If You've Ever Wanted A Reason To Call Your Congressional Representative

This is it. The House version of the Patriot Act renewal includes this goody-bag for the unchecked executive:

(b)(1) Under the direction of the Director of the Secret Service, members of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division are authorized to--

`(A) carry firearms;

`(B) make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony; and

`(C) perform such other functions and duties as are authorized by law.

YAY! Save me from terror, USSSUD! Yay! After all, as Pat Roberts said earlier, and I'm paraphrasing because I had an aneurysm while he said it: "For those of you who are worried about civil liberties, let me remind you that you can't use them if you're dead." Sometimes I wonder why we even bother with the charade anymore.

OOPS: Lest I be considered a thief, this was via TalkLeft.
DOUBLE OOPS: It's nothing new, visit the TalkLeft link above for explanation of why the "warrantless arrests" aren't big news, although given recent events, they might want to tighten the language. ... of course they don't.