The Texas Observer

St. Paul’s Cathedral is one of the great buildings in Christendom. It is impossible to walk through it and not feel the presence and the glory of God. Its architect, Sir Christopher Wren, is buried there, and over his tomb is this inscription: Si monumentum requiris, circumspice: “If you seek his monument, look around you.”

The Texan departing the White House need not spend tens of millions on a monument to himself and his philosophy at SMU. If you want to see the monument to the conservative philosophy of governing – the philosophy followed so faithfully by George W. Bush — look around you. Men and women who followed the conservative philosophy of President Bush were the architects of so many of the crises we face. The Republican Party has controlled the White House for the last eight years, controlled the Congress for 12 of the last 14 years, and dominated our federal courts. So it is fair to ask folks to look around.

Look at the greed on Wall Street. It was fed by a Bush-conservative architecture of greed and de-regulation, of government siding with quick-buck artists that goes all the way back to the Savings & Loan crisis of the 80’s.

Look at our unemployment woes. Unemployment hit a low of 3.9 percent under President Clinton’s progressive economic policies. It is now 6.5 percent and climbing. Or look at our rising poverty rate, our record rate of home foreclosures, our skyrocketing numbers of bankruptcies.

Look at our pathetic dependence on dangerous and dirty foreign oil. It’s the result Bush-conservative energy policy that subsidized oil companies and de-funded the alternative energy sources that could have made us free.

Look at the debt and deficit. They have skyrocketed because of a Bush-conservative philosophy that rewarded those at the top of the economic pyramid while punishing those who were working hard to climb their way up.

Look at the millions of American families who have been turned down for health insurance, and the millions of small businesses who have been priced out of the market — all victims of a Bush-conservative philosophy that protects big insurance companies and hammers working families whose only sin is wanting to see a doctor when they’re sick.

And then look at what is infecting all of it: a culture of cronyism and corruption under conservatives that has given us government of the lobbyists, by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists.

Most tragically, look at the lives lost, the limbs severed, the families shattered because of this unjust, unwise, unwarranted war. Look at the military families struggling to stay together under the strain of deployments that are too frequent and last too long. Look at the unappreciated heroes battling traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. Look at the untold thousands of Iraqi families whose tears are never seen and whose cries are never heard.

This is the monument to Bush-style conservatives. They are its architects. Look around you. See what the Bush-conservative philosophy has done to the country we love. The sooner we take a wrecking ball to that monument the better.

It will take time, but I am convinced that President-elect Barack Obama is committed to building something new. Something beautiful and strong. Something that, like that great old cathedral in London, will welcome everyone in, raise their spirits, lift their sights and remind us all that - as President Kennedy said - “here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.”

–Paul Begala

by Paul Begala

 State Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson, a Waco Republican, is re-filing a bill to criminalize the hallucinogen Salvia divinorum — aka Sally D, aka Magic Mint, aka A Popular Way to Cope with Waco.

House Bill 126 would make possession of less than 28 grams of Salvia a Class A misdemeanor, adding the plant to a long list of banned substances including barbiturates, LSD, and peyote.

As Anderson tells it, the idea to ban Salvia came from the members of a Waco-area church, who got it into their heads that Salvia comes straight from the devil. At a painfully long and awkward hearing last year, the church’s pastor urged lawmakers to pass Anderson’s bill “now instead of after we have caskets that are piled up.” One young girl — prompted by the pastor — testified that she knew a boy who had tried the hallucinogen and “saw the gates of hell.” And Anderson saw the light. Since the hearing last year, the lawmaker has been relentlessly crusading against Salvia, holding hearings outside of his district and padding his campaign Web site with stories about the plant.

At present Salvia is sold legally in head shops and over the Internet. The herb’s popularity has grown but users and experts believe it’s virtually impossible to become addicted. As I reported on Anderson’s 2007 anti-Salvia bill:

“There is very low risk of abuse for this drug; there is no risk of addiction,” says Tracey Hayes of the ACLU. “From what we can tell, the toxicology of [Salvia] is not dangerous. This is more about criminalizing altered states.”

The biggest deterrent to Salvia abuse is apparently the plant itself. As a trip, users and experts say, Salvia can be about as much fun as smoking clothesline.

“Salvia divinorum is not a pleasant drug,” Hayes says. “Its effects are short-lived but often extremely uncomfortable. It would surprise me if teenagers were abusing salvia.”

Steve Brudniak, a middle-aged psychedelic enthusiast in Austin, compared the 5-to-10 minute experience to “the ride at AstroWorld that makes you dizzy.” It’s something most people try just once or twice for kicks. Indigenous people in Oaxaca, Mexico, have used Salvia for centuries for medicinal purposes, and some American scientists have flagged the herb’s psychoactive ingredient as promising for treating disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

by Forrest Wilder

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, a Republican from Tomball, continues her crusade against undocumented immigrants with a suite of bills that would turn the screws on non-citizens.

