Soccer Dad: New member of the watcher's council

August 09, 2006

New member of the watcher's council

Since one of my favorite parts about blogging is reading great posts by different bloggers, I'm thrilled to have been accepted as a member of the Watcher's Council by the Watcher of Weasels. (Watcher of Weasels is based on a Scrappleface that became a cover of the NY Post.)

Each week members are asked to read and vote on two sets of nominations. One are the best posts by Council members and the other are the best posts by non-Council members.

I was quite familiar with both of last week's winners. One was blogging buddy AbbaGav's They're not what you've been told, they're our neighbors' kids about the refugees in Israel.

The other was a difficult lesson by Treppenwitz, which, by the way is on its way to becoming an urban legend.

I received an e-mail from a friend a week and a half ago it started

Why the world should stand back and let Israel do what it has to do.
Dave Wilson, Capt retired, US Navy.

Then I read further ....

When I was in the Navy, I once witnessed a bar fight in downtown Olongapo (Philippines) that still haunts my dreams. The fight was between a big oafish Marine and a rather soft-spoken, medium sized Latino sailor from my ship.

It was the famous Treppenwitz story recast as a story by a retired Naval officer!

It reminded me of this e-mail that circulated years ago purporting to be about Israel and the Middle East by Dennis Miller. Sure it was an article but it was written by Larry (also an actor/comedian) not Dennis Miller. In its form it appeared in the Weekly Standard as Whoever Blesses Them This

Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really?

was probably the line that gave it away for me.

Snopes has corrected the issue of the authorship of Larry Miller's essay.

There you have it. Treppenwitz has become an urban legend!

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