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Do you think George W. Bush should be impeached?
If you answered "no", watch this short movie and let me know if it changed your mind:

Barack Obama disappointed me when he recently voted for the "Telecom Immunity" package allowing for warrantless eavesdropping on US citizens. In his response to the flurry of criticism that followed, Barack stated:

Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise. I do so with the firm intention -- once I’m sworn in as President -- to have my Attorney General conduct a comprehensive review of all our surveillance programs, and to make further recommendations on any steps needed to preserve civil liberties and to prevent executive branch abuse in the future.

Our civil rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. Adopting legislation whose "check and balance" against executive abuse is oversight by an appointee by the executive itself is laughable.

While it's fairly likely that Obama will win in November, what if he doesn't? That should be the standard by which any legislation is judged-- not "what is the implication of this policy when used properly", but rather "what is the implication of this policy when intentionally abused?"

Obama continues:

...When citizens join their voices together, they can hold their leaders accountable. I'm not exempt from that. I'm certainly not perfect, and expect to be held accountable too. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country. ... And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker.That's ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have.

Obama is right, this is a deal breaker for me. I will no longer actively participate in the Obama campaign, and I will no longer make quarterly donations to his campaign. Barring a more viable candidate joining the race, I'll still vote for Barack, but without the taste of kool-aid in my mouth. Instead, I'll invest my political and financial energies on progressives like Darcy Burner who is running for Dave Reichert's seat.

Justin asked what settings I used for the pic below.

Camera: Canon Digital Rebel, XTI @ 100 ISO in Manual mode. "Bulb" exposure. Manual shutter release, five second exposure.

Lens: 24-70mm 2.8L at 67mm focal length, stopped down to f10.

Tripod: Hakuba HG-503MX with factory head.

I chose f10 and ISO 100 because fireworks are actually quite bright, and I wanted exposures several seconds long to get enough "action" in the shot.

More of the (as always, full resolution!) pics are at this 4th of July Flickr set.