It was summer and it was Austin, where keeping things weird is a popular civic pastime. But for the 2,000 bloggers and readers at last weekend’s Netroots Nation, the mood was more wonkish than wild. The “netroots” — the online version of “grassroots” political activists — spent hours in panels on policy and technology, and kept up running analyses via blogs and Twitter. They allowed themselves to be plied with margaritas of an evening, but made it back for a morning question session with Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and a surprise visit from Al Gore. Ms Pelosi faced some grumbles; if your Congress has an approval rating of 14%, a friendly face is hard to find. But when a handful of women from the anti-war group Code Pink, wearing superhero costumes, stood up to shout for peace they were quickly escorted from the premises. The tweets on Twitter were swift and stern. “Don’t want to disrespect but code pink is so 1960,” wrote one.
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The cruellest cut came on July 9th, when Mr Obama voted for a new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This gives the executive new powers of warrantless wiretapping and provides retroactive immunity for telecoms companies that worked with the Bush administration to spy on Americans. During the primaries, he had promised to support a filibuster against such a provision.
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11792644