The Patriot Act

[ElKabong]

To take some heat off the racing side of things, I wanted to post an opinion or 2 on this legislation.

I'm all for scoping everything there is on to know about our enemies, globally. I have no problem "detaining" suspicious foreign people with ties that mean harm to our country.

What I'm not for, is doing the same things mentioned above on US citizens. Fwiw, the GWB administration doesn't scare me too much (still scares me a bit, gotta admit). If Hillary Clinton were in office with these powers it w/b down right scary. Just read Dick Morris book "Rewriting History" and get a good feel for just how she would weild that kind of power.

I simply don't trust a politician w/ this kind of power. I can just imagine an Elloit Spitzer (for example) w/ this kind of power and a sudden agenda to "right the wrongs of illegal gambling"....yada yada yada.

I googled for some opinions on the Patriot Act, got mostly far left wing crap that most wouldn't read....Maybe a FOX news opinion column is better taken in by some.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,143046,00.html

Some snippets...

"I think we should be alarmed on a number of different levels," said Bob Barr, a former Republican member of Congress from Georgia who also used to be a U.S district attorney. "We’re changing the very nature of society — the over-criminalization of society."

more....

Healy's book uses amusing examples of ballooning criminal laws — like it being a federal crime to transport unlicensed dentures over state lines — but also more sobering instances of questionable law enforcement tactics, like the Texas woman who was hauled off to jail in front of her kids in 1997 for not buckling up in the car.

"I think we get a thrill out of seeing powerful figures like …Martha Stewart get in trouble with the law, but what people don’t realize is they are basically applauding a law that could be turned against them" said Healy, "and they would be in a worse spot because they wouldn’t have the same amount of money to defend themselves."

[Show Me the Wire]

ElKabong:

Well said. I am all for limiting rights of foreign citizens, even if they do not have proven ties to terrorist organizations. Rights of U.S. citizens need not be infringed or limited to protect us from foreign powers or foreign based insurgents.

Foreign citizens are not entitlted to the same rights and pivileges as the citizenship. Go to Mexico or any other geographically close country and see what rights you are given as a non-citizen.

[Tom]

I do not support the PA per se. I do think that now foreigners here should be afforded any rights at all-they are here at the pleasure of our government and if they do not like it, they can stay home. Or come here as LEGAL immigrants. A lot of security measures in plce now are absolutley ridiculous, unnecessary, and a waste of money. I flew to Detroit Friday. In Rochester, I was not forced to remove my shoes. Coming home, I was. The security broad told me my shoes were targeted becasaeu of the thick heels (??? standard balck sneakers are targeted??)
Now my quesiton is, who was wrong-Detroit or Rochester? Did Rochester jeopardize a flight by allowing dangerous shoes thorugh, or is Detroit needlessly hassling people? Once inside one security checkpoint, one now has unlimited access to all flight in ths country (domestic). Let us not forget that 9-11 was allowed to happen becaue airport security security failed to do it's job on a gross scale- all security measure in place on 9-10-01 were sufficient to prevent 9-11 from happening. It was people who allowed it. No new measure are needed, and from what I have read, even all the new measures routinely fail to detect guns, knifes, razors, etc. Again, the system is only as good as it people.
Oh, yeah, I am on some watch list, or at least my name is - one of the most comon name in the coutnry! I have to go through special seccurity and driver's license checks every single leg of every flight I take, to make sure I am not the suspect who share's my name. Even though I am a gold card memeber, fly the same airlines almost every time, am known by all the local employees of the airline I fly, and am idnetified by a frequent flyer number.
Meanwhile, countless other grandmas and childred are subjected to pat downs and other nonsnese just we don't offend some muslem by profiling him.
Our whole national security program can be classified as:Random luck.
I fly under my name, 15-20 time a year and I am considered more of a threat than millions of mexicans snealing over the borders at night.