] For those of you who don't know, there is a revolution
] underway-and it's underground. A movement of would-be
] journalists, reporters, and creative thinkers are
] publishing article after article, (some of them read by
] thousands of people a day) on the internet. These online
] writers are called "bloggers", and the columns and
] articles that they write are called "blogs."
]
] If the mainstream news is provided by the more
] traditional sites along the information superhighway,
] (CNN.com, MSNBC.com, etc.) blogs are the frontage roads
] which enable the reader to go just as fast and reach the
] same destination all while getting the feeling of
] choosing the "road less traveled."
]
] The word "blog" comes from two words, actually; "web" and
] "log." A blog is an online journal (web log) of sorts,
] except that the blog is shared with the world, not just
] future posterity

'Online Campers: Throw Another Blog on the Fire'

] LOS ANGELES, March 28 (UPI) -- Filmmaker Michael Moore's
] next project might be more controversial than his
] Oscar-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine."
]
] According to a report in Friday's Daily Variety, Moore is
] working on a documentary about the "the murky
] relationship" between former President George Bush and
] the family of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The paper
] said the movie, "Fahrenheit 911," will suggest that the
] bin Laden family profited greatly from the association.
]
] Moore's anti-war, anti-Bush Oscar acceptance speech
] provoked a mixture of cheers and boos at the Academy
] Awards last Sunday.
]
] In addition to the Best Documentary Oscar, "Bowling for
] Columbine" also had an extraordinarily robust bottom
] line. Made for about $3 million, it has grossed nearly
] $40 million worldwide -- making it one of the most
] commercially successful documentaries of all time.

Michael Moore plans Bush-bin Laden film

] It is funny how the mission has ever so subtly shifted.
] No longer is this war pitched primarily as a campaign to
] rid Saddam Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction.
] Now, quite clearly it is a humanitarian war to save the
] wretched citizens of Iraq.
]
] Numbers of well-scrubbed and articulate Iraqis opposed to
] Saddam have been appearing in the media giving credence
] to the humanitarian necessity to bomb the place to
] smithereens for the good of its people.
]
] Of course, it is perfectly understandable to refocus the
] message when it is obvious the goodies' display of
] weapons of mass destruction is infinitely superior to
] those of the baddies. This is just one "slice" of
] shifting sand, as Donald Rumsfeld would say. There are
] other slices as the war unfolds and the forecast
] certainties go wobbly. One such is the strategy of
] "embedding" Western journalists with the American forces
] so that the imagery that goes back home can be better
] managed.
]
] The basic principle is that if reporters don't stay in
] line they can be tossed from the sergeant-major's bed.
] The media have become an important component of the
] psychological battle against Iraq.

The truth is out there, under the shifting sands

] NEW YORK - With a war on, Iraq is surprisingly still in
] position to deliver oil, and while the United Nations may
] be in no position to deliver food, the U.N. Security
] Council is at least near an agreement that would permit
] U.N. agencies to do so as part of the oil-for-food
] program.
]
]
] The agreement will allow delivery of $10 billion in food
] and other humanitarian aid to Iraq, diplomats say. These
] shipments would be financed by Iraqi oil that is already
] out of the ground and stored at the Turkish Mediterranean
] port of Ceyhan, the end of a pipeline from Iraq's
] northern Kirkuk fields.
]
]
] The resolution could be voted on as early as today and is
] being hailed as a resumption of a consensus about Iraq
] policy after the acrimonious debates failed to lead to an
] agreement before the war.

U.N. Will Allow Iraq Oil To Flow

] ASHEVILLE, N.C. %u2014 Asheville leaders have barred
] demonstrators from a city park where supporters and
] opponents of the war against Iraq had gathered to chant,
] jeer one another and stage candlelight vigils.
]
] Asheville Police Department Chief Will Annarino said he
] was concerned for the safety of drivers and people
] crossing the street between the two groups. Officials
] were also worried about possibly violent confrontations
] between the opposing groups.
]
] They set up orange barricades and "No Trespassing" signs
] around Vance Monument to keep out demonstrators and have
] asked the factions to hold their gatherings at two other
] locations separated by about four blocks. The closing
] will last indefinitely, but groups granted permits before
] the closing will still be allowed to hold events, city
] parks director Irby Brinson said.
]
] Anti-war protesters have questioned whether the
] monument's closing violates their rights to assemble and
] speak out.

