I'm going to be putting up some video and audio clips of the meeting over the next couple of days, probably on separate posts, with the video on Youtube. I was pleased to see such a good turnout and, at least in my decidely unscientific opinion, at least 3/4 or more of the people who turned out where against NAIS in any form, another 15 percent were for NAIS but only if NAIS quit being such a bad program, and the other 5 percent were for it and were champing at the bit to put Everyone In a National Database.. but only if the Database is run by private people. (What a TERRIBLE idea. If the government is going to run a program, then the information the government collects MUST be subject to FOIA. Our taxes would go to pay for this program, and frankly, if the people who are so fired up to have all of our information in the hands of a profit-making private database want to do that, why don't they start their own PRIVATE company and get people to voluntarily join? Really. And can anyone truly say that private databases aren't crackable? Pfft. The whole reason these pro-NAIS people want the database to be private is that they don't want their competitors to see their information. Guess what. If we don't have a national database AT ALL, your competitors can't see your info.)

Here's a picture to start with. This was before the meeting started, the room was pretty full with chairs and people standing in the back as the morning wore on.

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Update: Go look up on the Youtube, link, above, as I add videos up there. Meanwhile, to start, here's a hilarious Tom Vilsack FAIL.