MICHAEL SWAN: BIG BANK THROWS BLOWOUT PARTY >>>

As I write this, I am burning up under my Snoopy comforter. My entire body aches and I have a temperature that I believe is approaching 120 degrees. I suppose I asked for it. My mother always told me never to leave the house without a scarf. But when I ran out last night I did have a scarf. Maybe I should have been wearing a coat. And pants.

As I sit here, sweating, waiting for the Vicks Nyquil/PCP cocktail to kick in, I came across this crap:

When is this shit going to stop?

Oh well, Tomorrow I’ll probably feel much better and I can just get on with my life, doing average joe stuff like getting coffee, doing groceries, scrounging for money, and staring at my hand that’s morphing into a butterfly and … whoa, bingo!

MICHAEL SWAN: NEWS STORIES IN THIS WEEK’S VOLCANO >>>

The impact of development
If there’s one thing everyone involved in protecting wetlands agrees on, it’s that we’ve failed. Ask Pierce County officials in charge of protecting them and enforcing laws designed to preserve them and what you hear is likely to be alarming. Ask officials from the state Department of Ecology about efforts to replace the thousands of wetlands we’re building houses and shopping malls on and they’ll tell you we’ve failed miserably. Ask local activist Cindy Beckett what she thinks about efforts to preserve these complex, essential, natural systems in Pierce County and it begins to sound like an ecological apocalypse. Read thefull story here.

And the award goes to ...
Pierce County Executive candidates danced around some great questions Tuesday night at a candidate’s forum hosted by the Korean Women’s Association. Paul Schrag gave each of the four candidates awards for their performance. Read the full story here.

MoG money
Tuesday, Oct. 14 the Tacoma City Council voted to approve two resolutions related to our beloved Chihuly worship temple â€" better known as the Museum of Glass. Read the full story here.

Numbered Spaces
As we reported earlier this year, residents of the Country Aire Manor mobile home park on South Hill in Puyallup are facing eviction because the owner of the land where Country Aire sits sold the site to a developer with dreams of another freakin’ Home Depot. It’s part of a growing trend spelling disaster for many mobile home communities. Luckily, this week the sensitive and concerned members of the Pierce County Council’s Rules Committee passed a resolution asking the County Executive to look for land where current Country Aire Manor residents can store their mobile homes … after they’re evicted. Nice, guys. Why don’t you throw in 24 free dinners to the Olive Garden with that broom handle? Find out how this move and other happenings in Pierce County affected the meter reading here.

MICHAEL SWAN: MOVING FORWARD >>>

CNN reports that the House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171.

MATT DRISCOLL: WHAT A WEEK >>>

To battle a $4.3 million deficit in 2009, Thurston County announced earlier this week that the county might be forced to lay off and/or not fill vacancies for 50 jobs â€" and raise sales tax. Perhaps the most startling aspect of the announcement, however, was the list of additional proposed cutbacks, including doing away with all jail treatment and education programs.

Good thing the fundamentals of our economy are strong, eh bubba? Otherwise a sane person might start to think we’re all headed to hell in a penniless and hungry hand basket.

If our meter we run in the Weekly Volcano rag every week rated Thurston County instead of Pierce County, I'd give this a minus 2.