User login

Who's online

There are currently 14 users and 74 guests online.

Online users

  • einmaleins
  • The Fire Inside
  • Guglielmo
  • Mahalia
  • oldtimeydave
  • Dylan Carlson
  • JMK
  • thinwhiteduke
  • Jeanne Marie
  • The Original Yoda

Support OlyBlog

OlyBlog is run by volunteers who care about Olympia. If you like what we're doing, make a donation:

OlyBlog is powered by:

Who's new

  • olympianwatch
  • mpeper
  • BalletArtsOlymp...
  • gail
  • soemone

    Creative Commons License
 
Submitted by Rick on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 11:38pm.
A collection of video of the 2006 Procession of the Species.
»
Submitted by Rick on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 11:36pm.

Just found this on Google video:

»
Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 6:11pm.
I've been an Olyblogger now for 43 weeks and 20 hours. OlyCop is another long-timer here, he's got 38 weeks and 1 day. So we've gotten a chance to read each other along with other Olybloggers for awhile.

OlyCop/Officer John Tupper and I certainly won't agree on everything under the sun, and that is just fine. Because we've both figured out how to find a civil place of agreeing to disagree here. And, through the magic of OlyBlog, we've discovered that the more we listen/read of other folks, the more we learn, the more we figure out that we actually do agree on many things, especially on our love for Olympia.

I appreciate Officer Tupper's voice here on OlyBlog and I can tell other folks do too. I've heard bloggers include "and we even have our own cop" in their list of why they appreciate OlyBlog. So I've especially looked forward to meeting our OlyCop. Thanks to Norm's generous help, I eventually managed to succeed in our Guess Who? game and put actual name to blogging name.

Meeting Officer Tupper was a real treat. We got to sit outside B&B for about a half hour this morning and just talk. I've several ideas from that conversation that I'll eventually write about but for now I want to start the ball rolling. And I want to pass on the word that he is a good guy and worth meeting.
»
Submitted by Rick on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 4:08pm.


Thanks, msaulik!

»
Submitted by The Fire Inside on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 1:29pm.

Watched V for Vendetta last night. Pretty solid movie, especially when "V" is giving a speech over the Emergency Broadcast System and telling the people that if they want to blame someone for why they live under an authoritarian government, they need to look in the mirror.

I think a lot of people here would find it entertaining.

»
Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 12:07pm.
I see them out of the corner of my eye in the evening, quick winged dashes in and out of view. Once I even heard a series of bat squeaks bouncing back and forth between neighborhood buildings.

Bats are beneficial and we have a bat expert here in town. Woodard Bay has a bat colony. The FLoD is a favorite feeding site. A westside route of hundreds of bats flying from roosts to the FLoD has also been mapped.

Bats that show up in the Governor's Mansion are periodically in our local news, back in 1997 Gov. Locke and family all got rabies shots as a precaution after a bat was seen flying over their infant daughter's crib.

Washington State Department of Health and Thurston County Public Health has more information available on bats and rabies. The main message is to leave bats alone, don't touch them, don't handle them.

The organization Bats Northwest has lots of good information too. Summer is the season for bat watching.

Capitol Lake Bats & Bat Walks
»
Submitted by Rick on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 11:45am.
»
Submitted by Rick on Thu, 07/27/2006 - 8:25am.

I've been looking at some of the conversation on omjp since the Supreme Court of the State of Washinton (SCOTSOW) released its opinions on the constitutionality of Washington's Defense of Marriage Act. Here's a sample:

That marriage's main purpose is "procreation" and since straight people do that a little more conveniently than GLBT folks, gay people shouldn't be able to get married. This makes no sense and is just a smokescreen for good old homophobia. Who are these five idiots on our Supreme Court? Are there any good people to vote for to replace any of them in November?

The motivation to exact revenge for this failure to stike down DOMA is understandable -- it is a ridiculous law crafted by extremists and clearly violates the civil rights of gay people (although, to give the court credit, it wasn't asked to rule on whether the law violated civil rights; it was only asked to rule on whether the state had a rational basis for the law, evidently a pretty easy criterion to meet). The whole issue is complicated, however, by the fact that the Building Industry Association of Washinton is trying to stack the SCOTSOW with ideological conservatives:

The BIAW is the most aggressive, and the most ideological, right wing lobby in the Evergreen State. They despise regulation - everything from environmental laws to ergonomics rules.

The BIAW has used the initiative process repeatedly to get voters to repeal worker and environmental protection legislation it opposes. For example, Initiative 841 in 2003.

They are also partisan Republicans. They heavily supported Dino Rossi for Governor in 2004, dumping millions into the race, and stooped to playing dirty tricks on voters last year on Rossi's behalf. The BIAW also sued earlier this year to stop Puget Sound orcas from being listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

It would be supremely unfortunate if the progressive community were to take revenge on particular memebers of the SCOTSOW over gay marraige at the expense of every other issue that progressives care about. And I do not like to contemplate what Thurston County would begin to look like if the BIAW had its way in the courts.

»

OlyBlog.net

OlyBlog is devoted to citizen journalism, including hyperlocal news and discussion specifically about Olympia, Washington. If you care about this community and are tired of corporate media, then this is the place for you.

If you'd like to contribute, please register for an account. Here is a list of local news beats that need to be covered. You can post your news as a personal blog entry, and it will be reviewed (and possibly edited) for promotion to the front page. Once you've established a record of responsible blogging, you can become an autonomous user. You can also send news via email. All members of OlyBlog agree to abide by our comment and fair use policies. If you are frustrated about something said in a comment thread, go here.

Now playing at:

Get Firefox!


More Flickr photos tagged with "olympia" and "washington"

OlyBlog is a site for news and discussion about Olympia, Washington.
free hit counter