ryan is the supernicety wrote:
] ] A provision of an intelligence spending bill will expand
] ] the power of the FBI to subpoena business documents and
] ] transactions from a broader range of businesses --
] ] everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay --
] ] without first seeking approval from a judge.
]
] holy $#|!^ they managed to pass patriot II in an intelligence
] appropriations bill and no one knew about it until after it
] was on the books!

this was mentioned by bob barr at the talk the other night.

it's not all of the so-called Son of Patriot Act, but it's a good deal more than we needed or wanted, of course.

i've heard arguments for putting lots of stuff into a single bill, but i still hate it. argubably these are related somewhat (intelligence appropriations and information gathering) but this could've been anything. i feel like a bill should represent one, single, specific action. i think the procedural impact would be minimal because there'd be less debate over each bill (each side wouldn't be stuffing it full of crap that the other side isn't a fan of) and it'd be a lot tougher to sneak shit by the media. if the bill was an appropriations bill, that's that, no worries that clause 9006 gives extra rights to X, Y, or Z, or takes them away from you and I. If the bill was about expanding surveillence or information gathering or what have you, then it'd be obvious, and recognizable as such.

or maybe that's too much like pandering to the stupid, uninterested masses. in politics, as much as in any other realm, the adage 'you snooze, you lose' is terribly accurate. the problem gets to be when even the motivated and interested among us can't get the information because the media's not covering it -- michael jackson may have touched some little boys, that fucking loony-bin, that horror, so, really, pay NO attention to the bombs falling on, er, driving into, our soldiers in iraq -- or because it's buried under piles of irrelevant legislation. the argument that you should read everything falls flat -- no regular citizen has that much time, period... it's the job of the media, er, of JOURNALISTS, if there are any left, to examine the details, to pay attention, and to report back to the rest of us. too few people care. it's not enough like survivor yet.

RE: Wired News: Congress Expands FBI Spying Power