It was a little after 5:30 pm when the electricity turned off. I was at home. I lit some candles. It was quiet except for the blowing wind (and what sounded like the distant roar of a diesel generator.) Wow—electricity is integral in my life. Too much so! It made me think about what an extended total electrical outage might be like.

I went to Madison Scenic Park, thinking that the outage might be more widespread, and that light from the waxing gibbous moon might make for a beautiful picture of downtown. Downtown was fairly lit up though. The outage seemed to be somewhat sporadic. I don't know how widespread it was, but it seemed to affect much of the near Northeast side of town.

My thoughts went to the Gaza Strip, where for months, due to Israel's siege and blockade of basic economic necessities, Palestinian residents have dealt with energy shortages, including lack of regular supply of electricity. I heard a story of one family with a young asthmatic child who was suffering due to lack of fuel for a generator needed to power a respirator.

It's horrible to think how people treat each other. I wish Israel would not treat Palestinians like second class citizens.

All people deserve to be treated equally.

SESAME is proud to announce an updated blog at http://sesame-evergreen.blogspot.com.

The blog offers daily updates on the current situation in the Gaza Strip, relevant background stories and news about upcoming events. SESAME hopes that the greater Olympia community will find this information relevant and helpful to their understanding about the violence in the Middle East.

There will also be updates on the schedule for the Sixth Annual Middle East Film Festival running from Jan. 21-30, 2009.

Students Educating Students About the Middle East (SESAME) raises awareness about human rights, immigration, and US foreign policy in the Middle East, surrounding regions and the Diaspora. By challenging stereotypes and misrepresentation of regional conflicts and training organizers, SESAME works as an advocate and ally. SESAME serves as an active educational resource, a tool for solidarity building, and a means for anti-racist organizing on campus and in our community.

Phan Nguyen will host Free and Fair tonight. Highlighting Arab voices, the topic will be the Israeli blockade and siege of Gaza.

Tonight from 8:00-9:00 pm on KAOS 89.3 FM.

Phan Nguyen is the author of an article in the January issue of Works In Progress entitled, "The (not-so-hidden) Facts Behind Israel's Gaza Invasion."

Courtesy of WSDOT.

There will be a rally at Olympia City Hall in Olympia at 10:30 am Saturday, January 10 as a 2009 kickoff for gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgendered rights. Local residents will gather to hear speakers call for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and to prepare to go to the State Legislature to ask for expanded domestic partnership rights. This rally will be part of a nationwide protest as people all over the United States gather to call for the repeal of DOMA.

This nationwide protest is being organized by Join the Impact (http://jointheimpact.com) -- the same group that organized the recent Proposition 8 protest. On the Join the Impact Web site the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities and their supporters are urged to “join us in making the LARGEST IMPACT YET! Let's take our message all the way up the ladder to President Elect Barack Obama himself! On January 10th, we will come together as one UNITED FRONT asking the LGBTQ community to join us in signing an open letter to President Barack Obama.” The open letter to Obama is being distributed via the Internet with the goal of gathering a million signatures nationwide. The letter reminds the president-elect that in an open letter to the LGBT community he said he was committed to gaining “full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country” … and promised to “repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure that states treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws.”

Dumping snow on sidewalks is illegal. So is leaving it there.

Section 8.24.020, paragraph E, of the Olympia Municipal Code says that “[o]bstructing or encroaching upon or rendering unsafe for passage any…sidewalk…in the city” constitutes a public nuisance.

Section 12.36.060 of the Code says, “Each and every occupant or owner of property within the city along or adjoining which property are sidewalks are [sic] required to keep the sidewalks free from all snow, ice, mud or other obstructions.”

Apparently, every snow plow operator who pushed snow onto the city’s sidewalks in a manner that obstructed them, encroached upon them, or rendered them unsafe for passage, deserves to be cited for violating a city ordinance. The same appears to be true for each and every occupant or owner of property with a sidewalk, who neglected to clear said sidewalk.

As of Wednesday night it appears the Chehalis and Skookumchuck will top their Dec 2006 levels. Currently all roads into and out of Centralia are flooded or cut by mud slides. I5 is closed between MP 68 to 88. The National Guard have reached Centralia. There are reports of Helo rescues in Morton. Forecasts are rivers will continue to rise through Friday.

For the straight dope on the floods read Centralia Chronicle's blog The Buzz.