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.

Justin Did It!

Volume #4-24 of your e-publication carried an article entitled "Cheney & the War Party." That piece was followed by my name.

While I like seeing my moniker in print more than most people, in this case it was inappropriate. The essay above was written by Mr. Justin Raimundo, the editor of antiwar.com and protege of libertarian scholar Dr. Murray Rothbard; I merely forwarded it on to ETS!.

As a staff member at a local university, I am especially sensitive to the problem of mis-attribution, so I hope you will humor me by running a correction in the next issue of ETS!. Thank you.

--Matt McCally, Burien, WA

G.P. note: Matt forwarded it without attribution, but we're happy to make the correction. Check out antiwar.com--it's one of the best libertarian mergers of left and right anti-war, anti-corporate analysis out there.

It's Worse Than You Think

Always amusing to find that you're still plugging away at what you do best, distortion.

The National Abortion Rights and Reproduction Action League (NARAL) has endorsed the Gore-Lieberman ticket. The enclosed attachment contains Senator Lieberman's full record on the issue, overwhelmingly pro-choice. You seem to have chosen one of the TWO votes (of seventy-four!) he cast the other way, without providing context. (I know, I know, this is ETS!, we readers are lucky that you deigned to mention any source whatsoever.) Lemme guess-- you will now describe NARAL as anti-choice, right?

As a young man, Mr. Lieberman risked his life as a freedom rider in the deep South.

"...Mr. Gore once was considered an ally by the National Rifle Association. In 1985, he opposed a 14-day waiting period for handgun purchases." (Wall St. Journal, 15 August 2000, p. 1) The same article notes that Mr. Gore once strongly opposed federal funding for abortions, but supports it now. Shall we castigate him for his reversals on these issues?

I suppose twisting and distorting history requires less creative talent than sheer fabrication. After all, under Bismark, Germany began social spending on a scale Western democracies did not reach until well into the next century. His most infamous successor was a non-smoking vegetarian. And the Soviet Union brought improvements into the poorest Russian villages.

For rigid ideological purity on the issue of choice, you have matched the Christian Coalition--without electing anyone to office, like they did. Keep flying in tighter and tighter circles, and you will soon disappear completely. Meanwhile, please drop me from your e-mail list.

--Patrick McArdle, NARAL Volunteer, Seattle

G.P. replies: Hey, Patrick! Good to see that your frothing loyalty to the Democratic Party, no matter how egregious their misdeeds, is unabated after these many years. Meanwhile, you might note that, as our article clearly stated, the listing of Lieberman's record wasn't an ETS! distortion--it was adirect quotation from an Associated Press article. Granted, as this issue's Media Watch notes, AP isn't always noted for their accuracy and objectivity; but they usually err on, not against, the side of those in power. Lieberman's record is worse, not better, than the article implied. Congratulations. As there becomes less and less meaningful distinction between the two wings of our ruling corporate party, you've chosen the one issue--abortion--on which Democrats can sometimes claim to be better. Exploit it well, Patrick. You'll need the rationalization in the dark days to come.

Third Runway Blues

Unfortunately for the Port of Seattle, when one decides to fill in a valley with 20 million cubic feet of dirt in order to build a runway, one expects there to be significant environmental impacts. The DOE's job is to make sure the Port identifies and mitigates those impacts, however inconvenient. The DOE is not the problem. The Port should have done its homework.

Now that the hour is late, and the project is way over budget, the Port has called on their man Norm Rice to get the process moving. So Norm crafts a damn-the-torpedos-full-steam-ahead editorial, and so what if the environment is irrevocably damaged by the Port's incompetence--there are polls that show the people want a runway.

While it's ironic that Norm finds himself in the position of blaming government for the slow progress on the runway, let's identify the real culprit here. Apparently, the Port of Seattle has taken on a project that is beyond its grasp. I'm sure the process must seem maddening to Norm and the Port, but not because government is being overly bureaucratic, it's because the Port can't get its act together to properly construct the largest public works project this side of the Mississippi.

Instead of asking why Dept. of Ecology is doing its proper job, we should be asking ourselves if we really want to spend $7 billion dollars over the next 10 years on an airport that is hopelessly gridlocked with traffic. Do we really want to put all of our eggs in that cramped basket? How many regional airports and high speed rail systems could be built with that money?

The role of attack dog for the Port does not suit Norm Rice. He should let DOE do their job. But if he's looking for something to do, the Port, apparently, could use some project management help.

--James Alls, Beacon Hill

A Seafair Moment

Woolen blanket spread across the green and gold park lawn; Mom is unloading the picnic basket. She's placed the cottage cheese and chocolate cake beside the red opaque glass bowl of potato salad. The sky is pale blue. The sun is bright. It's already a hot day. Homemade pies retrieved from the SUV are sunning themselves and waiting for the relatives' arrival. Mom pulls jars of pickles and olives from the cardboard box with napkins, soft drinks in cans, and potato chips. Infant Joey stares wide-eyed, open-mouthed, spittle dribbling from his chin. The toddler, Margaret, sucks her thumb and asks Mom for a Popcicle. Dad is stacking black briquettes in the barbecue, readying the lighter fluid and laying out meats for cooking--ground beef, hot dogs and some boneless breast of chicken when, down the lake, a scissors sound is heard which waxes louder ripping as the gathered squint to see the cause: four jets in passing, blasting from the jaws of death, barely cresting the trees, down there on the deck and thirty feet above the lake surface, dippled by breezes, the hurtling bejeezus craft explode--BOOM!--in four directions. Margaret screams, and covers her ears, her pigtails flying side to side. Dad reaches for his glasses, fallen to the lawn, and Mom stoops to retrieve Joey from the chocolate cake, daubing his face with a hankie and a quick coo and kiss, wishing they hadn't come.

--William Imhof, Seattle