BURN BAN IS ON! >>>

The fire marshall has thrown down a Pierce County burn ban prompted by forecasted stagnant weather conditions and rising air pollution levels. You have to stop burning your crap beginning at 5 p.m. today. You can't light up until further notice.

For those who like details, click here.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

City Of Tacoma Budget Woes: Tacoma City Council has five ideas. You better be certain you're being robbed or it will cost you. (News Tribune)

Tacoma's Future: An alternative view of Tacoma in the 21st century. (News Tribune)

Um, Not Guilty To DUI: Fife's mayor pro tem spins the wheel. (News Tribune)

Your Turkey PiñataOutside Is Going To See Hell: High winds forecasted for Thanksgiving. (Kitsap Sun)

GOP Debate: The latest GOP presidential debate exposed deep fault lines among the candidates on how to grapple with the nation's security challenges. (CNN)

U Can't Haz Sadz: The hushed dangers of startup depression. (Beta Beat)

Trippy: The magic of Hollywood's green screen. (Flavorwire)

Thanksgiving Hand Turkeys: 12 dumb ones. (TruTV)

Time To Face The Day

MONDAY, OCT. 10, 2011 >>>

1. Over the years musician Rosco Wuestewald has set of groups of musicians in different regions to back him as a way to battle the high cost of touring. This indie-folk project, Onward, etc. hits the Mandolin Cafe at 6 p.m. Drop in and see who's in the band.

2. Drop in on Meditation Monday at the Lakewood Progressive Spiritual Center, or "The Center," to those in the know. The relaxation runs from 6-8 p.m. and will cost you $10. There is a punch card option.

3. Tuesday, A Perfect Life will screen at the Tacoma Film Festival. Tonight, from 8-11 p.m. at The Swiss, Joe Rosati, Heidi Vladyka and China Davis (the band responsible for A Perfect Life's soundtrack) will be at the Swiss to celebrate. Good times are guaranteed for all.

4. Are you ready for Toxic Karaoke? Not even sure what Toxic Karaoke is? Find out tonight at Lady Luck Cowgirl Up Steakhouse and Saloon.

5. The Royal Lounge Olympia hosts The Greta Jane Quartet for its last show celebration at 9:30 pm.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Freeloaders for the week

FOOR FOR THOUGHT >>>

To get to know her students better, an Olympia-area elementary school teacher recently asked them what they had had for supper the night before.

When his turn came, one little boy said he didn't have anything to eat; that it was his turn to miss a meal because his parents couldn't afford to feed his family.

My thought processes stopped for a moment when Robert Coit, the executive director of the Thurston County Food Bank, related the story to me.

Then I tasted anger.

Don't get me wrong; I am not some bleeding heart liberal in search of a cause.  On the contrary, I have a heart as hard as a blacksmith's hammer when it comes to earning what I want for me and mine.

This doesn't make me a Wall Street lackey - it just characterizes me as ambitious and gives me the ability to provide for others and myself.

But I draw a line at hunger.  No one in this country - the richest in the world - should go to bed hungry.  This is about a human need and right.

It doesn't matter that some adults have made decisions that have put themselves and any children they may have produced at the mercy of hunger.

Stupidity and hunger sometimes share the same ride to work, if you know what I mean.

Unemployment is more than happy to drive the car.

"The unemployed fuel the rising numbers of the hungry we see today," Coit added. 

According to the federal government's numbers, one in six Americans suffers from what is euphemistically referred to as "food insecurity."

What? Insecurity? Please. Spare me the verbal pabulum.

Hunger is hunger, damnit, and calling it anything else is as intellectually dishonest as it is cowardly.

Nationwide, 19.5 percent of Americans live in hunger.  Almost 14 million children go to bed hungry, and over three million of them are under the age of 5.

Hunger is a capricious and growing bastard that cripples lives.

"What we do in society today to address the issue of hunger is a band aid only," Elisabeth Schafer, a retired nutrition professor and volunteer at the Thurston County Food Bank, told me as she helped a young couple with a small child.

