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Starwing's blog

How to Feel Less Powerless:

Submitted by Starwing on Fri, 05/11/2007 - 12:39pm.

The following was cross-posted from my MySpace blog:

A buddy who I met on a cross-country train trek a few years ago sent me a note today. His question is relevant to everyone, everywhere. Hence, I have decided to post his letter, and the great majority of my response, here.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Billium
Date: Apr 26, 2007 6:10 AM

You make me want to move out to Olympia to vote you into office, and at some point obtain office myself. I think I'd like to be sheriff. If you need any east coast help getting elected, I don't know how you could, but if you do, I'm here for you. Lord knows we need a change. -Bill

------------------------------------------------------------

Hey Bill... Good to hear from you. :)

What I'm doing here in Oly can (and should) be done everywhere. Voting my be a Constitutionally protected right, but that right didn't exist before people fought and died for it. Hence, it is honestly a coveted privilidge.

People are under the impression that we elect leaders to office. This is somewhat true when voting for the President, but more correctly, we vote for people to represent us. When was the last time your Senator or Representative came back from Washington DC and said: "Ok people... bill HR-432a has come up for a vote, and it's a bit tricky. Voting yes will do (a) and voting no will do (b). How do you want me to vote?"

Better yet, when was the last time a City Council person asked a similar question? Here in Oly the Council has held meetings and listened to people say (with amazing popularity) "Vote NO!" and the Council has gone ahead and voted "Yes" anyway.

This is not a textbook example of representative government, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

New Campaign-centric MySpace page!

Submitted by Starwing on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 10:32pm.

Hello my fellow OlyBloggers!

I have a NEW MYSPACE PAGE devoted exclusively to my campaign efforts.

So go on... click on over and check it out. If you're on MySpace, feel free to add me. A complete REAL website will be up soon. :)

Thanks!

-- Toren

Campaign Volunteers Needed

Submitted by Starwing on Tue, 04/17/2007 - 3:15am.

Greetings Everyone!

Spring is here and I am in the process of gearing up my campaign. I need a few people to help me with the following:

• Setting up a website.

• Fundraising (and I don't mean buying me a drink at Charlie's) I have a PayPal account and will be connecting a donation link to not only that site, but my MySpace page as well.

• Anyone who can help with sign maiking - either knowing someone in the industry, being in the industry who is willing to donate their services, or offer them at a reduced rate. I have the design already, I just need it on signs, buttons and bumper stickers.

• Anyone who can tell me what to do next.

• Bands who are interested in playing a fundraiser. (likely at Charlie's or Jake's)

Please contact me via MySpace if you are interested in helping out.

Thanks!

--- Toren

3 comments

Because it had to be said. (Read the Postscripts, please)

Submitted by Starwing on Sat, 04/07/2007 - 1:18am.

MANIFESTO OF THE POOR PEOPLE'S UNION

31 MARCH 2007

Re-printed with postscript by James Staples, and post-postscript by Toren Wilder-Valimir

Classism is a reality; it is not an idea or theory. It is a day-to-day reality where some suffer so others can profit. This system is not permanent. It can be undone, but for this to happen, class itself must be undone.

We believe in a world where rights are not given or taken away, but simply exist due to the fact that we are human beings. We believe in a world where the right to live free of fear goes unquestioned, where we can be certain of all parts of this world; where all parts of the environment, all species of animal and all human beings have the space to coexist.

That world will never come if things are allowed to continue as they are. We are here to organize, for we are part of the social organism. If one part is sick, then the whole suffers. We will obtain our rights, not by having them handed down from some kind of superior, but by creating them in the here-and-now. This is our mission and it is guided by these points:

1) We deserve Freedom: Freedom from fear, hunger, cold, helplessness and the sickness that comes from living in a place where there are those who suffer.

2) We Deserve Opportunity: The opportunity to work, to participate, to prosper and to create, control and guide our own destiny.

3) We deserve Shelter: To be out of the elements and to have the privacy so necessary for personal and spiritual growth.

4) We deserve Safety: From the police, from those who hate and fear poverty, from sexual violence and from any form of bigotry, whether based on class, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or any other label.

My first chat with the City Council

Submitted by Starwing on Tue, 02/20/2007 - 10:44pm.

Okay...

So I was a little nervous. It was difficult to face the very people who have been irritating me lately. I restrained my frustrations, but there were times when I wanted to shout at them.

I didn't...

I was civil...

I was sticking up for people I don't personally know: property owners who are having their lands forced from them by that same Council's abuse of the Emminent Domain laws.

I was nervous, and it showed.

However, during the time to respond to the Public, not a single one of them mentioned my concern. This means one of two things: (a) I was incomprehensible, or (b) I was right, and they knew it.

