by Matt Barr

Watcher's Council results January 27

The Watcher's Council (what?) chose these best posts from among those nominated January 25, 2006.

Newcomer Done With Mirrors made an immediate splash with a thoughtful post on the civil rights movement, Chaos or Community?

Government can encourage it from the sidelines, but it can't pass laws to force people to sit down and get along. The good thing is, people tend to do that on their own, if left alone. They do it one by one, as individuals, not as demographic blocs, not as census statistical brackets. They go to school together and they work together and they meet in public places and hash out respect for one another amid their differences. That's what people do, unless they're sociopaths. It happens on the level of a neighborhood -- the 5,000 or so people who live within walking distance of some public swimming pool or library.

The newbie won on a tiebreaker. Dr. Sanity's Ronald Reagan -- A Personal Recollection placed.

In the Non-Council category, Winds of Change's Just a Second -- It’s Not That Dark Yet (And We Have a Really Big Flashlight) lapped the field.

Could we smash the Iranian oil infrastructure, depriving them of cash and Europe and China of fuel? Of course. Child’s play. Could we drop the Iranian electricity grid, possibly slowing the centrifuges to a halt? Sure. Could we destroy the Iranian army, and do a smash-and-grab raid on the suspected weapons development sites? Probably.

Then what?

Do we really think that the moderate, pro-Western forces within Iran would survive – I mean physically, not politically – much less be able to take over the country in the face of one of these acts? Do we think that an Iran which had been bombed or invaded would be more or less pro-Western?

The full results and many other worthy links are posted here.

If you're a blogger looking for more exposure -- who isn't! -- Watcher has a deal where he'll use host's privilege to nominate worthy posts suggested by you and your contemporaries who impress him most. There are some rules, helpfully summarized here. The deadline is 8pm Eastern each Tuesday. Check it out! Tell him New World Man referred you, it's worth two double super secret no-points in the voting.

Browse books from Amazon.com: