HOT5 Daily 10/5/2010

1. "Redistribution of Wealth Gone Wild in America" But if you talk to anyone on the left they think we aren't redistributing enough. 

Representative Sample: If you think the federal taxes you pay go to the run the federal government, think again. This year, every dime (and more) that the feds collect is going out in payments to other people. That is, Washington is redistributing even more wealth than it takes in.

2. "Beautiful: Having torn the health insurance industry asunder, Democrats appear ready to lay waste to the life insurance industry" Another reason to vote GOP next month. 

Representative Sample: Mark 'life insurance' down as industry #203 that has been demonized by the class warfare rhetoric of the modern left. Never mind that America has no static class structure -- the rich become poor and the poor rich every day of the week. Never mind that life insurance has protected those of modest means for centuries.

3. "Gliese 581g, Alien Angst, and the Lemming" A look at the coverage of Gliese 581g.  

Representative Sample: The planetary system of Gliese 581 has been in the news again. It looks like there's a planet there - Gliese 581g - that's not much bigger and not much chillier than Earth. It's too early to tell, but there could be life there. Anything from pond scum to those groovy space aliens folks have been talking about.

4. "Alternative Sentencing Gaining Acceptance" Useful alternatives to filling up prisons with non-violent offenders. 

Representative Sample: “Nonviolent drug and property crimes comprise a significant part of our prison population,” adds Nicole Porter, state advocacy coordinator of The Sentencing Project. “The financial issues involved have broadened the conversation out, and introduced people to alternative means of crime control if they hadn’t been looking at fiscal issues before.”

5. "Perfect the Enemy of the Good" Good analysis.

Representative Sample: in California, the state could have made a ton more progress reducing vehicle emissions had they accepted a low emissions standard decades ago that allowed for things like compressed natural gas (CNG) as a vehicle fuel. However, environmentalists insisted on zero emissions, and thus only electric vehicles passed muster, and the technology simply has not been there

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

Suspicious Sex Survey Results

A huge new sex study is out: the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB). These things are always interesting, but one thing leaped out at me when I clicked the chart for the sexual behavior graph. This lists the percentages of males and females in each age group who say they've engaged in the listed sexual practices over the past year. Check out the top line, which reports solo masturbation. According to the study for males,  19% of 18-19 year-olds, 25% of 16-17 year-olds, and an amazing 38% of 14-15 year-olds did not masturbate over the past year! Yeah, right. Those numbers might be right for the past 24 hours -- maybe. If I were conducting this study I'd be embarrassed to even put up those numbers without some sort of qualifying explanation. Either they got a freakish group of teenage males, or the honesty of their survey participants is highly questionable. With those numbers in the top line, you have to wonder about the accuracy of the survey as a whole.

HOT5 Daily 10/4/2010

1. "The Real Moderate Muslims Come to Capitol Hill" Something that deserves to be highlighted. These people probably speak for many American Muslims much more than the likes of CAIR.

Representative Sample: This diverse group of speakers shared one main thing: All were non-Islamist Muslims who are usually ignored by Congress, the executive branch and the mainstream media. None was involved with Islamist groups linked to Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood; none was an unindicted co-conspirator in terror-finance cases; and none is an apologist for radical Islam.

2. "Catholics, secularism, and Nazism" Things to keep in mind the next time the Pope tries to link atheism and Nazism. 

Representative Sample: Germany’s Catholics celebrated the Concordat with a joyous Mass of thanksgiving at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, with the papal nuncio himself presiding. Nazi flags mingled with Catholic banners, and the Nazi “Horst Wessel song” was sung along with Catholic hymns, while thousands listened on loudspeakers outside.

3. "1920: The Great Depression That Wasn't" Averted by letting the free market work.  Imagine that.

Representative Sample: The Panic of 1920 started out as a contender for the greatest depression of all time, with a drop in prices and production during its first twelve months that dwarfed those of any other economic crash, and she piled on an unemployment rate that skyrocketed from invisible to 12% in a flash. Ignoring calls to do something, anything, to "help", Washington, DC simply allowed the economy to adjust wherever it chose to go.

4. "Alcohol in the Persian Gulf" If you are an alcoholic traveling to the Persian Gulf, this is definitely a must-read -- complete with handy chart. 

Representative Sample: The monarchies of the Persian Gulf are strictly Muslim countries, but take very different views on alcohol. Trying to figure out the alcohol policies of the GCC, I drew up this map, using the information that I believe is correct

5. "Meet the Guy Living in His Mom’s Basement: Dennis Markuze" Includes photo of spammer DM who often infects the comments on this and other blogs.

Representative Sample: Let’s face it. Dennis looks just like we thought.

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

Myths about Middle East Peace

The Washington Post has a new entry up in its "Five Myths" series, this one about Middle East peace. I fully expected to see things categorized as myth that were not, but the characterization of myths is surprisingly accurate. The problems come with the analysis and recommended U.S. courses of action.

1. Direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians are the key to reaching an accord. The author, Aaron David Miller,  points out that direct negotiations have achieved little, whereas advances -- such as they are -- have come from the U.S. But the recommendation for action is horrible, and conflicts with one of the author's later points.

Sooner rather than later, the United States will need to invest itself more heavily in the negotiations in order to bridge gaps on core issues such as borders and the status of Jerusalem; will need to marshal the billions of dollars required to support an agreement; and probably will need to deploy U.S. forces to the Jordan Valley to monitor security arrangements.

How about no, no and no? None of that would be in the U.S. interest.

