One issue that has gotten me railing against plenty cannonmouths lately is talk about the Intelligence Reform Bill, also called the “9/11 Bill,” that has not yet even passed the House. Just like another law that has received massive publicity—The Patriot Act—I have a good hunch that, like myself, plenty of people whose loose lips sink fleets of ships have not even read, much less comprehended, the text of the document in question.

So. I’ll be the first to humbly admit that I have not read the bill in question, and that I will not comment on the bill’s provisions itself. As of this writing I can not form an informed opinion on the bill’s measures as descrived

What I would like to do, though, is to welcome the rest of the American public to the horrors and intricacies of the legislative process. Every law passed to the executive has to be approved in its entirety, and fights over specific sections are often reported with little clarification on just how tortuous a process this is.

Some lawmakers objected to this bill because it doesn’t do enough about illegal aliens. Others objected because it goes too far. Whether I should be frustrated or relieved over the speedbumps encountered by this bill, I cannot yet say. What I do know is that sweeping, “radical” legislation that aims to make a lot of changes needs to be debated on, and worked out in the halls of The Hill with little regard to the impassioned howling from both sides of concerned, but probably underinformed, advocacy.