Did we learn anything new?

Gloria La Riva, presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and
Liberation, will be speaking at the Lacey Timberland library on Monday, Oct.
20 from 5-6 p.m.("Economic Crisis & Endless War: Causes, Questions, and
Solutions") and at Evergreen State College 7 p.m. at Seminar II building Room E1107 about the Cuban 5 and other nationwide campaigns La Riva is working on. The Evergreen event is sponsored/organized by Students for a Democratic Society. Both free events will welcome all questions from anyone attending.

If anyone from web/print/radio/tv is interested in contacting her for an
interview that day or night, they can contact Brendan by phone at
360-867-1477. Here is a Thom Hartmann interview with La Riva from Air America:
http://airamerica.com/content/thom-hartmann-american-socialism

More info on La Riva's stances can be found here: votepsl.org
Lacey Timberland Library is very close to I-5 exit 109. The address is 500
College St SE.

The presidential debate is going to be projected onto a 9 foot screen at the Brotherhood tonight. Apparently this debate will feature a town meeting format and 'unfiltered' questions from the audience... should be interesting. Oh, and happy hour is extended until 8pm.

Great book, and an excerpt I want to discuss [related to CJ, blogging, and editors]:

On page 196 (I added bold and reference to the back-story, "the NSA wiretap"):

"Jim and I thought the story should run... [in NY Times]. That alone should surprise no one. On sensitive stories, the reporters are the ones invariably pushing to publish but, unlike bloggers and other instant journalists in the new Internet age, we as reporters don't have the ability to simply publish something of our own accord. Which is the way it should be. The "mainstream media", as bloggers like to call us, have a built-in backstop, a check and balance, and it's called an editor.

...

"Editors and reporters do not march in lockstep."

-Eric Lichtblau

So, I found this to be an interesting comment, and "take" on CJ-

Does effective, community-news based CJ need or would benefit from editor-like process?

I'm curious to hear input, but also don't want to debate Bush's legality, etc...

...let's just talk about CJ & editors in the context, as framed by the author.

The news that a man died after jumping this morning from the Capitol Blvd bridge onto I-5 seems to be the talk of the town today. While I was out and about on errands, including getting my hair cut, I overheard or was in several conversations about it, and about suicide and stress (especially financial stress) in general.

I advise caution when reading The Olympian comment threads on this and any other traumatic story. Personally I don't see why comments are enabled on stories like this. Or at least the comments need to be real time moderated.

We can't prevent all suicides but we can prevent some. If you are concerned about someone, maybe you can help. I've used the Crisis Line in the past to figure out how to support a elderly neighbor going through profound depression.

We weren't able to prevent the death this morning, but maybe we can educate ourselves and each other. Maybe as a community we can help connect people with support and healing.

The Seventeen Traditions, by Ralph Nader

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Landscape of My Boyhood 1
1. The Tradition of Listening 33
2. The Tradition of the Family Table 39
3. The Tradition of Health 47
4. The Tradition of History 51
5. The Tradition of Scarcity 59
6. The Tradition of Sibling Equality 63
7. The Tradition of Education and Argument 69
8. The Tradition of Discipline 79
9. The Tradition of Simple Enjoyments 85
10. The Tradition of Reciprocity 93
11. The Tradition of Independent thinking 99
12. The Tradition of Charity 105
13. The Tradition of Work 111
14. The Tradition of Business 117
15. The Tradition of Patriotism 123
16. The Tradition of Solitude 129
17. The Tradition of Civics 135

While looking over community resources I came across this program, hadn't heard of it before, so thought I'd pass word on:

Safe Lines are a confidential and anonymous way for students, teachers, or anyone else to report suspected dangers at local schools.

The following school districts currently have Safe Lines available:

North Thurston School District 360-458-2020

Tumwater School District 360-709-7029

Olympia School District 360-596-7867

Yelm School District 360-458-2020

Griffin School District Coming Soon

Mason County Schools 1-877-379-SAFE (7233)

http://www.washingtoncenter.org/season/season_detail.asp?event_id=1058

Friday October 10, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts - Stage I

This is a *free* event and open to the public.

Ursula K. Le Guin, renowned Pacific Northwest author, will read from "A Wizard of Earthsea", the first novel of the award-winning "Earthsea" series. Questions will be taken from the audience following the performance, which is part of "Timberland Reads Together" a partnership of Timberland Regional Library and "The Big Read", an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

See her web site for other locations: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Calendar/index.html

Best wishes,
Thad

I just went to The Olympian website looking for news about the suicide jumper on Capitol Blvd... and was surprised to find an article that paints Triway in a pretty negative light and casts doubt on their ability to responsibly develop the Isthmus.

Excerpt:

Residents have complained of crawl spaces filling with water and lawns installed improperly — among many other things.

Triway project manager Janine Smith declined to comment, "until we have a meeting with the city of Olympia."

Triway is the same major South Sound developer that has asked the Olympia City Council to raise building height limits on the strip of land between Budd Inlet and Capitol Lake.

What's going on here?

Here are some photos from the Monday, October 6, 2008 No LNG Rally at the Washington State Capitol Campus Legislative Building.

No to LNG Washington State Capitol Campus Rally

LNG Means:
• More Global Warming
• More Big Oil Profiteering
• More Wars

We want renewable energy.
Power Vote

http://www.powervote.org/