2. The United States is an honest broker in the peace process. I've made this point many times. The U.S. is an ally of Israel. It is not and should not pretend to be an honest broker. We are deceiving no one. Naturally Miller thinks we need to be more even-handed. We don't. We should do exactly the opposite of what he argues, recognize that Israel is our ally, the Palestinians are hostile, and act accordingly. It is not in the U.S. interest to try to benefit the Palestinians at the expense of Israel.

3. Settlements are the main obstacle to peacemaking. Again, right on target. Settlements are only one of many issues. Their impact is greatly exaggerated. Israel could declare a total halt to all settlements tomorrow and the Palestinians would simply switch to some other grievance.  

4. Pressuring the Israelis is the only way to reach an agreement. No argument there. Any agreement obtained by pressuring Israel to accede to Palestinian demands isn't going to be in the U.S. interest.

5. Arab-Israeli peace is critical to securing U.S. interests in the Middle East.If it isn't, and I agree that it isn't, then this point undermines pretty much all the author's other recommended policy moves. There's only one good reason for the U.S. to damage relations with its ally, and assist those hostile to it (and that's what trying to adopt a neutral position means), and that's if there's no other choice in order to secure U.S. interests in the region. As the author rightly notes,

Arab-Israeli peace will not stabilize Afghanistan or facilitate an extrication of U.S. forces from there. It will not create a viable political contract among Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. It will not stop Iran from acquiring enough fissile material to make a nuclear weapon. It will not force Arab states to respect human rights. Nor will it end anti-American sentiment fueled by our support for authoritarian Arab regimes, our deployment of forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, our war against terror and our close relationship with Israel.

The U.S. interest in Arab-Israeli peace is primarily to keep a lid on the situation while maintaining ties with our allies in the region. It would be nice if the so-called peace process was viewed primarily through that lens. But I know it's too much to ask that American leaders actually put American interests first.

 

HOT5 Daily 10/3/2010

1. "Women in Control" Female leaders photo essay. 

Representative Sample: While it's true that more than 75 percent of parliaments worldwide are more than three-quarters male, in recent years some high-powered female heads of state have bucked the trend. If Dilma Rousseff is elected as Brazil's first female president on Sunday, she'll be joining a small, but elite, cohort.

2. "Well, Thank God It Isn't Muhammad" Don't hold your breath waiting for any whining by the president, General Petraeus or any of the others who felt such a need to denounce the planned Koran burning.

Representative Sample: If this were Muhammad, public officials would already be denouncing the artwork and calling for the gallery to back off, as it might put America and her armed forces at risk overseas. I guess we can be thankful that a soon to be released travel alert for Europe isn't linked to the art exhibit at all.

3. "Doesn't anyone in the Obama White House know any history?" It doesnt' look that way.  

Representative Sample: These guys are so impressed with themselves that they can't even fathom that any president ever accomplished more or faced more difficult challenges. 

4. "The Unbelievable Truth" Interesting article by Daniel Dennett on the new Pew Forum religious study. 

Representative Sample: The more you know about religions, the less likely you are to believe religious creeds and myths and thus the more likely you are to be an atheist or agnostic, whether or not you are affiliated with, or even clergy in, a church.

5. "$3 million stimulus, $5 million overall: Regional airport with 1 flight a month" Government efficiency in action.

Representative Sample: St. Cloud Regional Airport (STC) touts lots of amenities on its website—a café, ATM, free wi-fi, free parking and a $5 million completely renovated terminal whose capacity went up dramatically from 30 to 200 travelers. There’s also a new $750,000 passenger boarding bridge secured with federal stimulus funds to keep travelers out of the elements while catching a flight. One asset, however, the newly renovated airport notably lacks—commercial flights and passengers.

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

HOT5 Daily 10/2/2010

1. "Obama’s Top 10 Broken Promises (So Far)" It must have been difficult to narrow it down to 10. 

Representative Sample: An earmark is a requirement that money approved by Congress be spent in a specific way requested by a lawmaker. Once the numbers came in, President Barack Obama was unable to keep his promise to hold earmarks to less than the level they were at before 1994 ($7.8 billion a year). Big surprise.

2. "CATO: Most Fiscally Conservative Governors" Includes link to the full list and analysis. 

Representative Sample: There were not many surprises. Republicans tended to bunch up at the top of the list with 'A's and 'B's. There were a couple dissapointing exceptions - Connecticut's Jodi Roell, Hawaii's Linda Lingle, and Florida's Charlie Crist who's not really a Republican, though listed as such.

3. "Just how many Religions are there?" A nice breakdown of some of the major ones.  

Representative Sample: When you research the history and evolution of religions, it becomes clear that they have changed and evolved to suit their location and to blend with beliefs that people had before the new religion came along. So to imagine that a religion has any actual truth is just that - imagination.

4. "Environmentalists Exaggerate. Again" I know, hard to believe. 

Representative Sample: To say they are “overestimating” the number of species going extinct is to be very kind to them. A more accurate headline for this would be, “scientists discover that environmentalist doomsayers are making stuff up”.

5. "Why young adults change their religious beliefs" Partially due to genetics?

Representative Sample: A recent study has looked at this using data from two twin studies in Colorado, USA. The basic idea is simple: they measured religiosity at around 12-18 years old, and then again around 5 years later.

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

Another Annoying Power Outage

The town I live in seems to have one of the worst power supplies around. Almost every time there is any sort of bad weather the power flickers, or goes out entirely. The last time it was out for 21 hours, ruining all our food in the freezer and refrigerator. Last night it went out at 2am, after the worst of the storm had already passed. For reasons unknown, power was not restored until after 3pm today. I'm just now getting online at work, so that's why there was no HOT5 today.