HOT5 Daily 1/23/2011

1. "Obama's State of the Union: If There's Anything We Learned From the Last Two Years, It's That We Know How to Spend Your Money Better Than You Do" Taxing and spending.

Representative Sample: These are the economic qualifications of the very same masterminds who are in the process of nationalizing the health care sector. ... It's time to turn the bums out -- and let's be quite uncivil about it.

2. "Noblesse Oblige" Double standard for the West.

Representative Sample: Cecil Rhodes, who once admonished people to “remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life” would have been surprised to learn there are all kinds of advantages to being non-Western in the modern world. For one thing you are far less likely to be accused of racism, colonialism or human rights violations.

3. "Why I Carry a Firearm" Some good ones.

Representative Sample: Because with a Smith and Wesson, it doesn't matter that I have the upper body strength of Justin Bieber.

4. "Not all assassination attempts are newsworthy" Just ones that can be used to smear the right.

Representative Sample: even a real assassination attempt on a Republican governor was not considered newsworthy by the legacy media.

5. "Navy One Step Closer to Using Lasers for Ship Defense" the march of technology.

Representative Sample: scientists at Los Alamos National Lab last month demonstrated the technology, known as a Free Electron Laser, needed to generate a one megawatt beam that could one day provide light-speed close-in defense of Navy ships.

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. Sorry about the light posting this past week. I've been tied up with a bunch of stuff.

HOT5 Daily 1/21/2011

1. "Top Ten Tragedies Exploited by the Left" It was probably difficult to narrow it down to just 10.

Representative Sample: Paul Wellstone, US Senator from Minnesota, his wife and one child died in a plane crash 11 days before the election for his third term. The “memorial” service put on by the Democrats in Minnesota was so partisan, so ugly, the governor at the time, Jesse Ventura and Trent Lott were forced to leave early to boos from the crowd. What was supposed to be a memorial service turned into an all out foaming-at-the-mouth leftist rally.

2. "Short-term success, long-term mistake" I'm not even sure it qualifies as short-term success.

Representative Sample: The attacks on the Tea Party were like mass public burnings of Norman Rockwell paintings. It was an assault by crazed radicals on small-town America. Based on decades in the conservative movement, I can assure you that the left and the ruling-class media aren’t sorry about their disgraceful, hypocritical conduct against Americans who are justifiably fed up and taking peaceful steps consistent with their rights.

3. "My Top Ten Grievances Against the Bible" A pretty good list.

Representative Sample: 5. Revelation. Dreams, voices, visions... they are all reminiscent of what today would be considered symptoms of psychosis. If they're psychotic symptoms now, they very likely would have been then, if they even happened. Primitive people can't be faulted for believing that dreams or migraine auras or psychotic breaks came from some supernatural entity, but we shouldn't believe them now.

4. "South Korea Takes Back Ship from Somali Pirates" How to deal with pirates.

Representative Sample: South Korea chose not to wring its hands in despair over a Somali pirate captured ship and took positive action by storming and recapturing a vessel. Samho Jewelry, recently taken by Somali pirates

5. "More Errors Than You Can Count" Debunking a typical ignorant media piece regarding guns.

Representative Sample: It’s been a while since I’ve done a good fisking, but the media has me in the mood to demonstrate their complete ignorance of this subject.

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

HOT5 Daily 1/20/2011

1. "Some on the right have given up on Sarah Palin" For good reason in my opinion.

Representative Sample: It pleases me greatly to see people finally seeing Sarah Palin for what she really is; a political opportunist, who has zero business being President of the United States of America, much less anything else.

2. "What’s With the Left’s Hate for Lieberman?" I'm surprised he even has to ask.

Representative Sample: Joe Lieberman is no conservative. But for a quarter of a century he has voted for America’s security over the short-sighted dovishness of his party. His deviations from liberal orthodoxy were few, and more rhetoric than reality. But that was enough to make him a hate figure on the Left.

3. "where would we be?" Without the God of the Gaps.

Representative Sample: It's a cartoon.

4. "Cyber-Abuse and Bullying" A pretty severe case.

Representative Sample: The worst case of cyber-bullying I’ve ever seen recently happened to Dean’s World contributor Celia Farber. Just in mainstream journalism, some of the things I’ve seen written about her have been simply awful. But late last year I bore mute witness as, for weeks, something took place that went into the realm of the surreal: a prominent musician and her cronies, on a public Facebook page read by thousands, openly called for her death–a violent death of torture–over and over again.

5. "Survey Says Today's Kids are Technology Savvy" Just in case you don't have kids and aren't already well-aware of that fact.

Representative Sample: A survey from Internet security firm (and virus protection maker) AVG reveals that more kids know how to play video games than how to ride a bike, swim or even tie their shoes.

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

HOT5 Daily 1/19/2011

1. "Central and South America Are A Toxic Brew" A bleak picture.

Representative Sample: One could say that during the first decade of the century, nowhere has the intersection of globalization, organized crime and political violence been more fully realized than in Central and South America.

2. "'smart regulation' point of interest" About as smart as "smart power."

Representative Sample: When your regulation is more anti-innovation than the French, you know the pendulum has swung too far. Of course, Barack Obama will never confess that the new, er, "diligence" of the FDA toward medical devices is a policy of his appointees and his administration. In addition to a general antipathy toward enterprise

3. "You’re not my brother, pal" People worry about innocuous x-mas trees on public property. How about a governor who uses his office to preach Christianity?

