Thursday, December 03, 2009

Dump the spy powers

Not that I think it will happen really, but I thought it was important for the Register to be on record saying it wouldn't be a bad thing if the Senate got so obsessed or bogged down on health care this month that it just didn't get around to renewing three spying powers of the lamentable Patriot Act that are set to expire at the end of the year. As a senator and candidate Obama criticized the PA, but now that the power is in his hands he doesn't want to give it up, as he announced last summer. Funny how those civil libertarian pretensions melt when it's a matter of the "right people" having the legal ability to, respectively, get a "roving wiretap" without identifying the suspected "terrorist," snoop into business records including library activity or medical records, or follow a suspected "lone wolf," which they say they haven't done but they still want the power. Jim Carrey in "Bruce Almighty" comes to mind.

Those are not the worst provisions of the Patriot Act, which were already renewed last year (with Obama's vote).

2 comments:

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