The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Liberal Fascism by Done With Mirrors, and Bylines of Brutality by Iowahawk.  Here are the full results of the vote:

On balance, I thought the competition this week was pretty good. And while I was disappointed by the failure of my piece on the Rosenthal/Medina situation to receive even a single vote, I understand that a local story of that nature sometimes doesn't necessarily get the sort of response from my fellow members of the Council that a national or international story does. But on balance, I cannot argue with the outcome of the vote because of the obvious strength of the winners. Good job, guys!

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Ed. Schools: They're Awful (for the most part) by The Colossus of Rhodey, and Kangaroo Court by Ezra Levant.  Here are the full results of the vote):

I especially want to congratulate my fellow teacher and long-time friend Hube for his excellent commentary on education programs. As i noted in a comment, he is dead on in his observations.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Britain's Prosecution of The Blogger Lionheart for Criticism of Islam by Wolf Howling, and Andy Olmsted by Obsidian Wings.  Ahere are the full results of the vote:

I normally make this post over the weekend, but this week it has been rather hard. Our winning entry in the Non-Council category is a post by a former Council Member, Andy Olmstead. It is one of those posts that you just don;t want to have to read or write about, given that it contains the reflections of a friend/colleague/hero written in the event of his death. Andy was one of the first soldiers killed in Iraq in 2008, and so we all have been honored to read the words that none of us would ever have wished to see -- and I say with the utmost respect that I wish to have never been so honored and that I could jump over to Andy's personal site and read something new and interesting. Alas, that shall never be again, and all I can do is honor his final words by stating that I awarded my first place vote to his poignant words, and wished I could have also given him the second place vote as well. It would appear that every one of us gave at least one of our two votes to him. May you rest in peace, Major Olmstead, and may those who survive be worthy of the sacrifice you made for our country.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are The Freddys Seven by Soccer Dad, and Exploding Myths by Treppenwitz.  Here is a link to the full results of the vote:

This is just one of those weeks where my post didn't make an impact with the other members of the council. Maybe that is because i was dealing with an issue that was more local than national, and because I didn't give a lot of background. Well, maybe we'll do better next time.

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