Salmon are far more important to you, whoever you are, than the construction of new housing developments or box stores. They are far more important than oil-filled supertankers, the clearing of more forests or even the expansion of the freeway system. When salmon fill the rivers, the coastal waters and the Sound, they carry a message of sustainable prosperity, well-being and cultural strength—for everyone.

Listen To The Salmon by Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Iraqi journalist, translator, human rights activist Eman Ahmad Khamas will speak at two venues in Olympia on Friday, March 17:

• 12:30 PM
  The Evergreen State College
  SEM II - D1107
  
  
• 7:30 PM
  United Churches
  110 11th Ave SE (11th and Capitol Way)

"The occupation should end immediately. It’s something wrong. It’s wrong for the Iraqis, for the Americans, for the world, for peace, for international law -- everything. It’s wrong. It has to end now."

--Eman Khamas on Democracy Now!

Eman Khamas is a journalist, translator and human rights activist who lives in Baghdad with her husband and two daughters. She is a member of the Women's Will organization, which focuses on defining and defending women's rights outside of political party interests and opposing incarceration of women as hostages. Khamas regularly publishes articles on women's conditions in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, and has documented human rights violations committed by US and Iraqi forces. She is also involved in mobilizing emergency relief (medicines, food and clothing) for victims of the war, especially women and children living in refugee camps.

Khamas arrived in the US on March 5, as part of a delegation of Iraqi women who have taken great risks to come and tell you their stories. Find out what you aren't being told by the warmakers and their press stenographers.

For more information, contact the Evergreen Women's Resource Center, 867-6162

Melissa created this image to represent diversity and inclusiveness in the community. She needs help raising funds for printing signs and stickers. Contact her at melbobs2000 "at" yahoo.com to find out how to contribute to this project.

I take offense to this hatred of Hope Floats. Taken for what it is...a hopeless romantic unrealistic movie that never would consider an oscar nod.... it is what it is. Just that...a hopless romantic unrealistic movie... What exactly is wrong with a brief indulgance into romance now and again? Sometimes we all need an escape. Something to take our mind off the rain, the war, our checkbooks, our current terrible relationships, homelessness, injustice, the roundabouts, the lack of fish in capitol lake.... Maybe we just want to excape for a minute or an hour. Nobody says you have to watch the movie.... Maybe we want to watch to reset our romance clock... our mom's have told us that nothing ever turns out like it does on t.v. Maybe we can identify with the newly divorced character who is devastated by her husband's cheating, leaves him and moves back to her hometown to suffer with depression and attempt to start a new life and raise her daughter alone. No, it doesn't mean we are going to believe that the handsome handyman working on Mom's house is going to turn out to be a man (or woman) we went to high school with who is going to fall in love with us and whisk us off to his newly built house and save us from it all. And no it doesn't mean we think this movie had any social merit other than to entertain us for a brief stint... Once in awhile we like to be told a fairy tell if you will. To get lost in some romance. You should try it some time.... slip it in there amongst your 'Dogma' and your war movies, you know the ones that leave you depressed and sick to your stomach for days.... try something happy... that you can't find at the comic store. Or don't... but don't hate those of us who like a little romance now and then....it's what we watch when we are waiting for you to bring us flowers or take us to the beach or write us poetry. ;)

Waterbuster is a documentary work-in-progress that will challenge stereotypes, question the popular history of the Native American and open the door for debate on the issue of Indian identity and place in our country today.

Simply put, the Hidatsa, Mandan and Arikara people of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota had successfully managed their collective culture and identity well into the 20th century. They were self-sufficient, financially sound, hard-working and their homes and towns were like any other in the Midwest. Despite outward appearances, they continued to speak their languages, participate in ceremonies and adhere to their clan system of lineage, responsibilities and extended family associations. Sadly, this balanced community would cease to exist after the construction of the Garrison Dam. All told, 156,000 acres of fertile reservation bottomlands would be lost and 4,000 residents from seven towns would be scrambling for their lives.

One such person was Elizabeth Grinnell, my maternal grandmother.

Copyright 2005, Brave Boat Films

I'm thinking about starting a downtown chapter of Drinking Liberally. Drinking Liberally is an informal, inclusive progressive drinking club. Drinking Liberally gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to talk politics. You don't need to be a policy expert and this isn't a book club - just a place to learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustration and hang out in an environment where it's not taboo to talk politics.

If you're interested, please take this poll. If you have an idea about a good venue, let me know in the comments.

Sunday, 3:00

Sunday 5:00

Tuesday 7:00

Wednesday 7:00

Thursday 7:00

If you live in Olympia, you are in Washington's 3rd Congressional District. Your congressional representative in Washington D.C. is Brian Baird. Rep. Baird has recently been involved with two issues that I thought you might like to know about.

• House Resolution 688: 72 hrs. Online Resolution.

• Political Intelligence.

The first resolution would require that all bills be available online for the public to read prior to passage. The second would stop the leaking of financially significant information out of legislative committies to Wall St., where lobbyists make big bucks, kicking some back to their source in congress. Both these issues would help make government work better.

Here's what the Olympian thinks about the 72 hr. Online Resolution.