Every Tuesday I'm going to pick a couple of personal favourites from over at the Showcase to highlight some of this new blogging talent. I am already impressed by the high quality of many of the entries and it bodes well for the future.

Firstly An Open Letter to Younger Readers by Athena has been a popular entry and has been picked up by many. It is an intelligent and well composed plea for idealism.

If we really do have lofty ideals, it’s time that we measure up. We can no longer say we support the rights of all people through our rhetoric, but through our actions only support that which comes easily to us.

Another interesting entry is It's a Legal Memo by Red Line Rants. It looks at the "torture memo" by the DoJ and asks some probing questions about the critics of the memo.

Something obviously missing from all of this is perspective. Context. The Administration is trying to answer responsibly, “What are the rules of engagement?” “What are the parameters under which we are allowed to operate?” For all intents and purposes, the enemies the United States have faced up until now have fallen under the protected status of the Geneva Conventions. We knew when we captured soldiers in those cases that we could ask for name, rank, and serial number. We knew that we couldn't offer incentives for cooperative behavior. What isn’t clear is what we can legally do with terrorists who are not protected as military personnel under the Geneva Conventions (although people tend to think that means they have no protections, which is wrong); I would think we need to know that before we can proceed. Here, the Bush Administration has tried to address this shortcoming... and it's been villified for it.

Lastly there's West Coast Chaos with a quick question about Sadaam. Go have a look and answer what Sadaam should put as his new profession.

To be honest these could have been several others to link to as well. Go and give them all a look - there's some good stuff in there already. And help spread the word: the greater the exposure the more people will discover these new blogs.