The two officials spoke in a telephone call arranged by press officials at the Justice Department after The Washington Post disclosed yesterday that the FBI sent reports to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of legal and procedural violations shortly before he told senators in April 2005: "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse" after 2001.

Read More..

Here is a clip from our Attorney General explaining how President Washington & President Lincoln authorized electronic surveilance on American citizens..

Well....The Olympian did it again.

In today's online edition, there is a story about Dee Williams and the small house that she lives in.  A facinating story....worth a read.

While you're at it, take a peek at the comments.  One "Sondra K" rants on and on about Williams "stealing" electricity from the Department of Ecology (where she works and has permission to plug in her electic car).  This goes on several posts and then she is corrected by another post the points out Williams had permission.  Then the rant changes to "my tax money" (like Williams doesn't pay taxes, or any of the rest of us).

The reality of the situation is that our fine daily newspaper's webmaster sits by and allows this defacing of Dee Williams and the false accusations of her stealing from the government.

Selective enforcement.  But of course, it's a private website, thus they can do what they want.

Did I forget to mention the clause that says each poster is responsible for their own messages, thus if Williams felt slandered, she'd have to walk a mile to find out who the anonymous poster is that accused her over and over of theft.

Now THAT is customer service!

The thing that bothers me the most about the Capitalarians inviting the USS Olympia and two Canadian naval vessels to town is that they don't seem to get, even after 2004, that there are a lot of people that simply don't like it. Probably more folks that don't than do.

What if they had invited the USNS Mercy instead? The Mercy is a huge hospital ship that recently returned from a deployment in Southeast Asia. It would be a nice split the differnce solution that would recognize those serving in the military while also recognizing the concerns of those not so excited at inviting warships.

Plus, it looks rad.

I enjoyed listening to this KUOW interview with an Olympian poet Lucia Perillo yesterday. You can listen through the KUOW The Beat 7/9/2007 archive page, scroll down to 2:20 p.m. Lucia Perillo:

Adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings and circumstances dramatically alters our outlook on life. As our lives and bodies change, new insights can come from observing nature. Lucia Perillo is an Olympia, Washington poet who lives with multiple sclerosis and writes about her experience in I've Heard the Vultures Singing: Field Notes on Poetry, Illness and Nature. She joins us to share how seagulls, salmon and bats have helped her better understand her own place in the world.