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     a forum for anti-authoritarian political opinion, research 
                              and humor
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------
     
                    ELECTRONIC TEXT-ONLY VERSION
     
       September 24, 1996        published weekly           #3
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------
     
    In this issue:
     
    Why Eat The State!?
    Craswell Saves The Election
    The Political Value of Exploding Airplanes
    Those Treacherous Suburbs
    Eat These Airwaves!
     
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    WHY EAT THE STATE!?
     
         Welcome to this, an initial issue of what we intend to
    be a weekly, four-page forum for--like the masthead
    says--anti-authoritarian political opinion, research, news
    and humor.
         While Seattle already has lots of forest-eating print
    publications, including some very good political ones, it
    doesn't have one that is explicitly anti-statist (by which
    we mean both governments and corporations, which these days
    are essentially the same); explicitly activist; or published
    frequently enough to respond to breaking events, decode the
    news and publicize activist initiatives.  That's what we
    wanna do.  We also think being clearly biased in our
    approach is not only more honest than so-called "objective"
    corporate media, but lots more fun to read.
         Short, frequently published broadsheets, interpreting
    the news of the day in a way the newspaper barons would not,
    were a staple of the radical U.S. labor movement in the late
    19th and early 20th centuries.  They served to link isolated
    communities and provide a voice and soapbox for the
    voiceless.  The "Democracy Wall" writings of China's student
    movement in 1989 filled a similar function.  On a more
    modest scale, that's what we hope to do, too:  avoid
    rhetoric, make the issues of the day relevant to our daily
    lives, get the word out, inspire, have fun, and encourage
    each other to think for ourselves and look beyond what
    self-interested corporations and governments hand to us.
     
    OUR MISSION STATEMENT
     
    Missions were used by the Spanish to colonize Mexican
    California in the 18th century.  Their establishment was
    instrumental in the genocide of California's native peoples.
     
    We oppose them. 
     
    Craswell Saves The Election
     
         The victory of former state Sen. Ellen Craswell in last
    week's Republican primary for Governor was extremely good
    news for the citizens of Washington.
     
         Craswell is a near certain, um, lock to lose the
    general election. Not that her opponent, King County exec
    Gary Locke, is someone to put faith in. His elevation to
    Visionary Leader by the media and business parasites who
    will be seeking favors from him for the next four years
    comes after a rather undistinguished career as a liberal who
    "gets things done" (i.e., actively seeks the middle ground
    between the public good and unfettered greed). But
    Craswell's well-earned reputation as a bigoted fanatic whose
    ideas of good government would resonate in Tehran will
    terrify virtually everyone not already in her camp - which,
    last Tuesday, was about 85% of primary voters.
     
         The real impact of Craswell's presence in the most
    visible statewide race, however, will be its impact on other
    races. In several lower-profile state races, extremely
    destructive people are running who stand a better chance of
    winning than Craswell. The attention her views will draw,
    whether she can win or not, will make it harder for others
    to avoid the attention, and alarm, they deserve. The most
    notable:
     
         Ron Taber will face Teresa Bergeson for State
    Superintendent of Public Instruction. Bergeson is favored,
    but her past career as an NEA head will be used against her.
    (A teacher! Eeeek!) Taber, whose platform is essentially to
    dismantle public education through vouchers, gets uglier as
    he gets more familiar. His remark early in the campaign
    (while opposing bilingual education) that Spanish was the
    language of doormen and fruit pickers would be tragicomic if
    it weren't so widely believed. (Note to Ron and others: Over
    half the population of the Western Hemisphere speaks
    Spanish. Get over it.) His advocacy of caning in the
    schools, and public funding of (conservative) Christian
    education, deserve a lot more attention. Taber is a menace
    to children.
     
         In the race for Insurance Commissioner, incumbent
    Deborah Senn postures as a champion of consumer rights. She
    is, in fact, much less of an advocate than she claims to be,
    and that ought to be an issue since watchdogging the
    insurance industry is the definition of the job. But she,
    and what's left of our state's health care reform, has still
    pissed off insurance companies so much that they are pouring
    truly massive amounts of money into defeating her. Their
    paid candidate, Anthony Lowe, would take away your only
    recourse should you become ill and some enormous company
    decides that your body does not represent a lucrative enough
    profit center. Beyond urging Canada to invade, our best bet
    is to make sure Lowe loses.
     
         Locally, based on primary results, there's an excellent
    chance that property rights wingnut Jeanette Burrage could
    lose her King County Superior Court seat. Judicial elections
    cause most peoples' eyes to glaze, in large part because
    only people who hang out in courtrooms have much of an idea
    what these people actually do. But Burrage is a particularly
    notorious case of how ideology can be used to extract
    maximum damage from the judicial system; her opponent, Doug
    North, needs support.
     
