Snark of the Day: Pete Hoekstra

“Right now, the Obama administration’s national security apparatus is broken, dysfunctional and in disarray,” Hoekstra said.  “Dennis Blair was the one person you could count on for rationality among Holder, Napolitano and Brennan—and he’s the one the president let go.”

Pete Hoekstra, via A.J. Strata, Strata-Sphere.

I’m starting a new category of posts here at BitsBlog, which I hope will be of at least passing interest to you.  I’m going to call the category “The Truck Collection”. It’ll be pics of trucks that really catch my eye. . I admire folks who do this with cars, for the massive time and effort involved. With trucks, the effort (and cost) gets even larger.

Here’s the first group of many.

I won’t even bother to link this nonsense, but we’ve all seen in the last several days the issue surrounding Rand Paul and his comments regarding the 1964 civil rights act. You remember, the bill that the Republicans rammed through and Democrats fought against back in the day? Yeah that one. Well, anyway, let me start my commentary on this matter by stating my own position:

Is it both hunky and dory for Woolworth’s Lunch Counter to decline to serve minorities?

No.

But in truth, I don’t consider that Rand Paul, as much of a nutball as I consider him to be,  is saying it’s OK, either.

What Rand Paul is saying here, …. and I think, correctly…  is that there is no constitutional basis for the government to be a solution to that particular issue. That’s a firm, and fairly clear cut, small government, libertarian stand, not particularly a racist one.  The trouble for liberals is they can’t argue the point on the merits of it, or their lack of them. So they break out the label gun.

Understand me here… In the liberal lexicon there’s very few charges that are considered worse than ‘racist’. And the left uses this charge every time they have no other tools to bring to bear.  The  pattern is so predictable as to be laughable. Whenever someone comes out against government programs for this or that minority, anyone who questions them is labeled a racist before the echo from the question dies.

Now… that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele isn’t comfortable with the views expressed by Rand Paul is understandable and an example of what I’ve been saying about what is wrong with the Republican party for some time now.  They’ve fallen victim to the ‘cultural outcome’ perspective rather than the constitutional perspective. Which is perhaps why the government- imposed ‘solution’ of the civil rights act of ’64 was pushed by the Republicans back in the day.

As to the success or failure of such government-based attitudes about minorities, Steel should perhaps look at the long-term implication of our government only wanting to help the American Indian.  Those well meaning, yet disastrous results are of a piece with what has since happened with the American Black, the American Hispanic and so on.  This is exactly why our founders never gave government the right and responsibility of such programs, within the confines of the constitutional government they left us..

What needed to be changed was not government, but minds. Consider the worse of the sage:

“Well, they passed a lack back in 64

to give those who ain’t got a little more

But it only goes so far

‘Cause the law don’t change another’s mind

when all he sees at the hiring time

is a line on a colored bar”

But I suppose I’ll be called a racist for pointing these things out.

THE WASHINGTON POST FRETS ABOUT the “controversial social studies standards” just adopted by the Texas state board of education, but it fails to quote or even to link to the text of those standards.  Everything is paraphrased… appallingly inaccurately.

Ann Althouse, posting at Instapundit.

Ms Althouse does way too much social trivia and photoblogging for my taste,  but Ann is brillant when she has a point to make.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20005458-38.html

Millions of Americans arrested for but not convicted of crimes will likely have their DNA forcibly extracted and added to a national database, according to a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

By a 357 to 32 vote, the House approved legislation that will pay state governments to require DNA samples, which could mean drawing blood with a needle, from adults “arrested for” certain serious crimes. Not one Democrat voted against the database measure, which would hand out about $75 million to states that agree to make such testing mandatory.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20005458-38.html

Millions of Americans arrested for but not convicted of crimes will likely have their DNA forcibly extracted and added to a national database, according to a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

By a 357 to 32 vote, the House approved legislation that will pay state governments to require DNA samples, which could mean drawing blood with a needle, from adults “arrested for” certain serious crimes. Not one Democrat voted against the database measure, which would hand out about $75 million to states that agree to make such testing mandatory.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100521/tc_ynews/ynews_tc2189

Dumbo sets sights on big trucks, what could go wrong?   From Erica Werner and Ken Thomas, Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is setting the nation’s sights on vehicles that run on half the fuel they now use and give off half the pollution.

