[silentknight]

Another loss for the common man and woman...and baby. heh

Police State well under control.

[NapkinUser]

Sadly yes. While I usually like seeing the ACLU lose, this is clearly not one of those cases. One terrorist attack and everybody needs to be treated like crap. Bring back racial profiling. A 90 year-old white/black/hispanic/asian/whatever grandmother and her grandson aren't as going to be suicide bombers. Whereas a 20 year-old Muslim male....well, the odds are much higher.

Government is watching.

[aligncare]

If these were different times, I might agree about police searches being intrusive; secure in my person, and all that Bill O'Right stuff.

But, have you noticed that there is this international network of ideologs bent on our total obliteration? That part kind of worries me more than random searches, as I move about public places (the subway).

The above opinion was given with all due respect to you.

[eleni121]

Police State well under control.
____________________________________

Better this than jihadis with explosives. Did you forget we are at war?

[Cementjungle]

Police State well under control.

Are you opposed to screenings at the airport too? If not, then what's the difference?

[sargon]

It appears that the notion of probable cause is dead, just like so many other parts of the Constitution.

I wonder when the cheerleaders for the War On Terror (which I Constitutionally support) will realize that the terrorists have already won if we implemet routine police state policies like this.

Dooesn't anyone recall (I paraphrase) the President (and many Congressmen) saying, in the aftermath of 9/11, that if we turn our country into a Police State and ignore the Constitution and do, for instance, searches without probable cause ('reasonable suspicion' is unconstitutuional bullshit), and, eventually, checks as to whether our "papers" are in order, then THE TERRORISTS HAVE ALREADY WON!

We CANNOT create a tyrannical State in the name of the War On Terror. It, and all other wars, are subject to the strict interpretation of the Constitution. No one seems to be willing to do the real, Constitutional work required to win this WAR. Instead, the tyrannical, compromising shortcuts flow liberally from all sides. (See the abomination known as the PATRIOT Act for examples.)

How soon that principle has been conveniently forgotten; and, aditionally, most authoritarians apparently endorse the same bullshit arbitrary searches for *private* transportation as well.

"Those who exchange essential liberty for a little temporary security, deserve neither" - Ben Franklin

PROBABLE CAUSE for searches: live it; learn it; love it; THE FOURTH AMENDMENT (even if it means another terror attack) Bring on all the terrorist attacks out there, if necessary, before destroying our Freedoms with artbitrary law.

The terrorists HAVE ALREADY WON if we ignore the Constitution and embrace such tyranny, IMHO. The President himself said so.

Profile the high-risk suspects, like Muslims, foreign nationals, etc., for God's sake, in a time of War, and stopping terror will be much more successful.