"Shame, shame, shame"

Watch out for whomever might be reading over your shoulder because the rules only apply to those who aren't "patriotic".

House GOPeons, using tactics once decried by none other than the Veep himself (from back when he was but a lowly Congressman from Wyoming), extended the official 15-minute voting period to more than 30 minutes, or until they had twisted enough arms to swing the vote their way and have kept the Orwellian "Patriot" Act untouched by such annoyances as civil liberties. The White House had threatened to veto any changes to the Patriot Act but Rep. Bernie Sanders, an Independent out of Vermont, thought that before the authorities start fishing around your library internet access records, law enforcement officials should have to go before a regular judge and not some secret court where who-knows-what happens. But during this delay, the Repubilcan whips circulated documents from Ashcroft's Justice Department asserting that terrorists have communicated over the Internet via public library computers. That was enough to convince even one of the bill's co-sponsors Zach Wamp, R-Tenn, to change his vote, no matter that moving the proceedings from a secret court to an open one would not delay nor infringe in any way the authorities efforts. If the vote was taken when it should've been the revision would have passed 213-206, but with Wamp's and other GOP members flipping their vote during the extra 23 minutes, the measure was defeated 210-210 (amendments die on a tie vote). In response, the House Democrats started chanting, "Shame, shame, shame".

I agree with Sanders who noted, "I find it ironic that, on an amendment designed to protect American democracy and our constitutional rights, the Republican Leadership in the House had to rig the vote and subvert the democratic process in order to prevail. This was a very sad day for democracy in America.”

ABCNEWS.com : Bush Wins; House Leaves Patriot Act As Is