Should you be scared of the Patriot Act?

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

[muawiyah]

Some of us downwind of the Pentagon still remember the stench of the smoke in our nostrils.

The "Patriot Act" is not a threat to us, but it should be a threat to "them".

[jmc813]

self bump for later

[Deb]

Blah, blah, blah.

After the religion of peace is wiped off the bottom of our shoes, we'll have time to whine about mean, old John Ashcroft and our civil rights.

If people listen to morons like these women, they won't have to worry about the Patriot Act...they'll be busy collecting pieces of their children to bury in shoe boxes.

[Old Sarge]

This is from SLATE, so it's naturally fair and unbiased, right?

RIGHT?

Where'd all these crickets come from?

[Ahban]

self-ping 4 later

[Rebelbase]

"The "Patriot Act" is not a threat to us, but it should be a threat to "them".

"us" and "them" will reverse themselves one day with conservatives becoming "them" and the liberals becoming "us". That is the day the Patriot Act will come around to be a problem in this country.

[MatthewViti]

you sound just like a leberal. i'm sure you've never read george orwell either.

[jmc813]

Notice how everyone is using emotional and sarcastic arguments against this article, and not addressing the points made? Typical. I predict a "what liberties have you lost" within 10 posts.

[Sandy]

Try reading the article Deb. They're not whining about the Act.

[jmc813]

That is the day the Patriot Act will come around to be a problem in this country.

And that will be the day FR is shut down as "terrorist site". I guarantee it.

[Brian S]

Your papers, your papers...please present your papers before you are allow to proceed.

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

You need us, you require us, you cannot thrive without us...

[Sandy]

Notice how everyone is using emotional and sarcastic arguments against this article, and not addressing the points made?

Probably didn't read it, otherwise they'd've noticed that it presents both sides of the matter. I think it's one of the best explanations of the law that I've read yet.

[cyborg]

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

national id card, DNA database coming near you

[Prodigal Son]

The "Patriot Act" is not a threat to us, but it should be a threat to "them".

Well, I guess I shouldn't feel threatened then huh?

[chachacha]

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

GOD help us all if one of them gets elected.

They are the soul reason why terrorism is where it is today, they are the soul reason why race is an issue when it shouldn't be, they are the soul reason why GOD has been leaving our institutions, they are the soul reason why the court system is corrupt, the education system is in decay, our schools are breeding grounds for deviate sex and lack of discipline, our colleges are left wing text books full of left wing professors who support and teach tolerance of all things evil. They are the party with out a SOUL.

They are evil!

[gitmo]

Bump for later reading. Patriot Act.

[joyful1]

Ask this question after the next terror attack.

[Deb]

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. The same people who have told us for years that the CIA is the real enemy and that protest is patriotism and the ACLU is looking after your civil liberties and that our security agencies shouldn't be able to get intel from our allies and that all our agencies should be neutered and the Boy Scouts are a threat and homosexuality is good for the armed forces and on and on and on...

There's a reason no non-Muslim is part of any ACLU action against Ashcroft...because the rats need to bell the cat and poison the dog before they come for you.

Eat it up. The dopers have always bunked with the enemy. Anything to keep that buzz.

[300winmag]

This is from SLATE, so it's naturally fair and unbiased, right?

Has everyone forgotten the klinton years? Carnivore, Clipper Chip, digital tapping ports, the war on cryptography? The FBI could walk in and rummage through sales records, library records, hotel registrations, etc. "Roaming wire taps." A record number of "national security" black bag jobs, but nothing to show for it. The list goes on. It sounds a lot like the Patriot Act, only worse. And the klintons didn't even need a law passed. They just did it, or were going to do it.

Oh, and they were doing it to protect us from "tax cheats, pornographers, gun runners, and militia". While there were protests from conservatives and privacy advocates, where was mostly cheering from the leftist media.

Yes, I have concerns about the Patriot Act, but less than what we've already gone through with the klintons. And as far as it being used against Free Republic, I have no doubt that several government agencies continue to monitor this site, simply because something started by the klintons takes on an unholy life of its own, and nameless federal bureaucrats continue to crank out reports that nobody ever read.