SNUFF IT #3

                   The Journal of the Church of Euthanasia

                                  EDITORIAL

Some people think pictures of dicks and pussies are obscene.  They are
misinformed.  We are losing a species to extinction every sixty minutes.  That
is obscene.  We are losing an acre of trees every eight seconds in the U.S.
alone.  That is obscene.  Why are all those trees being destroyed?  Why are all
those plants and animals extinct?  Why are large areas of the Earth becoming
deserts?  I'll tell you why.  Because there are too many people.  Too many
dicks in too many pussies making too many people.  The human population is
increasing by one million every four days.  That's a net increase of 95 million
people per year.  Another Mexico, every year.  Got it?  Have you had children?
I know, it's personal, but it's just the two of us here, so let's get personal.
If you haven't, you've done more for the planet than most people, more than
most so-called "environmentalists."  If you have had children, would you kindly
do us all a big favor and not have any more?  If you're thinking about it,
think about something else.  There's plenty of children and animals and forests
and streams that need nurturing right now.  In fact, the world is crawling with
suffering beings of every description.  They're displaced and deprived and
damaged and hurting and they all need love, so if you want to nurture, start
with them!  The last thing this planet needs right now is more hungry mouths,
more disposable diapers and trendy baby strollers and cheap plastic toys and
stylish baby clothes.  The planet is dying.  Do you understand?  The planet is
dying.  This is a fact.  There is no more time for having babies, or going back
to school, or getting a promotion, or buying a new car, or taking a nice
vacation, or even taking pictures of dicks and pussies.  That's over now.  It
didn't work.  We're about to try something else.  One of two things is going to
happen.  Either the entire human race is going to make a leap of consciousness
to a totally new species awareness...or we're going to exterminate ourselves
and every other species that's left on this beautiful, living planet, in a
massive, simultaneous anti-orgasm of ecocide, pain and death.  It's up to you.
Think about it.

1.  Why do things go bad?
    There is insanity everywhere..
    There must be a reason for all the decay.  I see crime go up, incomes go
down, neighbors get meaner, wars get more vicious, competition between world
aggressors to create the most shocking atrocity.  No one feels they are taken
seriously.  Pollution gets worse, even when we try to love our planet and
recycle and shop conscientiously.  Water becomes more scarce.  Natural
disasters seem more and more frequent.  It costs more to own a home than it
used to, and the home I can afford gets smaller and smaller.  And there are
more and more problems impossible to list.
    Why?
    I'll tell you.
    It's because there are too many people.

-Population #1 by Mike Merrill

                                   LETTERS

>>>>
I write to thank you for issue #2 of _Snuff It_ which you sent to me.  Some
very informative articles to say the least!  As a follower of the
J.E.H.O.V.I.A.N. Temple I see our two groups share many common beliefs.
Perhaps you have heard of us and taken advantage of our offers to groups such
as yours.  If not, don't let the initials confuse you.  We are a non-Christian
group which worships Hakh.  (Our God and what you refer to as the planet.)
    We view Hakh as a living, breathing supreme being, with mankind merely
being a cancerous virus which is slowly killing Hakh.  Our followers strive to
bring life back to Hakh via population reduction; reduction of natural resource
usage and by "putting back" that which mankind's ignorance and greed has
destroyed.
    Any non-Christian group which believes in saving Hakh (the planet) may have
free access to our temples and resort grounds, just by asking.  There, your
group would be free to conduct social gatherings, services, sermons, etc.
Temples, Inc., also provides funding for groups in need of such support.
    Like your group, ours has no prejudices with regards to one's sexual
preferences.  Heterosexuals and homosexuals are getting married all the time at
the Temples and all marriages are viewed equally valid by followers.
    The difference between our two groups is as follows.
(1) We encourage adoption.  If a couple desires a child, rather than procreate
one more mouth to feed we encourage adopting a hungry mouth which is already in
existence.
(2) Rather than cannibalism to feed mankind, we encourage the idea of the dead
being ground into fertilizer to feed Hakh.
(3) We don't actually support suicide, however, we believe "If you exist, you
exist only to serve and care for Hakh.  If one can not serve and care for Hakh
in life, serve Hakh via your death."
(4) We are Naturists (practice social and ritual nudity) striving to live in
total harmony with that which we serve.
    I notice from photographs that your followers (some) have children.  We do
not view children as expensive burdens.  We view our children as Hakh's future
care-givers and train them at birth towards this goal.
    Our children play with Hakh; not with toys.  Our children watch squirrels
gather nuts; not throw sticks to fetching dogs.  Pets such as cats and dogs
serve no purpose as a species, unless being a trained animal which cares for
the disabled.  If our children desire a pet, they raise tadpoles and release
their frogs into ponds.
    I do not know what programs, if any, are available for your children.  Ours
have publications such as "Minor Issues" which serves to teach them about their
bodies and the dangers of un-checked procreation.  We also have a program known
as "N.E.W.T.S." to which both parents and children belong.  (Naturalists'
Encounters With Terrestrial Sciences)  Here, adults and children learn about
Hakh; how to understand Hakh's needs; and how best to serve Hakh.  Via active
participation with parents, children learn the responsibility skills necessary
to save Hakh from mankind's destructive greed and waste.
    At the age of three, our children begin to participate in a sex education
program.  Here they learn proper names for all body parts and that all body
parts are natural and good.  Sexual exploration (masturbation) is taught as
being natural and good.  It is openly taught in our classes and individual and
group experiences are encouraged and discussed.  By the time our children reach
puberty they are fully aware of the dangerous ramifications procreation can
cause to Hakh.  Our children do not watch tv; they watch sunsets.  They do not
ride bikes down the streets; they take walks together along fields and streams.
    Some children have never seen a zoo.  Those who have cry for the poor
creatures, which belong to Hakh, [which] mankind has locked in cages for
amusement.  Little children raised on temple grounds have never worn clothing
or shoes.  We have our own school programs which children attend nude.  Some,
have not even seen fire.  That which we do cook is cooked via solar grills and
ovens.  I notice your children wear shorts, tops and dresses.  Cute, but
children grow out of clothing quickly; while skin grows with them.
    Eliminate clothing for children and you eliminate a major expense;
encourage body awareness and self appreciation; and, eliminate child curiosity
about the opposite gender thereby eliminate eliminating sexual experimentation
which can lead to ignorant procreation.  Furthermore, less clothing means more
natural resources, less pollution, and less waste.
    The elimination of manufactured toys further serves to cut child care
costs.  It also serves in creating children with creative thoughts and
abilities, who have strong minds and bodies.  Children don't need games, toys
and tv to exist.  Given the chance they are able to create their own "play
time" activities.  The children of primitive tribes have existed quite happily
for centuries without video games and television.  And, it was not a "feeling
of boredom" which led to acts of excessive procreation, but a fear of
extinction.  Our children are taught that we have but one race; the human race.
And, unless it is Hakh's will, the human race shall not become extinct.
    I am very interested in learning more about your group, and perhaps
becoming a member.  As I am presently incarcerated, I only get paid once each
month.  As soon as I do, I shall send you $10.00, which I understand to be your
membership fee.
    In the meantime, if you happen to have more information available, I
certainly would be interested in reading it.  And, if by chance you are
interested in reading some of the J.E.H.O.V.I.A.N. literature I'd be more than
happy to have some sent to you.  Also, perhaps you know of someone from your
group living near my area.  If so, I would love to write and/or visit with such
a person to discuss views.
    Thank you for your time and consideration.
    P.S. Lemmings *do* commit mass suicide.  I have a ninety year prison
sentence.  Should I ever decide to "be a lemming" I'll let you know.
J.E.H.O.V.I.A.N.s view all forms of death as becoming one with Hakh.  Oh!  Tell
the individual photographed on page 14-15, having the tattoos "Butch Dyke
Daddy" on the arm that I send my love....

-Malcolm J. Campbell, 396 S. Drummond St., Waupun, WI 53963-0351
<<<<

We requested some J.E.H.O.V.I.A.N. literature a while ago, and we haven't heard
a peep from them since.  Maybe they're all in prison.  Is it us, or is there a
peculiar emphasis on children in this letter?  Never mind.  It turns out
lemmings aren't the only rodents who commit mass suicide.  Remember, this could
be you in a few years:

"If the nut crop failure is widespread...in desperation the squirrels attempt
to cross busy turnpikes and highways--some make it; the bodies of others litter
the roadsides...A squirrel emigration of no mean proportion occurred in
Connecticut and New York during the fall of 1933.  More than a thousand
squirrels were observed swimming the Connecticut River between Hartford and
Essex...many of them became exhausted and drowned...There are numerous early
accounts of mass excursions of grey squirrels, movements involving tens and
even hundreds of thousands.  Seton estimates that nearly half a billion
squirrels took part in the 1842 emigration that occurred in southeastern
Wisconsin."

-Squirrels of North America, by Dorcas MacClinton

>>>>
Warmest of salutations to the Almighty Church of Euthanasia!  Upon placing a
shipment of magazines to their new place of rest where I am currently employed,
I came across the much needed enlightenment I've been desperately searching
for.  The word of "Snuff It" has given new direction to my petty existence.  I
want to help with the advancement of the Church of Euthanasia so others can be
blessed with such enlightenment!  By using my band "Violent Anal Death" as a
vehicle to spread the teachings of the church, I figure by 1996 90% of all New
England punks will have offed themselves, thus starting a "hip" trend for the
MTV nation of pre-pubescent impressionable youth, and thereby eliminating what
will be the future of the upper-middle class of this country!  But we must act
fast...There are only so many crappy Green Day/Offspring/etc. songs for our
young consumers to digest before they move on to their next flavor of the
month.  We are willing to play any and every benefit for the Church and will
spread propaganda for the cause, (i.e. sell stickers, magazines, shirts,
etc...) at our shows.  In fact if you'd be willing to travel to Providence we
could set up a Church of Euthanasia benefit here, and you could speak.  Please
write back...

-Hugs and mooshy kiss, your devout follower, Tuna G-String Anal Vomit.
<<<<

Alas, our reply arrived too late; Tuna had already vanished without a trace.
If anyone has a clue as to the whereabouts of Violent Anal Death, last seen
somewhere near Providence, Rhode Island, please contact us!

>>>>
You people sound like you will be very healthy and informative for me.
Enclosed please find the required sum for a sample issue.  Yours sounds like a
magazine that truly deserves mass distribution.  Why can't people stop creating
endless reaper fodder and excrement factories?  Those fools on Gilligan's
Island didn't know what they had--goddamn paradise.  I promise not to spew my
genes into any receptive orifices.  I pity us all for living in these
ever-overpeopled times.  We need a fucking sterility bomb for all.  Thank you.
    PS: I work jobs that are the equivalent of an enforced shitting in my pants
with people rubbing their excrement in my face.  It appears they need this
release.  Kurt Cobain--role model for us all.

-Joe Robertson, 5211 Eilers Ave, Apt B-4, Austin, TX 78751-2138
<<<<

*Gilligan's Island* seems like an odd symbol of pre-industrial Eden, but who
knows?  Maybe the Unabomber jerks off to it.  The FBI should check the TV guide
and see if there's a pattern.  It beats tracking down elderly Yippies and
asking them point-blank if they're the Unabomber (incredible, but true).
Anyway, keep aiming for the chin (or whatever it is you've been aiming for),
and don't forget to wash your pants.

>>>>
Quite a long time ago, as I asked you to resend me the e-sermon #1, [and] you
asked me to introduce myself...A bit late I do so.
    First excuse my poor English, as I am nothing but a French biology
student...Studying biology makes me pretty aware of what's at stake if we don't
stop our wrong doings now.  Therefore your list brought me relief along with
satisfaction.  I was introduced to the CoE thanks to an English friend who used
to roam the net.  It was a major discovery.
    I do share most of your views.  For a long time I've been considering
suicide as self expression.  Our occidental society is full of contempt for
suicide or mercy killing, while they are nothing but the final and absolute
gift to earth, carrying a meaning deeper than any painting could ever carry.

    The scars on my wrist may seem like a crime
    Just wish me better luck
    Next time.

I attempted suicide at age 14.  It was for stupid reasons, the ones teenagers
usually have.  I took my mother's sleeping pills (I am not a brave).  I woke up
at the hospital and realized instantly that I was wrong all the way.
    And I was!  Killing myself for the wrong reasons would have been effective,
that's for sure (one down, 5 billions to go) but not so pleasant as finding the
real reason why I should suicide.  The reason why we shall all suicide.   I
realized that the human race was so naive that it should be erased from earth
during a "population's genetics" class.  The fat teacher was absolutely not
thinking about something like this because he was more of the neo-capitalist
stupid and self-satisfied type.  But I was and these ideas stayed in my mind,
without any use, for a long time, until I connected to the Church.
    The Church not only sets clears some of my ideas, it also offers solutions.
And action (everybody masturbates).

-"Ignorance is no excuse" Clauvel
<<<<

We hope that many more share your "discovery," and we do indeed wish you
"better luck next time."

>>>>
Rev. Korda,
    I enjoy reading the sermons on your listserv.  However, I must say that I
believe you and your church are wasting your time.  Humans will never be able
to regulate their own population.  They have been genetically programmed to
breed and carry out the course we are witnessing today.  I understand your
concerns and fears of this out-of-control species, but I think you
underestimate the power of the earth.  The earth is a species in and of itself.
We are just a part of that whole, so it is hard for us to recognize it as its
own entity.  Take comfort in the fact that the earth, when necessary, will rid
itself of the cancerous human species.  Our planet exists in a state of
homeostasis.  Once we, the humans, offset this homeostasis the earth will reset
itself.  How?, you might ask.  Plagues and famine will probably be its most
effective tools of population control.
    All I'm saying is don't fret.  The planet can take care of itself.  It is
arrogant to think we can destroy it or help it.

-James Canfield, Divination@aol.com
<<<<

It's agreed that the earth has a good chance of winning in the long run, but
since we're opposed to unnecessary suffering, even for humans, we reserve the
right to fret.  Besides, plagues and famines are messy and slow.  Why not shut
things down nicely while there's still some trees left?

>>>>
Chris: The Goads have been busy this week entertaining our Thanksgiving guest
(Randall Phillip of *FUCK*), but I wanted to thank you for the copy of SNUFF
IT.  Very funny and well-written throughout.
    If you need/want our 4th issue [of *Answer Me!*] or the book containing the
first three, let me know and I'll schlep them along.
    I'm going to go and rub urine into my pores now.

-Jim Goad, Goad2Hell@aol.com
<<<<

The last time we heard from Randall he was busy abandoning his worthless
followers, after the "massive attack on civilization" failed to materialize on
September 14, 1994.  Thank you, Jim and Debbie, for your extraordinary and
inspirational publications.  The police are your friends.

>>>>
Dear Chrissy,
    I just finished "Snuff It", Issue #2 and couldn't wait to tell you how much
I loved it!  The Four Pillars of the Church are my personal mantra from here
on.  With luck, we can make the world a nice place to visit in 50 years and,
perhaps, a nice place to live in 100 or so years.
    I notice memberships in the CoE are available by subscribing.  Do you have
different membership categories?  The reason I ask is me and the little woman
and our 12 kids usually qualify for a family membership at a reduced rate, so
if you offer such discounts please let me know.
    In the meantime keep up the good work and keep wearing those hot-looking
dresses.  If I ever decide to break with my numerous vows to the Catholic
Church and take a "walk on the wild side" I want it to be with you, you little
euthanising tart.
    Save the last dance for me...

-Charleton Heston
<<<<

We have ways of dealing with naughty dead Catholics.  This one needs a lot more
flagellation, preferably while tied to a chair.  He'll squeal like Mother
Theresa, but it's what he secretly wants.  Afterwards, he'll get a soothing
enema with rosary beads.  By the time we're done, he'll be washing down his
wafers with pee.

>>>>
Hey Euies!
    I thought I'd give you a cultish nick-name in case you don't already have
one.  Is this address still valid?  I just found SNUFF IT #2 at Atomic Books in
Baltimore after a recommendation by Les U. Knight.  He said I should get in
touch with you for some reason.  He knows I don't fit his mold and vice versa.
Check out my zine and you'll see why.  I'm another desolation guru and although
I don't condemn suicide, I don't recommend it.  I suspect that, at least for
me, it would be a step backward rather than forward--a step *into* something
rather than out of something.  And I prefer to know what I'm getting *into*.  I
really don't have any definite beliefs on the afterlife but I suspect there is
one.  Which is bad news for me; I would rather death be an erasure, not a
relocation.  All I know about you comes from SNUFF IT #2.  My question is: if a
bunch of people killed themselves in honor of your philosophies, what should be
done with the bodies?  Yeah, yeah, I know: eat them.  Something tells me that
only a few CoE members and a handful of hobbyists might have a slice of
dude-ape ala mode...I don't think this meat will become popular.  The bodies,
then, may become a major environmental problem.  Is burning ecologically and
economically sound?
    I know!  Other animals might like it.  Dogs will eat anything.  Problem:
once they get to jonesin' the taste, they will start doing their own killing.
We could feed ourselves only to scavenger animals like vultures and catfish.
They would even be attracted to bodies that have already started to *turn* (if
ya know what I mean).  Composting sounds good; we could be much more literally
"pushing up daisies".  It would be kind of a cool irony if we used our dead to
help pigs and baboons in need of new organs.  Problem: modern medicine is
already way overblown and needs to be cut back rather than advanced.  Well,
these are just a few ideas to kick around.  We certainly need to desanctify the
concept of human remains and get practical instead of pumping preservatives
into them and building stone monuments around them.
    All the best in your efforts to make this world a better place.

-Ingmar, P.O.Box 1079, Dunkirk, MD 20754
<<<<

The correct term is *Euthanasist*, but that's okay: any friend of Les U. Knight
is a friend of ours.  His inspirational organization (the Voluntary Human
Extinction Movement, or VHEMT) is listed in our "contacts" section.  We
encourage the uninitiated reader to send him a few bucks for the latest issue
of *These Exit Times*.  He doesn't recommend suicide either, but there's more
than one way to skin a human.
    We'll be the first to admit that "dude-ape" isn't as popular as it could
be, but the solution is *better presentation*.  If it's ground up and mixed
with enough chemicals, folks will line up to eat it.  McDonald's is perfectly
positioned for a market test; their food could be made out of garbage, and
probably is.  Until then, composting is fine, but burning is out.  See "Ask
Chrissy" for more on this important subject.

>>>>
Dear Chrissy,
    I sympathize with your efforts and make no mistake about seriousness of
your intentions.  I also note you are not *dead* serious and that makes the
thing live.  I'll do my best to spread the word.  I'll probably also face some
problems with airing the CD in full as I simply can't get enough time for my
needs.  The stickers received high level of attention when displayed to our
folks.  They are explosive stuff.
    If I ever get a job that is paid (I have to make 3 [radio] shows to earn 10
bucks) I promise to join the Church.  Presently I am unemployed the fifth month
already so I am contributing to your goals by diminished uptake of animal
protein and resulting lowering of procreative attempts (or attempts at
procreation?  Meager anyway).
    I must say that we had an officially approved propaganda of cannibalism
back in 70s here.  Buttons with Lenin's head and legend OGRE were sold in large
numbers.  Unfortunately I don't have one because they were sold only for short
time in a small town Ogre near Riga.  The local bosses wanted to take part in
Lenin's centenary celebration the best way they could invent.  Their English
was pidgin.
    I wish you success in your noble mission.

-Eddie Lavrinovics, a/k 150 Riga 10, Latvia, LV-1010
<<<<

>>>>
Dear Friends,
    Since receiving your newsletter, and sharing it with several friends, a
couple of things come to mind; how does one become ordained, or a minister in
CoE?  Should I proselytize on the church's behalf without being a priest or
minister?  Should the church be seeking to gain more, or fewer members?  I
would appreciate any thoughts you might have in regard to these inquiries.  I
agree that the best thing we can do is to get the fuck off the planet, leaving
it to those creatures with a hell of a lot more dignity than the human race.
Purpose?  We are a failed, or desperately flawed experiment, at best; we can be
fairly sure god isn't real pleased with the results, in retrospect.  We had our
chance, and blew it.  Next.  You must have read the reported findings on the
resiliency of the common cockroach.  This little critter has been around since
the first proteans climbed up out of the primordial ooze, however many millions
of years ago, and has changed relatively little in the meantime.  He can
survive freezing, microwave radiation and has been spotted scurrying around
nuclear testing sites, at ground zero, no doubt taking notes.  Hail the roach,
our worthy successor, showing a hell of a lot more "purpose" than we ever did.
All we have to show for our efforts is a pile of garbage for the kingly roach
to rule over after we're gone.
    In closing, allow me to congratulate you on the fine work you are doing.  I
am looking forward to hearing from you, and enjoying your products in the near
future.  If I live that long.
    PS Hope you weren't offended by the Goads' stuff.  Jim & Deb are really two
sweet, sensitive human beings, and would certainly approve of your mission.

-R.E.Bareaux, 108 Herndon Ave, Stanford KY 40484
<<<<

The key to our success is *participation*.  All members should proselytize on
the church's behalf, as often as possible, ordained or not.  This goes without
saying, and hopefully includes you, dear reader.  Since members by definition
agree to abstain from breeding, we can't have too many members.  Get off your
butt and go convert some heathens, please!

                              BODIES FOR CHRIST
                               by M.C.McDonald

The Godly Pro-Lifers of America have come under attack, an assault of
diabolical magnitude such has never been seen since Nazi days.  What does it
mean today to be Pro-Life?  What are we Martyrs up against?  And why should the
liberals want us slaughtered?  Answer: The humanists are our eternal enemies,
they are the haters of human life & of everything that is Godly & Good.  They
are the ones that are dragging our planet to the edge of extinction.
    Now, the Bible tells us that Man is a fallen creature, a foul & rotten
creature.  "The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell--much as one holds a
spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire--He abhors you, & is dreadfully
provoked."  Adam erred, & dragged down all humanity with him--forever.  Man is
fallen, Man is evil--evil by nature.
    This upsets the liberals, the Eastern Jew Media Homo Elite, they don't want
to hear it.  Liberals are well-meant, if misguided, ignorant, stupid & wicked
to the core.  Well, Mr. Liberal Pinko Coddler-of-Negroes, don't blame ME if Man
is rotten, I didn't do it, THEY started it, THEY are the aggressors, I am just
reporting the TRUTH, it's not MY fault, the BIBLE tells me so!!
    This is why we, the Godly, the Saintly, the Pure & the Good are
antiabortion & Pro-Life.  We have Heavenly instructions to put an end to this
modern Holocaust--by whatever means necessary.  Now, this seems to make some
"Christians" nervous, nervous-nellie girlie quivering pansies.  West Bank Jews
carry Uzis when they take out the trash.  Fundamentalist Muslims routinely lug
around plastic explosives in their underwear.  In comparison, American
Bible-believing Christians look shamefully passive & weak--but a sea change is
in the air THANK GOD!!
    The time for radical measures is NOW.  We need those aborted babies, we
need them to be born.  The world must have more humans, more warm bodies, for
Man is evil, evil by nature--and the more of them there are, the eviller they
become.  No more privacy.  No more peace.  No more jobs.  Nowhere to go to
escape from evil humans.  Such a vast ocean of humanity that all individuality
is destroyed, so that each becomes a mere statistic, a decimal point, totally
expendable.  Feel the tension, feel the pressure, feel the urgent impulse to
invest in your own personal cache of assault weaponry.
    This is God's Plan: miles & miles of piles of humans, spewing pollution &
disease & hatred; lo these teeming masses, the humans wielding razor-blades so
that they may slash their way up to the surface for just one gulp of fresh air.
But, no more fresh air!  Joke's on you, God is laughing, laughter is a Godly
Virtue.  We need those babies, we need those bodies, anything short of total
Victory amounts to a capital Crime against God.  The earth becomes one vast
territorial battle-zone abattoir.  You will kill for a space to lie down &
sleep, if you can sleep, but if you sleep someone will kill you for your space.
We need those babies.  And when this prophetic future becomes flesh, Mr.
Liberal Smarty-Pants, THEN we shall see who was RIGHT ALL ALONG about the EVIL
OF HUMAN NATURE.

-AntiSex League/Minitrue II "Truth hurts, lies heal."

"Death is our business, and business is good."

-Slogan painted on a U.S. 9th division helicopter unit's quarters during
operation "Speedy Express," South Vietnam, 1968.

                            EATING FETUS IN CHINA

Many thanks to our friend Karin Spaink in the Netherlands, who intercepted the
following article in a Usenet news group.  Karin's Internet address is
<kspaink@xs4all.nl>.

             The Electronic Telegraph, 13 April 1995, WORLD NEWS
         Chinese trade in human fetuses for consumption is uncovered
                        by Yojana Sharma in Hong Kong
                       and Graham Hutchings in Beijing

ABORTED human fetuses intended for human consumption are being sold for as
little as =A31 in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, according to reports in Hong
Kong yesterday.
    The Eastern Express newspaper said journalists from its sister publication,
Eastweek, had gone to Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, to see if
fetuses were being sold.  Shenzhen hospitals carried out 7,000 terminations
last year, including a number on Hong Kong women seeking cheap abortions.
    At the state-run Shenzhen Health Centre for Women and Children, a female
doctor was asked for a fetus. The next day, she handed the reporter a
"fist-sized glass bottle stuffed with thumb-sized fetuses".
    The doctor was quoted as saying: "There are 10 fetuses here, all aborted
this morning.  You can take them.  We are a state hospital and don't charge.
Normally we doctors take them home to eat--all free.  Since you don't look
well, you can take them."
    At private clinics, aborted fetuses could be obtained for between =A31 and
=A31.75, the newspaper said.  There was no evidence, however, that fetuses were
being sold in large quantities to middlemen for sale in Hong Kong.
    Zou Qin, a doctor working at the Luo Hu Clinic in Shenzhen, said the
fetuses were "nutritious" and claimed to have eaten 100 herself in the past six
months.
    She said the "best" were first-born males from young women.  "We don't
carry out abortions just to eat the fetuses," she said, but added that the
fetuses would be "wasted if not eaten".  The newspaper said the fetuses were
eaten as a soup, together with pork and ginger.
    A woman doctor, referred to only as Wang, from the Sin Hua Clinic,
Shenzhen, was quoted as saying the fetuses were "even better than placentae" in
nutritional value.  "They can make your skin smoother, your body stronger and
are good for kidneys," she said.
    Dr Warren Lee, president of the Hong Kong Nutrition Association, said:
"Eating fetuses is a traditional Chinese medicine deeply founded in folklore."
However, he considered the alleged properties of fetuses little more than
old-wives' tales.  Others said the practice was abhorrent.
    Dr. Cao Shilin, of the Hospital of Chinese medicine in Shenzhen, said
aborted embryos were taken to factories where they were used in the production
of medicines.  She did not know if any were sold to private individuals, but
said there was little medical value in embryos older than eight weeks when, in
Chinese terms, they were classified as fetuses.
    She had not heard of fetuses being sold in Shenzhen, but warned that eating
them could be dangerous, given the strong medicines used in abortions.
    A doctor in Beijing, who declined to be named, said parts of fetuses would
have medical value, singling out the liver as something that could help to cure
anaemia.  But hospitals in Beijing had ovens for the destruction of aborted
fetuses, and she had not heard that they had been sold for individual
consumption.
    The sale and consumption of placentae is common in China, though frowned
upon by the authorities.  Only those with good connections to the medical world
can obtain placentae, which cost between =A32.50 and =A33 each.
    According to traditional Chinese medicine, it is regarded as particularly
beneficial for a nursing mother to eat her own placenta because it improves her
milk.  It is usually drunk in the form of a soup.