Either way, I shall have to bring it up again next week.

Whomever was there, or saw it on channel 3, please comment on my little diatribe.

Thanks.

1 comment

Camp Quixote: What Next?

Submitted by Starwing on Mon, 02/12/2007 - 3:45pm.

I was forcibly stricken with déja vu when the Mayor and the Olympia Police showed up to disband Camp Quixote.

In 1996, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown (D) ordered the SFPD to "clean up" the Haight-Ashbury district. One December night, the police swept through the area, arrested every single homeless person and confiscated their meager possessions. Additionally, an eight block long, twelve foot high fence was erected which cut off Golden Gate Park from the area which forced citizens and tourists to use a less accessible entrance on Fulton Street in order to get into the Park.

Mayor Brown claimed that he acted in the City's best interests, and while residents of the Haight-Ashbury district cited rampant homelessness as a concern, they were among the first to criticize the Mayor's actions.

At least the residents of Camp Quixote had some warning to "move along", but the method and reasons cited are the same.

Homelessness isn't a problem we can solve by making it illegal. I fathom that parents want to be able to bring their children downtown without having to worry about transients hitting them up for money. It is equally true that the homeless population by in large would rather not have to ask random people for spare change in order to survive.

Having said that, the actions taken by the sitting Mayor and the City Council Members is reminiscent of the kinds of actions taken by the Gestapo in World War II Nazi Germany. Hitler didn't rise to power advocating the genocide of the Jewish people. Persecution of Jews (and Communists) began slowly: blaming them for certain problems and setting up areas in which the Jews and Communists could live without being a burden to the Reich.

This is how tyranny begins.

There are those who will read this and claim that I'm likening homelessness to Judaism.

Wow... I wasn't misquoted.

Submitted by Starwing on Wed, 02/07/2007 - 11:12pm.

The Olympian article was fairly accurate.

1 comment

An Unsolicited Letter

Submitted by Starwing on Fri, 02/02/2007 - 2:33am.

The following was posted at http://blog.myspace.com/jamesastaples I am reposting it here with consent of the author.

"Starwing, Toren Valimir, is running for Olympia City Council.

This message was not solicited by Mister Valimir. In fact, he is unaware I am writing it. This is the considered opinion of an educated American who knows Toren personally; nothing more and nothing less.

He stands head and shoulders above all seven of the current Olympia council-people, in terms of his grasp of the issues, his concern for the PEOPLE and his desire to be a REPRESENTATIVE of the PEOPLE. He will bring a wave of genuine DEMOCRACY into the council chambers, for the first time since T.J. Johnson was elected.

Toren is an old-school revolutionary Constitutionalist, whose devotion to civil rights and the Constitution as the highest law of the land parallels the earliest heavyweights in this republic, people like Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Thomas Payne. He cares deeply about the fact that the people of Olympia are getting shoved aside to make way for special interests and big business. Toren wants us all to remember that WE are supposed to have all the governing power, and that our elected officials are sworn to serve US.

I have engaged Toren in heated political discussion and debate, and have found him to be as flexible and teachable as he is learned and well-spoken. He listens well, speaks well and consistently demonstrates a masterful grasp of logic and critical thinking.

A vote for Toren Valimir is a vote to return regional power to the PEOPLE from whom it lawfully derives. Please, give your support and your vote to a true patriot and populist; VOTE for Toren Valimir for Olympia City Council.

Thank you and Gods Bless America.

- Rev. Dr. James A. Staples
Owner, Five Corners Book & Magick Shop

--- THINK TRUTH. ---"

Dear Olympia:

Submitted by Starwing on Wed, 01/24/2007 - 10:26pm.

What local issues concern you?

16 comments

Intent to run for office

Submitted by Starwing on Thu, 01/18/2007 - 12:56am.

Greetings all!

After much interpersonal debate, chatting with business owners, patrons of said businesses, and consulting with family and friends, I have decided to run for Olympia City Council, Position 2.

However, I have run into a major snag.

I have, after much searching on the 'net, found absolutely NOTHING as far as information on how to get my name on tha ballot. My next step is to go down to City Hall and ask them, but I suspect that the Powers That Be may not have that information readily availible. Being a "political outsider", I also suspect that the reason such information is not made availible to the general public (via the internet) is because those in power do not wish to lose it.

Indeed, when I go down to City Hall, I expect to be pointed to a filing cabinet and told: "If you want to run, the information is somewhere in there, somewhere."

Can anyone please point me to a resource that doesn't involve me leaving my house?

Thank you in advance. Here's a web-version of my campaign poster for your enjoyment.

10 comments

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