Saturday 25 May 2013—Today was a national day of action against Monsanto. Marches were held in over 17 cities, including the cities of Olympia, Seattle, and Yelm.

Here's a photo of some of the over 800 people who rallied and marched in Olympia. Families were out in abundance. The festivities started at Tivoli Fountain, then went on to Capitol Lake via the switchback trail, Heritage Fountain, by Percival Landing to Capitol Way and finally ending up at Sylvester Park. There's more information about the event on the FB Event Page.

Here are some more photos from Olympia by me, and also a video. And here is a link to March Against Monsanto Photos from Seattle by Elliot Stoller .

The weather was incredible today. There was a downpour, and the Sun came out, so there were rainbows in the sky for the peace vigil at Percival Landing. Those clouds were intense, if you saw them, maybe you would agree.

Here are some photos and video and a little more commentary:

Signs for peace at the peace vigil at Percival Landing, the vigil happens every Friday, and you're welcome to join.

Bang what you got! Whether it's pots and pans, or if you're a marching band, your instrument of choice. Saxophone? Sauzaphone? Trumpet? Trombone? Glockenspiel? Banjo? Drums? Symbals? Cowbell? Bang it! for peace! Great tunes, thanks to the Artesian Rumble Arkestra

A little of what the sky looked like with dark clouds contrasting with bright sunlight... at Percival Landing.

What a day, what weather!

14 May 2013, Olympia WA—At a little after 5pm seven military cargo aircraft in formation flew over the eastside of Olympia.

Thursday 2 May 2013—Bearing ceramic proppants destined to support the Bakken Oil Formation oil shale fracking industry, the Star Dieppe, latest in a series of ships to bear the same cargo, enters Budd Bay to arrive at the Port of Olympia. Fracking has become popular slang term for hydraulic fracturing, the act of fracturing rock below the Earth's surace for access to fossil fuels, gas and oil. The Bakken Shale formation is in Western North Dakota, and Southern Saskatchewan Canada. Some of the fracked oil is being routed by train back to West Coast ports, and more oil export facilities have been proposed. For more information, please visit 1) academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/oilconnections.pdf, 2) www.olympiafor.org/Climate_Crisis.html, and 3) Olympia Port Fracking Resistance on Twitter.

People have been organizing to oppose and now resist these shipments. Efforts to persuade the Port to stop importing the shipments (including educational events and public testimony at Port Meetings) have so far been ineffective. People are now considering possible next steps. One idea includes asking people with downtown businesses and residences how they feel about the Port importing materials that promote climate change and sea-level rise. The next educational event will be Saturday the 18th of March, 1:30pm, at the Olympia Center, downtown.

Spring Artswalk and Procession seemed to have been great this year. The weather on Friday was excellent and the crowd was large, and turnout for the Procession main event on Saturday seemed to be great. Stationed around the intersection of Jefferson and Legion, along with thousands of others downtown, I watched the whole Procession go by. The Whale was awesome, as was the Slime Mold with the rainbow trail, and how about that Giraffe, incredible—its neck was able to bend down for its head to get a few feet away from touching the ground. Wow. People must have a lot of stories about their experiences over the weekend, I hope you made it to see the wonders!

Tony Overman has photos on The Olympian website: here.

Laura Killian posted photos (see Procession of the Species Celebration Collection 2013), including this one of the Giraffe:

Jerry the Giraffe Clears the First Lines

I used a video camera, on loan from TCTV, to help get footage for the YDHWM (Your Daily Hour With Me) program.

Here are a couple samples, some more were shared on the program recorded live last Saturday night, and schedueld to go hyper-live broadcast next Saturday night (at the customary 11:30pm time, TCTV Channel 22.)

A story from the weekly peace vigil at Percival Landing last Friday, 26 April 2013

I went to look at the fire that had broken out in the area of West Bay Marina, and struck up a conversation with an Army Ranger veteran who had toured Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was initially quite aggravated and offended by the sign I was carrying, but once I explained in my own words what I thought the sign meant, he was in complete agreement. He was in complete agreement that the wars were wrong and the foreign policy has been misguided. And that much of the wealth of America has been founded on violence, African and Asian slavery and extermination of Native People, decimations of Native Culture, and industrial activities that have come at the expense of environmental quality, sustainability, and public health. etc.

He said he heard that people in high levels of military and government are asking questions about imperialism and policies of dominance, and mentioned a JBLM Army Officer he knew.

The sign I was carrying read: "Militarism is choking our democracy."

Deep below the surface of the Earth, bedrock is being fractured, using chemicals, explosives, and high pressure fluids. The Hydraulic Fracturing industry has seen a boom over the past several years, all over the lower 48, there are fossil fuel deposits deep below the Earth, embedded in layers of shale (sedimentary deposits that have formed rock.)

Washington State does not have shale formations (nor do Oregon or California.) However, we are not as removed as we might be from this booming development in the fracturing of the Earth's crust. For oil is coming here. Oil has been arriving from the Bakken oil shale formation by train. Information suggests that oil has been coming to Anacortes and Tacoma, and new facilities have been proposed elsewhere, in SW Washington, Grays Harbor, and Vancouver, WA.

More over, Olympia is directly implicated in this effort, because the Port of Olympia has been receiving shipments of ceramic proppants. Proppants are a material that enables fracking by propping up the Earth, allowing for the oil and gas to escape.

Earlier this week, a group of Olympians traveled to Grays Harbor, to join a protest against a proposed oil train terminal. Supporters hope to have a major CBR (Crude by Rail) oil export facility built and operating there by 2014.

Tonight is a Pink Moon. There will be a partial eclipse tomorrow, during the day here in Olympia.

Here's a photo of the Kai Xuan departing the Port of Olympia Marine Terminal on Monday the 18th of March 2013. The ship was used to transport ceramic "proppants," destined for use in the oil shale fracking industry. A frenzy of fracking has created a boom in the fracking industry of Western North Dakota, centered around the Bakken Formation. The Bakken contains a high amount of oil, as well as gas. Because of the presence of oil, much of the gas that has been released has been flared as waste. There were a couple of flash mobs at the port on while the ship was in, more information about that event can be found on facebook, here. And also, more recently, on Tuesday the 16th of April there was an educational meeting about what has been happening in North Dakota in relation to the fracking industry. Information about that event also on facebook, here.

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