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    e     a  a  t      t  h  h e       s     t  a  a  t  e    !!
    eeee  aaaa  t      t  hhhh eeee     ss   t  aaaa  t  eeee !!
    e     a  a  t      t  h  h e          s  t  a  a  t  e    !!
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     a forum for anti-authoritarian political opinion, research 
                              and humor
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------
     
                    ELECTRONIC TEXT-ONLY VERSION
     
       October 1, 1996        published weekly           #4
     
    ____________________________________________________________
     
       In this issue:  
     
         Cleaning Up The U District
         Cleaning Up Hanford
         Covering Up Boeing
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------
     
    WANTED
     
         University District merchants who believe that, by
    virtue of their owning or leasing a storefront, they have
    the right to decide how public space is used, and by whom;
    to decide what constitutes "desirable" age, race, dress,
    behavior, and tax bracket; and to decide that the primary
    function of the state is to enforce a more pleasant shopping
    environment for upscale consumers.
     
         Suspects can be identified by their support of a
    private, city-supported police force to rid the Ave of youth
    (Youth! In the University District! Imagine!); anti-sitting
    and anti-loitering laws; anti-panhandling signs; and their
    newest, most idiotic yet anti-graffiti posters (complete
    with their stereotyped idea of what a tagger looks like).
     
         Suspects use numerous aliases, but most frequently
    disguise their identity behind the common mask of
    "University Chamber of Commerce" (4714 University Way NE).
     
         If suspects are located they will be immediately exiled
    to Bellevue Square, where they'll belong.
     
         Reward: a neighborhood that preserves one of the few
    remaining unique public spaces in the city that is actually,
    occasionally, inhabited, rather than transitted through or
    shopped at. There are plenty of places in Seattle where
    consumers feel loved. There are very few where kids and
    counter-culturists can roost. Skateboarding is not a crime;
    neither is being young or poor. Clean up the U District: get
    the yuppie merchants and their hired storm troopers out.
     
    Scar Wars
     
         Anybody who believes that the Cold War is over should
    take an afternoon, drive a few hours east and visit the
    massive Hanford Nuclear Reservation north of Richland,
    Washington.
     
         For the scarred land itself, the Cold War won't be over
    for several hundred thousand years; that's how long the
    radiation damage incurred over the last 50 years, since the
    government stole the land from local ranchers and the Yakama
    tribe during World War II, will take to heal.
     
         But even from the surrounding area and the few parts of
    the place open to the public, you'll also see that the Cold
    War is alive and well in the minds of the people who run
    Hanford, the staggering amounts of money poured into it, and
    the Strangelovian romance with weapons of mass destruction.
     
         While our fake environmentalist President cuts back on
    Superfund and toxic waste cleanup money--the source of much
    of Hanford's income since its facilities were decreed too
    dangerous and contaminated to continue weapon production--a
    new plan has emerged to get Hanford back into the big bang
    business. The Clinton Administration is desperately looking
    for a new site to produce tritium, an extremely toxic
    radioactive material essential for nuclear weapon triggers.
    The U.S. supply of tritium is scheduled to run out in 2007,
    and Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility, dormant for years, is
    being pitched as the place to make more.
     
         Previously, local and state officials have opposed the
    project, and a joint Department of Energy and Dept. of
    Defense board, earlier this year, recommended against it.
    However, Washington's Republican Congresscreatures have
    brought the proposal back from the dead, pushing hard to
    bring tritium to the Tri-Cities. (Another good reason to
    make sure Hastings, Neanderthal, etc. don't get re-elected.)
     
         The Hanford reservation is, arguably, the most
    environmentally contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere.
     
    Radioactive leaching into the water table (and the adjacent
    Columbia River) is an open secret. Newspaper stories last
    week of the discovery of a radioactive mouse, miles from
    where glowing rodents "should" be, made for comical reading
    but no news. Industrial hygienists at Hanford, and any local
    with a lick of sense, have known for decades that in a
    treeless, desert area where the wind blows constantly, the
    ground for thirty miles in every direction is awash in
    radioactive rabbit shit. Also open secrets: careless
    handling for decades of the most toxic substances on earth,
    and the routine lies told by Westinghouse, Bechtel, and
    other contractors to their workers about the health risks of
    their jobs and sources of their health problems. The only
    folks who don't know seem to be the journalists who rely on
    government and defense industry handouts for their reporting
    tips.
     
         With this kind of track record, the hypocrisy of
    politicians supporting a startup of the Hanford test reactor
    boggles. The same politicians that voted to cut Superfund
    money--which Hanford desperately needs, and the loss of
    which cost Hanford 5,000 jobs last year--now trumpet this
    proposal as a way to create over 1,000 "new" jobs. 
     
         Those jobs come at an extraordinary expensive,
    dangerous and immoral price: more environmental
    contamination lasting hundreds of millenia, the loss of
    still more social needs spending, more worker illness and
    death, and an increase in our capacity to end life on the
    planet at a time when most nations are on record as
    supporting the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons. 
     
