On Friday, July 21, two recent University of Washington grads struck a blow on behalf of Seattle residents: They staged a water-balloon attack on two crews of those ubiquitous, aggressive Lyndon LaRouche campaigners.

Ashley Miller, 22, lives in an apartment above Bulldog News on University Way. Every weekend, volunteers for the LaRouche campaign set up tables along University Way. The LaRouche campaign is known for tying traditional left-wing rhetoric to psychedelic conspiracy theories involving Nazis, Dick Cheney, supertrains, and Satan. On Friday, the LaRouche folks had a table on two corners of the intersection at Northeast 42nd Street and University Way Northeast. "You couldn't even cross the street to get away from them," Miller says.

That evening, she and her friend Kevin Mock, 29, filled six water balloons and lobbed "warning shots" out the apartment window. One balloon hit a volunteer in the chest. Another exploded on a stack of pamphlets. Soon, the police showed up and the self-styled hooligans hightailed it out the apartment's back entrance. After the police left, Miller and Mock returned and hurled six more balloons down at the LaRouchies. The campaigners left soon after that and have not returned since, Miller says.

The attacks were motivated by previous encounters with LaRouche campaigners and a desire to "give back to the community," according to Mock. "When I was a freshman, I made the mistake of giving them my phone number," says Miller. "They called me every other day for six months." Miller has already stockpiled a stash of biodegradable balloons to leave no trace of their next attack.