Council Winners Were Both Tied For First Place

There were ties for first place in both sections of the Watchers’ Council for the week of November 17th.

In the Council area, Joshuapundit and American Future were neck and neck. The Watcher, per the rules, broke the tie by choosing Joshuapundit’s The March of Folly, which concerned the recent elections.

Joshua says, re the results:

What we can expect, of course, is not the sky falling in..but an intensified concentration on settling old scores and a curtailing of our ability to defend ourselves at a time when our nation is perhaps in the greatest peril we have ever faced.

That pretty well sums it up, though the Dems are going to have to try harder now. Look for less “get-out-of-Iraq-this-minute” talk. Things change when the ball is in your court.

American Future’s entry, The Politics of Iraq, takes exception to Mark Steyn’s post-election gloom. In fact, he shares my skepticism re what the Dems will do now that they’re in charge:

…what prevents me from sharing Steyn’s gloom is that there’s a presidential election in two years. If Iraq goes down the drain, the blame-game will operate in both directions: Democrats will blame Republicans for an ill-advised policy (which many Democrats endorsed in 2002) and mismanagement, and Republicans will blame Democrats for setting a date-certain for withdrawal and/or cutting off funding (notwithstanding Pelosi’s current denial of this intent). Thus, an American defeat in Iraq would pose big risks for both parties, as it couldn’t be known in advance which side’s arguments would find greater resonance with the public.

A good fisking of Steyn’s essay. I would add that part of Mr. Steyn’s gloom was brought on by his conviction that the Dems would lose. He must be feeling the sting more than those who could see what was coming.

On the non-council side, TCS Daily won first place - again, the tie being broken by the Watcher.

Why Intellectuals Love Defeat, an essay by Josh Manchester, contemplates what leaving Iraq would mean:

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Leaving Iraq will be worse than leaving Vietnam, not necessarily in terms of bloodshed, though that will be no comfort to those who will be slaughtered, but because the jihadist threat today is more dangerous than the Soviet threat then. Despite lacking — so far — in similar capabilities to the Communists, our enemies more than make up for it with an insatiable bloodthirsty ruthlessness. The honor that Mr. [James] Carroll sees in defeat will soon be forgotten should Al Qaeda establish a caliphate in Anbar Province and begin a healthy trade in the export of mayhem throughout the West. The Furies that will visit us from such a redoubt will engender much more than a little longing that we had stayed.

I knew Mr. Carroll when he was Father Carroll - before the Vietnam War really hotted up. No wonder he turned left: he was a Paulist priest whose domain was Boston University. Many people turned left then, but in the long cooling down period since have turned right once more. It is unfortunate that Mr. Carroll doesn’t discern the lack of wisdom in his blindly pacifist stance.

Reconquista, the second choice, has a fascinating post, Have You a Daughter? I call it “fascinating” and I don’t even like statistics. If you do, you’ll be in linear heaven.

What Reconquista examines is the number of sex offenses in various areas of London, comparing them with the make-up of the population. What I am about to quote isn’t fair, because it doesn’t provide the depth - or breadth - of what he’s done. Those you owe it to yourself to see.

However, that said, here are his conclusions:

I’m content with what I found.

Conclusion?

More Christians - fewer sex offences.

More other religions - fewer sex offences.

More Muslims - More sex offences.

And then he sums up:

This work is not proof of cause and effect, but the contrasting correlations couldn’t be starker and I need say no more, other than to repeat:

You may not be able to actually prove something dropped out of the back end of a dog, but if it looks like it did, smells like it did, feels like it did, and tastes like it did, then it might be best not to step in it.

I am going no further with this. I am not going to insult the unemployed, the poor, the uneducated by even considering any possibility that these things may be confounding factors in this picture I have presented. I could do, I have the data to use, but I will leave that to the PC brigade and whingeing Islam itself.

Talking of the PC brigade and Islam, there are those who will say this is little more than a hatchet-job: of course it’s a hatchet-job, you bloody fools. I’ve already established with my first two posts that we are at war with Islam, and when you are at war you must win. Against an enemy as ruthless and merciless as Islam you have to be even more ruthless and merciless or it will rip you apart - literally in Islam’s case.

Everything is still at The Watcher’s Place, awaiting your reading pleasure.