"Hunger hurts children; they need nutrition to grow and learn; we all have an investment in this; children are the future."

Cliché aside, Schafer's verbal arrow found its mark.

Helen McGovern, executive director of the Emergency Food Network in Pierce County, drove the point in deeper.

"18.2 percent of the clients we serve are children."  Then to add insult to the tragedy that anyone in this country is hungry, she added, "Another 24 percent of those we help are senior citizens."

Young, old and, yes, for those in-between, hunger doesn't give a damn.

In August, the network served 833,000 individuals.  During the first nine months of this year, more than 12 million pounds of food has been distributed.

That amount - like a person struggling to stay afloat - barely keeps families fed.

In both Pierce and Thurston counties, the number of people needing food continues to rise.

Coit and McGovern both pointed to bad life choices and the train wreck of an economy derailed at 9.2 percent unemployment as the reasons for more Americans needing help to feed themselves and their children.

"This is the front-line of fighting hunger," Marcus Stoll told me as we stood in a small, crowded room at the FISH Food bank at the United Methodist Church in Lakewood.  "Look around you, these people need food."

They did and they do.

I wondered about the little boy who routinely skips supper and goes to bed hungry to help his family.

My anger has a nasty aftertaste.

Want to help? Visit www.efoodnet.org or www.thurstoncountyfoodbank.org.

Can't see the slideshow associated with this story? Click here.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Pissed He Was Shot Five Times: Prisoner has sued City of Tacoma. (News Tribune)

Good Ol' Fashioned American Capitalism: Koch Industries flout law with secret Iran sales. (Bloomberg)

Thank You Steinman: Rockefeller University biologist Ralph Steinman won the Nobel Prize, but died just days before the announcement, and Nobel rules prohibit awarding posthumously. Steinman developed a therapy to "harness the power" of the immune system and died from pancreatic cancer after extending his own life through his therapy. (CNN)

Awesome: Arrested Development is returning as a limited series on TV AND as a movie. (Deadline)

Who Wore It Better?: These Iranian soldiers or David Bowie in Labrynth?

Love Gun: Gene Simmons married Shannon Tweed.(US Weekly)

Seems Appropriate To Discuss: What's the best baseball movie? (Salon)

Fifty Years Of Famous Non-Words

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

It's Go Time: The three-years contact between the Tacoma School District and its more than 2,000 teachers expires today. (News Tribune)

Buying Some Time: Tacoma City Council throws down a temporary ban on big-box stores based on public fear that the Tacoma Elks Club property could fill with shopping carts. (News Tribune)

That Takes Some Choot-spa: Rick Perry says he's thumbing through Charles Stanley's Turning the Tide. (Mother Jones)

No Floats For You!: GOP politicians banned from Wisconsin Labor Day parade. (Chicago Tribune)

We're Doomed: Climate change makes people batshit crazy. (Sidney Morning Herald)

Charlie Sheen: Comedy Central has released promo videos for his roast. (Comedy Central)

Happy Birthday: Goose and Maverick turn 25. (New York Post)

Dream Big: Like, boobies the size of basketballs big. (Dumb As A Blog)

Q&A WITH KELSANG TSOGLAM >>>

Breathe in, breathe out, close your eyes and put your hand over your heart. Sure the music is rockin' next to you, but you can achieve a state of Zen. It's possible and the Weekly Volcano will prove it during the Downtown Block Party Saturday night. In the thick of things, we're going to erect a meditation tent for you to escape the madness and find your center - for free. Olympia Mahayana Buddhist Center resident teacher Kelsang Tsoglam will channel your inner calm and peace in the Weekly Volcano Time-Out Tent in Opera Alley.

The Weekly Volcano peacefully threw several questions at Tsoglam for your enlightenment.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Why should one meditate?

