Correct me if I'm wrong, Jen, but the change.org petition generates a press release when it's delivered and that's about it. People should go ahead and sign by all means, but they might also want to vote in the Time 100 poll to at least keep Ai in the top 100 (he's currently 179th of 203); here's Ai's page with the voting thingy:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packag…

The Change petition addresses his incarceration, if squishily ("...our concern for Ai's freedom..." and "...we hope to hasten the release..." being the most direct allusions). I'm generally not a fan of empty gestures like voting in the Time poll, but it actually has greater capability of generating sustained or widespread interest, as well as publicly embarrassing the Chinese government (whose own flying monkeys have probably been busy voting Ai down).

Is there any action planned in or around Seattle as we have no Chinese embassy?