Patriot Act Drivel

This Sunday Denver Post column by Diane Carmen illustrates the sort of uninformed, small-minded criticism of a law she clearly hasn't bothered to research or to read. It combines it with the smarmy, if misplaced, confidence in the rightness of her position that so characterizes the ideologue.

Nobody, nobody is going to arrest her, or even be drawn to look at her funny, because she checked out 1984. If she were already under suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack, the FBI could subpeona her library records. With a warrant. They could already do this if she were plotting to, say, rob a bank for the mob. The only thing the Patriot Act does is extend this authority to terror investigations.

Having spent all that time at the library, it's a damn shame she didn't use any of it to actually research the law.