The American Dream, Walking

A short, squat, dark man stands silently at the street corner. Other parade-watchers loiter behind the roped-off streets. Children, decked in red, white, and blue face-paint clutch small flags while slurping on their ice-cream cones. A Des Moines police officer in a reflective vest politely asks a woman to keep her child away from the parade route. The swarthy man and his family contrast to the ribbon of predominately white faces. Yet other than his skin tone, no one particularly takes notice of him. He's dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt, a bit faded. He's lost in his thoughts, watching the Fourth of July parade. He's the American dream, walking.

Sifting through the Hype surrounding Rand Paul's Filibuster

Allow me to open this post with a brilliant article from the WSJ:

Give Rand Paul credit for theatrical timing. As a snow storm descended on Washington, the Kentucky Republican's old-fashioned filibuster Wednesday filled the attention void on Twitter and cable TV. If only his reasoning matched the showmanship.

Shortly before noon, Senator Paul began a talking filibuster against John Brennan's nomination to lead the CIA. The tactic is rarely used in the Senate and was last seen in 2010. But Senator Paul said an "alarm" had to be sounded about the threat to Americans from their own government. He promised to speak "until the President says, no, he will not kill you at a café." He meant by a military drone. He's apparently serious, though his argument isn't.

Senator Paul had written the White House to inquire about the possibility of a drone strike against a U.S. citizen on American soil. Attorney General Eric Holder replied that the U.S. hasn't and "has no intention" to bomb any specific territory. Drones are limited to the remotest areas of conflict zones like Pakistan and Yemen. But as a hypothetical Constitutional matter, Mr. Holder acknowledged the President can authorize the use of lethal military force within U.S. territory.

This shocked Senator Paul, who invoked the Constitution and Miranda rights. Under current U.S. policy, Mr. Paul mused on the floor, Jane Fonda could have been legally killed by a Hellfire missile during her tour of Communist Hanoi in 1972. A group of noncombatants sitting in public view in Houston may soon be pulverized, he declared.

Calm down, Senator. Mr. Holder is right, even if he doesn't explain the law very well. The U.S. government cannot randomly target American citizens on U.S. soil or anywhere else. What it can do under the laws of war is target an "enemy combatant" anywhere at anytime, including on U.S. soil. This includes a U.S. citizen who is also an enemy combatant. The President can designate such a combatant if he belongs to an entity—a government, say, or a terrorist network like al Qaeda—that has taken up arms against the United States as part of an internationally recognized armed conflict. That does not include Hanoi Jane.

Such a conflict exists between the U.S. and al Qaeda, so Mr. Holder is right that the U.S. could have targeted (say) U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki had he continued to live in Virginia. The U.S. killed him in Yemen before he could kill more Americans. But under the law Awlaki was no different than the Nazis who came ashore on Long Island in World War II, were captured and executed.

The country needs more Senators who care about liberty, but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that

Honoring The Dream

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

My Top 5 Posts of 2012

I thought I'd take a look back at this year and the posts which were most popular...

5. Tuesdays with Lewis: Social Mores

This was the first post I wrote this fall so it probably attracted more attention. I know it generated discussion from my friends.

Unique Page Views: 111

4. 5 Reasons why Barack Obama will be our president till 2016

Back in January, I debated whether I should put my predictions on record. Now, I'm happy I did. This post got decent views back then, but people revisited it after the election, boosting the total count.

Unique Page Views: 119

3. Did Miracles End with the Apostles?

I offered a Charismatic perspective that was bound to get some thoughtful reactions - I enjoyed the comments and conversations it started...

Unique Page Views: 155

2. Thoughts from the Shower: Compassion and Political Philosophy

I laid out my personal political philosophy in the form of a play. It wasn't any masterpiece, but I think people did enjoy it.

Unique Page Views: 155

1. 10 Problems with the Avengers

I got a ton of hits thanks to Google - a lot of people searching "avengers problems" got my blog.

Unique Page Views: 402