The Olympics open today in China to a multitude of emotions, including anger from Tibetan, Darfurian, and Burmese human rights activists about China's role in the conflicts in these countries.

In the 60's and 70's, before email, before chatrooms, pre-IM's, before AIM, SKYPE, user groups, bulletin boards, twitter and blogs -- in those decades of yore, we had a war. And it is universally believed that we shortened the war by public protest. Millions of Americans showed up in every venue, from the gazebo-decorated town squares of small town America to the big city streets, all the way to Washington.