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Fucking Headlines!

Hey ETS!ers,

Great job by Geov on "Violence in the Schools" (May 26 issue). Succinctly and eloquently stated. I just want to say this about the Springfield shootings: of all the inane press around it, the Times-or-P-I (pick one) banner headline a day or two later--"Let the healing start here" (or words to that effect)--was true idiocy.

I have a four-year-old son, and if he had been shot by Kip Kinkel (or anybody else), I would not be interested in anybody's "healing." In fact, I have this to say, regardless: FUCK Kip Kinkel. FUCK his parents. Fuck his gun, and the laws (or lack thereof) around guns in this country. FUCK the culture that glamorizes violence, and fuck the assholes who are telling me to FUCKING HEAL. Does one HEAL from the violent death of their child? I kinda doubt it. So keep your fucking healing, your fucking guns, your fucking culture and your fucking Kip Kinkels away from MY kid. And everyone else's kids.

See ya,

Sue Scharff, Seattle

Your Worst Fears

Dear ETS!,

I'm writing with regards to the letter from "Tensor" which supports RICO laws used against abortion protesters. The letter and the editor's response both act as if someday the government "might" use RICO laws against political activists. Alas, both are wrong.

In 1994, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided NOW v. Scheidler, the case which allowed the National Organization for Women to use the RICO statute against Operation Rescue, a lot of liberal publications made indignant squeals that it was only a matter of time before RICO laws were used against the left. As usual, they were wrong. In Prison Legal News we ran an article by Ray Levasseur analyzing the ruling. Ray is a political prisoner who was convicted of bombing South African government buildings to protest apartheid, as well as buildings of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Ray and his co-defendants were tried on a slew of federal charges between 1984 and 1990. Including, yes, RICO charges. Pueto Rican independtistas were tried on RICO and sedition charges in the early '80s. Interestingly, none of those who wax indignant about Operation Rescue being sued under RICO laws have had anything to say about leftist revolutionaries and activists like Ray who were actually charged under RICO. Of course, one wonders how many "activists" would remain such if their activities carried any risk to life, limb, freedom, or property.

By the way, Ray represented himself at his RICO trial and was able to hang the jury after an 18-month trial. His argument was simple: "I'm a revolutionary, not a gangster." The government doesn't need NOW to provide it with tools of repression. It has plenty of its own.

In Struggle,

Paul Wright, Editor, Prison Legal News, Monroe WA

Your Very Worst Fears

Dear Comrades at ETS!,

I am a dialysis patient who has been unjustly denied access to a kidney transplant to get well and have longer life expectancy by federal prison administrators for eight years. My kidney doctor has indicated in writing that I am a potential candidate for a kidney transplant. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has for decades caused wrongful deaths--including the genocide of a disproportionate number of people of color--by denying us access to kidney transplants, adequate dialysis/medical treatment and care. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons medical staff and its private contractor providing dialysis treatment have tried to cause my death twice. Once I required medical treatment for congestive heart failure but was denied it for days and required heart surgery.

I and others here would appreciate it dearly if you could assist us by exposing this array of medical injustices and accumulating a petition, via the Internet if feasible or in writing, to President Bill Clinton to investigate these grave wrongs. Thank you.

Solidarity,

--Mike Walker, Otisville, N.Y.

Our Heroic Legislators

ETS!,

I read your articles every week because they are interesting, useful, and well done. I thank you for your efforts.

I had one comment on an article which mentioned Rep. Jim McDermott. Whatever his other activities may or may not be, I have had reason to be grateful to him and his staff recently. For some time, I had been trying to get up-to-date statistics on HIV prevalence from the CDC.

This type of information is needed to tell us how much of a problem we have with HIV--particularly since the new AIDS treatments cast even further clouds over any possible relationship between the number of reported AIDS cases, and the (unknown) number of HIV infections. Until 1993, the CDC had done seroprevalence studies on "target" populations such as prison inmates, people entering Job Corps and the military, rural women giving birth, etc. While this type of study cannot give infallible statistics on the overall HIV problem, it at least gives a picture of HIV prevalence within certain populations.

Since then, however, there have been no such studies, and the statistics from states requiring HIV reporting cannot be considered complete, even for those states. Largely, I believe, due to the efforts of Rep. McDermott and his staff, the CDC recently announced that it intended to publish an updated seroprevalence study by the end of this summer.

Legislators do a lot of good things that never make the papers. Jim McDermott is a legislator who certainly does, quietly, a lot of good for his constituents.

Maria Abdin, Seattle

G.P. comments: Our criticisms of elected officials shouldn't obscure the fact that they, and especially their staffs, generally work hard at tough jobs and don't get credit for most of their work.

On the other hand, that's what we pay them to do. Constituent service--helping citizens negotiate the ever-more-hostile netherworlds of bureaucracy--is considered the most important aspect of the job by most politicians because it helps them get re-elected. People don't necessarily remember how you vote on an issue--but they remember if you helped them retrieve your stalled VA benefits.

Unfortunately, the flip side is that especially with the lack of policy scrutiny most elected officials get from media, they often assume they can vote any way they like on issues affecting our daily lives. As long as they run a good and friendly office--and fundraise incessantly in exchange for "access"--they'll have the job until they retire, or move along to a more lucrative elected office or lobbying career.

McDermott, like many of our local officials, is often helpful when we need remedy from a negligent or abusive government. (But would he help Mike Walker?) It's a shame that he (and others) helps pass into law many of the structures that consistently lead to such negligence and abuse.

P.S. Jim's in town this weekend--check our calendar (below), and go tell him what you think of his free trade policies!