New Years Day is traditionally spent in our house watching one of the marathons that show on cable. Primarily we tune into The Twilight Zone, but this year I had to turn it over to Cartoon Network for their Looney Tunes marathon. It’s a very rare sight to see a Looney Tunes cartoon on TV. For most people my age who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, we know the majority of the episodes back and forth. So it was easy to spot the censoring.

Now, I already knew that Cartoon Network censored Looney Tunes. Back in 2001, they held a “June Bugs” marathon, where they showed almost every Bugs Bunny cartoon made. I say almost, because there was one that is part of the “Censored Eleven” and a few others that are pretty damn racist. I have no problem with not showing those on TV. (Although for those who really want to see them, there are ways to obtain them. Unofficially though, of course.)

My issue comes with censoring within the cartoons they show. Some of it I can deal with, like taking out the blackface parts. One cartoon’s censoring though just really pissed me off. It’s one of my favorites: “Show Biz Bugs”

Bugs and Daffy are performing on stage, and Daffy gets increasingly mad because he’s not getting the adoration and applause he thinks he deserves. So he starts sabotaging Bugs Bunny’s acts, but even then it doesn’t work in his favor. So at the end, he gets into his devil costume and performs his best act. He swallows a list of items, like gun powder, gasoline, nitroglycerin, gunpowder, and uranium 238, then jumps around to shake well before swallowing a lit match. It blows him up, killing him of course, but he then gets everyone’s applause. He knows it is great, but he “can only do it once”.

Over the years, the ending has been cut. At first they just cut a couple of items from the list, like the gasoline or the nitroglycerin. That in itself made me mad. Why cut it to PROTECT THE CHILDREN!!!1!1! when they shouldn’t be able to get their hands on gas or gunpowder to begin with??? I remember watching it during June Bugs, and it was cut even more. I believe he just swallowed one item, maybe the gasoline, then the match.

This time? It ended right after Daffy blew up the xylophone. That’s it. NO final act.

It’s a crime already that kids don’t get to see Looney Tunes, but instead get several channels of crappy cartoons. Spongebob not withstanding. But now it makes me extra glad that we have stated buying all the Looney Tunes Golden Collections for us and Baby Grrl. (”Show Biz Bugs” is included in volume 2, uncut like every other cartoon on the DVDs.) She’ll get to grow up with Bugs Bunny like every kid should, so that when she hears Wagner, her first instinct is to sing “Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!”

Technorati tags: censorship, looney tunes, cartoon network, show biz bugs

In 1941, FDR declared every December 15th to be Bill of Rights Day. We’ve had 8 years of slowly eroding our rights, like the 4th Amendment thanks to the warrentless wiretapping and the PATRIOT Act. (And was I the only one who cringed when I read the announcement from Bush about it? I mean…seriously, it’s like the Emperor in Star Wars declaring today to be Rebel Celebration Day.) We need to get our freedoms back!

So start it out by re-familiarizing yourself with all 10 Amendments so when you see yours or someone else’s rights being violated you can speak up!

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Technorati tags: bill of rights

All of us have, at one point, been trapped in a car or at a party where a song, artist, or genre is played that we can’t stand. Often it’s at a volume that we’re uncomfortable with, and as a result we get restless, a headache, or at the very least, very annoyed. Now imagine you are being held prisoner in a foreign land, handcuffed with a bag over your head, and the music is being played 24 hours a day, for more than two weeks, to keep you awake and make you break mentally. It may not be the most publicized form of torture, but it is a common practice, and has been for decades.

Some of the artists whose songs have been used in this psychological torture, along with the legal charity Reprieve who represents some of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners, launched the Zero dB project.

Zero dB aims to stop torture music by encouraging widespread condemnation of the practice and by calling on governments and the UN to uphold and enforce the Convention Against Torture and other relevant treaties.