         As with arguments for the ever-expanding prison system,
    it makes one wonder if there were local power brokers in the
    early '40s at Auschwitz and Dachau, arguing that the new
    concentration camps were a great source of local jobs. At
    what point--if any--is the moral price, is the damage to the
    public good, worth more than a short-term profit to these
    people?
     
         There is a silver (well, lead) lining in this sordid
    tale. In deciding whether to pursue the Hanford site for
    tritium production, Department of Energy Undersecretary Tom
    Grumbly was quoted last week as saying that his agency
    "wants to go where people want us," and would not locate the
    plant at Hanford without state and regional support. 
     
         Coming from the DoE, this is a somewhat ludicrous
    statement. To cite one obvious example, the same DoE is
    going ahead with plans to build a permanent nuclear waste
    disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, despite the
    combined opposition of Nevada's governor, state legislature
    and Congressional delegation. (And, incidentally, the
    Western Shoshone people from whom the land was stolen.)
    Congress passed a specific bill, known locally as the "Screw
    Nevada" Act, to override Nevada laws enacted to prevent
    Yucca Mountain.
     
         Nonetheless, the DoE should be taken at their word.
    They should hear from the opposition. Loudly. Hanford needs
    more money to--well, "clean up" isn't exactly accurate in
    this case, but at least mitigate, not compound, some of the
    worst damage to workers, the land and the Columbia River
    ecosystem. Write the DoE at Box 550, Richland WA 99352, or
    the office that will actually make the tritium decision:
    Office of Reconfiguration, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Box 3417,
    Alexandria VA 22302, phone (800) 776-2765, fax (703) 931-
    9222. 
     
    The Seattle Times Sucks Up Again
     
         The Seattle Times--your "locally owned" "independent"
    newspaper actually owned by corporate chain Knight Ridder--
    has a long and miserable record as the willing mouthpiece of
    the region's big employers. Bill Gates, the University of
    Washington, Boeing, and anyone who regularly buys ad inserts
    can count on the reprinting of fawning press releases in any
    and every section of the paper (including Sports), often on
    the front page. But the Times' recent suppression of an
    investigative series by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Donald
    Bartlett and James Steele managed an unusual low point in
    integrity.
     
         In case you missed it, the two Pulitzer Prize-winning
    reporters wrote a ten-part series called "Who Stole the
    American Dream?" A follow-up to their widely read 1991 
    series, "America: What Went Wrong," it focused on corporate
    welfare, abuses of the public trust, and how in our
    WTO/NAFTA Brave New Global Mall a few are getting richer,
    with the U.S. government's enthusiastic help, while the rest
    of us get screwed. The Times ran the first installment of
    the series on the front page September 1st, and then
    mysteriously dropped it. Executive Editor Michael Fancher's
    column Sept. 15, in response to many complaints, stated that
    the series didn't live up to the Times' high standards for
    investigative reporting, wasn't objective, and that besides,
    it was all stuff we'd read before.
     
         Well, any glance at the Times verifies that having read
    it before, even if it were true in this case, is rarely used
    as a criteria for refusing stories (or ads); the objectivity
    of corporate media is a sick joke; and nobody's noticed a
    whole lot of Pulitzer-toting staff people at Fairview and
    John. What wasn't said by Fancher was that the second piece
    in the series dealt with how corporations that rely heavily
    on government subsidies get parts made on the cheap
    overseas, shipping out U.S. jobs. The story focused on
    Boeing, which outsources to Mexico and several East and
    Southeast Asian countries for much of its work these days,
    as a prime example of this syndrome. And the Times censored
    it.
     
         Parts of the Inquirer series are available at a web
    site (www.phillynews.com). To get the full series, one must
    subscribe to the Inquirer's on-line service, which is what
    one loyal ETS! reader did. For the first time in the Puget
    Sound, here are some Boeing highlights that offended the
    Times' "local interest" sensibilities: 
     
        
         Airplane parts once made in America by Boeing employees
    now are manufactured by subcontractors in other countries
    and shipped back to the United States for assembly.  To sell
    planes in those countries, Boeing agreed to move a portion
    of its manufacturing to those nations--to provide employment
    for people there to make aircraft parts. That eliminated
    jobs of U.S. workers.
     
         For example, Boeing buys parts of 737 and 747 wings
    from China's Xian Aircraft Co. China has imposed that
    requirement as a condition of buying Boeing jets.
    Eventually, the Chinese factory--where some 20,000 workers
    earn $50 a month and live in government-run barracks
    [Communism: a workers' paradise!--ETS! ed.]--will produce
    the tail section for the 737, which now is made at the
    Boeing plant in Wichita.
     
