Appreciate all the replies on this subject and am enjoying reading what you folks think on the matter. I'd like to take a moment and ask some questions that I might better appreciate where some of you are coming from. Some responses have used the term or implied the feeling of being safe and or safer as a result of the Patriot Act so I'd like to focus in on that for a moment.
I noticed one question had to do with feeling safe or safer which I think was meant to suggest that one word offered more and one offered less. By definition, neither word implies that over the other but I still understood the meaning and I might have phrased the question the same had I asked the question. This forced me to think and really look at those words more closely and here's what I found.
The word Safe has the following meaning:
- Secure from danger, harm, or evil.
- Free from danger or injury; unhurt: [SIZE=+0]safe and sound.[/SIZE]
- Free from risk; sure: [SIZE=+0]a safe bet.[/SIZE]
What about the word secure?
- Free from danger or attack: [SIZE=+0]a secure fortress.[/SIZE]
- Free from risk of loss; safe: [SIZE=+0]Her papers were secure in the vault.[/SIZE]
- Free from the risk of being intercepted or listened to by unauthorized persons: [SIZE=+0]Only one telephone line in the embassy was secure.[/SIZE]
- Free from fear, anxiety, or doubt.<LI type=a>Not likely to fail or give way; stable: [SIZE=+0]a secure stepladder.[/SIZE]
- Firmly fastened: [SIZE=+0]a secure lock.[/SIZE]
- Reliable; dependable: [SIZE=+0]secure investments.[/SIZE]
- Assured; certain: [SIZE=+0]With three goals in the first period they had a secure victory, but somehow they [/SIZE]
#3 above was part of the actual definition from the dictionary I used and was not an inserted commentary from me on the subject matter at hand.
What about the word free as in "free from danger"?
- Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty.
- Not controlled by obligation or the will of another: [SIZE=+0]felt free to go.[/SIZE]
- <LI type=a>Having political independence: [SIZE=+0]"America . . . is the freest and wealthiest nation in the world"[/SIZE] [SIZE=+0](Rudolph W. Giuliani).[/SIZE] <LI type=a>Governed by consent and possessing or granting civil liberties: [SIZE=+0]a free citizenry.[/SIZE]
- Not subject to arbitrary interference by a government: [SIZE=+0]a free press.[/SIZE]
- <LI type=a>Not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance: [SIZE=+0]a healthy animal, free of disease; free from need.[/SIZE]
- Not subject to a given condition; exempt: [SIZE=+0]income that is free of all taxes.[/SIZE]
- Not subject to external restraint: [SIZE=+0]"Comment is free but facts are sacred"[/SIZE] [SIZE=+0](Charles Prestwich Scott).[/SIZE]
- Not literal or exact: [SIZE=+0]a free translation.[/SIZE]
- <LI type=a>Costing nothing; gratuitous: [SIZE=+0]a free meal.[/SIZE]
- Publicly supported: [SIZE=+0]free education.[/SIZE]
- <LI type=a>Not occupied or used: [SIZE=+0]a free locker.[/SIZE]
- Not taken up by scheduled activities: [SIZE=+0]free time between classes.[/SIZE]
- Unobstructed; clear: [SIZE=+0]a free lane.[/SIZE]
- Unguarded in expression or manner; open; frank.
- Taking undue liberties; forward or overfamiliar.
- Liberal or lavish: [SIZE=+0]tourists who are free with their money.[/SIZE]
- Given, made, or done of one's own accord; voluntary or spontaneous: [SIZE=+0]a free act of the will; free choices.[/SIZE]
- Chemistry & Physics
- <LI type=a>Unconstrained; unconfined: [SIZE=+0]free expansion.[/SIZE] <LI type=a>Not fixed in position; capable of relatively unrestricted motion: [SIZE=+0]a free electron.[/SIZE] <LI type=a>Not chemically bound in a molecule: [SIZE=+0]free oxygen.[/SIZE] <LI type=a>Involving no collisions or interactions: [SIZE=+0]a free path.[/SIZE] <LI type=a>Empty: [SIZE=+0]a free space.[/SIZE]
- Unoccupied: [SIZE=+0]a free energy level.[/SIZE]
- Nautical Favorable: [SIZE=+0]a free wind.[/SIZE]
- Not bound, fastened, or attached: [SIZE=+0]the free end of a chain.[/SIZE]
- Linguistics
- Being a form, especially a morpheme, that can stand as an independent word, such as boat or bring.
- Being a vowel in an open syllable, as the o in go.
[SIZE=-1]ADVERB: [/SIZE]
- In a free manner; without restraint.
- Without charge.
[SIZE=-1]TRANSITIVE VERB: [/SIZE]
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]freed[/SIZE][/FONT] ,
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]free·ing[/SIZE][/FONT] ,
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]frees[/SIZE][/FONT]
- To set at liberty; make free: [SIZE=+0]freed the slaves; free the imagination.[/SIZE]
- To relieve of a burden, obligation, or restraint: [SIZE=+0]a people who were at last freed from fear.[/SIZE]
- To remove obstructions or entanglements from; clear: [SIZE=+0]free a path through the jungle.[/SIZE]
I guess my question is, how do you yourself feel
1. Secure from danger, harm or evil as a result of the Patriot Act itself, in other words, can you cite specific codified sections of the act itself.
2. Free from danger or risk.
To help with any explaination offered, here is the link to Public Law 107-56 which is the aforementioned Patriot Act.
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi...107_cong_public_laws&docid=friend:publ056.107
I'd like to get more specific with the issuance of cabinet level (executive branch) Delegation of Authorities out to the specific agencies that are then codified into law as listed in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and also registed by the Federal Adminstrative Procedures in the Federal Register but I doubt anyone here would be willing to join me in such research. It tends to be vastly easier to accept what you are told something sez than to actually go and read this stuff.
Again, back to the root question, what specifically in PL 107-56 (it's broken out into sections that are easily referenced) makes you feel safe under the defined terms above and meet them to their exact definition?
Thanks again and looking forward to reading your responses no matter what side of the fence they come from.