Sarah Davies

Hello beloved readers!

This here blog and the ideas herein are made possible by the fact that I am employed. My employer is currently running a membership drive, so this seems like a good time to remind all of you who enjoy this blog for free (look ma, no ads!) to kick back a little something to the folks who send me to conferences, buy me books by smart people, and pay me to do a fascinating and constantly changing job.

That employer is the constitution-defending, gay rights loving, drug law reforming ACLU.

AND if I get 10 of you to join this awesome organization I get *secret prizes*. Do you know how much I want *secret prizes*? I really really want them! So get with the joining, already. If you hate freedom, do it for me. If you hate me, do it for freedom.

Type “davies” into the promotion code section of this page: http://www.aclu-wa.org/join and become a member. That page says that the minimum is $35, but it’s actually $20. You can put $20 in that little “other amount” box and you will still get your little card in the mail and get invited to all the secret parties.

Membership renewals also count. People *not* in Washington State count; you all will become members of your state affiliate, but you can do it through our form, and get me credit.

*secret prizes*, people! get on it!

If you’re coming to SxSW, then you are allowed to vote at their oh-so-democratic panel picker.

My panel is called Start to Finish Drupal Redesign, and you can vote for it now!

Bug fighting Drupal drop by Senpai

ACLU of Washington is currently in the thick of a Drupal redesign, made all the more complicated by the fact that we’re nuts about privacy and accessibility, so we’re going to have to modify Drupal quite a bit to account for those things. We’ve put resources into creating a very technical detailed case study of how this project was (will have been?) accomplished, so that others may learn from our vast wisdom (many more others if you go vote for the panel. See those stars at the top? Click on the fifth one. Tell your friends!).

[Edited to add: Also give some love to my friend Tim Hwang of ROFLCon fame, and the fabulous nonprofit tech folks!]

The ACLU is in the news twice today:

ACLU demands Va. school stop censoring gay student

and

ACLU Defends Right to Use Anti-Gay Slurs

That’s right, we’re defending the rights of teenagers to proudly display their lesbianism on their t-shirts, and the rights of old men to express their feelings about gays by blaring insults from a truck sound system.

Isn’t it great to live in country where you can voice your opinion loud and clear without fear of expulsion or arrest? If you think so too, go donate or take action!

Disclosure: I am proud to be the Internet Operations Manager for ACLU’s affiliate in Washington State.

The Jackson Free Press is reporting today that Brian Cox, Field Coordinator for ACLU of Mississippi was arrested for observing police and asking for their badge numbers.

After the interdiction, Cox approached the officers again, asking for identification. The ACLU worker said both officers refused to give their identification numbers, counter to municipal policy. The female officer even covered her badge.

Another officer pulled up, and eventually one of the officers told Cox that he was being arrested for “interfering with a police investigation.”

Cox, who has been trained in police scene observation, said police did not read him his Miranda rights at any point during the arrest, emptying his pockets or while guiding him to the patrol car.

Cox sat in the county jail in Raymond for 14 hours before getting his phone call and arranging his $2,500 bond.

All honors to you for fighting the good fight, Brian. Sometimes we forget, working here in Seattle where everyone loves us, that people in other parts of the country are still targeted and abused for defending civil liberties.

Stop The ACLU made an interesting post yesterday (their database is down currently, or I would link to it) including Part I of a History of ACLU video. It goes into the Communist connections in the 1940s and Roger Baldwin’s statements in support of anarchy.I find it particularly interesting because I was shown a remarkably similar video (ragtime background music and all!) the first day I started working for ACLU. Unfortunately, the copy our office has is on VHS, not even DVD, let alone YouTube. It had most of the same content, except that the “draft dodgers” were called “contentious objectors” and it focused more on how anti-communist we got in the fifties (kicking out members and board members!). This is only the first half of the video, and it appears to be telling the story chronologically, so perhaps that’s in the second half.

Judging by people’s reaction to the video around the office, I think today’s ACLU is more ashamed of excluding communists in the 1950′s than associating with communists in the 1940s. We don’t talk about communism in the office much, it’s not seen as the almighty goal. We’re pretty much about sticking to the mission, although there are a few stances we’ve taken that puzzle me (eg ACLU Michigan and the Muslim footbaths). Civil liberties aren’t generally seen as a stepping stone to some greater goal; they are a great goal in and of themselves.