Send your letters to the Free Press, PMB #178, 1463 E Republican St, Seattle 98112, or [email protected]. Please include your full name and phone number for verification. Keep them short. Letters may be edited for length, spelling and grammar. Letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Free Press. Letters which respond to Free Press articles will be given precedence.

War-On-Whatever

I recently had the privilege of reading your publication, and wow! All the things I'm thinking you are printing. that is very refreshing and possibly even a little scary. I was intrigued, motivated and outraged all at once as I read through the stories reported in your paper! The article about the SARS scam was right on. It seems to me that it was just one more timely event to slow travel duriung a key time in the war-on-whatever. It's about time for a war-on-war! I consider myself a POW. The war-on-drugs has captured a front lines infantryman. I'm not proud of my addiction and I'm doing my time. My biggest concern is America's track record with helping rebuild after they have "won the war." The lack of training or rehabilitation in prison is disheartening at best. When the powers that be have decided that I have paid enough for my "war crimes" I will be turned out to a world I am unprepared for. My only knowledge will be of the "old ways" and my army of addicts will surely accept me back into their ranks. And the number of drug infantry soldiers is growing despite all the war efforts. Maybe we need a new plan of attack? Thank you for your efforts in honest reporting and free press. Keep up the great work. And please sign me up for a "prison subscription." And trust me, I'll be spreading the word of your publication to my free world friends and family! --Truth Seeker Steven

Deja Vu

"If any single lesson can be drawn from the past two years, it is the need for great scepticism in evaluating the statements of an administration that has shown itself to be unscrupulous in its efforts to manipulate public opinion into accepting plain aggression in the name of 'freedom'" Words in quotation from a Public Affairs Press publication by Edward Herman & Richard DuBoff, titled America's Viet Nam Policy: the Stragtegy of Deception, copyright 1966 --Jeff vanden Boom

Hungry in Idaho

I am 26 with three kids, attending the University of Idaho. It seems like a sound system would be one that believes helping those who help themselves should be a high priority. Those that help themselves are clearly motivated. I have worked from kitchens to picking up garbage and found that the best way I can support my family is to earn a degree through college. I don't want to live on welfare or even food stamps. It makes me feel irresponsible. I do not like to just freeload. However, I found out that college students need to work more hours and have fewer assets than a non-collegiate to get food stamps! My major is Music Ed, vocal and Instrumental. I'm not out to get rich. [For my studies] I have to practice the saxophone for Jazz band, marching band, and personal performance. I also have to practice piano, string instruments, and vocal. In all of this, I need to fit in written homework time, family time, eating time, sleeping time, and time for work of at least 2-1/2 hours per day all seven. Even with all of this, the state requires I work at least 20 hours a week (or make $650.34 a month) with assets of less than $2000 to be eligible for food stamps. My car is worth about $700 dollars, and they have somehow figured it to be worth over $2200! This makes me ineligible for mere food stamps. So, what this boils down to is the fact that I could get food stamps more easily if I quit school and stayed at home watching TV and munching on chips, than if I work my butt off to better my life and improve my family's life. I am so furious, that while I never swear in writing, I find it hard to resist. Please, other readers, let me know how you feel about this. Then, tell me what actions I can take to change this "male bovine defecation." Thank you, --David J. Koyama, father, husband, and let down by my country

Bright Tax Idea

I would like to introduce Initiative 287, which will set the taxable value of real property throughout the state at the "last price paid" for that real property, and put an end to the county revaluations that raise taxes on some and not others. Your property is only worth what you paid for it until you sell it. I-287 is an Initiative to the Legislature, which needs 220,000 signatures by January 3, 2004. For more info about the initiative, see Paul-E-Wog Press at www.angelfire.com/wa/paulewog/. --Paul Richards, sponsor I-287

Such a property-tax cap idea has many possible advantages for society. For example, retired people are sometimes dislocated from longtime homes because of property tax increases, and this measure would remedy that. But in a larger sense, capping taxes according to the last sales price of a home would generally encourage all property owners to stay in neighorhoods longer. This could improve neighborhood safety and care for neighborhood surroundings. On the other hand, sometimes in history property values fall, and when this happens, such an initiative could result in the opposite: sell-off of houses and neighborhood disruption. In looking at Mr. Richards' information and initiative text online, I have to say that although he has a kernel of a good idea here, the actual effects of the wording of I-287 would be quite unpredictable. For such an initiative to succeed and be beneficial, it needs much more careful drafting. --Ed

Courage to Impeach

George Bush and his administration intimidated a frightened nation and spineless congress into going along with the illegal US invasion of Iraq, a sovereign, third world country weakened by ten years of embargoes. The reasons given, in the opinion of many, were steeped in deceit and lies. Americans were lead to believe that somehow Iraq was responsible for the World Trade Center, that Iraq was building nuclear weapons, that Iraq had biological weapons, that Saddam was an evil man and that Iraq was an imminent threat to America. The administration finally settled on WMD coupled with the stated goal of a "regime change". The WTC perpetrators had morphed into one word: Saddam. Now, as "evidence" for the invasion is unraveling, the administration is desperately naming fall guys and has admitted that the evidence supporting the invasion may have been "flawed", but by implication, certainly not falsified. What new fabrications will the administration spin doctors come up with next? Meanwhile, the invasion of Iraq is costing fathers and mothers the lives of their children and no end in sight. Billions are committed to this adventure. The youth and wealth of our nation are spilling out on the sands of Iraq because of an invasion based on lies and deception. What's to be done? We must have the courage to advocate the impeachment of George Bush and his administration. Go to www.votetoimpeach.org to request your representative in the House of Representatives vote to impeach Bush and his administration. Stand up Americans! --Howard Pellett

Concerned About Police Violence?

We're hoping your readers will be interested in knowing about the recently concluded October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality National Meeting and associated public forum in Seattle. On July 25th, about 100-150 people came to Seattle University's Piggott Auditorium to converse with an impressive list of panelists in a public forum entitled "Police Brutality Hits You, Too." One panelist, Alisa Bierria of Communities Against Rape and Abuse, said most domestic violence activists had "sold out" by having their clients call police, who often are abusers themselves--as shown by the Brame case (the Tacoma Police Chief who killed his wife and himself) and the 3-day special report "Badge of Dishonor" (see seattlepi.com/nwsource/police/). NAACP Seattle Chapter President Carl Mack brought the house down with his speech. Mack asked, "Who really is the true criminal?.... Our fight is with unlawful law enforcement officers... and even those so-called good cops who stand by when they see one of those rogue cops do something.... you now become a criminal with your silence." Our coalition is known for two things: a National Day of Protest in dozens of cities every October 22nd,and the book Stolen Lives: killed by law enforcement that documents 2,000 cases in the 1990s. To volunteer with producing Volume II of Stolen Lives, or for information about Seattle's Day of Protest, contact [email protected], 206-264-5527, or nationally 1-888-NOBRUTALITY (662-7882). --October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Seattle Affiliate