Autopen II: The wrath of Congress [Video]

From the Department of Good Things That Won’t Go Away: A cadre of House Republicans are demanding that President Obama go back and sign the recently passed extension of the Patriot Act in the way that God and the founders intended—with his own human, non-robotic, hand.

You might recall that there was a (very small) uproar over Obama’s decision last month to sign the extension using an autopen while he was in Europe. Had the president not done so, the White House said, key provisions of the counterterrorism act would have expired.

It was believed to be the first time any president had used the robotic pen to sign a piece of legislation, and the move rubbed Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) the wrong way. He sent a letter to the White House expressing his concerns that Obama’s use of the autopen was unconstitutional.

On Friday, Graves and 20 of his House colleagues wrote Obama again, this time asking him to sign the act personally and to pledge to never use the autopen again.

Unstated in the letter but inferred (at least by us) was that use of the autopen is sending us hurtling toward the day when our machines rise up and subjugate us -- likely resulting in our country being run by a cyborg president.

It remains a bit unclear how use of the autopen will get us there. But perhaps it’s much like that old “South Park” routine about how gnomes make money from stealing underwear.

1. Autopen

2. ?

3. Cyborg president

Speaking of which, we at Politics Now have been warning for months about the rise of robots and how they will slowly assume all human functions beyond simply turning a bill into a law. And a new article at Wired backs us up.

Robots now can dance. And they’re good. Soon, celebrities such as Hines Ward, Bristol Palin and Kirstie Alley are going to be pounding the pavement, looking for work.

How can you call that progress?