City bars pro-, anti-war protests in park

] Like the West Nile virus, shopping center censorship has
] moved coast to coast -- all the way to Seattle's Westlake
] Center.
]
] An Albany, N.Y., shopping mall ejected a man for wearing
] a "Peace on Earth" T-shirt. The man's son avoided
] trespassing charges only by taking off his "Give peace a
] chance" T-shirt. Both had bought their shirts at the
] mall.
]
] Are T-shirts an element of speech?
]
] In Dearborn, Mich., high school administrators told a
] 16-year-old to remove a T-shirt with a photograph of
] President Bush and the words "International Terrorist,"
] reports First Amendment Center Executive Director Ken
] Paulson.
]
] In Seattle, security guards at Westlake Center have
] ousted those who dare enter carrying protest signs, even
] if they're just passing through to the monorail station.

Freedom speaks even at the mall

] DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
]
] The Bush administration likely will pick up the city's
] entire $5 million weekly tab for wartime security, Mayor
] Bloomberg said yesterday.
]
] "It does look like our $5 million a week will be paid for
] by the federal government," Bloomberg said. "They haven't
] said so explicitly, but if you read what they have said
] so far, I believe, that [it] probably will be."
]
] He concluded: "There is absolutely no reason to be
] disappointed so far."
]
] On Tuesday, President Bush submitted to Congress a $75
] billion war bill that includes $4.25 billion for homeland
] security.
]
] According to the White House proposal, slightly more than
] half of the $4.25 billion will go to federal programs.
] The rest will go to cities and states for terrorism
] preparedness and prevention.

Costly protests

Kelly also said the daily war protests are taking their toll on the NYPD's budget. Saturday's massive protest cost the city $1.2 million and thinned the ranks of cops working to prevent terrorism, Kelly said.

There were roughly 2,000 cops assigned to patrol the demonstration, which led to 91 arrests and sent 17 cops to the hospital.

NY Daily News - Local - Mike trusts the feds on terror tab

] HYDERABAD, India, 25 March 2003 %u2014 As protests
] against the US-led invasion continued across India
] yesterday, Maoist rebels in a southern province targeted
] global soft drink giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi, police said
] yesterday.
]
] %u201CThe exact cost of damage is still being assessed,
] but it appears the rebels targeted the soft drink giants
] and some other stores selling Indian-made foreign liquor
] to protest against the war,%u201D Anil Kumar Puneeth,
] superintendent of police, told AFP.
]
] Members of the banned People%u2019s War Group,
] India%u2019s oldest and most violent left-wing rebel
] group, destroyed hundreds of Coke bottles, blasted a
] Pepsi warehouse and attacked liquor stores in two
] districts of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh late
] Sunday.
]
] Around half a dozen armed rebels raided a warehouse
] stacked with Pepsi bottles and used explosives to raze it
] to the ground, police said.

ArabNews: Maoists Target Coke, Pepsi in Anti-War Demonstrations

] It was a long day for protesters and police alike.
] Officers in riot gear hustled to keep up with roving
] bands of demonstrators. Roughly 1,500 of the Police
] Department's 2,300 officers were on street duty,
] officials said, costing the city $500,000 in police
] overtime.
]
] The worst came during the evening commute.
]
] Hundreds of demonstrators repeatedly tried to storm the
] Bay Bridge, paralyzing traffic for blocks around. A
] phalanx of California Highway Patrol officers and city
] police turned them back after shutting down two
] approaches to the span and unleashing pepper spray to
] disperse a crowd near Fremont and Harrison streets.
]
] The protests started at dawn and kicked into high gear
] around 7 a.m. as demonstrators fanned out en masse to
] locations chosen in recent weeks in a well-planned
] campaign to shut down the city. Demonstrators promised to
] continue their protests for several more days.

1,400 arrests in war protest in S.F. - Police OverTime $500,000

] It's freedom of Speech with a 20-thousand dollar price
] tag.
]
] On one hand to the protesters it's their right but to
] Police Chief Robert Duffy it's expensive.
]
]
] Duffy said, "Can a point be made without compromising
] some of the resorces that we have and creating some of
] the cost just based on the time and location."

Costly Demonstrations in Downtown Rochester