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5/02/08 - New in The Texas Observer
COVER STORY - SYSTEMIC NEGLECT The state system charged with caring for Texas' mentally retarded is seriously broken. According to government records obtained by the Observer, the very people charged with caring for these patients are victimizing them. In the past three years, investigators have confirmed 1,266 instances of abuse at the system's 13 facilities, and after an exhaustive Observer investigation, it is clear that abuse in the state schools is worse than previously reported. Some advocates for the mentally disabled have cited such abuse in a campaign to prod the Legislature to shutter these facilities once and for all. Yet the reality within Texas' state schools-where stories are rarely as simple as they first appear-is more complex.
FEATURE - THE OIL CONUNDRUM In this excerpt from Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence," Robert Bryce discusses the demise of the United States oil industry as the dominant global player and analyzes efforts to use energy more efficiently. "While efficiency is laudable," says Bryce, "efficiency alone cannot-will not-mean that America uses less energy. Nor will it make the U.S. energy independent."
EDITORIAL - FOUR MO(FO) YEARS The soon-to-be longest-serving governor in Texas history had declared he will campaign for another term. In his last election, Rick Perry won only 39 percent of the vote against a lackluster field of opponents. The competition in 2010 will presumably be more robust. On the Republican side, Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Lite Gov David Dewhurst both appear to want the job. Among Democrats, the strongest contender so far is Houston Mayor Bill White. We believe that Perry's tenure as Texas' top dog has been disastrous, and a change in administration is long overdue.
POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE - CASHING, THINNING, BASHING & BUILDING
Hog at the Trough Gov. Rick Perry has a knack for raising campaign cash from special interests. He's raised truckloads of cash for himself, and for the Republican Governors Association, which he heads.
Thinking Thicket The Big Thicket National Preserve in East Texas is one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. According to a new report, this species-rich slice of primordial Texas is also one of ten national parks endangered by encroaching development.
Does Jesus Hate Jesús? A recent meeting of the House State Affairs Committee in Austin served as a forum for immigrant-bashing by some of the statehouse's most prominent wingnuts, who are still peeved that Speaker Tom Craddick and cohorts quashed anti-immigrant legislation last session.
Border Boondoggle Two congressional subcommittees were scheduled to hold a joint hearing on the border wall in Brownsville on April 28. Some South Texas landowners believe they've already lost the battle with Homeland Security. But others retain hope they can convince the rest of America that 18-foot steel fence segments will do more harm to communities than good in preventing illegal immigration.
BOOKS & THE CULTURE - LAST PIG STANDING It feels like time stopped in 1963 at the faded old Pig Stand restaurant on lower Broadway in San Antonio. The restaurant is a uniquely Texan gastronomical shrine, the last of the fabled Pig Stand restaurants, where the celebration of old cars, vintage rock and roll, and throwback fare like pork sandwiches never dies. Feature by John MacCormack.
BOOKS & THE CULTURE - LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS In World Made By Hand, James Howard Kunstler moves beyond the realm of hypothesis and abstraction, conveying his vision of a post-oil society through a richly descriptive narrative. Review by C.B. Evans.
AFTERWORD - KING FOR A DAY Investigative journalist Steve McVicker remembers his longtime friend, acclaimed and troubled independent filmmaker Eagle Pennell, who lived on and off the streets for the last years of his life. McVicker blends his memories with musings on The King of Texas, a recent documentary that records the poignant story of Pennell's brilliant but largely wasted life. This sad, funny, and solemnly shot documentary premiered in March at Austin's South by Southwest Film Festival.
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4/18/08 - New in The Texas Observer
COVER STORY - THE SERENDIPITY WRANGLER Almost 22 years ago, Bill Wittliff parlayed a windfall purchase of J. Frank Dobie's archives into the beginning of The Southwestern Writers Collection, which holds papers and artifacts of regional writers, filmmakers, musicians, and photographers. Housed at the Alkek Library at Texas State University in San Marcos, the collection is testimony to Wittliff's ability to see, and to make, connections. Among its many treasures are Robert Duvall's Lonesome Dove costumes, a rare copy of La Relación by Cabeza de Vaca, and, most recently acquired, the literary archives of Pulitzer Prize-winner Cormac McCarthy. Stayton Bonner tells the story of the collection's evolution.
