Free Republic

Good news! Today at the WA State Capitol in Olympia over 2000 pro second amendment supporters rallied in the cold for freedom! Despite some mis-communication about start time(10am vs noon)there was an out pouring of folks from all walks of life but it was good to note that at least 50% of the group participants were under the age of 35. Not all of today's youth are bums. Most were carrying openly...long guns as well as pistols. At 10 am there were 100 people. At 11am there were 300. At noon there were at least 1200 and the numbers were...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Sheriff's deputies found two 5-foot alligators at a marijuana grow site where a man was shot on Monday evening.  Thurston County sheriff's Lt. Greg Elwin said deputies responded to the scene in the Scott Lake area south of Olympia when a man called 911 to say he had shot another man. The shooter told investigators that he fired in self defense, but investigators believe he actually shot the other man during drug buy. The 30-year-old man who was shot was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital and was expected to recover.  The gunman, identified as 41-year-old...

Olympia's Democrats threw a huge childish hissy-fit on Friday, stomping their feet, spitting venom and bile, holding their breath and turning blue ... all because (gasp!) they didn't have the votes but Republicans did -- and they're still pouting about it. In November, if Democrats lose their majorities in the state House and/or state Senate and/or lose the governorship, it'll be because they deserve it based on Friday's childish hissy-fit. In multiple floor speeches, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown could not have been more patronizing, superior, holier-than-thou and condescending. Wants-to-replace-congressman-Norm-Dicks-who's-retiring Derek Kilmer nearly bawled like a little baby girl --...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- In a surprise announcement, moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she would abandon her campaign for a fourth term - a contest she was expected to win easily - because she is frustrated by a polarized atmosphere in Washington. The move dealt an immediate blow to Republicans hoping to take control of the Senate in November and gave Democrats new hope of winning the longtime GOP-held seat.

Greek Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos resigned on Friday after masked armed robbers stole more than 60 objects of "incalculable" value, including a gold ring, from a museum in ancient Olympia. Sixty-eight objects were whisked from a museum dedicated to the ancient Olympic Games after two masked men immobilised the museum's sole female guard as she arrived for her early morning shift, officials said.

Olympia Food Co-op files motion to strike lawsuit brought against them by members who objected to decision to initiate boycott of Israeli goods. NEW YORK – A food co-op board of directors Tuesday filed a motion in Washington state to strike a lawsuit brought against them by five members who objected to the co-op’s decision to initiate a boycott of Israeli goods. In 2010, the Olympia Food Co-op board passed a resolution to boycott Israeli goods, and then became the first grocery store in the United States to officially boycott them. The co-op is a member-based, not-for-profit, natural food grocery...

Olympia, the Sanctuary of Zeus and venue of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, was probably destroyed by tsunamis that reached far inland, and not as previously believed, by earthquakes and river flooding... Paläotsunamis that have taken place over the last 11,000 years along the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Olympic-tsunami hypothesis has been put forward due to sediments found in the vicinity of Olympia, which were buried under an 8 metres thick layer of sand and other debris, and only rediscovered around 250 years ago. "The composition and thickness of the sediments we have found, do not fit...

Professor Andreas Vött presents new results of geomorphological and geoarcheological investigations on the sedimentary burial of OlympiaOlympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that travelled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date. Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from Professor Dr Andreas Vött of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Vött investigated the site as...

Union members descend on Olympia to protest budget cutsBy John Stang Kitsap Sun Posted April 8, 2011 at 7:03 p.m. OLYMPIA — Worker solidarity. Budget cuts. Tax breaks. Wisconsin. That's what brought an estimated 7,000 people to the steps of the state Capitol on Friday. "The legislators see us outside and see what we represent," said Steve Davidson, a firefighter with Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue and a member of the Kitsap County-based Local 2819 of the International Association of Firefighters. "It makes a difference." "We're standing with all workers across the state and across the nation," said CK firefighter...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The USS Olympia, a one-of-a-kind steel cruiser that returned home to a hero's welcome after a history-changing victory in the Spanish-American War, is a proud veteran fighting what may be its final battle. Time and tides are conspiring to condemn the weathered old warrior to a fate two wars failed to inflict. Without a major refurbishment to its aging steel skin, the Olympia either will sink at its moorings on the Delaware River, be sold for scrap, or be scuttled for an artificial reef just off Cape May, N.J., about 90 miles south. The 5,500-ton Olympia's caretakers...

