Ron Paul Stands Up

Movin' to Montana Soon

There were actually 3 news items today which made me smile despite all the horrors of the early 21st century political landscape.  Any one of them would be guilty of a blog by itself and, unfortunately, all 3 will be old news tomorrow. Well, one of them, for sure.

Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, was photographed smoking a bong.  It was her 18th birthday party.  She claims it wasn’t pot, she said it was some drug called salvia, which is legal in California, apparently.  Whatever.  Sweet little miss best of both worlds gets high.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like Hannah Montana.  My kids like Hannah Montana O.K., she’s not their favorite, but I prefer her to a lot of the programs they watch.  But she’s 18 now, she’s good looking and can sing O.K. and nobody is a child star forever.

The way I see it she doesn’t owe anybody anything and she can get as high as she likes.  I somehow don’t see her turning into a Lindsey Lohan or Britney Spears.  Touch wood.

The other two were on the political pages and they both involved people who, at long last, took a righteous stand.  Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent -Vermont) is an independent of the good kind, he would be a Democrat but they’re not liberal enough for him.  He’s not an independent of the Joe Lieberman talk about bi-partisanship a lot and screw everybody variety.

So, he stood up on the house floor today and started a filibuster against the perfidious tax cut deal that’s being debated now.  Not a Republican “say you’re going to filibuster so the Democrats will cry like little babies and do whatever you say” filibuster.  No, a real Jimmy Stewart Mr. Smith Goes to Washington filibuster, reading chapters from random books and the whole thing.

The third item is, I think, the most important.  Ron Paul, who ran for president in 2008 as head of the nutcase party (I’m sure plenty of his followers currently identify with teabags), and whose main campaign platform was a return to the gold standard, became the first congressman to stand up and say lay off Julian Assange.  He compared Wikileaks to the Pentagon papers, reminded everyone that Viet Nam, like Iraq, was based on a big lie, and came out in favor of internet freedom and against government secrecy.

I really can’t see myself ever voting for him but, for today, he’s my hero.