Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group that’s your must-read weekly journal of news and opinion written by some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday morning.
This weeks’ contest is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Abraham Avrech (Z”l).
Baruch Dayan Emet… Blessed Be The True Judge.
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The last few days saw the interesting proximity of two holidays… the Jewish festival of Purim and St. Patrick’s Day. Interestingly enough, both holidays, by tradition, feature partying and the hopefully responsible use of alcohol. (!)
Purim of course, is about the Jews turnabout on a Persian maniac who wanted to annihilate them all. As Ecclesiastes put it, there ain’t nothin’ new under the sun. And what better way to portray it than as a Spaghetti Western?:
St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday based on the death date of the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461). It’s essentially become a world party, with festivals held as far afield as Malaysia, Japan, Montserrat and Germany. There’s also something about snakes, but hopefully not the kind you see when you drink too much. My favorite part? Aside from the Bushmills, the Guinness and the fond memories of some previous adventures of my misspent youth… it’s the music:
Speaking of celebrations, here’s one we’ll celebrate a bit belatedly… the birthday of our dear friend Hube, of the The Colossus of Rhodey!
The actual event occurred March 3rd and somehow got lost in the mix, without anyone letting on (Translation: Rob screwed up). So, what the hey… why not celebrate it now? Just be careful with that loincloth, big fella!
For Hube’s special cake, I picked out a Bundt-style Delaware Raisin cake, made with raisins, chopped apples, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg:
Chips and various kinds of salsa on the side, because they go well with something I also know Hube likes…
Beer and Tequila!
Aside from being a great guy all around, Hube has one the most unique blogs you’ll find anywhere… one that looks at sci-fi, comic books, film, media, TV and graphic art as signposts as to which way our culture is going.
Tiempo passado, mi querido amigo… but hopefully, it gets better as it goes, no? Many many more.
Council News:
The Council In Action
Author and Council Alumnus Trever Loudon will tape his appearance for Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze TV on March 26th and his spot will air at 5 PM. Check your local listings. And definitely don’t miss this one!
Dave Schuler at The Glittering Eye celebrated his 10th anniversary in the blogosphere and his entry this week in the links below concerns his reflections on a decade of blogging… including the secret of where the name of his site came from! Happy tenth, Dave!
Elise Ronan of Liberty’s Spirit has a new post up at the Times of Israel, Tzedakah or Tikkun Olam, How about Just Being Kind to Families with Special Needs.
Nice Deb’s new post at Breitbart is up, Obama May Be Leading From Behind But He’s Looking Sharp In His Jeans.
Joshuapundit’s latest is up at the Times of Israel, Abbas calls Israeli defense against Gaza rocket attacks ‘Cold blooded murder’.
Honorable Mentions
This week, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Pirate’s Cove, Maggie’s Notebook, Boker Tov Boulder and The Political Commentator earned honorable mention status with some great articles.
You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.
To bring something to my attention, simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title and a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address (which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6 PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning.
Simple, no?
It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members, while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?
So, without further ado, let’s see what we have this week…
Council Submissions
- Simply Jews – Vladimir Vladimirovich, please liberate us!
- Liberty’s Spirit – The Importance of the Words “Jewish State”
- The Noisy Room – Internet Control — Keys To The Kingdom
- The Glittering Eye – Ten Years
- Ask Marion – Missing Plane… But What Is Behind the Curtain?
- Joshuapundit – ‘Nice Little Jewish State Ya Got There… Shame If Anything Were to Happen To It’
- The Razor – Putin’s Man In The White House
- Bookworm Room – The anti-bossy campaign is just the latest example of the Leftâs obsession with gender, sex, and sexuality as a way of remaking society
- The Colossus of Rhodey – Once again, the local MSM cannot find a better example for pulling at the heartstrings
- GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Air/Sea Battle II
- The Right Planet – The World’s Slide Towards the ‘Second October Revolution’
- Nice Deb – Ron Fournier: POTUS May Be In The Middle Of “Full Blown Constitutional Crisis” (Video)
- VA Right! – I Still Love My Country, But Thanks to Obama, I Am Embarrassed for America
- The Independent Sentinel – Boeing Believes Flight MH370 Is In Taliban Territory in Pakistan – Updates
- Rhymes With Right – Concerned About The Wrapper But Not What’s Inside?
Honorable Mentions
- David Gerstman/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Obama, Harper and Cameron in Israel: Three Speeches, Two Friends
- Maggie’s Notebook – ATF Tells Ares Armor to Hand Over Customer List or Lose Everything: Owner Dimitrios Karras Fights Back
- The Pirate’s Cove – Romney: “Able leaders anticipate events…”
- Boker Tov Boulder – Sandra Korn, This Is For You.
- The Political Commentator – Obama Breakfast Cereal
Non-Council Submissions
- The Passing Parade – Leisure time on someone else’s nickel, or so I’m told submitted by Simply Jews
- Avi Issacharoff/Times of Israel – Assad is Starving Palestinians to death in a Syrian Camp, And Nobody Cares submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
- Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish)/FrontPage Mag – The End of International Law submitted by The Noisy Room
- Lilia Shevtsova/The American Interest – Falling into Putin’s Trap submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Josh Rogin/Daily Beast – Exclusive: Russia Will Sanction U.S. Senators submitted by Ask Marion
- Arthur Herman/Commentary – Will Israel Be the Next Energy Superpower? submitted by Joshuapundit
- Skeptoid – What I’d Say to the Latest Anti-Vaccine Celebrity submitted by The Razor
- Victor Davis Hanson/NRO – A New Obama Doctrine? submitted by Bookworm Room
- Douglas Ernst – Obama sells generational theft on ‘Funny or Die’ while Putin dies laughing — Russia has stolen Crimea submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
- Alexandria – 44 Imposes Sanctions On Russia submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Dr. Stuart Schwartz/American Thinker – My Wife’s Last Days — And the Coming ObamaCare Death Panel submitted by The Right Planet
- David Limbaugh – Obama, In His Sole Discretion submitted by Nice Deb
- Reaganite Republican – Why Israeli Gals Will NEVER Have to Wear Burkas… submitted by VA Right!
- Boudica Weblog – Rabbi in Crimea urges Jews to leave Ukraine, fears neo-Nazi attacks submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Volokh Conspiracy/WAPO – Dateline: Shushan, Persian Empire, 600 BCE submitted by The Watcher
- Blazing Cat Fur – Uighur leader: “We have plans for many attacks in China,” plus police officer killed in Xinjiang’s capital submitted by The Watcher
Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that!