The great Anci Koppel passed away last month after a brief illness. Koppel, 93, was a tireless activist who despite her advanced age was active in the Northwest Disarmament Coalition, Seattle Women Act for Peace (which she co-founded in the early '60s), Fellowship of Reconciliation, and countless others. Activists around the city, as well as elected officials, were accustomed to hearing Anci's voice, in her heavy Austrian accent, at the other end of the phone, telling them what to think and what to do about it. She will be sorely missed.

In her last week, Anci was still working the phones, in this case in opposition to the Trident nuclear submarine that visited Seafair this month. A conversation she had with Peter Steinbrueck--she was close to the entire Steinbrueck family--was apparently pivotal in securing Peter's active support for Richard Conlin's courageous city council resolution calling for no more nukes in Seafair. Ironically, the Blue Angels buzzed Koppel's memorial service, making speakers inaudible at times. A reminder, perhaps, that Anci left us with work to do. --Geov Parrish

The Republican Party convention confirmed a disturbing trend in how authorities are handling lawful and unlawful dissent in the wake of Seattle's WTO festivities. Just like Seattle did with its "no-protest" zone, cities are blatantly violating the constitution and letting the courts sort it out long after the opportunity to protest has left town (and after jailed protesters have been worked over a bit by authorities). Philly authorities took a page from Seattle, and from the aggressive preemptive tactics used to handle the IMF/World Bank protests in D.C. in April, by arresting hundreds of people at a puppet-making center on the grounds that they might later do something illegal. Over a week later at this writing, at least a hundred are still in jail, many on hunger strikes and complaining of widespread abuse. Puppets have now become illegal, just like gas masks, ski masks, and bandannas--all signs that the bearer doesn't like the government and is therefore subject to arrest. You can't do that under the constitution, but in Philly (and probably L.A. by the time you read this) authorities are doing just that, and with not a whimper from corporate media. Indeed, the ease with which cops are making dissent itself illegal, to apparent public approval, reminds us again just how easy it is for America to slide into the police state mentality.--G.P.

Speaking of WTO, it's the best of a number of reasons to take Paul Schell up on his word. You may remember that Schell, in answering critics of both his tactical plan and his police department's egregious civil rights violations during the WTO talks, invited people to vote him out of office if they didn't like his job performance. Now, apparently, we'll get the chance: Schell says he'll "probably" run for a second term, and if Seattleites have any sense he'll finish election night with only one vote--his own. (Whoops, sorry. He's registered to vote on Whidbey Island. And that's only because citizenship laws won't let him vote in the French Riviera.)

The catch, of course, is that Schell is counting on the advantages of incumbency, short memories, and his extensive access to campaign cash from his developer budddies, whom he's done proud while in office (while failing to take any other actions to alleviate a growing housing crisis). Overall, aside from WTO, Schell has done damn little in office, none of which justifies a second term. The irony is that we have to wait so long and then take our chances; in the private sector he so loves, Schell's job performance would have gotten him fired on the spot after WTO. --G.P.

I've generally been willing to believe the party line that on average the Seattle Police Department is pretty good, in that it's abusive but at least not as corrupt as many of its big-city brethren (or its own past). But I was wrong. The police guild's naming of Tommie Doran--the officer who murdered David Walker--as its "Officer of the Month" is at minimum deeply offensive. Doran was ruled faultless by an inquest system that's backed every killer cop in the last 20 years. But even if you back Doran, show your support by taking him out for a beer or something. Don't spit in the face of Walker's family and the entire African-American community. The award shows that many of Seattle's less-than-finest hold a wide swath of the public they allegedly work for in contempt. And that's a problem the new chief had better do something about. He should take a page from the Black Law Enforcement Association of Washington, which condemned the award, and do the same. Now.--G.P.

It's business as usual at doublethink central. Here's the text of a letter I just fired off to the Seattle Times. We'll see if they print it.

Editor,

Thank you for running the story "Pressure mounts to end Iraq sanctions" in the August 4 edition. It's incredibly important to inform as many people as possible of the barbarity of the policy. However, as it wasn't refuted anywhere in the article itself, I feel compelled to take issue with two paragraphs containing bald-faced lies by our President and Secretary of State: "The Clinton administration says Iraqis are suffering not because of the sanctions, but because Saddam has diverted proceeds from the oil sales for his own purposes" and "In Tuesday's Financial Times of London, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote that Saddam was using the money to 'rebuild his military'..."

Not only is it not true, it's impossible. Iraq doesn't see a dime of the proceeds of oil sales under the Oil-for-Food Programme--they're stored in an escrow account in the Bank of Paris in New York City. The UN has total control of the money (and in fact shaves 33% off the top for UN administration costs and war reparations). Moreover, the UN committee overseeing disbursement (which is controlled by the United States and Great Britain) has as of February 800 "holds" pending on urgently needed humanitarian and oil sector supplies because of their supposed "dual use" military nature--a direct violation of the Geneva Convention. Readers wishing to learn more should access Citizens Concerned for the People of Iraq's website at http://www.scn.org/ccpi/.--Eddie Tews