The Olympia Food Co-op announced last week that no more Israeli products will be sold at its two grocery stores. Last week, the board of directors of the Olympia Food Co-op in Washington state decided that no more Israeli products will be sold at its two grocery stores in the city. "We met last Thursday for the board members meeting and a pretty large group – about 40 people – presented the boycott project and answered our questions," Rob Richards, a board member, told Haaretz. "A couple of board members were concerned about what will be the financial effect on...

Warship: Veteran of 2 wars rusts away PHILADELPHIA - The old warship has been part of Philadelphia's waterfront for 50 years and left lasting impressions on thousands of visitors who heard gripping stories of its role in the Spanish-American War. Now the Olympia – named for Washington state’s capital and the last surviving vessel from that 1898 conflict – could face an ignoble end as an artificial reef off Cape May, N.J., if a new benefactor cannot be found. The Independence Seaport Museum and the Navy have already checked with officials of New Jersey’s Artificial Reef Program on the possibility...

W. Wash. resort manager accused in mass stalking case   Daniel C. Leonard (Photo courtesy of Monterey, Calif., Police Dept.) OLYMPIA, Wash. - A manager at a Thurston County resort has been arrested on suspicion of stalking and terrorizing hundreds of women over the phone using electronics to disguise his voice and phone number. The suspect, identified as Daniel Christopher Leonard, 32, of Olympia, was taken into custody in Olympia last week, but his arrest wasn't made public until Thursday. According to published reports, Leonard is the human resources manager at Great Wolf Lodge at Grand Mound in Thurston...

A man says a three-month-old kitten apparently hitched a cold, 200-kilometre ride in the wheel well of his SUV. Marc Lichty left Olympia, Washington, after finishing a day of work on Wednesday. He heard meowing when he stopped at a rest stop along the way home but couldn't see a cat, KPTV-TV reported. When he reached his home in Tualatin, Oregon, he heard the meowing again and grabbed a flashlight. Sure enough, he says, "the cat was up underneath in the spare tire spot." Daughter Jenna helped coax the passenger out with a bit of salmon. Lichty says he can't...

The Senate panel approved the "health-care overhaul" and Olympia Snowe to no surprise "joined Democrats for a key vote on Obama's top domestic priority” reads today’s headline (at Marketwatch.com) Snowe like a typical “moderate“ tried to distance herself from it just enough so that she can have something on record to point to after her negligence leads to our demise. The most egregious of her statements I found came after she verbalized that the bill is not what she would have liked “…but when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the...

Congressman Baird was so outraged at the quick passing of the appropriations bill without it being read that he sponsored House Resolution 544. Bills are available on line for 72 hours before being voted. Congressman Baird had no problem Friday voting on something he didn’t have time to read as long as he got his cut of the deal.

The Tea Party in Olympia has just broken up. Slated as one of the biggest in the state, the event lived up to its billing. The Washington State Patrol estimates that between 4,000 and 5,000 people packed the Capitol Campus, covering the Capitol steps and spilling out onto the lawn and nearby streets. Evergreen Freedom Foundation spokesperson Scott St. Clair said the event had a festive atmosphere, much like it was a public holiday. "We had no idea so many would come out," St. Clair said over the phone. "There were hundreds of signs - some of them pretty witty...

At least two rallies are expected at the Capitol at noon Wednesday: • An 11:30 a.m. march from Olympia City Hall to the Capitol led by Olympia resident Ken Morse, a Republican who says he is concerned by federal spending growth. His event is called an Olympia Tea Party and is affiliated with American Families Association and its national TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party events. • A noon rally, which Morse's group will likely merge into, sponsored on the Capitol steps by the Olympia-based Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank. EFF is protesting state spending.

It was a great day! A crowd of 5,000 patriots (as estimated by the state patrol). Good speakers and, most of all, great spirits !!I met a few fellow FReepers too.This was a good start!!

LACEY, Wash. – Employees of a pizza delivery shop say the owners have cut off the heat in the store. And they say if the workers don’t like it, they can leave.