…

The UN and the European Court of Human Rights have banned the use of loud music in interrogations, but it is still being widely used. Prisoners describe the experience as harder to bear even than physical torture.

Not surprisingly, Rage Against The Machine, whose song “Killing In The Name Of” has been used in torture, have come out strongly against the practice:

“I suggest they level Guantanamo Bay,” began RATM’s guitarist Tom Morello during a concert in San Francisco earlier this year, “but they keep one small cell and they put Bush in there … and they blast some Rage Against the Machine.” It’s not the first time Morello and his group have acknowledged their distaste for the Bush administration and the war on terror. Since Rage Against the Machine’s reunion in 2007, the band have taken to the stage dressed in the infamous bright orange jumpsuits and black hoods associated with Guantanamo bay prisoners.

My hope is that now Obama has said he plans to close Guantanamo, this will become an issue that will also get some attention. Torture isn’t OK. Ever. No matter if it’s physical or psychological. But also getting the UN to outright ban using music as torture could be a start.

Technorati tags: music as torture, zero db

Jean Warner, chair of the Oklahoma Women’s Coalition, has a pretty awesome blog over at Oklahoma Women’s Network Blog. So awesome she won Peace Arena’s Netroots Award! Specifically, The Buffalo Stampede Award - for best blog with a cause. She posts about many different issues that affect women and girls in Oklahoma, focusing on how celebrate, inform, and empower them. From the OWC website:

Our goal is to advance bills benefiting women and girls that can win support from members of the Oklahoma Legislature on both sides of the isle. We are currently focusing on issues that impact women and girls in Oklahoma in the areas of aging, education, health, incarceration, and violence against women.

Which is really great, since Oklahoma does rank pretty low in the nation with regards to many of those issues. It’s great to see people working to better the women and girls in this state. You do that, and it will benefit everyone. That’s what feminism is all about.

I do disagree with her though. Specifically with regards to their stance on what she explains here:

I am getting lots of questions on this topic so let’s just get this on the record.

The Oklahoma Women’s Coalition - by design - is a bipartisan coalition. We strive for a board of directors that is 50% Republican and 50% Democrat. Our goal is to support bills that benefit women and girls and that can win support from members of the Oklahoma Legislature on both sides of the isle.

Therefore, it is not our plan to take a position on “wedge” or “third rail” issues that divide such as sex education and abortion. At present we intend to address issues that impact women and girls in Oklahoma in the areas of aging, education, health, incarceration, and violence. These issues - as they affect women and girls - are not getting sufficient attention in Oklahoma which helps to explain why Oklahoma ranks near the bottom on many “women’s status” social and economic indicators. We hope to change that.

I understand why they take that position, even if I don’t agree. You don’t want to either alienate or have people dismiss your whole cause because they disagree with you on one issue; even if everything else is a no brainer, like domestic violence. I think everyone can agree that’s bad and needs to be stopped.

But here’s my thoughts.

Sex education, abortion, and other “wedge” issues are all intertwined with the other issues like violence, poverty, and incarceration. By educating young girls on contraception and risky behaviors like anal sex, we protect their health, and give them power to control when, or if, they become pregnant. That can keep them out of poverty, or even out from under the control of an abusive partner. Many women don’t leave from an abusive environment because of those two factors. Granted it’s not as simple as that, but each little bit of information helps.

Even groups who have been vocal opponents of abortion are starting to work to bring programs and change that pro-choice groups have been trying to do for years.

Some of the activists are actually working with abortion rights advocates to push for legislation in Congress that would provide pregnant women with health care, child care and money for education — services that could encourage them to continue their pregnancies.

The quote that I think everyone should take to heart comes from a pastor. I don’t agree with his anti-abortion views, but he makes a good point about working together:

“There’s got to be a way we can take some of these hot-button issues and cooperate, rather than simply keep fighting and becoming gridlocked in this hostility of the culture wars.”

