Virtually every culturally or politically hip person in Seattle--me included--got a sick feeling in our guts upon hearing that the Speakeasy Cafe was destroyed by fire last Friday night. There's not much more that can be said, except that it's simply awful. The community rallied in early 1999, when it looked like the Speakeasy would close, and unquestionably it will do so again, now that so much more will be needed to find the Speakeasy a new home and/or to rebuild the old one. These folks have done so much for so many of us--including ETS!, which has had several benefits hosted there free of charge--that it's inconceivable that we won't find a way to get them back on their feet.--Geov Parrish

Tax season has passed, but here's a little-known tip on an ongoing opportunity to keep money out of Congress's hands: those disgusted by what the federal government does with more and more of our money might consider withholding the federal taxes on your phone bill. Your phone company (local or long distance) will usually credit it to your bill if you're persistent; a statement explaining what you're refusing to pay must accompany the bill. (Some companies, like Working Assets, will provide a form.)

Legally, these are general fund taxes, like the income tax, and they put phone companies in the awkward position of federal tax collector. But companies' only actual obligation is to forward to the IRS information on your refusal; they cannot cut or withhold service due to your refusal to pay the tax. The IRS then, in practice, frequently neglects to try to collect the often-insignificant amounts (a few bucks a year). Telephone tax refusal was widely practiced during Vietnam and is due for a comeback; it's a mostly symbolic, low-risk, yet satisfying monthly ritual. Especially if you give the money to some deserving, underfunded social service group instead.--G.P.

Shameless self-promotion, updated: I spoke too early last issue when announcing that I'd be doing weekly national columns for Working Assets. They're daily, and they started on May 16: www.workingforchange.com.

I'm also starting In These Times articles this week, and www.geov.org should be up and running by the time you read this. The offer of e-mail subscriptions for anyone wanting the Weekly or Working Assets columns is still good--e-mail me at ets@scn.org. Oh, yeah--and my LPFM chat at last week's Public Radio Conference was a blast--there's a full description in this week's Seattle Weekly. Now to get the rest of the ETS! community in on the exposure...--G.P.