HOT5 Daily 1/17/2011

1. "The Fallacy of Progressive Thought" A good dissection.

Representative Sample: In order to embark upon this counter-intuitive, frustrating journey, one must understand that Progressive belief, theory and policy is non-falsifiable. In other words, it cannot, by any means, human or Divine, be proved false. It is, in essence, as I pointed out in my recent PJM essay (available here), an article of faith, and any reality that does not comport with it is not reality at all and can and must be ignored.

2. "Top 10 Obama Administration Investigation Targets" A couple of these should be avoided by the GOP.

Representative Sample: Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has signaled he will conduct numerous oversight investigations of the Obama Administration. Here are the Top 10 areas ripe for investigation for Issa and other congressional Republicans

3. "How Not to Promote Freedom in Africa" Long but worth reading.

Representative Sample: Ever since Carter and Reagan put human rights and democracy, respectively, high on their foreign policy agendas, we have spent a lot of money and expended quite a lot of hot rhetorical air, but achieved very little.

4. "PSEUDO OPERATIONS - FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE" The military could use more of this sort of thinking.

Representative Sample: Well trained and led pseudo teams, operating off current intelligence can wreak havoc amongst the enemy and decimate its ranks. But to do that, we need to adjust our thinking and our approach. But it bears remembering that pseudo teams are not “special forces” – instead they are irregular troops operating under normal command and control.

5. "Roles reversed: Fox shoots hunter in the leg." Fox goes down fighting.

Representative Sample: According to police reports in the region, while fox hunting, a 40-year-old hunter happened to shoot a fox close to the border with Poland.

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

No HOT5 Today

It will return tomorrow.

HOT5 Daily 1/15/2011

1. "The Dangling Grand Bargain" Diplomacy & strategy.

Representative Sample: In today’s West, dominated by those high on the heady drug of global meliorism, the mere act of talking has somehow become an end unto itself. Whether it’s a “peace process”, “six-party talks”, “quartet”, “agreed framework”, “security council resolution”, or some other high-falutin’ hogwash, Western diplomacy resembles is more the decrepit liturgy of a dying baroque cult than the hard-nosed power brokering beloved by naïve realists.

2. "Where's the rest of the libertarian movement on Radical Islam?" Good question.

Representative Sample: numerous other left-leaning libertarian sites completely avoid the subject for obvious reasons; sites like AntiWar.com, LewRockwell.com, and many of the Ron Paul sites. To talk of the threat of Radical Islam, would bring up the uncomfortable subject of what to do about it, for these hard-line non-interventionist/isolationists.

3. "How Does the Vatican Decide What's a Miracle?" You might think an actual miracle would be so obvious and clearly verifiable -- say an amputated arm growing back -- that it wouldn't need such a long, involved process. But amazingly enough that isn't the case.

Representative Sample: In an ideal version of the process, a grassroots movement grows in a community as people come to the conclusion that the person lived a saintly life. The local bishop then "opens a cause" and performs his own investigation. If he's satisfied, the cause is then referred to Rome.

4. "Speaking Rhetoric and Pulling Triggers" It's nice to see that this liberal atheist, whose blog I read pretty often, has not abandoned reason regarding the Tucson case.

Representative Sample: hip-hop doesn't cause gang violence, heavy metal doesn't create self-destructive teens, pornography doesn't instill in men an immoderate interest in sex, and "because I was offended by that cartoon / work of art / pointed question" is not a valid excuse for god-addled violence. Accordingly, it must be true -- mustn't it? -- that right-wing bluster, up to and including Lady Also's idiotic cross-hairs, Sharron Angle's "2nd amendment remedies," and Glen Beck's insipid tear-soaked paranoid rants -- do not, in any important way, cause mass shootings.

5. "A cartoon worthy of a stand-alone post" Definitely.

Representative Sample: It's a cartoon.

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

Tim Pawlenty and Bryan Fischer

While skimming through the left-wing blogosphere, I came across a post at Right Wing Watch about an interview former Minnesota Governor and presumed GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty did on the radio show of Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. Pawlenty has been talked about as a potential presidential candidate since before the 2008 election. I still don't know that much about him, but the fact that he's doing interviews with Bryan Fischer automatically makes me take a more negative view of him.

