HOT5 Daily 4/19/2011

1. "Not-So-Smart Power" Debunking the idea that cuts in foreign aid would harm U.S. interests.

Representative Sample: Huge recipients of U.S. foreign aid -- Egypt, Pakistan, and the like -- voted no more in tune with American values than similar countries that received no, or less, U.S. foreign aid. Instead, their votes correlated closely with those of Cuba, which wasn't a big foreign-aid donor.

2. "How Regulations Add to the Cost of Government" Something you will never hear from those constantly advocating new regulations.

Representative Sample: Regulation acts as a hidden tax that allows government power to grow beyond what legislators explicitly authorize.

3. "On Debating With Theists…." Includes link to video.

Representative Sample: Today I read (and watched) two posts that deal with what happens when atheists and theists discuss religious claims.

4. "2012 Looks Grim" I agree. The GOP needs to produce a good candidate, or we are going to suffer four more years of Obama.

Representative Sample: Where in the hell are the challengers to Obama that can actually get elected!?! Our front runner right now is Donald Trump? Seriously? In what ridiculous world is THAT ever going to happen?

5. "How Western Activists Get Treated in 'Palestine'" Useful idiots not treated well.

Representative Sample: In the wake of the kidnap and murder of Italian activist, Vittorio Arrigoni at the hands of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, Prof Steve Plaut of Haifa University (he previously taught at UC-Irvine) has written an interesting account of how many Western activists who go to the Middle East to support the Palestinian cause get treated by their hosts-the very people they go to help.