Obama on Friday directed the government to set the first-ever mileage and pollution limits for big trucks and to tighten rules for future cars and SUVs.

“The nation that leads in the clean energy economy will lead the global economy,” Obama said at the White House. “And I want America to be that nation.” The presidential memorandum he signed aims to reshape the country’s driving habits long after he leaves office.

Accept the truth, Barack Obama simply is not very bright, not educated and poorly served by his crony  administration.    So what could go wrong attempting regulate the mileage of big rigs?  The primary means remaining to increase fuel mileage is to reduce weight.   However with trucks, the weight is more in the cargo than the truck itself.  Does Dim Won mean to suggest that instead of using say two trucks to move freight, we instead use three?   Further, making new truck even more expensive, means making more logical to keep older rigs on the road.

Grim milestones, Debra Saunders, Real Clear Politics:

How is it that The New York Times reported that that the toll of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan reached the “grim milestone” of 1,000 Tuesday, but my newspaper, The Chronicle, had not bothered to report the story?

This column began as an effort to redress what I considered to be an unconscionable omission. Even before the Iraq War toll exceeded 1,000 deaths in September 2004, there was a media build-up to the milestone. The Chronicle brought together family members from Northern California whose loved ones were among the dead for front-page coverage.

One thousand deaths in seven years in Afghanistan.   Not good.  But the Mayor Daley’s People Republic of  Chicago average a thousand murders every two years.   Shall we declare Chicago lost and pull out?

Mark Levin throws sand in David Gregory’s face, from Right Scoop:

Since Rand Paul has canceled his Sunday appearance on MTP, there’s an opening, and Levin wants in. He challenges Gregory to have a real conservative on for a change.

I’ve edited together both segments, so don’t stop when it sounds like its over. It’s just getting good at that point:

Video:

Sing along with Jan, the governor of Arizona has taken to openly mocking the associates of the Dim Won, video:

Hat tip: Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

Dim Won would be well advised to sober up and find some competent people for his administration.

World’s highest priced whore?   Mrs. Clinton would be jealous.

More of Mrs. Clinton’s smart diplomacy, via Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:

Weakening US-Japan Relationships May Impair Crucial Social Networks

Multilateral relations with emerging economies, the Japanese government’s bumbling over Futenma air base, and corporate breakups are reducing opportunities to build personal ties and networks that may be vital for Japan’s future

Killing the golden goose,  William Jacobson, Legal Insurrection:

There is a legal and political drama unfolding in Central Falls, Rhode Island, which has national implications for municipalities suffocating under union contracts and pension obligations, but which has received little attention outside Rhode Island.

As I posted two days ago, the City of Central Falls (whose slogan is “A City With a Bright Future”) filed for receivership, the state equivalent of bankruptcy.  Rhode Island law does not allow a municipality to file for federal bankruptcy protection, but provides the state receivership alternative.

We will either kill public employee labor unions, or they will kill us.  Public employee labor unions are enabled by the corrupt public officials they elect, hello Dumbo.

There’s too much finger pointing going on here, from the Los Angeles Times:

Prospects for an immigration overhaul are fizzling this year and some Democratic lawmakers are focusing blame on the pugnacious Democratic operative who works just down the hall from President Obama.

Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff and longtime party strategist, has argued privately that it’s a bad time for Democrats to push an immigration bill, a potential land mine in the midst of a crucial midterm election year.