16. Fear of violence is a national obsession in America.  It crafts our habits,
our travel routes, our relationships, and our levels of awareness as we go
through our days.  Women walk alone at night only in the safest of
neighborhoods.  Men, every day on the street, measure each other's aggression.
Anger is almost a sin, not because of the emotional damage it might do, but
because of what might happen.
    The root cause of violence is aggression, a behavior hardwired into us.  In
other animals, aggression is a mechanism for spacing individuals out across the
land, for ensuring that each animal has enough territory to survive.  This
mechanism was calibrated within us a long time ago, when our population
densities were much lower than they are now.
    In the 20th century, high population densities are excessively stimulating
this mechanism.

-Population #1 by Mike Merrill

                                 ASK CHRISSY

>>>>
Dear Chrissy,
    I am confused (not terribly unusual).  If (as everyone would no doubt
agree) it is perfectly natural and thus acceptable for one animal to kill
another animal for the purposes of sustenance, then why is it not perfectly
acceptable for humans to kill other humans for food?  We are, after all,
nothing more than another of nature's meat eating creatures on this planet.

-Hungry in El Dorado
<<<<

Dear Hungry,
    The trouble is, humans just aren't *doing* it, whether it's acceptable or
not.  Humans kill each other with zeal, but the bodies are mostly pumped full
of chemicals and buried in boxes.  When the worms and beetles finally chew
through the box, they have to eat formaldehyde, which is not very nice.  It's
getting tough to find a scenic place to bury the boxes, too, which means more
and more stiffs are getting torched.  All those years of consumption, and you
don't even give your body back?  So wasteful!  Yeesh.
    The Nazis certainly get the award for most ambitious human-hunting, but all
that effort went for soap, a little gold, and some lampshades.  Meanwhile their
troops were starving to death on the Russian front.  They didn't have much
effect on the world population, either; at current rates, six million Jews
equal less than twenty-four days' growth.  This is just more evidence that
humans aren't as clever as they think.
    In any case, human-hunting is considered a form of involuntary population
reduction, and is therefore *against the rules*.  The eaten must volunteer, and
die a good death, while the eaters express their admiration and gratitude.  Of
course, there's no problem if someone's already dead, but thanks to desk jobs,
junk food, and hospitals, they'll most likely be stringy, toxic, and *old*.
Try boiling, and plenty of salt.
    This probably leaves you still hungry, but cheer up, there's hope; if you
can gradually adapt yourself to *plastic food*, you can remove yourself from
the food chain entirely.  If you eat like most Americans, you'll never notice
the difference, and it sure beats recycling.

                            GAIA LIBERATION FRONT
                   Statement of Purpose (A Modest Proposal)

The Gaia Liberation Front is a concept, not an organization.  You become a
member of the GLF by joining us in carrying out our mission, which is the total
liberation of the Earth.

The first thing is to get our message out:
    1. Our object is not merely the continuation of life on Earth--which is,
for all we know, the only life in the universe--but the preservation of the
planetary ecosystem (Gaia) with as much of its integrity and variety as can be
saved.[1]
    2. The Humans have been usefully compared to a cancer[2] or a virus.[3]
But it seems to us that the must fruitful way of viewing the Humans is as an
alien species (which is why we use the definite article and the capital H).
The Humans evolved on the Earth, but have become alienated from it.  They are
conscious of their alienation, drawing a distinction between the Human and the
natural, and proud of it.
    Like the alien invading species of science fiction, the Humans possess a
superior technology (superior, in this case, to any of the defenses that Gaia
can throw up against them).
    Every species tends to multiply, but while every other species stops
multiplying when it overshoots the carrying capacity of its ecosystem, the
Humans use their technology to keep raising the planet's carrying capacity for
their own species (and a few other species that they exploit),[4] at ever
higher levels of consumption.  They are even able to ward off infectious
diseases, which keep every other species from attaining overly high population
densities.
    3. The planet's carrying capacity for a few species can be raised only at
the expense of other species, and, eventually, only at the risk of a general
ecological collapse.  Cumulatively, the evidence is overwhelming that we are
rapidly approaching that stage.  For all we know, we may have already passed
the point of no return.
    The Humans' technological propensities are probably genetic, because their
basic technologies--agriculture animal husbandry, metallurgy, writing and
mathematics, hierarchy and bureaucracy--have all appeared independently  more
than once.  The Humans come into full view, then, as a *hostile* alien species,
*programmed* to kill the planet.
    4. Because of the uncertainties involved, we can ensure Gaia's survival
only through the extinction of the Humans as a species.
    Q. But don't you believe in the interconnectedness and inherent worth of
everything in nature?
    A. Yes, but the Humans have disconnected themselves from everything else in
nature, so that principle no longer applies to them.  Anyway, there's no way to
preserve a species that's programmed to kill the planet.  The only question is
whether that species can become extinct before it takes the planet with it.
    Q. Wouldn't it be enough to reduce the Human population to some optimum
level?
    A. No, because the first chance it got it would bounce right back.  The
cancer analogy is useful here: what's the optimum number of cancer cells in a
body?
    Q. But what if the Humans went back to a paleolithic way of life?
    A. You're forgetting that the paleolithic experiment has already been
tried, and that about ten thousand years ago it failed.  Their technology,
after all, is in their genes.  The technologies that have appeared in the past
could be expected to appear again, and this time their reappearance would be
accelerated by any surviving knowledge of formerly existing technologies.
    But the appearance of *specific* technologies is less predictable.  In
particular, the specific technology that now makes it possible for us
to--assuming we still have time--head off this crisis (more on this below)
might not be available for dealing with the next one.
    Q. Shouldn't we make an exception for tribal peoples, who are living in
harmony with nature?  (Another version: Shouldn't we make an exception for
non-Europeans, who were corrupted by Europeans?)
    A. No, because they're all Humans.  Remember that those basic technologies
were invented independently by Humans of different races, in the new world as
well as in the old.  And remember that the Humans, Europeans included, were all
tribal once.  Anyway, there are no Humans left on the planet who are still
totally ignorant of those technologies.  Sure, some Humans picked up certain
technologies from other Humans, but that doesn't matter to the Earth.[5]  If
*any* Humans are left, they'll start the whole thing over again.  Our policy is
to take no chances.
    That's it.  You can be sure that the Humans won't like it.  They'd much
rather listen to somebody telling them how wonderful they are:

What a piece of work is man!  how noble in reason!  how infinite in faculty!
in form and moving how express and admirable!  in action how like an angel!  in
apprehension how like a god!  the beauty of the world!  the paragon of animals!

-_Hamlet_, II, ii

They're not only in denial about what they're doing to the planet, they firmly
believe that the death of the planet would be a small price to pay for a few
more years of life for their species.
    You may even lose a few friends.  But somebody has to tell it like it is.

                                   Appendix

    Here are some of the methods that have been suggested: (But first, this
disclaimer: We don't advocate anything illegal, because it's illegal to
advocate anything illegal and we don't want to get busted.)
    1. Nuclear war.[6]  (Too much collateral damage.  Definitely not
recommended.)
    2. Sterilization.  (Too slow: even if we managed to sterilize every Human
on the planet the species would still be around for another hundred years.  And
they might figure out some way of reversing the procedure.)[7]
    3. *Voluntary* Sterilization.[8]  (Even slower, and therefore even riskier.
But anything is better than nothing, so this is worth working on while we're
spreading the word and waiting for something else.)
    4. Suicide.  (In theory, faster, but how do you get them to do it?  So in
practice, probably even slower.  Still, you never know.  If they could do it in
Jonestown...)
    5. Bioengineering.  Fortunately, we now have the *specific* technology for
doing the job right--and it's something that could be done by just one person
with the necessary expertise and access to the necessary equipment.
Genetically engineered viruses are already being custom-designed for use in
"pest" control.  These viruses have the advantage of attacking only the target
species.  To complicate the search for a cure or a vaccine, and as insurance
against the possibility that some Humans might be immune to a particular virus,
several different viruses could be released (with provision being made for the
release of a second round after the generals and the politicians had come out
of their shelters).  Of course, natural viruses, such as the smallpox virus,
that attack only Humans could be used as well.[9]  (But don't, for goodness'
sake, go around saying that you're actually advocating any of this.  We can get
our message across just as effectively by, for example, campaigning to make it
*legal* to exterminate the Humans.)

                                    Notes

    1. In his essay "The Land Ethic" Aldo Leopold says: "A thing is right when
it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
community.  It is wrong when it tends otherwise."  (Stability here should be
understood as embracing such dynamic processes as succession and evolution.)
    2. See, for example, Frank Forencich, "Homo Carcinomicus: A Look at
Planetary Oncology," _Wild Earth_, 2:4 (Winter 1992/93), pp. 72-74.  But
Forencich fails to take his argument to its logical conclusion: what does a
surgeon do with a cancer?
    3. Even a computer virus.  Stephen Hawking once remarked (he had been
arguing that computer viruses fit the definition of living systems):  "I think
it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created
so far is purely destructive.  We've created life in our own image."
    4. It seems to us to make more sense to say that the Humans have raised the
planet's carrying capacity for their own species than to say that the Human
population has been exceeding the planet's carrying capacity at least since the
invention of agriculture.  Carrying capacity, by definition, can be exceeded
only briefly.
    5. Any more than it mattered to the buffalo that the Indians who were
helping to massacre them had been "corrupted" by whites.
    6. Proposed, for example, by Finnish writer Pentti Linkola--but as a way of
only reducing the Human population, in order to *save* the species.
    7. An even riskier variation on this method, suggested by Australian
environmental activist Helen Caldicott, would be to put contraceptives in the
water supply.
    8. The leading voice for this method is the Voluntary Human Extinction
Movement (P.O.Box 86646, Portland OR 97286-0646).
    9. Our experience with AIDS suggests that these viruses should be airborne.
AIDS, which once offered so much hope, has proved to be just too easy to avoid.
For a tip on how to produce an airborne version of AIDS, see Jean Marx,
"Concerns Raised about Mouse Models for AIDS," _Science_, vol. 247 (16 Feb.
1990), p. 809.

Winter Solstice 1994

GLF, P.O.Box 127, Station P, Toronto, Ont. M5S 2S7

                                 CHURCH NEWS

The year started with a DADA bang when the Church joined the 1995 Boston First
Night Parade.  The faithful were stamping their frozen feet on a quiet corner
of Newbury Street as early as 7:00pm, and they were soon joined by many new
faces, thanks to several "plugs" from friendly Gary Geiserman at the local
"underground" radio station WZBC.  While the Rev. was demonstrating serious
*chutzpah* by calmly persuading the parade organizers to allow a last-minute
addition to the lineup, the folks around the corner were spooking passing
revelers with their black hoods and skull masks.  A few minutes later, the Rev.
brought back good news, and the Church moved out, taking up most of the
sidewalk.  At the head of the procession, Dane, Kevin, and the Rev. bore an
armchair-sized garbage sculpture dubbed "The Ark of Materialism," featuring a
carnivorous baby trapped inside a television and a styrofoam head crowned with
nails.
    The faithful got approximately 100 feet before they were stopped by a large
policeman, and a hilarious conversation ensued, in which the Rev. attempted to
explain the Church's theology in suitable terms.  Her efforts were successful,
and a few minutes later the parade organizers were getting an eyeful of the
fuming incense censers that swung from Ark's poles.  Perhaps the thick clouds
of smoke interfered with their vision; the organizers seemed stunned, and
confined themselves to lectures on the importance of keeping up with the march.
In any case, they certainly failed to notice the suspicious-looking and
poorly-drawn signs that said "Happy New Year" carried by several members, or
the even more ominous black plastic bag on the end of a large stick carried by
Pastor Kim.
    After what seemed like hours in the icy cold, the parade finally began
moving down Boylston Street, and as it turned out, into the largest crowd ever
assembled for Boston First Night, estimated at nearly one million.  The
faithful produced a ghastly shrieking noise as they went, due to nifty
"turbine" whistles concealed behind their skull masks.  Dan busied himself
handing out more masks and whistles to the hordes of small children packed like
sardines behind the police barricades; they squealed with delight, while their
parents looked hostile and braced themselves for difficult questions.
    Just as the rear of the parade passed the Public Library, headed for the
largest crowd and the TV cameras, the Rev. gave her somewhat garbled signal.
The fake signs were peeled away, to reveal such appropriate sentiments as "Save
the Planet--Kill Yourself," "Eat People Not Animals," and "Prevent AIDS--Aim
for the Chin."  Meanwhile Pastor Kim unveiled the Meat Stick, a full-size
wooden cross with a bloody stuffed rabbit, several dried fish and a giant slab
of fresh meat nailed to it.  Spotters in silly red overalls started yelling
into their headsets; thirty seconds later the organizers caught on and all hell
broke loose.
    One organizer pulled over the Ark, while others went after Pastor Kim, who
was shortly persuaded to drop the Meat Stick due to the sudden appearance of a
paddy wagon.  The Ark-bearers were foolishly left in the hands of yet another
well-padded policeman.  Lydia and Andy kept their video cameras firmly trained
on him while he radioed his supervisor, but apparently the boss had other fish
to fry.  "Where'd she go?" he said, looking around for the organizer, but there
was no sign of her either, so finally he said "Well, if she won't stick around,
then I'm not going to worry about it" and stepped aside.  This proved for once
and for all that the police are your friends, but left the Ark with some
serious catching up to do.  Fortunately there was unexpected assistance from an
escort of police scooters.  Toes were stubbed as a way was cleared through the
crowd, and the air was filled with the sweet sound of sirens, mingled with
cries of "Excuse us!  Make way for the Ark!"
    All ended well: the faithful rejoined the procession not far from the
Boston Common, and Pastor Kim was videotaped in the act of decorating the
ever-present paddy wagon with a pee-drinking sticker.  The volunteers who had
joined the march were made members on the spot, and the remaining pee stickers
were handed out to a gang of enthusiastic teenagers, who solemnly promised to
put them up all over Connecticut.

