The renewal legislation now goes to the House for approval, where it is expected to pass. Sixteen provisions of the Patriot Act were set to expire at the end of last year, but members of Congress were unable to reach agreement on the terms of the renewal, prompting instead two short-term extensions [JURIST report]. The renewal legislation will make 14 of the provisions permanent and extend the remaining two until 2009. The current legislation is set to expire March 10.

Where was his party when it came time to take a stand for freedom in this country? Hiding like a coward, that's where. Only nine Democrats and one independent - former Republican Jim Jeffords - had guts enough to vote against reauthorizing the fascist piece of crap called the Patriot Act.

The rest, including Harry Reid, that scum-sucking capitulator who claims to be the Senate Democratic leader, dropped their pants, bent over, grabbed their ankles and handed George W. Bush the k-y jelly and said "bung-hole me all you want sir. I like getting screwed by dictators."

What about the leading contender for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, the so-called "gentle lady from New York," Hillary Rodham Clinton? Oh, she let Bush and the rest of the Republican party gang bang her like frat boys in a horny drunken brawl. Too late to cry rape Hillary. You proved yourself a political slut like most of the rest of your party.

This is the opposition party? This is the party that partisans claim will save this country from the abuses and excesses of too many years of Republican domination? Christ, these losers couldn't lead a Cub Scout pack on an overnight camping trip in a suburban back yard.

I expected Republicans to fall in lockstep behind their power-mad President and sell out their country. That's what Republicans do in the name of control, even though a few made a token show of resistance last year by joining Democratic efforts to filibuster passage of the act. But I held out faint hope that the Dems wouldn't cave and join in the feeding frenzy on the Constitution. Serves me right, I guess, for trusting any politician -- Democrat or Republican.

Only these 10 voted against the act: Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR), James Jeffords (I-VT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Robert Byrd (D-WV). The rest voted with Bush and against freedom.

Oh those who voted for the act will give us some propagandistic pap about adding protections for civil rights but those canges are just cosmetic crap. The act itself is a Constitution-evading invasion of basic American rights to privacy, and an abandonment of long-standing protections against illegal search and seizure.

If you think Bush was an out-of-control despot before, just see what he will do with the expanded wiretapping, surveillance and seizure powers granted him and his Gestapo-like Department of Homeland Security in the reauthorized act. Don't expect the House of Representatives to do anything to stop this act. The real battleground was the Senate and that battle was lost when Democrats joined with Republicans to sell out the Constitution of the United States.

Where I come from, that's called treason and everyone who voted for the USA Patriot Act should be considered a traitor to their country and treated as such.

And the next Democrat who gets in my face to tell me how much better things would be with his party in charge had better have a good dental insurance plan.

The Senate's passage hands Bush a victory in his troubled second term and allows the Republicans to polish their tough-on-terror image for the midterm elections.

The 89-10 vote on Thursday was months overdue and came only after a Democrat-led filibuster that attracted GOP support forced Bush to accept modest curbs on the government's power to investigate suspects in terror probes.

Still, Bush savored the moment at a time when his approval ratings have suffered over the war in Iraq and his administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina. The House was expected to approve the two-bill package next week and send it to the president, who would sign it before 16 provisions expire March 10.

Bush applauded the Senate for overcoming "partisan attempts to block its passage."

"This bill will allow our law enforcement officials to continue to use the same tools against terrorists that are already used against drug dealers and other criminals, while safeguarding the civil liberties of the American people," Bush said in a statement from India.

"I am very pleased and relieved," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a possible presidential candidate, who had been unable to break the deadlock for more than two months. "It's been very tough to get to this point."

Critics of the act held their ground. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., insisted that the new civil liberties protections were cosmetic.

"Americans want to defeat terrorism and they want the basic character of this country to survive and prosper," Feingold said. "They want both security and liberty, and unless we give them both -- and we can if we try -- we have failed."

Some lawmakers who voted for the package acknowledged deep reservations about the power it would grant to any president.

"Our support for the Patriot Act does not mean a blank check for the president," said Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who voted to pass the bill package. "What we tried to do on a bipartisan basis is have a better bill. It has been improved."

Not enough even for the bill's chief sponsor in the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. After prolonged negotiations produced a House-Senate compromise, Specter urged his colleagues to pass it even as he promised to introduce a new measure and hold hearings on how to fix it.

When The New York Times revealed in December that Bush had authorized a secret domestic wiretapping program, Democrats gained ammunition for their charge that the administration had run amok in its zeal to root out terrorists.

With the help of some Republicans, they blocked a vote on whether to renew the law before 16 provisions expired on Dec. 31.

GOP leaders were unable to break the gridlock, so Congress opted instead to extend the deadline twice while negotiations continued. In the end, the White House and the Republicans broke the stalemate by crafting a second measure that would curb some powers of law enforcement officials seeking information.

This second bill _ in effect an amendment to the measure renewing the 16 provisions _ would add new protections to the 2001 antiterror law.

They include giving recipients of court-approved subpoenas in terrorist investigations the right to challenge a gag order. The change also would eliminate a requirement that an individual provide the FBI with the name of a lawyer consulted about a National Security Letter, which is a demand for records issued by investigators.

Passed in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the original Patriot Act expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers.

The renewal package would make 14 of 16 temporary provisions permanent and set four-year expirations on the others.

The renewal includes several measures not directly related to terrorism. One would make it harder for illicit labs to obtain ingredients for methamphetamine by requiring pharmacies to sell nonprescription cold medicines only from behind the counter.

Another focuses on port security, imposing new criminal sanctions and a death sentence in certain circumstances for placing a device or substance in U.S. waters that could damage vessels or cargo.

Feingold's chief ally, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said the package was not enough to check what he described as a presidential tendency through history of "always grabbing more power."

"The erosion of freedom rarely comes as an all-out frontal assault," warned Byrd, the dean of the Senate. "Rather, it is a gradual, noxious creeping cloaked in secrecy and glossed over by reassurances of greater security."

The "no" votes came from Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., and Feingold, Byrd and seven other Senate Democrats: Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Carl Levin of Michigan, Patty Murray of Washington and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, did not vote.

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The bill is HR3199.