Quoted off a /. post:

That splashing sound you hear is immigrants swimming BACK to where they came from

What does that have to do with? The leak of the text of a proposed 'PATRIOT 2' act. For those unfamiliar with what the original act is, it's quite possibly the single largest finger given to the Constitutional rights in this country. Hastily thrown together in the wake of 9/11, the PATRIOT act expanded the powers of police and federal agents to conduct surveillance/wiretap/etc. without needing a court order to do this.

The lack of a court order means that 'probable cause' is no longer need to initiate these activities against an individual/group/etc., requiring in it's place the lesser standard of 'reasonable suspicion'. The end result - if someone, somewhere decided they don't like you, you can become a terrorist and be subject to a complete and total invasion of your privacy.

Perhaps the biggest example of the full effect of this law is the case of jose padilla, accused of plotting to make a dirty bomb. Arrested in Chicago, he was promptly labeled an 'enemy combatant' and locked up without being able to contact an attorney. Despite the fact that he had absolutely no means of making a bomb in his possession, he was still put into jail. When the government realized they had no evidence against him, they transferred him to military jail where he is still being held. Last month, a judge determined he could contact his lawyers; within a few days, the government was asking the judge to reconsider.

But enough about the original act. The issue at hand here is the potential for a second act with only makes these things worse. Some of the alarming things present here:

• the use of encryption during the commission of a crime would be a felony
• possible expatriation for joined a suspected 'terrorist organization'
• engaging in intelligence-gathering for a foreign power, even if this intelligence-gathering is not a federal crime, is grounds for classification of that person as an 'agent of a foreign power'
• allowing suspected terrorists to be detained without bail prior to a hearing

These are provisions that run completely contrary to America being a 'land of the free'. It seems that what the current administration is trying to do is make America such a locked-down police-state that no one will want to attack us.

EDIT: Forgot to link to the draft of the new act, check it out here.

EDIT2: Found an HTML page with the full text here.