Patriot Act - Good for You, Good For Me

Out there in la-la land is a guy (who I won't name because i'd rather not give free advertising) who "invented" a game called Patriot Act: The Home Version. As an Arab civil rights advocate, he bitches and moans about how he feels the act has curtailed American's freedoms. In a blatant rip-off of the game Monopoly (he has enough imagination to think his freedom is in trouble...can't he come up with something a lil' more original?), players basically try to outlast each other. As you move about the board, your freedoms are removed one by one until you end up in Guantanamo, Cuba. (Instead of jail.) The overall aim of the game is to 'poke fun at the historic abuse of governmental powers' by the newly renovated anti-terrorism laws. I'd really love to see the game in person to get a feel for exactly what he is talking about. In the mean time, I'm gonna write out a list of all the things the patriot act has meant to me and my personal freedoms.
1) I have to be at the airport an hour earlier than I used to.
2) If I call an Al-Qaida outpost overseas my call may be monitored. (NOT for quality
assurance!)
3) Flying is safer, ports are more tightly controlled and borders are better patrolled.
4) Ooops! Almost forgot. The government now knows how often I visit porn sites on the
internet. Remember how Google refused to turn over information to the government on
what everybody was searching for during a given week? Well before that happened, pretty
much EVERY other ISP and search engine in America already had without a fight or peep.
Think about that before you go searching again!
Well, I think that's about it. I really feel the Patriot Act has done more FOR me than against me. Obviously the 'inventor' of this game hasn't lost the ability to get his name in the paper. As for my freedoms and privacy, give me a break. Anyone who pays attention knows that we are all monitored in one way or another. Whenever you enter a bank, airport, government office building or casino, a computer somewhere is running your image through a facial recognition program. Everytime you go into a bus station, train station, shopping mall or convenience mart, you end up on video tape. Anytime you pass through a toll booth, border check station, weigh station or most parking garages, a picture is taken of your license plate and you. Oh, and lest I forget, if you use the right combination of words enough times in phone conversations and e-mails, the U.S. Secret Service WILL pay you a visit. (Use your imagination.) The majority of the time, this is done for your protection. These records are being used to prevent and solve crimes.
When they are misused, it is generally by nefarious employees. Something that nothing can prevent. You say you need something to worry about, though? That you just can't sleep unless something horrible could be happening in your life at any given moment? Here, let me help. Identity theft, phishing, drunk drivers, road rage, outsourcing, illegal immigration, racism, the impending tropical storm season and the fact that the average American reads and comprehends at an EIGHTH GRADE LEVEL. (This is not a misprint.)

The article that prompted this rant was printed on page A-2 of my local paper. On page A-3 was an article concerning a man in Afghanistan. He is currently being prosecuted in a Kabul courtroom on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity. This is a crime against Afghan's strict Islamic laws and he could be sentanced to death. Really. Maybe somebody could come up with a game about that.