The Olympia Poetry Network presents Jane Alynn for a reading at Traditions Fair Trade Cafe. As usual open mic will be the first 40 minutes.

Traditions Cafe & World Folk Art

Ok, this is a trick. I'm not blogging about Creedence Clearwater Revival. But now that I have your attention, I need to warn you about the other CCR-- Caiman Consumption Rate .

Math has never really been my best subject. During my school years in math class I was usually looking out the window or sitting in the back row drawing cartoons. Taking that into account, if I have a correct reading of the caiman literature , it would take about 750 adult caimans only a year to consume the entire population of Olympia. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot more than 750 of those critters roaming around here.

Now that they removed that protective fence from the shores of the Fetid Lake of Doom , coupled with the hot weather, the risk factor has gone up. I'm just offering this as an OlyBlog public service announcement.

Courtesy CNN 

The sci-fi adventure "Transformers" had an unprecedented Tuesday haul of $27.4 million in its official debut, beating a record of $15.7 million set last year by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"It's the biggest Tuesday ever," said Mike Vollman, spokesman for Paramount, which released "Transformers" along with fellow Viacom Inc. unit DreamWorks. "It's playing very broadly. It's the kind of summer movie that's drawing families and we're very excited for its progress going into the rest of the weekend."

Read more here

Last week I had the experience of flying across America nonstop on a beautiful and clear day. As I gazed down upon our great land I saw that it is time to revisit one of those New Deal projects that has been pretty much forgotten-- The Map Boundary Works Project (MBWP).

This was a project that employed thousands of Americans during the worst years of the Great Depression. They drew big black lines where state boundaries existed. From the air it was easy to see political divisions, and on the ground it helped solve several boundary disputes and allowed law enforcement officers to know exactly where their jurisdictions began and ended. There was, of course, no effort to draw black boundaries where water formed state lines (that would be just plain silly), but otherwise every border was eventually drawn into the soil across all 48 states. I'm not sure how they did it or what technology was used.

Well today it is sad to see almost all of these lines have faded. I could see faint traces of a few between South Dakota and Minnesota, and the Ohio State Legislature maintains a short strip with Indiana for historical interest and curious tourists. I have fond memories of my parents proudly showing me about a quarter mile of the line between Washington and Idaho, not far from Spokane, when I was a child in the 1950s. Today that line, like almost all the others, has vanished due to the elements or encroaching development.

With the 2008 election coming up, I think it would be a good idea to ask the candidates about the possibility of bringing back this project and then vote accordingly.

It appears that global warming is bad enough that Al Gore's children are living it up like it's the end of the world.

A picture being worth 1,000 words

Photo Courtesy of AP

I love my nations and it's symbols!

Here's a new take on Independence Day that you probably haven't heard. From Howard Zinn on AlterNet:

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Is not nationalism -- that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder -- one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?

These ways of thinking -- cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on -- have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

photo by Chaney

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