Vigilance at the Watcher of Weasels

When I was reading all the posts for this week’s Watcher’s Council, I came to the following passage:

	When confronted with the real evil that exists in the world, e.g..the reality of gays being tortured and murdered systematically in Islamic countries; or the reality of the oppression and humiliation of women; they recite facile multicultural and politically correct mantras that conveniently prevent them from making judgments about such behavior, or from having to take action to stop it.
	Let’s face it. If feminists can adore Bill Clinton, even after Paula and Monica and all the sordid details; then it is only one small psychological step further down this path for them to embrace the institutionalized misogyny of Islam.
	The sickness and bankruptcy of the Marxist ideology is such that, even an attack that kills 3000 of their fellow citizens is insufficient to awaken them to the enemy that wants to destroy us.

“This post,” I said to myself, “is going to place first. Dr. Sanity is articulating what so many of those who have moved to the right feel about the current multi-culti death trap the mandarins have created.”

Turns out I was correct.

Wallo World placed second for his post on the fact that ex-felons are not permitted to vote. If I could grab you by the lapels and make you read this, I would. Personal experience always moves us the most, doesn’t it? A friend of mine, a woman in her forties who trains horses and is an altogether admirable person, served time for drug possession. She used pot for an anxiety disorder because it was possible, while the meds she needed were too expensive, as were the gatekeeper doctors who could help her. She can’t vote because of her record, but to her credit she stays politically active and even served as campaign manager for someone in her community. W.W. is right:

Clearly, I think that a lifetime ban is unreasonable and unacceptable; perhaps a provision that felons are not entitled to vote during their incarceration would be acceptable if they regained the right to do so once they completed their prison sentence. In any event, I believe it is truly time to conduct an honest reassessment of broad, extensive felon disenfranchisement laws, as they not only affect a disproportionate number of minority members and represent a historically racist attempt to suppress minority votes, but they also fail to serve any significant rehabilitative purpose.

My friend is not a minority, but she certainly is disenfranchised. She’s done the time and needs her right to vote restored. Even if our votes will cancel one another out, it pains me that I can vote — and buy medicine — and she can’t. Sometimes “it’s not fair” is the correct response to an unjust situation.

In the non-council category, Vodka Pundit led with a wide-ranging analysis of the MSM as it affects reporting on war. Mr. Green’s essay, The Arm of Decision, begins:

Four years into the Terror War, “What’s the most important element for victory?” is a question long overdue. It’s also a question our national leadership, nearly all of our intellectuals, and none of our mainstream media have yet to answer.

It turns out that the arm of decision belongs to the media, at least for the moment. Mr. Green wonders if they can see what lies ahead should they choose to continue their attack, their siding with fellow journalists in, say, Al Jazeera, rather than with our troops’ efforts:

	There is no “fixing” the American mainstream media, unless change comes organically. When I wrote last year that we can’t win this war by giving up our freedoms, I wasn’t kidding – without a free press, we’re doomed.
	But I do mean to serve notice to the MSM.
	When a nation loses a war, it looks to punish the people it believes are to blame. After Vietnam, neither Washington nor our Armed Forces were ever the same again3. But if we lose this Terror War, our media will be seen as largely to blame. They’ll suffer blame for their ignorance and for their petulance. They’ll suffer blame for seeing al Jazeera as comrades closer than the privates and NCOs and officers fighting to protect the First Amendment. They’ll suffer blame for putting their hatred of a Republican President before their love of country. Whether that assessment is fair or not, it is how the public will see things.

I cannot pretend to be neutral about the MSM. It continues to be wrong, amoral if not immoral, and so stupendously self-satisfied and separate from the real world that I simply quit giving them my time or respect. Mr. Green in correct, though, in his summation:

	Today, the arm of decision is the media, and it’s impossible to predict what new power will someday eclipse it. But if our media companies lose their First Amendment freedoms in a populist spasm of government power, they’ll have only themselves to blame.
	The media have the power. They wield the arm of decision. Even if only for our own sakes, let’s hope they learn to use it with more wisdom and foresight than they have these last four years.

Second place was taken by the Fourth Rail. Bill Roggio interviewed Colonel Stephen W. Davis, who is the Commander of the Marines engaged in Operation Steel Curtain in the border town of Husaybah. The interview gives the tactical details of securing the town, and the Colonel’s view of current Iraqi military progress. His most telling remark comes at the end:

As in all of the cities and towns out here, once the citizens are free of the influence of the insurgents and are assured the Iraqi Army will remain, they open up and show us who has been supporting the insurgency, where they are hiding, lead us to ammunition dumps and safe houses and provide tips on what the insurgent have been saying and planning.

And for those of you who don’t know of Bill Roggio’s plans to imbed with the military, go here. Bill plans to stay three months and could use monetary help, not only with supplies but for the insurance he will need for his family if he doesn’t make it back. Ten thousand bucks! They have a paypal link for us lazy folk.

A short mention for third place, since Ma Deuce Gunner is leaving Iraq and his interviews will end. He provided a good window into the views of ordinary Iraqis; I’ll miss it.

As for reading the rest of us, mosey on over to the Watcher and read our posts; give him a shout-out while you’re there. He’s the one who does the drudgery every week, putting up the links to all those blooming ideas.

I don’t know how it is for the other council members, but it seems like some weeks it’s very hard to choose among so many excellent offerings.