FEATURE - VOTE BY MAIL, GO TO JAIL Since 2005, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, has been prosecuting Democratic Party activists, almost all minorities, as part of an effort to eradicate what he's described as an "epidemic" of voter fraud in Texas. Their crime: not including their names, addresses, and signatures on the back of ballots they mailed for their senior neighbors, and carrying envelopes containing those ballots to the mailbox. Abbott has continued to prosecute elderly and minority political volunteers under a law his office says prevents people from impersonating voters and taking advantage of seniors by falsifying ballots. But despite Abbott's declarations that nobody is above Texas law, he has prosecuted no Republicans. Abbott and the election laws he has used to bring the prosecutions have been challenged in federal court under a suit whose trial will begin May 29th in Marshall.
FEATURE - UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM With record-breaking Democratic turnout for Texas' caucuses have come unprecedented headaches, and opportunity. Managing the March 29 senatorial conventions held at 279 locations around the state was akin to surfing an open fire hydrant. About 100,000 Lone Star Democrats participated in the second step in Texas' three-part caucus to determine how 67 delegates will be apportioned between Democratic presidential aspirants Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Long lines and mass confusion were commonplace, but the gatherings also offered an unprecedented chance for Democrats to meet. Claims of violations and abuse of the system will surely add fuel to a growing desire to either reform or scrap the system by which Texans choose their presidential candidates. Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie is urging Democrats to weigh the pros and cons before acting.
FEATURE - CREOSOTE BLUES REVISITED Before he died, cancer had eaten away Don Hightower's face. A few years earlier, Hightower had won a mediation settlement against his employer, BNSF Railway Co., North America's second-largest railroad, "for disfigurement." Chemicals used by the company are associated with serious health problems; many have been linked to cancer and birth defects, and many BSNF employees and community members have reported multiple health problems. Now the question of whether the company should be held responsible for endemic sickness in Somerville, Texas, is tied up in multiple lawsuits, including a class action suit filed in Burleson County on behalf of more than 2,500 people. Paul Sweeney, who first reported problems at the Somerville plant site for the Observer in 1980, finds that almost 30 years later many of his predictions have come to pass.
EDITORIAL - HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF Recent court decisions have carved a path for corporate money in Texas elections that reform-minded Texans have tried to keep closed for more than a century. It's time for a strong, clear, enforceable campaign finance law to stem the flow once and for all.
POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE - TOM CRADDICK'S GOOD FORTUNE
Craddick's Crude Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick's investment portfolio appreciated an enviable 92 percent over the past four years. County assessors estimated that the value of Craddick's oil properties almost doubled in this period, from $537,130 to more than $1 million.
Lampson's Nightmare Shelley Sekula Gibbs lost her Republican primary runoff to Pete Olson almost 2-to-1. Now Olson will challenge Democratic incumbent Nick Lampson for Congressional District 22. Republicans are hopeful they can win this seat, but Lampson could prove difficult to beat.
A Union Wins One The California Nurses Association broke through an important barrier last month. On March 28, a majority of participating nurses at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center voted to let the union negotiate a contract on their behalf, making the Houston facility the first privately owned hospital in Texas to unionize.
Integrity Maintained Despite a well-financed advertising blitz and an impassioned plea from her ex-husband, Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken, Mindy Montford lost overwhelmingly to Rosemary Lehmberg in the Democratic primary runoff to succeed Ronnie Earle as Travis County district attorney.
Plot Twist Movie star and environmentalist Robert Redford visited Houston March 27 to present Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars, a short documentary he commissioned and narrated about the battle to block the former TXU Corp. from building 11 new coal plants.
