Pacifica Riptide is a volunteer-run Web site for local news and opinion. It started up a year ago when a group of activists, fresh off their election victory over Measure L, decided that the community needed an Internet base for sharing information. After consulting with several media and technology experts, including Pacifican Larry Rosenstein and Coastsider.com's Barry Parr, we chose Six Apart's Typepad blogging software, which is easy, intuitive, and relatively cheap for a bunch of amateurs to use.

Riptide welcomes contributions of "hot stories, cool pix, and cold cash to keep us afloat," according to the site. "We celebrate Pacifica's natural wonders, green hillsides, open spaces, coastal and marine life, and enterprising people. Our environment and economy are interdependent, natural forces and market forces, like ocean tides and waves."

Anyone can post a story or photo to editor@pacificariptide.com.

Tourism Congress celebrates N.D.'s booming industry

The banquet hall of El Rancho Motor Hotel was abuzz with big numbers and fresh ideas Wednesday morning when area tourism stakeholders gathered for a regional 2008 Tourism Congress meeting.At the conference, initiatives were developed for advancing the tourism industry and recent data was presented reflecting growth of the industry throughout the state. After kicking off the tour in Minot on Tuesday, Williston was the second of eight locations that will be hosting these conferences throughout the state, taking place March 4-6 and 11-12.The Tourism Congress is coordinated by the North Dakota Tourism Alliance Partnership (TAP), the Destination Marketing Association of North Dakota (DMAND), and the North Dakota Department of Commerce Tourism Division (Tourism Division). Stakeholders also discussed tourism's economic impact, identified industry challenges and growth opportunities, developed strategies for growth, and prioritized programs and action items for the 2009 Legislative Session.The tourism industry structure was identified in terms of outward oriented industries, supporting industries and economic infrastructure.

Washington Post

Philip Bennett, the Washington Post's managing editor, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine for a little chat earlier this week. During his comments on the subject of religion and politics, Bennett claimed that the MSM should hire more Muslims because the media has too many misconceptions about Islam. Bennett told the UCI audience, "At the Post I want more Muslim readers and I want more Muslim journalists." One wonders how far this new understanding of Islam in the media will go for Bennett, though? Will his desire to be inclusive and to create a new politically correct understanding go as far as excusing Islamofascism as we try to better understand Islam?

The report in the Daily Pilot from Newport Beach, California also reported that the newsroom at the Washington Post was even debating whether or not they should even use the word "Islamist" because it might be too "contentious." This WaPost debate alone does not auger as well for any better understanding as it does for overlooking the evil perpetrated in the name of Islam in favor of making believe that our understanding of them will somehow stop the violence and hate against us.

Party like it's Day 366

Advance tickets are available at Freestone's City Grill, 41 William St., or can be reserved via e-mail at jarradnunes@gmail.com.

Interview with FARC Commander Raul Reyes

But they persist and join the guerrillas, they flee from their houses and appear at our guard posts. It so happens that they join the FARC voluntarily. But many times when they leave they lie to their fathers and mothers and say that they were forced to join and the fathers and mothers believe them. And later, if the authorities conduct an investigation, the parents say that their son or daughter was forced to join and then that information is collected by Amnesty International or others. But I reiterate, it is not the policy of the FARC to recruit children or to enlist anybody by force.

Reyes: The FARC uses mines against the public forces. The mine fields are used against the public forces, never against the civilian population, never.

Rise in terrorism plaguing Pakistan

The explosion left the road littered with body parts and wounded survivors and blasted out courthouse windows.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though Pakistan's government has blamed earlier bombings on Islamic extremists linked to Al Qaeda.

President Pervez Musharraf called the blast "dastardly" and insisted he would "continue the fight against terrorism and extremism" in the country, Pakistani media reported.

According to a recent report by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an independent think tank, Pakistan has seen a sharp acceleration in suicide attacks over the past year, with 60 explosions killing at least 770 people in 2007. The bombing campaign has intensified since Musharraf's bloody routing of Islamic militants holed up in Islamabad's Red Mosque in July.