A kaka bill? How appropriate.

From Bruce Fein of The Washington Times come news of the impending Hawaiian crackup.

Who knew? Must be the humidity.

On the heels of apologizing for its old racism in thwarting anti-lynching laws, the U.S. Senate is poised to initiate a new racism celebrated in the so-called "Akaka Bill." It would summon into being for the first time a race-based Native Hawaiian sovereignty operating outside the U.S. Constitution. Only persons with at least "one drop" of Native Hawaiian blood would enjoy the right to create the new sovereign entity with its sweeping immunities from federal and state laws.

The Akaka bill would authorize and have the United States facilitate Hawaiian officials in relinquishing the State's sovereignty over a portion of its citizens and territory. In addition, it would authorize transfer of part of the state's lands, natural resources and other assets to the new race-based sovereign gratis, all without the approval of the state legislature or the consent of its citizens.

Proponents oppose any amendment, for example, a requirement of approval by a majority of adult Native Hawaiians before all Native Hawaiians are subjected to the new race-based government; a prohibition on racial, religious or ethnic discrimination; a proscription on secession; an injunction against evicting the U.S. military from Pearl Harbor; or, an obligation to honor the Bill of Rights. They even reject a requiring a plebiscite in Hawaii to determine if its citizens wish to carve out of every island multiple sovereign racial enclaves.

According to the most recent, comprehensive and reliable polling, 2 in 3 residents of Hawaii oppose a race-based Akaka bill. Native Hawaiians, who account for 20 percent of Hawaii's population, are themselves sharply divided, with 48 percent opposed. These percentages are stunning because the government of Hawaii has spent millions propagandizing in favor of the race-based legislation over several years. They discredit the representations of the governor of Hawaii and Hawaii's two senators and two representatives that the people of Hawaii overwhelming covet a race-based sovereign.

The Akaka Bill should be crushingly defeated when it comes to a vote in the U.S. Senate, which seems imminent. Race-based governments convulse communities and besmirch the nation's signature creed: E Pluribus Unum. During the long years of Jim Crow, lives were lost and liberties trampled by the racism whites practiced against blacks. It should thus be unthinkable that in 2005, the United States Congress would enter the squalid business of creating a race-based government. If the legislation is passed, the Senate will have earned the scorn Talleyrand cast on the French Bourbons: "They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing."