Execute Christian Longo Already

Eight years ago Christian Longo murdered his wife and three children. He's been sitting on death row for the past eight years, in a prime example of just how ridiculous the death penalty process is in the U.S. Longo admits his guilt and wants to end his appeals.

I have asked to end my remaining appeals, and then donate my organs after my execution to those who need them. But my request has been rejected by the prison authorities.

There are tens of thousands of people waiting for organ donations. Longo's article says 19 die every day. So why on earth would his request to die and donate be rejected?

There is no law barring inmates condemned to death in the United States from donating their organs, but I haven’t found any prisons that allow it. The main explanation is that Oregon and most other states use a sequence of three drugs for lethal injections that damages the organs.

Here's an idea, how about making an exception and using a method that preserves organs? I know, that's just too difficult for government bureaucrats to figure out. They'd rather just stick with their idiotic rules. Longo is a piece of human garbage who should have been executed years ago. But even he wants to do the one decent thing he has left to offer. Oregon should immediately grant his request.

HOT5 Daily 3/7/2011

1. "Reasons why the Talibanization of the Middle East may not be a Bad Thing" Some possible causes for optimisim even if your outlook is pessimistic.

Representative Sample: When catching their child smoking, some parents have been known to force him to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes. And possibly the best way to cure the Muslim world of a hankering for an Islamic republic is to actually force them to live under one.

2. "Barack Obama and the Cavalcade of Naivete" All too true.

Representative Sample: while giving lip service to the idea that it's a "dangerous time," Obama never points to what the dangers are because, frankly, he has no idea. All the points he makes about these changes are positive, cheerleading.

3. "Has life been found in a meteorite?" In case you missed the alien life story.

Representative Sample: my own reaction is one of extreme skepticism. As it should be! All things being equal, I would take news like this with a very large grain of salt, and want a whole lot of outside expert analysis; I’d like to see other biologists examining the original meteorite, too.

4. "For those who still believe in the efficacy of government" We call them "Democrats."

Representative Sample: Here are some stories to open the eyes of even the most naive observer about the inefficiencies and structural problems of government

5. "Egypt Quietly Invades Libya" Apparently commandos from various countries are now in Libya, including some from Egypt.

Representative Sample: The Egyptian commandos come from Unit 777, a force that was established in the late 1970s, but underwent some ups and downs in the next two decades before achieving its current form. Today, the 250-300 -man Unit 777 is a significantly improved force.

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

Fall of Middle Eastern Dictators Equals Victory for Al Qaeda?

That's the argument of former CIA man Michael Scheuer, who dismisses Western cheerleading and happy talk about the Middle Eastern revolutions as "self-defeating applause from the Facebook-obsessed, Twitter-addled West." He points out that along with the destroying Israel,

Since bin Laden declared war against the United States in 1996, al-Qaeda's main goals have included the destruction of the Arab world's tyrannies

The falls of these dictators, particularly in Egypt "amounts to an enormous strategic step forward for al-Qaeda," that comes with "virtually no investment of manpower or money by the terrorist network." As I've pointed out myself, the idea that these tyrannies are going to be replaced by liberal democracies is based primarily on wishful thinking.

the role of Islamist groups will become larger - and over time perhaps dominant - if only because the populations in play are almost entirely Muslim and because Islamist groups have the most effective nationwide infrastructures to replace the old guard. ... it will be easier for media-savvy Islamist groups - whether peaceful or militant - to proselytize, publish and foment without immediate threat of arrest and incarceration. ...

Scheuer also notes that large numbers of militant Islamists have now been released from prison.

In Egypt alone, the news media are reporting that at least 17,000 prisoners have been freed. Many of those released are not thieves and murderers, but Islamist firebrands that the regimes had jailed to protect their internal security ... al-Qaeda and like-minded groups are now being replenished by a steady flow of pious, veteran mujaheddin, each of whom will never forget that U.S. and other Western funds helped keep them jailed by Arab tyrants.

Scheuer's argument is much more convincing and grounded in reality than the naivete and wishful thinking that prevails across most of the political spectrum in the West. I largely agree with him particularly in the case of Egypt. He is correct that these tyrants were doing much of our dirty work for us, killing and imprisoning radical Islamists while keeing a lid tamped down on broad-based popular Islamism. Where his argument is weakest, in my opinion, is that he generalizes across multiple countries. Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are not the same, and sharply different conditions prevail. Ultimately though, his analysis is just another prediction that we will have to wait on events to confirm or falsify. Hopefully he's wrong. But I fear he will be more accurate than not.

No HOT5 Today

It will return tomorrow.

HOT5 Daily 3/5/2011

1. "Free Market Health Care: The Road Not Taken" It's actually hard to imagine what a free market health care system might look like since we've had so much government involvement for so long.

Representative Sample: It should be no surprise that while US consumer prices have risen 53% since 1992, health care prices have risen at nearly double that rate, by 98%. Recognize that this is not inevitable. This inflation is not something unique to medical care — it is something unique to how we pay for medical care.

2. "The Closing of the Leftist Mind" It's been closed on many issues for quite some time.

