Should you be scared of the Patriot Act?

Slate ^ | September 8, 2003 | Dahlia Lithwick and Julia Turner

[m18436572]

bfl

[Old Sarge]

Thank you!

That's what I've been trying to tell so many of the tinfoil FReepers. The Patriot Act in this incarnation clearly delineates, in writ and law, what can and can't be done.

The Clinton Gang, as you said, never bothered with what was legal. They simply pursued their enemies, running them to ground.

They won't listen. They are convinced of, and comforted by, their paranoia.

[Akira]

bump for later

[Arkady]

Excellent reply to a stupid post!
Some of us will support the "real-freedoms" involved in this war, so that twits will have the freedom to wring their hands and bemoan our security-efforts ( but that's the least of the reasons to fight back.)
If only the ACLU had been there during the London-bombings of WWII, there wouldn't have been that whole "lights-out" inconvenience thing.

[Vicki]

No I have no reason to be afraid of the Patriot Act.

[Deb]

It's amazing how the voices of our enemies are the only ones heard these days. And yet they'd have us believe John Ashcroft and "Sneak & Peak" are the real threats. Even though every, local police department in the country can come into your home, right now, while you're gone and never inform you.

You're right. The ACLU would have convinced this group that mandatory "black-outs" were the real threats to their civil liberties and not the bombs hitting their heads.

[eno_]

Good, then YOU make your life an open book.

I want an encrypted phone, anonymous stored value, encrypted "public" records, and enough unconventional weapons to discourage any a-hole that wants to attempt to enter my house.

Read the threads on illegal immigrants: They, with their fake IDs and dubious drivers' licenses have more privacy than I do as a law-abiding citizen. Screw that! I want my own 27 fake IDs. Then TIA can try to figure out who I am.

[findingtruth]

"What we should really be scared of is the nine immoral, left wing democrats runing for the leadership of this country."

Whuffo you complaining about Democrats? Of the nine, seven were appointed by a Republican President, and the other two were confirmed by a Republican Senate.

[Sandy]

I read it. It's the same as all the attack pieces by all the left-wing hacks who pretend there is somethng to fear from legislation that allows the feds to do what local police do everyday.

Then I guess you have a reading comprehension problem. This isn't even an attack piece. The authors are making fun of the fearmongers on both sides.

[Brian S]

Read the threads on illegal immigrants: They, with their fake IDs and dubious drivers' licenses have more privacy than I do as a law-abiding citizen. Screw that! I want my own 27 fake IDs. Then TIA can try to figure out who I am.

Actually, I'm pondering a "road trip" to pick up a couple for myself...just for "keepsakes". ;)

[Arkady]

Well, it's always been so. They tried to scandalize and minimalize Patton even as he was pushing back the nazis. The press, and libs, have a natural aversion to winning these battles. Look what they did to Sherman, Lincoln and Grant. If they had their way, the South would have won.
The irony is that these pussy-foots would be the first to poop their panties if they faced a real totalitarian government. They constantly look at the speck in America's eye, while excusing the mote in the regimes they whole-heartedly support. (Hitler was bad, Stalin was mis-guided.)
At least I openly support my side, instead of hiding behind crapola to aid the enemy.

[Deb]

You're braindead.

[Sandy]

At least I can read.

Nite.

[Still Thinking]

yeah and we need their stinking biometric chips and Matrix barcodes like a hole in the head

Actually, according to the Act, you MAY have a hole in the head, if you prefer.

[cyborg]

Will I still be breathing? I want to be cremated with the way the government is messing around with cloning and making hermaphrodites in test tubes... This is a very dangerous time. Governments have a history of nitpicking away personal freedoms in times of crisis.

[cowtowney]

"We are the Government and we are here to protect you! "

Amen to that. John Ashcroft is out of control.

How many freedoms will be lost in the name of security?

[Ramius]

Honest question here:

Why do people think that checking out a book from the library is some kind of "private" protected information? I haven't been to a library for a while, but it used to be, anyway, that all you had to do to see who's checked out a particular book was to look at the card glued inside the cover. Since when has this been "private" information?

[Arkady]

Let's see, I could worry about Saudi-terrorists or J. Ashcroft. Hmmmm. Library-cards or liberty? Hmmmm. Have you been to a library lately? They've become outposts of liberal-indocrination anyway....banning Huckleberry Finn but not Mein Kampf.
Do they have libraries in islamo-land?
Maybe we could become like Israel, suffering daily mass-murders and building a security-fence (against the wishes of those who see it as an infringement against someone's liberties?)

[Deb]

Beats me.

But I think the main concerns are the computers in libraries, because one or more of the 9/11 terrorists used library and internet cafe computers to communicate with each other. Of course, the ACLU and their supporters are trying to make it more about books and the huge invasion of privacy it is to know when Ahmet checks out flight plans or bomb-making library books.

Look at the posts of people on this thread who have allowed themselves to be convinced they are somehow threatened by this. Insanity.

[Ben Ficklin]

And the Official Free Republic position on the Patriot Act is?