The Duwamish Tribe, granted federal recognition by the Clinton administration only to have it whisked away by the Bushies, is now turning to Congress. Jim McDermott will introduce the legislation in the House, but the tribe needs donations to support its lobbying efforts. Why should you donate? Well, here's one good reason: the Bush administration announced on July 5 that the Chinook Tribe, which helped Lewis and Clark find their butts when they were lost in the wilderness, will also be denied federal recognition. That announcement came two days after the tribal chairman dined at the White House with George and Laura Bush to celebrate the upcoming Lewis and Clark bicentennial. Talk about a direct insult and betrayal! Get out your checkbooks and start calling your representatives. Checks can be sent to: Duwamish Tribal Office, 14235 Ambaum Blvd SW, Seattle, 98166.--Maria Tomchick

Bush's Health and Human Services chief, Tommy Thompson, was aghast. He must have entered a nightmare. Asked to speak at the UN AIDS Conference in Barcelona, he had prepared a speech touting the $500 million in aid the Bush administration had just allocated to the Global AIDS Fund. As his first words rang out over the hall, 30 conference delegates stood up, shouted "Shame! Shame! Shame!" and blew whistles. They rushed the stage, shouting and chanting for more than half an hour while Thompson mouthed his speech like a fish out of water, drowned out by the pandemonium. What caused this glorious protest? Two things: the knowledge that the Bush administration was donating $200 million less than the US Senate had proposed, and the fact that the US was not donating its fair share. The Global Fund now needs an estimated $10 billion to treat HIV/AIDS, which now infects over 40 million people worldwide and is spreading much faster than all the worst case scenarios predicted. Of that $10 billion, the US's share is $2.5 billion for the Global Fund and $1 billion to bilateral programs. Considering the staggering amounts of money we're spending on anti-terrorism, this is peanuts. And contrary to popular perception here in the US, most AIDS victims are women and their infant children. An estimated 25 million children are expected to lose their mothers to AIDS by the year 2010--which means it's criminal to ignore the AIDS crisis, as we've been doing. Will the protest have any effect on the Bush Administration and other major donors? Considering that the Global Fund has only received about one-fifth of the money it needs, and no major donations have been made since last summer, something drastic had to be done.--M.T.

The jokes about George Bush's reputed illiteracy are getting kind of old, even for those of us who enjoy them immensely. I think it's time to discuss Bush's inability to add an subtract. Last week, the budget deficit hit $165 billion, an astounding turn-around from last year's $127 billion surplus. Let's see, that's 127 plus 165 equals $292 billion down the sinkhole of tax breaks for the wealthy, increased money for high-tech weapons (which somehow can't protect us from a handful of guys with box-cutters), and out-of-control anti-terrorism and bio-terrorism spending (which can't guard against a lone wing-nut with anthrax cultures in his kitchen). Five months ago, the Bush administration estimated the budget deficit this year would be $106 billion. Now they're telling us we'll have a budget surplus by 2005. Who are they kidding? Right now, a lot of folks are examining the fishy accounting at Enron, Worldcom, Merck, Xerox, and other major corporations. It's time to take a closer look at the government's numbers.--M.T.

Last week, 12 committees in the US House of Representatives reviewed and voted on what agencies should be moved into the new Homeland Security Department. As it turned out, they decided not to move very much. The Transportation Committee, for example, decided that the Coast Guard's primary role is search and rescue, not terrorism interdiction, so it should remain with the Dept. of Transportation. It also voted to leave the Federal Emergency Management Agency an independent body, since its mandate is to provide relief from natural disasters (not man-made ones). Other committees made similar decisions: health research should stay with the Dept. of Health and Human Services, animal and plant inspectors with the Dept. of Agriculture, etc. It was deemed that even the Immigration and Naturalization Service should remain where it is. The committees did vote for one move, however: to shift the Secret Service from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department (but not to the Department of Homeland Security!).

Now remember, Bush made his announcement of the new Homeland Security Department to universal, bi-partisan acclaim from Congress. But once they got a look at the details, House members decided to rip apart his proposal, which shows how premature and ill-conceived the whole idea really was. That won't necessarily stop it from happening, however. The committee votes are only recommendations; the House has set up a special committee to consider the recommendations and write up the legislation for the new Homeland Security Department. The chairman of that committee is House Majority leader Dick Armey, a Republican from Texas--Bush's home state. Armey could ignore the committee votes and offer a bill that looks exactly like Bush's proposal. But, of course, that would risk a fight on the House floor. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate of the cost of setting up the new cabinet-level department: $3 billion over the next four years, as opposed to $0 according to the Bush administration. It's not the first time the Bushies have proved they can't add, subtract, or, heaven help us, multiply.--M.T.

In the last issue of Eat the State!, I discussed the issue of women deciding to take uninterrupted birth control pills to stop their periods. Since then we've heard news that a hormone replacement therapy study was halted because of the increased risks of breast cancer, stroke, and heart disease related to a combination treatment of synthetic estrogen and progestin. Women who take birth control pills--particularly low-dose estrogen (which is used by women who want to end their periods)--should not be worried. A companion study following women with hysterectomies who are taking estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy was not stopped, because no clear risks have emerged.--M.T.