Moron I, Phony climate scare, John Kerry, who still wants us be believe he was in Cambodia while Richard Nixon was President, is trying to sell Algore’s phony anthropogenic global warming, from Hill:

On August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush famously received an intelligence briefing titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”  Thirty-six days later, al Qaeda terrorists tragically turned threat into reality.

Today, scientists tell us we have a 10-year window — if even that — before catastrophic climate change becomes inevitable and irreversible.

This is our intelligence briefing — it tells us the threat is real and time is not on our side.

Lurch is trying to sell global warming, while the new climate scare is global cooling.   I may be been born, but I was not born yesterday.

Moron II, Mayor Daley thinks his draconian gun ban has been effective, Mick Dumke, Chicago Reader

So I asked: since guns are readily available in Chicago even with a ban in place, do you really think it’s been effective?

I’m hardly the only guy who asks the mayor things he doesn’t want to answer, and I’ve been responsible for at least one of his huffing, puffing, ranting tangents, which generally get the press corps laughing, thus enabling him to move on to the next question without giving a real answer to the one at hand.

But even by those standards, this was a masterful and surreal performance.

“Oh!” Daley said. “It’s been very effective!”

He grabbed a rifle, held it up, and looked right at me. He was chuckling but there was no smile

Da mayor’s gun ban has been effective, at getting his citizens murdered.

Welcome one and alter the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web ; the BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• DON”T FORGET THE OTHER MILLIONS, ANN:
  

  Ann Althouse

  Ann Althouse, writing at Instapundit, says:
  

  “STILL I AM A MARXIST,” says the Dalai Lama, conceding that capitalism has done China some good: “Millions of people’s living standards improved.”  Marxism remains dear to him because it has “moral ethics, whereas capitalism is only how to make profits.” Only. Only improving the lives of millions.

  Does anyone see the missing side of this argument?  Ann apparently did not. Do you?  OK; here’s your clue …. if Marxism has moral affects that he finds so fascinating, and so endearing, what shall we say then about the millions of people who lost their lives to Marxism around the world, and indeed the millions in China both incidental to the initial revolution, and in Mao’s cultural revolution?  Love ya, Ann, but that’s kind of a major “whoops” , isn’t it ?

• WEAKNESS AND WHAT IT GETS YOU: Charles Krauthammer gets it right as usual:
  

  It is perfectly obvious that Iran’s latest uranium maneuver, brokered by Brazil and Turkey, is a ruse. Iran retains more than enough enriched uranium to make a bomb. And it continues enriching at an accelerated pace and to a greater purity (20 percent). Which is why the French foreign ministry immediately declared that the trumpeted temporary shipping of some Iranian uranium to Turkey will do nothing to halt Iran’s nuclear program.It will, however, make meaningful sanctions more difficult. America’s proposed Security Council resolution is already laughably weak — no blacklisting of Iran’s central bank, no sanctions against Iran’s oil and gas industry, no nonconsensual inspections on the high seas. Yet Turkey and Brazil — both current members of the Security Council — are so opposed to sanctions that they will not even discuss the resolution. And China will now have a new excuse to weaken it further.

  Quite so.  You know, it’s been a long while since I’ve seen the good doctor screw up on much of anything. Then again, the observations he makes are rather obvious ones.  Which is most likely why the democrats haven’t noticed it.  A leader would take unilateral action here and expect the rest of the world follow. The crowd we have in Washington now will try to appease their way into some kind of half assed consensus.

• THE CONSTITUTION: I have repeatedly suggested to anyone who would listen, and particularly to those striving for the retention of individual liberty, that if we were to hold to the constitution , we would have far less to argue about.  Apparently, that idea with the help of the tea party and others is starting to catch on.

