Open Buddha

They’ve finally done it. Government behavior has gotten so bad on things like this whole “Warrantless Wiretapping” mess that I broke down and joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). While R has been a member for quite some time, I had never joined for a variety of minor reasons. I’ve been a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for a while. The EFF is rather near and dear to my heart since it is focused on tech-related causes and I remember the incidents that caused it to be born (in fact, I was actually a member of the infamous Steve Jackson Games BBS, Illuminati Online, that was raided by the government, back in the day). I’ve met EFF leaders, heard them speak, and agree with most of what they are about.

The ACLU has a more troubled relationship to me, especially with how they cherry pick causes at times. Because of my religious background, I’m pretty interested in causes around religious freedom in the public sphere. Spending more than 15 years as a pagan will do that (and Buddhists get hit with this too). My dad was also personally involved in the War on Drugs (and not on the end doing the enforcing) as well. I’d been meaning to join for a while but the recent activity around the warrantless wiretaps, the FISA court, and, especially, Gitmo detainees, has brought a lot of this to a head for me.

As you can see below, my ID card and sticker arrived the other week so I now get to be a card carrying member of the ACLU, as the popular derisive cliche from the Right goes:

I urge my fellow citizens to ponder, at least for a moments, what causes would do well with your membership or involvement and to actively consider joining them.