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How has the USA PATRIOT Act Affected You?
wetdogjp asks: "October 26th, 2004 marked the third anniversary of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (or USA PATRIOT Act, as it is more commonly known). While the Slashdot crowd can certainly muster the enthusiasm to debate its pro's and con's, I'd like to know: How has the USA PATRIOT Act affected you, personally? How has it interfered with your personal and professional life? Has this act influenced your Presidential vote?"
No impact, discounting longer lines at airports. No big deal there. I've been to shopping malls in other countries where everyone who entered was patted down and checked with a metal detector. I had airlines remove 3-inch rounded scissors from my carryon years before it started happening here. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. But, I dislike it a lot less than getting on a plane with some loon with a bomb.
And, no, it didn't change the way I voted. I won't consider voting for Republicans until they stop pretending to channel God.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
I feel much safer knowing the provisions of the USA PATRIOT act will allow the United States government to protect me from foreign and domestic threats alike.
I've always said that security is more important than liberty -- after all, what good is my freedom when i'm terrified all the time of a terrorist attack? At least with the Homeland Security alerts, I could make my travel plans around certain areas, but overall, I feel safer knowing that the FBI and other agencies can inspect my muslim neighbor's mail just for being muslims. Those muslims are an abomination against God anyway, and I side with George W. Bush in his brilliant, decisive crusade against their nations and their religious beliefs. It's okay to use false information, as long as the end result is clear. Our great President has obviously got the right idea! We need to stop the muslims from attacking our very way of life and spreading terror everywhere.
So, in conclusion, I fully support the USA PATRIOT act. I'd like to see stricter measures enacted, in fact!
The problem of terrorism is due to almost exclusively people who are not American citizens. Increasing surveillance and intruding on the privacy of foreigners is the right way to go and does not violation the Constitution. The Constitution is, after all, only for American citizens. Swifting deporting foreigners would eliminate the need to violate the civil rights of citizens in the war on terrorism.
We need to have the guts to treat citizens and non-citizens differently.
Unfortunately, in the USA, we have cheapened citizenship so much that there is almost no difference in privileges and rights claimed by non-citizens and a citizens in the USA.
Creates a culture of fear? I'm a boring guy: I don't speed (much), I don't steal, I pay my taxes. I'm not afraid of my government.
/. will tell me why I should never leave my parents basement. :)
I'm sure the tinfoil-wearing members of
And then in 2007 when they pass a law saying it's illegal to say "I don't speed (much), I don't steal, I pay my taxes." shortly after passing a law allowing law enforcement to prosecute crimes that occured before the activities were deemed illegal, you'll be thrown in jail for the remainder of your life because their seemingly harmless electronic surveilance measures today recorded you saying that phrase.
...and if you think the goverment (federal, state or local) will ever pass a law granting law enforcement power to arrest someone for saying they speed, you are an idiot. You are also an idiot for using it as a defense of your position. Surely you could use a better defense, so please do... until then, I'll sit here an watch the election results :)
Nice to see that the truth is now considered flamebait.
Remember, if you can't refute someone's facts then you can always throw as much mud at them as you can find until people start forgetting the truth.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Ignore the fact that in an ideal world, none of these things would have happened. But now it's time to wake up and realize that we don't live in an ideal world.
The japanese were put in camps because they were a security risk during a war. A terrible event, but neccessary.
Being gay in the military makes the other guys uncomfortable. That isn't good if you want high morale.
Homosexuality is treated as the norm, when in reality, it should be classified as a mental disorder. When someone behaves in a way that obviously isn't natural, one would think that there is something wrong with that person. For some reason we go the other way on homosexuality. While gays need tolerance, they also need help to get past their disorder.
And the other things you mentioned about religious/racial descrimination...those are just sad and unfortunate tendencies of human race.
Don't take life so seriously. No one makes it out alive.
Marriage is very much already defined by most people as being between a man and a woman. It was never a generic term. How you can suggest otherwise is beyond me.
If you want to talk about partnerships, and the fact that recognizing marriage as a union between man and woman puts the states in the position of endorsing religious practice, then ok.
But don't try to suggest marriage is some 'social' term without concrete meaning. If you do you will loose because most of 'society' will disagree with your interpretation.
Asking how a new law affects the general populus is dishonest, shame on Slashdot. It's impossible for anyone to have a personal experience yet.
An informed question would be: "How has the Patriot Act performed in it's first usage?"
I can tell you, Tommy Chong wasn't impressed and neither was Cat Stevens.
here here! I wish I could rate this ENTIRE article as FLAMEBAIT.
/. Nothing drives more traffic to the site than some heating political debate. I understand that you have server fees to pay for and people's salaries, but can you think of something else? What happened to go the old days of linux vs microsoft?!?!?!
We know why you're doing it
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There have been many criticisms lately regarding the electoral college. Many people are calling for it to be removed in favor of a "popular vote" system. The obvious counter-argument is that, were this to happen, presidential candidates would completely ignore those in rural areas (where there weren't enough votes to matter), in favor of campaigning in big cities (where the majority of the votes lie).
The real problem with your counter argument is that it causes all the campaigning to be done in the swing states which have far less relevance to the nation in every way except this one.
Personally, I believe thwat the electoral college should be abolished and a straight popular vote put in its plcae because this would far more accurately reflect the contributions to America made by the people living in these areas.
Most of the red states are rural, and most of them only are able to live with modern ammenities due to the charity of the blue states which are where the majority of the economic activity goes on and where most social and technological progress occurs.
What the electoral college does is give a bunch of ignorant slime who think that imposing a fundamentalist theocracy on America is a good idea an amount of power disproportinate to both their numbers and to the benefit they provide to this country.
It really makes me sick that these people who have the lifestyles they do solely through charity from me and the rest of the people in the liberal states have the audacity to try and impose their archaic, ignorant hate based lifestyles on the part of the country that is so successful in large part due to the fact that they actually have progressed socially.
Way to drag down the people who are supplying your poor states with their welfare checks.