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A lot of deep-fried conservative friends of mine are worried about losing our civil rights as we gear up to fight an invisible enemy that looks like your next door neighbor. I am conservative, too, but not to the point that I think the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, and other government agencies have so many people and so much time that they are going to be checking what I bought at the market last week. No, realistically, they will focus their personnel, time and money on finding the real enemies.

Does it bother me the government now has such broad powers? Yes and no. Yes, because the last time I read the US Constitution, they really should not have the right to invade my privacy without a court-ordered warrant. No, because I want them to invade the privacy of everyone of the more than one thousand mosques, the many Muslim parochial schools and Arab "charities" in America. I may be a patriot, but I am not stupid either.

What are your thoughts on this?

I generally agree with these excerpted comments. My life is already an open book to whoever wants to look at it, whether I like it or not. This is nothing different than what very clever retailers already know about my purchases from "saver's cards", or if I pay by check or credit card, my "habits" can be tracked by the retailer. My phone bill can be viewed by the phone company. My insurance company knows all about my medical conditions. "Free" internet cards subjects me to continuing barrages of advertisements for products they think I want. Cookies keep track of all kinds of information about us on the internet. The bottom line is, if you don't want something about you disclosed, pay cash, keep your mouth shut, and your fingers silent. Anyone who doesn't think that they don't do this already (before passing the Homeland Security Act) is dreaming.

What I LIKE about the bill is that it puts the bad guys on notice that they are no longer protected by an indifferent bureaucracy and an apathetic criminal justice system. This President and this attorney general ARE pressing for prosecution and conviction of criminals. They think that Osama bin Laden is a bigger threat to the country than Microsoft or RJ Reynolds. That part is okay by me.