Time Magazine provides a guide with highlights of the protest activity that will occur in New York during the Republican Convention. Here are a few of the more intriguing ones:

GREENE DRAGON The week before the convention, this street-theater group will re-create Paul Revere's Ride, pedaling down Lexington Avenue on bicycles outfitted with cardboard horse heads, shouting, "The Republicans are coming!"

AXIS OF EVE Demanding an end to "political cover-up," about 100 women draped in American flags and wearing anti-Republican "protest panties" will perform a "mass flash" on Sept. 1

Time also mentions that New York police and firefighters may go on strike during the convention. I'm not buying it. Mayor Bloomberg will never let it happen. Any more than the Boston mayor let it happen there. Nor would Bush.

Every day we learn of more bloggers heading to New York for the convention. Jesse and Ezra of Pandagon, Markos of Daily Kos; NYU Journalism Prof. Jay Rosen of Pressthink; Matt Yglesias and Zoe are going. Mad Kane, Anna of Annatopia (who will be blogging for Majority Report of Air America Radio), Matt Stoller. You can follow blogger related events at the RNC Tank Blog.

There is now a blog about blogging the Republican Convention at The Tank. Apparently, this is about a $10,000.00 project. One of the sponsors just backed out and secondary sponsors are needed.

We had our funding source pull out unexpectedly about two weeks ago, and have been scrambling since then to come up with the $10,000 necessary to make all this happen. The Tank is letting us rent the space at-cost for the entire week for only $4,000, plus we need to print up signs, flyers, etc. starting next week. We're looking for sponsors who can underwrite part or all of the cost.

Organizations can sponsor one or two of the events (the Progressive Tourism Bureau, Blogger Alley, or the evening social events), or help with as little as $1,000. We'll give sponsors placement on the flyers, signs, etc. and they can put informational materials on tables at the event, though if we can cover the costs without doing that it'd be even better. If you have ideas for who might be interested, comment or email alpert@gmail.com.

Here's what will be happening at The Tank during RNC week, and it's much more than just a blogger alley. And read Zoe on what blogs will bring to the coverage-- using one of her own experiences with media coverage of an Iraq war protest in New York last year as an example.

Thanks to Skippy and Richard Cranium of the All Spin Zone for supporting and asking their readers to contribute a few dollars towards our trip to NY to blog live during the RNC. Especially Skippy, because he hates it when bloggers seek donations. Today he writes:

good luck and god speed to our buddy talkleft, who has bought a plane ticket to go blog the repubbb national convention! we fear for her safety. not only will she be a liberal in the midst of thousands of gopers, she's also a defense lawyer! take some mace, talkleft! or at least some garlic and a copy of al franken's book! (just kidding! she will be not actually at the convention, but at a nearby performance space with live tv coverage. though if that's the case, we wonder why she can't just stay home, tune into c-span, and pretend to be there, saving the money. who would know?)

readers of this space know how we feel about bloggers and paypal. but we wouldn't kick your dog if you sent talkleft a little scratch to defray the costs of a ny vacation.

My response, which I posted in the comments to his blog:

Yesterday I asked TalkLeft's readers whether I should go to New York and blog live during the Republican convention . The responses left in the comments were overwhelmingly in favor of going. So, it's a done deal. And I am psyched. I had the best time in Boston I have had anywhere in years. Being surrounded by exuberant, self-defined and self-assured kids who so graciously accepted me into their fold. I was in heaven.

The plane ticket has been purchased. Blogger status and wi-fi at The Tankthe performance art space near the Garden that has graciously agreed to host progressive bloggers and provide wi-fi and internet access and where the RNC events will be displayed live on a big screen--has been arranged for. It will also serve as a clearing house for protest activities.

The real story for TalkLeft will be the action in the streets--the protesters, the security, the riot police and their attitudes. I'll have my digital camera, tape recorder , ipod and laptop. I have recruited two volunteers so far to capture the images on the streets, so TalkLeft can upload and bring them to you as they are happening.

Do I need help to do this? Yes, it's not cheap to spend a week in New York City--and it means losing another week at work. But, it will cost less than Boston, mainly because being a Native New Yorker and still frequent visitor, I know my way around. If you're in a position to assist, you can do so here via PayPal. If you'd like to donate anonymously, use Amazon. Both are secure. Many, many thanks.

If you need further convincing, read on:

A great space has been made available for progressive bloggers to blog the Republican Convention live from New York. I had intended to pass. Now I'm having second thoughts. Covering the convention, the protests, the security measures and the extent to which New York is accomodating the Bush Administration vs. the protesters, is becoming an irresistable draw.

Add to the equation that the TL Kid is in New York and that he has offered to volunteer his computer skills and services to the blogging space and bloggers--I'm seriously thinking of joining the group.

Let me know what you think. Can TalkLeft can provide more valuable or insightful coverage blogging from Colorado while watching the mainstream media coverage on cable news? It certainly would be less taxing, both in dollars and physical exertion. Or should it jump into the fray and take a stab at covering that which the mainstream media may just gloss over?

If you thought security was onerous at the Democratic convention in Boston, security in New York sounds like it will be a nightmare. Any thoughts we had of blogging the protests live from New York have evaporated. While authorities should be able to prevent a severe attack, the security hassles just aren't worth the aggravation attendant to being there. There likely will be more freedom of movement in Beirut. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

New York on High Alert for GOP Enclave

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At the end of August, more than 5,000 New York City police officers, many of them armed with rifles and leading bomb-sniffing dogs, will flood New York's subway system, commuter trains and Penn Station, the nation's busiest train terminal, which lies just below the convention center.

Another 5,000 officers will patrol New York streets, the giant round arena of the Madison Square Garden convention site, city bridges, tunnels, hotels, landmarks and the sites of protests that are scheduled to be staged all over Manhattan....Some of these officers will carry hand-held radiation detectors. Others will be screening cars randomly for explosive devices.....Swaths of major thoroughfares in midtown Manhattan, including Seventh and Eighth avenues, will be closed to traffic for hours at a time....

Madison Square Garden will be surrounded by concrete walls and 6-foot- tall metal mesh barriers. Delivery trucks and some 200 buses that will shuttle delegates and reporters to the site will stop between two metal walls, where video cameras will inspect their undercarriages for bombs. People entering the site will have to go through metal detectors and leave behind even unlikely potential weapons like hairspray, bottled water and umbrellas, which "could be used in an improper manner inside the convention."

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Besides, we'd rather save our money to go to the October 1 Vote for Change Concert in Philadelphia. If anyone can help us out with tickets, we'd be very, very grateful.