Thursday, March 07, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul Ignores 30 U.S. States Wanting Drones of their Own


Some faux drama brought out by Sen. Rand Paul wailing about the use of surveillance or armed drones ignored a basic fact - U.S. states want their own drone systems. That includes Tennessee.

"It's a race to see which state will be the first to pass legislation governing domestic drone use. Coming out of the gate first was Florida, which passed a bill through several committees in the Senate back in January. This is notable since the Florida legislature didn’t officially convene until March 5—they thought this issue was so important that they moved the bill during their committee organizing sessions. Then Montana pulled up from behind, passing two drones bills all the way through their Senate by mid-February. But, Virginia raced ahead, sending two bills to their governor’s desk by the beginning of March, where they currently await signature.

"Drone legislation has been proposed in at least 30 states so far. As part of my job working with ACLU affiliates nationwide to analyze and respond to the various proposals, I have read every single one of these bills, and I thought it would be useful to summarize what we’re seeing in this legislation.

The good news is that the vast majority of the bills require a probable cause warrant in order for law enforcement to use drones to collect information to use against someone in court."

The status of all such legislative action is here.

As for Sen. Paul, given that the Senate and House cannot even agree on creating the basic budgetary needs of the nation, perhaps other issues should prompt filibusters first.


2 comments:

  1. captainkona7:08 PM

    I was pretty proud of Rand Paul for standing up to bring attention to this incredibly important issue.
    There is no place for Drones, with or without a warrant, over American soil.
    There is no place for them over foreign soil either. Basically, they shouldn't exist at all.

    They are responsible for the murders of countless innocent people. Thousands have died in order for us to get one guy who we think might be a threat.
    That doesn't cut it. Especially when the CIA will now be headed by one of the most corrupt, incompetent Neocons in gov't history...

    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/brennan-held-leadership-role-cia-during-pre-911-and-iraq-war-intel-failures

    Drones make it easy for politicians to violate the rights of Americans. They make us look like cowards to the rest of the world.
    This administration has already scoffed at the rights of our citizens and if we give them an inch they will take the proverbial mile.

    The only disappointment I had was when Rand accepted Holder's "assurances" that drones won't be used on Americans here at home. That would be comforting were it not for the fact that Eric Holder is a incompetent, lying sack of shit.
    He's proved that by seemingly having no control whatsoever over the agencies he's in charge of.
    The DEA, FBI, ATF...violating people's rights on a daily basis and Holder is (or claims to be) oblivious to all of it.

    At least Rand Paul had the guts to bring attention to the fact that Obama just placed a sub-human Neocon in charge of the most powerful intelligence agency on earth.
    This country will soon regret that transgression.

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  2. The current CIA nominee Rand opposes has repeatedly argued the Pentagon not the CIA should oversee drone program.

    Congress decided over 12 years ago to enter into endless war and they should end it. I'd be impressed if Rand introduced that legislation.

    And the point of my post was that regardless of Rand's rant, the reality is soon state officials will be running drone programs in the US.

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