[richlevy]

I still remember this incident.

05/14/2003 The Department of Homeland Security's Air and Marine Interdiction Division (AMID) says its mission is to "Protect the Nation's borders and the American people from the smuggling of narcotics and other contraband with an integrated and coordinated air and marine interdiction force."
So it is easy to understand why Texans were scratching their heads when they learned that the division's Air and Marine Interdiction and Coordination Center in Riverside, California, played a critical role in tracking down the Democratic legislators who went missing from the Texas Capitol this week.

Now I know that FoxNews and some wacko Republicans consider Democrats traitors, but what was the Dept of Homeland Security doing tracking US citizens who were not terrorists?

So in addition to finding terrorists, how much effort will be made to insure that this database does not become abused in the same way that automobile license databases have been abused in the past? What law spells out penalties for misuse and how will it be enforced with no judicial oversight?

Our Constitution was built by men who distrusted goverment, and who designed a system of checks and balances to prevent tyranny, a system which we have been eroding in the past 4 years in the name of safety.