Senate judiciary committee passes bill that greatly expands the government's ability to spy on US citizens

Whoever said "freedom isn't free" sure is looking like a smart person. All this time I thought, "Of course, freedom is free."

But now, alas, it seems it's not. In order to enjoy freedom here in the US of A, you must be willing to pay for it. And how do you pay for it? By having your phones tapped, conversations recorded, Instant Messages saved, unfettered surveillance by the government whether you're a terrorist or not (after all, how do we know if you're a terrorist if we don't watch what you do? And that means everybody!).

The Senate judiciary committee just passed a bill, 10-8, hatched by Arlen Specter, that keeper of American civil liberties, that greatly expands the rights of the federal government to spy on you and me. It gives great authority to the President to conduct warrantless surveillance and gives the Attorney General tremendous lattitude in how he conducts the official business of the United States.

If this isn't yet another symptom of a totalitarian government in the making, I don't know what is.

Here are members of the Senate Judiciary:

Arlen Specter -- CHAIRMAN, R-PENNSYLVANIA
Orrin G. Hatch -- R-UTAH
Patrick J. Leahy -- RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, VERMONT
Charles E. Grassley -- R-IOWA
Edward M. Kennedy -- D-MASSACHUSETTS
Jon Kyl -- R-ARIZONA
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. -- D-DELAWARE
Mike DeWine -- R-OHIO
Herbert Kohl -- D-WISCONSIN
Jeff Sessions -- R-ALABAMA
Dianne Feinstein -- D-CALIFORNIA
Lindsey Graham -- R-SOUTH CAROLINA
Russell D. Feingold -- D-WISCONSIN
John Cornyn -- R-TEXAS
Charles E. Schumer -- D-NEW YORK
Sam Brownback -- R-KANSAS
Richard J. Durbin -- D-ILLINOIS
Tom Coburn -- R-OKLAHOMA

10 Republicans, 8 Democrats. I wonder how they voted? Is it a coincidence that the vote was 10-8?

Partisan politics is really getting on my nerves. I think these folks ought to ask themselves how they'd feel if their telephone conversation with their phsician were recorded. You know, personal stuff, like their ED problems, their requests for Cialis, etc.