Free Radio Olympia: Power to the People!

Free Radio Olympia (FRO) has broadcast on-and-off at 91.3 FM since the spring of 2001. On-and-off because, as an unlicensed station, FRO had to cease broadcasting for three months after receiving threats from the FCC in June 2002. The new FRO broadcasts Democracy Now with Amy Goodman every weekday at noon and Free Speech Radio News weekdays at 5:00 PM. FRO plans to keep sending out its mix of news and music indefinitely, powered by a crew committed to a civil-disobedience strategy, and supported by lawyers who believe strongly in the First Amendment. Upon encountering difficulties, "they are sure to see more transmitters and studios appearing in the fertile soil of Olympia, like mushrooms after a storm." If you want to support FRO with a donation of music, money, or materials, you can contact them at [email protected].

(Works in Progress, Thurston County, 12-03)

Veterans for Peace, Inc.

Chapter 92 of Western Washington Veterans for Peace (VFP) met on Oct. 18th, focusing on clearing up misconceptions about military service they claim are propagated in U.S. high schools by the military's recruitment efforts. Participant Liz Rivera-Goldstein started the Teen Peace Project to educate her children about military service and the conscientious objector option. VFP is now trying to appear in high schools around Washington. Two schools, Garfield in Seattle and Bellingham High School, have VFP members who can set up their material adjacent to that of military recruiters. The VFP required a lawsuit to gain access to Bellingham High School.

The new No Child Left Behind Act makes VFP's work more difficult because it mandates access by recruiters to schools - or else the school loses federal funds. However, the Act does allow parents to request that recruiters refrain from contacting their child.

(Vigilance, North Olympic Peninsula WA, 11-03)

"Free Market" drives Americans to Canada

Fifty senior citizens showed up on a cold Saturday afternoon in November to defend the Canada Drug Service in Tigard, OR, and to make a point: If the U.S. government won't act to make prescription drugs affordable, it can at least remove its impediments to re-importing U.S.-made drugs from Canada.

Americans pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, such as the breast-cancer fighting drug Tamoxifin (Canada: $44, U.S.: $246, for 180 tablets). Fed up with paying "market" prices set by monopolies (drug companies get long patent monopolies in the U.S.), Americans, often older ones, are increasingly buying their prescriptions in Canada or ordering drugs from there by mail.

Oregon Congressman David Wu spoke in favor of the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act, which would allow the re-importation of drugs, with appropriate safeguards (the FDA claims that re-importation is unsafe). Despite powerful opposition from the drug lobby, the bill passed the House July 25th by a bipartisan majority of 243-186. The bill was then assigned to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, but it is unclear whether it will be brought to a vote in the Senate.

(Portland Alliance, Portland OR, 12-03, Don McIntosh)

Oregon rocked hard by economic tremors

The U.S. is experiencing an economic earthquake, reports the AFL-CIO, which developed an "Economic Richter Scale" to show the magnitude of the shocks in the 50 states. The Scale takes into account the rates of unemployment, poverty, and bankruptcy, median household income, people without health insurance, and the numbers of jobs versus job seekers. Oregon, with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, had the sixth-worst Richter rating (7.0), and Washington state rated an overall 4.4. In more than 40 states, the total number of unemployed workers rose by at least 20 percent since the end of 2000. Only one state, Montana, had an overall positive outlook.

Since George Bush took power nearly three years ago, the nation has undergone the following:

• Nearly three million private-sector jobs have been lost.
• Unemployment has risen from 4.1 to 6.1 percent.
• The number of Americans without health insurance has risen from 14 to 15.2 percent.
• The poverty rate has climbed to 12.1 percent, which means that 3,000,000 more Americans are living in poverty than when Bill Clinton left office.

(Northwest Labor Press, Portland OR, 11-21-03, Don McIntosh)

Stop Ecocide Now!

