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Tuesday 31 August 2010, Olympia, Washington—Palestinian-American Ali Abunimah gave a presentation about BDS and the situation in Israel Palestine before an audience of about 120 people at the Olympia Center. Abunimah is a journalist, a co-founder of Electronic Intifada, and an author, including most recently of, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. The event was organized and hosted by Olympia BDS.

Peace talks between representatives from Israel and the Palestinian Territories are scheduled to start tomorrow (Thursday,) but Abunimah said the expectations of many people are low, because of a precedent of bad-faith negotiations. He used a metaphor of pizza pie to explain the negotiations. For example, analogous to the occupation of the West Bank would be if he were to sit down to negotiation and immediately begin by grabbing pizza and stuffing it into his mouth, and if his partner were to complain, or to try grabbing some pizza for theirself, then he would slap them and chastise them for it.

Hey Everyone,

The September issue of WIP is on stands now, I have seen WIP distributors trundling about with heavy loads of papers, so keep a look out at your favorite locations. This issue is heavy, a 28-pager filled with interesting information and opinion. The boycott is still a big topic of interest, and there are many articles on it in this issue. You can download a pdf here.

And you can also visit the official website: Works in Progress

The coalition of progressive, conservative, and centrist voters who oppose Initiative 1098 received good news yesterday.  SurveyUSA/KING 5 conducted a poll on the current popularity of initiatives on the ballot this November.  They find that I-1098, an attempt to punish Washington taxpayers with an income tax, has only 41% of likely voters saying they will vote in favor of the income tax.  Here is the poll:

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=094e5f06-2cfd-4d4f-93e7-986902ebc73b

According to SurveyUSA, 33% of likely voters will certainly vote no, and 26% are undecided.  The history of initiatives indicates that support for initiatives dwindles as Election Day approaches, making a 41% yes vote a cause for concern among supporters of an income tax for Washington.

In related news, the State of Oregon is reporting that revenue from their so-called “high-earners tax” has failed to materialize.  The Oregon Legislative Revenue Office reports that income tax revenue from Measure 66 has been about 50% of what they originally planned on collecting.  Since our wealthiest citizens take their income mostly in the form of capital gains, they are often not subject to the high-earners income tax. 

http://www.zcommunications.org/why-i-support-the-boycott-of-israeli-good...

Why I Support the Boycott of Israeli Goods from the Olympia Food Coop

By Peter Bohmer
Thursday, August 26, 2010
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The decision by the board of the Olympia Food Coop to not buy Israeli made goods and boycott them is a positive and important contribution towards ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is part of a global grassroots boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement to pressure the United States and Israel to fundamentally change their policies. I strongly support this courageous and important decision made by consensus by the Olympia Food Coop board on July, 15th, 2010.  

Here it is folks, in all its Glory! The World Premiere of ArtsWalkOlympia.com.
A fully interactive map and events listings of every artist, location and event at Fall Arts Walk 2010.

Amazing, only online, and brought to you by einmaleins MEDIA. Incredible and you're welcome Olympia!

   The big buzz is NATIONAL SECURITY. OK, I hear that.  Uh, but what does it mean?
Well, Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotamayor says we have to choose between freedom of speech (aka, WIKILEAKS) and National Security.  So I guess we have to decide if we want to know what our government officials are doing [supposedly] in the name of the people - us - or do we want them to keep it all a secret? Let me think on that for a minute......

    Keeping what a secret?  Well, for example, are our U.S. soldiers killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan? Do you really want to know that? Would it just make your day that much brighter to know that, yes, they are! Can't you just trust your neighborhood politician to let you know that they are keeping you safe from some Afghani whose daughter was just raped by a vengeful marine, or whose unarmed son was just shot by a passing patrol. That same Afghani might just want to board some plane, fly over here and cruise the streets of, let's say, Cinncinati and start yelling "Americans, stay in your own God damn country."  

   So, those governing this country need to keep things secret in order to protect us, you and me, from people they have pissed off in some other country around the world. And that, my friends, is National Security.

   PS - As our C.I.A. &  F.B.I. agents jokingly say, "If we told you the secrets, we would have to kill you."  Now it's up to you. Do you really want to know?  I'm still thinking........

I am currently reading the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Stride Toward Freedom. The book is an account of the bus boycott of 1955-56 in Montgomery Alabama. It's a fascinating read, and I recommend it to anyone and everyone. There are some interesting parallels between the situation in the South in the 1950s and the situation today in Israel/Palestine. Some of the ideas in Dr. King's account helped me to formulate this statement to the Olympia Food Co-op Board of Directors in regard to the ongoing boycott of products from Israel:

Thank you to the Olympia Food Co-op Board of Directors for holding fast on the boycott of products from Israel.

This boycott amounts to noncooperation with injustice. The way that the government of Israel and some Israelis are treating Palestinians is unacceptable.

The decision to boycott was correct. Israel needs to change, for the good of both Palestinians and Jews.

When our government is unaccountable to the interests of human rights (and even life itself,) a courageous and principled and strong stand like this of the co-op is truly awesome and inspiring—and necessary.

Human rights are for everyone.

Thank you again for this courageous act of noncooperation!

Sincerely,
Berd Whitlock

The long awaited, and promised, US Social Forum "Cascadia 2 Detroit" Community Film, Art and Music Event! Films by Portland's B Media Collective! Music by Danny Kelly and friends! Photo Slide show by Berd Whitlock! Open Discussion! Vegan Pizza! Free! Please Join us! TONIGHT! 7PM. Quick teaser, Mic Crenshaw Hiphop video, made on the bus to Detroit! Fertile Ground -- 311 9th Ave. SE

From Pacific Citizen:

PNW Mill Workers, Descendents Sought For Historical Site Interpretation

Mill operations in Thurston County employed many Japanese Americans.

By Pacific Citizen Staff
Published August 20, 2010

Before World War II Issei mill workers lived and established roots in the Puget Sound area, but left behind a little known legacy, according to a historian who is searching for their descendents to reconstruct the area’s early Japanese American history.

   The same people who voted for and supported George W. Bush think America is going to hell in a handbasket. Evidently killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people is not enough to quell the fear in their compassionate hearts. So too, the torture, rape, and murder of innocent civilians in the Middle East does little to raise their sense of America being the last bastion of God's love. So it goes.

  Day in, day out. We need God in our schools. We need the 10 Commandments in every courtroom. We need the Confederate flag flying freely from every ......  Well, maybe not that one.  But all those Christian fundamentalists surely feel as though their God has somehow abandoned them. And they want him back. Oh, and they are so kind, considerate and compassionate that they also want you to want him back, too.

   Not your namby-pamby Jesus. Not him. He went around spreading goodwill towards his fellow men and women. Definitely not Allah. No, they mean that kick-ass God of the old testament who rained fire and brimstone down on all the slackers, sinners and heathen non-believers.  Yeah, that God!

   And it is so handy to have the modern day prophets, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity. Why, I bet you thought, like I did, that maybe all the prophets died off back in the days of Moses, Abraham, John the Baptist, and Judas Iscariot. Oops! on that last one. Nope, they have been resurrected. But wait, isn't reincarnation a belief of those Muslims. Or is it the Egyptians? Oh I give up. All this religious fervor stuff leaves me with a headache and a hunger for biscuits and gravy.

  Stay tuned. I'm just getting warmed up.