Dozens of protesters rallied outside Metro Hall in Louisville calling for an end to the National Security Agency's surveillance program that monitors millions of American phone calls and emails.
The "Restore the Fourth" rallies, which began to gain popularity on websites like Reddit, popped up in dozens of American cities Thursday. The phrase carries a double meaning - as protesters called for restoring the Constitution's Fourth Amendment that protects American's privacy on the Fourth of July - a day Americans celebrate the country's independence.
Calling for an end to what some have called "domestic spying" local organizer James Miller called the event "non-partisan" saying it drew Republicans, Democrats, Green party members, libertarians and former Occupy supporters."I feel like for a lot of people this is one of the straws that broke the camel's back," Miller said. "We would like to see a full investigation of the extent of the NSA surveillance and we would like for some government officials to be held accountable for these violations of the Constitution.
"People are sort of tired of this ongoing erosion of our constitutional rights. It didn't start with President Obama, I don't even think it started with President George W. Bush. It's been going on for a long time," he said.No one from the federal government was here to rebuke their statements, or their jokes encouraging people to sign up for an email list: "which will then promptly be read and stored on the NSA's servers, which is why we are here," said Miller.
"I hope it sends a message to elected officials that we do care about privacy," said Erik Snyder of Louisville, who was among the dozens who braved the rainy holiday to voice their concerns.President Barack Obama has said the NSA's surveillance program looks only at "meta-data" or large sampling hoping to find connections or links between domestic terrorists and those overseas. He said that the program is meant to weed out terrorism, but that hasn't stopped many from criticizing the program as "domestic spying."
Former President George W. Bush told CNN this week he thinks the Obama administration "will handle" the situation adding that he put the program in place "to protect the country," he told the cable news outlet.In one of their first conversations about 2012, campaign manager Jim Messina said he told the president that they could not rerun 2008. Obama seemed puzzled. You know we won that one, Obama said.customized letter logo Soft PVC bottle opener with magnet. Messina said too much had changed. For one thing, Obama was now an incumbent with a record. But technology had also leapfrogged forward, with new devices, new platforms and vastly more opportunities to exploit social media. The whole campaign would have to be different.
The president sent the team off to Chicago, far away from the hothouse of Washington and Beltway chatter, to use 2011 to build the foundation and reassemble the army from 2008. As the Republican candidates were gearing up and then battling one another through the summer and fall of 2011, the Obama team was investing enormous amounts of time, money and creative energy in what resembled a high-tech political start-up whose main purpose was to put more people on the streets, armed with more information about the voters they were contacting, than any campaign had ever attempted.
The Obama team had to be better in 2012. The weak economy made the president vulnerable to defeat. His political advisers knew well that turning out the vote would be far more challenging in the reelection effort than it had been in 2008. Many of his early supporters were disappointed and some were outright frustrated with Obamas performance in office.I was looking for an option to Customizable Ear Caps to wear with my half. They recognized that Republicans were trying to block his agenda by questioning whether he had the leadership skills or the tenacity to get done what his first campaign had promised. Obama advisers also knew this campaign would have to be far more negative than the first with few of the aspirational themes of 2008 and they began preparing to attack Mitt Romney,Molded Soft PVC coaster with your custom design and colors. the presumed challenger, long before the Republican primaries and caucuses began.
One of the hallmarks of Obamas 2012 campaign was its prodigious appetite for research. The trio at the top Messina, senior strategist David Axelrod and White House senior adviser David Plouffe were enthusiastic consumers of research. Though different in their approach to politics Axelrod operated intuitively, Plouffes watchwords were Prove it and Messina wanted to be able to measure everything they all pushed the campaign for more research, testing, analysis and innovation.
Message and media operated on one track. The other track focused on identifying, registering, mobilizing and ultimately turning out Obama voters. At the Chicago headquarters, these efforts were guided by Messina and Jen OMalley Dillon, the deputy campaign manager, along with a sizable team of political organizers and tech-savvy newcomers.
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