Throughout Oregon's Willamette, Umpqua, Siskiyou, and Mount Hood National Forests, escalating forest destruction is fueling resistance among activist groups such as the Cascadia Forest Defenders and Cascadia Wildlands Project. These groups are fighting to preserve the remaining five percent of the nation's native forests, for example by filing a lawsuit against the Forest Service for allowing the logging of 574 acres of old-growth forest in Oregon. This legal action led to a temporary victory for forest activists, halting this logging at least until a ruling expected November 7th.

Logging is not a necessity in national forests, which supply less than 4 percent of U.S. timber demands. Economic studies show that forests are worth far more standing and provide more jobs than when they are cut. Because national forests are public land, their future depends largely on the power and will of the people who are willing to take a stand for the remaining ancient forests.

(the insurgent, Eugene-Springfield OR, 11-03)

Hate in Hayden gets a vote

Residents of Hayden, Idaho, cast a resounding vote on November 4th against Aryan Nations candidates. Richard Butler, Zach Beck, and Karl Gharst ran for offices in Hayden to make a statement about white supremacy in North Idaho and to garner media attention for their racist beliefs. Butler, the 85-year-old founder of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations, ran for mayor of Hayden against the incumbent, Ron McIntire. Hayden received less than 3 percent of the vote, while McIntire was re-elected with more than 90 percent.

Meanwhile, Zach Beck, who ran for a city council position, spent election day in jail after allegedly assaulting a man. Zach Beck's opponent, named Chris Beck, won with more than 95 percent of the vote, despite Zach's hope, as expressed to the press, that people would confuse him with Chris Beck and vote him into office.

(The Pacific Northwest Inlander, Spokane WA 11-6-03)

Montana Abused by Telephone Company

US West had a reputation for good service until 1995, when Congress deregulated the telecom industry and new management began to emphasize rapid growth and stock performance. Quality of customer service was already suffering when Qwest, a Denver-based fiber-optic company, bought US West in 1999, which set the stage for even worse treatment of customers. To enhance its bottom line, Qwest began to routinely use the following techniques (some illegal):

• Cramming, the practice of adding unauthorized charges to bills. In a two-year period, Washington state received more than 7,500 such complaints against Qwest.
• Qwest cut costs to maintenance crews and network upkeep, resulting in poor maintenance, especially for rural customers.
• Qwest has forced millions of customers into new area codes ("area-code splitting," often costly for businesses) when old ones are still less than half full.
• Qwest uses its customer service as a revenue center. Qwest employees have told of rapacious and dishonest practices they're required to employ. For example, one was told to sell $88,000 worth of services per month, or "pay the consequences."

Legal action in California, Colorado, and Washington has forced Qwest to pay millions in fines and user reimbursements. But in Montana, the attorney general is not empowered to conduct consumer investigations, while the Montana Consumer Protection Counsel lacks statutory authority to levy fines against Qwest for all but one offense: switching long-distance provider without permission. Because of these weaknesses, Qwest's abuses in Montana show no sign of stopping.

(The Missoula Independent, 11-13-03)

The Battle for Water

Global deforestation, destruction of wetlands, extensive pollution of surface water systems, and the dumping of pesticides and fertilizers into waterways are rendering water systems unusable, which increases the scarcity of potable water. Meanwhile, per capita water consumption is doubling every twenty years, while human population growth itself is exploding.

The combination of increasing demand and decreasing supply has attracted the interest of global corporations. The World Bank claims that water is a potential trillion dollar industry, and the major global trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT, WTO) already define water as a commodity. This means that a country cannot prohibit or limit the export or import of water without risking economic censure.

Three trans-national corporations, Vivendi, Suez, and RWE, dominate the global water market, and are leading the charge for further privatization. After having mixed success in taking over third-world public water systems, they are now targeting the 85 percent of water services in the United States that remain in public hands.

But water privatization is not inevitable. The Polaris Institute (www.polarisinstitute.org) has devised a strategy based on the building of alliances among local citizens and the revitalization of public water systems.

(Yes!, Bainbridge Island, WA, Winter 2004)