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Well yesterday there was a vote to extend all the Patriot Act provisions without discussion another 3 years. Remember, this was a huge expansion of imperial Presidency rights that were "temporary" after 9/11. Fully embraced by the Republicans under Bush and now fully embraced by "disingenuous" Democrats under Obama)..
Well, the GOP in the house and the President were so assured it was going to pass, they did it on a voice vote, with no amendments that needed 2/3s of the house to pass.
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It didn't pass. A combination of liberals (lefties) who don't want to hock all our freedoms in the name of safety and of some Tea Party (righties), who actually BELIEVE that government should be limited combined to vote no.
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Now, it will pass after "study" and on an up or down (not 2/3s) vote. But the fact that some of members of Congress on the Left and the Right can agreed that we need to evaluate things before we give our government more rights to willy nilly lock people up is encouraging.
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PS We have had these "temporary" measures in place for 10 years. Egypt, who we laugh at their human rights records, have had the same ones in place for 30 years. Maybe 10 years of unassailable government oversight is enough.
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So congrats where it is due. In this case to the Tea Party Conservatives who really believe what they are saying. Now, if they will just stop checking the bedrooms...