I think that if the Oklahoma Women’s Coalition could use this approach and have a common goal that both sides could agree on is worthy, like reducing the number of teen pregnancies, then working on some of those wedge issues could be possible. Not to the extent that it becomes their primary focus, but to avoid the issues because they can be divisive isn’t the ideal solution either.

In any case, I hope they can help bring Oklahoma up from the bottom rankings with regards to women. We can do better, Oklahoma.

Technorati tags: oklahoma, women, feminism

If you’ve got no health insurance and you live in Oklahoma, you’re not alone. We’ve got the 4th highest percentage of uninsured residents in the US, according to a recent study. Well, Kim Holland, Oklahoma’s Insurance Commissioner, has held a Summit on the High Cost of Health Insurance to come up with recommendations and suggestions to help get more Oklahomans insured, and at the 4th one held just this month she came up with some horrible ideas.

Barring a law requiring the purchase of health insurance, which Holland concedes would be a political long shot, “inducements” that penalize those who fail to insure themselves would help, she said.

Among the possible inducements Holland proposed was forfeiture of football season tickets […] forfeiture of lottery or gaming winnings, loss of state income tax deductions or licenses to drive, hunt or fish.

“None of those are very pleasant, but there needs to be a consequence,” Holland said.

Ok, let’s let that sink in. She thinks a solution for getting people health insurance is the penalize them. I think she, and anyone who supports this measure, suffers from having privilege. She’s never had to work an hourly wage job where you aren’t even eligible for health insurance until you’ve worked there 6 months. Or because they don’t offer you enough hours. Or been laid off (like the many thousands this year due to the economy). Or had a health condition where you can’t work. Or had to care for a family member who can’t work. And on and on.

I’m lucky that I’ve not had to worry about a job or health insurance for a while, thanks to government employment. But just like many of my friends, there was a time I was without health insurance for a while. I had just graduated with a Bachelors, but couldn’t find a job, thanks to the mid-90s recession. I worked two jobs for a while, but ended up moving back to Oklahoma where I worked in convenience store; another hourly wage job where I didn’t qualify for insurance until I worked there for 6 months. I finally got a better paying job with insurance, but there are way too many people who aren’t as lucky. And Holland’s ideas will hurt them way too much.

I mean…taking away their drivers license won’t “make them” get insurance. It will just create more drivers who don’t have a license, which in turn will have them not be able to get car insurance. Not to mention just do basic living. Oklahoma doesn’t have a very good public transportation system, so how are these people going to get to work? Or buy groceries?

And lest you think Holland is alone in her thinking, just listen to State Rep. Kris Steele, co-chair of the House Health Care Reform Task Force:

[R]equiring Oklahomans to purchase health insurance is not a popular stance among lawmakers.

“I believe the place to start is to create a situation within our state that people are without excuse for not having health insurance,” Steele said. “Once we get to the point where people are without excuse, then we create the incentives.”

Those incentives would include rewarding those who obtain insurance and punishing those who don’t, said Steele, R-Shawnee.

“You need the carrot and the stick,” he said.Holland said the use of inducements, such as revoking in-state tuition discounts for uninsured Oklahomans, would send a message. “We have developed this culture over the years that some don’t feel like they have to pay their medical bills,” she said.

Way to stereotype the poor, guy. Uninsured people aren’t just sitting around thinking “Hey, I think I’ll just not get insurance and avoid paying my medical bills so I can go to a football game and play the lottery!”

Is Obama’s plan the solution? Well, it’s got to work better than just threatening people into doing what you want. If you’re as pissed about this as I am, let them know.

Contact Kim Holland at the Oklahoma Insurance Department. There’s an email form on the page, along with a snail mail address and phone number.

Contact Kris Steele by email, or phone his office at the Capitol. (405) 557-7345 Would it surprise you to learn he’s a Baptist minister? Yeah, me neither.

