The Olympia Fire Dept. stopped letting people into the council chambers at a certain point this evening, just about the time that public comments began. It was exciting to see so many people participating, and participating with a purpose. The strong sentiment of those gathered, repeated over and over, focused on two points:

1. Thanks to T.J. Johnson and Laura Ware for their witnessing of the protests.
2. Strong support for the Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance and a hope that it would not be significanlty altered.

The lone dissenters in the group were Jeff Brigham, and another woman whose name I missed. Jeff refered to the protesters as "rioters" and expressed his "shame and disapointment" about what he perceives as disrespect for the troops. Fair enough. I can see how someone might interpret the protests as undermining troop morale, etc. However, I took more exception to the comments about "aiding the terrorists." Dissent is not treason. Treason is treason (such as outing the ID of CIA agents). Dissent is patriotic. As Long Hair David said standing on the steps of the council chamber this evening, "These folks forget how this country started."

This is posted publically on a white supremacist forum, written by Justin Boyer, Seattle Unit Leader of the NSM, concerning the upcoming July 3rd Nazi rally on the state capitol steps:

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nsm washington protesters will thousands pigs say more than wto

Today I met with Washington State cops And discussed rally plans. And it went well, the cops trust the nsm northwest completely. They said this rally will make history for this state. They asked me if i have ever heard of wto. It will be bigger than that. Lower estimate of protesters (1500 at the low point). But they said maybe thousands of scum. They said that there will be a bigger number of presence in cops than any rally that the nsm has ever done. There will be an army of cops for this rally. There will be no searches for nsm or commies. There will be no fences. Thousands of antis SCUM 20 to 30 yards away or less. In this rally there will be More protesters than Lansing Michigan. It's damn close enough to see faces. 88! Come on over for our camp out. there will be shower rooms. 88! happy

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[Sarah's note: 88 means "Heil Hitler", H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.]

More...

In preparation for the NSM rally in July, I've collected all of the previous posts that include discussion about the Nazis coming to Olympia, as well as the community's response to their arrival. The posts are not in chronological order, but there is a lot of information contained in them. Find them here.