I got there just as they were getting ready to march. I'd missed the spoken word part, where they had probably explained why the surveillance state is a problem and what could be done about that. Sorry, the train only runs once an hour on Sunday, and I missed the earlier train.  So we have to gather the message from the signs.

        

They handed out orange or yellow plastic whistles to everyone who wanted to blow the whistle on the NSA.

     

  

     

I'm fascinated by the idea of giving the 4th Amendment support by brandishing a copy of it at people that might read it. It clearly says that "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." To me that doesn't seem to include blanket wiretaps.

  

     

     

Seems like the march gathered steam as it went through the financial district. Easily amused people were joining us just because we were doing something.

     

  

  

        

I asked the "WHISTLE BLOWING IS ESPIONAGE" woman about her sign. She explained that the were using anti spying laws to lock up Bradley Manning.

  

     

I talked to the guy carrying the Declaration of Independence and Constitution about what can be done about too much surveillance.  I told him about the 9/11 conspiracy theorist that had told me to add the names of vegetables to my electronic communications as if they meant something. Kind of a "give them something to think about" idea.

     

     

     

Somebody was giving these press releases to everybody that would take one. It's a good backgrounder on why we were there:

     

  

At this point the march was over. We milled around a bit chatting on the plaza across the street from Nancy Pelosi's office. I think something like a hundred of us participated.

     

The organizer took to the mike to say we had one last chance to add our names and/or comments to the wall of comments they would submit to Pelosi's office Monday when the building was open again. Click on the bullhorn above to see my picture of that.

     

     

  

Yup, somewhere in that building with all the horizontal lines on it is Nancy Pelosi's district office. Didn't seem like anybody was there on that nice Sunday afternoon though.

        

     

That's the whistle that I blew on the NSA many times during the march. Hoping to find further use for it. The thing has a good tone with just the right amount of warble.