Owain, here's why I see the 'potential issue' to be an issue of its own. The problem isn't that Americans are being held captive, tortured, or any of the other things I've talked about possibly happening. The problem is that we're locking our country down in a way that, in the wrong hands (a fluke administration with really negative intentions), Americans could end up locked up and tortured for doing something that some authority didn't agree with, like I dunno, utilizing our right to free speech...

So here it is:

The Bush administration went a little overboard with our response to 9/11, but they could have done worse. Now, they're changing the constitution so that under the "right circumstances" (and we know that agencies like the CIA have a way of making up the "right circumstances") our system of checks and balances is all out of whack, and anyone they don't want to leave or enter the country won't be able to.

All in all, I can say that the primary (and almost sole) threat to the country RIGHT NOW is the terrorists, but we're setting ourselves up for internal corruption and/or abuse of power.

So far, it seems like we all agree on one thing: those who don't learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.

I'm pretty confident that we're stuck in this system of arguing rather than being more efficient and negotiate what will truly help filter terrorists out of our country, while not revoking the freedoms we enjoy from day to day.

[Linked Image from zandadev.com]