What's the Philly connection? With 10,000 Girls -- a program based in West Africa having the following mission:

To offer education and employment opportunities for 10,000 Girls in rural Senegal, enabling them to develop as self-reliant and capable women, through a self-sustaining organization run by the girls themselves.

Glad you asked.

The new blog portal (student voices) was inspired by Philly Future, and uses the same app: CivicSpace. Our logo was donated by the good people @ AroundPhilly.com. & I'm a Philly native, and will be back for July, hoping to catch up with the DL crowd then. (Not that Matt, Suzie, Karl or anyone else remembers me -- but I remember them).

Of course, the bloggers here are girls-- mostly from the Kaolack region of Senegal. Most of whom are literate (if so) in French and Wolof not English. But hey, expand your horizons. The Internet is for everyone--even for people who might never own a computer. (& as Senegal right now has a per captia of $1700, with rural Senegal hurting even more, that's no joke).

So, slowly but surely, 10,000 girls online:

To the many bloggers @ Philly Future, I ask the following. If you find our mission and method acceptable, please consider providing a link to 10000girls.org.

Thanks,
Thom Haslam @ the soon-to-be-revived Societas
Back in town July 3 in time for Independence Day

And a gift for all the Philly Future bloggers -- over 40 new voices from Africa. Inspired by Philly Future, some students at Suffolk University-Dakar and myself have launched WindowonWestAfrica.net -- the first blog portal in West Africa.

We haven't yet opened the comments up to the world -- but the content is available to all. Forget the regional problems with computer literacy, to start. Or even that most of these college bloggers have English as their third or fourth language. (French being the most widely known European language in West Africa).

From poetry to personal ads to pleas for African unity, WoWA has some wonderful content that might change the way you think about Africa. Stop on by.

Finally, let me add to the Philly DL crowd, I'll be back in July for a bit & hope to catch up w/ some of you then.

Today, Congress took up Bill 3199: USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005. Most Americans recognize that we will almost certainly be subjected to further terrorist attacks. So the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, particularly in the light of the recent London bombings, must be a good deal.

Well, yes and no. Life is seldom perfectly simple. From Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances to the ACLU, many Americans have called for specific provisions of the Patriot Act to be modified. (Not, as falsely claimed, for the Patriot Act to be repealed).

One of those rogue provisions, debated in the House today, is Section 215 which greatly expands the the FBI's power to spy on American citizens. I do not use the term "spy" lightly.

For example, let's say you are the subject of a Section 215 investigation.

• Does the FBI have to show probable cause, or even reasonable grounds to believe, that you were involved in criminal activities? No. One more time, that's "No."
• Does the FBI even need suspicion that you are an agent of a foriegn power or associate with members of a terrorist organization? No. Again, that's "No."

Now, under Section 215 the FBI obtains not only your business records but in fact "any tangible things"--from "library records, bookstore and other commercial purchase records, medical records, psychiatric or psychological therapy records, education records, genetic records, insurance records, travel records" and more.

• Does the FBI have to notify you, American citizen and resident of Philadelphia? No.
• Likewise, obviously and under penalty of law, your doctor or banker can't tell you that you are under surveillance.

Let's review that quickly. As the Patriot Act now stands, the FBI can investigate you without probable cause, or even reasonable grounds to believe, that you are a criminal or involved with terrorism. Furthermore, you'll never know unless the FBI wants you to.

In turn, the FBI has access to "any tangible things" related to you. Just consider this fact sheet (PDF, 130k): Health, Finance, Guns, Religion and Library. Do you really want all this information about you stored in a government database?