"THE PATRIOT ACT" is as misnamed as California's "Clear Lake"..... and they want to extend it ..... Why don't I feel protected?

Could it be because this act has allowed the Federal Government to tap my phones without a warrant, spy on my internet without cause, detain me.... or anyone else without charge... and hold us for an unspecified time with out representation,.... or am I just paranoid????????? Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

When "W" enacted the Patriot Act in aftermath of Nine Eleven, it was a masterful stroke of "genius" (that's a term I'm not comfortable using around G.W. Bush).... but,... the truth is, that the act itself... successfully suspended the Constitution. Maybe not the "entire" document,... but, it kicked the hell out of a good percentage of it. Besides being rammed through Congress under the pretext that it was an imperative to protect our nation from "terrorism", the act took away rights of every American, and allowed "Big Brother"(Homeland Security and other agencies) to invade our lives like never before..... Without warrant or reason. Are we feeling safe, yet?

It was this same mind set that lead us into "War Without End", the never ending saga of the Bush/Cheney legacy, who's continued support by the current administration, in the name of "National Security", has propelled us to new and exciting
places, costing more than our economy could handle, and overwhelmingly being the number one cause for our current deficit. And,.... it's only going to get worse.

Now,.... Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt, has introduced legislation to extend the "Patriot Act" past it's 2013, Feb. 28th expiration date. In a statement made by Leahy... “It will promote transparency and expand privacy and civil liberties safeguards in current law",.. “It increases judicial oversight of government surveillance powers that capture information on Americans. This is a package of reforms that all Americans should support.” The expanded version will require the Department of Justice to issue "public reports". Sounds good, doesn't it? Why am I not feeling relieved?

But what about the FBI? Over the last decade, the FBI has been found to violate the Constitution, under the guise of the Patriot Act, "more times than you can shake a stick at".
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) finally (2010) received a "Court ordered", "complete" report from the FBI, under the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI was shown to be responsible for up to 40,000 violations since 9/11. A large percentage of those violations included bucking guidelines for internal oversight, abusing the National Security Letters and trampling on the Fourth Amendment.
In the words of an "ALTERNET" article... "The FBI Has Been Violating Your Liberties In Ways That May Shock You" (You can read the article at http://www.alternet.org/) Well worth looking at.

Have we ever seen "BIG BROTHER" any more invasive in our lives than right now? Homeland Security has touched each of us in ways we can't even imagine. You want to know what the American Civil Liberties Union thinks about the Patriot Act?
Here's a poster from their site on it....