Gail Collins, "Talk Of The Town": Rand Paul Drones On

Sure, you're a law abiding citizen, but let's suppose an SUV just ran a red light and smashed into the passenger side of your vehicle. Your car can still be driven, but your husband has been severely injured in the accident and is unconscious and losing blood. The nearest hospital is twenty minutes away. Do you wait for the police and an ambulance, or do you hit the gas and, en route to the hospital, exceed the local speed limit of 40 miles per hour? A no brainer, right?

But now let's look at the hypothetical situation I posed yesterday (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/maureen-dowd-repent-dick-cheney.html). Suppose terrorists have hidden a dirty bomb in Manhattan and are threatening to detonate the bomb unless the US releases all of its Guantanamo prisoners. The bomb is timed to go off in another two hours, and there is no time to evacuate the city. Millions are expected to die slow painful deaths from radiation poisoning and cancer unless the bomb is found and defused. Then suddenly, one of the al-Qaeda conspirators is captured, but he refuses to talk. Would you read him his rights and wait for his lawyer or waterboard him?

Again, I know what I would do.

There are emergencies that demand immediate action. On the other hand, there are also instances when life and death comes into play, but there is time for judicial oversight.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Talk Of The Town" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/opinion/collins-the-talk-of-the-town.html?_r=0), Gail Collins grudgingly acknowledges that Senator Rand Paul may have a point with regard to his filibuster of the confirmation of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency:

"Paul had no particular problem with the nomination, which he acknowledged was going to pass once he stopped talking. But the debate over Brennan had brought up the question of drone strikes. The junior senator from Kentucky wanted President Obama to promise not to use drones to kill Americans on American soil. “At least we need to know what are the rules,” he said sometime during hour five.

Fair enough. The Obama administration had been unnecessarily dodgy on this point. The very fact that the president was ordering the death of American citizens anywhere without oversight was worrying. Shouldn’t there be a special court to sign off on these things?"

Collins concludes in irritatingly vapid fashion:

"Still, after years of faux filibusters, it was a nice change of pace. Exhausting yourself and irritating your colleagues for a cause is way better than stopping progress without taking the least bit of trouble."

I'm no Tea Partier or fan of Rand Paul, but his insistance on reviewing the guidelines involving the use of drones to kill suspected terrorists and inevitably innocent bystanders goes beyond "stopping progress," as Collins would have it. Apparently, people like Collins have no problem administering death sentences so long as Barry has his hand on the joy stick.

More information concerning the Benghazi attack, which is increasing pointing to the fact that the State Department should have seen it coming? Why would Collins want any such information, which could further discomfit Barry and jeopardize Hillary's chances in 2016?

Indeed, absolutely nothing should stand in the way of Obama as he continues to populate his cabinet with white guys comprising the worst and the dumbest.

The latest embarrassment for Obama: On Friday, Michelle Obama and John Kerry will award the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award at a State Department ceremony. Among those who have come to Washington to receive the award is Samira Ibrahim, who tweeted on July 18 last year, "An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news." As further reported by The Weekly Standard (http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/michelle-obama-and-john-kerry-honor-anti-semite-and-911-fan_706547.html):

"As a mob was attacking the United States embassy in Cairo on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, pulling down the American flag and raising the flag of Al Qaeda, Ibrahim wrote on twitter: 'Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning.' Possibly fearing the consequences of her tweet, she deleted it a couple of hours later, but not before a screen shot was saved by an Egyptian activist."

Can it get worse during Obama's second term?

Yes It Will!