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      One reason we need the Patriot act is for the fact that since it was enforced there have been no major terrorism attacks such as 9/11. This is a great thing because I do not believe that this country can handle another attack like that. Now while I do believe that we still do need the patriot act I do feel that in the Past the government has been abusing the law.

      Between the years 2003 and 2006 the FBI issued 192,499 NSL's (allows them to access personal records) that led to only one terrorist attack. This is just showing how the government can abuse power. So for this act to be continued their needs to be restrictions on when the government does this.

      Another example on why the government needs restrictions is because in the year 2010 there were 3,970 sneak and peaks 76% of which were drug related 24% other and less than 1% were terrorist related. This shows that the government can bend the act to satisfy what they need to arrest other criminals. So in order for the act to continue there also needs to be a way for other parts of the government to monitor why exactly the FBI or CSI are performing a Sneak and Peak.

      In the end I feel that we do need this act but there needs to be restrictions. Without the restrictions it is invasion of privacy for all the wrong reasons. Which is why people complain about the Patriot Act.

There has been a number of terrorists plots stopped thanks to the Patriot Act that most people don’t here about since if you look at the charts for violence in America compared to the other countries, America tops most charts for having the most violence.  There are many other examples since it helps the government keeps tabs on potential terrorists and even if its not many people that protects from being hurt, its still protecting people. If “lone wolves” are out there, America needs some way to make sure that they aren’t still working with the terrorist organizations outside the country to attack America and this is the most effective way since it allows the FBI to tap their phones so that they are in the loop. 

Although it is a breach of privacy, the need for tightened security after how a security breach on 9/11 turned into the most horrendous experience for Americans in its recent history shows how much we took our freedom and lifestyle for granted if it can be attacked that easily. In other words, you can say that giving up a some of your privacy should be okay if it can stop someone from turning in a terrorist and blowing up something, killing lots of people. 

An act of patriotism... Sounds like an honorable, and righteous thing no matter what the perspective... So right off the back the name is misleading! "America land of the free" is actually short for the real expression, it actually is said "America land of the free, unless your Black, Jewish, Italian, Asian, Indian, Poor, Latino, but ESPECIALLY Middle Eastern". The Patriot Act enables the American government to write a legal document to secretly spy on any citizen. Even better if they find any evidence of "suspicious activity" they can make arrests without even notifying the "alleged criminals" of their crimes or rights. Talk about unconstitutional, when this bill was written in 2001 congress pulled down their pants and left a nice one all over the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 14th amendments. 

I understand their are very valid debates to why this law can be for good. It does tighten security and makes it easier to catch the bad guys. The extremely evident problem I see is who decides who the bad guys are? I cant say that I’ve never made a racial stereotype but I can say I’ve never wanted to arrest someone for looking or acting a certain way without being certain of their guilt towards a crime. The level of ignorance and corruption in US politics that continues to flow through the media has completely turned me off to any idea that the American government is actually on the side of the people who aren't rich or white, and I’m saying this as a fucking well off white man!!!!  

Don’t get me wrong I’m 100% a patriot, I love America, I love Philadelphia, I love the communities in which I’ve been brought up in, and I love my life. However if there’s something I love more then America it’s a respect for human rights. I’ve never been oppressed and the one quality I was born with that links my ancestors to oppression is my mothers Judaism. That being said I consider myself an empathetic person who believes in social rights, and liberties for all people regardless of race or religion. The people who were involved in 9/11 are murderers, and animals for which I share no compassion, however to punish an entire race for the crimes of few is savage and putrid. In the The New York Times editorial of the patriot act their congressional research service committee gives a summery of the act. In the fourth sentence of the summery I quote “It creates new crimes, new penalties, and new procedural efficiencies for use against domestic and international terrorists.” HOWEVER it does not list what those new crimes, penalties, and procedural efficiencies are! That means there are laws that are private to the American public. Penalties that are not disclosed with the average citizen. Worst of all policies that only exist in clandestine government files. How in any way is that Patriotic?

Imagine a city under domestic military control, where the government has access to any amount of private information and has the ability to legally arrest and torture any citizen. Now imagine that the head of this military operation is a rich, racist, chauvinistic, white man, who got the military position from family connection rather then merit and personal accomplishment. In 1960 Bobby Kennedy was appointed as commanding general without any previous experience. (Not to bash Bobby Kennedy just an example of family connection leaking into office) That may not be the case but this “patriot act” is the first step in giving the government that kind of power. My criticism of the US government does not reach into all branches. I do believe that things could be a lot worse then they are, and that much of the government has righteous and morale intentions. My hope is that the Patriot Act is not abolished but instead refined. All information should be made public and it should be evident that the government works for the people, not the other way around. I don’t have a problem with catching the bad guys but the perception of what is right and wrong should not only be left to a specific number of government officials no matter how qualified or unqualified to make that decision they are. Citizens need to understand that its their responsibility to be informed of all laws and what could be considered suspicious behavior, however in order to do that the information needs to consistently be pushed in the publics face. The people should have a say in any law that affects them especially one like the Patriot Act.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/usa_patriot_act/index.html

