Patriot Is As Patriot Does

Okay, I can’t stand Sen. Feingold (D-Illiterate) because he, along with asshat extraordinaire Sen. McCain (R-Psycho), sponsored the abomination that became campaign finance reform. Of course, the old adage about a stopped clock still applies in politics. Both of the ignorant illiterates mentioned are occasionally right. While rare, it still happens. Feingold was right when he was the only guy voting against the Patriot Act the first time and he’s right in opposing the extension of it now.

I was listening to Hugh Hewitt a bit last night on the way home, and once again, he has partaken fully and fulsomely of the Kool-Aid. Apparently, not renewing certain provisions of the Patriot Act means we’re going to lose the war. We are crippled in our ability to fight! Or something. I tuned out on it, because I thought most of the Patriot Act was horrible legislation in the first place. I was also flabbergasted that it passed so quickly. Nobody had time to read the damned thing before they voted on it. I tend to be of the bizarre opinion that my legislators should have read and comprehended the bills they’re voting on. There are none of the Senators involved that had time to do that, so they passed a law enforcement wish list with no consideration for the possible effects. The only good thing about the Patriot Act is the sunset provisions.

So it’ll expire on the end of the year. So what? If you can’t use the vast array of law enforcement tools already available to effectively combat terrorism, you’re a dolt. The degradation of our already abused civil liberties is not necessary to the prosecution of the war on terror. However, it is par for the course for the kind of mindset that thinks the response to criminal action is to reduce the freedoms and protections of the law-abiding. For some strange reason, I don’t think this approach is a long-term winner. I guess in Hugh Hewitt’s world, this means I suffer from BDS and want the US to lose for partisan political gain. Since I think the Democrats are fundamentally unsound on almost every issue, I can’t imagine who would get that gain. Oh, well. Hewitt is working on becoming a laughable party hack.