Craddick's Army House Speaker Tom Craddick likely gained one more ally in the Legislature's lower chamber on April 7. Challenger Tryon Lewis thumped Odessa state Rep. Budd West, who openly opposed Craddick, in a Republican primary runoff.
BOOKS & THE CULTURE - A NOVELIST IN FULL Within the first three pages of Susan Choi's hypnotically absorbing new novel, A Person of Interest, a mail bomb blows up in the office of a brilliant young computer science professor. In the following days, FBI agents question Dr. Lee, the math professor who was sitting in his office next door at the time of the explosion. Through Lee's eyes we watch the significant moments of his adult life tossed and reshuffled, while all around him the chaos of a national tragedy unfolds. Review by Azita Osanloo.
AFTERWORD - POLITICS & PROSE WITH ELIZABETH HAILEY Robert Leleux discusses his recent conversation with Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of the trailblazing A Woman of Independent Means. Hailey reveals that she's recently devoted herself to anti-war work, declaring, "Like a lot of women my age, I missed the '60s because I was at home raising my daughters. But now that I'm in my 60s, I'm ready for the front lines."
LATEST OBSERVER AWARDS Jake Bernstein, Texas Observer executive editor, was honored recently by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club with their 2007 Environmental Reporting Award. Nate Blakeslee, former Texas Observer editor and author of the acclaimed Tulia: Race, Cocaine and Corruption in a Small Texas Town, was selected as a finalist for top honors in the Magazine/Specialty Publication category from Invesitgative Reporters and Editors (IRE). Congratulations to Nate and Jake!
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4/04/08 - New in The Texas Observer
COVER STORY - War of the Wells With the price of oil and gas skyrocketing it is now profitable to drill for the last remaining deposits in Texas. The Texas Railroad Commission is a willing helpmate to the industry, allowing the proliferation of oil and gas drills across Texas without regard to the impact on Texans. Neighbors say the drilling rigs move in quickly-tall, garish, mechanical contraptions belching fumes and noise. In response to the regulatory vacuum, citizens' groups across Texas are forming to fight back.
FEATURE - GOOD TO GLOW The nuclear industry is rebounding in the United States, but the number of landfills for burying low-level radioactive waste is dwindling. Despite objections from it's own scientists, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is set to greenlight a massive nuclear waste dump in West Texas. As the president of Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists says in this latest Observer exposé, if a radioactive dump can't be approved in Texas, it probably can't be approved anywhere in the nation. Eventually, Waste Control's remote site in Andrews County could become a repository for a variety of waste streams from all over the country. Yet as this report shows, accidental exposures to radioactivity have already occurred.
FEATURE - BITE BACK! In this excerpt from Swim Against the Current, former Observer editor Jim Hightower and Susan DeMarco discuss how Americans can fight blind consumerism and reclaim the food they eat.
EDITORIAL - FOOL'S GOLD Things have always worked out for the ever-optimistic George W. Bush, and he can afford the luxury of assuming that something good will turn up after he retires from the presidency. If things go south for the rest of us, that won't be his problem. It will fall to the unfortunate person who takes the oath of office in January 2009 to repair the fallout of Bush's legacy: the war in Iraq and the impending recession.
POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE - HATE ON THE RISE
A Moment of Science There are seven religious fundamentalists on the 15-member State Board of Education. That means Texas schools are one seat away from being forced to promote creationism and abstinence-only sex education.
Lone Star Haters Texas hosts the second-highest number of hate groups of any state in the country, according to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Payback Time For West Odessa state Rep. George "Buddy" West is running for a ninth term in the Legislature. His biggest hindrance isn't his opponent, but Midland Republican Speaker Tom Craddick.
Big Brother Calling In 2002, Army Chaplain James Yee, who converted to Islam after graduating from West Point, ended up blindfolded and manacled in Guantanamo for 76 days. His crime? He still doesn't know. Yet despite his release and a lack of charges, he believes the U.S. government still spies on his activities.