http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/index.html

After eleven years of having the Patriot Act the question raise is it still needed. People have come to say that the Patriot Act is not needed anymore with the fact that nothing else as big has happened since 9/11. But then again without the Patriot Act can anything like 9/11 happen again. In one of the articles it states that the world is worse then what it used to be, because of the way that technoklogy has advanced and much much more. And with this said the article, There's Still a Need for the Patriot Act, says that defense technology has not yet been able to keep up. One more point that is brought up that is well thought out is the fact that even if the Patriot Act wasn't needed we still need at least part of it or some aspects of it. 

With even the thought that something like this may be able to happen again the Patriot Act will be an important aspect to keep in our lives. As previously stated before jut because nothing has happened since 9/11 doesn't mean nothing can't happen. For example if suddenly the Patriot Act was no longer needed and then there was another attack what will be needed to do? Also what if survellience wasn't as strict and then something a little less server happened? Will the Patriot Act be put back in place or will there have to be another act that was made. 

Another thing that came to mind was something after reading the article on the 9/11 commission report. After reading it and discovering that all these men that hijacked the plane were able to get ont he plan so easily it was just amazing. They had no problem going through security or needing their baggage checked. Now that we have th Patriot Act and if it was taken away it would feel as though we are loosing some of our security. Now a days people would least expect this to happen again because of how well our security is. So by taking away this act its also taing away our sense of security. 

If there is one misunderstood concept present in our society, it’s definitely the Patriot Act. Even taking it a bit further, by saying surveillance. If we look at authoritative monitoring less negative way, maybe we’d trust the government more. So, in the following, you’ll see how having so eyes in the sky is far more beneficial that deprecating, because honestly, it’s always nice to have a “Big Brother.”

By embracing, and accepting, the Patriot Act we open up the door for national protection. We’re giving the government, or whatever entity has our interest at heart, the ability to ensure secretive threats never see the light of day; we just need to let them help. Some people might ask what gives them the right to poke their noses in anything they want, and the answer is the same thing that gives us the privilege to communicate privately and without surveillance- and that “thing” is called trust. We’ve gone this long trusting that the government won’t monitor us 24/7 and allow us the privacy that could both benefit and hinder us, it’s high time we trust them a little.

If it helps any, let’s think of those with the ability to actually utilize the Patriot Act as an actually big brother in the following situation: Kid (citizens of America) finally comes of an age where Mom (Government and Law) gives them enough permission and freedom to start making some of their own more important decisions and being a little more independent. Then, Mom starts seeing that Kid starts staying out later, starts shirking some of their responsibilities and even begin to disrespect Mom. So, Mom asks Brother (Patriot Act) to go see what’s influencing Kid to act so unusually irresponsibility. At this point, it really isn’t up to Kid to decide whether there should be an intervention of a sort; it’s actually in the Kid’s best interest to have someone looking out for them. So, Brother does a little investigating, and finds out that Kid has actually been hanging out with some new friends that appear to be ok, but Brother realizes that they don’t have Kid’s best interest at heart, and can actually be a danger to Kid. So, Brother has a chat with Kid and enlightens him, per say, and teaches him that had Brother not done a little lurking, Kid could be in some big trouble. If there was any bit of haziness in the story, the moral is that sometimes people can use someone looking over their shoulder even if they don’t see it at the time.

The Patriot Act isn’t supposed to be this thing we’re afraid of. It’s supposed to give us a peace of mind that we have someone looking out for us, we just have to trust that they will follow through, but that’s honestly all we can do is trust them, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to trust your Big Brother.

            The Patriot Act as we all know is a way for the United States Government to get a few steps in our lives and future. I believe that the government has too much power over the American Citizens. Letting them to come in and out of our lives without notice shouldn’t be aloud. I feel as though if we are free people, why are we being held down by this law? I understand the need to be on high alert because of 9/11, and all of the following treats that America has gotten since then. I don’t understand how such law got passed so quickly through while usually it takes months to a couple of years. This makes me suspicious.

            The Patriot Act has its pros and cons just everything in this world does. In this case the cons out way the pros in my opinion. The thought of someone wiring into my phone, computer, or TV is a little freaky to me. I don’t think the government needs to see who I talk to wirelessly, where I’m at 24/7, and who are my friends. The citizens don’t the government personal lives so why should they know ours. If there should ever be a time for the government to bug is when the have protected proof. Which means a physical or item of evidence. I also think they should confirm with the person that there “Stalking” so that the person can either tell yes or no that their committing a crime. If the person isn’t guilty they wouldn’t lie or try to hide from it. If they took the time out to be nice then maybe people wouldn’t lie, run, or hide from them.

