Recently ETS! asked activist and cartoonist Donna Barr to fill us in on what the concerned folks of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula are doing to take their (and our) country back. Here's what she has to say.

Recent actions, per your request:

I haven't done all that much myself, other than show up for WTO, run an email PolList, contact lawmakers per action letters, write internet columns (www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/engine). The most useful thing I did was go to a pro-war rally (rather a tense moment), in Bremerton, WA and speak in whispers to frightened people away from the CNN spot, where the creeps were using a terrified war wife as a shield against any questioning. Have you ever seen Americans do den deutschen Blick ("The German Glance"--what the Germans called looking over your shoulder before opening your mouth. Also the terrified smile, when the dogs are sniffing somebody else's tires). Not a pretty sight.

Anyway, people at the pro-war rally didn't know, wanted to know, and spoke in depth of their fears and suspicions. I felt like a life-raft. Pretty sad, when all they had was me. And I had to call the Bremerton police because, in order to show no police presence at the CNN rally, the police allowed it to take place at a freeway off-ramp right by a mall, and there was no one there to control nervous rally members trying to cross between careening SUV's. The callous lack of regard for people's safety for political purposes was stomach-turning.

BUT--what's important right NOW is the way the people of Clallam Bay and Neah Bay are furious because the library system--claiming lack of funds--is trying to consolidate a very open-minded local public library branch with a K-12 school library. We've explained that, "In Today's Climate" we cannot begin to consider allowing adults to be controlled by an atmosphere intended for minors. The Makah Nation sent a representative to the town/library meeting in Clallam Bay, and he told us that he would "take your words to my council"--which, considering the power of The Tribe up here, and the huge respect it has, brought joyful applause from the townspeople.

As one of the old residents of Clallam Bay said, when pushed to accept the consolidation: "There's no use arguing. Talking about it in this community it's like sprinkling water on a hockey rink--it all turns to ice. Find another way to deal with this."

Courageous librarians and townspeople in a little forest/fishing area are refusing to buckle in, ultimately, to The Patriot Act.

Donna Barr, Clallam Bay, WA