Right Wing Watch may be a biased left-wing site, but if you look through its links on Bryan Fischer, you will see plenty of examples of his own words that illustrate just how much of an embarrassment he is to any rational person on the right. I recently wrote a post in response to his ludicrous and offensive assertion that the Medal of Honor has been "feminized." As someone who takes a realistic view of politics, I understand that would-be presidential candidates have to interact with some extreme elements of their party bases. But on a visceral level, the fact that Pawlenty appears on Fischer's show and grants him a measure of legitimacy makes me recoil. In my opinion, GOP candidates would be best served by keeping contacts with the likes of Bryan Fischer to a minimum.

HOT5 Daily 1/14/2011

1. "The Left's Fetish With Its Own Paranoid Hatred" Includes link to another excellent article.

Representative Sample: Sarah Palin no more "thrust" or "inserted" herself into the Tucson story than Richard Jewell forced himself into the spotlight after the Atlanta Olympics bombing.

2. "Censorship Overlords Strike Again...26 Years Later " The ludicrous extent of political correctness north of the border.

Representative Sample: Welcome to Canada. Home of hockey, Tim Hortons's donuts, the world's best beer, and the constant attack on free speech.

3. "Top Ten Things We Can't Say Anymore" Going with the left's theory that anything term or phrase in any way related to violence, regardless of it's context, might set of some lunatic -- as long as someone on the right is saying it of course. Left-wingers can use whatever rhetoric they want.

Representative Sample: According to the Dept. of Homeland Security the following words, phrases and idioms are henceforth verboten

4. "Your Daily Woo: What's Your Sign?" If those birth signs actually meant anything, how is it they can be arbitrarily changed?

Representative Sample: I love seeing people freak out that their Zodiac tattoos are now incorrect. Are you passionate or intelligent now? Are you compatible with an Aries or not?

5. "Anti-Gun Metaphor Congressman: Obama had to put on a "double barrel" effort last night" Uh oh. Alert the violent language police.

Representative Sample: Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) managed to inadvertently illustrate why his clarion call for political rhetoric free from such metaphors is both impractical and impossible.

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

Questions for the Palin Haters

Since you are so eager to smear Sarah Palin with a share of responsibility for the Arizona shootings, is it too much to ask that you produce one single scrap of evidence that there is even the most tenuous connection between Jared Loughner and Palin? Does he have a Sarah Palin poster in his room, a copy of her book, or maybe an autographed picture? Is there a print-out of her oh-so-scary crosshairs political chart on his wall? Did he attend any of her rallies? Anything? Any connection at all? And no, I don't mean a connection that exists only in your imagination.

Wouldn't it be reasonable to at least have even one minor connection before even speculating, let alone accusing, someone of any sort of responsibility for murder? Liberals are always whining about "fairness." Where's the fairness in accusing someone of complicity in murder without evidence?

Even if such a connection could be established -- which it hasn't been -- have you ever heard that correlation does not imply causation? Roosters crow when the sun rises in the morning. Do you believe that roosters have some responsibility for the sunrise?

For those upset with Sarah Palin's response -- as if she should just sit still while being smeared, or apologize for something she had nothing to do with -- how would you feel if some political opponents claimed, without offering any evidence, that the murderous actions of some unrelated lunatic were somehow influenced by your words and political literature? What if they then attacked you for defending yourself, claimed you were a bigot because of your choice of words, and redoubled their baseless accusations?

Would you think that the people leveling such attacks were worthy of any respect? Or would you consider them some combination of ignorant, intellectually-dishonest, and blinded by hatred?

HOT5 Daily 1/13/2011

1. "Progressives and Blood Libel" A must-link for the cartoon.

Representative Sample: It's a cartoon and links to some good articles.

2. "Somebody Could Have Gotten Killed" A good response to a William Saletan anti-gun article at Slate.

Representative Sample: The gun control folks want us to surrender our right to arm and defend ourselves and turn that responsibility over to the government. The government, time and time again, fails miserably at this. Think of what law enforcement typically does. They arrive after the crime has been committed or is in progress and they investigate and prosecute.

3. "A rant on the evolution of religion" That makes some excellent points.

Representative Sample: we are no more naturally religious than we are naturally football fans, or concert goers.

4. "Raising taxes: it’s what Democrats do!" Of course. Big government requires constant infusions of money.

Representative Sample: In last November’s elections, the Democrats retained control of both houses of the Illinois state legislature, though by diminished margins, and the gubernatorial seat. So, the old legislature rushed through a big tax increase, just hours before the new legislature was to be seated.

5. "Prepare Yourself for Rising Food Prices" From what I've observed they've already been going up. I'm not looking forward to further increases.

Representative Sample: Get ready for even higher food prices. The Financial Times reports that we’re getting closer to food price shock. While it will be difficult for us here in the US, it will be devastating for developing countries.

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