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Astroturf!

Hey ETS! gang,

I think you've been had.

In the last ETS!, the letter by Larry Richardson and the "Campaign for Fair Pharmeceutical Competition" was not entirely on the up and up. the CFPC is an astroturf organization. (Or at least there is a group with the exact same name that is an astroturf org. Maybe there're two, although I doubt it.) They are a front for mylan laboratories, a generic drug manufacturer, and they're organized by a PR firm called National Grassroots & Communications (ngrc.com) which is in turn owned by "The Situation Management Group, Inc., which provides comprehensive strategic counsel to companies that face threats to shareholder value." NGRC's other clients are primarily other corps of questionable ethics, like Arco, Food Lion, McDonald's, & Wal-Mart.

They do run several "associations" who seem or have names that are prosocial: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Mothers United to Save Children's Lives. And they also run several sound-alike coalitions similar to our CFPC friends: Coalition for Affordable Pharmaceuticals, Coalition for Competitive Health Care.

I don't deny that there appears to be both political corruption and media censorship going on here, and cheap generic drugs ain't such a bad goal. but they're still astroturf working for specific corporate interests.

--Jake Sexton, Philadelphia

Cassini is Coming!

Dear Geov,

I got some information about a possible planetary crisis. After some hard thought, I'm decided to forward it to certain friends. I don't want people to go into a fear mode, but I think there's a possibility that disaster can be avoided if the cry is loud enough.

If that's not to be, well think of it as a gift, a reminder of the preciousness of the moment.

Here's a bunch of sites about the cassini space probe. The first from the Real Astrology web site lays out the senario. The rest are supportive, as well as the NASA line. You can just double click on the addresses and it should take you right to them.

Personally, I'm getting calmer about all this. I think it's important to be informed and try to take whatever action we can. Being present and connecting with Earth in a core energetic way feels important too.

I'm planning a party for August 18.

http://www.realastrology.com/oracle/toarchives/march99/efrancis-mar.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/rtg/ http://www.PlanetWaves.net/grossman.html http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/october97/cassini.html http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/index.htm http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/index.htm

Love,

--Jonnie Gilman, Seattle

The Sectarians are Coming!

ETS!,

I have some personal experiences similar to the one Maria describes in her commentary about the involvement of campus socialist organizations in recent anti-war rally in Seattle. I have experienced first hand the damage these organizations can do when they use rallies and other campus organizations as recruiting tools. They are more interested in building a party. There is a time and a place for everything and we are hardly at the stage where party building is even possible. Most people aren't even ready to organize their workplaces, much less organize a revolution.

I resent the use of the term "redbaiting" by vanguardist organizations. The underlying assumption is that all socialists must be vanguardists. Vanguardism had its chance in the former-Soviet Union and it was an authoritarian nightmare. I would not want to live in a country being run by these campus socialist organizations with undemocratic and authoritarian structures.

My introduction to organizing started at UW-Madison during the Gulf War. In the early 90s there was a lot of Ku Klux Klan organizing in the town of Janesville, Wisconsin, located about 40 miles south of Madison. A friend of mine told me about a meeting in Janesville in which members of the International Socialist Organization were involved. A 16-year-old who had just been beaten up by Klan sympathizers showed up at the meeting while an ISO member was lecturing the group about the need for a socialist revolution. Here was a high school student looking for protection from Klan supporting thugs and he walks into an anti-Klan meeting getting harangued by somebody talking about the need for a revolution TOMMOROW. I couldn't help but think of this anecdote while reading Maria's commentary about the anti-war rally.

--Rick Giombetti, Fort Collins, Colorado

Bible Oops

Dear Eaters,

I know you are not directly responsible for the content of your letters, but one mistake therefrom does need correction:

The Bible verse about transforming swords into agricultural equipment is from the Book of Micah, not Isaiah.

--Matt McCally, via e-mail

And Greens Make Three

Dear ETS!:

Thank you for your take in the recent "Eat These Shorts" regarding the role of grassroots environmental groups in protecting the Cedar River Watershed from being logged.

I had the same thought cross my mind as to why Mayor Schell was taking all the credit for the hard work others had to do to obtain (what will almost certainly be) a no commercial logging agreement for the Cedar River.

I wanted to add that, in addition to PCBP and EF!, the Green Party of Seattle was the third of the triumvirate that created the Protect Our Watershed Alliance and deserves applause for its efforts. All three did a tremendous job against the odds to save a precious habitat. Peter Steinbrueck should also be commended for coming out early in support of a no commercial logging position and for doing behind the scenes lobbying.

