while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Iran Deploys Long-Range Missile Launchers -– The Hawk is Set to Take Flight
• Joshuapundit-Midnight In Benghazi – What Really Happened
• The Political Commentator – Divorce decree for the United States of America!
• The Right Planet – How the Liberal Media Would Report #Benghazi If George Bush Were President
• Simply Jews – Do you need your medicine urgently? Wait till Minister Yael German stops celebrating language accessibility.
• The Razor – Electronic Health Records: The $6 Billion Cure For Bad Penmanship
• Bookworm Room – Sweden fiddles while Stockholm burns
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Entitlement
• VA Right! - Can We Just Let the Syrians and Allah Sort This Out Themselves?
• The Glittering Eye -Memorial Day 2013
• The Mellow Jihadi – Conversations I Almost Had Today
• Rhymes With Right – IRS Official To Take Fifth Amendment Regarding Performance Of Her Job
• Gay Patriot – Thoughts on the Boy Scouts & gays
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Sino Spookery Down Under

Honorable Mentions

• Right Truth – Grinding up fetus parts in garbage disposal gets you … probation
• Maggie’s Notebook – Pickering, Mullen Refuse to Testify on Benghazi? Issa: Hillary Not a Target!
• SooperMexican – Mexclusive!! IRS Releases New Simplified Tax Form 1040 TEA-EZ for Tea Party Taxpayers!!
• The Pirate’s Cove – Did Holder Commit Perjury?

Non-Council Submissions

• Sultan Knish –The Warrior’s Tale submitted by The Noisy Room
• Mark Steyn – To The Slaughter submitted by Joshuapundit
• FrontPage Magazine -A Memorial Day for Islamic Terror submitted by The Political Commentator
• The Weekly Standard – Progressives With Bombs submitted by The Right Planet
• The Passing Parade – The tenacity of Democrats, or yogurting for fun and profit submitted by Simply Jews
• Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion/David Gerstman –Thomas Friedman on Obamacare: It’s gonna be a bright bright bright bright sun shiny day submitted by The Razor
• PJ Media/Zombie-Karl Marx Was A Tea Partier submitted by Bookworm Room
• The Weekly Standard – Beyond the Pale submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• PJ Tatler – PJ Tatler Report: 20% of Ohio’s Registered Voters are Bogus submitted by VA Right!
• James Taranto/WSJ – See You in the Funny Papers submitted by The Glittering Eye
• CoffeyPot –My Memorial Day Feelings submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• NRO/Andrew Stiles – IRS Scandal: E-mails Suggest Findings of IG Report Delayed Until After 2012 Election submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Commentary Contentions -Our Ambivalent Commander-in-Chief submitted by Gay Patriot
• Douglas Murray/WSJ – The London Terror Attack Was More Than ‘Unforgivable’ submitted by The Watcher
• PJ O’Rourke – Stupid submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week’s question: On this particular Memorial Day, what are your thoughts about the future of our country?

 The Razor: I used to believe that everyone had to believe in at least one great fiction in life, and for me that was the Idea of America, and it didn’t really matter to me whether it was real or not. I had faith in it. I studied its history, seen its good times and bad and somehow America always made it through, always coming out of the darkness better than it was before it went in.

Now I’m not so sure. For one thing I’ve lost my faith across the board. I’m not sure whether it’s a function of age as I continue the inexorable slide down the second half of my life, whether America has lost its mojo or perhaps never had it in the first place. It’s not easy for me to have faith in anything because everything I have had faith in before has been shown wanting. And America is no different.

I could easily respond bitterly and talk about how the future of America is this or that, but the truth as I see it is that America is just going to continue on being what it is completely oblivious and impervious to my petty thoughts about its future. Maybe I need to go back to being an expat to rekindle my love and faith in my country from abroad. Life abroad provides much needed clarity that is so much harder to find while embedded in American life and culture. I’ve never stopped dreaming about Japan and have never felt like I belonged anywhere, so maybe my future holds a return to expat life – although some place calmer and serene like Ireland rather than the hectic soul-destroying life as a gaijin in Japan.

So in short, it’s impossible for me to express the way I feel about America’s future because I am so broken and disappointed with it that anything that I say says more about me than my country. Such is the lot of the faithless and those who once believed in something bigger than themselves but no longer do.

JoshuaPundit: Readers of my stuff will know my feelings on this one. The key question we’re dealing with now is whether we remain a democratic republic or whether we become Rome.  The present course is obviously unsustainable, but America is far too rich and powerful to simply crumble and become a minor part of the ‘international community’ ala’ the various nations of the EU, as our current president  and his minions would obviously prefer.

Among other things, unlike the Europeans, there’s no superpower out there offering to pick up the slack and defend us while we become a dysfunctional socialist backwater.

As it becomes more apparent ( and it’s more obvious every day, even to the most low information voter unless they’re totally on the dole) that there’s a real danger to the country’s basic liberties, economy and security, people will demand a solution, and it will either be for a true renewal of our Founding principles or for a secure autocracy with a lot less liberty. It took the Roman Republic 500 years to get to the point where they were ready for a man on a white horse with some solutions,  but things move faster nowadays.

The Founders in their wisdom foresaw this, by the way. They were highly educated men well versed in the history of republican government. Our Republic  close to the tipping point where events and the will of the American people will decide  whether we keep it or not.

For those of you whom believe, many people have speculated that America has been under G-d’s blessing since its inception. I agree, and I also think that events will play out according to the Divine plan and show whether we still merit that blessing.

Rhymes With Right : What are my thoughts about the future of the United States? Overall, very positive in the long run — though less so in the short run.

In the short run, we are stuck with a president who is either so disengaged from the duties of his office and so engaged with seeking to fundamentally change us away from a constitutional republic that I worry what will happen over the next few years. The ongoing scandals involving the IRA, government surveillance and investigation of journalists, and the Benghazi affair make it clear that we have a serious problem before us until after the 2016 election.

That said, I believe in the fundamental resilience of America. When presented with a crisis, patriots arise and act to steer America back to a safe course. Given the grassroots opposition to Obama and ObamaCare, I fully expect to see that patter reassert itself in 2014 and 2016. This detour is bad, but we will ultimately resume a proper course.

The Glittering Eye: Honestly, I’m concerned about the future of the country. Our entire system, a system that has brought unprecendented freedom and prosperity, is based on certain values. Those values include things like individual initiative, responsibility, and independence. I’m concerned that those values are fading and I don’t know what will replace them.

In addition, through decades of torpid complacency we have made public commitments I don’t think we’ll be able to fulfilll. Commitments like public and employer-provided pensions, a system of social insurance most of the elderly are completely dependent upon for support in their old age, and a system of providing healthcare for the elderly that has grown beyond the direst warning made when the plan was first implemented more than forty years ago.

The country I see around me is very different from the one I saw when I was twenty years old and dramatically different from what I thought things would be like all those years ago. It is not a better place. Not all of the changes are economic ones. The worst thing I see is the loss of optimism and confidence in the future. It’s really dismaying.

Sara at The Independent Sentinel: I am grateful to live in a country where a person like me, who grew up in poverty, had the opportunity to work hard, go to college, save for a home, and provide my children with a good education.

I have only known an America where people who worked hard could attain their dreams. That is no longer a certainty.

I see the future of our children being frittered away with wasteful spending. Our national security is in the hands of people who refuse to recognize the reality of the dangerous world we are living in. If we continue on the path we are on, the future will be bleak.

We are in the hands of leaders who claim to know nothing and want to know nothing.

I do, however, believe in the American people and that gives me hope.

  Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?