Some prominent I-695 proponents (including Tim Eyman) have gleefully declared that repealing the car tab tax has had no effect on transit, social services, etc. To burst this bubble, 20 bus-less, north-county commuters staged a protest at Tim Eyman's Harbor Pointe home (near Mukilteo) last Wednesday. Last month, about 25% of Community Transit services were cut in the wake of I-695, including all weekend service and the complete elimination of 11 routes. Community Transit will lose $18.7 million per year if the legislature doesn't fill the I-695 gap. Many of the protesters were disabled folks (including at least one person in a wheelchair) with no other means of transportation. Others were people who can't get around on weekends or have lost their jobs because of the cuts in bus service. Eyman wasn't home at the time and his wife, kids, and mother quickly left when they saw the protesters arrive. Suzanne Karr, who managed the I-695 campaign gave the protesters a list of Eyman's speaking engagements and asked them to protest there, not at his home. "If you don't like someone's politics you don't make it a personal vendetta," she whined. The peaceful protesters, however, pointed out that Eyman's home has been his campaign headquarters. And how much more personal can you get than to cut off people's transportation options? The politics of meanness deserves to met at its source.--Maria Tomchick

Speaking of I-695, Gov. Jellyfish has once again shown his true colors. I-695 is even now being challenged in court by the Amalgamated Transit Workers union and six other groups, but last week Gary Locke said that even if the courts rule against I-695, he will not enforce that ruling. In other words, I-695 is here to stay. To make matters worse, Rep. Hans Dunshee, a Snohomish Democrat, has drafted a bill to wipe out the motor vehicle excise tax; he will introduce it in the legislature if the courts rule against I-695. With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans? Again, that number to reach the governor's office is 360-902-4111.--M.T.

They may be on the path to enlightenment, but they sure have bad manners... We're talking, of course, about the Natural Law Party, those transcendental meditators who have decided to build a powerful coalition of third parties this year by teaming up with the Reform Party and the Green Party. (Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader, together at last!) Trouble is, the NLP hasn't actually discussed this coalition with their partners. It appears that "coalition building" occurs by invading the endorsement meetings of their prey...er, coalition partners, and stealing the endorsements for NLP leader, John Hagelin. This tactic was apparently successful with the Reform Party in some parts of the country.

The Feb. 29 presidential endorsement meeting of the Green Party of Seattle was the first time it was attempted with Greens with less success. Though Hagelin came all the way out from Iowa to deliver his 10-minute endorsement pitch, and rounded up about 40 local followers to sign up as Green Party members just minutes before the meeting, Nader still won a majority of the endorsement votes. Not enough, though, for the 75% supermajority required by those consensus-oriented Greens, who learned a lesson about the downside of open, trusting, participatory process in a world of predatory politics. -- ETS! News Service

Boeing pulled a fast one last week when it tried to unilaterally impose portions of its proposed contract on engineers by handing out tiny raises to anyone returning to work. Boeing management was hoping to get at least some of the 18,000 striking SPEEA members to cross the picket line and accept a tiny pay raise, along with rollbacks in benefits and job security. Less than 100 workers went back on the job and, happily, a number of engineers who had been ignoring the strike left their jobs at Boeing in disgust. Notably, only about 14,000 of the striking workers are dues-paying members of SPEEA; solidarity is obviously very, very high, even though the strike has lasted over a month. One reason why is that the strikers are white-collar professionals who are able to find jobs quickly and easily elsewhere--and many are doing so. If they stay at their new jobs post- settlement, the effects of the strike will hurt Boeing long after the pickets are gone. The AFL-CIO has recently jumped on the SPEEA bandwagon, offering money to boost the SPEEA strike fund. Courting white collar workers can be quite profitable for the AFL, but I have to ask: who is going to stand up for unorganized, low-income workers who need the most help? Surely they need those funds first.--M.T.

ETS! gets lots of unsolicited crap in the mail, but occasionally we get a gem...like The Nighttime Gardener's Guide by Robert Shapiro, President, Monsanto Corp. The guide is an anonymous and detailed how-to on pulling up and destroying genetically engineered crops, a necessary movement that's been widespread in Europe and the Bay Area but has yet to make it extensively to much of the U.S. (including here). To get your copy, e-mail the gardeners at nighttimegardeners@angelfire.com.