It’s the Fourth of July, and we’re fighting for our civil liberties

Originally sent to the Senator Obama – Please, No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right mailing list.

I certainly don’t mean to trivialize the situation. There’s a huge amount at stake and the anger, frustration, and disappointment so many of us (including me) feel comes through in every post. Realistically, the odds are still against us.

Still. We have a chance. We’re in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and in a conversation with Barack and his aides. Like the vast majority of us who have weighed in so far, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the content of his response, and I wish it had come out earlier in the day, but even so … we’re managing to get our voice heard. We’re not out of it yet.

We could turn the tide; and even if not, at the very least we’ve succeeded in getting our message out. There are a lot of people in this country who care about civil liberties, and we are getting very tired of telecom donations being put ahead of the rule of law.

It’s the Fourth of July, and we’re fighting for our civil liberties. How cool is that?

jon

To celebrate Independence Day, the Get FISA Right wiki is currently featuring fireworks. I heart wikis.


Comments

7 responses to “It’s the Fourth of July, and we’re fighting for our civil liberties”

  1. We ended the day by going out to HOTwired, Seattle’s psytrance monthly at Noc Noc. As Deborah drove into Seattle we could see the fireworks over Lake Union. We got a perfect parking place, right across the street. The vibe was great, the crowd was in a happy mood …

    For a while I kept thinking about the Get FISA right campaign when I was dancing, coming up with ideas about how to get the word out on Facebook (what about outreach to the “6 degrees experiment” and “let’s set a world record groups?), YouTube (ask each presidential campaign to put up a 5-minute video statement?), Twitter (how to keep from crashing it?). Could we get TechCrunch or Slashdot to do a prediction thread? And so on …

    Eventually I got into the music and stopped thinking about the details — there’ll be plenty of time for those during the rest of the weekend. Instead I reflected on the week. Last Saturday night, we were in San Francisco at Pink Saturday in the Castro, celebrating Pride in the ‘hood right after the California Supreme Court marriage equality decision, dancing to DJ Liam Shy. And then it just kept getting better. What a week.

    The July 4 back when I was in college when we hung out on the Charles River esplanade and listened to Dave Righetti throw a no-hitter against the Red Sox, and then a Boston Pops concert, was pretty amazing. It still doesn’t come remotely close to this year. And so, at least for me:

    Best. 4th of July. Ever.

  2. […] been a few months (and several activism campaigns) since the last time we made it to HOTWired … can’t […]

  3. […] It’s the Fourth of July, and we’re fighting for our civil liberties is at the midpoint, balanced between two cities and two causes: the happiness of Pink Saturday in the Castro in the aftermath of the unanimous California Supreme Court marriage equality decision, and the blossoming of Get FISA Right and social network activism — it was the day after Senator (now President-elect) Barack Obama had responded to our open letter.  It brings tears to my eyes when I reread it now. […]

  4. […] activism.    The situation’s similar to where we were in summer 2008, when I wrote It’s the fourth of July … and we’re fighting for our civil liberties the day after Barack Obama responded to our open letter: there’s a big vote coming up on […]

  5. […] in 2008, It’s the Fourth of July and we’re fighting for our civil liberties was written the day after Senator Obama responded to Get FISA Right’s open letter.  It was a […]

  6. […] tells me I was fairly quiet both evenings, lost in my thoughts … stop me if you’ve heard this before: dancing to psytrance, fighting for civil liberties. Back in June 2010 the Social Network […]

  7. […] me, in 2008, to the Senator Obama – Please, No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right mailing […]

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