The Patriot Act apparently has a provision for collecting DNA data on persons "convicted of terrorism offenses and other crimes of violence."

Okay, so far, so good. Just the bad guys. But if a libertarian knows anything, it's how "well-intentioned" government programs can easily start drifting off the deep end. Remember when they first floated Medicare?

Like many others have pointed out, we have to be vigilant about this "war powers" stuff. Some think we've already gone too far, but I think it's under control so far.

Still, the fact that they called it the "Patriot Act" raises a couple of yellow flags in my mind all by itself. Whenever someone drops a piece of legislation on us that forges one more chain in our manacles, it always has a pleasant-sounding appealing name.

I'm watching.