Welcome to Bytegeist, Firedoglake.com’s new section devoted to the intersection of politics and technology.

There are many fine publications doing excellent work covering technology in general, including Ars Technica, Venture Beat, Wired, AllThingsD, CNet, TechCrunch and Engadget to name but a few.

It has been apparent for quite some time, however, that there is insufficient coverage of the political deliberations in Washington DC and beyond that are determining the shape of our technological future. And that’s a space tailor-made for Firedoglake to step in.

There were already hundreds of people from around the country in Washington, DC, last night and there will be even more people arriving today for a planned “Occupy Congress” day of action. Live updates are posted here.

Occupiers from occupations all over the United States are headed to Washington, DC, for three days of action that are being organized under the banner, “Take Back the Capitol.” But is their agenda as bold as the people likely to participate?

I was one of the 2700 people who pledged to go to the office of their member of congress and let them know that if they support cuts to Social Security or Medicare, we won’t support them in the next election. And moreover, that “supporting cuts” meant voting for the creation of any committee with the power to make recommendations that would be given an up-or-down vote in Congress, bypassing regular procedure (Catfood II).

The country is in the grip of a great financial crisis. People face record unemployment.Wall Street executives are described as geniuses who are fully worth the exorbitant salaries and bonuses they are paid, but those salaries are coming out of money that should rightfully go to their shareholders.

“The dumbest part: they did two pat-down demonstrations – male on male, and female on female,” the House staffer said. And they used a young female TSA volunteer “and in front of a room of 200 people, they touched her breasts and her buttocks. People were averting their eyes. The TSA was trying to demonstrate ‘this is not so bad,’ but it made people so uncomfortable to watch, that people were averting their eyes.”

“They shot themselves in the foot,” the staffer continued.

A Capitol Hill staffer sent this note along to me, and I wanted to share it with you. This is the kind of value FDL provides: independent, honest, analyses and reporting to people who make help make policy. Please donate today to help us continue to build our independent movement.