Goldy takes the Olympian to the woodshed for its coverage of Mark Wilson's campaign.

From HorsesAss.Org:

Hmm. If I ran a futile, joke campaign for the US Senate, would The Olympian cover it? Probably… yeah… because my futile, joke campaigns tend to be kinda funny, as opposed to Mark Wilson, whose campaigns tend to be just, um… futile. Still, The Olympian apparently took Wilson seriously enough to give him some ink today for his campaign against Sen. Maria Cantwell in the Democratic primary, so I suppose it’s only fair to read what he has to say, and take him at his word.

Here's another souce for more background on the legislation that is up in congress right now. There's not much we can do given that our state delegation is supporting internet neutrality. But if you know anyone in Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming....

From TPMCafe:

Admittedly, it hasn’t become a problem yet. But to think it won’t become one is to ignore 100 years of history of anti-competitive behavior by the phone companies. And it was a mere six weeks or so from the time the FCC issued its ill-fated decision to the time when Ed Whitacre, the CEO of (then-SBC) now AT&T issued his famous manifesto attacking Google and other Web sites for “using my pipes (for) free.” They don’t, by the way.

Here’s the inside baseball: A couple of weeks ago, a courageous band of legislators tried to stop the madness in Subcommittee. Ed Markey, Rick Boucher, Anna Eshoo and Jay Inslee proposed some good language to protect the Internet. For their troubles, they just got four more votes, other than theirs. Just three Democrats, other than the sponsors, voted for it. Only one Republican voted for it. When we talk about special interest giveaways, this one will be at the top of the list. And we won’t have only Republicans to blame.

The House Commerce Committee is likely to vote as early as Wednesday on legislation that would essentially hand over the keys to the Internet to the giant telcos...The nation's largest telephone and cable companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner -- want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all...They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video -- while slowing down or blocking their competitors...www.SavetheInternet.com

PLATO Royalty Lecture Series presents: Using Semantic Components to Facilitate Access to Government Documents

Tuesday, April 25, 4-5:30, LH 5

Lois Delcambre

Professor, Computer Science Department
Portland State University

The Digital Government Program at the National Science Foundation seeks to “… innovatively, effectively, and broadly address through research the potential improvement of agency, interagency, and intergovernmental operations and/or government/citizen interaction. Such research is expected to enable the generation and use of a continuous stream of advanced information technologies for early adoption and integration in the Federal information systems community.

Come watch the video "The Power of the Sun" followed by a guest speaker. Mark Pigman from Tacoma Power will be discussing the controversy surrounding the potential of solar power as a viable form of renewable energy. Come join the Chemistry Club for this thought provoking presentation!

The Willi Unsoeld Seminar is bringing noted author and psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton to The Evergreen State College on Tuesday, April 25th at 8 p.m. The free event takes place in the Communications Building Recital Hall at Evergreen’s Olympia campus. It is open to the public.

The annual lecture series, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, honors Willi Unsoeld, leader of the first American expedition to reach the summit of Mt. Everest on May 22, 1963. A philosopher, theologian and mountaineer, Unsoeld was a founding member of the Evergreen faculty. He died in an avalanche on Mount Rainier in March 1979.

This year’s speaker, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, has spent his life trying to understand the horror and violence that is an undeniable part of human experience. Following September 11, 2001, he undertook a study of Islamist apocalyptic violence and American responses to 9/11, culminating in his 2003 book Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World.

His newest book, Crimes of War – Iraq, coedited with Richard Falk and Irene Gendzier, was published in February 2006.

Lifton is lecturer in psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance, and distinguished professor emeritus of psychiatry and psychology at The City University of New York. He was formerly director of The Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and had previously held the Foundations’ Fund Research Professorship of Psychiatry at Yale University for more than two decades.

Lifton’s work fits in well with the philosophy of Willi Unsoeld. “For me, the ultimate goal of all education is to help people treat each other better,

In 1924 a "local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan had received its charter from the national headquarters in Atlanta and.....the Olympia sheet-wearers made their presence known by constructing a 100 by 50 foot cross of old auto tires on the hillside above Deschutes waterway and setting it afire, while shooting off parachute bombs with American flags.".

Gordon R. Newell, Rogues, Buffoons, & Statesmen quoted by Rebecca Christie, Workingman's Hill, pg. 142

I saw a Red-winged Blackbird near the fourth ave bridge recently, first I noticed a bold flash of red, then I noticed that the bird otherwise was black.....and yes, I figured it out. Red-winged Blackbird. The bird sang loudly then flew off and gave me a chance to see it in flight.

The red shoulders tell us that the bird was male and I'm learning more about the bird through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site. Now that I've read that the male Red-winged Blackbird is quite fierce about territory I am glad that it did not see me as a threat.

• The male Red-winged Blackbird fiercely defends his territory during the breeding season. He may spend more than a quarter of all the daylight hours in territory defense. He vigorously keeps all other males out of the territory and defends the nests from predators. He will attack much larger animals, including horses and people.