There are a lot of American heroes, but a few that stand pretty tall in my book are Kristen Breitweiser, Beverly Eckert, Mary Fetchet, and Carol Ashley. Their husbands were killed in the 9-11 attacks and have fought tenaciously to get the 9-11 Commission up and running and a reform bill enacted.
Over the last two years, I've seen these women on T.V. and radio a number of times and I've been so impressed by their intelligence and their commitment to turn their grief into action to make the United States a safer and better place. Breitweiser and Eckert were interviewed this morning on NBC, and you can access the video by visiting MSNBC's news video page on the internet. I highly suggest watching it for some insight into the power of citizen action. (From their homepage, select "News Video" from the menu on the left side. From there open up the "News" menu on the video page, and double click on the video clip titled "9/11 kin react to the bill". If you don't have a high speed connection, it might be difficult.) Fetchet and Ashley are featured in a story by the Washington Post.
I've gotten to read several analyses of the bill in the last few hours, and I think it is a good first step, but a lot of important measures that could be taken were stripped out of the bill. As for the new "Director of National Intelligence", I think it is only going to work if Bush appoints someone who will stand up and tell him the truth, not just what he wants to hear. I still fear that "W" only hears what he wants to hear, and that has been his achilles heel.
For more information, NPR has a "primer" on the bill, giving some background. They also have an audio report that addresses some of the civil liberites concerns some folks have with this bill. Check it out. "We the People" is all about this stuff!
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The NPR primer was very interesting. Nothing on it, save the wire tapping measure, abridged fundamental human or civil rights. It even attempted to standardise what documents would allow someone to have a driver's lisence. This seems more equal to me.
I think these women working so hard to pass this legislation is an example of how a faction can work with the government to cause positive change. We so often speak about factions in a very negative light and it is good to see them doing something positive.
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