Soccer Dad

Submitted 07/02/08

The latest Watcher's Council nominations are up.

Obama's 8 Years As State Legislator Makes Him Better Qualified
The Colossus of Rhodey debunks Alan Ehrenhalt's claim that Sen. Obama's experience as a state legislator makes him better qualified to be President. In fact, according to Ehrenhalt, Sen. Obama even played in a bi-partisan poker game! (And Sen. McCain had a drinking contest with Sen. Clinton in Estonia; I think that trumps a poker game.) Pay attention to the final two paragraphs in particular because Hube nails the fundamental dishonesty of Ehrenhalts's column.

More On Jokes
Done With Mirrors presents with the history of the joke that makes up 17% of what we laugh at.

The Supreme Court: Originalism, Activism, and America's Future
Wolf Howling nicely summarizes the reasoning behind a number of case to show two approaches taken by the Supreme Court deciding cases. The most effective part is where he illustrates the difference between deciding the law based on subjective, arbitrary principles and deciding a case based on the text of the Constitution. He notes, of course, that this is one of the most important consideration when we vote for President this November.

The Rising Price of Oil: How High Is Up?
The Glittering Eye discusses the rising price of oil. I especially liked this observation:

For some governments, where revenues are flat or decreasing, that's a real disaster. For others, where their revenues are increasing right along with the price of oil, e.g. Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, it creates a positive feedback situation and, as we should all know, positive feedbacks are extremely dangerous.

Surreal Logic *UPDATED*
Bookworm Room discusses Gen. Clark's attacks Sen. McCain and by the way observes:

If this were the ordinary business world, all of us would recognize that Obama's resume items are insufficient to develop many leadership skills, nor to establish character.  That's entirely separate from the fact that Obama may actually be a born leader, or that his character may be stellar.  It's sufficient to say that, unlike McCain's resume, Obama's doesn't hint at either leadership or character qualities.

Fireworks and the Nanny State
The Razor uses prohibitions of fireworks to illustrate his frustration with laws designed to protect people from themselves. My frustration toward these excessive laws just came into play this week, when Maryland's new child safety seat law went into effect. Our 6 1/2 year old who was free from a booster for nearly a year, now must sit in one again. The legislature claims that injuries of children have declined since they passed the previous child safety laws, so they figure another law will save more children.

Patriotism
Hillbilly White Trash defines patriotism and observes that there's a difference between patriotism and wishing for a personal ideal that doesn't exist.

Witch Hunt For "Obama's A Muslim" E-Mailer
Cheat Seeking Missiles zeroes in on the hypocrisy of the Washington Post for tracking down the source of rumors that Sen. Obama is a Muslim but ignoring aspects of the e-mails that are true. Commenting on a James Kirchik article (more via memeorandum), James Taranto made a similar observation:

It is also worth noting that the Obama campaign does not necessarily have an interest in separating fact from fiction. Reread that passage from the Post piece, and you'll notice that two of the "rumors" it cites are true: Obama did refuse to wear an American flag pin, and he did have a racist pastor. Obviously Obama would rather have you think of him as the victim of a smear campaign than focus on those things about him that are both damaging and true.

The Obama campaign has been rather liberal with its charges of smears. As Cheat Seeking Missiles points out, so too has been the supposedly objective MSM.

Iraq Sues Over Oil-For-Food... And There's an Obama Connection
Joshuapundit comments on payback for all the years too many members of the international community benefited from Saddam's tyranny. Now with an independent Iraq, those years of coddling the dictator are being called to account in a court of law. Plus how it ties into the presidential campaign.

Principal Confirms Kids Sipped Margaritas
The Education Wonks discovers that some children have been imbibing in school and wonders about the adults in charge.

Impeach Anthony Kennedy
Rhymes With Right makes a novel argument that Justice Kennedy ought to be removed from office. His reading of the Constitution is original but I don't think it has much chance of being accepted.

This Deal Keep Getting Worse and Worse
is my critique of the deal the Israelis made with Hezbollah.

My non-council nomination was Reverberations of Al-Dura by ShrinkWrapped, an analysis of the implications of the false report. It's something, though discussed in certain precincts, is totally ignored by the MSM, who should use the incident as an occasion for some introspection.

Read, Enjoy. Be Informed.

watcher's council.

Posted by SoccerDad at July 3, 2008 1:28 AM | TrackBack