[eeevil conservative]

OK, so maybe the article I quoted isn't accurate. I have no proof it is; you have no proof it isn't. with respect, I have to say this sounds like a Mapes defense. But you are correct that the issue is weather it is or is not constitutional. I believe it is certainly constitutional die to the way the Patriot Act is constructed. It is to TARGET overseas links, once those links lead us into the US- then we shouldn't just stop. It is not an act that TARGETS US citizens. It TARGETS terror groups and their links outside the US, but allows us to continue to follow the servelience once it crosses INTO the US. This is like search and seizure. You can't just pull someone over and search them. You can pull someone over for a headlight out, smell booze or pot, and THEN search. Same standards are applied in the context of the Patriot Act..

[57chevypreterist]

Your points are well made.

With respect to "Mapes", I hear you. I don't know Doug Thompson from a hill of beans (Capitol Hill?), so maybe he made the whole thing up just to rile conservatives; who knows?

The issue, ultimately, is the Constitution. And I am not convinced that the assaults on the First Amendment permitted by the Patriot Act are in fact, Constitutional.