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.

Valuable Service--Free!

Yo, pinko comrades,

Vivian here. I wanted to let you know that the nefarious Seattle PeaceHeathens are aggressively working on the 5th edition of the Seattle Crisis Directory Guide. This one is going to be so refined, expanded, and streamlined compared to the 4th edition.

Some history: Started in 1989, 21,700+ hard copy paper guides have been distributed free of charge and not a dollar has been exchanged in any respect to the project re: compiling, confirmation, layout, printing, distribution.

The online version is updated frequently and is extensively larger with massive links to service providers. It can be found at: http://www.scn.org/civic/crisis/ .

The reason I'm offering up this information is that we could really use some pre-publication media as we will soon be pounding the asphalt in search of free printing.

We have formal letters of request for our psychedelic day-glo guide that features a peace sign and an anarchy symbol on the cover (artistically incorporated) from the Seattle Police Dept. Advanced Training Unit, Dept. Of Corrections, Greater Church Council of Seattle, King County DSHS, Family Support Services, Stonewall Sexual Minorities Recovery Center, Dept. Of Veteran Affairs, Northwest Hospital, Harborview Hostpital ... yadda yadda yadda. We see it as a coup that a bunch of freaks who put on the Hempfest and tofu barbecues in the park are supplying this free of charge not only to the homeless and down-and-outers, but also to the core mainstream service and care providers in the city.

Anyway, please consider giving us some ink, so folks know that a new updated guide is coming out soon.

Thanks,

Vivian McPeak, Seattle PeaceHeathens

Animal Emotions

ETS!,

Regarding the fair:

I'm sorry, to bring up such a small item, but I don't think you'll find any educated neurologist/biopsychologist who will say certain animals (in this case mammals) don't feel. Scientists know that the limbic system in the brain controls emotions and that this structure is common to mammals; therefore, the types of animals described in the article can feel emotions in the same way members of H. Sapiens can.

--admartin@direct.ca, via e-mail

Grow!

ETS!,

We are all part of the planetary biosphere and that makes us biosphereans. It is up to us, individually and collectively to preserve and enhance the biosphere whenever possible. Using less stuff more effectively is one way to proceed. Not buying pollution emitting devices is another angle to consider. Until we can get over the insecurity hangup of wanting flashy things to show how important we are, we are not going to evolve to higher consciousness and are only showing our ignorance. Of course it is great to have neat stuff from time to time and to play the game of "hey look at my toys," so having stuff that is ecological like hemp clothing and solar powered radios is a better way to go. Recycle everything possible and insist on places recycling plastic, especially municipalities and autonomous neighborhood councils. Growing as much fruit, vegetables, and herbal medicines indoors and outdoors in the city, hydroponically and organically is a definite maybe and a very rewarding meditation. Enough hydroponic food can be grown in a small studio using 20-30 day rapid cycle seeds to provide the major part of one's vitamin, mineral and enzyme reserves. Windowbox gardening and allowing fast growing edible kudzu vines to cover all walls and roofing is another groovy project to manifest. Plant fruit trees wherever one can find a space: big and dwarf varieties in the soil and giant plant pots. To renaturize the city is to rehumanize the city and yourself. Do it now!

--Marjon Coulter, Seattle, Earth

Sue!

ETS!,

Eventually the debacle orchestrated by Kenneth Starr will subside and the nation will go on with its "business as usual," except for one thing.

The entire Clinton/Lewinsky mess happened because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a civil suit could be brought against a sitting president. This means that, until or unless the time comes that the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its own ruling, almost any dimwit, nut-case, or politically ambitious person can file suit against any U.S. President. If this happens, the nation's business will once again, or perhaps many times again, be put on hold while a U.S. President fights a personal legal battle.

That is the real harm that has been done.

--Thalia Syracopoulos, Seattle

Hillbilly What?

Editor, ETS!,

So Clinton's an adulterous liar. How many of those casting stones are without sin? Given that Clinton has caved in to conservative/corporate demands on practically every issue, why does the Right hate him so intensely? With so little logic evident, there must be deep-seated emotional motives. Perhaps it has to do with Clinton's background. How dare an Ozark hillbilly near-bastard think he is an equal to our economic elite and that his scholarship and political acumen somehow entitled him to the best universities and even to running for the presidency!

In contrast, the great "potatoe" himself, Dan Quayle, is qualified because he was born to the elite. The rest of us should know our place, stay out of Nordstrom's, and give our tax money to our betters that they may park in comfort at the new downtown "public" garage.

There may be another aspect as well. Bob Dole has spoken publicly about his use of Viagra. It is pretty obvious that Bill Clinton doesn't need it. But for all those so critical of Clinton's morals, how about leading by example? A great place to start would be by showing some compassion for the economic and ecological victims of global materialism. "In as much as you have done it to one of the least of these, my sisters and brothers, you have done it to me" (Matthew 25:40).

--Catherine Simonton, Seattle

P.S. I went to the demonstration protesting the garage opening. Someone yelled at the older woman in front of me to "get a job." She said she had worked for 45 years. An older, well-dressed man yelled at me "go home." I replied that "I am home; I'm a 5th generation Seattlite." I date back, although just barely, to the era of the Seattle gambling/payoff system. It was corrupt; but at least the Democrats had to worry about their rank and file constituencies so that "trickle down" was a fact. After the reform movements in the late 60s and 70s, we had government by a clean (mostly) systems analyst-style elite with little if any connection to working people. This rule by those who know what's best for us masses has now culminated in a ripoff of such massive proportions that the old-style crooks must be slack-jawed in amazement that the public would put up with such an outrage.

Clearcut Crimes

To the editor:

Last week I decided to see for myself what was happening at our biggest local tree farm. I drove up to the Snoqualmie Tree Farm east of Carnation where Weyerhaeuser owns a 100-square mile swath of land which includes the Tolt River watershed and reservoir--Seattle's drinking water. On many maps of the Cascades, this section is often covered over by a key which explains what different-sized lines, dots and arrows mean. What's actually there is 100 square miles of devastation. Yes, folks, just east of your new condos and housing developments in Redmond and other communities, Weyerhaeuser is busy scraping off what's left of their holdings in the area as quickly as possible. Beyond the acre after acre of shockingly fresh clearcut, some other things I saw were: a "fish habitat improvement project" just downstream from a fresh clearcut where the stream had gone dry (how fish will use the expensive culvert that passes under the logging road when the exposed stream has gone dry, I'm not sure), mile after mile of logging roads, and logging trucks carting bundles of 4" diameter logs speeding at about 70 mph along dusty roads (watch out, fish!) in order to hurry up and come back for another bunch.

The denuded hills and fresh kill atmosphere made me feel as if I were in a war zone. It is a very scary place to be. How Weyerhaeuser and the other timber companies raping our countryside to make incredibly high (in Weyerhaeuser's case $11.2 billion) profits each year get away with this destruction is unbelievable. Is it worth it to the people who live in the Puget Sound to have our habitat destroyed so a multinational company can provide a few local jobs and destroy what's left of our forests? After taking a couple hours to visit our local version of what's happening on a global scale, I say it's time for Weyerhaeuser to cut back on profit making, restore what they've destroyed with real forests--not single species ones--and give the land back to the nation so that we can begin the process of re-growth. This is the only way we'll be able to protect our fish, our air, and the habitat for animals which have left the war zone long ago.

The bottom line is: Weyerhaeuser, you may be making money hand over fist, but at what expense to those of us who live here--or those who've fled?

--Albert Kaufman, Seattle, WA