I will copy much of Ferriss’ important message below. Normally I wouldn’t duplicate someone else’s content to such an extent, but in an effort to spread this important message as quickly as possible, I think it is necessary:

“Those who can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
–Benjamin Franklin

What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Tuesday, July 8th from Tim Ferriss on Vimeo.
Trouble viewing? Click here.

Tomorrow, July 8th, could mark the beginning of official condoning of warrantless surveillance of law-abiding citizens in the US, not to mention foreign nationals. I am not an alarmist and believe in qualified surveillance with process — this is different. I’ve done the homework.

The above is an 18-minute interview that I just finished with Daniel Ellsberg, famous for releasing the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971. His actions are often credited with helping end not only the Nixon presidency but also the Vietnam War. He consulted for the Kennedy Administration after receiving a PhD. from Harvard in Economics and served in the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

Remember that part of lifestyle design is creating a good environment for you and those you care for. Central to this is preventing dangerous laws — the rules of your environment — from coming into existence. This is not about being political. It’s about being responsible. There are Republicans in Congress who oppose this bill, so it shouldn’t be written off as leftist propaganda.

In the video above, I interview Ellsberg to learn what every American needs to know — and do in the next 24 hours — about the new FISA (Foreign Information and Surveillance Act) amendments. The interview, and below partial transcription, answers questions like…

-I don’t have anything to hide. How does this affect me?

-What if this type of surveillance is what has prevented another 9/11 from happening?

-What are common inaccuracies about FISA reported in the media?

Please watch it.

Find below how you can make a real impact in less than 60 seconds. Every person counts — the Senators who will vote are watching the numbers. 41 Senators can block the bill, and it’s not too late.

There are precious few hours left to take action, but I feel very strongly that this is an exceptionally important issue for each and every one of you to take a stance on. If you happen to read this in time, please watch this video to learn about the threat to U.S. freedom and the 4th Amendment of the Constitution, which protects our individual privacy.

Spend 1-2 minutes to visit the links Tim shared and make your voice heard:

1. ALL AMERICANS: Go to the EFF website here and put in your zipcode to find your Senator’s phone number. Call them and read the short script on the same page. If no answer, click the link at the bottom of the page to e-mail them.
(Tell others verbally to go to “www.eff.org” and click “take action”)

2. OBAMA SUPPORTERS: Go to My.BarackObama.com here and join the group requesting he oppose (as he did earlier) the amendment. This takes about 30 seconds. I suggest changing “ListServ” in the bottom right to “Do not receive e-mails.”
(Tell others verbally to search “obama please vote no” on Google and My.BarackObama.com will be in the top 3 results, currently #1)

I encourage you to Cast Your Whole Vote to prevent American freedom and privacy from being taken from us. If you are a voter, contact your Senator and tell them to protect the Constitution. Share this video with anyone you can—friends, family, Digg & StumbleUpon buddies. Do whatever is in your power and make a difference within your sphere of influence.

Freedom forever!

[via: What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Tuesday]

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: If You Value The Privacy Guaranteed to You by the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, Please Take Action NOW!

• Budget your finances! Don’t just throw away all your receipts. I know it doesn’t sound fun, but for one to three months, record each purchase you make and categorize it. Use Quicken, Microsoft Money, or paper-and-pencil. This will let you know where all your money is going, and then you can start to plan ahead and set a budget so you don’t go over. Cody’s super-easy hint: Although you have to be disciplined to do this, I use a credit card for virtually all my purchases (earn the rewards points in the meantime and pay it off at the end of each month), which makes tracking my spending a lot easier–no cash purchases to remember! You could also use a debit card. Once you have recorded what you spend, here is the easiest two-category budget plan EVER!
• Pay your bills on time! Use a calendar like Apple iCal, Outlook, or Google Calendar, to send yourself reminders a few days before your regular bills are due (rent, utilities, credit cards, etc.). Or use Quicken reminders, or check out a service like BillQ if it works for you. Paying on time is the best thing you can do to ensure you build good credit, which you will need later! Cody’s helpful hint: Most online banking services allow you to do online bill-pay and schedule payments for ANY available business day. So, take your bills as soon as you get them in the mail, go into your online banking, and set up a payment to be delivered by the due date, and then you can forget about it! This means the money is available and earns more for you as long as possible, but the bill still gets paid on time.
• If you have credit card balances, keep them on a 0% card. Mildly shady, but entirely legal. If you have debt, which many of us do, at least keep it on low-interest or zero-percent cards. Better yet, put your purchases on a rewards card! (I once got a card that gave me a free iPod Nano for transferring a $2000 balance.) There are a thousand credit cards out there with 0% introductory rates (usually for the first year), so take advantage of that and then simply transfer your balance to another one when the intro period is up. (This is not to encourage you to continue to maintain a balance though; pay off as much as you can each month until it is GONE!) Cody’s word of caution: Just be careful, read the fine print, know when the introductory rate is up, and AVOID balance transfer fees (many cards charge 3% of the transfer amount, but there are plenty you can find that have no transfer fee for new cardholders). Check out Jim Wang’s posts on 0% balance transfer offers and other credit card offers. Also see the next step for a tip on how to lower your credit card interest rate.

