Actually, he's far more paranoid than anything else. The fact is, we are incredibly secure. The threat of terrorism is so overblown it's almost comical. The odds of any American in America dying at the hands of a terrorist in a given year is as close to 0% as you can get without being 0%. Further, no matter what the terrorists do they are no threat whatsoever to America as a whole or its sovereignty. I've never seen anything blown so far out of proportion to the actual threat in my life. Not even Saddam.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Nope. Metal detectors at airports target a very specific group of people; those about to fly on an airplane.

A dragnet of all communications is just a fishing expedition throughout the general population that could be used for all sorts of negative things. I have no problems going after suspected indiviuals, whether they are abroad or within the borders, but those doing the collecting have to have some reason why they are targeting those individuals and justify it to some form of judicial authority.

I don't think that the situation is dire enough to allow the government that kind of intrusion into our daily lives.

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Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile.

i would like someone to explain who is against the patriot act, this topic at hand, and tough interegation how they would prevent another attack?

First off in any company is doing what the gov't asks of them even if it is wrong should be shielded from law suits. Maybe you should sue the gov't but not the phone company.

The "dragnet" is merely a computer searching for key words among countless millions of phone calls. "Wiretapping" makes it sound as if the government is listening in on your phone calls, which is simply not the case.

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My Political Blog (Most recent update Oct 3rd) - Which Flame Warrior are you?

Fine. You "choose" to make phone calls as well. And now you are aware someone might be listening to you.

The situations are analogous. You dont have an absolute right to privacy. The government can and does make exceptions. And the majority of Americans appear to want it that way.



That man is entitled to his opinion. But he doesnt have to live in my world.

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My Political Blog (Most recent update Oct 3rd) - Which Flame Warrior are you?

Or both. If the government tells the phone company to violate the law, the phone company still violated the law. You don''t get a "they told me to do to it" trump card. They should have passed the immunity law FIRST. Then have the phone company spy on people.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Precisely. In fact, ex post facto laws like this are unconstitutional. Regardless of your stand on Big Brother, everyone should oppose it on that basis. If they can retroactively say that something isn't illegal, they can also retroactively claim that something is illegal.

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Behind this mask, there is more than flesh and blood. Behind this mask is an idea. And ideas are bulletproof.

Very true.

The context I was trying to convey was that people believe by giving up freedom, that they magically become safer from some external threat.

Essentially I'm trying to say you don't have to give up freedom to be safe.

But I wasn't, and if the government had their way, I still wouldn't. That's the problem.

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Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile.