Patriot Act Almost Done; NSA spying

Today comes the defeat in the Senate of the Patriot Act, attacked by some as giving the government too much power (as if it didn't have enough already.) I think making use of the same tools we've used against the mafia for years makes sense to use against terror cells already in the US, but oversight is a real problem. My friend Matt has expressed his concern about the government abusing its power against the citizenry, and I think he probably would not be in favor of the Patriot Act. My libertarian leanings make me lukewarm at best towards this, but I do believe the government has an obligation to try and find these guys using the smartest means we can muster. Also today, word of NSA spying on domestic terror suspects without warrants was leaked (by the CIA, who else) to the NY Times. I think they will run with this like the Abu Ghraib thing, until we are sick of hearing about it. I'd like to know how a leak of this sort is not worse than the Valerie Plame so-called covert agent outing.