CHAZ started as something to laugh at. Hence the name change to CHOP. I guess because too many people were making fun of the name CHAZ, so they changed it for the totally unable-to-laugh-at ... CHOP. A lot of changes in a week, is what I'm saying (see CHAZ (RHYMES WITH SPAZ) TRIES FARMING AND IT GOES EXACTLY HOW YOU'D EXPECT and SEATTLE RESIDENT SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CHAZ AND IT'S CHILLING). The media may want you to believe it's just a big street festival with balloon animals and mimes and people selling homemade pants. But outside the area, it's growing increasingly dangerous, as Caleb Heimlich, the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, points out.