This is an excerpt from Doug Hanchard’s blog titled:
How did Congress pass extension of U.S. Patriot Act? Ask your doctor

And then the roof caved in, H.R. 3961 – Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 -was going through the House. Everyone in the House knew about the expiry of the existing extensions of the Patriot Act and thus was slipped as amendments to H.R. 3961. It was either that or watch H.R. 3961 face an uphill battle getting passed on the floor. According to the record, here is how the extension came to the floor as an amendment to H.R. 3961;

I won’t go in to the rest of the details, but I would advise you to read his entire post.

The problem I have with the process is the inherent deceit and dishonesty that our so called representatives use without hesitation, and without any sign of remorse that their bill is so unpopular that it can’t be passed on it’s own merit.

The patriot act is a violation of everything I would consider patriotic. It denies us rights, it assumes guilt and is abused by the police state.

Yes I used the phrase “POLICE STATE.” What else would you call it when an American citizen can be thrown in prison simply because someone didn’t like his name? What else would you call it when the police, in their myriad uniforms, have no oversight?

When the investigatory agencies find a violation of the law by various and sundry police agencies and can’t find a way to bury it, they announce it publicly. And by God they’ll step up and say the law has been violated again if it doesn’t stop.

The law has no teeth; after all, how do you punish an entire agency?

On top of everything else, the NSA / AT&T debacle shows that even if it can be proven that the law has been deliberately violated and names can be provided, the Whitehouse will protect that agency or company. This is done in the name of “national security.”

We have a constitution and a bill of rights that are supposed to protect our freedoms. –Instead they are twisted, ignored or made exception to, because some politician or group of politicians has an agenda.

The bills congress passes are not for our benefit. They are to feed the egos, further the agendas or profit the friends of those in power. And most importantly, they are there to control the peasants.