HOT5 Daily 12/9/2010

1. "The Left-Wing’s Primary Challenge Bluff" Nothing more than bluster. Most people with the slightest clue on the left know that the chances of getting someone even more liberal than Obama elected are approximately zero.

Representative Sample: They’re bluffing. Left-wing Democrats are muttering about a primary challenge to President Obama in 2012. Some propose Howard Dean, others Russell Feingold.  The president shouldn’t worry overmuch.

2. "Innovation’s Darker Future: Biosecurity, Technologies of Mass Empowerment, and the Constitution" If you need more things to worry about. 

Representative Sample: Using gene-splicing equipment available online and other common laboratory equipment and materials, a molecular biology graduate student undertakes a secret project to recreate the smallpox virus. Not content merely to bring back an extinct virus to which the general population is now largely naïve, he uses public source material to enhance the virus’s lethality

3. "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Muhammad?" Why are so many terrorists named Muhammed? What could be the common thread?  

Representative Sample: For the umpteenth time since 9/11, a guy named Mohammad (or a variation thereof) has been arrested on terrorism related charges.

4. "The Protected Class?" Public sector workers. 

Representative Sample:  if you properly account for both retiree health coverage and pension benefits, the 4 to 11 percent salary penalty reported for state/local workers is easily pushed into pay premium territory, in some cases significantly so. In California, for instance, a 20 percent public-sector pay premium is not hard to imagine.

5. "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service" With pictures.

Representative Sample: The Dragon spacecraft is shaped like a gumdrop, isn't the sleek single-stage-to-orbit ideal spaceplane that we may see someday: but it's here, and it works.

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

Demonizing the Rich

The pseudo-Marxist demonization of the rich has long been a staple of Democratic Party political tactics, as we've seen in the latest wrangling over extending the Bush tax cuts. Even Republicans engage in it from time to time. Why? Because it resonates with many people. Almost everyone has at least one stereotypical rich person they despise, whether it be someone who makes millions and is famous for being famous, an incompetent CEO who runs his company into the ground and walks away with a golden parachute, an overpaid under-performing athlete, a greedy corrupt politician, or whoever. The list goes on. Envy is a natural human emotion. People tend to be jealous of those who have far more, especially if they feel that the wealth is somehow undeserved. But the latest round has gone even further than usual, with Democrats defining anyone making over $250,000 a year as wealthy, and the repeated use of the term "working Americans" for those who make less -- as if they are the only ones working hard.

In reality, most people making more than $250,000 a year got that way through a combination of hard work and smarts. Most of them work harder than the poor -- that's why they aren't poor. And if they don't have to work hard now, it's because they spent years working and saving, and now have investments that alleviate the need to work. I've seen this from personal experience. I've dealt with small business owners who also work a full-time job, plus have several rental properties. They make 250k+ but they work all the time, shuttling between business interests. Owner-operators of small businesses work like slaves, especially if they actually want to make any money. I've personally worked many low-end jobs, and from what I've observed, much of the so-called working class doesn't work nearly as hard. The idea that the lower classes are hard-working and the wealthy are not is mostly backwards. It's painful for people to hear and admit that they are where they are because of their own failings and poor decisions, and that the wealthy are rich because they were smarter. It's much easier to demonize them. It's something to think about the next time some politician refers to "working Americans" and implies that only people making less than a certain figure qualify.

HOT5 Daily 12/8/2010

1. "The Progressive War on Federalism" When you worship big government, things that restrict the power of government are obstacles to "progress." 

Representative Sample: The progressives envision a national government that they can dominate and that, in turn, will dominate us. There is no activity over which they do not feel they can or should control. Private property is a panacea, to keep the masses from open revolt, but they really believe that all wealth that is generated belongs to the government except for the portion they permit us to keep.

2. "Obamacare Truly A Disaster" And it hasn't even really gotten rolling yet. 

Representative Sample: Want proof Obamacare is a disaster? Just look at how many people would be losing their good health care if it was actually being enforced

3. "Al Qaeda's M&A Strategy" The current model. 

Representative Sample: much of al Qaeda's growth in the last decade has been the kind of expansion that any American businessman would recognize: They've systematically tried to absorb regional jihadist start-ups, both venerable and newly created, and convince them that their struggle is a component of al Qaeda's sweeping international agenda -- and vice versa.

4. "I Couldn't Have Written It Better Myself" What if today's attitudes toward war/conflict had prevailed after Pearl Harbor? 

Representative Sample: FDR would have threatened negotiations if Japanese aggression didn’t cease immediately and sought sanctions from the League of Nations.

5. "Feeling chills in response to music" Interesting.

