Even though this topic has died out somewhat, I still had a few thoughts I wanted to add.
Is the Patriot Act bad?
I think it has it's good and bad points but I firmly believe it's good out weights the bad. I also firmly believe the only reason it was made such an issue was for a few simple reasons.
Critics who blatantly misrepresented what it was and the media who loved fueling the controversy. Oh... lets not forget the congress people who used the controversy to try and get some news time.
I would love to have a single reporter ask these simple questions to any of the congress people who now complain about it.
"So your concerned about congressional oversight, wasn't the real Congressional over-site when you decided to vote yea or nay on making this a law?"
"Is it easier to blame someone else when the fact is you didn't do your job when you voted to pass this legislation? Do you normally vote on legislation when you have no idea what it is ?"
"Wouldn't you agree, a legislator who votes without knowing what he's voting on is to incompetent to carry out his duties as a Congressman?"
BTW for those of you who forgot how our government works, all these congress people crying about needed oversight know damn well the real oversight will come from the Judicial branch and not the Legislative, which is just the way it's suppose to be. Sooner or later a case based on the Patriot Act will work it's way up the Judaical ladder until it gets to the Supreme Court. Once there, the court will decide the fate based on the facts and not what plays well for the news.

Here are just a few examples of how full of shit some of these members of congress are when it comes to the Patriot Act.
* Bob Graham - Has been very outspoken against "Bush's" Patriot Act but conveniently forgets he was the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-authored large parts of the Patriot Act.
* Dianne Feinstein - Who has been the top opponent of the Patriot Act. During a news conference, she listed Sherman Austin as one of the victims of the Act. ( Sherman Austin ran a website providing bomb making plans and promoting their use. ) What Dianne Feinstein failed to mention was Sherman Austin was convicted under a 1997 statue written by none other than Dianne Feinstein herself and had nothing to do with the Patriot Act.
Go figure....

sounds like justice was served or do you feel we need to convict the other 9,999 muslims in the US Army as well?

Somehow I lost track of this topic. I just read through some of the replies and I am disturbed. Does anybody really believe that no member of Congress had the ability to read the act before it was enacted? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! Who do you suppose wrote the thing?

As someone once said, "Absoute power corrupts absolutely." Druid named three people arrested as enemy combatants, do we really think these are the only ones being held? I am not that naive.

Is Slick Rick a threat to national security? He was held for 17 months after his release from prison at an immigration detention center because he just happened to be released after 9/11. Had he been released earlier, he would have been sent back to England promptly, instead it took us 17 months to realize that 'A Childrens Story' wasn't about blowing up buildings. <insert mocking smiley here>

Does the good outweigh the bad? Maybe, but ignorance is not a solution to anything.

Cypher

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety ............Benjamin Franklin