Then again, Congress voted for the USA PATRIOT Act in a staggeringly atypical rush for such sweeping legislation, amid what was for much of the country a state of still-raw shock and terror.

By comparison the Affordable Care Act -- "Obamacare" if you insist -- passed both chambers with significant majorities after lengthy and intense debate. Debate, moreover, on issues and policy responses that were both familiar for some considerable time beforehand.

I'm not aware of any standard, detailed definition for "ramming" legislation through, so presumably this must remain a matter of personal opinion. But for my part, I really don't see a persuasive case for suggesting that the ACA was "rammed through" but the USA PATRIOT Act was not.

What's the big deal, Mr. Hayden? "If you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide," right? You aren't suddenly uncomfortable with this perpetual retort to privacy advocates, are you?

You would think (well, okay, you would LIKE to think) that at some point people would stop spouting this drivel. Clarke made much the same prediction about international calling nearly 50 years ago, and it was already silly by that point. One hundred years earlier, when people were making similar predictions about the telegraph, it was arguably plausible, but the century of carnage that followed really should have illustrated the hollowness of this concept. Pray stop being a ninny.