Rob Robb penned an AZ Republic column on June 13 calling the civil liberties outcry on the Patriot Act nothing more than "hysterical rhetoric". He argued that the small number of detainees justifies legislative prudence. Eric Gruber sums up the huge fallacy in Robb's argument in a letter to the editor published today.

Under new investigative powers authorized by the federal Patriots Act, five material witnesses were held in custody for more than 90 days (remember these are witnesses - they are not charged with a crime), 14 homes had items removed from them without their owners being notified; 47 other homes were searched without notification to the owner; and 762 people were detained for months at a time without access to legal counsel or release of the information that they were being held at all.

Sorry, Robert, but I was raised in a country where the correct number in each of these categories was zero. If we keep making situational excuses and allow these erosions of our fundamental rights, we will wake up one day and not have any rights at all.

Would Robb be quite as apologetic and sanguine if the attorney general's name were Reno and her boss was named Clinton?