quote] Your response reminds me of a very funny book I read where some Blacks in the south were arrested for attempted manufacture of Molotov Cocktails because they had some sheets in the house along with a case of bottled soda and a Buick in the driveway with a half tank of gas.

It is about terrorists and it is about preventing terrorist acts. Homeland Security has prevented such acts and as far as I know, the scum that were caught are in jail and will be tried in a court of law. Their Habeas rights are intact.

Have you or anyone you know of been the subject of warrantless searches or picked up and hauled off for no reason? I doubt it.
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The problem is the law does not target terrorists, it applies to everyone. About a year ago I read an article in Newsweek or Time about a man in the Los Angeles area that the FBI was interested in. Because they did not have legal grounds to search and or arrest this guy, they searched his property under the Patriot Act provisions. They found 3in1 oil, a bag of petroleum based fertilizer, and a gallon can of gas for his lawn mower. Because these items can be components for a bomb, they labeled him an enemy combatant/terrorist, suspended his rights under the constitution, and hauled him away. Sounds a lot like your example above.

Do you see how easy it would be to silence you if the government "just felt like it"? I don't really expect you to change your position, just food for thought.