I find this an interesting notion.  Let's not touch the illegal alien aspect, although I think someone in this country illegally should not be given it's protections or opportunities.  That is an argument nobody is going to win anytime soon.

It is the notion of "sanctuary" for military deserters that bugs me.  

Last time I checked, the US Military is 100% volunteer.  That means a soldier enlists by his or her own free will.  Someone who enlists of their own free will and later abandons their post for whatever notion of "illegal war" or whatnot should not be given any protection.  If there was a draft on, I might feel different, but when a consenting adult signs a piece of paper, especially in this day and age, they should not be protected if they desert.  

If someone enlisted before the war, they took the risk that they may be called to duty in wartime.  If they enlist now, they know full well what is going on.

Can someone tell me why volunteers should be protected if they desert. 

May Day 2008 in Olympia Washington went down with a bang when a (fractional) faction of the protest turned violent. Members of the "Black Bloc" threw rocks at several windows on at least two different bank buildings. Bank employees and customers were inside the buildings when this happened.

I was there - the whole afternoon. Up until the broken windows, the protests were peaceful and nonviolent. Although some of the speeches made me uncomfortable, and some of the speakers made statements that I certainly wasn't in complete agreement with, I felt enough solidarity to stick with the protest even after the Capitol Building was defaced with graffiti.

In fact, I wasn't really uncomfortable with the demeanor of the protest (besides the graffiti on the Capitol Building) until about 10 minutes prior to the first rock throwing incident. I noticed feelings of discomfort in regard to the tone of the protest when a certain vocal group (identity unknown to me) decided to lead the march down a one-way street directionally opposed to the flow of traffic. This move seemed somewhat unsafe, and it also seemed antagonistic toward drivers on 4th Ave, who had varying degrees of understanding about, and appreciation for, the protesters who were marching. I would have felt more comfortable and would have preferred, for example, to take State Ave. West, instead of marching in opposition to the one-way flow of traffic, and then to do a loop back toward the East on 4th Ave. My discomfort makes me curious; I wonder if anyone else was made uncomfortable by this decision to march against the flow of traffic. I was also additionally uncomfortable with the antagonistic and hostile chanting (yelling) of the slogan "Tear it down". Does that slogan possibly scare people and does it turn people off to the movement?

I met with jeff kingsbury at the artisan's cafe earlier this week to discuss some concerns I had about the impact of the ordinance on music events downtown. Jeff stated a few things which I would like to share here.

-the decible readings are taken from the property of the plaintif.

-the noise in question must exceed the ambiant noise

-noise ordinances are enforced by the building code folks, not by the police. someone found to be in violation of the ordinance will be give a 30 day notice to comply.

-jeff believes all of the downtown music venues are either currently in compliance with the ordinance or could be brought into compliance by keeping windows shut or investing in some relativly inexpensive sound baffling.

-jeff is going to add a 1 year sunset clause to the ordinance and bring it up for public review after that year to fix any adverse effect it might have on the music communnity.

this helped to aleviate some of my concerns and I appriciated the chance to communicate with jeff who was very generous with his time. Here are some further improvements I would like to see with the ordinance.

*require that sound measurements be taken from inside the plantif's building (not just at the property line) with doors and windows closed.

I feel that it is fair to ask that the plaintif do their best to keep the sound out by at least closing their windows.

*zone 5th avenue to the farmer's market as an entertainment district with a more lenient requirement.

I am having a very hard time finding unbiased information about the early IWW.  What I am finding is that they are/were a very socialist organization that attracted among other things militant followers and left wing idealists.  I found they were against WWI, and were also the victims several times of unwarranted violence.  However what I have found suggests they had a militant following. On September 4, 1918 a bomb exploded during a Chicago wobblie protest, the New York Times placed the blame on wobblies. 

Joe Hill may or may not have been involved in murder.

Then there is the well known case of Harry Orchard 

Of course the Everett masacre was an unjustified attack by local law enforcement. 

There was also an incident in Centrailia where a wobblie was savagely beaten and lynched.

So can someone steer me towards a nice unbiased source stripped of rhetoric about the violent acts that seemed to follow the IWW shadow?  

I made a statement earlier today in a thread I deleted about not being surprised why the National Guard showed up at early IWW meetings.  I was accused of not knowing my history, etc...  It seems there was/is violence on both sides of the issue.

The electric "cars" are racing again tomorrow in Lacey. We went a couple of years ago and had a pretty good time. Lots of electric and alternative energy vehicles on display and the competition of the quiet speeders zipping around the track.

We are taking the grandsons to watch tomorrow if the weather cooperates. It's a great time, hope to see you there.

Here is a website with more information:

http://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/events/updates/lacey_event_b.html

Nice break from all the serious news and events.

More pics from the linked website to provide the flavor of the event:

Over the last six months, we have seen:

This

This (which I do realize is at the state capitol and would require a change to the Revised Code of Washington)

This

This

And this

By now you're getting the point: not only are people coming to Olympia to incite civil disturbances, they are doing so while hiding their identity to carry out illegal activities.

As we saw in another thread, law enforcement must conduct their operations in the open view of the public.

At least fifteen years ago, the State of California added section 185 to the California Penal Code. Section 185 reads:

Section One Hundred and Eighty-five. It shall be unlawful for any person to wear any mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise (whether complete or partial) for the purpose of:

Tonight Lily Tomlin comes to Olympia! When my daughter heard this, she wanted to know: "why? Is her career hurting? She used to be really good!" I defended Oly, but it started me thinking.

Wouldn't it be GREAT if we could organize a regular series of events that would appeal to "women of a certain age..." To my mind that's over 25. There's alot going on for those under.

I'm tired of driving to Portland, Tacoma or Seattle for good, political, indie, spoken word, music, what have you... I know these things come and go with local interest over the years... so what about it? Do we have any others out there?

Just before Works In Progress went to press, we were given the following account of the events that followed the downtown Olympia May Day rally. The May issue of Works In Progress, which includes this and other articles of local interest, is now available at the usual locations around town, and will soon be posted to the Works In Progress website.

May 1: Eyewitness Report of May Day Melée

Most people know what to expect from May Day in Olympia. Music, dancing, marching (usually without a permit). Food Not Bombs serving from a big tub of soup. A festival, both to celebrate Beltane, and in honor of those who died so we could have a weekend, overtime pay, and an end to child labor. In recent years, this has been complimented with May Day’s additional focus as an immigrant rights day, and with it a focus on multilingualism and the ongoing ICE raids.

All went as expected for most of the day. Indeed, there was music. There was dancing. There was marching (with a legal permit, this year). There were invited speakers, talking about things ranging from the Longshore work stoppage, to the proposal before the Olympia City Council to establish Olympia as a Sanctuary City for war resisters and immigrants.

OK, I am so gonna keep my camera charged-up!

I was outside in the backyard here on the eastside, and I had a bunch of bunnies traipse through the yard!

Baby bunnies are way too cute!

Here are a few videos and photos from yesterday's May Day Events:

link to photoset