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Nightly Ramble Wednesday

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web; This is the world famous BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

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  • THE ILLUSION OF PEACE: Over at Politico, Mike Allen points to a statement by former vice president Dick Cheney , who accused President Obama of trying to pretend we’re not at war.  I think Cheney has this one spot on, in fact.  Obama , you will recall, spent the whole of the election cycle talking about how Iraq was a war of choice, and spreading the idea that we’re not at war with anyone, that it was all a criminal situation, not one of a war.  He has no choice but to follow through on that, now.  Only one problem; The evidence that we are in fact that war keeps peeping up over the hedge rows .  Such as the Northwest Airlines attack in Detroit the other day.As I pointed out in a couple of venues today, including this one, I’m totally unconvinced that Janet Napolitano is the locus of the attitude of denial that we are involved in war.  Granted, that her statements were utterly stupid, but you’d tend to expect that from a left wing ideologue.  I submit that she’s in that position, because she exactly reflects the politics and the policies of the Obama administration.  That’s the only reason she’s there.  She never brought a whole bunch of weight to the position, other than the idea that she has been most willing to run the needs of whatever position she’s been attached to, in this case that of national security, through the political filters imposed by the White House.  As I told David in a comment this morning… who else but a left-wing ideologue would consider the specter of those who would attack us being imprisoned at Guantánamo bay, to be a larger threat, then such people being released, to attack us again? These are views that are shared by Obama and his current national security adviser.Let me be clear, here. This is not a function of Napalitano going off on her own , this is a function of her representing and implementing the wishes of the Obama White House.Eliminating the woman from the position would be a nice feather and the cap of Republicans, I don’t doubt, but will it make us safer? I don’t think so.The only thing that’s going to do that is to change the policy of the white house itself. Its current occupant has clearly demonstrated that the only way we’re going to be able to do that is to remove the current occupant of the White House.

    All I can say to that is we’re in for a rough three years. I submit to you that how rough those three years are, is inversely of dependent on how easy a time the president has for implementing his misbegotten policies.  Just so you remember, we can affect that curve in the midterm elections.My guess is, the midterms are going to reflect serious dissatisfaction [2] with Obama and the Democrats.

  • TRAFFICANT TO RUN: The word from Youngstown, Ohio [3], is that Former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. is planning on running again in 2010. The word is he’s got three nominating petitions floating around in three different congressional districts out that way.  Remember; the only reason the Democrats disowned this guy was because he tried a McCain-like feint to the center.  Yes, there was corruption involved as well.  And of course, I’m quite sure that there are our number of democrats who will tell you that he got kicked out for corruption reasons.  To which I offer a two word response:  Charlie Rangel.
  • THE QUESTION: Hitch asks [4]:

    “Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent?”

    I would think the answer to that to be fairly intuitive.  And the innocent, our law abiding, and are therefore easier to find.  Besides, I assume that Hitch is including high taxes and fees in his word “punishment”, and thus including my answer, the law abiding are the ones who have the money, at least temporarily.

  • 40 BEST POLITICAL QUOTES OF 2009: Right Wing News has released the 40 best political quotes of 2009 [5]. A few examples:

    31) As I said repeatedly during the campaign: Obama only appears “cool” and “even-tempered” because he’s never challenged. His “vetting” by the media consisted chiefly of juicy-mouthed nether-kissing.

    It’s not difficult to appear “cool” under those circumstances. Anyone who freaks out and goes to pieces because he’s being praised too much is a lunatic. — Ace [6]

    21) There is usually only a limited amount of damage that can be done by dull or stupid people. For creating a truly monumental disaster, you need people with high IQs. — Thomas Sowell [7]
    12) Isn’t food important? Why not “universal food coverage”? If politicians and employers had guaranteed us “free” food 50 years ago, today Democrats would be wailing about the “food crisis” in America, and you’d be on the phone with your food care provider arguing about whether or not a Reuben sandwich with fries was covered under your plan. — Ann Coulter [8]
    3) If we have another 2,000 people killed, I want Nancy Pelosi and George Soros, John Conyers and Pat Leahy to go to the funeral and say, ‘Your son was vaporized because we didn’t want to dump some guy’s head under water for 30 seconds.’ — Peter King [9]
  • DISTRACTED DRIVINGGlenn Reynolds, today says: [10]

    NHTSA LAUNCHES DISTRACTED DRIVER WEBSITE. [11]

    Coming soon — flashing “Don’t Be Distracted While Driving” billboards! Where the type is just a shade too small to read without squinting . . . .

    For my own situation, I find that there is nothing on the face of this planet that is more distracting to a driver then that black and white with funny red and blue lights parked about half a foot off your six.  A number of states are considering legislation to prevent people from using cell phones at all, while driving.  Yet in each and every police car there is at the very least a police radio , that police radio requires the driver take is hand off the wheel to talk on the thing.  There he is a computer, ostensibly so that criminals can be identified and apprehended more quickly, and yet police as a matter of routine operate these, as well.  I’m sure I will be told that there is a good deal of training difference involved.  But for my money, there’s no training in the world that can overcome that kind of distraction.  Sorry, it simply doesn’t exist.  And yet, police retain Lee use these items , and I don’t recall there being a large outcry about these distracted drivers, do you?

  • OIL UP AGAIN? It’s up over $79.00 a barrel [12] at this point.  One question I have, that I think you are to know the answer for; how much of this price rise is the weakening of the American dollar?
  • SHE BLEW WHAT?!?!?!?!? According to reports [13] some woman in South Dakota managed to blow a .708.  Police reportedly found her behind the wheel of a stolen delivery truck parked on I-90. apparently, she’s got quite a record.  In short, she’s been practicing.