Thanks to Gibson's Bar, the Pinkos, Mea Culpa, August Spies, and everyone who came out for a fabulous ETS! fundraiser show on August 10. We had a blast! And now the bad news: it was one of their last shows. Monday, Gibson's abruptly closed forever, due to insurance costs from earthquake damage to the building it's in. It's a huge loss to the community, and also to ETS!: we'd agreed to subsequent benefits there, starting on Sept. 27. So if anyone out there knows of other venues where we can have benefit shows, please give ETS! a call at 206-903-9461. We wanna do more shows like the great one Aug. 10! --Geov Parrish

Shameless plug department: each year, War Resisters League puts out a fine weekly desk calendar on a particular theme, with a format where, at the end of the year, if you want you can tear out the dates and have a nice book of whatever (stories, photos, artwork, poetry) left over. For the 2002 calendar, the theme is "52 True Stories of Nonviolent Success", written and edited by yours truly and Tom Hastings, a long-time ETS! reader and former Plowshares prisoner now living in Portland. (Sorry it's a crappy title--they changed it on us!) The calendar is an outgrowth of my longstanding interest in progressive and activist history, and wanting to tell the stories of when we actually won. ETS! has 'em as a fundraiser, and, of course, I highly recommend that you buy as many as possible for each holiday between now and the new year! They're $12 (including postage) from ETS!, P.O. Box 85541, Seattle WA 98145. --G.P.

Has anyone noticed how commercialized the game broadcasts of "our" Seattle Mariners (playing in a stadium that is very much ours, if you count the owners as being the people who were forced to pay for it) have become? It's a trend that's everywhere, of course, as advertising seeps into every pore of American existence, but somehow it seems particularly repulsive in these broadcasts: "Now coming up to bat, Eveready Battery third baseman John Schmoe! Eveready lasts twice as long as your average D-cell! Schmoe's Budweiser batting average is a cold, refreshing, Beechwood-aged .245, with six Ace Hardware home runs--for your home improvement needs, Ace hits it out of the park every time--and 25 Century 21 RBI's. When you're trying to get someone to home, remember Century 21! [Crowd roars.] We'll be right back to tell you what Schmoe just did, after this commercial message!..." -- G.P.

'Tis the season...for local campaigns. City Council incumbent Jan Drago is the "guest barista" at Seattle's Peace Cafe (see calendar). Monorail supporters should attend, & grill Drago on her anti-monorail stance. Drago, former head of the Downtown Seattle Association (and currently their taxpayer-funded spokesperson on City Council) is trolling for the liberal vote in this Peace Cafe appearance. Grab a decaf and grill Drago on her infamous comment following the first voter referendum approving funding for the Monorail, when she claimed the majority in favor "didn't really know what they were voting for." Perhaps that is true for those who voted for her? --Valerie Jean Rose

Workers of the World Unite--and try to crash the party being given in honor of Elaine Chao, US Secretary of Labor. Chao, who does not support the minimum wage (let alone a living wage), is speaking in Seattle on Aug. 22, at a private $25/plate dinner at the China Harbor restaurant (ironically, the site for Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata's re-election campaign kickoff). The hosts, including the King Co. Republican Party, claim this is not a fundraiser--instead it's a photo-op for white republicans craving some 'diversity' cred. Chao is putting her Harvard MBA to work, dismantling the remnants of US worker protections. She's another example of Bush's insane and lazy cabinet appointments--after all, she did serve as Deputy Secretary of Transportation under Daddy Bush. Labor rally, anyone?--VJR

Taking a cue from the Fair Trade movement, the United Farm Workers (UFW) have proposed a partnership with growers in marketing Fair Trade Apples. The campaign, launched in Seattle's Pike Place Market on August 1, has already attracted the interest of small scale specialty growers, while the Washington Grower's League remains reluctant to join any farmworker sponsored program. The UFW aims to use consumer pressure to get retailers to pay more to growers operating under fair trade principles. Supermarkets' profit on apples are 33% above costs--one of the highest profit margins in the stores. Paying fairer prices would help growers survive and improve pay and benefits for apple workers. The Fair Trade label would require growers to pay a fair wage and to permit collective bargaining. As yet in its nascent stages, the campaign will be fleshed out in the months to come, but already has the enthusiastic support of progressive Mexican labor unions. Mexico is expected to buy about 10 million cartons of Washington apples this year, our largest export customer. The UFW is at www.ufw.org --Troy Skeels

The Tibetan Policy Act of 2001 was introduced in the Senate by Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Craig Thomas (R-WV) on May 9 as S. 852. The same day, it was introduced in the house as H.R. 1779. The most comprehensive Tibet legislation yet to be considered before Congress. Sen. Feinstein said it is designed "to place the full faith of the United States government behind efforts to preserve the distinct identity and the cultural, religious and ethnic autonomy of the Tibetan People." The bill proposes providing $2.75 million in humanitarian assistance for Tibetan refugees. The bill also includes several diplomatic efforts such as US support for participation by the Dalai Lama's exiled Tibetan government in UN organizations and US support for creation of a Special UN Working Group for Tibet. The bills call for the Secretary of State to attempt to establish an office in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and for the US Ambassador to China to seek to meet with and request the release of the 11th Panchen Lama and the unconditional release of all political and religious prisoners in Tibet. Significantly, the bill calls for a requirement that US assistance to Tibet, including that funneled through "projects supported by international financial institutions," demonstrate benefits to Tibetans themselves. Washington's Senator Patty Murray has signed on as co-sponsor, while the rest of the Washington delegation is studying the matter. For more information on the Tibetan Policy Act see www.savetibet.org--TS