Saturday, March 09, 2013
Rand Paul's filibuster on drones
By all accounts he got rave reviews from across the political spectrum and well deserved I may add. The only sourpusses in his own party were John McCain and Lindsey Graham. McCain's probably just jealous he couldn't do such a thing without making periodic trips to the bathroom or else wear a catheter. Look it doesn't matter that Paul was discussing a hypothetical, it's valid anyway and today's hypothetical may be tomorrow's reality. He finally got his answer from AG Holder stating that no Obama does not have the constitutional authority as president to use a weaponized drone on a US citizen on American soil who's a noncombatant or something like that and I think we all agree Jane Fonda is safe in her cafe. Rand Paul is fresh, McCain and Graham by contrast are old and stale and represent the old guard. So John Brennan was confirmed as new head of the CIA but that's not the point and that point is that drones are now a valid part of our national political discussion. It's not so much an attack on Obama but do you want to live in a world where politics and sci-fi eventually meet? So hear hear to Rand Paul libertarian Senator from Kentucky and he somehow pulled it off without sounding like Alex Jones:)
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The hill folk around here still worry about black helicopters.
ReplyDelete& John McCain should be more worried about his erections than Rand Paul.
ReplyDeletePaul voted against Brennan, along with 30 other GOP Senators. They
ReplyDeletewere holding out for either Ollie North or John Bolton.
Rand Paul's bringing up drones is a valid topic, more than a valid topic. Ah Ollie North, remember Fawn Hall?
ReplyDeleteFawn Hall? At first I thought she was Valerie Plame doing the undercover thing, but it seems old
ReplyDeleteFawn was in rehab in the 90s for
crack cocaine. John Bolton scares me more than some hovering drone.
(rumors are the drones will be sequestered, along with WH tours)
As long as she stays away from that Drew Pinsky show:)
ReplyDeleteRand, son of Ron; the nut doesn't fall far from the Hickory tree.
ReplyDeleteSo you prefer safe topics? So why is criticizing the drone program nutty and not the drone program itself?
ReplyDeleteC'mon, Z-Man..after a career that covered chemical/biological and
ReplyDeleteradiological weapons and initiating explosives, I would prefer safe topics? Drones are
just another weapon/platform.
I grew up doing the hiding under the schooldesk a-Bomb exercises.
RW scare tactics don't affect me.
We already have drones in the US for surveillance, AG Holder then went on to say under "extraordinary circumstances" (his words) the President might, might make use of a weaponized drone on American soil say during a terrorist attack for example. Weaponized drones by their very nature incur collateral damage (i.e. innocent folks dying). This issue doesn't concern you? and why is it invalid as a topic or concern if the RW brings it up?
ReplyDeleteIMO, tis the drumbeat of fear big
ReplyDeletegov't. My lovely state wants to take over the Nat'l Forests so they can sell them to Weyerhauser,
eliminate business property taxes
and move the burden to home owners,
run healthcare to keep the feds out, and arrest any law officer who
attempts to confiscate a weapon.
..now THAT bothers me. Wells Fargo
recently accidently repossesed a guy's house by mistake. He sued,
they countersued and he lost everything else. Their mistake-his loss. (he died in the courtroom) Big business bugs me
a lot, I avoid shopping anyplace that is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce. We all have our dislikes...the fed gov't is not one of mine.
As for collateral damage, most
weapons possess that feature: didn't NY cops recently wound some
passersby in a firefight with a
criminal? But from an empathetic
standpoint, I understand your concern. Were the GOP in charge, I
would probably agree..given their
track record here.
A drone is a different animal entirely BB, would you want to see those same NYC cops use them? To me gov't means Bloomberg banning sodas over 16 oz. or at least trying. The drumbeat of fear of another sort -- in my colonoscopy thread I'm simply questioning such a fullbore hardcore procedure and yet it's the fear of cancer down the road that doctors use. Big Business, I'm probably alot more critical of than your average conservative. Anyways I see Lista is blogging again!