It should also be noted that the no commercial logging position was obtained in the face of the local Sierra Club's opposition. Like the recent series of articles in ETS! regarding the conservative nature of the national Sierra Club, for a long time the local group took a position accepting most of Margaret Pageler's proposal to log the watershed. Perhaps it is time to create a local movement to bring it, like the national, back to its roots.

--Robin Denburg, Seattle, WA

It's Never Enough

ETS!,

Re: June 2 edition article on Global Warming.

Let's get our heads on straight here. THERE IS NO CASE, NO ARGUMENT--NO MATTER HOW COMPELLING--WHICH THE OTHER SIDE WILL NOT DISMISS AS INSUFFICIENT or in need of more study etc., etc., ad infinitum, et ad nauseam. Isn't it interesting how the concepts of probable cause, circumstantial evidence, or preponderance of evidence are absent when dealing with economic interests and the profit motive? There really isn't even a matter of reasonable doubt here, folks (which incidentally comes into play at trial rather than at indictment time.) It is just a simple matter of keeping the game going, so that day after day after day after day the profits roll in.

Repeatedly making the global warming case makes us unwitting accomplices in this cynical charade. (What is the expectation? That adding bales and bales of evidence to the already monstrously large pile of evidence will break the nay-sayers' backs? Did it really do so in the case of tobacco? And in this instance, it isn't just one industry with a limited constituency, but many industries across the board.) There is no real need to be adding yet another piece to a puzzle which has already sufficiently been put together to recognize what the problem is. (Besides, it's clear that neither the quality nor the quantity of evidence will be allowed to hold any sway until such time as it can be dealt with in some more sophisticated fashion than flat denial.) What there is a real need for is a need for ideas on what to do about the problem. Ideas that take us out of the box the gamemasters seek to keep us in. Ideas which include the basic refusal to play the game as it has been rigged. Ideas which challenge the game's assumptions, language, logic, rules and the "inevitable" results these combine to produce.

Regards,

--Bruce Barni, via e-mail

Remember Wounded Knee

ETS!,

In response to the letter about the fake Makah Web site: the Seattle Times mentioned it in an article shortly after the whale was killed. They said that it was traced to a post office box in Vancouver, B.C., rented by one of two "animal rights activists" who had been recently busted by the RCMP for mailing razor blade-lined envelopes to hunters and member of the fur industry. The Makah are considering legal action.

On a related topic: Paul Watson has been going around claiming to have been a medic at Wounded Knee in 1973. He says he assisted Leonard Crowdog in an operation to remove a bullet, and that he had a vision interpreted by Wallace Black Elk which gave him his whale-saving mission. And that he was adopted as a "warrior brother" by the Lakota Nation. Well, here's some interesting words from Carter Camp, Wounded Knee veteran and AIM leader during that period:

"This past week I was with Crowdog and neither of us remember the events he outlined. Except the obvious--Rocky was shot, Crowdog operated, and people in the medic area helped. The medic people were purposely kept from any involvement outside their medical duties. This was at their own request to remain a neutral group. They did not participate in any 'activities' or any decisions, they carried no weapons and stayed separate, so if this guy was 'honored' or 'named,' the warriors missed it!

"Whatever he did (if he was there), I am deeply offended by his assertions that he was guided in his misdeeds by a 'vision' he was given at WK'73. We who were there would like to re-interpret his vision for him to show him the Makah, not eco-terrorists, are the ones saving our whale relatives. His view is insulting to those of us who fought at Wounded Knee '73 and more importantly it is insulting to the spirits of those buried there because of people like Watson himself. Maybe we could politely invite him to return to the Knee to Smoke once again with Rocky, Black Elk, Crowdog, and myself (I'm sure they will agree) so we can hear his 'vision' once again and give him the true meaning."

And this from Ward Churchill, Colorado AIM: "...it's not just that his name doesn't come up in any of the literature on Wounded Knee. I've queried Ron Rosen, who was in fact a medic at the Knee, and he doesn't remember Watson being there. Uncle Wallace [Black Elk] doesn't remember assigning any white guys to save a bunch of 'buffalo of the sea.' Neither Russ [Means] nor Aaron Two Elk recall Watson as having been there. Nobody recalls a naming ceremony being conducted for anyone, much less a white medic. Nobody remembers any white guys being naturalized as Oglala citizens, except the 7-member VVAW [Vietnam Veterans Against the War] contingent--White Bob, Hillbilly, et. al.--and Watson was definitely not one of them."

And by the way, contrary to Lansing Scott's claim that this is all just simple "polarization," I think this is an essential argument to clarify and hopefully deal with a really annoying and long-term tendency toward misanthropy in the environmental movement. Misanthropy is, after all, racism's little brother.

--Jim Page, Seattle, WA