This fresh from YouTube and Facebook, via Backbone Campaigners:
In January, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend unlimited $$ in our elections. In July, Target gave $150,000 to the anti-gay, anti-worker candidate for Gov. of MN. Last week, a quarter million people pledged to boycott Target Yesterday. Here’s what happened on the surprise visit from MoveOn.org.

MoveOn.org Civic Action is a 501(c)(4) organization which primarily focuses on nonpartisan education and advocacy on important national issues. MoveOn.org Political Action is a federal political committee which primarily helps members elect candidates who reflect our values through a variety of activities aimed at influencing the outcome of the next election. MoveOn.org Political Action and MoveOn.org Civic Action are separate organizations

 ’Bout time! This photo was taken by Scott Bonney of two resourceful women who fashioned their own shelter to beat the summer heat (Aug. 15) down at Whulge Beach, Burton. It is so cute! Can’t ya just feel the heat of the sun and those thermal-packed breezes?

Don’t anger a Vashonite. And by that I mean do not even THINK, let alone ATTEMPT to jump the line. Friday, Aug. 13 (4p-ish) was a fitting day for one of the longest Fauntleroy car ferry lines of summer. I was stuck in it, all the way back to The Kinney, which is well north of the gas station.

Jockeying around parked cars was bad enough, but we poor suckers in cars figured it out. I crept to the curbside at a corner where a woman put on her blinker to turn (she was parallel on the left side of me in the road), but she didn’t turn into the corner. Instead, she jumped in the ferry line in front of me. I laid on the horn. She didn’t flinch. The cars behind me did the same. My kids were saying “no way!” at the audacity of this woman in front of me. They said “maybe it’s because she has a handicap license plate,” to which I quipped that doesn’t mean she is mentally incapacitated.  If she thought that license plate was going to land her a sympathy spot in line (yes, this thought also crossed my mind) this was not going to be her day.

I consulted with the car in front of the offending driver and then the one behind me. Both corroborated her “cut.” I then went to her.

Me: You jumped the line and you need to go to the back.

Her: I’m sorry. I was just confused. I never take this boat.

Me: (Noticing her Bremerton framed license place) Then you know now, and need to go to the back of the line.

Her: (Shrug. Shaking head no.) I”m sorry.

Me: You cut all those cars. GO TO THE BACK OF THE LINE NOW, OR LATER.

She looked dead ahead and tuned out. I got in my car, wrote down her plate #, my cell # and sent my son for a walk to the patrol officer at the front of the line to flag her once our fleet arrived (me, her and two witnesses). About 45 minutes of staring at her Bremertonian framed plate (gold Honda Civic) seething with sentiments of how unfair this crap is, the patrolman SENT HER PACKIN’ TO THE BACK OF THE LINE!

I have seen a few cutters get away with this. Not this time. There is justice in the world sometimes, even if the victory is this small. It is integrity. It is the principle. This is not anarchy.

Just don’t do it. And don’t let people get away with this. If there are exceptions, that’s for these folks to take up with the ferry and WSP workers.

Oh, man, I love that song. Eddy Grant. Mental note for iPod playlist.

Do you see the new sign?

Tube Art truck cometh; Tube Art truck taketh away. Et voila, a sleek, new eletronic Thriftway sign rises in the place of its olde timey marquee. And I don’t dislike it at all. It’s tastefully done, as lighted electric billboards go. It gets my attention in a good way. Snoqualmie cones were a quarter off yesterday. See, it even had recall for me! Success already, Thriftway. I always got the willies watching the willowy employees hiking the ladder to switch out messaging. 

So here we are, entering a new era of Vashon Hwy electronic signage.  We shall see who follows!

Three brave Whulgers on a recent afternoon: Laurie Stewart, Theo Krah, and Lynne Cadigan. Photo: Scott Bonney

Wander over to the Burton Coffee Stand and ask the klatsch in the Adirondack chairs “Where’s Whulge Beach?” and undoubtedly, one diehard Burtoner is going to look at you like you’re a tourist. Which this writer, in essence, was. Just south of the four-way stop sign, beyond the road’s curve was the very beach Scott Bonney was mentioning for sunny afternoon swims.