         An American labor leader who has observed the Boeing-
    China trade process close-up, and who is sympathetic to
    Boeing's predicament, had this to say about the arrangement:
     
         "Because China is such a huge market, they say to
    Boeing or Airbus or whoever wants to sell there: `We'll buy
    30 737s. We'll want to produce the back end of the 737 in
    China. You give us the machinery. You give us the engineers.
    You give us the technology. You help us set up the facility.
    And then we'll buy the airplanes.' The Chinese see this as a
    blueprint for the development of their aerospace industry.
    You see a top Boeing executive saying, Boeing is committed
    to developing the Chinese aerospace industry..."
     
         Like much of American business today, the Boeing-China
    deal was made for short-term gain, at the expense of any
    long-term commitment in America. It was also made at the
    expense of the American taxpayer--on two counts.
     
         First, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, an
    independent agency of the federal government, guaranteed
    loans totaling $1.4 billion from 1993 to 1995 for China's
    purchase of Boeing aircraft. Thus, a U.S. government agency
    supported by American taxpayers helped finance the sale of
    planes to China that will be built, in part, by workers in
    China. Or, if you will, U.S. government financing will
    create jobs in China.
     
         Second, Boeing and rest of the civilian aviation
    industry--perhaps more than any other U.S. industry--owe
    their technology leadership to the tens of millions of
    taxpayer dollars spent on research and development of
    military aircraft. Now, some of Boeing's technology is being
    given away to the Chinese.
     
         Boeing's role in the global economy underscores why
    Washington's trade policies have been such a failure for the
    ordinary working American... 
     
         What's most surprising is that none of this should be
    news to anyone with even a dim awareness of how the global
    economy now works. Indeed, the same info could easily be
    pieced together from the Times' business pages. What's
    missing, and what the Times apparently didn't see fit to
    print, is what those pieces add up to--what they actually
    mean not just to Boeing stockholders, but, say, to 32,000
    machinists who waged a bitter strike last year over exactly
    this issue, and to the rest of us whose tax dollars are
    making Boeing richer.
     
         This writer travelled in the Soviet Union in 1988 and
    was astounded at how much better informed on world issues
    Soviet citizens were than their U.S. counterparts, even when
    all media was heavily censored by the government. Because it
    was obvious that the state-controlled media was biased and
    self-serving, nobody trusted it and they knew to look
    elsewhere (e.g., shortwave radio) for information. And
    eventually, they brought down their repressive government.
     
         Mainstream media in the U.S. has become many heads with
    one monotonous corporate state voice, serving the interests
    of those who own it and advertise with it. We would do well
    to learn from the Russians and Ukrainians I met: know the
    bias, seek news elsewhere, and draw your own conclusions. 
     
    QUOTE OF THE WEEK
     
    "Beware of the newspapers. They will have you hating the
    oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing." -
    Malcolm X
     
    RECLAIM OUR HISTORY
     
    Oct. 1. 1946: Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal rejects defense
    of "following orders" for crimes against humanity. 1969:
    Canadian protestors shut down the border crossing at Blaine,
    Wash., in opposition to U.S. nuclear testing in Alaska.
    Oct. 4. 1957: Soviet Union launches world's first artificial
    satellite, Sputnik. "Leave It To Beaver" debuts on CBS.
    Oct. 5. 1968: Seattle police kill Black Panther member
    Welton "Butch" Armstead during an arrest for suspicion of
    car theft. 1994: Italy becomes 54th country to abolish the
    death penalty. 1995: In a protest of proposed Medicaid and
    Medicare cuts, 31 are arrested for occupying King County
    Republican Party offices in Seattle.
    Oct. 6. 1845: First co-op store in U.S. opens in Boston.
    1970: About 200 stage a "bike-in" in downtown Seattle to
    protest automobiles.
    Oct. 7. 1879: Birth of Joe Hill. 1931: Birth of Desmond
    Tutu.
     
    ACTIVIST CALENDAR
     
    Sat. Oct. 5. Rainier Beach H.S. Mothers Against Violence In
    America conference, "Solutions to Violence in Our Lives."
    323-2303.
    Sun. Oct. 6. Martin Luther King Park. Washington Ceasefire
    holds 3rd Annual Day of Remembrance for victims of gun
    violence. 322-7564.
    Mon. Oct. 7. 7:30 PM Museum of History & Industry, 2700 24th
    Ave. E. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Friends.
    60th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War. Commemoration,
    film series showing "The Good Fight," $2. Info 632-7402 or
    284-9349.
     
    For an excellent and much, much longer compilation of
    upcoming and ongoing 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 new, slightly revised 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, tips,
    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. The more bucks we get in donations and ads, the
    more copies we can print and the sooner we can go to eight
    pages a week, so give it up!
     
         EAT THE STATE! is also distributed free at numerous
    outlets in Western Washington; write or e-mail for the
    location nearest you.  And we'll have a web site really,
    really soon, honest, with back issues and our famous mission
    statement. Stay tuned for further instructions.
     
    WHY EAT THE STATE!?
     
         Welcome to this, the fourth issue of 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.



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Last Update: 2:42 AM on Saturday, October 5, 1996.


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