HOT5 Daily 4/7/2011

1. "We Can’t All Have All the Medical Care We Want" Outstanding article on the realities of health care.

Representative Sample: Unless we have unlimited wealth, we can't have unlimited health care. That's just a simple fact of life and economics, which is such an unpleasant truth that it's usually ignored by all the sides

2. "On Qur'an Burning, Redux" Excellent points.

Representative Sample: First Amendment test cases rarely come about because of popular or nice people. If we don't have the freedom to utter speech that annoys, upsets, even infuriates other people, then we don't have free speech. The freedom to express only opinions that don't make anyone upset isn't worth defending.

3. "Political constraints" He's right about the constraints. I'm much more pessimistic about the chances of removing them.

Representative Sample: The political class certainly doesn't have the will or the desire to limit government, because that means giving up power, and a free market would be resisted by powerful corporations which now enjoy government-protected advantage against competition from smaller, less politically connected companies. It's really left up to the American people.

4. "One More Theology" An interesting variation on the atheists just believe in one less god argument.

Representative Sample: Very intelligent people have devoted decades of their lives to the elaboration of Hindu, Sufi, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Muslim theologies, among many others. Do Christians think they spent that time pursuing the truth?

5. "Say, What’s The Deal With “Non-Essential” Government Employees?" Good question.

Representative Sample: If these people are “non-essential,” then, do we really need to be paying them to do a “non-essential” job?