House Bill 50 would bar undocumented immigrants from paying in-state tuition. Similar bills failed last session. HB 48 would allow for state investigations into employers who have “knowingly” hired illegal immigrants. The Texas Workforce Commission could, through a tribunal process, strip the employer of state-issued licenses. (Call it the Brown Scare: “Mr. Smith, are you now or have you ever been the employer of an ILLEGAL ALIEN?”)

A third bill, HB 49, has received much less attention. It would create a new misdemeanor offense — Criminal Trespass By Illegal Aliens — that would appear to apply to a virtually limitless number of border-hoppers. Under the legislation, cops would be authorized to arrest individuals believed to be “trespassing” in Texas, among other federal immigration violations. Riddle’s new trespassing crime is in fact a state application of long-standing federal statutes that prohibit illegal entry into the U.S.

In recent years, federal prosecutors, working with the Border Patrol, have clogged Texas border courts with immigration cases. It’s part of the Bush administration’s “Operation Streamline,” a zero-tolerance program that aims to charge, convict, and deport every single apprehended illegal entrant.

That’s not good enough for Riddle. Her bill would dramatically widen this dragnet by allowing local law enforcement in on the game. The concern among immigrant rights groups is whether it’s appropriate for local cops to essentially enforce federal immigration laws.

Now, Riddle may seem like a hater, but like a lot of social conservatives she’s got God on her side. Back in March she told a House committee that the Big Guy was interested in seeing legislation like HB 49 taken up by the Lege. “I think God would have us work on this and then vote,” she said.

by Forrest Wilder

For reporters, the first day that Texas legislators can file bills for the upcoming session is like Christmas in November.

Yesterday, the pre-filing period began for the 81st Legislature, and the bills flooded in by the hundreds. (A list of House bills is here and Senate bills here.)

There’s the usual collection of poorly thought out bills, funny bills, scary bills, and bills that are downright unconstitutional.

One idea already receiving media scrutiny is Rep. Frank Corte and Sen. Dan Patrick’s proposal to require women seeking an abortion to first receive an ultrasound so they can see the fetus and hear its heartbeat. Corte and Patrick do stipulate in the bill that women “may avert their eyes” from the ultrasound display. (How nice of them. Presumably they ruled out the Clockwork Orange-style eye-lid clamp approach as impractical.)

Corte has another doozy of a bill that’s so far received scant attention. His House Bill 44 seems an attempt to dissuade women seeking emergency contraception (the morning after pill). The bill begins by defining emergency contraception as a drug that is “used postcoitally.”

It requires pharmacists to first inform anyone seeking the morning after pill that the drug could prevent “implantation of a fertilized egg,” (Just in case someone actually wants arthritis medicine and asked for the wrong thing.)

A pharmacy must also display a sign that’s 18 by 24 inches and reads:

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT LIFE BEGINS AT FERTILIZATION — THE POINT WHERE THE SPERM AND EGG UNITE — THEN YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION MAY EITHER FUNCTION AS A CONTRACEPTIVE TO PREVENT THE EGG AND SPERM FROM UNITING OR PREVENT THE IMPLANTATION OF YOUR ALREADY FERTILIZED EGG IN YOUR WOMB. THE PHARMACIST DISPENSING THIS DRUG IS REQUIRED TO EXPLAIN TO YOU HOW THE PRODUCT MAY HELP TO PREVENT YOUR PREGNANCY.

Finally, Corte would require anyone seeking emergency contraception — after they read the sign — to show a driver’s license and sign for the purchase. The pharmacy would then be required to “make a record of the transaction,” including the person’s name and the date. The pharmacy would have to keep the record of that sale for two years. The bill doesn’t restrict access to those records.

This process could intimidate and humiliate young women trying to obtain legal medication, especially in small towns.

by Dave Mann

Cynthia Dunbar is the gift that keeps on giving. When she’s not rooting science out of the state’s science curriculum in her capacity as a Texas State Board of Education member or penning books subtitled “How the Left is Trying to Erase What Made Us Great,” she’s accusing Barack Obama of plotting with terrorists to destroy America.

It’s just the latest funny-if-it-wasn’t-so-scary outrage from the obscure, but powerful board of education. Dunbar and her cohorts set curriculum and textbook standards for students in Texas’ public schools.

If you recall, Dunbar got pummeled for an inflammatory anti-Obama article she wrote in November for the outer wingnut site Christian Worldview Network. Despite widespread condemnation, Dunbar has stood by her statement, telling the AP “Those are my personal opinions.”

More of Dunbar’s personal opinions have surfaced. In a column published in the Church Report Online — which may or may not be edited by the Church Lady; we’re checking on that — in September, Dunbar lobbed another screed from the fringes of the Christian Right.

