Joerg,

I thought you'd like the opinion of people that are REALLY in the know about freedom and security as it relates to the Patroit Act. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?p...Oct21¬Found=true

A few quotes from US Democratic Senators in the article are:

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), speaking at the first of several oversight hearings on terrorism legislation, called criticism of the Patriot Act "ill-informed and overblown" and commended prosecutors' work in some terrorism cases.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) mounted a strong defense of the Patriot Act, saying she believes there is "substantial uncertainty and perhaps some ignorance about what this bill actually does do and how it has been employed."

Feinstein said that her office has received 21,434 letters opposing the act, but more than half cite provisions that have not been enacted or sent to Congress by the Bush administration. The rest, she said, largely concern security measures governing items mailed to the United States from abroad -- not provisions of the Patriot Act.

"I have never had a single abuse of the Patriot Act reported to me," she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Justice Department for alleged violations of civil liberties under the act, but Feinstein said that when her office asked the ACLU for examples, "they had none."

I have not lost any freedoms, have you? I have not had my mail or email monitored nor have I been uable to speak my mind in public or private. I am sure if you had you would be talking with the ACLU and it would be ALL over the news.