Representative Sample: The bottom line of the Leftist critique of classical liberalism is that the economy has to be regulated, because, if not, corporations will gain power and then control the nation. But, they also claim there has never been a free market and that corporations already control the nation even with regulations, because politicians have been bought.

3. "So much for the “inerrant” word of god" Not the word of God and not inerrant. But there's a new version coming out.

Representative Sample: And here you have it, yet another version of the inerrant word of god is on the works, because we (well, not we, they – but you know what I mean) need to make the bible make sense. Yes, that’s exactly what I meant to say.

4. "Iranian Front Donated to Multitude of U.S. Universities" Concentrations of useful idiots for the Iranian regime receiving Iranian money -- not that big of a surprise.

Representative Sample: Planet-Iran.com has a list of universities that received donations from the Alavi Foundation, which the U.S. government says is a front for the regime.

5. "Libyan Fallout: Greater MANPADS Threat" Not good.

Representative Sample: defense analysts say the fallout from escalating unrest in Libya could include more small arms flooding the black market – including portable heat-seeking missiles capable of shooting down an airliner

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

HOT5 Daily 3/4/2011

1. "The Top 10 Islamapologist Blogs" Useful idiots. But I wouldn't put FrumForum in that category, and certainly not at #3.

Representative Sample: here’s a list of the top ten Islamapologist blogs. Some of them are exactly what one would expect when it comes to apologists for Islamofascism, while others may be a bit surprising. Some have massive readerships, and others are more obscure and have more of a niche audience. The one thing they all have in common is their willingness to excuse or explain away the odious doctrine and philosophy of Islamofascism.

2. "The Further Death of “Liberaltarianism”" Attempts to mix oil and water usually don't work out too well.

Representative Sample: The ongoing twenty minutes of hate against the billionaire libertarian Koch brothers for being, well, billionaire libertarians is yet another nail in the already well-sealed coffin of “liberaltarianism”–the attempt of some libertarians to ally with the progressive left.

3. "The Myth Of The Rule Of Law" Links to an interesting essay.

Representative Sample: This 1995 essay by John Hasnas seems pretty compelling to me. Hasnas can describe anarchism in a way that makes it seem a more practical system of politics than just about anyone else I’ve read, even though that’s not primarily what he’s doing here.

4. "Yes, Virginia, The Bible Does Teach Hell" Debunking the liberal Christian attempt to explain away the ideal of hell.

Representative Sample: I applaud anyone who has the decency to reject the idea of Hell as a sadistic fantasy. Nevertheless, I'm afraid I have to disagree with Slacktivist on textual grounds. It isn't the case that this idea can't plausibly be found in the Bible.

5. "Why China Still Uses Carrier Pigeons" You can't jam a pigeon.

Representative Sample: Carrier pigeons have been retired by most armies. The last European country to do so was Switzerland, in the 1970s (at the same time it got rid of its bicycle units). China, however, has continued to maintain thousands of homing pigeons for military communications duty.

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

HOT5 Daily 3/3/2011

1. "Don't Forget Qaddafi's Western Enablers" That list includes quite a few people.

Representative Sample: Reporting on Western and especially European policy toward the Middle East can be maddening and frustrating. Oil-rich dictatorships and monarchies are cosseted and flattered — even as Western critics demand Gandhian standards of tolerance and forebearance from democratic Israel, surrounded by exterminationist enemies.

2. "Echoes of the Soviet Surge" I was prepared to see a bad analogy and instead found a pretty solid analysis.

Representative Sample: Afghanistan's early spring of 1985 offers a striking parallel with its current season of discontent, and as the U.S. government pushes ahead with its strategy, it would be wise to study how the Soviets failed in fighting and ending their war.

3. "Muslim denial about what being Muslim is about" A point that needs to be made, regardless of the inevitable accusations of "Islamophobia" that will come from some Muslims and their useful idiots.

Representative Sample: I don’t care about the “real Islam,” or what “Islam teaches.” All I care is that Muslims stop engaging in active persecution of non-Muslims. All I care is that Muslims march out into the streets and take back their public spaces in nations where they are the majority from the thugs. I’m not holding my breath.

4. "Raising the Debt Limit: It Just Makes Sense. Not." Maybe we should ignore the prophets of doom and actually try doing something different instead of piling on more debt.

Representative Sample: The limit has been raised no fewer than 10 times in the past decade. When Republicans ran the White House and the Congress, they voted overwhelmingly to charge it and Democrats, including Sen. Obama, hollered bloody murder. In 2006,he called the need to yet again increase the debt limit “a sign of leadership failure.” Now that Dems run the show, the GOP has suddenly rediscovered its inner cheapskate.

5. "Danger Room: Military Drops Crazy ‘ICBMS vs. Terrorists’ Plan" Switching to "hypersonic glider" weapons instead.

Representative Sample: A few years back, the military came up with the bright idea of swapping out the nuclear warheads on some of America’s land- and sea-based ballistic missiles for conventional explosives, transforming city-obliterating rockets into so-called “Prompt Global Strike” systems

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