Soccer Dad: Submitted 04/30/08

April 30, 2008

Submitted 04/30/08

This week's Watcher Council nominations have been submitted.

Past Is Never Past - Done With Mirrors looks out how writers look at history myopically considering the present to be "normal."
The Company One Keeps - Joshuapundit considers the supporters of Barack Obama and observes that those who end up making the news come with a lot of baggage.
Oppressive Speech Regulation - Rhymes With Right documents regulations aimed at affecting free speech in Colorado. Given the tizzy some in the media have gotten over the idea of requiring picture IDs to vote, it's amazing that not many have given much attention to this obvious curtailing of free speech.
Outfoxed By Obama & The Twelve Unasked Questions - Wolf Howling offers his late advice to Chris Wallace on what questions the host ought to have asked Sen. Obama this past Sunday. (They were more probing than the ones Wallace did ask the Senator.)
An Article About Islam Most Amazing for What It Doesn't Say - Bookworm Room takes on a Berkeley conference about Islamaphobia and notes the many things that were not (according to a newspaper account) discussed at the conference - such as Islamic terror.
Moral Relativism Reaches a New Low - The Colossus of Rhodey.Hube simply and elegantly debunks another case of BDS.
Rising Food Prices - The Glittering Eye looks at the phenomenon that's been our bane in recent weeks - high food prices - and examines the reason why. He believes that ethanol doesn't play a major role in the crisis. A recent Washington Post editorial gives two estimates:

The International Food Policy Research Institute, which is critical of ethanol, pins about 25 to 33 percent of the recent price rise on biofuels; the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization guesses about 10 to 15 percent.

Obama's Exxon Valdez - Cheat Seeking Missiles considers three choices that Sen. Obama had when it comes to addressing his relationship with Rev. Wright. Yesterday Sen. Obama essentially chose the third of the three options - to announce a break with the Reverend. Yet I didn't find myself at all convinced by the performance. Perhaps it's my own skepticism about the candidate, but I see that I'm not alone.
Teacher Arrested Not Once, But Twice! - The Education Wonks brings us the case of a female teacher who behaved inappropriately with two of her students. He argues that had the gender of teacher and student been reversed, the punishment would have been more severe. I suspect he's correct.
Wright's Revenge - Hillbilly White Trash distinguishes between Bill Cosby's call for Blacks to empower themselves and Rev. Wright's call for Blacks to hold whites in contempt for their problems. He also was unimpressed with Sen. Obama's performance yesterday.

But when you are running for president you tell everyone that your problem with Wright is that he hates the nation that you love (even if you don't) not that your just pissed off that he's "dissing" you.

The Total Witlessness of Obama Apologists - Right Wing Nut House debunks many of the defenses offered by Sen. Obama's apologists for the Senators flirting with people who hold extreme views. This isn't a matter of smearing the Senator but of questioning the judgment he claims to possess and that would qualify him to be President.
Throwing Bashar a Lifeline - I wonder why PM Olmert was recently sending signals to President Assad that he's interested in ceding the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace. It would seem that given the recent revelations about Assad's adventurism that Olmert should be working to isolate him further.

Read, Enjoy. Be Informed.

watcher's council.