Representative Sample: Most people feel chills and shivers in response to music that thrills them, but some people feel these chills often and others feel them hardly at all. People who are particularly open to new experiences are most likely to have chills in response to music, according to a study

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

Harry Reid Has an Actual Good Idea

According to Politico, Senator Harry Reid wants to add the legalization of online poker to the current tax deal.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), as well as several senior congressional sources and gambling lobbyists, confirmed that Reid and his staff have reached out to other Senate offices to try to build support for adding the online poker legislation — a draft of which POLITICO has obtained — to a measure extending the Bush-era tax cuts

Naturally Reid's proposal isn't some sort of principled support for allowing Americans to make their own decisions about how and where they want to risk their money gambling. It's payback to his supporters in the Nevada casino industry. Even so, any effort to lift ridiculous nanny-state prohibitions on gambling should be applauded.

The Ongoing Wikileaks Saga

As everyone probably knows by now, Julian Assange turned himself in to British authorities as a result of his European arrest warrant and will face sex charges filed in Sweden. This could be either a good or bad development. It's possible the charges will stick, he'll be convicted, thrown in jail and essentially discredited as a sex criminal. On the other hand, there is probably a decent chance that there won't be enough evidence for a conviction, he'll walk free, and use the incident to portray himself as a martyr.

Despite the situation with Assange, Wikileaks says it will continue releasing stolen U.S. diplomatic cables. Assange alone is not the problem, and regardless of what happens to him personally, Wikileaks remains a hostile non-state organization engaged in a direct attack on the United States. Along with the Assange situation, there have been some other positive developments. Visa and Paypal have both suspended business arrangements with Wikileaks, and the Swiss closed Assange's bank account. Those are helpful measures, but they don't go nearly far enough.

As I've argued before, Wikileaks has already inflicted significant damage on the U.S. Instead of waiting around for the next attack, the U.S. should take both overt and covert action to destroy this organization. Attacking its finances is well and good, but the U.S. should directly target the key individuals running Wikileaks. It's past time for some of them to start dying or disappearing. Unfortunately it is unlikely that our current president will act beyond the usual strongly-worded statements, and tentative legal tactics. We can wage an extensive assassination campaign in Afghanistan/Pakistan, but we apparently can't act to destroy an enemy that has carried out a successful assault, and caused far more damage than most of the people we are killing.

HOT5 Daily 12/7/2010

1. "Iran Signals Continued Nuclear Defiance Before Geneva Talks" The negotiating charade with Iran continues.

Representative Sample: Tehran has a long history of cynically using diplomacy to undermine the prospects for more sanctions and to drive a wedge between members of the international coalition that seeks to restrict its nuclear program. Get ready for more “Rope-a-Dope” diplomacy as Iran’s intransigent regime seeks to buy more time for advancing its nuclear ambitions.

2. "UNICEF harms children" Not worthy of donations.

Representative Sample: UNICEF has a ready supply of funds from good-hearted, uninformed people. American schoolchildren “trick or treat for UNICEF” without realizing that some of the money they raise will be spent on terrorist training camps, or on lobbying to keep children trapped in horrible orphanages.

3. "the true story of santa" Sounds strangely familiar.

Representative Sample: It's a cartoon.

4. "Pearl Harbor Day – Remembering December 7, 1941, the Day of Infamy" We should also remember the justifiable ferocity of our response. Something many today have forgotten.

Representative Sample: The World War 2 generation is dying off quickly. Our society is becoming more discounted from that era. And yet, so much of our lives today are still wrapped up in the events and consequences of actions during that era. The long reach of history still grips us.

5. "Quick Thought: Unemployment Benefits Stimulate the Economy?" In Democratic fantasy world.

Representative Sample: Go ahead and make the case that this is the compassionate thing to do… but don’t make believe this has anything to do with stimulating the economy any more than the “Stimulus” bill was designed to stimulate the economy.

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

HOT5 Daily 12/6/2010

1. "The WikiLeaks Challenge" Excellent points. 

Representative Sample: THE MOST important question that arises from the entire WikiLeaks disaster is why the US refuses to defend itself and its interests. What is wrong with Washington? Why is it allowing WikiLeaks to destroy its international reputation, credibility and ability to conduct international relations and military operations?

2. "Net job impact of stimulus zero, from SF Federal Reserve study" Even using imaginary numbers, it didn't help. 

Representative Sample: Taken at face value, this would suggest that the stimulus program (with an overall cost of $814 billion) worked only to generate temporary jobs at a cost of over $400,000 per worker. Even if the stimulus had in fact generated this level of employment as a durable outcome, it would still have been an extremely expensive way to generate employment. 

3. "On saying no to the burqa" Even just calling for people to reject it leads to cries of "islamophobia" in Australia.  

Representative Sample: once again we see "Islamophobia" used as a stick to try to deny people freedom of speech. It's appalling, though not unexpected..

4. "Knife Rights Go Big Time?" Getting rid of ludicrous, archaic knife laws is long overdue. 

Representative Sample: If gun control is ridiculous, knife control is ten times so, because most people have more dangerous knives in their kitchen drawer than knives that are typically banned or restricted.

5. "But, I'm no bigot!" Turnabout.

Representative Sample: Instead of discussing the rights of gay people let me discuss the rights of born-again Christians, fundamentalists, or whatever other label you may use for them. Allow me to use their typical arguments.

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