OLYMPIA -- An anti-religion billboard in the Washington state Capitol has started a firestorm on national television. Fox News' Bill O'Reilly had an eight-minute segment on his show Tuesday night decrying the inclusion of the atheistic billboard along with a holiday tree and a Christian nativity scene. Conservative TV personality O'Reilly called the display "political correctness gone mad" and urged viewers to call Gov. Chris Gregoire's office to complain. Gregoire spokesman Pearse Edwards says the office has been getting about 200 calls an hour, as well as e-mails. The Capitol has had a holiday tree, provided by the Association of...

Democrat Barack Obama's once double-digit lead in Washington state is no more, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KING-TV Seattle and KATU-TV Portland Oregon. In an election today, 09/08/08, eight weeks till votes are counted, it's Obama 49%, McCain 45%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll 4 weeks ago (before both candidates had named their running mates), Obama is down 2 points; McCain is up 1. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll 8 weeks ago, Obama is down 6; McCain is up 6. Obama led by 17 points in June, led by 16 points in July, led...

Pausanias, a travel writer of the ancient world, described this course for horse races, its starting mechanisms, turning points and altars in much detail in the 2nd century AD... Another - previously unheeded - written source from the 11th century AD goes so far as to state the size and dimensions of the enclosure: "The olympiad has a course for horse races that [has a length of] 8 stadia. Each of the long sides is 3 stadia and 1 plethron long, while the width to the starting gates measures 1 stadion and 4 plethra, [a total of] 4800 feet. Near...

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of illegal immigrants are expected to join supporters in a four-mile march through downtown Seattle at the height of rush hour today, proclaiming they're not illegal or undocumented — but workers. And at the same time, many more are expected to stay away, fearful of drawing the attention of immigration authorities or frustrated by the failure of Congress to fix the immigration system even as raids and deportations continue. "Two years ago, there was legislation in Congress and a tangible reason to turn out," said Louis DeSipio, an expert on Latino politics and associate professor of political...

via translation - ALERT - UL-2008 - Two men are trying to disrupt the ceremony ignition OLYMPIA (Greece) - Two men attempted to grab the microphone during the speech of the head of the Chinese Organizing Committee for games (Bocog), Liu Qi, ceremony, lighting of the flame in Olympia, according to several witnesses.

This morning I left a message with the duty agent at the FBI field office in Seattle. A short time ago, the call was returned. We discussed the protests in Olympia, WA in which military vehicles have been blocked by protestors. The FBI undoubtedly knows what is happening in Olympia, but I called just to make sure. The agent was interested in my suggestion about the possibility of a college professor(s) at Evergreen State College encouraging students to block the military vehicles. I made it clear that I have no specific knowledge of that, but it has been hinted on...

OLYMPIA — This normally laid-back town is on edge after a week of raucous war protests that have resulted in dozens of arrests, broken windows and police firing pepper-spray projectiles to control restive crowds. More than 40 people were arrested Tuesday night after anti-war protesters tried to block shipments of military gear at Olympia's port for an Army Stryker Brigade recently returned from Iraq. Continued protests seem likely. Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek said the Army expects to finish moving equipment from the port in the next day or so. The protest group watches for military shipments at local ports...

On Monday, I told you about the moonbat convergence in Olympia, Washington, where children are being used as human shields by anti-war zealots trying to block military shipments to and from Iraq. The demonstrators continue to run wild. Their latest acts of destruction and sabotage? Pouring cement on train tracks:

At least 12 arrested as protests move to downtown, I-5 entrance Jeremy Pawloski The Olympian  OLYMPIA -- At least 12 people have been arrested today as protests of military-cargo shipments from the Port of Olympia moved to downtown and the Plum Street entrance to Interstate 5. About 12:15 p.m., Olympia police arrested at least three people at Fourth Avenue and Plum Street. About 12:20 p.m., protesters gathered at the I-5 entrance in a failed attempt to block convoys. Police arrested at least nine people there.Protesters on foot blocked traffic at Fourth and Plum about noon by jumping in front...

Anti-war protests have returned to the Port of Olympia with the unloading of a military ship bearing Army gear from a Stryker Brigade that recently returned to nearby Fort Lewis from Iraq. According to an initial news release Sunday from Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the group at first did not plan to try to block cargo from being sent from the port to the Army post ... Late Monday, however, after the arrival of 950-foot roll-on, roll-off cargo vessel, group leaders said a series of votes and discussions resulted in a change in strategy. "As long as the war in...

