Thank you John Winter!! John is one of the fine folks from UW who has interned for ETS!, and he's designed and helped install a search engine for the ETS! web site. Now you can search and research all the cool and visionary articles over the four years (and counting) of ETS!s history. Thanks again, John. --Geov Parrish

Recently, the US Supreme Court ruled the state of Missouri couldn't discriminate against the Ku Klux Klan when it wanted to participate in the adopt-a-highway program. While the name of the Klan is aesthetically disgusting, this is, surely, a victory for free speech and equal protection under the law. Some day anti-FTAA groups may want to do the same thing. But for the Klan, Missouri's DOT--showing rare imagination and decency for a bureaucracy--got its revenge. The KKK is now cleaning up a stretch of the newly-christened Rosa Parks Freeway. --G.P.

Campaign rhetoric is already infesting community meetings, like the recent Rainier Beach Neighborhood meeting. My neighbors & I went to talk with city officials, police, and a school district representative about solving neighborhood problems. But City of Seattle Attorney Mark Sidran was also there, presumably to answer questions, but mostly fishing for votes in the next mayoral race. Sidran informed us that he grew up in Seward Park, worked at his father's pharmacy, and attended Franklin High School. For more information on Sidran's impact on Seattle citizens, check out the Sidran website (www.ihnens.com/dc/), created by the Seattle Displacement Coalition (632-0668) and web designer David Ihnen. According to SDC Coordinator John V. Fox, the site offers valuable substance, cutting through the usual posturing. "Beyond his get-tough reputation toward the poor, we've also taken a look at Sidran's larger record and the role he has played in many other matters that critically affect the well being of our community." As Seattle City Attorney, Sidran has worked hard to make the city safe for downtown shopping, with his no-sitting and other "civility" laws. SDC plans to profile other candidates and politicos--watch for their incisive reports to help cut through the campaign verbiage. --Valerie Jean Rose

Ian Thomas used to work for the US Geological Survey (USGS). But he made the mistake of informing the public about where the Bush administration wants to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. On the USGS website, his map outlined the area of where caribou most often go in spring to have their calves: a narrow strip along the state's northern coast, adjacent to the Canadian border, exactly where Bush and his oil company financiers are proposing to drill. Thomas was fired, and now works for the World Wildlife Fund. The map has been removed from the USGS website. And the US Fish and Wildlife Service has also stripped its website of pages dealing with the potential environmental impact of mineral extraction. Predictably, the mainstream US media and Democratic Party are too busy complimenting Dubyuh on not mispronouncing his cue cards to protest that publicly funded information has been censored, or that an employee has been fired for NOT lying about proposed environmental devastation.--VJR

The Washington State Senate has passed the Children's Pesticide Right-to-Know Bill, SB 5533, which would give parents information about when pesticides are used in schools. But the chemo lobby has stalled the House version. The House Agriculture and Ecology Committee have passed the measure, yet House Republicans are refusing to bring the bill to a floor vote. Surprise--political leadership is needed to protect our children. Heck, even Dubya says toxic chemicals harm kids--if he can figure this out, so can the Republican Reps. Contact your representatives and ask them to stand up in support of right-to-know for children's health; bring SB 5533 to a vote in the House and pass it! You can find out who your reps are through the Legislative Hotline, 800-562-6000, or check the Washington State Legislature District Information Website at: http://dfind.leg.wa.gov/. For more information on the Children's Pesticide Right-to-Know Bill, contact Erika Schreder at the Washington Toxics Coalition, 206-632-1545 x19 or eschreder@watoxics.org. And check out the Toxics Coalition website at www.watoxics.org. --VJR

Striking ACORN workers achieved a significant victory before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on April 16. The NLRB ruled in favor of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) on a charge brought against the union by ACORN management. A week after the strike began, management filed a charge with the NLRB that Julia Fitzsimmons a "lead" organizer at Washington ACORN was a manager, and argued that the entire union drive and the election campaign was tainted by "coercion by management" and that the strike is illegal. The NLRB found the charge to be without merit, leaving ACORN at present without an explanation for why it refuses to deal with its workers in good faith. The NLRB also found merit in a host of unfair labor practice charges filed by the IWW against ACORN, which includes the refusal to allow workers to unconditionally return to work. The union also filed for injunctive relief, which would force ACORN to negotiate with its workers. In the meantime, the workers are effectively locked out by ACORN management, which has brought in scabs. The NLRB's ruling opens the possibility that the workers could become eligible for unemployment compensation and/or back-pay. This may be some solace in the face of the intractable management of an organization that purports to champion workers' rights. You can contact local ACORN boss Doug Bloch at 206-723-5845 or fax 723-8658. See www.iww.org for more information. --Troy Skeels

Last week, AIDS activists in South Africa won a victory when the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world--Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and GlaxoSmithKline--dropped their lawsuit against the South African government. The drug companies were suing to overturn a South Africa law that would allow importation of cheaper AIDS medicines. It was a partial victory and a partial defeat for both sides. The drug companies had to back down, but won an agreement from the South African government that it would allow drug company input into any regulations drawn up under the new law.

The government can now import cheaper medicines, but it can't import or manufacture generic versions of the AIDS drugs it needs to treat the largest HIV+ population in the world (one in nine people in the country are infected). About 250,000 people die of AIDS each year in South Africa, where AIDS medicines cost $25 per day. African governments can only afford to spend an average of $2 to $3 per person per day on their public health care systems. Brazil, on the other hand, produces generic AIDS drugs and gives them to its populace for free; death from AIDS in Brazil has decreased by half. Brazil, however, is currently being sued before a WTO tribunal by the US for patent infringement. Activist groups working on this issue include Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and Act-Up.--Maria Tomchick

Most Americans know that Bush's tax cut plan is a giveaway to the rich. What most don't know is that the rich already are making out like bandits under the current tax code. Remember: they only pay a 20% tax on their capital gains--the money they make selling stocks and investments. In addition, capital gains are "free money," because it's unearned income; it's the profits that companies steal from consumers and workers to give to their shareholders. Free money should be taxed at a hell of a lot higher rate than 20%. The same is true for estate taxes. Again, this is free money, given to folks by their dead relatives. Only 2% of the population pay estate taxes--and that's not the richest of the rich, either. Only the dumbest and laziest of the moderately rich pay estate taxes: the folks who don't lift a finger to do any estate planning before they kick the bucket. Complaining afterwards that Mom or Aunt Bertha didn't visit a lawyer to draw up a trust fund or that Dad didn't incorporate the family business (with you as a shareholder) just doesn't cut it with the majority of us, who won't see a dime of free dough when our relatives die. And for those whose Aunt Berthas will leave them a small amount of money, the estate tax only applies to estates over $625,000. So what's the fuss?--M.T.