You all have made many great arguments for and against both sides of the infringement of civil liberties aspect, but there are other things to consider as well. I think we would all agree that these searches do little to no good in the long run against deterring terrorism. Therefore, with an estimated cost so far of about 1.2 million dollars, is it economically reasonable for the government to perform them even if it does have the right to it? I can't help wondering if this money would be better spent investigating possible suspects, rather than playing hit or miss at the turnstiles. Terrorists all over the world are laughing right now at the fact that we are blowing millions of dollars in order to make NYC seem safe from attack.

__________________
Love causes fear.
Love causes sorrow.
Those without love have neither sorrow nor fear.

Right, the cops go to a judge and tell him/her that they would like a warrant to check the bags of suspicious people entering the subway because the believe terrorists would want to blow it up. There ya go.

We already spend billions searching for terrorists, whats another 1.2 million. The reason it wouldnt work is if they dont use racial profiling, cause otherwise it wouldnt work.

It's not going to work. It's a complete waste of money when we could be doing things that would actually work.

__________________
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine

The thing you seem to be ignoring is that both a general warrant to randomly search all subway riders and racial profiling are illegal, at least in New York, thank dog. Therefore, by your logic, it is okay for governments to break their own laws, yet hold its citizens responsible for obeying and abiding by the laws. If we all had the same opinion as you, we would be no better off than those who live in China or who lived in communist Russia. There simply has to be a better way to fight terror.

__________________
WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

"You have found the secret message. Do you have too much time on your hands? ...Let it go."

If Printer2 wants to give up his rights, I'm OK with that, but he is also willing to give up my rights, and that is not OK.

__________________
Never moon a werewolf.

..did anyone bother asking the cop on the beat what they think of having to search every fifth person with a bag?

Last I heard, rather than having their eyes looking down snooping around people's junk, they'd rather keep their eyes up scanning the area and looking at an individual's eyes and body language.

__________________
.




"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan
The United Church of the Latter Day Tangential Tarts

You are absolutely right that these searches do not catch terrorists, but as far as the govt is concerned, they serve two excellent purposes:
1) The govt seems to be doing something.
2) The govt gets to find out just how far they can go without a backlash.

__________________
Never moon a werewolf.

"The Constitution gives me the right,..."

No, the only "rights" you have are the ones you argreed to when you signed your lease. Your lease spells out who and when a staff person may enter your apartment.

__________________
"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

The US Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It spells out the rights I have.

I do not have a lease. My rental agreement is a contract which specifies my relationship to the landlady.
But it is not the contract that specifies when she may enter my apartment. That is spelled out in State law.

But none of this affects my constitutional rights. The city inspector is acting as an agent of the government, and therefore needs to abide by the law of the land. The supreme law is the constitution, therfore that is the law she needs to abide by.

__________________
Never moon a werewolf.

What exactly does "a dangerous and violent looking arab" look like? Is it any different from a dangerous and violent looking white guy? Or black guy? You could at least eliminate the problem of racial profiling by saying "a dangerous and violent looking person. I mean, we have already learned that not all terrorists are arabs. Havr you seen a picture of Timothy McVeigh? He doesn't even look arab.

__________________
WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

"You have found the secret message. Do you have too much time on your hands? ...Let it go."