BOOKS & THE CULTURE - SINO EYES Under the guidance of co-founders and curators Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, FotoFest, the biennial Houston photography extravaganza, has always been something of a cultural agenda-setter. This year, the focus is on Chinese photography, and the festival does not disappoint, bringing to light a encyclopedic kaleidoscope of culture and history, and showing us just how restricted our knowledge of China really is. Review by David Theis
BOOKS & THE CULTURE - THE RIGHT WAY, RECLAIMED Jim Wallis' The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics In A Post-Religious Right America tries to navigate a new nonpartisan path between the Scylla and Charybdis of politics and religion. The Great Awakening is important not only because it seeks to incite changes the nation sorely needs, but because it shows that the Bible is a sort of Rorschach test, as effective a tool for liberation as for oppression. Review by Emily DePrang.
AFTERWORD - REMEMBERING JOE Michael Erard remembers a remarkable rambler and autodidact who made his way in his old age to the Cozy Courts cottages in Alpine, TX. Joe kept a .22-caliber pistol in a hollowed-out Bible and kept most of his cash at hand, all in small bills, stuffed in boxes of soap and cereal. And he made a great impression on a young man escaping the big city and a bad love affair.
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3/07/08 - New in The Texas Observer
Editorial- A FIGHTING CHANCE Here at the Observer, we view our responsibilities as journalists and members of the community as a sacred trust. This issue of the Observer exposes gross deficiencies in how the Houston Police Department treats domestic violence cases. It also highlights successful efforts by Austin's criminal justice system to address similar problems. A third article examines the Bush administration's willful disregard of the Violence Against Women Act. It's our hope that this issue might make a difference in the lives of those who need a helping hand, not more hurt.
Feature - SEE NO EVIL In this disturbing exposé, writer Emily DePrang reports that the Houston Police Department is failing to respond adequately to many of the approximately 36,000 domestic violence calls it receives each year. Police Department policy doesn't require officers to pursue suspects if they've left the premises by the time police arrive at the scene. Even if a woman has obviously been assaulted and witnesses can verify the identity of the assailant, officers don't have to file charges, seek an arrest warrant, or question suspects. All the police are obligated to do, according to policy, is report incidents and give victims a small sheet of paper with assistance phone numbers on it. Cases languish for months for lack of investigators. Sometimes women escape to safety on their own. Sometimes they die.
Feature - THE SAFE PLACE For victims of domestic violence, there may be no safer city in the nation than Austin, Texas. The Capital City has earned a national reputation for dealing with and preventing domestic violence. Key to the area's success is collaboration among the city's disparate players: victims' advocates, emergency shelters, law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and nonprofit legal-aid groups, who meet monthly as a domestic violence task force. Austin set up one of the first district courts in Texas designated to handle only domestic violence cases and protective orders. And victims' advocates teamed to create one of the largest and best-funded abuse shelters in the nation-SafePlace. These programs give victims the means and the hope to move past the violence that once overpowered their lives. By Dave Mann.
Feature - SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT On January 5, 2006, President George W. Bush signed legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. The bill contained a provision protecting undocumented immigrant women, children, and men who are victims of domestic violence. The law removes the fear of deportation if victims leave their abusers-a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident-by allowing them to apply for legal permanent residency. Yet late last year, Bush's own administration began to systematically ignore the law, according to immigration lawyers familiar with the process. By Melissa del Bosque.
Political Intelligence - COMO SE DICE CORRUPTION?
JAILHOUSE ROT If a recent report by federal inspectors is any indication, the Bush administration's eagerness to privatize prisons is endangering everyone from inmates to the public. Several for-profit detention centers in Texas are plagued with severe security, safety, sanitation, health care, and management problems, according to documents obtained by the Observer.
LINGUA AMERICANA If you think people in America should only speak English, maybe Texas isn't the state for you. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of people who reported speaking a language at home that's not English rose by 860,000 to 6.86 million.