                        O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O

Every May, thousands of exhibitors and tens of thousands of buyers descend on
the Javits Convention Center in New York City for the four-day National
Stationery Show.  Every May, the aisles are clogged with cute postcards,
notepads, key chains, calendars, pen sets, and refrigerator magnets.  This May
was a little different.  Buyers who happened to stroll down aisle 7200 found
themselves being videotaped by Lydia while they gawked at a ten-foot wide SAVE
THE PLANET KILL YOURSELF sticker atop a panoramic shot of a cemetery.  If they
loitered, Sisters Catherine and Jennifer, Pastor Scott, and the Rev. were on
them like flies on crap, spouting pitches and waving subversive merchandise
while techno music pounded from a boom box.  Some laughed, some glared, but the
Church fared better than most and picked up reps all over the country.
    As anyone who has done them will tell you, trade shows are a tough gig; the
food is dodgy, the floors are concrete, and the air is submarine-like.  By the
time it was over, tempers were frayed.  After a six-hour wait for a hand-truck
from the rude and overpaid union mobsters, the van was finally loaded, just in
time to discover the radio had killed the battery.  Luckily, a jump start was
procured, and the gang escaped from New York with minutes to spare,
astrologically speaking.

                        O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O

Back in February, member B.M.Bourke suggested that Church needed "a
symbol...something instantly recognizable, and easily drawn or reproduced...by
people of extremely limited artistic ability."  He cited the Christian cross
and the Swastika as examples, and submitted several designs of his own.  Thanks
to B.M., the Church now has an official symbol, known as "The Four Pillars."
It looks like a three in Roman numerals, but with an extra vertical line; in
its crudest form it could even be represented by four capital I's, as in IIII.
When correctly drawn, however, the horizontal line on top does *not* extend
beyond the outermost "pillars," while the bottom line does, giving the
impression of "steps."
    You can thumb your nose and say it's trendy, but one wild night in March,
Sister Catherine, Sister Jennifer, and the Rev. decided to get "The Four
Pillars" tattooed on their left shoulders, as an expression of their life-long
commitment to the corresponding principles.  This called for a trip to Salem,
New Hampshire, as tattooing is still illegal in Massachusetts.  Pastor Scott
did the driving, and spirits were high; it was an impulsive thing, as tattoos
often are.  Being "virgins," no one knew what to expect.  The first place
turned out to be above a deserted gas station.  The owner and his only customer
were enormous bikers with no visible un-tattooed skin.  This was way too
creepy, so the foursome wound up at Golden Tattoo, which was neat, well-lit and
professional, like a good brothel.  Six short lines is easy money for a
tattooist; the whole thing took little more than an hour.  Sister Jennifer said
she enjoyed it, though too much might get annoying; why it's illegal here is
anyone's guess.

                        O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O

The Rev. is rarely seen in the clubs due to her busy schedule, but she made a
special exception for the second annual *Safe Sex Fashion Show*, held at local
dive *The Rat*.  The event was sponsored by 'zine publisher Elizabeth Parker,
with half the proceeds earmarked for the AIDS Action Committee.  *Grand
Opening* owner Kim Airs emceed, while sexy Dana M. and Wendy W. teamed up with
the Rev.; other participants included Church members T.Max and Kim G., plus the
fabulous Valerie, who managed to put the F in fetish, against "stiff"
competition.  This year's theme was latex, plastic and cellophane, and Dupont
would have been proud.  The Rev. was looking fine in a skin-tight miniskirt and
tank top, artfully crafted entirely from green and pink bubble-wrap by Sister
Catherine.  Matching green condom earrings and latex gloves were a nice touch,
but the dildo bracelet pushed it right over the top.  The Rev. "worked" that
dildo with skill that suggested experience, and the crowd rewarded her
enthusiasm with plenty of applause.

                        O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O

It all started in July when the Rev. saw a billboard in scenic Union Square.
It featured a supermarket shelf laden with plastic-wrapped celery, cauliflower,
and broccoli, under which appeared a caption that read "Fresh Foxy Vegetables"
(the name of the brand).  Something clicked, and a week later, the Rev. and
Lydia were climbing up a shaky ladder with signs, rollers, and a giant bucket
of industrial-strength wheat paste.  Meanwhile Sister Catherine, Margaret, and
Valerie were doing their best to look inconspicuous in the parking lot of the
Dunkin' Donuts across the street.  This seemed like a wise precaution, since
the billboard in question is at most 100 yards from the Somerville police
station, scene of the infamous cruiser-stickering described in issue #1.  A few
sweaty adrenalin-pumped moments later, the deed was done: the caption was
neatly changed to read "Wrapped In Plastic."  The improved billboard lasted two
weeks, so it's hard to say how many saw it or what effect it had, but we're
confident that somewhere in Somerville, *somebody* got it.

                        O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O  O

The year's biggest news arrived on August 22, in a business-size envelope from
the Internal Revenue Service.  Hold onto your hats folks, the winner is...the
Church of Euthanasia!  Yes!  From now on your donations are *100%
tax-deductible!*  May the Great Spirit bless the Church's tax consultant, who
wishes to remain anonymous.  The process began back in November of '94, with a
twenty-page form, a $150 fee and a carefully prepared packet of brochures and
newsletters.  The Feds fired back in December with a list of "missing items,"
including "any available pamphlets, brochures, literature, newsletters, etc."
In short, they wanted more, and by gum, they got it; in April, a new torpedo
was launched.  This one included e-sermons 1-13 and printouts from the
world-wide web site: suicide, abortion, cannibalism, sodomy, save the planet,
kill yourself--the works.  Okay, so they didn't get the pee shot, but they said
*any*, not *all*, right?
    In May, a brief but ominous-looking letter arrived, stating that "due to
the issues involved," the application had been "transferred to the national
office in Washington for review."  Right about then the Rev. decided to renew
her passport, just in case.  The flame-throwing tanks failed to materialize,
however, and in a letter dated June 14, the Feds raised the white flag: the
application would be accepted if (and only if) the Church was declared to be a
*public charity*, rather than a private foundation.  In addition the Church
would be considered an *educational foundation* rather than a religious
organization.  The letter invited further discussion, by *telephone*, no less!
The Rev. and company spoke at some length with Ms. Berkovsky, who was
surprisingly intelligent, polite and very helpful.
    The first point was easily explained: like the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, and unlike, say, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Church's income
comes from the *public*, not from a few individuals.  Sales of stickers,
buttons, and so forth will henceforth be considered *fundraising*.  The second
point was tricky: the Church can continue to call itself a church, act like a
Church, and even *be* a church, but from the IRS point of view, the Church's
*primary* activity is *the dissemination of information*.
    This seemed an appropriate time for compromise.  The papers were duly
signed, and the rest is history: "Based on the information as supplied, and
assuming your operations will be as stated in your application for recognition
of exemption, we have determined you are exempt from federal income tax under
section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization described in
section 501(c)(3)."  Whip out the checkbooks, folks, let's *itemize!*

"I viddied what I had to do...and that was to do myself in, to snuff it."

-A Clockwork Orange

                           CONFESSIONS OF A HERETIC

>>>>
I feel that you're mistaken in your definition of earth pertaining to the top
few meters of arable land or water.  First off, I'm not sure how much you know
about "world" agriculture.  Ever been to a Mexican or African farming system
and compared it to the US/Europe methods?  Third world countries' agricultural
methods are not usually adequate to feed their needs so they receive crops from
elsewhere.  Of the arable land that is presently used there, production can be
dramatically [S.B. "temporarily" -Ed.] increased with better husbandry
techniques, superior seed lines and choosing the most productive crops.
Biotechnology, in regards to standard soil-grown crops, is only capable of
increasing production at incremental levels (1-5%), while advances in tillage,
post- and pre-site care, fertilization, pest management, harvest methods, etc.
will allow the earth to continue to produce enough food for the growing
population over the next century or so.  Intensive farming needn't mean
destruction of precious topsoil, as has been demonstrated in the midwest and
Europe.  [Ah, Earth to Gamma-Ray, please adjust your transmitter, we are not
receiving you... -Ed.]  Also, if demand truly increases, the way we presently
use our land will change.  As you know, support of our modern source of food
animals requires lots of space and resources.  If meat demand goes down, which
it probably won't, that land can be used for vegetable crops.  Also, there's a
lot of arable land out there that is presently unused for food-production.  As
population demand rises, rainforests, mountain steppes, the great Canadian
Basin, the Soviet Tract, etc. will all be plowed over and planted with
agrosnacks.  Species diversity will plummet, yes, but human survival will
increase...
    There is more than one way to grow a strawberry.  Due to advances in
technology, soil will become less necessary over time.  The basic needs of your
average plant are: carbon source, vitamins, nitrogen source, water,
antibiotics, elicitors, support structure, light.  Soil environments presently
provide these, but soil is not inherently necessary for all life.  I could go
on for a while, but won't.  Production of food is not a problem, access to it
is.  The body politik and personal selfishness deny access.  Would you be
willing to give up all that you have, in terms of resources, and be content to
subsist in a desert so that 10 others who are now subsisting in the desert can
live another 20 years and make 50 more babies?  Luck, also known as drift,
plays a huge role is the chances of one's survival.  You got the long end of
the stick and I don't imagine you'll be giving it away any time soon...
    Exactly what defines harmony, anyway?  Are you implying that one set of
lifestyle circumstances is better than another?  Nonsense.  Who's to say that
good 'ol Americans driving along in plastic cars to plastic malls to buy
plastic food is any less harmonious than a person on a horse, riding through a
canyon on a cloudless starry night to visit a lover by the sea?  Both
situations strike images, mental music if you will, and thereby "sound"
different.  Peaceful nature scenes have a certain quality to them, but so does
the construction of a spaceport.  Both "feel."  There is music, harmony, beauty
in everything.  Yourself a musician, I am surprised that you don't appreciate
that.  The smooth flowing rhythms of the last centuries will soon be replaced
by the staccato, random, often painful symphonies of the near future.  The
Earth and our relationship to it is constantly changing, will always change.
Such is the nature of life.  To stand still is to die.  To strive and conquer
is to survive.
    [The bottled water] already is [poisonous] (checked it for DDT lately?).
The mass accumulation of toxins in our environment is forcing us to evolve.
[S.B. "devolve" -Ed.] Because we are unable to biologically evolve, we will
(and have) evolve(d) socially.  Modern medicine has been in the business of
keeping bad genes alive to reproduction age.  And by bad genes, I mean those
individuals unable to survive in our presently toxic environment.  If "nature"
were allowed to take its course without human intervention it would take out a
good chunk of the population in coming generations.  Right now, medical
technology is being used to treat people for diseases/manifestations that would
never have arisen were it not for the presence of toxins in our environment.  I
think, over time, you will see such selection for "toxin-immune" genotypes
among population groups without access to medical care.  In reality, those who
survive will be more fit in the long run.
    I am simply stating the following as fact, not intending to shock, nor am I
one who is pleased about it: We have not yet begun to rape the Earth.
    You are obviously well read and cognizant.  In the end, though, we differ
in a very fundamental way: you view mankind's present actions as a destructive
end while I view them as a necessary means to a higher future.  And by higher,
I mean spiritually, biologically and socially.  In the distant future, we will
reclaim much of the Earth that we are about to scour.  The Earth is a stepping
stone for mankind's destiny, not its final destination.  Earth is not my mother
and I refuse to live at home for the rest of my life.
    See you in the stars, my dear.

-Alex K., Gamma-Ray, P.O. Box 4117, Ithaca, NY 14850
<<<<

We get a lot of bizarre mail, but this is without a doubt the most frightening
letter we have ever received.  In the words of the immortal Walt Kelly, "We
have met the enemy, and he is us."  If it didn't frighten you, read it again,
and if it still doesn't, please drop this magazine in the nearest recycling
bin.  We'll let Dr. Erlich handle the obvious lunacies about escaping to outer
space...