Representative Sample: I’m fairly confident you’ll agree that a governor should be someone who places the good of the voting public above his private beliefs, but unfortunately it seems as though not everyone shares this attitude

4. "Fannie/Freddie = BIG government. Do Republicans really want smaller government?" Good analysis.

Representative Sample:the profile of the Secretary of State has recently undergone a silent revolution, a far-reaching overhaul of the profile that has been silently accepted by both Democrats and Republicans.

5. "First, Protect the Church" Even if that means protecting molesters.

Representative Sample: I prefer to believe that family members who belong to the Catholic Church aren’t donating their time and sending their money to an organization with morally bankrupt leaders.

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

People Who Hate Walmart

I happened to notice a story about protests against a new Walmart in Washington D.C. Here's a link to the protest website. As a regular Walmart shopper, I find hatred of the company silly and in some cases downright stupid. Since it's the largest retail chain, almost everyone knows people who hate Walmart and refuse to shop there. I break-down Walmart-haters into four broad categories. Some people fall into more than one.

1. Ideological haters. Although there are some on the right, ideological Walmart hate is found mostly on the left. For example, Walmart's anti-union stance is an obvious negative to the left, whereas it is a positive on the right. I find ideological dislike of corporations generally pretty irrational. If you look at most huge companies, you are probably going to find practices you don't agree with for whatever reason. Is that a good reason not to shop there? Not for me it isn't. I view people who make shopping decisions based primarily on ideology as naive and silly.

2. The well-off. By well-off I mean people who have enough money that they shop wherever they like best, without really caring about price differences. They regard Walmart and most discount retail stores as unnecessary to their lifestyle. They wouldn't be caught dead in Walmart because they think it's for poor people.

3. Snobs. These differ from the well-off in that their dislike of Walmart is based on their perception of who shops there. Unlike the well-off, these snobs could stand to save some money; but they'd rather pay more because they just can't stand the idea of shopping at Walmart.

4. The ignorant. These Walmart haters will tell you that it sells nothing but cheap junk. They claim they'd rather pay a little more for quality products. I laugh at these people who apparently don't know that Walmart carries name-brand products just like other retailers, if that's what you are looking for. But if you are dumb enough to pay more for toilet paper, paper towels, pet food and numerous other identical products, feel free. I'm sure the higher-priced retailers appreciate your ignorance.

Unlike Walmart-haters, I love Walmart and have to laugh anytime someone starts ranting about how bad the company is. I live in a small town with one grocery store. It's a very nice, well-stocked store. But it's expensive. About ten miles away is a regular Walmart, unfortunately not a supercenter. Within the past year it added produce to its selection, so it has pretty much everything but butchered meats and deli. The selection of grocery items isn't anywhere near as good as the supermarket, but it has many of the items that our family buys. Here's just a couple of examples of why I love Walmart.

Breakfast cereal. The cereal I eat costs about $5.50 at the grocery store. At Walmart it's $4.

Apples. I eat at least one apple every day. At the grocery store apples go for around $1.69 to $1.99 a pound. Apples are heavy. At Walmart I can get a bag of around a dozen apples from about 2.75 to 3.95 for the entire bag depending on apple variety.

I know there are many poor people in Washington D.C. They'd benefit greatly from having a Walmart to shop at. Hopefully they won't be stupid enough to join in union-organized protests.

HOT5 Daily 1/18/2011

1. "Civil Rights and civility" One of the many examples of why I laugh at the notion that demonizing political opponents is somehow exclusive to the right.

Representative Sample: In light of the Left's new-found fondness for "civility", perhaps we should look at the inflammatory rhetoric directed squarely at the Republican party (and in general, all who hold conservative beliefs) by the very people who claim absolute moral authority on matters of tolerance and equality.

2. "The government is a poor assigner of resources" Understatement. Links to an article about the waste of money on non-existent "green jobs."

Representative Sample: It’s not like these grants are being given to research and development programs at big name schools focusing on developing new renewable energy technology, either. They’re being given to universities and community colleges to train students in technical or associate degree programs to work in yet-to-be-developed fields.

3. "Can Andrew Sullivan Be Far Behind Jared Loughner?" I was wondering if someone would go there.

Representative Sample: Who's to say? But one can do is to look at similar milestones that Jared Loughner had left and see how they stack up against Andrew Sullivan. Maybe-- before it's too late-- an intervention could be set up so that no one can be hurt. This time.

4. "56% of Democrats Believe Palin Map Myth" The big lie technique apparently convinced a majority of Democrats and a fair amount of others lacking logical reasoning ability.

Representative Sample: That a total of 35% of people (and 56% of Democrats) believe that a Palin map Loughner never saw contributed in some meaningful way to the shooting demonstrates the method to the madness of those who were spreading the Palin map myth before all the dead had been counted.

5. "IAI delivers 12 UAVs to Russia in key deal" Arms deals as a method of diplomacy. I'm skeptical about the wisdom of Israeli thinking.

Representative Sample: The delivery of the short-range Bird-Eye 400 and I-View Mk 150 aircraft, plus the longer-range Searcher II, in recent weeks is part of an Israeli effort to encourage the Russians not to provide Iran and Syria with advanced weapons systems that could threaten the Jewish state

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