The day and actions were all successful. Overall, the events can be taken as a testament to the effectiveness of non-violent direct action.

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Here is a picture from the event:

Thurston Marriage Equality
Equal Rights Washington
Love is Love is Love

Religious objections to same sex marriage should not apply when discussing legal marriage. We are not asking people to change their religious beliefs. Access to legal marriage is completely unrelated to the right of religious institutions to decide whom they will marry, just as various religious institutions have always made those decisions in regard to heterosexual couples. No church or other religious institution will be required to perform a ceremony for a same sex couple, although many religious denominations do perform marriages for same-sex couples and have done so for many years.

The Green Pages annual meeting is happening Wednesday, February 8 at 7 p.m. This is your opportunity to learn more about the Green Pages and volunteer your skills on a locally produced environmentally focused community newspaper.

The meeting will introduce Green pages and its non-profit publisher, the South Puget Environmental Education Clearinghouse (also known as SPEECH). Current volunteers and newspaper staff will engage participants in a discussion about the future of the paper and form a group of editors, writers, and other volunteers that will regularly meet to shape each issue.

SPEECH volunteers will also introduce the paper's new writers fund, which is an opportunity for local writers to make a little pocket money by covering local issues.

The meeting will take place at Traditions Fair Trade at 300 5th Ave. SW in downtown Olympia. For more information, contact SPEECH at (360) 786-6349 or speech (at) zhonka.net.

If you're interested in volunteering, please contact Keith Cotton at kdeebina (at) qwest.net

Here is a movie recommendation for DD, who is going to have a hard time in the future when all the "homos" win. This movie should help you adjust to what's in store.

Warning: the following post concerns national politics, and is only indirectly related to Olympia.

John Aravosis at AMERICAblog has an analysis of the appointment of Rep. Clyburn to be the Democratic point person on upcoming ethics investigations. This seems like a bad idea, given that Clyburn is potentially implicated in these same scandals:

First, we have Nancy Pelosi announcing the choice of Cong. Clyburn to run the ethics battle:

Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, the newly and unanimously elected Chairman of the Democratic Caucus who has lived his life with a commitment to a high ethical standard, will head the Clean House Team.

Then we have NPR confirming that Clyburn has his own ethics accusations to deal with:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay isn't the only politician facing ethics charges. South Carolina's James Clyburn and Mississippi's Bennie Thompson, both Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus, also had to answer tough questions last week. In 1997, both men traveled to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth. The trip -- and an earlier trip to the Marianas by two associates of DeLay -- appears to have been paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It is a violation of House ethics to accept gifts from a registered lobbyist. Abramoff is now the subject of a federal corruption probe.

And finally, as would be expected, the National Republican Congressional Committee blasts Pelosi for picking someone to lead the ethics reform battle who themselves is under an ethical cloud:

Clyburn, however, had been connected to the very lobbyist around whom Democrats are building their "clean up Congress" campaign - Jack Abramoff. In 1997, Abramoff paid for a trip costing more than $10,000 that Clyburn took to the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. (Roll Call, 5/5/05)

What is it with these people? Are they so suicidal that they insist on shooting themselves in the foot every single chance they get? What possible reason could there be to appoint Clyburn to this position, let alone keep him there now that we all know he's got his own explaining to do regarding Abramoff?

Read it for yourself, and let Brian Baird know how you feel about it.

It is said that in ancient Egypt, a clay crocodile was strapped to a person's head to relieve their migraines.

We can add this to our list of possible caiman benefits for Olympia. Several business opportunities are ripe: caiman meat products, caiman skin boots and other leather goods, along with caimans complete with head strap to be worn during migraines.

Imagine the dining and fashion possibilities.

Two restaurants at Capital Mall, Thai Garden and Olive's East, will be closing soon. Their leases end in February. For a new lease they would have to move to The Promenade, where construction is underway now, plus their rent would more than triple.

Triple. Both of those businesses at that location will be missed by many.

Two restaurants exit mall spots

There is a nice breakdown of the poll from the FFN that came out last week from Marry in Massachusetts:

In the family of nations, the U.S. remains right leaning. Massachusetts and Vermont though have been slowly changing minds. Each has a multi-year history of SSM or civil unions. Both have extremely low divorce rates.

If there is an argument and conclusion here, it would be that SSM strengthens marriage. At at time when the rest of the nation is seeing a long-term (far predating SSM) decline in marriage and increase in divorce, that should be welcome news to traditionalists.

This hightlights the question that no one who opposes SSM seems to be able to answer: Why does marriage need protection from serious and committed people who what to participate in it?

I received the following via email:

I'm in Columbia SC (home of Fort Jackson) I want to know how to contact Mark Moore,the CO. We have Quaker Community here and want to be available to support him if he returns here. Would like to do an interview for Carolina Peace resourse Center can you help us find him or fwd this information and ask him to contact me?

Sara Williams
803 237 3322
email also swilliams1238@sc.rr.com
or sara@carolinapeace.org