The article is humbly titled: “Barack Hussein Obama would make a great Leader… of an Unconstitutional, Infanticidal, Communistic, Dictatorial Regime.”

In the article, she labels Obama “barbaric” for his stance on abortion rights and compares him to Hitler. But Obama’s not just the most extreme pro-choice candidate ever, she writes in typically understated style, but is “more like a totalitarian dictator that wants the authority to inflict death wherever he deems it appropriate.” (Maybe his first act as President will be demanding that Congress pass the President’s License to Kill Act.)

To show that Obama is a danger to the Constitution she cites a specious lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania by attorney and Internet fringe hero Philip Berg. Berg titled his suit Philip J. Berg, Esq. v Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry Soetoro aka Barry Obama aka Barack Dunham aka Barry Dunham, et al.

“Without even reading the details of the case wouldn’t you wonder, who in the world is this man we are considering for our Commander and Chief?,” Dunbar asked. (Note that Dunbar, a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School and self-described constitutional scholar, thinks the Constitution designates a Commander and Chief, not a Commander in Chief.)

As a final pearl of wisdom, Dunbar warns that her right to publish loony-bin crap on the Internet may be in danger under Chief Obama. “I’d wager this will be one of the first freedoms we will loose [sic] should the Obama Gestapo come knocking at our doors.”

by Forrest Wilder

Photo by Dave McNeely

“You know,” she said after we met him. “That young man could be President some day.”

“What?” I said. “Are you crazy? Not in our lifetimes.” We both knew what I meant. After all, that young man was black. And she and I had both grown up white and liberal in a segregated Houston with “Colored” restrooms, “Whites Only” water fountains, and lily-white lunch counters. In the mid-1960s we had both worked on The Houston Chronicle, where there were a grand total of two black faces in the newsroom, and where we had to plead with and cajole our editors to let us do a long story on poverty in the city. There wasn’t much coverage of the black community back then that didn’t involve crime.

She was Molly Ivins, my dear friend of 45 years before she died in 2007, having had an illustrious career as a reporter, editor of The Texas Observer, and widely syndicated columnist.

“That young man” was Barack Obama. The occasion was the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, where Obama had given the keynote address.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Molly should have said to me.

We both saw stardom in that young man. But Molly saw more. Molly saw a time when the United States of America could put aside racial division and elect a black person President.

I fear I still saw those “Colored” and “Whites Only” signs, the fire hoses and police dogs, and Nixon’s “Southern strategy.”

Well, it did happen in my lifetime. Sadly, not in Molly’s.

Looking at this picture taken by our old friend Dave McNeely (the veteran reporter who was there with us in those Houston Chronicle days), I thought about that night in Boston a little over four years ago. I thought about Molly’s hopeful words.

How she would have loved last night. How she would have loved to hear: “President-Elect Barack Obama.”

Ken Bunting, another old friend who’s now associate publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said of Molly by email this morning, “I’m not much of a believer, but I think our friend is looking down and smiling right along with Barack’s grandma.”

You know, I think he is right.

by Carlton Carl

We’re signing off for the night. With all but a few precincts counted, it appears Democrats have made gains in both chambers of the Texas Legislature. The size of those gains depends on the outcome of several exceedingly close races.

Democrats picked up a state Senate seat for the first time in years with Democrat Wendy Davis’ win over incumbent Republican Kim Brimer in Fort Worth (50 percent to 47.5 percent).

At this hour, it appears Democrats have gained a net of three seats in the Texas House. That’s short of the five seats needed to claim a majority (or the four-seat jump that would leave the parties tied at 75 seats each). But we won’t know the final outcome until at least tomorrow, if not for several days. The number of Democratic pickups could increase or shrink depending on at least three races that could still swing either way:

In El Paso, Democrat Joe Moody leads Republican Dee Margo by 51 percent to 45 percent. This would be a Democratic pickup. But only 40 percent of the precincts are reporting at this hour, and many votes remain uncounted.

The state’s closest race is in Irving, where Republican Linda Harper-Brown beat Democratic challenger Bob Romano by a scant 25 votes out of 40,000 cast. This race seems destined for a recount and could become another Democratic pickup.

And in East Texas, Democratic incumbent Chuck Hopson is barely holding on to his seat. He leads Republican Brian Walker by just 102 votes — out of nearly 53,000. A recount seems likely in this race as well.

Earlier tonight, Jim Dunnam, the Democratic House caucus chair, released this statement: “The people of Texas are sending more Democrats to the Texas House. We don’t know yet how many. But the people of Texas made it clear that they want to see bipartisanship return to the House. Tom Craddick lost a vote of confidence. Change is coming.”

We’ll have more results and analysis tomorrow. For now, it seems that Republicans will hold the slimmest of majorities in the House (though a tie is a distinct possibility). Either way, tomorrow will begin another thrilling speaker’s race.

by Dave Mann