I hate it when this happens

There are politicians that I despise, and those I find amusingly stupid, but there are times when even I have to break down and agree with them, well at least once in their miserable careers. Enter Rand Paul, son of the civil libertarian, cartoon character Ron Paul, who for whatever reason named his kin after a philandering self indulgent atheist hack writer, who has now taken his father's place as a self described white knight of the precious Constitution. Railing against the TSA, IRS, and any other easy target, Paul Jr came off as atypical of libertarian leaning Republicans, quick to hate on the government and proclaim themselves the last line of defense of liberty.

So enter President Obama and his National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012, which affirms the Executive branch the power to detain someone indefinitely without trial, which flies in the face of our Bill of Rights and is not shockingly something I'm highly against. Granted, the President has claimed he would not abuse said privilege and will not allow the military to do such a thing, but allotting that power is scary and should've never been done. Thankfully the Supreme Court agreed and all is well, but of course the Pauls take full credit for this.

But now we face an even stranger and more disturbing Executive power, the privilege to kill an American citizen with a drone strike on or off US soil, without Constitutional due process. Granted Eric Holder's office claim that it could only be used in extreme circumstances, and really I'm not entirely concerned that Obama will just go off and kill anyone indiscriminately with unmanned aircraft, but to have that ability in the hands of lesser men seems terrifying to me, and I can't see why the White House wouldn't just let go of this.

As Rand Paul got a letter from Holder describing the right to kill an American citizen, and the highly unlikely scenario that would trigger that order, he decided that the Justice Department has gone too far and filibustered the nomination of Brennan to head the CIA. Paul tried to get the Senate to pass a resolution that would restrict the use of drone attacks on non-combatants, but it seems that has gone nowhere.

The thing that sucks is I agree with Paul, and his cohort Sen Ted Cruz. Yes normally I find their rhetoric stupid, such as Cruz's conspiracy theories and Paul's belief that the Tea Party is a legitimate grass roots movement and that abortion is somehow the only social issue that shouldn't be left up to the states, but today I hate to say that I stand with Rand. Fuck I can't believe I just typed that.

American politics has never been black & white, nor ever will be.

"You must surely be making Jimmy Stewart smile," - Ted Cruz to Rand Paul

After almost 13 hours, Paul ends filibuster that thrust drones into spotlight