The Onion breaks the prosecution news:

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—An international peace-crimes tribunal commenced legal proceedings against former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for alleged crimes against inhumanity Monday.

"Jimmy Carter's political career includes a laundry list of anti-war-making offenses," said chief prosecutor Charles B. Simmons. "Carter's record of benevolence, diplomacy, and respect for human life is unrivaled in recent geopolitical history. For millions, the very sight of his face evokes memories of his administration's reign of tolerance."

Read the whole story at the Onion, it's a good read.  I don't know if there is any local link, maybe we could invite President Carter to come to Olympia and explain the reign of peace that he presided over?  But we better move fast, sounds like he might be going away.  

You're the man, Jimmy!  God bless you.  

Yep, I guess it's a gun thread. So sorry.

It has been reported that an undercover police officer pulled a weapon in downtown area during the Mayday event.

TFI mentioned it this way.

Both The Olympian and Seattle IndyMedia said an undercover officer pulled a firearm on a crowd surrounding him.

I am pretty busy and haven't been able to read all the news, so I know only a little about this.

But, for those of you who think that packing a weapon and being ready and prepared to pull it to defend yourself and others when a shooter suddenly appears in front of you:

• how would your self-defense work out in this kind of event? 
  
• Would you be able to spot and discriminate an undercover police officer pulling a weapon or would you just lay the undercover person down with a round?

Ground rule: Only discussion of the idea that defensive use of a personal weapon would be good for the public in the manner that has been discussed with regard to the Virginia Tech shootings and others like that. Let's stay focused on that single question please.

I attended the City Council meeting last night to speak for the sanctuary city proposal. I was signed up to read the Olympia Friends Meeting minute on support for war resisters but the public comment period was short and I did not get to the podium so I made the comments in written form.

Saw a few of you there. Jeff Brigham was articulate. A little off the mark on a few points I thought, but I found myself shaking my head in agreement with some of his comments. Bauermeister was engaging and entertaining and I think the plaid pants will work in his stand-up routine, well done, I say.

Bert was there taking pictures, so there may be art available from the event along with Bert's usual persistent peaceful, leftist take on things (I will read and shake my head in agreement I suspect).

But here is the thing I woke up thinking this morning: Apparently vandals broke windows on Joe Hyer's business and somebody else's business. There was thought that this was coercion and attempts to essentially extort political decisions through the targeting of the city council business. I think Olyblog and OMJP and the Port Resistance Movement and the community in general should collect funds to repair any damage. Let's dig into our own pockets and share the cost. None of us should be targeted in this way.

I have a $20.00 bill to start the donations for the repair fund. Anybody care to join me?

We sat down and watched Flock of Dodos recently and we recommend this movie. It’s a documentary about the American culture war to teach creationism and creationism’s cousin, intelligent design, as basic science, on a par with the science regarding Darwin’s thoughts on natural selection and the origin of species.

It’s a film by an evolutionary biologist, so it definitely leans toward respect for the scientific method and that does not bode well for the creationists, but the filmmaker expended a fair amount of effort making the point that the scientists are wonderfully inept at conveying the science.

In the end it becomes clear that there are dodos on both sides of the argument. The creationists are hoping to hang on to the notion that there is a controversy about natural selection and the origin of species despite the scientific record and the evolutionary scientists sputter, pontificate, talk over each other in a way that makes it painfully clear that the scientists wouldn’t know a talking point if it evolved or was created right in front of them.

I have had lots of opportunities to work with and mix with folks from indigenous cultures during my lifetime. I worked years ago on a SPIPA health care project with the Chehalis Tribe, the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Nisquallies and a couple other tribes that are in SPIPA. I had a long working relationship with an Inuit who retired from DSHS a few years ago. I worked with the Chehalis, Cowlitz, Upper Cowlitz, Yakimas and Colvilles during my years as a social worker. I was pretty engaged with the indigenous folks who lived up in eastern Lewis County a couple of decades ago.

These days when I work with native americans I am working primarily with Chehalis, Cowlitz and Squaxin Island tribe members. I have invested a significant amount of time in becoming familiar with these local tribes and their cultural histories. My family has some longstanding connections with the tribes on the res in Oklahome, so I come to these encounters with folks from the local tribes with some larger perspective about and respect for these cultures anyway.

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carried over from OMJP list.  There's an Evergreen College connection, but I think it's TESC Tacoma.  Wish it was happening in Thurston County.  Is it hyperlocal?  I don't know, wobblies might not really subscribe to a distinction between their aspirations where they are standing and organizing and the global concerns of the workers of the world.  

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