The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up of 2012, carved eternally in the Akhasic records of cyberspace.
This week’s winning essay, Joshuapundit’s The Tale Of The Swine, is a cautionary tale about… well I think you’ll figure it out for yourselves. Here’s a slice:
Once there was a tribe of wild pigs who lived in a remote area of the woods.
As anyone who’s spent time around pigs will tell you, they are by no means the most unintelligent of animals, and these pigs had learned to adapt quite well to their circumstances. They had fashioned dens and had gradually learned to piece together a tribal law that allowed them to work as a group when necessary to ensure an adequate if not over generous food supply, care for their young and defend themselves against any natural predators. In their little corner of the woods, they were pretty much the dominant species, and were reasonably content.
One day, a pig named Andy went missing. The others searched for him throughout their part of the forest, but they were unable to find him no matter where they looked. Andy’s fate became a major topic of conversation among the pigs. It was totally unheard of for one of them to simply disappear like that.
The pigs didn’t quite keep track of time beyond the seasons, but still by their reckoning it was some time before, to their astonishment, Andy reappeared as the leaves were turning color.
The pigs were ecstatic to see their lost tribe member returned to them..and even better, in what appeared to be rip roaring good health.
Most of the wild pigs tended to lose some weight as the weather started to turn colder and food became scarce and harder to find, but Andy was sleek, fat and obviously had been living, if you’ll pardon the expression, high on the hog. His bristles and hooves were clean, his eyes shone brightly and he was as happy as a pig in – well, you know. And much to the other pig’s surprise, he had a pretty red collar around his neck, something none of them had ever seen before.
“Wherever have you been Andy?” the other pigs asked. “We looked everywhere for you.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to tell you”, said Andy. “I’ve discovered something wonderful.”
“You know, I was chasing down some berries I smelt over by the oak trees over by our eastern border, you know the place. Well I ended up going a little past our bounds and what bad luck! I wasn’t paying attention and got my left rear trotter lodged in a tree root.”
“I tried and tried, but I couldn’t get free and I thought I might die there. But then the most marvelous thing happened. A man heard my squealing, came through the underbrush and set me free.”
In our non-Council category, the winner this week was an interesting piece by Fred Seigal and Joel Kotkin in The City Journal, The New Authoritarianism submitted by Bookworm Room. It’s an interesting look at the widening divide between President Obama and the increasingly authoritarian ‘progressives’ that support him and the rest of the more center right electorate.
Here are this week’s full results. Only New Zeal was unable to vote this week and was affected by the 2/3 vote penalty:
Council Winners
- *First place with 3 1/3 votes! Joshuapundit – The Tale Of The Swine
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – The Razor – Is The Republican Party Stupid?
- Third place with 1 2/3 votes – New Zeal – Blinded by the Left: How Marxists Wrote Ron Paul’s Defense Cuts Plan
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Right Truth – The Unintended Consequences Begin
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Glittering Eye – What Creates Opportunity?
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – My Harvard Story
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room – Which agenda really serves women’s rights?
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Sunlight Down The Spider Hole
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – A one-picture metaphor for the Obama regime plus a lot of words!
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Reckless
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews – Richard (Dickie) Silverstein: a blogging dupe of the century?
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! – Meet Mitt Romney: Corporate Raider and Vulture Capitalist
Non-Council Winners
- *First place with 2 2/3 votes! – The City Journal – The New Authoritarianism submitted by Bookworm Room
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Liberated – Why Do Muslims Despise Jews So Much? submitted by Joshuapundit
- Third place with 1 2/3 votes – American Digest – The Gun School submitted by The Razor
- Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – Allen West Republic – America is Good submitted by New Zeal
- Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – Doug Ross – Tehran TV’s Iranian Idol: Ron Paul submitted by The Watcher
- Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – Karen Holt/Historic American Examiner – Taking matters into his own hands submitted by Right Truth
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Sultan Knish – Ron Paul’s Soros Defense Plan submitted by The Noisy Room
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Elder of Ziyon – Egyptians to block ‘Zionist’ visitors to rabbi’s tomb submitted by Simply Jews
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – American Thinker – Obama: The Mask is Off submitted by The Right Planet
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Hired Intelligence – Threats and The School-as-Family submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rand Simberg/PJ Media – The Lunar Yellow Peril submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Yid With Lid – Why is Obama’s favorite Middle East leader an anti-American Islamist? submitted by The Political Commentator
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Abu Muqawama – In Praise of John Nagl submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
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