NDAA causes controversy

By William R. Toler

You wouldn’t think something as innocent-sounding as the National Defense Authorization Act would pose such a threat to the people of the nation.

On first thought, it sounds like just funding the military….which is just what it is supposed to be. According to Wikipedia it is a “federal law that has been enacted for each of the past 49 years to specify the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense.”

So, why then, has there been so much opposition among liberty activists?

There’s a dangerous provision that the Huffington Post calls the “worst thing since the Alien and Sedition Acts.” That provision allows for the arrest and indefinate detention of Americans seen as a threat by the military, thereby abolishing the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits the military from domestic policing.

The act, which passed through the Senate 93-7, was signed by President Obama on New Years Eve…despite orignally saying he would veto the bill with that provision. However, he did include a signing statement saying:” I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.”

Most of our state’s servants in Washington voted for the act including both Senators Richard Burr and Kay Hagan. NC Congressmen Mel Watt and Walter Jones were among the opposition in the House of Represenatives. If Jones, a staunch advocate for the miltary, is against it…there must be something wrong.

Golden Rule booed in S.C.

By William R. Toler

“[C]an’t believe the golden rule got booed in SC. wow.”

That was the status from a Facebook “friend” during the GOP debate Monday night in the Palmetto State.

The Golden Rule, treat others as you would like to be treated, was uttered by the media and establishment’s least favorite candidate, Texas Congressman Ron Paul. The audience, made up of apparently status quo, warhawk conservatives, promptly booed the libertarian-minded, predidential hopeful.

During a reubuttal to an answer by Rick Santorum, Paul said our nation should follow the Golden Rule in terms of foreign policy.

“If another country does to us as we do to others, we’re not going to like it very much. So I would say, maybe we ought to consider a Golden Rule in foreign policy. [Cue the boos] Don’t do to other nations what we don’t want them to do to us.”

I was a little surprised myself, considering Republicans, especially in the Bible Belt, teach and preach the Golden Rule.
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John Drake: A big man with a big heart

By William R. Toler

Why couldn’t I have been born rich instead of good looking?

John Harold Drake 1965-2011

The early mantra of my uncle, John Drake, popped in my head a few hours after learning of his death and brought a smile to my melancholy demeanor.

Even though I wasn’t as close to him as I would have liked to have been, I still looked up to him. I’ve often said out of everyone in my family, I’ve followed in his footsteps the most.

I remember wanting to be like him as kid. He was cool. I used to try to play his old trombone from his days in the West Craven High School Band, although it was slightly bent and had no mouthpiece.

With his love of music and a gifted voice came a career as a disc jockey. Starting at the age of 15 at a Christian radio station inside Twin Rivers Mall, he floated around formats across Eastern North Carolina including WDLX, WSFL, WLOJ and WTND…among others. We would sometimes go and visit him at the stations and watch him in action behind the mic. We would also often listen to the stations he worked at…at least when he was on-air as Don Shannon.

I remember calling to talk to him during songs and commerical breaks, usually aslo requesting songs. When at WSFL, I would always ask hime to play Kokomo by the Beach Boys. Later at Thunder Country, I’d beg to hear Hank Williams Jr.’s Born To Boogie.