"A British physicist, J. H. Fremlin...has made some interesting calculations on
how much time we could buy by occupying the [other] planets of the solar
system.  For instance, [at the current rate] it would take only about 50 years
to populate Venus, Mercury, Mars, the moon, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn
to same population density as Earth...It would take only about 200 years to
fill [the remaining planets] "Earth-full."...What then?...Using extremely
optimistic assumptions, [Professor Garrett Hardin of the University of
California at Santa Barbara] has calculated that Americans, by cutting their
standard of living down to 18% of its present level, could in *one year* set
aside enough capital to finance the exportation to the stars of *one day's*
increase in the population of the world."

-Dr. Paul Erlich, _The Population Bomb_

"Sell a country!  Why not sell the air, the clouds, and the great sea,
as well as the earth?"

-Tecumseh

                            A WORLD WITHOUT SOULS
                         The Problem Of Reincarnation
                               by Lex Marburger

Simply put, reincarnation is the process of recycling souls, until they get
themselves out of the loop, through enlightenment or any other mystical truth
attainment.  When a certain soul has achieved enough knowledge about (insert
your own favorite esoteric goal here), they're taken out of the circuit, to
some sort of pleasing "next world."  Considering the state of the planet
(insert your favorite social or ecological disaster here), enlightenment is not
being reached, i.e. people are neither striving for, nor obtaining mystical or
religious knowledge.  So, if we are stuck in a karmic-somatic feedback loop,
with no one leaving, where are all of these new bodies coming from?  Anyone
reading this periodical should know the statistics of population growth, which
is the main argument against reincarnation: there is a dearth of tales
explaining incarnation and reincarnation simultaneously.  However, there is
another answer.  If there are a fixed number of souls, and an increasing number
of bodies, it should be obvious to see that the majority of people in the world
today are being born *without souls*.  This would not only answer the reason
for the callous and insensitive nature of society at large, but also explain
the diminishing role that religion plays in our lives.
    So what is the solution?  How to assuage the fears of the masses that they
might have no soul?  Hundreds, nay, millions, would riot and rampage, causing
more destruction than their present ignorant actions against the planet, unless
they could be told a way of finding out if they had a soul.  Imagine the
thought of millions of drones who finally realize that, for them, there *is* no
purpose to their lives.  Think of the anguish, the despair, the (true) feeling
of futility.  This would lead naturally to the only rational procedure that
would affect a decent solution.  The answer, of course, is systematic mass
suicide.  If the nations of the earth committed suicide in regulated shifts,
while keeping births at a constant rate, we could easily wean out the soulless,
due to the fact that those without wouldn't come back.  The only people to be
born would be the result of reincarnation.  This wouldn't be genocide, because
there is no focus on one specific group.  It would be the pruning of a species
that has become incompatible with its environment.  The health of the human
species (and all other species, as well) would be assured, due to the fact that
the total spirituality of the planet would dramatically rise, and the earth
would finally be safe and healthy for the human and animal souls to attain
enlightenment.

                           PRAYER FOR A GOOD DEATH

        Great Spirit, I am unworthy;
        My species has disgraced itself.
        Of all the species that live, or have ever lived,
        Mine is the lowliest.
        Lower than the flowers who fill the air with sweet pollen,
        Lower than the trees who encircle the Earth with their roots,
        Lower than the insects, rulers of Earth
        Since the beginning of time,
        Lower than the darting fish,
        Lower than the soaring birds,
        Lower than the four-legged creatures,
        Who are the beating heart of the living Earth.

        Great Spirit, my shame is as deep as the ocean,
        And my sadness is unbearable.
        I pray for enlightenment,
        But fear that my prayer is too late.
        Great Spirit, if this be so, then I pray for extinction.
        Let my species become extinct, and vanish from the Earth.
        Let my loins be barren,
        Let my seed not sprout,
        Let the race of men fall like leaves.
        Let my fields grow wild,
        Let my fences crumble,
        Let my cities turn to dust, and become forests.
        Let the grass drink my blood;
        Let my body be food for worms.
        Great Spirit, let me die, that the Earth may live.

        -Rev. Chris Korda

                               MY SUICIDE WATCH
                                 by Bob Baden

I guess that it was around the fifth grade that I began to speculate about my
death.  That is not to say that I was a morbid child, though I was, but it was
the reigning dawn of disco and Charlie's Angels was the social moniker by which
we all judged ourselves, so it can be said that my thoughts of death were
warranted, if not common.
    I became obsessed with my death.  When would I die?  How?  Would it be
messy, or even better, painful?  And what would I wear?  Even at that premature
time in my life I realized one thing about my death;  I wanted to have control
over it.  So as I became increasingly bored with the rigors of the fifth grade
(passing notes, laughing at farts, and asking friends to ask the boy that I
liked if he liked me), I began to spend more and more time planning and
preparing for my death.
    I chose suicide as a means of absolute control.
    Suicide.  How would I achieve this goal?  I had read countless stories of
those before me who had taken the plunge, some successfully, others not.  I
weighed my options.  I could jump from a bridge, except that most people
survive, spending the rest of their lives as paraplegics.  I wanted death, not
inconvenience.  I could take a handful of pills and wash it all down with the
grandeur of Garland, but Studio 54 was still popular, hence I assessed that
there might be a shortage of resources.  I considered putting my head in the
oven, but ultimately I would just get nauseous and be forced to interrupt my
goal in order to obtain a tummy elixir.  And of course the whole
shotgun-to-the-head thing really hadn't become popular yet, so I figured it
best not to venture into unchartered waters.  Death may only be death, but it
must have style; preferably a trendy and attractive style.
    Then the priest from my church suggested that I take up smoking cigarettes.
It had many rewards, both short term and long.  Initially I could anticipate
lung cookies, rapidly wrinkling skin, and a nagging, early morning hack.  Not
to mention the stink!  The added benefit was, of course, the ostracizing and
alienation.  I could become a legal junkie and flaunt it proudly in the faces
of all my peers, family, and associates--none of which would ever dine with me
again.  Cool.  I reconciled the length of time that it would take to actually
die by admitting to myself that, after all, I was a procrastinate at heart.
(There should always be confessions towards the end).
    The following Monday I consulted with my friends and decided that
unfiltered Camels would be the most effective method with which to do my dirty
work.  I literally couldn't wait until some teacher or such asked me what I
wanted to be when I grew up, so that I could simply respond "Dead."  And with
that I lifted $1.70 from my mother's purse and procured my tool.
    It was around the seventh grade, and still not dead yet, that I took up
drinking beer to accelerate the process.  The rewards were a surprise.  Not
only was I smoking an allegedly lethal substance, but now I was also
belligerent about the fact.  What could have been better?
    About the time that I started college, and still not dead yet, I started
smoking pot and taking drugs by the handful.  This truly moved things along.  I
rarely ate, and subsequently lost weight, got sickly often, and developed a
sincere admiration for paranoia.  Finally, some concrete payback.  That A.M.
hack was one thing but bronchitis was the icing.  Literally.
    Well I'm 32 now, and still not dead, but that's OK (for now).  In the last
lap of my race to deterioration, I'm dabbling with blatant avoidance of
financial responsibility coupled with sleep deprivation.  My own little
personal buffet spread of pain.  Nifty.  But it's working!
    Happy Death, my fellow parishioners.

                        GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE BIRTHING

The following articles presume some awareness of the considerable debate over
how best to measure population growth.  The correct method is based on two
relatively simple measurements known as the *birth rate* and the *death rate*.
When the birth rate *equals* the death rate *for a given period of time*, the
result is described as *zero population growth*.  Unfortunately, the most
widely publicized method is a dubious statistic known as "replacement level
fertility," A.K.A. the "two-birth average."  The main problem with this method
is that babies born this year are not "replacing" their *parents!*  Unless the
parents kill themselves immediately after birthing, their babies are
"replacing" *random dead people* who were born seventy years ago (on average),
*when the population was much lower*.  According to this method, the US birth
rate has been below replacement level since 1972, theoretically resulting in
negative population growth, when in fact, *births have  exceeded deaths every
year since then*.  There were 1,693,000 more births than deaths in the United
States in 1994.  [H&HS]
    Richard M. Bowers was well aware of all this when he founded ZPG, Inc. in
1968; in 1970 he voted for ZPG to publicly advocate *one* birth per couple,
instead of the more politically acceptable *two*.  This ultimately led to his
removal from the board by the "go-slowers."

>>>>
Dear Fellow Birth Elimination Advocates,
    As with you folks I advocate no one birth, at least for NOW! i.e. while on
earth there continue to be more births than the number of deaths.  Since I fear
it will be more than a decade before earth births are even close to (say only a
couple million more than) deaths per year, I am not primarily interested in
thinking or writing about what to do after earth births finally become fewer
than deaths.  I fear earth births even well after 2020 will still be millions
more than the number of global deaths.  Our GRB time-goal is to reduce earth
births below deaths by 2003.  Of course that is NOT a prediction of when such
will take place; but only our "goal."
    You folks use our no longer applicable name of zero birthing NOW! A year or
so ago zbN! changed its name to GRB standing for Globally Responsible Birthing.
Please make that correction.  But if you do not I suspect for a while, at
least, the PO locally will deliver our mail, even if not addressed to GRB, as
is best.
    Your issue # 2 came recently.  I must say that it does seem to me that your
energies and talents could be better used to help reduce births all over earth
by changes in your tactics.  But who am I to tell you folks what will be best?
I certainly agree with your goal.  With you, I and GRB as an organization share
the belief that nothing is as important as having less birthing all over earth.
Down to below a million Homo sapiens births per year?  Why that many?
    As much as I would like to join you folks in urging only voluntary methods
to have less birthing, I, personally, back govt coercion, as in China, to force
less birthing faster than what has happened here in the US and all over earth
when only voluntary methods have been promoted and used.  When I was in charge
of ZPG Inc. back in 1968 and much of 1969, as its Founder, I went along with
the majority of the board who were voluntarists.  I now believe that was THE
VERY WORST mistake of all my long life.  I regret I did not go along with
Garrett Hardin and another ZPG Inc. director who urged ZPG Inc. not to publicly
disavow coercion.
    GRB, the organization has not yet approved coercion.  At our 2nd annual
meeting at our place here in the western foothills of the Catskill Mountains
(which will be a Saturday in July 1995) I will introduce a proposal to have GRB
endorse govt coercion.  If my views are adopted by GRB, there may be both
compulsory abortions and compulsory sterilizations; but mostly forced
sterilizations for both the mother and the father who birth.  Enclosed is a
memo of my thoughts.  Come join us then.
    Enclosed also is a memo about compulsory abortions in China.  If you folks
have not read and studied some the book *A Mother's Ordeal* I urge you to buy a
copy (it is in paper for just over a dozen bucks) and read it.  The author is
biased against birth control; but skip that and think about how these measures
and more are needed NOW! all over earth...
    We can and MUST get US births down below deaths quickly.  Why not before
this century ends?  The early 1970's reductions of US births were not expected
by anyone (certainly not by me) when I started ZPG Inc. in 1968.  The
commercial powers that be in our nation then managed to shut off what was
happening.  This time, when (not 'if', but when) we get momentum I will do my
best to see that go-slow types do not infiltrate, as they did into ZPG Inc. in
the 1970's, in part at my invitation.  We *will* have less & less births
globally.
    The best "gift" anyone can give to humankind is to remain birth-free.  It
is a SIN for any person to birth while earth births exceed deaths.  For what
purpose would the world need more than 50,000 new Homo sapiens every year?