         Craswell's emergence may even help further damage the
    state's six freshmen Gingroids running for Congressional
    reelection. Most showed themselves vulnerable in the
    primary, including the presumed-invincible Linda Smith.
    Particularly heartening was the primary loss (it'll rerun in
    November) of South County's Randy Tate, a snot-nosed little
    creep whose arrogance cannot be explained by either wealth
    or intelligence. Tate's accidental election two years ago
    may forever be used as an argument against allowing people
    under age 30 to hold office, and for that alone he should be
    retired (to 40 years as a successful lobbyist, no doubt)
    ASAP.
     
         In addition to being valuable for the political issues
    at stake, the defeat of people like Tate, Taber, Craswell,
    and some of the Christian Coalition loonies infesting
    Olympia's legislature would be a huge relief for many
    Christians. As with any faith, Christianity's adherents are
    mostly decent folks spanning the usual range of humanity.
    Intolerant zealots in office endanger everyone, Christians
    included, and give faith a bad name.
     
         It's a sad measure of even our local elections that the
    best we can hope for again this year is to block the
    election of the unusually vicious. In a genuinely
    representative system, people would regularly have a chance
    to vote for someone who reflects their interests and needs. 
    There is nobody, in any of these races, with a meaningful
    chance of winning who is not at least well-off and is not
    being financed primarily by the very wealthy. Even simple
    reforms--like meaningful campaign finance laws or
    proportional representation--are complex enough to bore
    people to tears. But if we're ever going to get beyond
    trying to protect ourselves from a few of the very worst
    politicians, and on to the real business of creating the
    society we WANT, we hafta start learning this stuff.
     
         In that regard, progressive activists would do well to
    look at the structure of the Craswell campaign. A so-called
    "fringe" candidate defeated far better-financed opponents by
    sheer street level organizing; every city, town, hamlet and
    cow pasture in the state this year has had someone
    delivering the Craswell message. If, as progressives like to
    believe, we've got better answers than the Craswells of the
    world for peoples' fears, needs and desires, we should look
    closely at how she got her message publicized to so many.
     
    The Political Value of Exploding Airplanes
     
         It was dryly noted in the news last week that
    investigators of the TWA 800 disaster off Long Island last
    month, after having recovered 80% of the plane, have found
    no evidence whatsoever of explosives and are now looking
    primarily at mechanical failure as the reason for the crash.
     
         It's eerily reminiscent of the Oklahoma City bombing
    last year, when politicians and talk-radio yahoos alike were
    ready to bomb some Middle Eastern country (pick one; they're
    all alike) in retaliation until discovering the likely
    culprits came from Michigan. None of these same morons then
    advocated bombing Detroit--though years of official malice
    toward inner cities have certainly left Detroit with that
    appearance--and none minded too much that the repressive,
    civil-liberty-stripping "counter-terrorist" border measures
    begun in response were containing a phantom threat.
     
         This time, chances are excellent the post office will
    not scurry to take down its absurd new signs requiring folks
    with packages over a pound to register with the FBI (or
    whatever). The climate of terror from these incidents is
    primarily generated by official news sources and stoked by a
    media hungry for conflict and emotion. People see these
    signs, remember the blaring headlines for days about a bomb
    on that TWA flight, and it adds to the general sense that We
    Are Under Attack. And the corollary, which is that sometimes
    you have to give up a few rights in order to secure greater
    public safety. Lost in the manipulation of these emotions
    for political gain is a simple fact: there was, in all
    likelihood, no bomb.
     
         If there was, of course, the destruction of Flight 800
    would surely qualify as a dastardly deed--but even then, it
    pales as a modern terrorist act. Most of the truly
    terroristic acts these days are committed by governments,
    against their own or each others' citizens.  567,000 Iraqi
    children have died in five years due to U.S. economic
    policy, a policy designed to punish innocents so that others
    will behave the way we want them to. THAT is terrorism. And
    it would take an Oklahoma City-sized bombing every business
    day for the next eight years to equal, in tonnage and
    carnage, what the U.S. inflicted on the residents of Baghdad
    in six weeks in 1991. 
     
         Closer to home, in the United States, where our leaders
    rush to gut the constitution when a pipe bomb goes off, an
    average of one thousand, eight hundred and seventy-two women
    are reported raped every day. Virtually all of these attacks
    are committed by men, a majority by men that the women
    know--a brutal way to use power and control to force desired
    behavior, and cumulatively representing nearly 700,000 acts
    of terrorism a year. Where is the official outrage?
     
