The Emma Goldman Youth & Homeless Outreach Project has leased a new facility at 1015 4th Avenue which will house a thrift shop called Emma’s Closet where donations not applicable to street life will be sold. The proceeds of these sales will support EGYHOP’s community outreach efforts. These efforts include provision of warm clothing, blankets or sleeping bags, medical attention, and a familiar, friendly face to those who need them.

EGYHOP’s bike project will be housed in the basement of the facility. EGYHOP Bike Project provides free bikes to low/no income people.

Please drop by to see the new facility and hear more about our plans. We look forward to your visit.

For more info (360) 791-2241 or EGYHOP

This grass roots organization survives totally on the support of the community; we spread the love that our community donates to EGYHOP.

Pre-flight.

Sitting and sitting and sitting. That’s what traveling is all about. I sat in molasses traffic for what seemed like days on the way to the airport. Now here I am sitting in the airport bar, waiting to go sit on a plane to take me to another airport where I get to sit some more just to sit on another plane. Then when I arrive in Halifax I get to sit through a conference. Then all of that travel sitting gets repeated. No wonder Americans are so fat; all of our technological advancements go towards making sure we can sit on our asses everywhere we go. We literally fly by the seat of our pants, traveling thousands of miles without working a single muscle except our jaws. On the television here at the Sea-Tac Bar is an eating contest, grown men shoveling cold cuts into their mouths hand-over-fist. This should be shocking but it’s not, I see this same behavior everyday in the news. Gluttonous nihilistic expansionism has infected every facet of our society and it makes me ill. That’s what eating like that can do.

Closing are the Lacey Cinemas (eight screens) and the Capital Mall 4. Both will close Thursday, Aug. 25. A local church will acquire the Lacey Cinemas space this year. The fate of the Capital Mall space (which is actually inside the mall) is not decided. Century Theaters, however, has announced plans to build a 14-screen theater on the mall campus.

Welcome to OlyBlog. We look forward to hearing what you have to say.

There are several ways to submit content to the site. In order to allow Rick (your humble blog administrator) to have some kind of a life, please choose type of submission channel that best fits with your purpose. Here are the choices:

• Events
  You can let others know about an event by clicking on "create content" and then "event" on the navigation bar along the right side of the blog. Set the day and time with the menus, then add a description of the event in the text field.
• News Stories
  You can report a news story by clicking on "create content" and then "story" on the navigation bar. This channel is appropriate for content that will be posted on the front page.
• Personal Blog Entries
  You can document your thoughts, track an ongoing event, or have conversations with a subgroup by clicking on "create content" and then "blog entry" on the navigation bar. This will allow you to collect your content in one place that others can access. If blog posts are particularly interesting to the whole community, they can be promoted to the front page.
• Forums
  The forums are for specific topics, such as discussion of city council issues, or commenting on how the Olympian is covering the news.

Here is a quick primer on how to use html codes to make your text readable.

html code uses angle brackets to hide the commands so that we don't have to look at them when the text is posted. Here is the left bracket "<" (above the comma on most keyboards), and the right one ">" (above the period). All codes go between the left and right brackets with no spaces. Ok. Here are the codes (I can't include the brackets with the examples below -- you wouldn't be able to see them!):

• "p" is to start a new paragraph. Use "/p" to end a paragraph.
• "u" is to underline text. You must use "/u" to turn the underline off.
• "br" causes a line break.
• "i" puts text in italics. As with underline, use "/i" to turn italics off.

Replace all the quotes with the left and right brackets, and you'll be coding in html. Use the "preview" function to see how your posts look before you submit them. This should allow you to create basic text that looks ok. If you want to try more fancy codes, go here for more information.

I hope someone with more information will add to this post. The OMJP is planning a one day peace march on September 23rd, from Olympia to Ft. Lewis ending in a rally at the base at 6 pm.

Labor leaders downcast on movement's holiday

BY JIM SZYMANSKI AND ROLF BOONE

On this Labor Day, amid the barbecues, beer and merriment of a holiday, state labor leaders are searching their souls about the state and future of the union movement.

Boeing Machinists are striking against a backdrop of an overall state work force that is 80 percent nonunion. Gasoline prices are at record highs, eating into family budgets, and health care premiums continue to rise as state labor leaders gird for a slow, long-haul campaign to win back the relevancy of workers uniting to improve their lots in life rather than succeeding or failing on their own.

"Anyone who's out there eating hot dogs or carrying balloons on Labor Day ought to be thinking differently," said David Rolf, president of the 28,000-member Service Employees International Union, Local 775, in Seattle.

"Labor unions today," he said, "are totally irrelevant to entire sectors of our economy."

• Government is unionized at a much higher rate (36%) than private labor (8%).
• Two occupational groups -- educational, training, and library occupations and protective service occupations -- had the highest unionized rates in 2004, at about 37% each. (Protective service occupations include fire fighters and police officers.)
• Washington State is above average for total unionized labor (19%).