At some point in early January I reached the breaking point.  I'd marched; I'd done street theater; I'd gotten out the vote; I'd written, phoned, faxed and emailed; I'd signed petitions, worn buttons, carried signs.

When it was becoming clear that Mr. Decider was going to flaunt his power and send 21,000 more troops to Iraq in direct opposition to an overwhelming majority of Congress, military experts, American voters and world opinion, it was time to raise the bar. And I wasn't alone.

A group of us, fresh from a Die-in in downtown Portland, Oregon, got together and hatched our first plan of nonviolent civil disobedience - to lock ourselves to the doors of the Federal Building the day after the Surge was announced.