Technorati tags: uninsured, oklahoma

A study was released earlier this month, finding that American students are far lacking in science compared to the rest of the world. Nothing shocking there really. But you know what sucks? It looks like we may really need Danica McKellar’s books more than we thought. The study found that while both boys and girls are lacking in math, girls are much harder hit:

In elementary school, girls do as well as or better in math than boys. In middle school, Mertz and her colleagues suggest, girls with an inclination for math begin to lose interest and fall behind, mostly due to peer pressure and societal expectations. Throughout middle and high school, social stigma and lack of appropriately challenging educational opportunities for the mathematically precocious becomes a hard reality in most American schools. Consequently, gifted girls, even more so than boys, often camouflage their mathematical talent to fit in well with their peers.

It seems that this is making it’s way deeper into the norm. Math, and by extension, science, is more for boys. Our culture reinforces it more than anything. Take this example of science kits that are marketed towards kids that elle found. Girls need science disguised as a spa kit, while boys get funky and fun science experiments. This is just one example of an endless stream of crappy girl toys, but I best switch gears, since this isn’t my focus…at least not this time.

Now if, after bucking the norms, they grow up into smart young women who embrace their geekiness, smarts, and femininity, then they have a tougher time. Being judged on their looks, like when they are young and attractive, is just one issue. Like the Nerd Girls, who focus on being smart with embracing their nerd aspects and femininity. The Newsweek article published on them was atrocious, with the two women authors playing up the sexiness aspect, when that’s not what they are about.

Once women graduate, get into ar career, and become successful, then it seems that the criticism increases. Take some recent examples.

A recent letter to Nature Magazine, via Sciencewoman, seems to think that women just need to not enter science if they are going to leave. The major problem with the end of the letter is the assumption that women leave because of children or family obligations that are in conflict with their career. Apparently they didn’t read The Athena Factor, which concluded that the major problems are hostility of the workplace culture and isolation. There does need to be more work done to help make science careers “family friendly”, and that would help both men and women, but blaming women for leaving, without even doing the research as to why they leave, is detrimental.

Unfortunately it’s even women in science who hurl the criticisms and insults at other women. Take a comment about Dr. Isis:

I liked it [Dr. Isis’s blog] at first but now the writing is just a steriotype [sic] and a pretty poor one at that. Thing that bothers me more is that this cartoon personality makes female scientists sound like shoe fettish [sic] ignorant bimbos.

Dr. Isis did not like this comment, as I wouldn’t either, and as a response she wrote quite a rant.

A woman who is aggressive, or who proclaims to anyone who will listen that she has the potential to achieve great things, is not a bitch. A woman who chooses to wear high-heeled shoes is not a slut, a bimbo, or a tramp. We need not be ashamed of the things that make us women (though, granted, we all embrace and express our femininity differently and that should always be acceptable). Neither our bodies, the social/gender roles we may choose to embrace, or our decision to or not to parent children, should ever have the capacity to limit our academic success. The first time it is deemed acceptable to suggest that someone is hurting science because of who they are, and not because of the quality of the science they produce, is the time I hang up my labcoat, turn out the lights in the lab, and hand the keys back to the status quo.

The whole thing is awesome, and I agree wholeheartedly. Attacking a woman with a sexist attack hurts everyone, and fighting against those type of attacks, even when you don’t agree with the woman’s positions, is how feminism works. Zuska at Scienceblogs also weighed in with more goodness:

The problem, you see, is that women aren’t really allowed to be ANYTHING in science. If you are a hot goddess then you are Not Serious and Not A Real Scientist and you are Ruining Science For Other Women Who Are More Serious and so on. If you are just a regular goddess (like Zuska) then you are an ugly hairy-legged man-hating feminazi who needs to get laid and Not A Real Scientist and Ruining Science For Other Women Who Are More Reasonable.

