Buried quietly in the Feb. 9 New York Times: chemists who examined soil, sludge, and debris samples from a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant destroyed in August by American cruise missiles found no traces of chemical weapon compounds. The Clinton Administration, which in a just world would have been put on trial--promptly--for its bald-faces lies in promoting the attack, continues to insist the attacks were justified. U.S. spies claimed to have found traces of Empta, a nerve gas precursor, in the soil around the plant last August. According to a Clinton spokesperson, Osama bin Laden's second cousin's nephew's camel tender pored through the soil surrounding the plant before chemists took the more recent samples, removing the offending molecules with a very tiny pair of Japanese tweezers and an itsy-bitsy bucket.--Geov Parrish

I made that last bit up.--G.P.

Ever wonder what's driving the ridiculously high prices of Internet stocks? It seems you can't open a newspaper or magazine without seeing another story about an Internet company that hasn't turned a profit yet, but has a stock price that's shooting through the ceiling. Obviously Internet stock prices are being boosted by speculation: investors are buying in anticipation of what may happen later on this year or next year or the year after. Yet, in spite of news stories that highlight retailers like Amazon.com and Homegrocer.com, the real engine driving Internet stock prices are the Internet companies that allow businesses to buy and sell to each other. Consumer access to Internet retail sites has developed as an afterthought. In 1998 businesses did $43 billion worth of sales on the Internet vs. only $8 billion by consumers. According to Nelson Schwartz in Fortune Magazine (2/15/99): "By 2003 more than 90% of the predicted $1.4 trillion in Internet commerce will be conducted between businesses." And the operating profits of certain Internet companies may turn out to be as high as 50 percent--higher than most software companies. (The software industry is already noted for profit margins that are higher than ost other sectors of our economy.)--Maria Tomchick

The State House and Senate will see a lot of this year's 2,197 (!) bills die by the time of a March 2/3 deadline for getting the bills out of committee this week. So, we're waiting til next week to run an overview of what has and hasn't survived the session thus far. But one worth highlighting is Gov. Gary Locke's plan to "save" the salmon industry, essentially by offering tax cuts to the logging industry. For those who haven't spent much time in the woods (or what's left of them), logging, especially clearcuts-- and the resultant erosion, siltation, and loss of stream canopy that follows- -is an enormous part of why the Pacific Northwest's salmon are endangered in the first place. SB 5896 and HB 2091 would replace the current Forest Practices Board review of logging procedures with a stunning sweetheart deal: 20 percent tax cuts and an estimated $2 billion in industry compensation for selected streamside "buffer zones." Industry would also get certain exemptions from the Endangered Species Act for the next 50 years. It's an amazing bit of corporate welfare that ought to clarify for any doubters, in the tension between saving precious wild habitat and further enriching Weyerhaueser and Plum Creek, whose corner Gary Locke stands in. This kind of Clintonesque act of environmental warfare wouldn't be possible if a Republican proposed it. But because Locke is willing to pose for photos with enviro leaders (great for the newsletter!), they stay mute when scams like this hit.--G.P.

>From California, home of most new terrifying trends (we start the rest), comes a plan in Sacramento to raise money for that city's budget-stressed coffers by offering corporate tie-ins to the city. Using public money to endorse private corporations is bad to begin with, but this is a bad idea with breathtaking implications; the program is just now getting under way, with sponsorship deals for non-alcoholic beverage and telecommunications companies under negotiation. A recent syndicated column by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman of the Multinational Monitor lists the ways in which city pimps hope to raise $2-$5 million a year: "an official car rental partner for the city (potential partners named include Avis, Budget, Enterprise and Thrifty), a preferred ice cream (potential partners: Baskin-Robbins, Dreyers, Nestle), preferred food suppliers for the police and fire departments and the convention center, an official film (potential partners: Fuji, Kodak, Polaroid), an official delivery service (potential partners: Airborne Express, DHL, U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, UPS), a preferred coffee and an official departmental coffee supplier (potential partners: Java Centrale, Maxwell House, Folger's, Millstone, Pete's, Starbucks), official wear for park and recreation staff (potential partners include REI), official software and official computer of Sacramento, official computer of specific departments (potential partners include: Oracle, Sun, Apple, 3COM), exclusive security for Sacramento, and more...[including] an official undergarment supplier for city police, fire and security....Key elements in delivering value to sponsors include: giving sponsors the imprimatur of official city approval, providing sponsors with exclusive marketing rights in designated areas (zoos, parks, historic tourist areas, etc.), enabling the companies to seem `part of the community' (by identifying a refurbished teen center, for example, as `paid for by The Gap') and providing `signage' on public properties in highly trafficked areas." Say, maybe we in Seattle can use that kind of money to pull together some bribes to lure the 2012 Olympics! -- G.P.

Speaking of commercialism in public places, the Seattle School Board, amidst its coronation of Joseph Olshefske as new pro-business head, quietly slipped through a provision a month ago that allows schools to generate income by renting space to commercial enterprises. Previously schools had been limited to allowing community groups and other nonprofits to lease. So what happens when Pizza Hut, owned by Pepsico, moves in? Does that violate the district's exclusive contract with Coca-Cola? Or "drug free zone" restrictions?--G.P.

Sunday is the last day for Seattle's venerable Red & Black Books, the latest and most painful to date casualty of megachain booksellers and their war on independent bookstores and free thought. As indies like R&B go, we not only lose valued community institutions (and prospective distributors and advertisers for rags like ETS!), but fewer and fewer corporate hands control what gets stocked, what gets discounted, and increasingly what even gets published. Get down to Red & Black this week for going out of business bargains--and then make sure you do your book and periodical purchasing at places like Left Bank Books, Recollection Books, Elliot Bay Book Co., and this city's other remaining independent voices. --G.P.

Your sobering statistics for the week: In the past five years, nearly 50 percent of the U.S. jobs created paid less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only two-thirds of the people laid off in the last few years in the recurring waves of downsizing are back in full-time jobs. Of those lucky enough to get full-time jobs, nearly half earn less than they did before.