E-Mail This Article to a Friend POLITICAL CHANGE Dropping the dime on Inauguration Day BY J.L. JOHNSON

Amid security so strict that even the wee-American-flag-on-a-stick was banned as a potential weapon, many demonstrators lining the streets of DC for Bush’s January 20 inauguration had to get creative to get their message across — a group called Turn Your Back on Bush, for instance, planned to do exactly that, silently, as the president passed by. But even outside the Beltway, some protesters are putting down the picket sign in favor of something they’re betting will finally get the White House’s attention: the dollar sign.

As outlined in an anonymous e-mail making the rounds on the Internet since late last year, Not One Damn Dime Day is a 24-hour national boycott on consumer spending, scheduled for January 20. "Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or impulse purchases ... for 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the economy down," the e-mail reads, in part. "The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it; and that it is their responsibility to stop it."

The e-mail hit home with Cambridge anti-war activist Jesse Gordon when he received it last month. "There were five million people across the US and another 10 million abroad, on February 15 [2004], protesting the war, and Bush actively ignored them," Gordon said. "Well, if he’s not going to listen to political protest in that sense, then we’ll make it an economic one."

An Internet marketing consultant and former technology director for Robert Reich’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Gordon co-founded a Web site — www.notonedamndime.com — to give the free-floating movement a base. Since December 22, Gordon and co-founder Laura Carmen Arena have seen daily viewership climb from 116 hits to more than 18,000, and they’re projecting a quarter-million hits total by the end of Inauguration Day. They’ve also been inundated with calls from media outlets (including the Associated Press and USA Today) — and with plenty of vitriol, too.

One of the top criticisms on the site’s comments blog is that small businesses will pay the price for Not One Damn Dime Day. "You aren’t hurting [Bush] with this ignorant campaign," wrote one visitor. "You are hurting your friends, families and neighbors. They are the ones in business and depend on your DIME!"

In response, Arena says boycotters should be talking to the owners and employees of small businesses they frequent. "Hopefully, it’s a relationship, and they can understand where you’re coming from. That’s what small business is about, relationships, and supporting each other," she says, adding, "I hope that people [would] go out and tip a bit more the day before, and buy two cups the day after."

Though some 12,000 people have signed up on the NODDD Web site, Gordon says, there’s no way to measure nationwide participation in Not One Damn Dime Day, or its effect on the economy. But he and his fellow organizers insist that what’s ultimately important is not the size of this protest, but the activist spark it strikes. "If you can get people to forward an e-mail, that’s a good first step. If you can get them to participate in an easy-to-do boycott, that’s the next step," he says. "After that, it’s just a inevitable slide into full political activism."

Toward that end, after today the NODDD site will refocus its message on "buying blue" — singling out businesses that support liberal or progressive causes and political candidates, and then encouraging folks to go forth and spend wisely.

To sign up for Not One Damn Dime Day, and to learn about "buying blue" in the years ahead, visit http://www.notonedamndime.com.