ReplyDeletePope Francis I: what do ya think?
ReplyDeleteI got a good feeling about it.
ReplyDeleteA drone is an aircraft with a remote pilot. When the Wright brothers first flew, Great great
ReplyDeletegreat grandpa Horace Paul filibustered against using
them on US citizens .
I agree with conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg on drone warfare, there's something inherently creepy about it. BB I have to say I'm really surprised that liberal that you are you seem to be pro-drone at least when Obama's in charge of the program:)
ReplyDeleteWhat warfare isn't creepy? Hidden minefields, snipers, ambushes, strafing, clusterbombs. Wait til
ReplyDeletewe get robot infantry....
But drones are something out of sci-fi. We should start a category for you - "pro-drone liberals" - and get it on Twitter. I guess it depends on whose ass is getting buttered.
ReplyDeleteYa know, Z-Man...in a few years your colonoscopy may be done by a drone. :)
ReplyDeletew/a smartphone.
ReplyDeleteSome of those micro drones are interesting. I'm thinking a fly
ReplyDeleteswatter woud be a reasonable defense....
Reminds me of the old Twilight Zone episode with Agnes Moorehead. Yeah Rand Paul will filibuster that too and get made fun of.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, or is Rand's dad a bit more folksier?
ReplyDeleteI like the son better. How 'bout that CPAC group eh?
ReplyDeleteYeah...
ReplyDeletePaul, Rubio, Trump and Santorum
+ Palin..a conservative quorum
Trump was there
he brought his hair.
Chris Christie, a RINO mistake
stayed at home with a 18 oz steak.
Everybody's making a big deal out of CPAC disinviting Christie like he's the best the Republicans have to offer. Lest we forget he really digs those red-light traffic cams in Jersey so if he represents smaller gov't what pray tell is bigger gov't?
ReplyDeleteWhatever the reasons, Christie is very popular in his state, while
ReplyDeleteother GOP guvs like Perry (TX),
Kasich (OH) and Scott (FL) have been tanking in their polls. Like it or not, you need to pull in independents and the far right just can't appeal to them.
People wanting smaller gov't:
go figure-our population expands
every year and the ratio of fed
worker to citizen has gone down a lot since Reagan..tis a non argument to those that study facts and figures.
Wayne Lapierre spoke at CPAC too.
ReplyDeleteLimbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Ingram,
..pretty much control the airways.
Libs have nothing close, but seem
to do well at the voting booth.
Even after a Newtown Harry Reid couldn't pull in enough votes to get an assault weapons ban passed. Meanwhile the world just looks at us and scratches its head.
ReplyDeleteOne of these days the NRA will go too far.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny they say there's some type of Republican Establishment Report out how to move the GOP forward and rumor has it it ignores the social issues to better position its chances in the next general election and yet it clings to the NRA's positions for some reason. It's kinda weird like mind control.
ReplyDeleteI read that report; stuff about it is coming out in the news in bits and pieces.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the consensus is that a majority of Americans feel that the GOP has no idea, is completely out of touch and doesn't care.
From what I've read, the GOP is not working on changing their standpoints on things, just the packaging.
It's not necessarily conservatism or conservative ideas that's bad, the country's changed is all imo. I think alot of folks, maybe most like Big Gov't. It is what it is.
ReplyDeleteGetting back to drones. IMO, we can assume that the guys in the Pentagon skunkworks will soon come up with an Anti-Drone drone.
ReplyDelete(another use for the ADD acronym)
Not only that they'll probably be able to launch them from a smartphone in a few years.
ReplyDeleteA smartphone-controlled anti drone
ReplyDeletedrone controlled by eye-movement.
Z-Man..you been hanging around
Area 51 too much.
What kind of a warped intellect invents a drone instead of playing baseball with his buddies on a nice sunny day and having a few cold ones afterwards?
ReplyDeleteweird masturbators:)
Dr. Strangelove comes to mind.
ReplyDelete