[sinkspur]

The fearmongers cannot name a single freedom lost. None. Zilch. Nada.

Of course not. But they fantasize that, well, there must be some loss of freedom to you and me.

Criminals lose plenty under the Patriot Act, but, then, they're criminals, right?

[HiTech RedNeck]

It's been as clear as the nose on your face when you look in the mirror. It's the few tattered shreds of the 4th amendment which cover, like a mostly rotten fig leaf, the right to not have your own activities snooped into absent a nontrivial degree of showing that something is probably criminally wrong therewith. Why did the founding fathers put in that pesky 4th amendment anyhow? Wouldn't it have been better to have required a form be filed with the Federal government for everything including buying your weekly groceries? Oops, the cancer of the commerce clause hadn't been contracted yet.