Now here are a few other, little-known hacks that you can use, and then laugh and taunt your friends for being stupider than you! Remember, the little things add up:

• Call your bank/credit card to get a better deal! This sounds so simple, but 99.9% of people DON’T do it! Here’s what I suggest, every time your bank charges you an overdraft fee, an international fee, or any other kind of fee, or if your credit card charges you a late fee for receiving your payment a day after the due date for instance…CALL THEM! And ask nicely. Give your defense if you have to. The worst that can happen is they’ll say no. And you’ll be no worse off than you were before placing the call. But I guarantee you, 95% of the time they will say exactly this, “Well, we normally don’t do this, but I’ll give you a one-time fee-waiver.” Remember, they want to keep you as a customer, so financial institutions are usually willing to part with 10 bucks here and there, and the majority of people won’t call them out on those fees, so they’re making plenty already. If the customer service rep denies you, just call back in a few minutes and speak to someone else! Also, here’s a fantastic guide to lowering your credit card rate with one phone call. Cody’s additional $0.02: in addition to the FreeCreditReport site they recommend, check out the Federally-mandated AnnualCreditReport.com for your free yearly report. If you pay your bills on time and you have a 700+, you have a LOT of leverage with credit card companies! (And you should look into getting some fantastic rewards cards!)
• Use coupon codes and discounts when shopping online. This one’s pretty simple, but when you shop online, especially around the holidays, try to take advantage of promotional codes and discounts. I don’t recommend going out of your way to buy the things you see coupons for (that’s why companies print coupons, don’t you know? So you will SPEND more!). But, if you already plan on getting a few items online, check a site like CurrentCodes.com to see if there are any special deals for the particular website you’re looking at purchasing from–discounts, free shipping offers, etc. This saved me about $30 on a Lost Season 2 DVD set once! That’s pretty good for a coupon.
• Open up a high-yield online savings account! This is one of the SMARTEST moves you can make! Most banks these days only offer annual percentage yields under 1% on their savings accounts, unfortunately (actually the national average right now is only 0.54%). But, there’s an easy solution that not everyone has caught onto yet. If you’re willing to do your transactions online and go without a paper statement, a high-yield online savings account is the perfect solution. There are a lot of banks doing this, but here are some of the top APY rates. All of these are FDIC insured and have zero fees, zero minimum balances:
  • I use the EmigrantDirect American Dream Savings Account, which returns 5.05%
  • HSBC Direct offers 5.05%. Try entering the promo code “start” and see if it gets you an opening bonus…
  • E*Trade Complete Savings 5.05%
  • CitiBank Direct at 5.00%. You need to open an EZ online checking account along with the e-Savings to get the bank fees waived on this one.
  • I also have an ING Direct Orange Savings Account, which is now up to 4.50%. If you would like, I can send you a referral and you can earn $25 for opening an account with a minimum opening balance of $250 (hey, it’s good if you want a quick 10% return!) Just email me if you’re interested (see sidebar for email).

  It only takes 10 minutes to set one of these up (literally!). All you need is your personal info and your regular bank checking account info. And you’ll immediately be making 6 to 9 times the national savings average! It’s easy. Do it.

Finally, I recommend you always continue learning about financial stuff and keep up your financial intelligence. For something you can read daily, check out the master of all personal finance and entrepreneurship bloggers, Ramit Sethi, at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. Read his 5 Steps To Getting Rich first, and then he’ll lead you through budgeting, saving, investing, and retirement. Read my one-on-one interview with Ramit Sethi. Also check out J.D. Roth’s Get Rich Slowly.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Six Simple Money Tips to Get You Back on the Financial Track