-Richard M. Bowers
<<<<

                        HUMANITY'S GREATEST CHALLENGE
                             by Richard M. Bowers

If not before, then certainly since Dec. 1968 when I created Zero Population
Growth Inc. with two friends, my life's major commitment has been to helping,
yes also urging all persons everywhere on earth to live birth-free lives for
the present.
    One of my more dramatic contributions was as the volunteer Executive
Director of an abortion referral service in San Francisco for five months in
early 1970.  Mostly we gave pregnant women the addresses, phone numbers etc. of
abortions clinics in Mexico across the US border.  Many considered such
referrals illegal.  I did not.  We were listed in the phone yellow pages under
"Abortion."
    It was my personal privilege to work there with Pat Magginis, the woman I
consider the "Florence Nightingale" of the pro-choice movement.  Pat is one of
the best persons I have had the privilege to work with in my whole, long life.
    In May 1970 in San Francisco we held a public conference for physicians on
abortion procedures.  I then returned to the east coast.  I have lived here all
my life except for military service in Korea and then at Fort Lewis in the
State of Washington in the mid 1950's.
    With two others my wife, Betty, and I founded Globally Responsible Birthing
(GRB) in 1993.  Fundamental global policies of GRB include 1) there should be
fewer & still fewer unplanned pregnancies with the goal to have as near zero as
feasible ASAP and 2) there should be fewer & still fewer unwanted births with
the goal to have as close to zero as feasible ASAP.  I am the GRB Director and
plan to continue on as GRB Director for at least a couple years.  Being 65, I
may turn GRB over to younger persons before long.
    The rest of this two page memo will set forth my thinking about what number
of births each woman or couple ought to have for purposes of what will be best
for humankind survival, certainly during the rest of the 1990's.  Until 2050?
I hope not, but fear birth avoidance advocacy will be needed into the 22nd
century CE.  The number of births I believe now best for all is simple--NONE.
    In the 1990's and well beyond, because humankind's global number will
continue to increase, the best number of births by any woman or couple will be
ZERO.  Our global number already is some 5.7 BILLION on this tiny space vehicle
too small for 10% that number.  Optimum may be fewer than one million of us.
    Can anyone really believe that as global biological growth, the excess of
births over deaths, continues year after year that even first births help
increase chances for Homo sapiens' survival?  Otherwise sensitive persons who
claim that absurdity are strange.  Could such persons not believe, or perhaps
they are not familiar with the United Nations' estimate that some 40,000 fellow
humans, mostly youngsters under age 5, each day keep on dying from mere lack of
decent minimum food, clothing and shelter?  That situation is a tragedy of the
first magnitude.  Some seventeen million unnecessary deaths each year.
    Before I go on, a few words about this statement of my personal beliefs.
As stated, I am the GRB Director.  But it is not true that what I say herein is
GRB policy.  These are only my personal thoughts.
    The sole question now to be discussed is how best to have fewer births for
NOW!, i.e. while humankind's global growth continues.
    THE crucial matter is government coercion.  Should women and couples be
compelled to birth less?  I reluctantly favor compulsory sterilization of
antisocial couples who birth excessively.  Unhappily I support this harsh
measure; but only if forced upon all persons equally, as my highest government
priority.  I am ready to join others in public advocacy of compulsory
sterilizations.
    What I believe is also needed is to have worldwide mass media encouragement
of NO BIRTHING NOW! i.e. while earth births remain more than deaths.  In the
mid 1970's after dramatic 1971 and 1972 US birth reductions which we in ZPG
Inc. helped bring about (with many others helping of course) most family
planners spoke out against going immediately from pregnant women having been
forced to birth by anti-abortion criminal laws, to government laws to force
less birthing.  That view then seemed reasonable.  We hoped couples and single
women would reduce at least US birthing to be fewer than deaths quickly.  But
that has not happened.
    I, personally, set for ZPG Inc. the two time-goals to have US births below
deaths by 1980, and secondly global births below deaths by 1990.  Why has the
US failed to have negative biological growth (births fewer than deaths) even by
1994?  It is near certain US births in 1994 will be well over one million more
than the number of US deaths.
    Most US demographers (one of whom is Prof. Charles Westoff of Princeton)
were and are among those responsible for this continuing US failure.  Of course
Roman Catholic Cardinals and other rabid pro-natalists are also evil; but most
demographers were and still are important in continued US excessive birthing.
Urging women to not use birth control pills etc. made most Roman Catholic male
celibate clergy irrelevant.  What demographers, with mass US media, did was to
focus public attention upon what they labeled as a US "low" birth rate, that is
US births slightly below the replacement birth rate, or the two birth average.
Our US birth rate has been below "replacement level" fertility since 1972.
    Why are most US persons with great power pro-natalists?  A major reason, I
submit, was and is "consumerism".  Those who own newspapers, radio stations,
magazines, TV stations and other businesses favor people buying and/or
consuming more & more.  They favor more & more corporate profits.  To them more
births = more buying.
    Might we successfully get to global zpg by 2003?  Of course we CAN DO IT.
But based on the last 20 years in the US, I fear pro-natalists will spread
their sinful self-destructive ideas too successfully all across earth about
replacement level fertility being enough birth reduction.  What is needed is to
have all realize that for NOW! i.e, while earth births are more than deaths,
EVERY BIRTH, yes including a first birth by a woman or a couple is not only
wrong but is a serious GLOBAL SIN.
    After January 1994 US data came in with both births and deaths showing huge
increases, I now urge all governments have compulsory sterilizations after any
birth, except in nations like Germany, Russia and a few others where births
already are fewer than deaths.  In nations with fewer births than deaths
compulsory sterilizations would be after a birth of the 2nd or higher order.
    All are urged to join GRB.  You need only agree with policies such as a
time-goal of ending our species' earth growth by 2003.  If enough join groups
like GRB and push for birth-free living by all for NOW! i.e. while earth human
growth continues, compulsory birth controls may not be needed in nations where
births have become fewer than deaths by 40%, and better below half the number
of deaths year after year.
    Write to GRB at the address [below] for more info., or to tell us you are a
GRB member.  Your decision makes you a GRB member.  There will never be GRB
membership dues while I am GRB Director.  Nor will an undated letter be sent to
thousands begging for money.
    REMEMBER--EACH BIRTH IS A GLOBAL SIN WHILE HUMANKIND KEEPS ON GROWING!
    GRB, Route 1, Box 28, DeLancey, NY 13752

                               THIS OLD CERVIX
                             by Sister Catherine

Excommunicate: to expel from communion with a church; to exclude or eject from
membership in or the privileges of a church by ecclesiastical authority.

In September Rev. Korda was required to preform the Church of Euthanasia's
first excommunication.  As we have only one commandment, there is only one
reason for excommunication--*pregnancy*.  The Rev. and I both counseled this
young woman, but we were too late.  We learned of her pregnancy secondhand; by
this time she was already 12 weeks from conception and had received significant
amounts of counseling from her therapist, counselors at organizations such as
Planned Parenthood, and her friends.  It seems that these caring individuals
convinced her that having a child was a personal decision that would affect her
own life only, and that she could be independent and raise a child.
    This pregnancy might be her last chance at motherhood; she's had several
previous abortions and another abortion preformed this late could have serious
effects on her reproductive system.  Quite obviously she's had trouble
remembering to use contraceptives, but knowing that she did not want to be a
mother, she had abortions.  This time was different.  This time the liberal
do-gooders and care providers got to her.  Their diagnosis was that this
woman's actions prove that she wanted a baby, and since (1) this could be her
last chance at having a healthy pregnancy, and (2) she is a loving and generous
(albeit lonely) individual, then she should *have* this baby!  Hooray for
modern psychology.  We are women of the nineties.  We have every right to be as
selfish as white men have been for centuries.  If I can't find someone to love,
I'll just *create* someone to love!
    We find ourselves in a very sad and desperate situation.  All over the
world women are making life-long commitments and promises to *potential*
humans, while many of them are incapable of committing to an *already living*
human!  Many women admit that they don't want to be mothers, but have the
babies for religious, spiritual, cultural and selfish reasons.   Our former
Church member admitted to me that she does not want to be a single mother.  But
she will have and keep this baby because, get this, "It spoke to me and it
wants to be born."  It's about time we consider the awesome responsibilities
and burdens of breeding: personally, practically, environmentally and
spiritually.
    Say, for example, that this young mother to be decides to raise her child
with all of the advantages of a progressive society.  What are the requirements
for such an existence?  Disposable diapers, pediatricians, Disney, day care,
computers, music lessons, television, schools...you get the picture?  All of
this costs a lot of *money*, to be earned only by working a minimum of forty
hours a week, either selling her soul to some big corporation or waiting on
obnoxious customers in a cafe or nightclub.  Providing children with the
necessities of the popular American dream means that parents become slaves to
the Spectacle, allowing them precious little time to personally care for,
educate or even interact with their children.  The Spectacle is the parent of
these children.  The children are raised by day care workers, school teachers
and television.  Children of the Spectacle grow up to be fine, strong
consumers!  They learn to perpetuate the dominant world view and not cause any
ripples in the cesspool of "modern" society.
    The young woman has insinuated that she doesn't really want herself or her
child to participate in the machinations of the Spectacle.  She spoke of breast
feeding and shopping at the Salvation Army.  I'm sure that she already
recycles.  But I'm afraid that's not enough.  To protect a child from the
influence of the Spectacle requires a lot more strength and energy than any
other job I can imagine; most of us can't even protect ourselves.  I can
imagine what the ideal circumstances might be for raising an "un-Spectacular"
child:
    A safe, comfortable home in the country with organic gardens.  The small
town nearby has a few cooperative stores that provide the necessities for basic
living.  Currency is seldom used, as everyone has something to offer: from
vegetables to spiritual healing, the barter system is preferred.  The adults
share the responsibility of caring for and educating the children.  There are
no formal classrooms or standardized tests; children learn by doing, talking
and questioning.  Neighbors know and care for each other.  People offer help
without being asked.  They learn from all of the Earth's species and the Great
Spirit how to live with compassion, for the Earth and for each other.
    This scenario isn't very different from some contemporary cultures: Amish,
Native American and "Dreamtime Village"-style communities.  But guess what--the
Amish and Native Americans are part of the Spectacle!  Their communities are
tourist attractions maintained by the Spectacle.  They serve as examples of the
less fortunate, helping to keep the workers content in their television lives,
reaffirming the American Dream.  It's to the benefit of the Spectacle to keep
these communities alive but not allow them to grow.  The children born to these
communities may be lucky enough to grow up without the direct influence of
consumer America, but their physical freedom is controlled by the Spectacle.
    Is it possible for a mother to protect her child from the Spectacle?
Maybe, but it's sure to be a damn difficult task.  And even if a mother is able
to protect herself and her child from the Spectacle, *what about the future?*
    Regardless of the lifestyle a mother might choose to brainwash her child
with, there is a pending revolution, armageddon, or even worse--the world may
stay the same.  The world is overpopulated and the planet's resources are
diminishing.  I for one do not want to be responsible for bringing another life
into this world.  I am frightened enough for my own life and the lives of those
already living.  Our former Church member used to share that feeling with me
and took seriously our commandment: "Thou shall not procreate."
    I urge everyone to reconsider their responsibility to the Earth.  It is not
necessary to procreate to preserve the human species.  In fact the opposite is
true.  To preserve all life forms we must *reduce* the human population.  The
greatest gift is not life, but love and compassion.  Truly loving people love
unselfishly.  With so many living beings, there is no need to create someone to
love.

                     HAVING ONE CHILD IS NOT PROCREATING
                 Excerpts from an interview with an ex-member
                             by Sister Catherine

I remember saying in a letter that I knew that I didn't want to use birth
control because I wanted to get pregnant.  Which is a hard thing to actually
admit to yourself.  And then he said the same thing...It's kinda like you want
to have a baby together.  And it's not even for having the baby, it's like this
bonding thing...and I think that's why I got pregnant before too...Every other
guy I've gotten pregnant with before, it's been in the beginning of our
relationship.  When you're sort of in love and you don't want to think about
marrying this guy...But yeah, I thought I was going to get married and have a
family.  And then after that I guess, I knew that he didn't buy this at all,
but there's this instinctual, it's sort of on a deeper level, there's this sort
of intuitiveness about stuff like this, as we are women.  Like this is what I'm
supposed to be doing...In June, when I got pregnant, everything was
perfect...My mom, my friends...were like "What the fuck are you doing, are you
crazy?  You're not ready to be a mom"...The Rev. mentioned the thing
about--that it's just me.  That I'm acting like there's two people involved and
there isn't.  There is just one person...That's one thing I can't say that I
agree with...To me there are two people involved.  There is me and another
life.  I can't say when life happens...I was really confused at the time so it
confused me more, certainly...
    I hate television.  Everything is based on the media now, which advocates
sex and violence.  It's very hard for me, I'm scared.  Kids in first grade are
talking about sex and stuff like that.  They don't have a childhood
anymore...I'm not trying to say that I condone having kids...but I can't tell
you how many fucked up people I know that are having kids.  People that I know
are fucked up, not to mention people that I don't know.  If people like you and
me can have children, I mean that's a step in the better direction.  And having
one child is not considered procreating you know...I read that in school,
sociology or something.  Because, if you have sex--two people--if two people
make one person that's not increasing the population, or something.  There's a
word for it...I'm not trying to make an excuse, I just found out about that the
other day...
    I'm kind of a TV addict.  If you let me be I'll just watch it all of the
time.  I eat compulsively and stuff.  I got that from my mom.  My mom's
depressed.  She's not like major, but she's always been somewhat depressed. And
that's how I am too.  And that's something I'm very fearful of passing on to
the kid.  Extremely so.  That's the kind of stuff I'm scared of.  That's why I
want my child to love himself...Then I think the longest I'm going to live with
my mother, the longest would be four years...So I guess I'm not really that
worried about it.  And plus, my mom's just so happy.  I feel like this is
almost a gift to her.  Certainly not why I'm having a baby--to give my mom a
present, but you know, it definitely goes both ways, she's very excited...Yeah,
I'm nervous about moving back there.  I've been away ten years.  I don't know
how things are going to be...She's also very like, she needs her space.  She's
very independent...She's never been like the dictator mom...Though I probably
will be, since I think that she should have been more disciplined...
    Yes, I'm lonely...I think that people don't love me.  Which is sort of the
same thing.  And that I'll be loved by this child...Like I said before, I
decided to have the baby because I thought I was going to get married to him,
that we were going to have a family.  So this wasn't for this baby to fill
something that I didn't already have...It wasn't like I decided to have the
baby no matter what at first...I decided to have this baby because...this seems
like what I want to do...So I guess I know my psyche well enough to be able to
say yes, I've been lonely for the last two years and yes, I've always had a
problem with feeling loved.  You know, like, do people really love me?  Because
I am very insecure.  But I'm also insightful enough to know that that's my
problem, that it's not true, that the people do love me.  I just have to
remember to believe it...And I know I would never have a child so that they
could love me, that's ridiculous...
    My mother hates men.  She told me never to get married and never to have
children.  So my mother did not influence this child, believe me.  She's
definitely, I'd say, pro-choice...But like I said, she's still a mom.  She
loves kids...The fact of the matter is children have to be integrated into
society...It's good to be part of society.  If you're separated from it, then
what's the point anyway?...Being selfish was the furthest thing from my
mind...My life is not that wonderful that I want it to stay the way it is.  I
am more than willing to have a complete change.  There's nothing I need to hold
on to.