LACEY - A 33-year-old teacher at Nisqually Middle School is on administrative leave after school officials discovered she brought a .38 Special handgun - along with bullets - on school grounds Thursday, according to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.Teacher Mary Catherine Roe, who lives in Shelton, told deputies she was fearful of her husband and that he used a gun while assaulting her, according to a sheriff's report. Roe also has a domestic violence protection order against her husband, according to Mason County records. No decision was made Monday about whether Roe will face criminal charges, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dave...

OLYMPIA – Republican state Rep. Rodney Tom switched parties Tuesday and will challenge state Senate Republican Floor Leader Luke Esser this fall. An irritated state Republican Chairwoman Diane Tebelius demanded that Tom resign his House seat, but Tom said he intended to serve the balance of his term as a Democrat. Democrats, including Gov. Chris Gregoire, welcomed the convert. Gregoire called him to chat. The Democratic Party said Tom's switch reflects a growing disenchantment of suburban moderates with hardline Republicans.

Auditor questions spending priorities... At a time when lawmakers struggled to find money for health care for the state's most vulnerable people, Washington taxpayers footed the bill for a sex-change operation, penile implants, breast augmentation and ear piercings. In his most recent review of state Medicaid expenses, Auditor Brian Sonntag found thousands of questionable expenditures in the 2004 fiscal year. One in particular jumped off the page. Medicaid paid $9,549.92 to surgically transform a woman into a man. "You pick up the paper or watch the evening news and you see senior citizens who can't get medications of diabetes and...

For liberal talkers, still failing to carve a significant niche in a fiercely competitive media environment, today apparently won't bring their hoped-for "Fitz-mas". Yes, that's how they describe the elusive ratings windfall indicted senior Bush Administration officials might (in a Rhodesian fantasy world) bring to floundering "progressive" talk shows. Al Franken used the term (which refers to special counsel Patrick J Fitzgerald) during a Wednesday CNN interview, as have his radio counterparts, repeatedly. As the New York Times is now reporting, however, Karl Rove is not likely to face charges for now, if ever. Can "Scooter" Libby alone save liberal...

Despite new management assertions to the contrary, two KVI/Seattle talk show hosts believe a July court ruling now prevents them from discussing a key November statewide ballot initiative on the airwaves. In a stunning decision, a Thurston County, Washington judge forced organizers of Initiative 912 to report, as in-kind campaign contributions, favorable comments made by KVI hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson. Backers of I-912, which seeks to repeal a statewide gas tax hike, were required to place a dollar value on talk radio's supportive statements....(snip) ....Despite the August sackings of its key participants, one of sports talk's most peculiar...

OLYMPIA – Three years after getting drunk, blowing through a stop sign and triggering a wreck that left her passenger critically injured, a former Idaho resident has filed a $1.5 million claim against Washington's Pend Oreille County for not detaining her before she caused the crash. In her claim, Ashlen Lee says that on June 12, 2002, a county sheriff's deputy stopped her truck around 3:30 a.m. and could see that she had been drinking. But after quizzing her, the deputy let the 17-year-old drive away. The officer said he'd give them a warning," said Lee's attorney, W. Russell Van...

The frustrating story of Evergreen State College student Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Gaza after stepping in front of an Israeli bulldozer, is one that continues to ignite passions on both sides. Two years after her sad death, Corrie's parents have left no doubt as to their real agenda- working for the Palestinian cause. Is this really the best way to honor their daughter's memory? First, background on this complicated tale, including personal memories:

A small, weekend item in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was missed by many, yet it's another example of a dubious trend: liberal Democrats switching between journalism and partisan political positions..... (AND) Election Decision Live Blogging GOP Loses First Round In Gubernatorial Challenge...

