I don't post to get responses. I'd rather make one lurker think with no response than get a hundred responses from blithering idiots.
1. The attention span of the average neocon is too short to read this whole article.
Too bad. It's worth reading.
2. It points out the Patriot act and Homeland Security for the dangerous legislation that they are.
I think the article overstates the pusilanimousness of the U.S. The author takes the media attention to "danger" as representative of the nation as a whole.
The Patriot Act seems to be dangerous mostly for its ambiguity over exactly what is permitted and what is forbidden--I'm not aware of a specific constitutional violation.
The Homeland Security Act seems merely to be a reorganization to facilitate communication, not a threat to U.S. citizenry.
4th Amendment secret searches. It also gives a judge outside of juristiction the authority to give secret warrants. That's what I remember offhand. I went through the bill point by point aways back.