Ed snarks:

Maybe Raul and Fidel Castro didn’t want to wait for the Obama administration to apologize first for Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law, as they did to China earlier this week.  Instead, they got a jump start on the bandwagon by having their puppet parliament pass a resolution calling the bill “racist and xenophobic,” and also “a brutal violation of human rights.”  However, KTAR reminds its readers in its report about how Cuba enforces its own internal travel policies:

Several U.S. cities including Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego and Austin, Texas, have passed resolutions against the law or urged outright boycotts, and President Barack Obama has denounced it as “a misdirected expression of frustration.”

But the denunciation of the law by Cuban lawmakers, who called it a “brutal violation of human rights,” is sure to raise anger among U.S.  backers of the law.

The tightly controlled, communist-run island has long been criticized for its human rights record, which includes the jailing of 200 political prisoners, the banning of a free press and the outlawing of opposition political parties.

Cuban citizens are required to carry identification with them wherever they go, and can be stopped by police and sent home if they are found in a part of the island where they don’t belong.

Consider this the Somewhat Left The Irony On Department entry for today.  We’re trying to keep people from illegally entering our country, which is a key national-security issue as noted by the 9/11 Commission almost six years ago.  The Cuban junta not only keeps people locked into their country, but also locked into assigned areas of the island, and their police can demand papers of anyone at any time to enforce those oppressive laws.

I can only add that the party in power in Washington wants us to be more like Fidel Castro’s Cuba.  They’re working tirelessly toward that end.

I was going make this part of the Scramble, but just got too long.    Eric rambled on border security, or lack thereof.   I offer three takes on illegal immigration, first the cool, video:

.

The warm, video:

Hat tip: Ace.

The hot, link.

So go with Sarah’s take, go with Rush’s,  or go with Mark’s.  The fact is that we have a border security problem. and President Dumbo is spineless and President Calderone is an idiot.

Addendum and bump:

For get hat trick, make it a grand slam,  Representative Tom McClintock explain national sovereignty to two presidents and one congress, video:

Hat tip:  Laura W. Ace of Spades.

“What is south of our shared border is sovereign Mexico.  What is north of the border is negotiable”.

Mexican President Felipe Calderone, in so many words.

Sarah’s Clan of the Momma Grizzlies, by  Meghan Daum, Los Angeles Times:

After struggling with its definition and connotations, Sarah Palin has apparently made peace with the “F-word.” She freely used it in a May 14 speech for the Susan B. Anthony List, a PAC for antiabortion female congressional candidates. And given Palin’s extraordinary influence in certain circles, you can bet untold numbers of women who might once have never considered it will now be dropping the F-bomb with alacrity.  The word in question, of course, is “feminist.” It may be the most polarizing label on the sociopolitical stage (it makes “environmentalist” or even “gay-rights advocate” seem downright banal), but Palin seems to have stopped dancing around it and finally claimed it as her partner. Granted, this is a conditional relationship; there’s a qualifier here as big as Alaska. She’s talking not about your mom’s or Gloria Steinem’s feminism but, as she put it, an “emerging, conservative, feminist identity.”

I am not about to call Mrs. Palin’s new Clan of the Momma Grizzly as the next political wave, but the upside is enormous.   There are two distinct versions of feminism.  The older historic version, which Christian Hoff Sommers cals Equity Feminism, and the newer,herd edged bitter version Sommers coins Gender Feminism.    Equity Feminists want women to walk as equals with men.   Gender feminists want stand over men’s dead bodies.  The problem with Gender Feminism is that is unworkable, unpopular and undesirable.   Few outside the maim stream media support it.  Yet for strange reasons, gender feminists claim but one version of feminism, to wit theirs and they they deem themselves to speak all women.  Imagine if you will any man claiming to speak for all men.  The problem with Gender Feminism is that is political poison.  It writes off an entire forty-seven percent of the population, ill serves much the fifty-three percent and offends most of them.    The political danger Mrs. Palin’s  Clan of the Momma Grizzlies poses to the left is the she threatens to give voice to concerns that the left does not address and tries to ignore.   How will gender feminist be able to the the voice of all women when so many women are shouting down their message.  Speaking as a male chauvinist pig, I can not respect any women who will not strand up for her children.  Can you?   I reject the notion that the defining value of feminism has to be the willing to slaughter unborn babies. 