Yesterday we had a rousing rally at our state capitol. Over 200,000 people have signed a petition for a re-vote in the governor's race in Washington State. In addition approximately 2,500 people came to support the re-vote. Gregoire had at best 200 supporters. There was a good number of the media there, but of course, particularly in the early reports they diminished our numbers. We videotaped the entire event. If interested please go to the following link to view. Washington State ReVote Video

KIRO is misrepresenting the size of the pro-REVOTE crowd at the rally today down in Olympia. On their website they said 1000 revote supporters, and 500 Gregoire supporters. Baloney! I was there, and I have proof on film (my buddy panned the crowd for this very purpose - the liberal media does this all the time!). I left a message on KIRO's tips line that I had proof on film that they were not telling the real story, and offered it to them. Let's see if I get a reply! (I won't hold my breath)

The purpose of illegitimategovernor.com is to provide a central repository for facts which 1) question the legitimacy and 2) bolster the case for a revote in the WA state gubernatorial election between Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire. http://www.illegitimategovernor.com is now online. I've added a couple of "facts" sections. If anyone has time to check it out, I'd appreciate if there are any inaccuracies if you could PM me with them. Also any glaring ommissions in the "Fact Taxonomy" sections... I will assign credit using your FR name unless you ask me not to. The "site builder" tool is extremely limited,...

Keep Legislature out of the governor’s race THE NEWS TRIBUNE Last updated: December 11th, 2004 02:40 AM (PST) The latest plan by some state Democrats to capture the governorship is downright embarrassing – and that’s putting it mildly. In a letter to Secretary of State Sam Reed, Democratic Party lawyer David Burman claimed that under the state constitution, the race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire could be decided by a vote in the state Legislature, where Democrats control both houses. That’s because an obscure constitutional provision grants power to lawmakers to decide the outcome of a “contested...

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Gary Locke and legislative Democrats proposed Wednesday that Washington adopt California's vehicle-emission standards, the toughest in the world. Locke, a two-term Democrat who leaves office in January, also announced a freeze on state government purchase of four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicles. The state motor pool will begin shifting to hybrid vehicles. The proposal to adopt California's auto standards, effective the 2009 model year, is the centerpiece of the lame-duck governor's package of bills to combat global warming.

But is it? It certainly isn't more precise, as the fiasco of Florida's chad counting proved in 2000. "When you're talking about close to 900,000 pieces of paper, I think the machine count is going to be more accurate than a manual count," Dean Logan, the elections director of King County and a Democrat, admitted to reporters. "Every time you have human judgment and frailty enter into the process it will change the result," agrees Bruce Chapman, a Republican who served as Washington's secretary of state before becoming director of the U.S. census in the 1980s. In an interview, he...

Mrs. Knox said signs of forgery abound in the four memos. She said the typeface on the documents did not match either of the two typewriters that she used during her time with the Guard. She identified those machines as a mechanical Olympia typewriter and the IBM Selectric that replaced it in the early 1970s. She spoke fondly of the Olympia, which she said had a key with the "th" superscript character that has been the focus of much debate in the CBS memos. Beyond that issue, experts have said that the Selectric and mechanical typewriters such as the Olympia...

OLYMPIA,WA – The Evergreen Freedom Foundation filed an ethics complaint against Governor Gary Locke last Friday for his role in soliciting contributions from businesses with state contracts for July's National Governors Association (NGA) meeting in Seattle. The Ethics Board previously warned Governor Locke in a February 2003 staff analysis not to directly solicit contributions from business and to entirely avoid any soliciting of companies with state contracts. As reported by the News Tribune (Tacoma), Governor Locke ignored the Ethics Board's warning. Eighteen companies, holding 155 state contracts worth about $206 million, contributed at least $720,000 to the NGA meeting. Since...

[Since Gannett newspapers won't allow excerpts, the text here is entirely mine and mine alone. The following is NOT from a Gannett newspaper, though it tells the same story with a few, ahem, embellishments.] The imminent arrival of the USS Olympia has the Olympia city council, the capitol of The Peoples' Soviet of Washington, tied in a tizzy. Fearing that it may implode, explode, blow up or otherwise damage the environment by leaking lots and lots of nasty radioactive waste or even its bilges into the South (Puget) Sound, the Olympia city council is draughting a resolution to tell the...

Insurgents operating against the coalition and Iraqi security forces have become "desperate and isolated" in their attempts to stop progress, the commander of the latest task force to arrive in Iraq said today. During a briefing from Baghdad, Army Brig. Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia, told reporters that insurgent activity continues in the north, where his unit took over military operations in early February. "We see this enemy taking the shape of former regime elements, extremists, as well as foreign fighters and international terrorists," he said. "Those cells, I believe, are becoming extremely desperate and isolated."...