         There is no equivalent outrage, of course, for several
    reasons. (Among them, that women--like the poor, queers, the
    mentally ill, or people of color--are by definition not
    considered "innocent" victims.) But the relevant reason here
    is that the deaths aren't what's important in headlines
    about the TWA crash; what's politically useful is the fear
    they instill, the fear that allows greater and greater state
    authority. As with Mafia protection rackets, the real thugs
    are the ones offering safety.
     
         The eagerness of officials and media to embrace a big
    bang theory for TWA also points up another interesting and
    manipulative bias. It is useful to instill fear in people;
    but it is NOT useful to question the infallibility of
    machines. Mechanical failure has resulted in far, far more
    air fatalities in any given year than terrorist attacks; but
    it's the last thing our corporate-friendly, techno-dependent
    information sources want us to consider. That's particularly
    true in Seattle, where if the icecaps were to melt tomorrow
    the local papers' headlines would speculate on the impact
    upon future Boeing sales; but it's true everywhere, and not
    just with airplanes. 
     
         People know in their daily lives that these fancier and
    fancier gadgets (computers, cars, VCRs) frequently don't
    work right; but the Official Universe of better and better
    technology spurring tons of sales to happy consumers does
    not find skepticism (or latent neo-Luddism) useful. We can
    have acts of God, or acts of terrorists, or acts of
    incompetence, but we can never, ever have dangerous,
    malfunctioning or useless technology. When this dynamic
    influences something as established as airplanes (which are
    rather safe compared to, say, cars), it makes ya wonder what
    we haven't yet heard about the immediate and long-term risks
    of all the new, inscrutable machines in our lives.
     
    Those Treacherous Suburbs
     
         While on the topic of fear and safety, an interesting
    study just released by the Northwest Environment Watch busts
    another myth. Much of the basis of the growth of suburbs,
    and middle-class flight from the inner city, is the idea
    that suburbs are safer places for families. Wrong. Turns out
    the rate of death from car accidents in the suburbs,
    including the rate for kids, is so much higher than the
    city that it more than makes up for higher city rates of
    drug and violence deaths. The basic geography of suburbs is
    constructed around the automobile, with amenities like
    sidewalks, bike paths, or public transit--where they exist--
    added later. The conclusion? Protect your kids: live in the
    city! 
     
    Quote of the Week
     
    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
    temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -
    Benjamin Franklin
     
    Eat These Airwaves!
     
         Eat The State! political commentary is now airing each
    Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:00 on KCMU's Mind Over
    Matters. Be sure to tune in--but don't take our presence as
    an endorsement of KCMU's management, or its evolving format.
     
         On Sep. 9th, KUOW/KCMU management announced at a staff
    meeting that KCMU would be firing its nonpaid weekday air
    staff and replacing them with paid DJs. In addition, the
    intent is to have all of KCMU's volunteers gone by the end
    of the fiscal year, and to hire a full-time ad sales person
    for KCMU (remember, this is non-commercial radio!). And the
    talks for a Puget Sound Public Radio consortium of KUOW,
    KPLU and KCMU--just one of the scenarios whereby KCMU's
    alternative music would be banished entirely--are quietly
    continuing.
    
         KCMU has never been a community radio station. It's
    always belonged to the University of Washington, which has
    the right to do whatever it likes with 90.3. If they want to
    air all Husky Sports all the time, they could. But for many
    years KCMU has appealed for public donations and volunteer
    help on the premise of being a community station. The lack
    of apparent outrage at the latest erosion of this tradition
    can only be attributed to so many folks having already given
    up on KCMU. 
     
         Seattle desperately needs a community station, AM or
    FM, that can cover the whole city (in addition to the micro-
    broadcast pirates popping up). The only way we'll get one is
    to buy one, or to pry KCMU out of UW's cold, dead fingers.
    Some folks are discussing putting a buyers' group together;
    to hook up with them, contact us at ETS!. In the meantime,
    we're happy to have the air time on KCMU, but we'd be much
    happier on a station run by and for the public--like
    "public" radio should be.
     
    Eat The Rich...No, Really...
     
         A reader passes along the following--and yes, we do
    welcome blurbs, articles, and feedback from ETS! readers. If
    we have the money to print more pages (that's another hint)
    they will be primarily devoted to your voices. 
     
         "Pepperidge Farms has a new line of cookies. They've
    recently been using geographical locations (Monterey,
    Geneva, etc.). The new one is called `Tahoe.'
     
         "There's a bright label on the package that helps to
    explain what the cookies have in common with Tahoe:  `Full
    of RICH WHITE Chunks!'"
     
