Conservative Statist Republicans

They are so concerned about government intrusion that they want to facilitate it.

A last-minute rewrite of the bill expands the information that commercial Internet providers are required to store to include customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses, some committee members suggested. By a 7-16 vote, the panel rejected an amendment that would have clarified that only IP addresses must be stored.

They are taking a page from ramming through the "USA Patriot Act" and naming it in such a way to make it harder to oppose it. But one thing we learned from that law was that the FBI will use all powers granted for one thing for everything else.

Funny thing: You'd think that those teabagging Republicans would not be in favor of anything that makes it easier for the government to monitor what people do.

But you would be so wrong.

I'm not even going to riff on the point that the change in the law was quietly pushed for by the George W. Obama Justice Department. For when it comes to expanding the power of the government to spy on its citizens, ol' Torturer Dick has nothing on President Romney Obama.

(H/T)