It’s interesting that the Obama-supported bill that could most be interpreted as anti-Constitutional (and therefore anti-American, you secret commie Kenyan Muslim, you) is the one that has the majority of support of Republicans and most Tea Partiers (other than Paul Rand), and only 50/50 support in his own party.  In MN, Republicans Chip Cravaack, John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Democrats Collin Peterson and Tim Walz voted for, Democrats Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum.  Michele Bachmann was nowhere to be seen, mentally or physically.

I wish Obama had the support and the spine in this matter to go through with his veto threat, but it’s not going to happen.  In any case, his threat appears to have been based not on the principles of  protecting constitutional rights, but on not wanting additional restrictions on Executive powers to perform the activities the bill references.  And now, with the war in Iraq supposedly winding down, the global War on Terror and the extended powers the government is granting itself to fight this interminable, poorly-defined conflict, continue to grow.

Not a good day for civil liberties, or for Article 3, Section 3 of the Constitution, which dictates that nobody can be punished for treason without significant due process requirements being met.

Not a proud day.  I’m with the ACLU and Human Rights Watch on this one.  I had actually let me ACLU membership lapse, but it’s going back up today.