The Whulgers, a loosely knit, open water swim group that occasionally finds its way to the Beachcomber pages, found its way to this blog because Scott invited its blogger to swim with the minnows. She did. It’s pretty fun! One just can’t be afraid of current, jellies, or cold-ish water. Swim as little or as much as you like. It’s self-paced, mutually supportive, and those who fear commitment need not worry. Do what you like. Wetsuit, goggles, cap, earplugs or none of it…it’s all your choice.

Love swimming in open water and want to buddy up with the Whulgers?

Go to the GoogleGroup here to get on the ListServe.

I got a call from a friend who interfaced with Need Food Lady on her way to the ferry yesterday. Said friend encouraged the woman to go to check out the food bank, to which the reply was reportedly, ”I can’t eat that food.” Just after visiting Doc Weispfenning’s Tuesday, I spotted the same Need Food Lady purchasing food at Vashon Market, and again at a bus stop yesterday holding the Need Food sign. We’re baffled only because Vashon’s food bank has an incredible garden, plenty of fresh produce AND accommodates a great deal of special dietary needs. Huh. Last time I looked, the sign didn’t say, “Need (Lactose-Free Soy-Free Gluten-Free, Vegan, Organic, Non-Food-Bank) Food.” Just fascinated is all.

Vashon Pool recently let a lifeguard go after the employee did not follow proper protocol for handling a guest (in an effort to prevent another guest from being handled, or so the story goes).

I would like to raise another question: What happened to Dayna Rogers?

Did anyone notice that in late May Dayna was the poster child–even depicted on the Beachcomber’s front page– for being Vashon Pool’s manager, bringing in a template program, getting ops underway and then suddenly once things are running, she’s no longer needed? I bought a family pass for summer 2010 BECAUSE Dayna was running things, and I knew I’d get great lessons for the kids under her team, and be assured of a consistent, safe and respectful operation. When I inquired with Dayna about what gives, she couldn’t fully articulate it because she was still trying to figure it out, too.  Today, she’s coaching, working at VAC and I’ve even chased her to the Vashon Country Club so my kids can enjoy her instruction.

I am sorry the lifeguard lost his job for not following protocol, and I understand how it feels (literally) to get brushed on by a stranger in a pool. Given the molestation incident that happened at that pool last year I’m guessing the lifeguard erred on the side of defense. All good intentions.

It’s a wonderful pool. I hope the staff members we grow to know and love can stick around.

By now, promoter Pete Welch should have found his way to your e-mail inbox concerning Saturday’s Vashon Throwdown, a daytime concert fundraiser benefiting Burton Adventure Recreation Center. Whether or not you can make it, the donation is a suggested $10 though all amounts are welcome.  Needed is a sum of $4,000 to meet hard costs for improvements.

This young fellow, Zach, incoming 7th grader at McM, is donating his new Sector 9 youth skateboard to be live auctioned during the event. He rode it for two hours–it is essentially pristine and ready for some skater to shred it to toothpicks as the board rightly should be! The retail value is $150, and sitting in a child’s closet it does nothing but gather dust. So somebody out there spread the word there’s an awesome skateboard to be had in which ALL the funds will go to BARC. That’s love, people! Thank you, Zachy (from mama).

Lance, to the right.

That’s when you REALLY feel like the world is shrinking. Lance Morgan. Mariners v. Angels. Diamond Club.  Yesterday (June 6). Fun!

Passerby chatting with one of a couple recent sign-holders

I’m intrigued. I’ll bite. But I’m not about to get preachy. Having lived in cities with massive homeless and hungry populations (San Diego, San Fransicso, and Honolulu), I’ve passed many a cardboard sign in my day unfazed. But on Vashon? Fazed. And two on the same day? Conspiracy theorist fazed!

Not something you see often on Vashon: the cardboard sign