This is the week to send in your dollar and to get your name on the ballot. If you're a Donkey or an Elephant, you have this week send in your paperwork to become the bedrock of democracy, the Prescinct Committee Officer.

The Olympia Library Board is (heading to being) dead. Long live the Olympia Library Board.

I sat in on the Olympia City Council's General Goverment Committee meeting this afternoon at the library. After a broad discussion of our library, the committee (Joe Heyer, TJ Johnson and Jeff Kingsbury) decided to recommend to the city council to end the library board, which hasn't been active in four years. And, when it was active, it was apparently a strange creation.

While folks on the board wanted to be involved in some way in terms of influencing the services provided at the library, and there was a mandate to comment on services to the council, the council's only role was in terms of the library building itself. That relationship, it seems, can be better served by direct contact from the library staff to city Public Works staff and the council.

Also, the role of a library board, in its most broad sense of citizen input into the library, could more effectivly be served by a body underneath the organization of the Timberland Regional Library. The city owns the building, but the TRL runs it.

There already is a very healthy and active Friends of the Olympia Library which could serve this role (and from what I heard, already do in a way), but they are not exactly the most easy to get involved with group. They meet at 10a on Tuesdays, for example.

Jodi Reng suggested the idea of a "Friends auxilary," that would meet at a more convenient time and try to accomplish many of the goals that folks would want to see in a city-sponsored library board. That was a very good suggestion, I thought.

One last note, Ms. Reng also pointed out that for every dollar collected in the city limits of Olympia, $1.87 goes into services (etc...) in the Olympia Library. This is because Oly's library serves as a regional hub for folks coming in from the county and other towns.

2006 Summer Lecture Series
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

Bill Shelmerdine
US Forest Service

Wednesday, July 26
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Visitor Center, Nisqually NWR

This is the fourth of the summer's series of free lectures at Nisqually. The talks are excellent and there isn't a better view in a meeting room in the Northwest. There is no admission (and the usual $3 entrance fee is waived for those attending the lecture), but seating is limited, so arrive early. I usually get there between 6:15 and 6:30 and bring something to read.

*Broadcast Live on KAOS 89.3FM*

Guest Lecture by Vietnam Veteran
Brian Willson

Friday, August 4
Noon – 1 pm
Sem 2, A 1105

The Veterans (Human-Powered) Ride For Peace and Sustainability 2006

“Cycling is a wonderful way to model peak oil transportation alternatives. It is an intrinsically anti-war activity in and of itself, promotes living more sustainably through local community reliance, and encourages physical and mental fitness through practical exercise and eating local organic food.

[via email]

At 11 a.m. Thursday, The Olympian will hold an online chat with state Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, and state Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, about Wednesday morning's gay marriage ruling by the state Supreme Court. Big implications, obviously, for this fall's elections, next year's state Legislature session and even Congress.

Your users can send us questions for Swecker and Murray here.

Thanks.

Christopher Dean Hopkins
Online News Editor, The Olympian

Update: go here to read the filings in the case (Andersen v King Co.).

I thought all of the Citgo's in town were gone but today I went to the 7-eleven by SPSCC and filled up my car with Venezuelan Citgo gas.

To find the closest Citgo to you:  http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp

Read Jeff Cohen's report on his visit to Venezuela.

U.N.: Israeli airstrike hits U.N. observer post

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- An Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations post in the southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing four of the agency's observers, according to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

UNIFIL sent a rescue-and-medical team to the city of Khiyam, and the team was trying to clear rubble early Wednesday. UNIFIL said there were at least 14 incidents of firing close to the post since Tuesday afternoon.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was looking into the report, which came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proposed an ambitious plan in which international military forces would help the Lebanese government stabilize southern Lebanon, Lebanese political sources said.

And this just broken by CNN and confirmed here by The Australian:

UN attack looks deliberate: Annan
From correspondents in Rome
26jul06

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today said he was "shocked" at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post in Lebanon, in which up to four UN observers were killed.

Mr Annan described the strike as a "co-ordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post." He said it took place "despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire."

"Furthermore, General Alain Pelligrini, the UN Force Commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular UN position from attack.

"I call on the Government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop.

I've never really cared for Arlen Spector. He's always seemed like a partisan hack, and as many politicians do, has turned me off quite a bit. Over the last several months however, he's been taking Bush to task over, first, domestic spying, and now, signing statements. Let's hope more politicians start looking out for us against a president who would be emperor.

Specter Prepping Bill to Sue Bush

By LAURIE KELLMAN
July 24, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - A powerful Republican committee chairman who has led the fight against President Bush's signing statements said Monday he would have a bill ready by the end of the week allowing Congress to sue him in federal court. "We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional," Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on the Senate floor.

Specter's announcement came the same day that an American Bar Association task force concluded that by attaching conditions to legislation, the president has sidestepped his constitutional duty to either sign a bill, veto it, or take no action. Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements during his presidency, reserving the right to revise, interpret or disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.

"That non-veto hamstrings Congress because Congress cannot respond to a signing statement," said ABA president Michael Greco. The practice, he added "is harming the separation of powers."

Bush has challenged about 750 statutes passed by Congress, according to numbers compiled by Specter's committee. The ABA estimated Bush has issued signing statements on more than 800 statutes, more than all other presidents combined.

READ THE FULL AP REPORT HERE

I was on The Christian Coalition's website checking out their Voter's scorecard, when I happened upon this. Just wondered what others would think of this.

UNBORN CHILD PAIN AWARENESS ACT
Unborn children can experience pain, and they can certainly respond to touch from outside the womb. Any woman who has been blessed with carrying a baby in the second trimester can tell you this.

I remember my own children kicking and squirming inside of my wife's womb. And my wife certainly remembers feeling their kicks. That unborn child is very much alive. All along, women have been able to feel the child inside of them, but now, science is telling us what the child inside of his or her mother can feel.

Many are unaware of the scientific, medical fact that unborn children can feel, but it is true. Not only can they feel, but their ability to experience pain is heightened. The highest density of pain receptors per square inch of skin in human development occurs in utero from 20 to 30 weeks gestation.

An expert report on fetal development, prepared for the Partial Birth Abortion Ban trials, notes that while unborn children are obviously incapable of verbal expressions, we know that they can experience pain based upon anatomical, functional, physiological and behavioral indicators that are correlated with pain in children and adults.

Unborn children can experience pain. This is why unborn children are often administered anesthesia during in utero surgeries.

Think about the pain that unborn children can experience, and then think about the more gruesome abortion procedures. Of course, we have heard about Partial Birth Abortion, but also consider the D&E abortion. During this procedure, commonly performed after 20-weeks--when there is medical evidence that the child can experience severe pain--the child is torn apart limb from limb. Think about how that must feel to a young human.

From the Olympian:

OLYMPIA - Local disc golf enthusiasts took another step forward to have a course in the area, so they don't have to travel to Fort Steilacoom to play.

Nearly 45 disc golfers and supporters came to the public meeting held at the Olympia Center Monday night, to hear and discuss the possible future of a disc golf facility in Olympia.

"We found out that the city of Olympia really didn't know there was a such an activity and people were interested in this," said Rick Hoonan, president of the South Puget Sound Disc Golf Association. "We would like to have a partnership with the city."