by Zoltan Grossman

The public refusals at Fort Lewis of Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada and Sgt. Kevin Benderman to deploy to Iraq are the most recent part of a long and noble history of resistance within the U.S. military. To understand this history, and where it might lead, it helps to see how resistance varies strongly according to rank, class and race, and how difficult it is for resisters to express their patriotic viewpoints alone, without support from the larger peace movement.

On June 22nd, when 1st Lt. Ehren Watada refused to board a bus to accompany his Army unit to Iraq, he courageously became the first active duty US officer to disobey an order to serve in a war which he and many other active duty, retired, and reserve military personnel have characterized as illegal and immoral.

by Eric Chase

Olympia, Washington is once again in the international spotlight. Having been the focus of much media attention in the past few years with stories of Rachel Corrie and Captain James Yee, the Olympia City Council's stand on making the capital city a nuclear free zone and uninviting the USS Olympia, a nuclear powered submarine, into the port, to the recent Green Scare grand jury investigations into environmental direct action, Olympia seems to be the hot bed of anti-establishment, or at least of anti-US foreign and domestic policy and probably not a very likely candidate of a . . .

[These were words written in sidewalk chalk on the

cement at the Port Plaza on the night of May 31, 2006.]

Torture of prisoners

civilians taken prisoner

minors held at Guantanamo

people held without charges

for years

civilians murdered by marines

journalists killed

women raped

we don't count those we've killed

(but they will haunt us anyway)

AND our sons

and daughters

mothers fathers

brothers sisters

bravely dead

mutilated, sick

not for freedom

but for oil, money and control of the Middle East

and we have given our rights away

signed over our freedom

to help liars

with every tank of gas

every tax dollar

by Monica Peabody

Governor Christine Gregoire was the keynote speaker at this year's graduation ceremony at the Evergreen State College. She is strange company in the list of past graduation speakers; Shirley Chisolm, Leonard Peltier, bell hooks, Winona LaDuke, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ken Kesey, Amy Goodman, to name a few. Stranger still is Governor Gregoire's recent decision to cut the welfare benefits of children whose parents are perceived as not complying with welfare to work rules. Strangest of all is Governor Gregoire's refusal to explain or even acknowledge her decision.

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

Since 1982, journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has been incarcerated for the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal has claimed his innocence, and a massive mountain of evidence has accumulated to support this claim - including the testimony of Arnold Beverly. In 2001, Beverly signed a sworn affidavit claiming that he was the true murderer of Daniel Faulkner and was hired as a hit man to get rid of Faulkner for his meddling in affairs between the mob and a particularly crooked clique of the Philadelphia Police Department. Despite this . . .

South Sound Clean Clothes Coalition is initiating an effort to encourage Governor Gregoire to join a multi-state effort started by Maine Governor Baldacci to have state clothing and uniform purchases from sweatshop-free sources. Governor Baldacci sent a letter to the other governors stating: "Young women and children work long hours for poverty wages in inhumane conditions until they are worn out and unemployable. These abuses cause untold human suffering and economic and political volatility across the globe."

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

Prison rape demonstrates an intense paradox in our society. In one respect, prison rape is extremely open. For the most part, the general public is ignorant about many of the realities of life behind bars, but it is common knowledge that rape does occur and occurs regularly. The topic is featured in movies, books, televisions shows -- even jokes. In another respect, prison rape is completely invisible. Very few institutions take meaningful measures to prevent it, and some flat out deny that it happens at all. Of course, this dynamic works to perpetuate these crimes. The . . .

by Craig Oare

It's my fate or fortune to be off work today,

and here are a few jumbled jottings:

It's the end of May, a warm Wednesday,

my sister's anniversary,

the morning after the evening

when we walked down our westside hill

and she took some striking photos

of the Stryker ship at the Port of Olympia.

It looked like something from Star Wars,

a big Death Star war boat

juxtaposed with a postcard image

of Rainier in its summer glory.

One of the cranes from that angle

resembled monstrous alligator jaws,

loading lethal equipment bound

for the oil fields of Armageddon.