A high price to pay...

Congress needs to be reminded that it is not just another arm of the executive branch, but an independent body which was elected to preserve, protect, and represent the best interests of the American people.

In light of last Friday's signing of a new measure which enables this administration, and future administrations, to intercept, and monitor electronic, and telephonic communications without a warrant, and with no congressional oversight, the only judicious response is outrage at the subservience of our elected officials to the whims, and excesses of a runaway executive branch.

The time has come for both the House and the Senate to stand up to the president, vice president, and attorney-general, and restore dignity to the Constitution which has been ravaged, in recent years, along with the democratic process. When the framers devised the Bill of Rights, they didn't have planned obsolescence of our civil liberties in mind.

While this latest bill comes with the victories of greater taxes on oil companies, and environmental earmarks, the dangers posed by this latest measure to spy on civilian communications, without warrants, far outweigh those gains.

Make no mistake, acquiescence is complicity. When the six month period expires, members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, will be held accountable for this precarious, and precedent setting legislation not just by those who elected them, but for generations to come.