This highly accessible park, just South of SPSCC, offers a great vista of Mt. Rainier, and much of the surrounding region. Check it out!

I posted some other pictures from up there on the hill, here: my blog

another note: I am used to working with cable internet. If the file size is too large and burdens dial-up connections, please let me know.

Do a Google web search on olympia caiman and OlyBlog comes up on the first page of results, at #8. Frightening.

Lo, the end is nigh.

Order for the Border

Another view on borders is provided by Humane Borders. They supply emergency water stations along the U.S - Mexico border. Recently in The Humane Borders Blog there is a discussion of Bush's recent border speeches.

(I used the word "border" how many times for this?)

"PARIS, France (CNN) -- French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has said if Iran does not accept Europe's current proposal aimed at preventing that country from acquiring a nuclear weapons program 'we will have to go then to the Security Council.'"

Article continued...

There will be an OMJP meeting tomorrow, Nov. 30, at the Olympia Community Center at 7:00. The meeting was moved from the usual date because of the holidays.

Here's a draft agenda. Please add other items if you have them.

The Library of Congress has just come out with an online color photo exhibition Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943.

These photos aren't specifically local, but do give a sense of our country during that time.

Bound for Glory: America in Color is the first major exhibition of the little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America's rural and small town populations, the nation's subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country's great mobilization for World War II.

Search The Library of Congress American Memory for local items. Just the quick check I have done so far with words like Olympia, Nisqually, Squaxin, is turning up quite a bit.

At any rate, I found this article pretty interesting. Although I think political correctness is out of control, I thought it to be equally ridiculous for New Zealand's National Party to create a "PC-czar."

In New Zealand two airlines, Qantas and and Air New Zealand, have a policy which prohibits a male passenger from being seated next to an unaccompanied minor. As far as I am aware both are privately held companies, thus they should be free to implement whatever policy they deem to be fit.

This does not mean, though, that I think the policy makes much sense and I think it's a broader part (as mentioned in the article) about what's taking place in society today. The current divorce system in the U.S., along with child custody rights in Western countries, is overwhelmingly in favor of women, sometimes regardless of what each parent actually brings to the table.

Men in this country are being taught that to be a male is wrong. It's a feminization of men, if you will. There are a number of articles and books on the subject, so I know I'm far from the only person who has the feeling that this is going on.

The article on airline policies can be found here.

Washington State Health Facts

Quite the detailed source for state health data, clickable heaven, never be at a loss for accurate state health stats again.

Demographics and the Economy, Health Status, Health Coverage and Uninsured, Medicaid, Costs and Budgets, Medicare, Managed Care and Health Insurance, Providers, Minority Health, Women's Health, HIV/AIDS........just the top level of all the detailed info.