It was on Sept. 5, 1998, that I launched Online Journal to offer readers an alternative to the corporate media and to encourage citizen journalism.

In some ways, it seems as if that were yesterday. In others, given what has happened over the course of the past eight years, it seems like eons. From day one, though, Online Journal's reception exceeded my wildest expectations.

Online Journal stands as an example of what people can do for themselves: from professional to citizen journalists, from readers who spread the word and support our work with their hard-earned dollars. The Internet has made us a worldwide community in the pursuit of freedom, peace and justice.

There were only a few pro-people online publications when Online Journal came aboard, but now there are many more voices speaking out against the forces of tyranny, much to the chagrin of those in Washington and elsewhere, and their sycophants in the corporate media, who think they can silence us by labeling us "conspiracy theorists," "unpatriotic," "un-American," "anti-American," "anti-Semites," even "terrorist sympathizers" and the latest from the Bush gang, the true terrorists and fascists: "fascists."

Sorry, boys and girls, the name-calling won't work. Online Journal will be here as long as its readers support it and I have the stamina to publish it, unless Washington finds some way to directly or indirectly pull the plug.