Rand Paul certainly seems to court controversy, and this past week’s crazed media frenzy over vaccinations seemed to dominate headlines on a national level. However, looking past that behemoth story, there were also some additional interesting happenings in all that is Rand in the past week.

Rand Paul & Vaccines

Let me start out by saying that I personally am a supporter of vaccinations and I think that everyone should choose to have their children vaccinated. Of course, “choose” is the key word in that sentence, and the media chose to ignore Rand Paul’s broader statements on vaccinations last week in lieu of playing up the controversial aspects. Essentially Rand stated that parents should have the power to choose whether or not their children should receive the injections or not. The problem that followed that statement however is Rand’s next remarks, which included:

“many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.”

I can’t say I agree with this type of statement, mainly because it’s so very easy to take out of context both by the liberal media to demonize Paul, and also by the anti-vaccine crowd to use as propaganda. And, of course, because it’s misleading, if not necessarily untrue.

The relationship between vaccinations and autism has been disproven, and while there inevitably will be some causation between a vaccination injection and cases of illness as a result, that will affect a minuscule fraction of the population. Just as with any treatment, some portion of the population, due to their own biological makeup, will inevitably have a negative and potentially serious reaction.

Rand has a penchant for making a good point (like choice over what goes into one’s body or that of one’s offspring) and then following it up with a statement that catches him a ton of flack. He did however recant somewhat, posting a photo of himself getting a booster shot and stating that he believes vaccines also have saved many lives and that his own children have been immunized.

While I support Rand’s opposing state-mandated vaccinations, I have to take this whole thing as a huge knock against his overall standing in the minds of the greater public, and by virtue of that, a knock against libertarians.

As we all know, despite Rand telling everyone who will listen that he isn’t a libertarian, he still is repeatedly labeled as such, and this is one more item that will be used to try to categorize libertarians as having views that fall well outside of the norm and thus should be disregarded, whether that’s fair or not.

– MINUS!

Rand Opposes Loretta Lynch Nomination

Rand made his opposition to Obama’s nomination of Loretta Lynch for the next Attorney General loudly heard, and with damn good reason. Lynch basically excused Obama’s use of executive orders and actions on immigration during an interview session with the Judiciary Committee, supports civil forfeiture law,s and also is just peachy keen with the NSA surveillance of American citizens. According to Loretta, the NSA’s actions were “certainly constitutional and effective.”

I don’t know how anyone can honestly believe that, and on the basis of that one statement, every American should oppose this woman, let alone paired with her other views. Rand takes particular exception to her outlook on civil forfeiture.

“Civil forfeiture turns justice on its head,” Paul told Greta Van Susteren during an interview on the Fox News show “On The Record.” “Instead of being innocent until proven guilty, you are guilty until proven innocent. The government takes your cash — $1,000, $100, $500, whatever it is. This program predominantly has targeted black individuals, poor individuals, Hispanic individuals. And when Sen. [Mike] Lee asked her about it in the committee, she said, ‘Oh, no, as long as there is a valid court order.'”

Marc Clair also covered Loretta quite recently, as she just dropped a $450K civil forfeiture suit that had her taking fire, and her office being declared a “major forfeiture operation” by the Wall Street Journal.

Naturally, idiots such as the head of the Congressional Black Caucus have accused Rand Paul of somehow being racist because of his opposition to Lynch’s appointment.

“The Congressional Black Caucus recognizes Senator Paul’s unfounded argument as nothing but an excuse to keep an African-American legal scholar from holding this high position, and we directly call on him and Republicans to allow the nomination of Loretta Lynch to proceed to an up or down vote in the Senate,” Butterfield, the chairman of the CBC, said in a Thursday statement.

Ummm…what?

It’s always nice to see that after 6 years of Obama being in office, the tactics of progressives stay the same – anytime someone objects to something, just cry “racist.” If you’re wondering, no there is absolutely no evidence nor reason behind the slander that the CBC head is trying to smear Rand with. It’s shameful and Butterfield is a pure embarrassment.

– PAULUS!

Mitch McConnell & Rand Team Up To Legalize Hemp

Darth Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul have teamed up on a bill that would legalize the growing of hemp for industrial use. Hemp has about a thousand and one uses, spanning textiles through to fuel, yet has been lumped in without rhyme or reason (one cannot get high off hemp) with the prohibition on marijuana. The primary justification that the lawmakers argue is that law enforcement can’t tell the difference between hemp and marijuana plants by looking at them. My response to that would be, “not my problem.”

Not only would this help open up a rash of new industries, but could also boost jobs in what is still a sagging job market despite misleading reports from the White House.

Hopefully the bill finally passes – it was shot down back in 2005 when Ron Paul first brought it to the floor.

– PAULUS!

That brings our total for Rand “Pauluses and Minuses” thus far to:

13 Pauluses / 4 Minuses / 1 Push

Check out the full “Rand Pauluses and Minuses” Archive!

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