    RECLAIM OUR HISTORY
     
    Sep. 25. 1937: City of Los Angeles bans sale of war toys.
    Sep. 26. 1937: Bessie Smith dies of injuries from an auto
    accident outside a Jim Crow hospital in Mississippi.
    Sep. 27. 1983: Five members of Puget Sound Women's Peace
    Camp enter Boeing's cruise missile production plant in
    Seattle, leaflet workers, and are arrested.
    Sep. 28. 1943: Danish underground anti-Nazi activists begin
    systematic smuggling of Jews to Sweden. 1994: Indigenous
    people from around the world meet in Bolivia to discuss bio-
    piracy.
    Sep. 29. 1969: 2,000 welfare protestors take over state
    capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. 1983: International
    arms trade convention prematurely closed by nonviolent
    activists, Brussels, Belgium.
    Sep. 30. 1991: CIA finances military coup in Haiti. Three
    years of state-sponsored murder, rape and theft follow
    before the U.S. intervenes to change the government again.
     
    ACTIVIST CALENDAR
     
    Tue. Sep. 24. 11:30 AM, Federal Building, 2nd & Madison.
    Celebrate signing of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty this day
    at United Nations. Info: Physicians for Social
    Responsibility (PSR), 547-2630.
     
    Tue. Sep. 24. Pay-what-you-can fundraiser for PSR. 7:30 PM,
    Wright Auditorium, Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way
    NE with anti-nuclear activist, author & heroine Helen
    Caldicott. 547-2630.
     
    Wed. Sep. 25. 4:00 PM local protest as part of National Day
    of Action Against Corporate Greed. At AT&T Wireless, 617
    Eastlake Ave. E. Jobs With Justice, 448-7348.
     
    Thu. Sep. 26. 2:00 PM City Council chambers, hearing on the
    U District Chamber of Commerce's plan to use uniformed
    police in a private security force to "clean up" the U
    District of youth, homeless and other horrors. Call the
    Council, call the mayor, and be there. Info: Seattle
    Displacement Coalition, 523-2569.
     
    Thu. Sep. 26. 7:00 PM, Leffler House at St. Mark's
    Cathedral, 1229 10th Ave. E. Global Economy Discussion
    series. This month, "The Commodification of Women in the New
    Global Economy." Church Council of Greater Seattle, 525-
    1213.
     
    Fri. Sep. 27. 5:30 PM, meet at Westlake Park, 4th & Pine,
    for Critical Mass Bike Ride through downtown to promote non-
    motorized transportation.  Info:
    http://www.oz.net/~nic/cm.html.
     
    Sat. Sep. 28. Women Take Back The Night. Info: Seattle Rape
    Relief, 325-5531.
     
    Sun. Sep. 29. 3 PM, meeting of Citizens Concerned for the
    People of Iraq. For location call Fellowship of
    Reconciliation, 789-5565.
     
    For an excellent and much, much longer compilation of
    upcoming and ongoinng progressive events in Seattle, check
    out Jean Buskin's Peace Calendar: 
    http://weber.u.washington.edu/~buskin or e-mail her at
    bb369@scn.org.
     
     
         The tiny print: EAT THE STATE! is a shamelessly biased
    political journal. We want an end to poverty, exploitation,
    imperialism, militarism, racism, sexism, heterosexism,
    environmental destruction, television, and large ugly
    buildings, and we want it fucking now. We are not
    affiliated with any political group or party. We publish
    EAT THE STATE! as a way of sharing information, resources,
    opinions, and hopefully inspiring ACTION in our community.
    Please help!
     
         EAT THE STATE! is published and distributed each
    Tuesday in Western Washington. We welcome articles,
    letters, comments, and feedback. Write us at EAT THE
    STATE!, P.O. Box 85541, Seattle WA  98145; or email
    ets@scn.org.
     
         EAT THE STATE! is edited by Geov Parrish; layout and
    production assistance is provided by Northwest Forest Action
    Group, Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia, and
    Catalytic Communications. All rights are cast to the wind;
    feel free to reproduce. We'd appreciate it if you credit
    us, and let us know, when you quote or reprint our stuff.
        
         Subscriptions by mail to EAT THE STATE! are available
    for $13 for 26 weeks or $24 for one year. E-mail
    subscriptions in text-only format are free. Donations are
    welcome; if you value publications like EAT THE STATE!,
    support us, because we're always money-hemorrhaging
    propositions. We are supported in part by donations from
    readers like you, and in part from redirection of resisted
    federal taxes donated by people who in conscience refuse to
    willingly pay for militarism and class warfare.  We accept
    paid advertising only from enterprises which actively work
    to further our goals of a vibrant, decentralized, free
    society. 
     
         EAT THE STATE! is also distributed free at numerous
    outlets in Western Washington, and will be available at a
    web site as soon as we can figure the damn thing out.