Double Duty Ketch Up: Watcher's posts July 7 and July 14

Two weeks in one swell foop here, folks. It means I'm out of the Watcher's clutches for the moment. Well, until Friday at least, when I start procrastinating again...the countdown hasn't even started yet and I can hear the clock ticking. And yes I do indeed procrastinate.

It's not my fault though: I was born late. More than ten days overdue, in fact. So I should get a ten-day handicap on everything, right? When I am made Queen, all of us late babies will get the appropriate handicaps. I haven't decided if the preemies get double or nothing yet. They ought to get something for being in such a rush to get here.

The July 7th winner for the Council was The Wild, Wild West(ern Europe),Gates of Vienna's essay on crime rates in the US and Europe.

Tne non-council winner was Outside the Beltway’s fisking of the Declaration of Independence. The interesting conceit was to blog the event as though Mr. Joyner were there -- and it worked.

All the rest, preserved for posterity, can be viewed here, at the Watcher’s Place.


The July 14th Council winner was Rightwing Nuthouse for his essay Bleeding Iraq, in which Rick Moran notes "there is no denying the fact that at the moment, Iraq is bleeding. And only resoluteness on the part of the government will be able to staunch the flow of blood that is making the lives of ordinary Iraqis a nightmare..." Amen.

First place for the non-council posts was Singing Out of the Flock, by Iraq the Model. His money quote? that there is a new sophistication in the average Iraqi's political discernments. Go see.

The Watcher has everything set up. Click here.

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Note that I haven't put up the second place winners. That's because there is an interesting phenomenon going on in the Council voting: a very wide point spread, so that last week, for instance, five council members tied for third place. And the week before, there were five ties for second place. Very strange.

I asked an old hand why they thought this was happening. He opined that being on the Council tended to improved one's writing skills so that choosing an outright winner is becoming less easy.

Click on the Watcher's links for the two weeks and see what I mean.