HOT5 Daily 9/3/2009

1. "Americans Reject Obama’s Progressive Agenda" They should have thought about his agenda before they voted for him in the first place.

Representative Sample: His lack of executive experience combined with a limited legislative career in the Senate has resulted in an Administration in which the President has ceded governing to a Democrat controlled Congress and a group of czars that are neither elected officials nor do they require confirmation by Congress.

2. "The Iranian Answer To “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”" I'm sure a policy of "engagement" will work well with these people.

Representative Sample:It appears, at least in the version of Shi’a Islam this cleric claims, that the use of rape, torture and drugs are perfectly permissible for use against enemies of that state – after ritual washing and proper prayers, of course.

3. "Why are atheists so disliked?" I have my own theories on  that, but this is an interesting article.

Representative Sample: religious people have a fairly deep-seated conception of atheists as unpleasant and untrustworthy - but it was the lack of trust that came through strongest.

4. "Who Goes There?" Why can't the West distinguish between enemies and friends? (For example, why are we giving money to the Palestinians?)

Representative Sample: Whether it is throwing CIA field agents, Honduras, or Israel under the bus or reaching out to terrorists and nutball regimes as if they're just friends we haven't made yet (both of the jihadi and non-jihadi variety), we don't seem to have any clue about how to recognize the good guys and bad guys.

5. "Is the FSM insulting to Christians?" That's the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for anyone unfamiliar with Pastafarianism.

Representative Sample: the original intent of the FSM proposal was specifically to challenge the philosophical underpinnings of the ID movement in its attempt to infiltrate the Kansas high school science curriculum. I submit it could be successfully argued that the FSM has been co-opted by atheism to illustrate how religions are formed and how difficult they are to debunk.

To submit a blog post for HOT5 Daily, please e-mail me at unrright@NOSPAMgmail.com. Put HOT5 in the subject.