KELSANG TSOGLAM: In general, the purpose of meditation is to reduce stress and make our mind more peaceful.  According to the Buddhist path however, meditation is the tool we use to actualize our highest potential - that of "Full Enlightenment" - which allows us to not only solve all of our own problems, but also even better, allows us to bring immense benefit to those around us. So, the effect we derive from our practice of meditation is a spectrum of only beneficial results, and one that everyone from all walks of life and systems of belief can enjoy

VOLCANO: How does someone who has never done meditation begin?

TSOGLAM: First we simply need to know that meditation is medicine for our mind that will improve how we feel mentally and physically.  We also need to know that everyone can meditate - nobody is an exception

To begin meditation we sit comfortably with our back straight, but relaxed, either in a chair or on the floor, and gently close or half close our eyes.  We can briefly scan thorough our body checking for any tension or clenching, and letting go of it.

There are then several methods to calm and prepare the mind for meditation.

VOLCANO: Why do people sometime fall asleep during mediation?

TSOGLAM: There are several reasons for this; the most common is that we are just so busy that when we finally allow the turbulence of thoughts to subside, we fall asleep.  Other reasons are subtler, but all of them can be overcome relatively easily with a correct understanding of what meditation is and the benefits. 

VOLCANO:  How do you know your improving your practice?

TSOGLAM: There are several indicators that you are improving your practice.  The easiest one to spot is that you find yourself more peaceful in situations that normally caused you to be agitated.  You feel fresher during your day and your relationships improve. Also, you are able to enjoy longer meditation sessions, which in turn further improve our day-to-day experience of life.

Drop by the Weekly Volcano Time-Out Tent Saturday night during the Downtown Block Party.

Downtown Block Party

Saturday, Aug. 20, 5-10 p.m., free admission
Opera Alley, between South Seventh and Saint Helens
Tacoma

Olympia Mahayana Buddhist Center

211 Legion Way SW, Olympia
360.754.7787
website

LINK: Downtown Block Party Facebook

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

June will be A Barn Burner: Healthcare's next stop is the U.S. Supreme Court (The Atlantic Wire)

Complaint Dogpile: Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam faces some new shit. (News Tribune)

Get Off Our Lawn Too: Pierce County Council looks to protect kids and ban jumping from the Spanaway Lake bridge. Next on the Council's agenda: Banning kids from running sticks across picket fences. (News Tribune)

Dumb And Dumber: Dickheads who crashed racing over the Narrows Bridge causing injury are charged. We say their punishment should be mandatory Sunday driving along North Narrows Drive. (News Tribune)

Just How Close Are They?: Chicago man says it's time Bert and Ernie marry. Yeah, right. Dude, have you seen the way they dress? Have you checked out their apartment? They would have antiqued that long ago. (USA Today)

Speaking Of Roommates: Salon has put together a collection of TV's greatest roommates (Salon)

It's dumb to fight a boxing kangeroo

SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN FEDERAL WAY OF ALL PLACES >>>

A short trip up Interstate 5 North and a brief jaunt west off the South 320th Street exit, the Federal Way Farmers Market springs up each Saturday morning at 9 a.m. As is to be expected when the sun shines, people come out of the woodwork for this weekly happening. The market features a swap meet and garage sale on the first Saturday of each month, Kamehameha Day in June, zucchini races in August, a Fire Department versus Police Department chili cook-off in September and harvest celebrations in October.

To read the full column by Jennifer Johnson click here.

DINING IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

ANNOUNCER: Located near Pioneer Park in Puyallup, Comfort Food Cafe puts a healthy twist on old-school American dishes. Handy symbols and a key guide mark menu items to help patrons know what food is vegan, organic, gluten-free and dairy-free. Not fussy or pretentious, this small, kid-friendly café focuses on breakfast and lunch only. Order at the counter, grab a seat and plates of healthy fare arrive.

To read Jake and Jason De Paul's full review click here.

[Comfort Food Cafe, 210 West Pioneer, Puyallup, 253.770.6147]