I just pledged a monthly donation to support the ACLU. Now is more important than ever. The ACLU is making some really important landmark cases, most recently concerning the unconstitutionality of the situation with the detainees in Guantánamo, and now, bringing the battle to the courts over this new law that just passed which allows the government to pretty much wiretap anyone, anytime, anywhere, without a warrant.

As the ACLU stated in a press release today,
"...a new wiretapping law gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law."

In situations where confidentiality is literally a matter of life or death, think about how important it is to know, as a journalist or human rights worker, for example, that your sources are kept safe. Otherwise, who's going to speak out to you anonymously? And then, think about how impossible it would be to inform the public about these very vital yet sensitive issues. I personally don't think this is a coincidence... I think this administration knows the "chilling effect" (look that up on wikipedia) that this kind of law has on journalism about such subjects as the Guantánamo prisoners. If we leave it up to the government, we might never know even HALF as much as we do now.

And though we are well on our way to a new administration under President Obama, don't be fooled. The goons are still in the CIA, FBI and elsewhere. We don't get to vote THEM out of office.

So... consider donating as well: secure.aclu.org/site/Donation/1265690862