I swung by this morning and chatted with the organizers, who were already busy setting up tables, chairs, tents, and -- of course -- recycling bins. The leader of the early crew, Beverly, told me -- with only a hint of panic -- that she had no idea how many people to expect. And also, with sun instead of the rain that was forecast, she thinks "there's an angel up there for us." I'll be heading back down in a couple of hours to see how the scene unfolds.

Check out the latest from Google News.

http://you-read-it-here-first.com/viewtopic.php?t=511

I am announcing a new societal concept: The Guillotine

The Guillotine states:

1. The majority of societies problems are caused by the top 3% of society.

2. The top 3% therefore must be segregated for the general good of the People and the Planet.

3. The form of isolation or sequestering has not been determined.

4. Taking this action will prevent the top 3% from warming the planet further by making movies, organizing electricity-wasting benefit concerts or otherwise getting around a spending a lot of money in the name of "helping".

I hope that the real excitement about Step It Up is the national component, and the creative actions like those Dave mentions above, because I gotta say, Boston's felt like any other eco-rally. Not to be negative -- it's a thrilling and historic day! But I was standing near a group of college student types during a speech early on, and one of them suddenly said, "You guys wanna go toss a frisbee or something?" It was like that.

Still, most of the crowd is full of energy (the rally's still going out there), and even the fact that there is a crowd -- that Ed Markey just stood in Boston Common and gave a rousing speech about Bush and climate change -- is something to behold. A couple of speakers also announced the news that Boston's mayor has committed to the 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050 -- in Markey's words, "turning Beantown into Greentown."

So I asked a few onlookers how many people they thought were at the Boston rally, which UCS' Knobloch said doubled in size during the speeches.

Communist handing out a weekly paper and talking up revolution: "About 1,000-1,500."

Bicyclist leaning on a tree at the edges of the crowd: "Not enough."

Guy selling tourist T-shirts nearby: shrug and laugh. (Follow-up question to T-shirt guy: Have you been listening to any of what they're saying over there? "Nah.")

I considered asking the three kids smoking pot on one of the benches, but I didn't. I'm gonna guess ... 2,300.

Randy Cunningham

Randy Cunningham

I attended a peace rally a few months ago organized by a pretty savvy 14 year old and his parents.  We had only about 60 people, but 2 Miami news stations were there.  This is probably because the national organization calling for the rallies asked its local organizers to tell them which media outlets they contacted in their electronic tool kit.  I hope Step it Up had the same foresight.

My jaw dropped, but I started paying attention and, lo and behold, I noted that I almost never saw a real reporter at anything that happened after 5 (sports excluded).

So figure that the chains Gannett competes with aren't that different, and you understand why a great mass of Americans still think Saddam was tied to 9/11 -- because they get their view of the world entirely from the TeeVee.

These SIU rallies promised almost nothing for the mainstream media--there was no prospect of violence,  no nekkid white girls, no white girls going missing, and no monster trucks or patriotic "support the troops" tie ins.  So be grateful for any coverage anywhere at all.

 

The 5% Project

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/04/15/news/local/ ...