Patriot Act

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Remember when liberals shrieked and wept about The Patriot Act, claiming that it would allow the Bush administration to spy on people's library reading records and destroy the Constitution? Remember when Barack Obama tried to filibuster against the Patriot Act because, even after 9/11, he didn't think a President should be entrusted those kinds of powers?

Well, times have changed. The House of Representatives, controlled by Democrats, just quietly voted to renew The Patriot Act.

An optimist might say this is their belated way of admitting "Bush was right." A pessimist might say "the Democrats must really want to spy on someone." And a realist would point out that administration officials including Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder, and Robert Gibbs have repeatedly singled out "right wing" types and "military veterans" as being high on the list of people to keep an eye on.

Of course, they still can't listen in on tea party participants without a warrant, or fancy bugging technology, right? Think again. The FBI can (and increasingly does) turn on private cellphones remotely to use as listening devices...with no warrant necessary.

All of which would really suck if we had a presidential administration that we couldn't trust with these powers. But fortunately, the Obama administration is GREAT! And we'll keep saying that until we can get the darned battery out of this cellphone...