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If you have nothing to hide, then you should be damn happy that they are planning on "invading" your privacy-this is a little price to pay to hopefully help prevent more 9/11's, etc. The price of freedom!
I think we should shut down our borders for about 5 years and round up all the folks that are here illegally and ship them back to their native lands! Charlie

e: when i was in the military, they didn't have dna. we had snafu, and wasserman tests, and see you next trip from the plane to ground control and back. guess what the radio code initials were. just because one is paranoid doesn't mean they are nmot out to get you. i've seen x-files, and ashcroft looks like cancer man, name changed to smoking man for no reason other than the influence of cigarette makers. ps, toby can read your post this time. happy beanie day.

I think someone may have dug up J.Edgar! The "if you don't have anything to hide" arguement does not hold water Charlie! That's what the fascists always say right before they start kicking down your front door. If someone is breaking the law, use investigative techniques and due process to arrest and prosecute them. I am not concerned that arab men were rounded up and questioned. I am concerned that many of them are still in custody without it being proved that they have broken a law! They do that kind of stuff in South America! We need more freedom not less. If my life is at risk enjoying said freedom, so be it! More freedom, not less!

Ummm....there's not right to privacy once information is committed to the internet. Feds snoop in chat rooms and intercept email at the routers? No kidding!

Remember who invented this technology!

tailgator: like they found the loneguman, oswald.

Please disregard what I stated in my previous reply. What I meant to say was I thought Clayton Moore was the lone gunman. JonR

Tailgater, are you being disingenuous? I was using the fascists as an illustrative example. The nazis did the same thing, kicking down doors, rounding up jews to save the "true" germans. I guess your feeling on the matter depends on which side of the door you are on. In our society it is hard for law enforcement to gain permission to kick down said door. I like it that way. I agree that "profiling" in this case, makes complete sense. I don't buy that we should willingly give up freedoms so we can be "safe". Isn't it a bit of a coincidence that the area we are currently conducting military operations in is also where Chevron and others want to run a big oil pipeline. I know, 9/11. Yes, something needed to be done. But what the hell is going on now? Lastly, and this is slightly off subject. The people seeking to be in charge are often type A personalities who think their way is the best way and we all better get on board pretty damn quick or there will be hell to pay. I am always skeptical when someone in government assures me that something is for my own good or in my best interests. You should be too!

tailgater ---you don't think this is about oil?---you need to read a little more.---if they didn't have oil, they would be nomadic tribes riding camels along the trade routes. notice i said nothing nasty about you at all. nothing personal---just a suggestion.--by the way xrundog is correct and you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground.

It is not about oil, if that were the only reason the USA were involved in the Middle East, then we could simply disolve any relationships with Isreal and get all the oil and have the Arabs, etc all of a sudden being completely chummy with us! It is not about oil, it is about 9/11 and other terrorist activities that we finally have a President with enough balls to do something about it and move to do away with Terroist! Oil is simply a bi product of this, it is not the driving force, 2,000 plus dead Americans were the driving force behind our efforts in the middle east! Charlie

I heartily agree that 9/11 is the impetus for current military ops. There are opportunists in government that are taking advantage of the existing situation to further their own agenda. That's MY point. Wether that is good or bad depends on how you feel about the agenda. I saw Ashcroft on a morning news show today. He explained that nothing is being changed legally or constitutionally. The FBI is merely updating it's own regulations and operating protocols. Having worked in the military beaurocracy for many years, I understand these things need to be reviewed, changed or regularly updated. You have to keep up with new technology. FBI on the internet? It's a public forum. Can't see anything improper there.

Hey Rick! I gotta point out a couple of things. J.Edgar ran the FBI in a pretty clandestine way. His own little fiefdom. Weren't those dossiers he compiled in some way an invasion of privacy? And what about J. McCarthy and his boys? I don't think they considered privacy of individuals to be an issue when faced with "the red menace". There are just some new aspects to the issue that need to be considered. We need to watch the Attorney General yeah. But the guys who can really sell the farm are in congress! Watch out for those midnight votes!

xrundog--------you are correct. the closet gay and the drunk ran roughshod over the constitution. but, and a big but, is they were doing things illegally, ashcroft is officially sanctioned. the midnight votes on both sides of the isle, is legal scamming. how about the bill that said unless we vote against a pay raise we will get one. "i did not vote for a pay raise" is the hue and cry. the farm is pretty much gone. i hope we can get it back. term limits (never happen, as the founding fathers had envisioned, will be a start. public funding of elections (never happen) would be the next step. it also wouldn't hurt to have an informed electorate,

It's an imperfect country we live in, but one that is by far the nearest thing to perfection that the world has ever seen ... as for the leadership the country has in place, I thank Heaven that we've got the people we've got, doing the job they're doing ... anyone who actually thinks that Bill Clinton, Madelaine Albright, and Janet Reno could or would have done one tenth of the good that GW, Colin Powell and John Ashcrofte are doing is either uninformed, incapable of learning, or just plain nuts ... if Clinton or his wanna-be successor Al Gore were in office, we'd have issued some more "stern warnings", "protested vigorously" in the UN or fired a few missiles into some empty tents in the Afghan outback or some other horse-s**t thing. As it is, we're lucky enough to have the right people on the job with enough gumption to get the job done ... the flag flying on my home, on my car and on my lapel are my statement that I totally support those people and the actions they're taking.

I think anyone in government deserves some regular scrutiny. I enjoy this forum because it sometimes makes me think along paths I might not otherwise mentally traverse. I am still waiting for the man of pure motives to come along. A man (or woman) who thinks only of the good of the country. Jimmy Carter may have been that type of man. I know, he couldn't work with congress. Bipartisan politics stymied him. But he's a good man. Can't think of anyone else I admire in recent history. It's sad. I would really like to trust a President fully, to believe he cares about me and mine. GWB isn't that guy. I think he is a federalist of the old school at heart. Though a decent guy, he is not a President for the comman man. I'm hoping we have some better choices in 2004.

Tailgater for President 2004!!!!!!

I'll bet Hubcap would be an interesting debater! Honk! Honk!

xrundog -------how about truman?

Truman and the Pendergast family built some fine roads and creekbeds in and around Kansas City. Some of the creek beds have cement that is 8 feet thick and more! Truman dumped all over Boss Pendergast once he got to power and they never spoke a civil word to each other after that time! Charlie