... Mike Gravel? He was a United States Senator representing Alaska from 1969-1981. He was famous for reading the text of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record in 1971, and also for filibustering against renewing the Vietnam War draft.

Sen. Gravel visited Evergroove during the 1972 campaign and stumped for McGovern. I attended his speech, and what I recall the most was that he would make a reference to himself as a "Superdove" about every other minute. I even had the opportunity to chat with him a little bit about Alaska politics since I had family connections in the Alaska Democratic Party, but it was the punch he gave to his self-description that sticks.

He had a thin political base in Alaska. In being elected to the Senate he defeated Ernest Gruening in the primary, it was a surprise upset, and many Democrats up there never quite forgave Gravel for it. To many far Left and antiwar Democrats, Sen. Gruening was admired for having the wisdom to be one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. And although Gravel's political views matched the far Left checklist, the perception was that Sen. Gravel was mostly concerned with the career of Sen. Gravel.

The ego-driven agenda isn't really all that unusual in the life of a senator, but in his case he eschewed the unwritten rule that if you are not modest, you should at least have the decency to pretend to be. For example, he nominated himself to be McGovern's running mate at the 1972 convention. In some ways, I sort of admire this unvarnished grandstanding.

Well, it looks like we'll get a chance to see more of it. Mike Gravel, who turns 76 on May 13, announced last month that he is running in the Democratic Party primaries for President. Yes, of the United States. He just came out of nowhere and I welcome his entrance into the race. The more, the merrier. A senior citizen ex-Senator with nothing to lose will hopefully rock the boat enough to force the mainstream guys to stop talking like moderate Republicans. It would be nice to have two parties again.

In a bit of ironic justice, Gravel was defeated in the 1980 primary election by Clark Gruening, grandson of Ernest.

Gravel's P2008 website: http://gravel08.us/

The Olympian:

With the cost of running the city climbing faster than revenue, budget cuts are becoming an annual event and officials say they cannot afford to spend as much on Lakefair.

In 2003, the festival lost its biggest sponsor when Miller brewery closed.

Read that last sentence and then think about the role of government. Living-wage jobs in Olympia? LOTT forced out about 400 of them, along with the money Miller was extremely generous with regarding community events.

Bringing Global Issues Home

Saturday May 20th 9:30 am - 5:30 pm

The Olympia Center 222 N Columbia Street Olympia

The Olympia Social Forum is being organized by students in the Global Citizenship program at The Evergreen State College to help foster discussions about the future of the South Sound region and its relation to the rest of the United States and the world.

Everyone with an interest in the local region -- and beyond -- is welcome! Please join us for presentations and community discussion.

The program will include informative panels and workshops covering a range of topics. Although the final program may change slightly, we are currently planning sessions related to Fair Trade, Education and Global Issues, Activism and Citizen Skills, Health and Welfare, Sustainability, War and Peace and several others. Attendees also will have the opportunity to learn more about local organizations.

Keynote presentation by community leaders:

Explorations in Community Participation and Leadership: News and Views from Two Continents

• Jim Diers, http://home.comcast.net/~jimdiers/bio.html Community Builder, former Director of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods
  
• Gilson Schwartz, Director of the City of Knowledge, http://www.cidade.usp.br/ , University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
  

For more information see http://www.olysocialforum.org/ Or send email to contact@olysocialforum.org

The Olympia Social Forum is modeled on the World Social Forum that has been convened annually since 2001. A social forum provides a space where people who are concerned about the future of their communities can share concerns, ideas, information, and strategies for making another world possible.