From "The Conversation:"

...23 people were arrested yesterday at the Port of Tacoma while protesting the shipment of Stryker brigade vehicles to Iraq. The protests and arrests have been going on for a week. We'll talk to a protester to find out what they want.

Listen to the show here.

Doug Mah is an Olympia City Council member. He is running for mayor. I don't want him to be mayor. I can honestly say that I'd rather have Bush as president for four more years than Doug Mah as mayor.

That aside, what qualifies a person to be mayor? What do you look for in a mayor?

One thing I look for is personality. A mayor must be personable. I think a mayor should also spend time downtown. Among the people. Shaking hands, hanging out, shopping, eating, etc.

Over the years I've seen Mayor Foutch out and about quite often, taking part in a wide variety of what downtown has to offer. I've seen Doug Mah once. Not that I've been watching out for him, but still, only once.

So, Olybloggers, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is this: Find Doug Mah. Where does he hang out? Eat? Shop? Play? If we really want to know the kind of person he is, these things are key. Is he a Wal-Mart shopper? Starbucks drinker? I don't know. But I want to.

So snap a picture of Doug Mah in his natural environment. I'm not talking about a photo op or a candidate's forum, I'm talking about Doug Mah hanging out. Doing his thing, in public.

Be sure to tell us where you saw him, where he spends his money will tell us a lot about him.

There will be prizes, to be announced later.

GO US!!!

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Emery "Lee" Martin desperately wanted to see a Veterans Affairs doctor for injuries suffered in Iraq last year.

His time at the helm of bulldozers and other big machines left the 49-year-old Charlotte man with debilitating pain in his shoulders and arms. Close calls with roadside bombs and bullets - AK-47 rounds zipped between his legs on one occasion - left him with mental scars.

In October, he applied to see a Veterans Affairs doctor. He said the agency lost his paperwork - twice.

More than three months later, and still no word from the VA, the N.C. Army National Guard soldier showed up unannounced at the VA hospital in Salisbury. Nearly five hours later, he left with a bottle of pills to ease his physical pain. He said no one talked to him about possible side effects.

The medicine soon caused him to urinate blood, he said. At a follow-up visit in February, the VA changed his medication and scheduled his next appointment - Aug. 16. "We're getting shoved to the back," he said, "and no one wants to deal with us."

READ MORE HERE

Police claimed that barricades were thrown at them during the protest on 1/10/07. This claim is false. It was reported that it happened just before protesters were tear-gassed. But as you can see, nothing involving barricades happened just before that. The whole footage could be uploaded to prove this point, which was running the entire time. However, this videos shows 5--6 minutes before the tear-gassing.

Since the justification for tear-gassing was based on the claim that sawhorses were thrown at police, and that didn't in fact happen, it appears Tacoma Police are once again lying about the events that have happened at this protest.

King5 is apprectiated for getting both sides of the story here. They're trying to be objective about this. However, since my camera was in fact running the entire time protesters were at this particular place (about 30 minutes) and these barricades remain in the same exact place, I have concluded that the police are in fact mistaken about their justification for gassing protesters.

UPDATE: This is how confident I am that no barricades were thrown at police:

I spoke PERSONALLY to Detective Graham, the officer interviewed on King5, and told him I had full footage and recorded NO barricades thrown at police.

Detective Graham wasn't at the protest. He told reporters what he read on a report that a riot officer had issued. I told him to make that report public and he said he would.

'We called it Hurricane FEMA'
Trailer park in Louisiana quickly emptied by federal agents

 

HAMMOND, La. - Shortly after noon, FEMA agents began rapping on the trailer doors, their knocks resounding inside the tinny white homes. Everyone in the park, the agents announced without warning, would have to pack and leave within 48 hours.

The rest of the article can be found here.

What stood out for me was the neighbors' reactions to the FEMA camps. These weren't your "standard" homeless camps, they were people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Not people whose drug and alcohol lifestyle took over their lives, not people too lazy to get a job. Not registered sex offenders unable to find a place to live.

They were normal people made homeless by a natural disaster, an Act of God if you well, and communities did not want this "blight" in their backyard.

There is more video to be found here.

To: Cathie Butler, City of Olympia
From: Deborah Vinsel, TCTV
Date: March 6, 2007
RE: City WI-FI Project – DRAFT PROPOSAL

Thank you for asking TCTV to assist with the City of Olympia’s Wi-Fi project. This is an exciting opportunity to bring new technology to our residents. I see this unfolding in three phases:

Phase I – Research March 15 – June 30, 2007

TCTV will convene the WiFi Advisory Committee (W.A.C.), a diverse group consisting of 6 to 10 people who are knowledgeable about computer and internet technology, community focused, understand potential regulatory issues, and can represent the business community and the citizens of Olympia. Care will be taken to include representatives from local internet providers, educational community, technology ‘wizards’ and other interested parties. The purpose of the committee will be to provide the City Council with the information necessary to make an informed decision regarding the deployment of a WiFi system.

During this phase, the W.A.C. will research and compile information about WiFi system architecture, regulatory issues if any, emerging technology to be considered, and project models used in other communities for the construction, operation, and management of a Wi-Fi system. The Committee will also survey council members, city staff, residents, and business owners about their needs relative to this technology.

* POSSIBLE SPOILERS *

Lazarescu is a pensioner living alone with three cats which he adores. (A fact that immediately drew me to liking him.) He had surgery for an ulcer fourteen years before. The evening of the movie is the fourth that he's been unable to keep food down. He also has an ulcerated leg and a migraine is starting to creep in. He calls an ambulance and is accused of being sick from drinking.

He took a pill and immediately threw it up. (This is what hit painfully close to home and guaranteed I'd be sympathetic to the character throughout the movie.)

Only when his neighbor gets involved and calls the ambulance for him does one finally arrive. From there Lazarescu is taken from one hospital to the next, being cast off for various reasons while his condition gradually deteriorates. The only person who cares is the ambulance nurse who refuses to abandon him.

At the first hospital the doctor diagnoses the problem by smelling his breath. He refuses to do any tests and lectures Lazarescu on the evils of drinking, asking out loud why doctors should bother fixing him if he'll only continue to undo their work.

The third hospital was probably the most frustrating. There the doctors and hospital staff were egotistical and rude. When the ambulance nurse (who had this cool Romanian name and which I can't find since IMDB is running slow) tried to offer the CT Scans and preliminary findings from the second hospital, along with her own guess based on 22 years as a nurse, she's told off and dressed down by a first-year resident and a surgeon more interested in taking it easy on a graveyard shift. He insists on getting a verbal authorization to operate from Lazarescu even though at this point he's listless and incoherent.