Phoenix Feather 2

I've been dithering about how to handle my Phoenix Feather link list. Should I add them one at a time? Maybe once a week? Something like Friday Feather blogging? or Should I put up a dozen at a time until I exhaust my very long list of elligible sites? A list so long that it could support its own site. But I don't have the time to create and mangage a fourth site. At least until I get my laptop and 24/7 access to the web--preferably broadband. I still haven't decided. But an urgent situation came up again, similar to the one that prompted me to start the Phoenix Feather list with ONE just before the G8. This time the urgency relates to the erosion of our liberties here in America and the fact that one of the bulwarks against their loss has found itself under seige--under surveillance by the FBI along with a number of other Left and Progressive organizations and groups. Thus I am moved to promote the ACLU and its indefatigable efforts on behalf of civil liberty. I have always appreciated their support for Freedom of speech and assembly, separation of Church and State and ethnic equality before the law. But the last couple years they have been doing some remarkable and courageous work documenting and publicizing the abuse of prisioners at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition and other issues related to taking and holding indiviuals in custody. They have also worked hard to encourage repudiation of the Patriot Act--their documenting of the myriad of abuses in the short time of its existence has gone a long way toward building a bi-partisan backlash against this once popular act.

As a resource for getting informed on the isues relating to civil liberties, the ACLU has few if any peers. But it is also a resource for getting involved. The latest forum is the creation of a blog to keep abreast of developments regarding the current bills before Congress for renewing or revising the Patriot Act which is due to expire at the end of this year. The urgency regarding this cannot be overstated.

Hat tip to Pam's House Blend via Shakespeare's Sister