Eco-terrorism

An article/opinion piece in the latest Eat the State reminded me of a fairly recent (March 4) incident where a housing development of large (4200 sqf.) homes in Woodinville, WA was burned down. A banner with an environmental slogan against the homes signed with the letters ELF was found at the arson site. Authorities assume that this indicated that the Earth Liberation Front was responsible for setting the fires. As far as I know ELF has never taken responsibility for this arson nor has any other proof been found to link them but that is a story for another day.

I don't agree with eco-terrorism or so called anarchists that think by damaging, destroying or threatening they can "fix" the world (for whatever values of fixed they use.) Although this kind of action can bring attention to their cause I think in the end it turns public opinion against their cause. Now, either the people who commit these acts don't agree with me or they just don't care. They are selfishly making their point to the detriment of those that are trying to work within the system to solve the same problems like Global Climate Change, the unfair practices of the WTO or suburban sprawl like in the Woodinville arson.

The article in Eat the State accused all of us "Mommies and Daddies" of not giving a fuck because we are all evil baddies that worship materialism and don't care about ruining the planet. The author, Jason Miller, goes on to praise ELF for burning down the homes in Woodinville because they represented a "rape" of the planet. Now, I'm not a big fan of huge mansions or housing developments built on land that may be ecologically sensitive, but I think in this case the bigger "rape" of the planet was the damage to the environment done by the fire, the effort to put out the fire and the fact that the builder could just take their insurance money and rebuild the homes thus using twice the materials originally needed. Even worse, in some ways, this incident gives the conservatives a chance to paint all environmentalists as eco-terrorists. 

I'm not so naive as to think that protests and civil disobedience aren't necessary tools of chance but I think the positive impact that they generate are based on the willingness of people to PEACEFULLY disagree en mass and be willing to pay the price; by which I mean jail time or fines not police violence. The average American respects someone willing to stand up for what they believe in even if they disagree with their cause. They don't respect violence or property damage because they will empathize with those who have been victimized rather than the perpetrators.

Washington State Primaries

The Washington State Primaries are tomorrow. This is the first time Washington has had a closed primary meaning you can only vote in one parties primary. Before this year we had what was called a blanket primary where you could vote for anyone you wanted regardless of party. I guess the Democrats and Republicans were afraid someone would sabotage their primary and sued the state to change the system and ... viola! Personally I feel if the politcal parties are so interested in demanding a certain type of system they should pay for the primary themselves.

Anyway. There are two races in the Democratic Primary that I am particularly interested in. The race for governor and our 36th District State Rep. In both races the person I'm voting for was not endorsed by the major local papers, but my picks did coincide with the recomendations of a local biweekly Eat the State. (Which is a great alternative free paper - go visit and donate to keep them going)

My recomendations are:

Governor

Both of the Democratic candiates for governor are qualified Christine Gregoire is the Attorney General of Washington so she has a handle on state wide issues, and Ron Sims is the King County Executive so he has experience running the second largest government in the state (after the state govenment. The deciding factor for me was that Ron Sims wants to try to reverse the regressive tax structure of the state by implementing a state income tax, eliminating state sales tax, and reworking the business taxes. Gregoire things the idea of a state income tax is ridiculous and will not even consider it.

My vote: Ron Sims


36th District Rep

Helen Sommers has been one of the two reps for my district for 32 years. She is the longest serving state rep and chair of the comittee responsible for writing the state budget. Alice Woldt is a former chairman of the King County Democratic Party, founding member of S.N.O.W., Puget Sound coalition for peace and justice and most recently Executive Director, SAGE (Seattle Alliance for Good Jobs and Housing for Everyone). Woldt is a little more liberal than I usually lean, a little too peacenik, but Sommers doesn't seem to have the right budget priorities. She allowed funding to be cut to important social services and didn't implement voter initiative mandated teacher salary increases. I understand that money is tight but maybe if we had planned a little bit better in the past we'd have money for these priorities now. Anyway after 32 years I think a little change is in order.

My vote: Alice Woldt