It’s just like always. A woman has to be smart, but not too smart, attractive, but not too attractive, want to be a mother, but not have it interfere with her career or it will hurt all women…it’s just hard to avoid any kind of criticism for being a woman in a science/math career. Hell, sometimes just being a woman in general. I just hope by the time Baby Grrl gets older it’s at least a little better for her. I don’t ever expect sexism to go away completely, but the less she has to deal with it, the better.

Technorati tags: women in science, stereotypes, feminism

Man, I love the sound of that. I can’t help but get misty every time I see his picture or hear him speak. So many parts of his victory speech still make me tear up, even after the 10th time I’ve read it. This is a time that I can say I very happy and proud to be an American. Every time I think that “My president and first family are African-American!” I smile. What an amazing part of American history. It has shown young people that they can make a difference, and I’ve heard many people say that Obama becoming president means that they can do anything. That there really is equality. I shouldn’t be discouraged with the huge win Obama had.

Except I am.

I’m very disappointed that Prop 8 passed. It is the California initiative that changed their State Constitution to ban gay marriage, months after it had been declared legal. Arizona and Florida also passed same-sex bans, with Arkansas banning same-sex couples from adopting.

Not everyone is equal, really.

I think the most upsetting to me is that I live in the reddest of the red states. No county went for Obama, with only 34% of the votes going for him. Oklahoma had the highest percentage of votes for McCain. 65% I live in a state that, even when Bush was at his lowest approval ratings nationally, supported Bush by over 40%. It’s depressing that the majority of people here don’t want the change that Obama will bring. In fact, they don’t want change at all. Look who was re-elected:

State Representative, District 84
Sally Kern (i) 7230 57.9%
Ron Marlett 5247 42.1%

Yes, that Sally Kern. The one who was a national embarrassment when she said gays were a bigger threat than terrorism. I don’t live in her district, but I still wanted her gone. Guess she’s feeling pretty justified in her hatred now.

Also look at this:

Jim Inhofe (i) 763102 56%
Andrew Rice 527569 39%
Stephen P. Wallace 55683 4%

He’s a world wide embarrassment, with his anti-global warming crap and other very conservative beliefs. I’m always ashamed to see one of his stories come up in the national lefty blogs, and I guess it was too much to hope that he would be kicked out this term.

*sigh* I don’t mean to be this pessimistic…really I don’t. I should be jumping for joy that an anti-war, pro-choice, bi-racial, left leaning Democrat got elected. Not to mention having the Democrats in control of both the House and Senate. But I guess I’ve been conditioned after the last 8 years to be depressed, even when I should have some hope.

Guess I should take comfort in that I know many other Oklahomans who want to stay here and change how this state is. As much as I would *love* to live in either Oregon or Washington…they’ve got a point. We can’t back down and let the people who don’t want to change win. Even if we have to drag them kicking and screaming, they need to be shown that hate and discrimination isn’t what is best for our kids, our state, or our nation. I just hope I get the energy to fight back.

At least President-elect Obama and the over 64 million people who voted for him have given us back hope. I thought that was lost years ago.

Technorati tags: obama, oklahoma, election

Even though that line has always cracked me up, don’t *really* vote often. No voter fraud, please!

Just a note to say that I voted this morning, early, down in Norman. The line was so long it took me 1hr 10min. But it was very cool to see that many people out voting. It was nice to see some people looking at the long line and smiling also. You see, I’m not like Republicans who have been trying to purge voter rolls or make it difficult to vote. I believe that everyone should vote, even if I don’t agree with what they’re going to vote for/against. It’s what our country was founded on; giving people the right to elect their representatives. Even though not everyone was allowed to vote back then, we’ve come a long way to make sure that every citizen 18 and over has the right to vote (with some exceptions, like the mentally ill in most states and certain convicted criminals…although I feel that if the person has served their time and paid their debt, they should be able to get their right to vote back)

So please people…go vote tomorrow. Or today if your area allows early voting. Be prepared, the lines will be long, but it will be worth it. And I even believe it, even if Obama doesn’t win. (But…Please win Please win Please win Please win Please win)

It’s that time of year again! The last Monday in September begins the annual American Library Association’s Banned Books Week:

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2007, marks BBW’s 26th anniversary (September 29 through October 6).

