HOT5 Daily 11/4/2010

1. "The Natural Majority" Interesting analysis.

Representative Sample: In an odd way, I think the Tea Party surge has ended up bringing Washington back to the true political center of the country, but not yet fully to the right. The obstacles Republicans faced in moving the needle in their House numbers -- entrenched Blue Dog incumbents like Ike Skelton, John Spratt, Chet Edwards, and Gene Taylor -- were moved away last night. These are not "surge" seats that will be surrendered at the next election, but now likely Republican for life -- and ones we didn't have during Republican control of the House from 1994 to 2006.

2. "The GOP Goes Gray" How did the vote break down for the GOP?

Representative Sample: These exit polls and demographics pose some challenges to Republicans: how will they fare with an electorate that includes more black voters and more young voters than in this cycle? Will self-identified conservatives stay that way through 2012?

3. "Inflation: Federal Reserve to Create As Much as 1 Trillion New Dollars" Too bad they can't be voted out.

Representative Sample: When you inject more money into an economy that’s not growing you wind up with those greater dollars chasing after the same amount of goods. In other words, creating money in a vacuum is the prime cause of inflation.

4. "Your Dad's A Dork..." I nice smack-down of a typical liberal attempt to spin the election results.

Representative Sample: Over the past two years, a large percentage of voters under 30 have come to the realization that Barack Obama is more like their dorky father-in-law than a messiah.

5. "Why the Right should reform the military" Yes, unfortunately defense spending is often treated as a sacred cow on the right. Just because the left wants the wrong type of cuts, doesn't mean there aren't reasonable cuts & reforms to be made.

Representative Sample: All corporate cronyism/sweetheart contracts which have infected the military/industrial complex should be rooted out, and costs should be cut to what is needed to be efficient and excellently effective, no more -- not a penny more.

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

Thank You President Obama

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank President Obama and the Congressional Democratic leadership for making this great GOP electoral success possible. We couldn't have done it without you. Remember back in 2008 when people were trying to write off the GOP? Things looked pretty bleak for Republicans after George Bush and Congressional Republicans had so damaged the GOP brand over eight years. But President Obama and his allies managed to reverse the tide in only two short years, giving us a "historic" Republican victory -- not only a solid majority in the house, but more control over state legislatures than at any time since World War 2 (according to NPR). These short-term gains will be amplified by the upcoming redistricting, with the GOP massively dominating the rewriting of districts, locking in advantages for years to come. I wonder if "historic," Obama's favorite word, will still automatically equal "good" in his eyes.

You'll no doubt hear people trying to pretend that this is all about the economy, and the natural cycle of an off-year election. Feel free to greet that argument with the raucous laughter it deserves. Such a sweeping turnaround in only two years is a devastating rejection of Democratic policies & leadership. The voters have loudly rejected the notion that more government, more spending and a digging a bigger debt hole should be our policy directions. No one is buying Obama's claim that he saved us from a depression, or his imaginary numbers about supposed jobs saved and created. This election was first and foremost about the lousy performance of our Democratic leadership. But given that this president takes no responsibility and looks first to blame others for everything, I don't expect him to get the message.

No HOT5 today

I"ve been reading nothing but election coverage, so there will be no HOT5 today.

Something that Isn't Going to Happen

Here's John Podhoretz at Commentary with a good but rhetorical question,

Christine O’Donnell loses in Delaware. Will the conservative blogo- and Twittersphere apologize to Karl Rove and others who rightly said Christine O’Donnell was a preposterous candidate without a chance of getting elected?

Don't hold your breath. "True conservative" types don't apologize. They think we're better off with another liberal Democratic senator instead of a moderate Republican who would support the GOP at least half the time.

Waiting for the Spin

No matter what the final results are, tomorrow is going to be occupied with various pundits attempting to put their own spin on the election's outcome. Regardless of how many seats the GOP picks up, I fully expect Democrats to attempt to minimize the scale of their losses or claim to have done better than expected, especially if a couple of their high-profile endangered candidates survive. It should be fun to watch.

HOT5 Daily 11/2/2010

1. "Last Call for Liberty" Some election day red meat. 

Representative Sample: When they shoved the wickedly unpopular ObamaCare bill down your throats using bribes, cajolery and strong-arm tactics -- without even bothering to read their own disastrous bill, they were laughing at you.

2. "Russia's FSB to WikiLeaks: We could destroy you" Let's hope they decide to. 

Representative Sample: Russia's internal security service, the FSB, seems to be taking WikiLeaks' threat to spill dirt on the Kremlin pretty seriously, according to Russia Profile:

3. "In Defense of the "Rich"" A much-needed defense.  

Representative Sample: With the mid-term elections having arrived, I would like to take a moment to defend the people among us, those designated as "rich", who seem to be considered less fellow citizens than sheep to be shorn. In the prevailing attitude towards those so designated, in the redistributionist policies promised by craven office seekers to the voting mob, we treat these people less as human beings than as lambs to be slaughtere

4. "Back on the Radar" National security. 

Representative Sample: Last week's "package bomb" plot is a stark reminder that terrorists are still actively plotting against us, hoping to pull off another spectacular strike that would kill thousands of Americans.

5. "Are you kidding..? Political Correctness at its Worst!" An attempt to change the official name of Rhode Island.

Representative Sample: The official name of Rhode Island is: “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” or that is what is inscribed – elaborately in the floor of the Statehouse. Many Rhode Islanders might not even know its formal name. It isn’t listed on modern-day maps, though it is on the state seal, is found in many official state documents and can be heard in the courtroom when the judge is announced.

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

HOT5 Daily l11/12010

1. "Opposition to Barack Obama does not arise from fear, from anger, from hatred, or from racism; Opposition to Barack Obama arises from love" Not exactly the way I would have put it, but still good. 

Representative Sample: When the (American and/or foreign) liberals' burst of laughter dies off, and while they are wiping away their tears, I add: not from love of Barack Obama, of course

2. "When Bias Has Its Own Media" The line between just bias and outright propaganda. 

Representative Sample: Bias always exists, but journalistic bias has a tipping point at which instead of a free press, we have a propaganda press. When does that tipping point occur? Henry David Thoreau wrote that there is a certain amount of injustice in government, just as there is a certain amount of friction in operating a machine. But when "friction has its own machine", then the injustice is no longer an unfortunate byproduct, it is now the purpose of the machine.

3. "Maybe there are more atheists in foxholes!" Interesting findings.  

Representative Sample: A team of psychiatrists at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA have been taking a look at the religious beliefs of military folks who attended outpatient clinics, and they've turned up something rather interesting.

4. "The all-important candy hierarchy" Good for evaluating the haul that your children brought in last night. 

Representative Sample: It's a chart.

5. "UN Troops Caused The Cholera Outbreak In Haiti?" Ouch.

Representative Sample: Did United Nations peacekeepers trigger the Haitian cholera outbreak? There is some evidence that they might have…

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