An Old School Filibuster

I wasn't planning on doing anything else with my afternoon but I saw a flash on the internet that Senator Rand Paul had been filibustering the Obama Administration's nomination of John Brennan to the post of CIA Director since 10:47 AM this morning and I was immediately interested- an actual filibuster? An old school filibuster? Over what?

I found CSPAN-2 on my DirectTV and immediately began watching.

Drones... drones are the topic of the day and apparently, the vague statement that drone strikes could be authorized within the United States and the overuse and vague use of drones has apparently annoyed Senator Rand Paul one too many times.

The media is saying not one damn thing about this- because the issue of drones is one issue that doesn't get talked about, doesn't get mentioned, doesn't get media coverage because it pisses off people on both sides of the aisle and it makes the Obama Administration look really, really bad... (Yes We Can! (call in a drone strike on your ass anywhere in the United States. We just don't want to tell you that.)

If I'm a betting man, I'd say Senator Paul is running for President in 2016. He's talking a damn good talk about constitutional rights and asking some tough questions on how far our rights go in the age of terrorism that we live in today- if he can walk a good walk, he could go places. But I suspect the fact that he might actually be a principled politician that actually means what he says will effectively doom his chances of getting anywhere near the White House.

By the way: if you want more proof that American journalism is dead, consider the fact that when I turned to CNN they were blabbering on about the Jodi Arias Murder Trial. How often do we see actual talking filibusters? Not that often these days- if you're not watching CSPAN-2 right now, you damn well should be.

Oh and if you want to reform the filibuster- they should all be talking filibusters.

UPDATED: Senator Paul is impressing me more and more. The Obama Administration has been vague in the extreme about just how and when drones can be used against Americans and Senator Paul is asking tough, hard questions about who has the authority, who should have the authority and what kind of legal rules are going to be in place if they decide to allow the use of drones in America.

Oh man, this is seriously thought-provoking stuff. Hard, hard questions and the fact that someone is asking them makes me want to stand up and cheer. You should be watching this...