There will be a nonviolence/civil disobedience training this Sunday from 10am until 6pm in the SEM II E wing, third floor.

Attached to this message is the Nonviolent Direct Action / Civil Resistance Training Flyer. [pdf file]

[via email (and endorsed by me):]

Olympia and Iraq: Help Break the Link

So, you are opposed to the ongoing occupation of Iraq . You have written and called your senators and congressman, attended protests and rallies, and talked to all of your friends. The hope you had last November that the new Democratic majority would reverse course is rapidly fading as you watch Congress debate non-binding resolutions that the President has vowed to ignore as he pushes forward with an escalation of an additional 21,500 troops. You are probably asking yourself what more you can do to end this national nightmare.

Here is an answer: Act locally to end our community’s participation!

The Campaign

Olympia Port Militarization Resistance (OlyPMR) has launched a campaign to end our community’s participation in the illegal occupation of Iraq by stopping the US military’s use of the Port of Olympia . The immediate goal of the campaign is to prevent a Ft. Lewis Stryker brigade from using the Port of Olympia to deploy to Iraq as part of Bush’s planned escalation of the conflict.

OlyPMR intends to achieve its goal through a continuum of actions that includes public education, lobbying key elected officials, non-violent civil disobedience to prevent equipment from reaching the Port and being loaded onto a ship, and a Festival of Life to celebrate our community’s commitment to peace and justice.

OlyPMR has adopted a statement of non-violence to guide the campaign.

Well, that is a start-- could we declare unconditionally that animals are at least defined (in a legal sense) as "poor" in that animals have no money/capital?

This applies to folks as well...

So, let-us as a community design curving concrete walls that have a continuous bench shelf suitable for slumber.  Make these curving walls planters for nice plants, and a source of clean water on the ends of these "berms" to use a term...

These curving, sheltered, continuous benches are heated during cold times so as to make it viable to sleep in sleeping bags/blankets.

 I think that without a place to wash clothes & attend to personal hygiene in privacy (lavatory & place to bathe/shower)…have a mirror, etc…that it would be really hard, but at least starting with a sleeping structure that would work could help--

Michael Chertoff's response to federal TSA employees trying to unionize?

...allowing screeners to unionize would impede the department's quick response to possible threats. Fast redeployment of screeners, such as in response to Hurricane Rita and the failed London plot to blow up airliners, cannot wait for negotiations, he said.

Chertoff said screeners are as much on the front lines in the war against terror as military troops.

"Marines don't collectively bargain over whether they're going to wind up, you know, being deployed in Anbar province or in Baghdad," Chertoff told reporters after a briefing with senators. "We can't negotiate over terms and conditions of work that goes to the heart of our ability to move rapidly in order to deal with the threats that are emerging."