Dear City of Olympia, citizens, business owners and Olympia City Council people: I currently work for the most minimal of wages at a money lending firm–its sole employee. I am the assistant to a bean counter. I have job skills otherwise I would be unemployed. The value of my labour…
Posts published in “Uncategorized”
According to the Olympia city strategic communications office spokesperson, Kellie Braseth, “the city of Olympia council is now in a three part process of evaluating whether or not to pass a city ordnance to increase the minimum wage. Part one, a study session, was conducted Tuesday, October 27. City Councilman…
One of the groups that formed in the wake of last May’s police shooting of two African-American men on Olympia’s Westside is the Black Alliance of Thurston County On May 26, Dr. Karen Johnson was invited to spoke out in front of Olympia city council about the shootings. She explains…
Why Keystone is more than just symbolism Matson Boyd The Keystone XL pipeline is dead. The usual parade of writers has come out to argue that the anti-Keystone activists were wasting their time, that Keystone was actually benign for the climate. In the Washington Post, Stephen Stromberg derided the “stunning…
Ruling the anti-SLAPP law unconstitutional, Supreme Court sent lawsuit back to Thurston The ongoing lawsuit aimed at forcing the Olympia Food Co-op to rescind its boycott of Israeli products continued with a hearing on October 2nd in front of Thurston County Superior Court Judge Erik D. Price. The hearing concluded…
The Market With a Heart is patient-friendly alternative to corporate cannabis Olympia is fortunate to have The Market with a Heart (TMWAH), an eastside medical marijuana (MMJ) farmer’s market held at Pauli G’s Deli and Pool Hall on Devoe Street every Sunday from 11-5. Patients or their direct providers who…
When I saw the pictures of two teenagers, Turner Lupton and Nicholas Ross, on the front page of the September 16, 2015 issue of The Wewoka Times arrested on a marijuana charge, I was revolted, because of the disaster this can be to their young lives. I am 84 years…
In 2013, a Spokane initiative to the people was filed that would have allowed voters to approve four demands: That neighborhoods have power over local developments, That the Spokane River and aquifers be protected, That workers not lose their Federally enumerated rights once they enter the workplace, and That corporations…
Who really won the first Democratic primary debate? I’m a Berning man, and throughout the debate, was excited to see our underdog candidate given the same airtime and exposure as ‘front-runner’ Hillary Clinton. Many of my fellow Berners were surprised after CNN’s first debate, however, when almost all media coverage…
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her colleagues were interested in motivation. In particular, they wanted to understand why, faced with difficulties in school, some students are motivated to work at getting better while others aren’t, apparently lacking in motivation. What was that difference about? Through their research with both young…
And then we mounted a hillside filled with blue daffodils. “These weren’t here before.” Bluebells — fairies ring them when they want to hold a gathering. The mountains are hills where we’re going and gold robes their shoulders like the city itself is noble. Waiting in…
Pasco, Washington Ret. Colonel Felix Vargas of Latino Consejo in a letter written on March 3 asked the Honorable Prosecutor Shawn Sant of Franklin County to respectfully recuse himself from the case involving the shooting of Antonio Zambrano Montes. Latino Consejo said Sant’s experiences as a police officer and a…
La psicóloga de Stanford Carol Dweck y sus colegas estaban interesados en estudiar la motivación. En particular, querían entender por qué, frente a dificultades en la escuela, algunos estudiantes están motivados para trabajar y mejorar, mientras que otros no lo están y al parecer carecen de motivación. ¿Cuál es la…
My paper on judicial democracy and the rule of law is a thought manifested from the unfair maintaining of the law in some places of USA in response to police brutality and a system that allows brutality to happen. A Judicial system that commits a grievous injury against a person,…
At a time when Palestinians are rising up against Israeli apartheid, ranting about a trans-Atlantic trade accord might seem off-topic. Yet a protest camp held in Brussels this week illustrated how to blend a fight against corporate power and the expression of solidarity with an oppressed people. As well as…
This article, originally published in October 2010, is part of WIP’s 25th anniversary celebration. In a move that ignored boycott endorsements from social justice leaders such as Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Craig & Cindy Corrie, and many others, the majority of Port Townsend Co-op board members showed…
Thurston County’s prosecutor, Jon Tunheim, charged with bias in failure to indict officer Candace Mercer The May 21 shooting of two black men, Andre Thomas and Byron Chaplin, by Officer Ryan Donald of the Olympia Police Department, is a case complicated by conflicting witness statements, unsympathetic victims and the taint…
Pasco citizens also wait for justice in the shooting death of one of their own John Chacon Antonio Zambrano Montes was shot to death by police on February 10, 2015 in Pasco, Washington. He is accused of throwing rocks at the police and resisting arrest. His primary language was Spanish.…
Regarding Terran Zander’s “No Place Like Home” I enjoyed your publication for its comments even there seemingly were elements of strong bias. Zander’s article dwelt on what he writes as “hate”. Perhaps he should take more courses on American history. For example, what he writes about the Japanese is largely…
Dear Works in Progress, The article in September’s Works in Progress entitled “More questions than answers” was reminiscent of an experience a friend recently endured—a crazed cop, gun drawn, screaming at him for, contrary to instructions, getting out of his car to retrieve his proof of insurance from his wallet. My friend is white.…
Call for a “Bill of Rights” to protect civilians from police use of excessive force “A public officer or peace officer shall not be held criminally liable for using deadly force without malice and with a good faith belief that such act is justifiable.” So announced White Thurston County Prosecutor…
Congratulations on the Ryan Donald decision Dear Mr. Tunheim, I was pleased today to see that the prosecutor’s office had finally come to a decision on the May 21 shooting of Bryson Chaplin and Andre Thompson. It’s about time that we get some results from that investigation. I noted with more…
Does Francis offer a safe harbor? The last time I read an encyclical I was a teenager attending St. Edward’s Seminary in Kenmore, Washington. The encyclical was called Rerum Novarum, written by Pope Leo the XIII in 1891. The priests told us about Leo since we were going to be…
Recognition in America As do all good conservative and reactionary parties, the Republican Party always arrives a few years too late for the departure of the train of transformative ideas. Perhaps because of this axiomatic intellectual postponement so characteristic of the party, or to be more precise, because of the…
La política de identidad y de los candidatos Republicanos Como sucede con todos los buenos partidos conservadores y reaccionarios, el Partido Republicano siempre llega años después de la partida del tren de ideas transformadoras. Tal vez debido a este atraso intelectual axiomático tan característico de dicho partido, o para ser…
When the Republican candidates talk about climate change Ever since I watched the Republican’s presidential debate on September 16, I’ve been experiencing existential arthritis. My sense of purpose feels stuck—it’s hard to get up in the morning and think life has meaning after listening to hours of righteous declarations backed…
Another gross injustice has been committed by the leaders of our country. We who believe the dream of America is to stand up for justice, a sacred commitment not to be brushed aside. What our forebears have done we cannot help, but what we do today is within our power…