Patriot Act Renewed

After all the grandstanding by both parties prior to Christmas, the Patriot Act was renewed (though just barely) and will be signed into law in the next day or so:

The House renewed the USA Patriot Act in a cliffhanger vote Tuesday night, extending a centerpiece of the war on terrorism at President Bush's urging after months of political combat over the balance between privacy rights and the pursuit of potential terrorists.

The renewal makes permanent almost all the new powers the FBI got just after 9/11 to make it easier to track down terrorists, including the ability to conduct secret searches, tap into e-mail and demand sweeping personal information from hospitals, hotels and bookstores, reports CBS' Bob Fuss.

Bush, forced by filibuster to accept new curbs on law enforcement investigations, is expected to sign the legislation before 16 provisions of the 2001 law expire on Friday.

The vote was 280-138, just two more than needed under special rules that required a two-thirds majority. The close vote caught senior Republican aides in both chambers by surprise.

Hey, a win's a win, but I can't understand why so many were opposed. To my knowledge there haven't been any terrible civil rights violations as a result of this act, and it may well have been responsible for a number of victories in the war on terror, some of which we'll probably never know about.

Of course, this is an election year and opposing Bush is all the Dems have got right now, so I guess that justifies a NO vote...at least in among their faithful.