ETS! encourages comments, feedback, tips, corrections, and info! Please keep them as concise as possible so we can print as many different voices as possible: ETS!, P.O. Box 85541, Seattle WA 98145, or e-mail ets@scn.org.

Crisis? What Crisis?

ETS!,

Deeply appreciated your article, "The Real AIDS Crisis." Timely, carefully done, and important.

I am also concerned about the AIDS situation here in the U.S. What with Duesburg, et al, proclaiming that HIV is harmless (in spite of all the scientific evidence that its animal equivalents are every bit as deadly and in spite of the devastation in other parts of the world due to the virus), and the lack of any firm statistics on HIV prevalence in this country, I personally would like to know what the status of the epidemic really is in this country. CDC used to produce studies of sentinel populations (such as Job Corps entrants, patients in city drug clinics, prisoners, military recruits, and women bearing children in hospitals), but I have been unable to obtain any later than 1992 (I am still trying). Does anybody really know the status of the epidemic here?

Thanks again for your excellent article--your work is uniformly excellent and useful.

--Maria Abdin, Seattle

Cooking With Oil

ETS!,

I hate to burst your bubble, but CIA stands for Culinary Institute of America, a famous cooking school.

--Keith Hammond, San Francisco

ETS!,

I found the recent letter about the CIA's cooking show amusing, not the least because it was also misinformed.

I humbly submit to you that you have confused the Central Intelligence Agency (spies) and the Cooking Institute of America (chefs). If it was on purpose, it was brilliant satire, but if it wasn't, I'm sorry.

But I will always treasure the image the letter inspired in me; the black spy in fedora and overcoat fighting the white "spy" in an apron and tocque (the puffy cloth hat they wear).

David Ruth, via e-mail

Ed. note: the letter-writer, traveler@serv.net, acknowledges the error. We got even more letters on this one than on Chumbawamba. Y'all can stop now!

Private Prisons

Dear Geov & Co.,

You really need to take a look at the "Prisons for Profit" article in the Nation, Jan. 5, www.thenation.com. My favorite part was where they pointed out that it was perfectly legal to escape from a private corporation because, no one had written a law to make it illegal! I am not making this up. Really!

I think you should stop asking us for money and start your own private prison. Since you don't have to fetch escapees (the state is required to do that) and you get $95 a day for having them, it is time to start the EAT THE STATE! PRISON.

At $95 a day, per inmate, we can do real well. All we have to do is rent out a Motel Six on a permanent basis. We tell the inmates they are not to leave the area, maid service is daily, and they only have $25 a day for food. We will give them a list of local deliverers. If they do leave and commit crimes and get caught they may have to come back!

There are tons of possibilities here!

bb942@scn.org

More Household Finance Tips

ETS!,

Ms. Tomchick's article about credit cards covered some very good points. However, it didn't mention one practical option: avoid interest payments altogether.

One does this by paying off the debt indicated on each statement. Basically, it amounts to getting an interest free loan from your credit card company each month.

I use a simple method. I avoid spending more than I can afford, then I pay the bill in full at the next statement.

An easy way to do this is to get a free check register from the bank (SeaFirst doesn't ask if you are a customer or not). Then record every transaction you make, just as if you had written a check. This lets you know where you stand and helps you decide whether or not you want to pay insane rates to support the Visa corporation, or drink beer, or whatever.

Additionally, you should save all those receipts and check them against your statement. After checking, you should tear them up before you throw them away.

I mention this because I was a victim of credit card fraud. As near as we could figure, someone went dumpster diving, took one of my old receipts with my name and account number on it, and used it--to pay off their phone bill. Go figure. Some people are just not cut out for crime.

--Dan Parry, Seattle

The Revolution Went Straight to Video Cards

Hey gang!

Once again, proof that the Information Age has reached every corner of the world...it's the official website for Fidel's Cuba!

They don't sell cigars on it though. http://www.cubaweb.cu/.

They even have ads for those "make a million dollars on the Internet" pyramid schemes. Who says the Revolution can't make a dime while promoting itself?

--Greg Dewar, Workers' Democratic Republic of West Seattle

Ed. note: Does this mean Internet providers are violating the Helms- Burton Act?