our rights suspended for 10 more years

Ron Paul bravely stood up for our freedoms while most of congress cravenly voted to extend the PATRIOT Act for another 10 years. We all know that the PATRIOT Act extension miraculously came to a vote right after the London terrorist bombings - how conVEEEEENient. In Paul's current column at Antiwar.com, he raises an excellent point about the scoundrels who cite the bombings as proof of the necessity of the PATRIOT act:

Unfortunately, some of my congressional colleagues referenced the recent London bombings during the debate, insinuating that opponents of the PATRIOT Act somehow would be responsible for a similar act here at home. I won't even dignify that slur with the response it deserves. Let's remember that London is the most heavily monitored city in the world, with surveillance cameras recording virtually all public activity in the city center. British police officials are not hampered by our 4th Amendment nor our numerous due process requirements. In other words, they can act without any constitutional restrictions, just as supporters of the PATRIOT Act want our own police to act. Despite this they were not able to prevent the bombings, proving that even a wholesale surveillance society cannot be made completely safe against determined terrorists. Congress misses the irony entirely. The London bombings don't prove the need for the PATRIOT Act – they prove the folly of it.

I'm still awestruck at how easily this PATRIOT Act renewal came to pass, with hardly any notice from the mainstream press. It's depressing, damn depressing, but it's good to know we have at least one sane and heroic man in the House, a thorn in the side of Leviathan, who we can always count on to speak truth to power!