The Highly Attenuated List of Republicans Who Still Like Freedom

A bullshit compromise on the Patriot Act - which would make permanent certain dangerous sections, and extend others, was substituted for a more reasonable proposal and will go the Congress for a vote, probably next week. It's running into the real threat of a filibuster.

But three Senate Democrats and three Republicans issued a statement saying they were "gravely disappointed" that Specter and others agreed during House-Senate negotiations to drop "modest protections for civil liberties" that were included in a version the Senate had passed unanimously this year. They predicted the Senate will reject the compromise bill.

The six were Republican Sens. Larry Craig of Idaho, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrats Richard Durbin of Illinois, Kenneth Salazar of Colorado and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Feingold vowed to launch a filibuster, which would scuttle the Patriot Act extension unless 60 senators opposed his effort. Some Republicans said Democrats would be foolhardy to block an "anti-terrorism" bill on the eve of an election year.

Also criticizing the bill Thursday were Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat; and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

My paraphrase of the Patriot Act: It's a free country until otherwise posted. Or not posted.

Meanwhile the ACLU - which is concentrating a lot less on Christmas pageants and a lot more on being one of the last organizations to fight hard, smart and stealthy for basic American liberty these days, is suffering some internal turmoil in the midst of organizational success. I'm concerned.