Yup i completely agree about it being his executive power, which is fine for me because i trust him and think he will be one the greatest presidents we ever had when history judges him.

If a Dem came in (other than Hillary) they would try and rollback the privellages of the Patriot act. Not a problem too much as a lot of the non sunset based provisions can't be undone.

What Chavez did is to effectively take his country in a banana assed dictatorship where he feels like he's some free liberating Anti-American soclialist.

Bush used the system we already have in place to get surveillance legislation he wanted, and that shows an immense ability to get things achieved to me.