            In my opinion I think the Patriot Act shouldn’t exist. There are so many other laws that they can create that can protect the privacy and lives of America. It’s like there butting a war with their own Citizens. I believe if they did more research on the foreigners that come over to the states they wouldn’t have to be concerned in who is coming over to attack America. I do want to be protected from harm, but not in this kind of way. Make a law where everyone is protected and trusted with their homes, jobs, lives, education, and money. Make a law where if someone is being considered of committing a crime has some evidence. Don’t just take a random person from the street accuse them and then lock them up for years. It’s not fair to the American people. It’s cheating up out of our freedom that we are suppose to have. Our rights. 

Enemy of the state is a kind of interesting movie because as i was watching it i was learning about the government. in this movie, government is portrayed as intelligent as well as evil too. They were also a kind of superior to other American people. When we talk about the privacy of citizens in this movie, then i think citizen's privacy is not being respected in this movie as i saw they were putting some camera and all that showed me that citizens privacy in not being respected in this movie. 

I think government should have all access to our personal information because i believe that if government is not having any kind of personal information of any citizen, how would they be able to find terrorists living around us ( which is their responsibility to protect citizens from any suspicious or threatening activity). So in this case, government should have every kind of access to any kind of personal information of citizens. Also i don't think so that any individual's freedom should be restricted for safety of community because its citizens right and may be it can be restricted in some cases like when someone is doing any kind of suspicious activity being in a community of freedom, then in this case freedom can be restricted.

The patriot act is a word that stirs conflict in the world of politics. It’s a controversial touchy subject that has two stories the good and the bad. Those who fight to keep it, as well as those to fight to oppose it. Even though each person has their own opinions on why and why not there is truth behind each claim against and for it. I believe that if both sides work together to create something that worth talking about and fighting for then no one will have a problem. The Patriot Act which was created with the idea of protecting america from terrorism through surveillance means. It was strongly fought against because people felt as though they would lose all control over their own privacy. As well as the fact that the government would have too much control. 

As technology advances so does the ability to hide dangerous weapons that can hold the power to harm more than ever before. Which is something that the government will instinctively revolt back to create even better means for safety. Though surveillance may seem to be something that invades someones privacy it is also a means to protect the people who need privacy. I see the patriot act a a double edged sword, because is in the wrong hand this amazing surveillance power can be used for evil as much as it is used for good. Though i am not saying that Having this doesn't inflict strain on the basic necessities of everyday privacy but if the privacy is kept with in newly recreated laws and restrictions then people won't have to feel like everything in their life is at steak.

Even though we may want to believe in the fact that the government is only using their new power to investigate terrorism. We know that some where in our minds is that they are using there power for the cases that that have nothing to do with terrorism. There are even facts about "The Widespread serious abuse" of the power. As stated in the passage show that even thought there are some precautions in place it is still not enough. To stop things that could have easily be stopped.

The Patriot act despite it's criticism it is a useful weapon in the war on terrorism. Since it allows the F.B.I to investigate Criminals that have ties to terrorism easier than ever. Safeguards to halt misuse have been newly forced in to effect. Though not strongly backed it is a start to protecting america from terrorism. Though it may not me perfect as of yet there are always faults and failures until the final product is finished.

In today’s world the patriot act is still needed to protect us from harm. It has been crucial in fighting the war of crime and terrorism. This law gives us more knowledge on terrorism throughout the world that we will need to prevent future attacks from happening. The Patriot act makes it difficult for terrorist to get ahead of the law.

The law was signed shortly after the September 11th attacks, with little appeal. While this law is in effect we have more intelligence on crime and illegal things that could be potentially harmful.  One of the main duties of this law is to improve the security in the United States of America. The Patriot act prevents international money laundering and the illegal use of the United States financial system. Without this act we would be more vulnerable to threats from around the world.

The main keys of this law is  improving surveillance which is used by investigators to track suspected terrorists also it allow the federal government to attain business records, business could be prosecuted without warrants if they are suspected of fraud. Another Main key is that the united states government can track non-us citizens who are not connected to a terrorism group

The patriot act is benefiting us years later.  A real life example of this working is the death of Osama Bin Laden, through the intelligence that we gathered over a large period of time , helped us find the leader of al-Qaeda , and kill him . In addition,  we are still working on the ways we can gather information throughout the world.

With the passage of the Patriot act, America is safe and secure. The act prevented many attacks from happening, such as the Buffalo Six which was a group who were convicted of providing money and material support to al-Qaeda.   This is one of the many ways that this law has helped us.  Without this law I think that our country would be at more risk for future attacks , and we would basically take a step in the wrong direction , because our country has come a long way in improving the way we live and operate things since 9.11 .