by Cindy Corrie

What a joyful day! I know Rachel is dancing somewhere in the heavens as she peers down upon all of us and celebrates with all of you who are graduating today. She will cheer loudly and lovingly when her colleagues cross this stage to collect their diplomas, and she will offer an especially triumphant salute to her dear, dear friend and ours Colin Reese. I know, too, that Rachel is out there somewhere impishly smiling at usher poppy and her mama coming to pick up her diploma for her because she is busy elsewhere.

by Alice Zillah

The United for Peace and Justice first-ever national conference was held June 6-8 in Chicago, and I went as a delegate of United for Peace Thurston County. UFPJ formed during the fall as one of several national coalition groups seeking to articulate a broad voice of resistance to the Bush agenda of war at any cost. Hundreds of organizations across the country voted to become affiliate groups under the umbrella of UFPJ. In Thurston County, over thirty different groups - including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Green Party, Stonewall Youth, and the Olympia Movement for . . .

by Jenni Minner

Years ago, I sat in a boat in Lake Union and watched the largest military helicopter I had ever seen descend upon Seattle crowds with a gigantic flag attached to it. It was a frightening display and strangely prescient of today's growing ideology of US dominance and of an increasingly rigid political climate in which citizens are now expected to be blindly patriotic, unquestioning, and controllable as they cower in front of their television sets waiting for the world's terrorists to be obliterated. The message of Independence Day is one of military might written in the sky with . . .

by Gabrielle Jordan-Cooley

Money within the state budget is seeing another shift as the legislative session draws to a close. Although projections for the community are often vague, one change deemed necessary by the governing forces, is an alteration to the amount of aid set aside for the poor. In response to the steady increase of welfare cases, Gov. Locke anticipates making a 6% case reduction. To do so, a number of proposals have been outlined:

May 30, 2003

Dear Governor:

We are here to meet with you today about your support of low-income families. We are members of WROC, the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition, and our allies. WROC is a grassroots, nonprofit organization whose mission is to affect social and economic justice by educating and empowering our members to effect positive change in their communities and in their lives.

by Meghan McDonough

Tumwater, WA

What do you do when the largest union wage employer decides to leave town, placing your community's water supply and your local economy at risk? Labor and Environmentalists agree: You get the community talking.

After 107 years of operation, the current owners of the Tumwater Brewery, South African Breweries/Miller announced they would close the plant on January 9, 2003. In following months, local Labor and environmental leaders and community members convened the Thurston Blue-Green Working Group to discuss what could be done to replace good jobs lost, ensure clean . . .

by Stanley Stahl

Friends:

If y'all know that the $10 million of Olympia PFD money combined with $5 million of Olympia funds earmarked for building a Conference Center could be spent on a swimming pool, a library, or West Bay land acquisition for Parks, then staying inactive about getting this on the ballot is apathetic, ignorant and downright foolish.

by Jeffrey Denison

I presented the following information to the Olympia City Council on June 12. It was written in response to a telephone communication from Conference Center project manager and City of Olympia Senior Planner Steve Friddle who stated, "An EIS has not been done for the Conference Center," and that all pertinent information was on the project's website. On the website at this writing there is no reference to any environmental review for this project.

Arts & Conference Center Project website:

http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/generalgov/accenter

by R Jay Hershey

Once upon a time in Washington State, an injury to one union injured all union members. In downtown Olympia the Crane Cafe, The Spar, Ben Moore's, the China Clipper, the Olympia Oyster House, the Olympia Hotel, the Governor House, and dozens of other taverns and restaurants proudly displayed the little sign with the antique lettering which swept up from the left, "This is a Union House!" As a boy, I remember when a fry-cook from the Crane Cafe bought a lot out here on the South Bay Road and built a house. I went to South Bay Grade School with his son, Stan. A fry-cook can't do . . .

by Drew Hendricks

On June 2nd, around 700 people gathered in Westlake Center to protest the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit, which held a conference in Seattle for the week of June 2-6th 2003. In response to the published plans for the protest, the Seattle Police Department mobilized 120 riot police in full armor, some armed with AR-15 assault rifles. In addition to the armored police, Seattle PD deployed approximately 65 bicycle police, four horsemen, several vans, and an undetermined number of undercover police officers within the march itself. The overwhelming amount of force shown on the . . .

by Drew Hendricks

Police arrested 12 people, injuring several seriously, after a peaceful march June 2nd against the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU) convention Seattle. Some of the people arrested live in Olympia and are requesting help finding video of their arrests.

Laurel Smith, a union shop steward and activist, who is also a former Evergreen student, was diagnosed by Capital Medical Center staff as having multiple head injuries sustained after police officers slammed her head into the pavement at 5th and Union four or more times. She momentarily lost consciousness during the arrest . . .

by Drew Hendricks

The people who handled registration for the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU) conference in Seattle in early June were Washington State Patrol personnel who live in Olympia and Lacey. Michelle L Hahn works for the Washington State Patrol Criminal Intelligence Unit and was listed as contact for persons interested in registering for the conference. The published phone number and PO Box for LEIU registration belong to the WSP. LEIU, supposedly a private corporation, was not found to be registered as such in California, Oregon, Washington, or New York.

by Thom Hartmann

Many Americans are suggesting that the Patriot Act (and its proposed "improvements" in Patriot II) is totally new in the experience of America and may spell the end of both democracy and the Bill of Rights. History, however, shows another view, which offers us both warnings and hope.

by Norman Solomon

Early summer has brought a flurry of public discussion about a topic previously confined to political margins the possibility of impeaching President George W. Bush. The idea is still far from the national media echo chamber, but some rumblings are now audible as people begin to think about the almost unthinkable.