11. All the problems that are currently blamed on technology and our
"wasteful" Western way of living are exacerbated by human crowding.  For every
additional human in America, you need several thousand more kilowatts of power
a day.  A few more pounds of toxic emissions go into the air as the polyester
for the baby clothes is synthesized and the play pen is built.  A few more
gallons of water a day are polluted by sewage.  Eventually another car will be
on the road, another computer will be in a home, another household will be
producing solid waste.
    It is probably not a sin to drive a car and make plastic and throw things
away.  It is when these activities are multiplied by 300 million that they
begin to become a problem.

-Population #1 by Mike Merrill

                      IS SOMETHING BETTER THAN NOTHING?
                                    by R7

This question came up, in a conversation the other day, when someone made the
time-worn statement--"Something is better than nothing."  I had to wonder
though, is something really better than nothing?
    I would submit, that more likely than not, nothing is a whole lot better
than something in a great many instances.  For example, you are in a fire-fight
and catching bullets with your chest, but the guy next to you doesn't get hit
at all.  So what's better, something or nothing?  Bullets ripping into my flesh
is something I can do without, therefore, I would rather have nothing.
    Taking a much wider perspective, in considering this sadly beleaguered
planet, let's see what conclusions can be drawn.  Is it better for Earth to be
plagued with a species that utterly disregards the environment it inhabits and,
in the throes of a totally insane lust for power and money, pollutes the land,
air and water of the planet with any bizarre and, in most cases, completely
unnecessary waste it can come up with?  Which is certainly something!  Or,
would Earth be better off with no humans at all?  Which is nothing.  After a
careful weighing of the evidence, a prima facie case is made for nothing,
particularly, from a planetary and/or universal perspective.
    On a more personal level, I was in court not too long ago, or rather in the
bullpens attached thereto, when a young friend of mine received, via the grace
of the court, a gift of a 20 - 30 year prison sentence for the delivery of
cocaine he never even delivered.  Now that's something!  And, I am quite sure,
he would rather have received nothing, no matter how graciously it was given!
At this point, it should be crystal clear that nothing is far, far better than
something.  In fact, nothing sounds way cool to me.  It sounds like no rules,
no laws, no fools, no police, no schools, no courts, no wait, no taxes, no
state--NOTHING!!!
    Now you might, after reading my argument for nothing, ask how this gracious
blessing, which is nothing, can be achieved and you might not, but I'm going to
tell you anyhow.  You can achieve the ultimate nothing by doing something:
"SAVE THE PLANET--KILL YOURSELF."

            I feel nothing.
            That's why I sing this song.
            I feel nothing.
            Nothing all day long.

            I live in a city.
            I was born in one too.
            I live in a city.
            What else can I do?

            I work in an office.
            Everyone looks the same.
            I work in an office.
            I can spell my name.

            -The Oracles, "Nothing"

                      TOP TEN REASONS TO VOTE UNABOMBER
                  Your presidential write-in choice for '96
                                by Lydia Eccles

1. THE BOYS.  Clinton, Gingrich, Powell, Perot, Forbes, Dole, Gramm, Lugar,
Alexander, Dornan, Keyes, etc.
2. HE'S HOT!   His favorability ratings may be low, but his name recognition is
close to 100%.  We won't need to hype him--he's already hyped.  A Unabomber
write-in campaign can surf the media wave.  He's the perfect imposter to
undermine the presidential election process as it unfolds, and turn the
fraudulent election process against itself.
3. THE VISION THING.  "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been
a disaster for the human race."  Regardless of what you think of the Unabomber
and his analysis, the right issues are finally raised.  Can you even conceive
of any legitimate candidacy, election, or debate which will allow the real
questions to be put on the table?  We need to dish them out before they cool
off...They're giving an election, but we can crash it and have our own
referendum on corpo-technocracy.  If the Unabomber put a hairline crack in the
myth of progress, we should apply a wedge now--the Unabomber's fifteen seconds
are just about up.  But an election lasts a year.  An anti-technological
rallying point only came into being because of the criminal chase.  There's not
going to be another opportunity.
4. CRASH THE PARTIES.  The election offers a "choice" once all the real
decisions have been made.  On top of being an anti-republicrat vote, the
Unabomber campaign is a counterfoil to faux "populist" outsider-insiders like
business magnate Ross Perot and Gulf warrior Colin Powell (a.k.a. the
military-industrial complex.)  The third party "alternative" is designed to
safely channel voter alienation into a centrist, media-sanctioned agenda and
immunize the system against real change.
5. IF ELECTED HE WILL NOT SERVE.  It's a nobody-for-president vote.  He's not
running, so this can be a bottom-up free-for-all campaign.  Campaign
literature, posters, sound bytes, platforms, pranks, the rest: have it your
way.
6. DON'T WASTE YOUR VOTE.   The media's like a psychiatrist--and you can't NOT
communicate in an election.  If you boycott the polls, you'll be counted as
apathetic, complacent, or still worse, contented.  If you vote for the
mainstream lesser of evils,  who don't actually represent your views, you've
affirmed the political system and buried your voice.  Either way you've wasted
your vote.  To vote for the Unabomber is to vote and boycott at the same time.
If nothing else, it's a vote against the election charade.  It can be only seen
as absolute protest, ridicule, or a "none-of-the-above" spurning of the
political menu.  You can cast an anarchistic vote you feel good about, and send
the message that the presidential elections are a fraud.  And you can still
vote in local races and referendums where your vote counts for something.
7. VOTE AGAINST THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE.  The Unabomber did an end run around
the media monopoly, and published without editorial clearance.  The Unabomber
has, by the magnitude of his plan, exposed the media as a closed communications
system, making it very clear--in case anyone hadn't noticed--that it's a
communications war.  Mass media are launched from a heavily-secured fortress.
Other terrorists seek publicity as a means to other ends.  The Unabomber used
terrorism to gain publicity as an end in itself.  Notice how the press seeks to
channel interpretation of the Unabomber story, covering it as a serial-killer
story of crime and insanity, while excluding consideration of the ideas
themselves.  They would have us believe that it would be disastrous if media
weren't controlled from the top.  Op-ed pages resounded with journalists
lamenting, "Why didn't he have to get editorial approval?  What if copy cats
are aroused, crazies who actually want access to the media, rather than simply
being passive target markets for political and commercial propaganda?"  Imagine
mass communications not subject to corporate control.  People might say
anything...even things not "fit to print".  Exactly.  When ABC Nightly News
gets renamed Disney World, you'll cherish the memory of your Unabomber vote.
8. HE'S GOT THE CREDENTIALS.  The Unabomber's use of violence should not
disqualify him from consideration.  His willingness and ability to effectively
use violence to achieve strategic political goals merely demonstrate the
essential qualifications to be president.  After all, Colin Powell's ONLY
qualification is his performance as an effective killer.  No one's called him a
serial killer, or said he craved attention.  No running candidate has condemned
the Gulf War genocide.  This is a country that played war like a video game in
a high-tech funhouse.  We aren't even allowed information as to how many
Iraqis, civilian or military, our tax dollars blew away.  That Bill Clinton
avoided the draft and hadn't killed was considered a lack of qualifications.
Luckily he picked up points for presiding over numerous executions in his home
state of Arkansas.  Occupational deaths and diseases...Violence?  Cancer deaths
caused by toxins in the air, in food, and workplaces...Violence?   A minimum
wage that is half the poverty level, with the hunger, stress, disease and early
death that ensue...Violence?  The media just finished re-elaborating the
rationale for bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki...Violence?  Terror?  Anyone
bringing up violence should put it all on the table, not just select attacks on
the power structure.  Anyone who can truly take a stand against violence in any
form--and that would include the American Revolution--can say the Unabomber
shouldn't be president on that basis.  But he's not running anyway, and even a
landslide wouldn't actually put him in office.  That's the beauty of voting for
a fugitive from the law.
9. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE.  Watch your favorite TV pundits try to swallow, digest
and regurgitate a Unabomber constituency.  It's a message that can't be
neutralized or explained away.  The most minimal Unabomber returns would
disrupt the usual discussion of false problems and false solutions (usually
known as "reform".)
10. DON'T BLAME ME--I VOTED FOR THE UNABOMBER.  You can sport your bumper
sticker after the election...but not on a car!

The player who trespasses against the rules or ignores them is a "spoil sport".
The spoil sport shatters the play-world itself.  By withdrawing from the game,
he reveals the relativity and fragility of the play world.  He robs play of its
illusions.

TO THE SPOILER BELONGS THE VICTORY

                       LAST CALL BEFORE THE DEVOLUTION
                               by M.C.McDonald

The human body is a self-propelled fluid container.  When the vessel is
ruptured, the fluid leaks.
    Is this a controversial statement?  Somehow unpatriotic?  What is this
power that our own internal sap holds upon us?  Isn't this the 20th century?
The dissection of cadavers was for centuries verboten.  The corpse was a sacred
object, whilst everywhere the living were slaughtered by Plague, by cholera, by
diphtheria & malaria & smallpox...but there strode amongst the humans some
naughty boys, bursting with a deadly curiosity, They petitioned the Church,
they wished to unzip the sacred vessel, discover its secrets.  And at long last
the Church weakened its fierce resolve, let slack its vigilance.  "And
Civilization has been going downhill ever since."
    Man was made in the image of God.  If you wish to learn the truth about
God, then read his Public Relations statements.  Muckraking about with a
scalpel is cheating, wallowing in FILTH; yes the Creator too has sweat & tears
& urine, semen & pus & post-nasal drip & the Mexican squirts, & then there is
the blood, all that blood, His omnipotent Blood, Blood of the Lamb, you better
run like Hell when it engorges His Eternal Phallus, He is all alone, you know,
in His monotheistic universe, He must resort to fornication with...lesser
creatures: bestiality.  If they are unwilling, well tough.  God had no qualms
about torturing Job--on a BET.  You think He'd think twice about "bustin' her
pussy-walls"?  "I shall greatly multiply your pain in childbearing."--God.  To
whom could she complain?  There is no higher court than the Creator of the
Universe.  In His sacred text the Old Testament the Lord shew forth His Nature
in all its glory: He is petty, vain, jealous, schizophrenic, tyrannical,
sadistic.  A terrorist.  Humans, of course, are expected to hold themselves to
a higher standard.

(Contribution to Mike Diana defense fund book)

PATENT 5,170,381

Eldon Taylor, Las Vegas, NV and James R. Woodhams, Henderson, NV.
8 December 1992 (Class 369/4); filed 22 November 1989

    The intent of this patent is to use two audio-frequency magnetic playback
channels "to deliver subliminal messages to the brain.  On one channel,
accessing the left brain hemisphere, the message delivered is meaningfully
spoken, forward-masked, permissive affirmations delivered in a round-robin
manner by a male voice, a female voice and a child's voice.  On the other
channel, accessing the right brain, directive messages, in the same voices, are
recorded in backwards-masked (or meta-contrast).  The three voices are mixed
using a special processor which converts sound frequencies to electrical
impulses and tracks the subliminal message to synchronize the subliminal
message in stereo with the primary carrier."

                                 MY VASECTOMY
                                by B.M.Bourke

In the spring of 1978 I had a vasectomy, basically because (1) I did not want
to father a child, (2) I wanted consequence-free sex, and (3) I was tired of
using condoms.  I just wanted to slip it in, come, and forget it.  [sounds
familiar... -Ed.] If you got a rash from a partner, you got a shot (two if the
disease strain was from southeast asia) and that was it.  At that time herpes
and genital warts were the only specifically sexually transmitted diseases that
were incurable, and while they were inconvenient, they were not deadly.
    Twice before I had had girlfriends who had been "late."  Initially I had
some "warm and fuzzy" feelings about it.  Luckily the women menstruated and I
came to my senses, seeing this for the sick and twisted thinking it was.  I did
not want the responsibility, I don't like kids, and wouldn't be a good parent.
Also I realized on a rational level the consequences to the Earth, and it was
no burden to do my bit.
    The vasectomy was done on an out-patient basis at Harvard Community Health.
Before the procedure my girlfriend and I were interviewed by the surgeon.  This
was done to ensure that our motivation was appropriate.  It was a short
meeting.  We convinced him we were rational people who didn't want to be
parents.  Of course, I didn't ask him why the health plan didn't interview
aspiring parents to check their suitability.  Maybe I didn't think of it.
    As I recall, the procedure was performed on a Friday morning, so that I
could recover over the weekend.  I shaved my genitals the evening before.  A
local anesthetic was used.  The same surgeon who had interviewed me performed
the vasectomy.  He was a youngish, gray-haired Irishman who tried to talk
sports while working, but I was trying to read to keep my mind off the
procedure.  I did not look, as blood, particularly my own, distresses me, never
mind the tubes and stuff down there.  He had some trouble locating the tubes on
one side, and had to hurry to finish up the second side before the anesthetic
wore off.  A probing sensation was all I noticed.  It didn't hurt with any
intensity, but I do remember that one of my balls became swollen to three times
its normal size.  The other one, at least relatively, seemed normal.  The only
serious pain I recall was the first time I came after the operation.  I was
advised to wait three days before sex, which advice, my eyes on my swollen
ball, I adhered to.  The pain was a sharp defined sensation in one ball that
soon receded.  Overall I was mostly stiff and mildly sore.  In a couple of
weeks, I felt normal.
    As far as long term effects, I have not seen any increase or decrease in my
sex drive.  Psychologically, I might be more relaxed in a situation where
pregnancy could occur.  The only physical difference I have noticed is the
color of my dried come.  Before, if I missed a spot cleaning up, it tended to
dry yellow; any spots I find now seem to be clearer.


