THE PROPOSAL TO REMOVE THE SUNSET PROVISION IN THE “PATRIOT” ACT is getting an unfriendly reception:

Fidel Castro has got to be looking on with admiration. This is his thing.

The problem with protecting freedom by curtailing freedom is that each bright idea suggests another and pretty soon there’s not a lot left to protect.

That’s why Orrin Hatch’s suggestion that the “Patriot Act” be made permanent is so appalling.

Why? What is wrong with having to review the act every few years, determine whether it is still needed and then re-enact it for a few more years?

Hatch apparently does not want those new government police powers to ever be taken away again, whether they are needed or not, and you have to wonder why.

Yes, you do have to wonder. I think that everything in the “Patriot” Act should have been sunsetted, and I certainly don’t think that any sunset provisions should be removed.

Hatch should be ashamed, and so should everyone else involved in this travesty.