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

We often hear about someone not being happy that their precious child might happen to see something that the parent doesn’t want them to see when they go to the library. PROTECT TEH CHILDREN!!! is very often the reason given for a book being challenged or taken off the shelves. (Sally Kern is noted for wanting to decide what we can and can’t read, for instance. Those evil gays…) Thankfully though, we have some kick ass librarians who don’t like being told what people can and can’t read.

So in honor of BBW, check out the list of 2006’s most challenged books, and read one you haven’t read yet. Or at least help spread the word, and if possible check out some of the BBW events! I do have to give a big SHAME ON YOU Oklahoma City Metro Libraries though. The only library listed as having any BBW Events is the Muskogee Public Library. (However, if any fellow Okies know of a OKC or other library that does have something going on, please correct me.)

Technorati tags: banned books week, censorship, american library association, freedom to read

Even though I’ve been a long time user of an iPod (my first had a click wheel, with a monochrome screen), I didn’t run out and get an iPhone. Oh, I was tempted, but there were a few reasons why I didn’t. One is just the basic rule of new gadgets; you never buy first generation stuff, no matter how cool it looks. Wait for a bit, and let them iron out the kinks and add new features that were missing the first time around. Plus the price usually comes down some as a side effect.

The big, major reason was the exclusivity of the iPhone with AT&T. It’s not that I don’t like their coverage or their pricing. It’s because they are evil. “Cooperating with the Bush administration with warrantless wiretapping, building a secret room for the NSA, and conducting major privacy violations” evil.

Last month though, a seed was planted. Joel Johnson over at BoingBoing made a compromise.

When I bought my first iPhone a year ago, I made a donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a sort of sin tax. An indulgence for an indulgence. An attempt to counteract giving money to a company that has colluded illegally with the U.S. government to spy on its own citizens, has plans to try to filter the entire internet for copyright violations, and has generally shown itself to be an enemy to personal liberty and privacy.

…

I’m mentioning it as a challenge to other AT&T subscribers. If you can afford it, please consider making some sort of donation to the EFF. Even a one-time donation will help bolster an organization that has a long history of fighting for our rights online against attacks from profit-addled interests. By giving companies like AT&T our money we’re funding in part a fight against ourselves; a donation to the EFF tips the odds back towards even.

I kept thinking about that. Sure it would be hypocritical of me, on the one hand bashing AT&T but also using their service. But I kept coming back to it. T-Mobile is my current cell phone provider, but that doesn’t mean I can’t avoid AT&T entirely (or that they’re any less evil). All but one person among my friends & family use AT&T. Work cell phones are AT&T. My internet at home is Cox, but just like phones can, I’m sure they use the same lines, or buy bandwidth from AT&T. So I’d still be subject to wiretapping no matter what (it’s been said that all telcos but Quest participated in warrantless wiretapping anyway, and now that FISA passed and is law, it’s not even illegal now).

The last reason I haven’t got an iPhone yet may be lifted. Storage space. I currently have a 30GB iPod video, and use about 20GB currently. There’s a rumor that a 32GB iPhone will be out soon, possibly before Xmas. I’d then be able to have just one device in my purse instead of two. Plus the OH LOOK SHINY aspect of an iPhone.

If a 32GB version does come out soon…well, I may be throwing my morals out the door. I know, very disappointing. But to counter that, I will be making a monthly donation to EFF. They still have legal cases against both the NSA and AT&T, and I want them to win. I want them to make AT&T and all the other telcos change how they do business with the government with regards to wiretapping, and to make them protect our privacy. I don’t want to give up civil liberties for the illusion of privacy. We’ve had to do that enough over the past 8+ years.

Technorati tags: eff, iphone, att