            In ancient times
            a Kalapuya lay
            in a grove of alder trees
            near the forking of the Santiam
            and dreamt a most unusual dream.

            When he awoke at night
            he told the people:
            "The earth beneath our feet
            was completely black,
            in my dream."

            No one was able to say
            what that signified,
            that dream of our green earth--
            so we forgot it.

            But then the Whites came
            those farmers hard as iron,
            and we saw how they tore open the earth with the plough
            the pastures
            the little prairies beside the Santiam.

            And we knew
            that we were to be a part of their dream
            their dream of an earth
            made black forever
            by the wounding plough.

            -The Voice of the Great Spirit: Prophecies of the Hopi Indians
                by Rudolf Kaiser

                             RECOMMENDED READING

    _1984_, by George Orwell.  The ultimate Dystopia bears an uncanny
resemblance to the United States, though of course coercion is now largely
unnecessary, due to the overwhelming acceptance of television.  Even if you
read it in high school, it's worth reading again; follow it up by watching
_Brazil_.
    _All's Quiet on the Western Front_, by Erich Maria Remarque, is "neither an
accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an
adventure for those who stand face to face with it.  It [tries] simply to tell
of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were
destroyed by war."  Follow this one up by watching _Paths of Glory_, Stanley
Kubrick's wrenching film about the W.W.I troop mutinies.  Yes, the French
generals really did give orders to fire on their own troops.
    _Biodiversity_, by E.O.Wilson.  Even by conservative estimates, we have
already lost *one-third* of the species on this planet, but the good news is
that if anything survives, ants will.  Wilson likes ants, and argues
convincingly that they are the best-adapted social creatures on Earth.  Long
live the ants.
    _Breakfast of Champions_, by Kurt Vonnegut.  Any novel about a dying planet
in which the male characters are introduced by their penis size is okay by us.
The illustrations are priceless, and the book is worth reading for the first
chapter alone, in which Vonnegut describes the "discovery" of America: "The
chief weapon of the sea pirates...was their capacity to astonish.  Nobody else
could believe, until it was much too late, how heartless and greedy they were."
    _The Decade of Destruction_, by Adrian Cowell.  An astonishing first-hand
description of the heroic but doomed efforts to save the Amazon natives from
approaching "civilization," during the mammoth Brazilian development projects
of the 60's and 70's.  Many had never seen another tribe, let alone a white
person, and the conversations with them are like messages from another planet.
Cowell hits home when he says that "the difference between the Indian and the
*civilizado*...is the chasm between the man who lives in the forest and the man
who lives in civilization--the system of the city."  Cowell also writes about
his personal friendship with labor leader Chico Mendes, who was later
assassinated by the UDR (the rancher's party).
    _Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World_, by Jeremy Rifkin, the revised 1989
edition.  This is one of the most shocking books we've encountered; it turns
the "Age of Progress" completely upside-down, with incredible force and
precision, and concludes that "The only hope for the survival of the species is
for the human race to abandon its aggression against the planet and seek to
accommodate itself to the natural order."  Amen.  Rifkin grimly applies the
second law of thermodynamics to every aspect of the modern world, and
demonstrates that life is *negative entropy*.  After reading this, you'll
understand our slogan "Efficiency = Death."
    _Final Exit_, by Derek Humphry.  The founder of the Hemlock Society gives
us a handy, compassionate, and very practical how-to guide that covers a
variety of "self-deliverance" methods, as well as legal issues such as "living
wills."  He includes drug dosages, and it's even set in oversized type for the
older folks.  If you can't find it anywhere else, you can order it directly
from Hemlock (see contacts).  Have a well-considered death.
    _Gravity's Rainbow_, by Thomas Pynchon.  There's really no way to describe
this novel; let's just say it's worth the considerable effort.  Some of its
numerous characters also appear in _V._ (his first book), and even though it's
(mostly) set later, you might want to start with _V._ just because it's
shorter.  If you decide to tackle _Gravity's Rainbow_, we've compiled an index
which will make it somewhat easier to follow; we'll be happy to send you a
copy.  If you get to the end, you'll also enjoy _The Crime and Punishment of
I.G. Farben_ by Joseph Borkin, which subtantiates many of the historical
details.
    _A Guide for the Perplexed_, by E.F.Schumacher.  A very thorough if
somewhat tedious explanation of the Four Levels of Being.  Like all Christian
theology, it can be (and is) easily misunderstood; in the wrong hands it leads
directly to humanism and the elitist notion that we are superior beings.  Know
your enemy.
    _Howl_, by Allen Ginsberg, our sacred poet and the world's greatest living
sodomite.  Part III invokes the Ammonite god who eats his children; strap on
your skull mask and "howl" it to a captive crowd for instant DADA.
    _The Jungle_, by Upton Sinclair.  A classic, perhaps overly melodramatic,
but still gripping account of the Chicago meat-packing industry around the turn
of the century.  This book contains the oldest reference we've found to the
Octopus (the second oldest is in _Gravity's Rainbow_).
    _The Lorax_, by Dr. Seuss.  Yes, it's a children's book.  Get over it.  The
Lorax speaks for the trees.
    _Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media_, by Edward
S. Herman and Noam Chomsky.  If this book doesn't cure you of reading
newspapers, we don't know what will.
    _The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge_, by Rainer Maria Rilke.  An
anecdotal, obsessive journey into private and public hell.  The descriptions of
turn-of-the century Paris are frighteningly familiar; the characters are vivid
and haunting.
    _A People's History of the United States_, by Howard Zinn.  This is the
best alternative history of the U.S. we've seen; it's comprehensive, accurate,
and *readable*.  The first chapter on Columbus should be required reading in
every school.  You will feel ashamed (and lied to), or your money back.
Americans must die to save the planet.
    _Our Plundered Planet_, by Fairfield Osborn.  Who better to describe Humans
objectively than the president of the New York Zoological Society?  This book
might be hard to find, but it's a real gem.  Our copy's dust-jacket includes
glowing recommendations from Aldous Huxley and Eleanor Roosevelt, and says that
"no nation in the long history of civilization has been more violently
destructive of its life-supporting resources than the United States of
America--that 'country of the great illusion,' the country that can 'feed the
world.'"  Remember, this was in *1948!*
    _The Population Explosion_, by Paul Erlich.  If you're reading _Snuff It_,
this book is probably "preaching to the choir," but if you have any nagging
doubts, it's all in there.  Written ten years earlier, _The Population Bomb_ is
shorter, less resigned, more passionate, and very quotable.  Needless to say,
the "bomb" went off.
    _Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History_, edited by Jim
Keith, attempts "to create doors...where once there were walls."  How can the
media be both free and controlled at the same time, and why?  The questions are
pure subversion, and the answers are terrifying.  Electromagnetic weapons.
Remote mind control.  J.F.K.'s assassination as a Freemason "Killing of the
King" ritual.  Jim Jones, Waco, the Vatican, even a draft of Danny Casolaro's
Octopus manuscript proposal!  We checked on the subliminal images in Oliver
Stone's J.F.K. and they're in there alright.  This one wins Highest Boggle
Factor Ever.  Follow it with _Apocalypse Culture_, edited by Adam Parfrey;
highlights include John Zerzan's _The Case Against Art_, which could easily
have inspired the Unabomber's manifesto.
    _The Sixteen Satires_, by Juvenal, translated by Peter Green.  It's amazing
how little urban life has changed since ancient Rome.  Folks pushed paper all
day, worked out at the gym, dined at restaurants, read about scandals, and
longed for holidays.  The satire is vicious, *perverted*, and utterly
hilarious; all roads lead to sodomy.  Satire IX features an aging gigolo: "Do
you suppose it's easy, or fun, this job of cramming my cock up into your guts
till I'm stopped by last night's supper?"
    _Tales of Power_, by Carlos Castenada.  "Only if one loves this earth with
unbending passion can one release one's sadness," Don Juan said.  "A warrior is
always joyful because his love is unalterable and his beloved, the earth,
embraces him and bestows upon him inconceivable gifts...sadness belongs only to
those who hate the very thing that shelters their beings."
    _The Tarot_, by Paul Foster Case, founder of The Builders of the Adytum
(BOTA).  An excellent overview of the history and construction of the
*esoteric* Tarot and the Qabalah, including exquisite renditions of the Major
Arcana by Jessie Burns Parke.  A chapter is devoted to each Trump, and the
errors of the popular "Rider" pack are explained, and corrected.  BOTA
distributes Parke's deck, in black-and-white only; they recommend you color it
in (using their detailed instructions) while studying the book, thereby
personalizing the cards and imprinting them on your subconscious.  We did this,
and are well-pleased with the results.
    _The Technological Society_, by Jacques Ellul.  The grandfather of the
Situationists dissects technique, with "monumental calm and maddening
thoroughness."  Rifkin's _Entropy_ is cheerful by comparison; abandon all hope,
ye who enter here.  If you finish it without killing yourself, check out
_Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes_, in which Ellul reveals that
"The fundamental myths of our society...are Work, Progress, and Happiness," and
that "successful propaganda will occupy every moment of the individual's life."
    _Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and
the Destination of Man_ by Rudolph Steiner.  This extremely formal and
typically German book on the "occult science" of Goethe covers more or less the
same ground as _A Guide for the Perplexed_, though with much longer sentences
and a much higher boggle factor; the chapter on "Spiritland" is way out there.
Steiner later went on to found the Waldorf schools, among other things.
    _Worlds in Harmony: Dialogues on Compassionate Action_, by the Dalai Lama.
A long line of people ask interesting questions, and His Holiness answers them,
with wisdom and compassion.  Our favorite answer?  "I think that our basic
nature as human beings is to be vegetarian--making every effort not to harm
other living beings."
    _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_, by Robert Pirsig.  Pirsig
combines an incredibly moving personal story with a rhetorically flawless
refutation of Western philosophy all the way back to Socrates.  More pertinent
now than ever, this is one of those books that just keeps getting better.
Highly Recommended.

"Don't forget the real business of the War is buying and selling.  The
murdering and the violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to
non-professionals.  The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many ways.
It serves as Spectacle, as diversion from the real movements of the War.  It
provides raw material to be recorded in History, so that children may be taught
History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more prepared for
the adult world."

-Thomas Pynchon, _Gravity's Rainbow_

                                CHURCH MOVIES

1. Eraserhead
    2. Koyaanisqatsi
        3. Providence
            4. The Man Who Fell to Earth
                5. THX 1138
                    6. Hearts and Minds
                        7. Network
                            8. Soylent Green
                                9. Being There
                                    10. Liquid Sky
                                        11. The Gods Must Be Crazy
                                            12. Metropolis
                                                13. Dr. Strangelove

                                   CONTACTS

        BOTA (Builders of the Adytum)
            P.O.Box 42278, Los Angeles, CA 90042-0278
        CPR (Circles Phenomenon Research)
            P.O.Box 3378, Branford, CT 06405
        FCCA (First Church of Christ, Abortionist)
            Box 6098, 4902 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3799
        Flatland (Jim Martin)
            P.O. Box 2420, Fort Bragg, CA 95437
        GLF (Gaia Liberation Front)
            P.O.Box 127, Station P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S7, Canada
        Goad To Hell Enterprises (Jim & Debbie Goad)
            P.O.Box 31009, Portland, OR 97231
        GRB (Globally Responsible Birthing)
            Route 1, Box 28, Delancey, NY 13752
        The Hemlock Society (Derek Humphry)
            P.O.Box 11830, Eugene, Oregon 97440
        HToMC (Holy Temple of Mass Consumption)
            P.O.Box 30904, Raleigh, NC 27622-0904
        M.C.McDonald
            418 Kearney, Manhattan KS 66502
        Mike Merrill
            P.O.Box 4214, Buffalo, NY 14217
        OGYR Network ($t @ndrew)
            P.O.Box 53, Plainfield, IL 60544
        Randall Phillips
            P.O.Box 2217, Philadelphia, PA 19103
        Reality Hoax (Eric T. Sorebo)
            P.O.Box 428, Cornell, WI 54732-0428
        VHEMT (Voluntary Human Extinction Movement)
            P.O.Box 86646, Portland, OR 97286-0646
        X.S.Despot
            2225 Montego Drive, Lansing, MI 48912

The Church of Euthanasia is a non-profit educational foundation devoted to
restoring balance between Humans and the remaining species on Earth.  We
believe this can only be accomplished by a massive *voluntary* population
reduction, which will require a leap in Human consciousness to a new *species
awareness*.  The Church is exempt from federal income tax under 501(a) and
501(c)(3), EIN 04-324-9910.  Donations are tax-deductible.

editor:     Rev. Chris Korda
postal:     The Church of Euthanasia
            P.O.Box 261
            Somerville, MA 02143
e-mail:     coe@netcom.com
ftp:        ftp.etext.org     /pub/Zines/Snuffit
gopher:     gopher.etext.org    Zines/Snuffit
www:        http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/coe/

*THANKS* to Pastor Scott, Sister Jennifer, Lydia Eccles, Pastor Kim, Deacon
Kelly, Father Lamorte, Dan Martinez, Cassy Mitchell, Kevin Roche, Dane Donato,
Raven Drake, Keith Krisa, Vermin Supreme, Margo Cole, Kirby Griffith, Toto, and
especially *Sister Catherine*.