Anti incumbent hell It is  anti Obama I.  The public having smelled and having stepped in Dumbo’s socialist shat, don’t like it.  From Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal:

The hordes are not massing at the gates of Washington—not yet. They won’t arrive until after the midterm congressional election in November. Most are likely to be Republicans, a good number of them old Washington hands. Yesterday’s primary elections, including the impressive victories of Republican Rand Paul in Kentucky and Democrat Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania, didn’t change that.  The idea that anti-incumbent fever, striking equally at Democrats and Republicans, is the defining feature of the 2010 election is as misguided as last year’s notion that President Obama’s oratory would tilt the nation in favor of his ambitious agenda. Yet the media, echoing the Obama White House, has adopted anti-incumbency as the all-purpose explanation of this year’s political developments.

Anti incumbent hell It is  anti Obama II, Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal:

The wave that started last year is continuing to gain velocity, size and force. This week’s elections confirmed what the evidence has shown since last summer: Mr. Obama’s agenda is a political killer and his endorsement is of little help. If there is a big takeaway from what happened on Tuesday, that is it.

WTF, over!  Are the Obami sane? Obamatard, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan wants to reach out to his so-called moderate elements of Hezbolllah.   Pray tell just the heck is a moderate terrorist anyhow.   From Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

Welcome one and alter the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web ; the BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• A LIE BY ANY OTHER NAME I notice Ed Driscoll who is filling in for Glenn Reynolds  has an extended post up as regards to yet another lie about Vietnam service.  He asks the question, and rightly so, WHY WOULD ANYONE NEED TO LIE ABOUT HAVING BEEN IN VIETNAM?I suppose the easiest answer to that is to suggest that they would need to lie about it for the same reason that John Kerry would need to change his middle name to”Served in Vietnam”.  I’m going to go a step further here; The left is beginning to understand in a way they didn’t back in the day that they had the whole Vietnam thing wrong.  Why else would they seek credibility under the shelter of having served there?
• OH, CRAP! My wife is a big one for herons.  Being, small, doesn’t matter.  So usually when we do a family outing one of the things that such family outings involve is going where the herons live.  One thing we’ve learned over the years is that it is supposed to be a good omen to see a a heron flying. But what does it mean when a regular feature of watching a heron fly is  watching it take to dump on your car? That’s happened about every other week for the last month or so.  I begin to think somebody’s trying to tell me something.
• QUESTION FOR OBI-WON: Observe the following video:
  
  now, observe the following quote once again:

  “I think the Arizona law has the potential of being applied in a discriminatory fashion.”

  Let’s ignore for the moment and the fact that there is no real difference between the Arizona law and the current Federal law.  The only difference being that Arizona will actually enforce said law, and the Federal government demonstrably will not.  Hence, the problem.  But Neil Boortz asks an interesting question today ….

  How many laws do you know of that do not have the potential of being applied in a discriminatory fashion? The Arizona law actually says that it cannot be applied discriminatorily .. but does that mean that the potential for discriminatory application is not there?

  So after our own president stands up and criticizes one of his own states for daring to enforce the law … the Mexican president stands up to get his two-cents in. Calderon says that Arizona’s law is discriminatory and would “[force] our people to face discrimination.” He then warns that Mexico would reject any effort to “criminalize migration.” OK .. let’s stop right there. Migration? Get a grip. No one has a problem with people migrating LEGALLY to this country. The problem is ILLEGAL immigration .. people who break the law by coming to this country without bothering to adhere to the rule of law and get proper paperwork. These people are criminals. Why is this such a hard concept for some people to understand?

  Well, exactly so.  It is I said yesterday; Mexico sees illegals from their country in our country to be to their advantage or they wouldn’t be fighting to make it easier.  It’s really that simple.