NOT SO FAST In early February, infamous Tulia undercover agent Tom Coleman lost another attempt to overturn his perjury conviction. Coleman came to national attention after the Observer broke the story ("The Color of Justice," June 23, 2000) on the drug arrests he spearheaded in the Panhandle town of Tulia.
HELTER SMELTER Despite objections from the city of El Paso, the governor of New Mexico and neighboring Mexico, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved a controversial air permit in mid-February to reopen the ASARCO copper smelter in downtown El Paso.
Books & The Culture - TEAR DOWN THE WALL They knocked down a wall in Berlin, and now they want to build another in their country, begins Las Palmas de Durango's signature song, "El Muro" ("The Wall"). Las Palmas is a seven-piece group that plays modern takes on banda, an obscure, century-old, marching-band style of music native to the northwestern Mexican states. Consisting mostly of native Mexicans living in Texas, Las Palmas updates the banda genre by using it as a platform to rail against increasing border security. By Michael Hoinski.
Books & The Culture - RANCH DRESSING David Modigliani's new documentary, Crawford, is a cinematic portrait of a town whose population of 705 has been overshadowed by presidential entourages, outside agitators, members of the media, and curious tourists. Modigliani focuses his film not on Bush and other grandees, but rather on half a dozen unfamiliar figures, men and women who live their lives in Crawford out of range of the TV cameras deployed to cover the big cheeses melting in the Texas sun. By Steven G. Kellman.
Afterword - THE ACLU IN TEXAS-THE EARLY YEARS On March 8, the Texas ACLU will celebrate its 70th anniversary. It's a storied history full of setbacks and improbable victories. Today, the organization is as strong as it has ever been. The Observer and the ACLU have always had a special relationship. It was perhaps never closer than when civil rights lawyer Dave Richards rented both organizations office space in the 1970s. Richards reminiscences about that period of the ACLU's history.
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2/22/08 - New in The Texas Observer
Editorial - LET THE PEOPLE'S VOICE BE HEARD We Texans who revel in the sport of politics have much to be thankful for this year. For the first time in two decades, Texas matters in presidential primary politics. Big time. In this issue, we report on the process and provide a forum for Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to make their personal, first-person pitches to Texas Democratic primary voters. And the Observer concludes that superdelegates should not overrule the will of the people.
Forum - HILLARY CLINTON - WHAT TEXAS MEANS TO ME In an open letter to the Observer, Senator Hillary Clinton discusses her political experience, her ties to Texas, her legislative priorities, and her plan to take back the country and make government responsive to the people.
Forum - BARACK OBAMA - STANDING FOR CHANGE Senator Barack Obama talks about his plan for change and the impact it will have on Texas and the nation. He discusses the importance of Texas voters and their role in the electoral process.
Feature - BACK IN THE SADDLE The Obama and Clinton campaigns, volunteers, and voters are dusting off the rulebooks and learning, or relearning, the peculiar ins and outs of how Texas selects Democratic presidential candidates. Unique in the nation, Texas hosts a primary and a caucus, both of which allocate delegates. Thirty-five of these are so-called superdelegates, party apparatchiks assured of seats at August's national convention in Denver. The Observer takes an in-depth look at how the Texas caucus system works and the impact it will have on the Democratic primary.
Feature - VOTO POR VOTO Every exit poll conducted to date in the presidential primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama indicates a generation gap separating the two candidates. Obama attracts an overwhelming number of voters age 18 to 30; Clinton dominates the over-60 set. The reasons for the split have almost nothing to do with voting records or policy proposals. It's how each candidate packages those positions that makes the difference.
Feature - NEW DAYS VS. OLD WAYS Every exit poll conducted to date in the presidential primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama indicates a generation gap separating the two candidates. Obama attracts an overwhelming number of voters age 18 to 30; Clinton dominates the over-60 set. The reasons for the split have almost nothing to do with voting records or policy proposals. It's how each candidate packages those positions that makes the difference.
Forum - THE REPUBLICAN CONUNDRUM The first thing to understand about Texas is that unlike any other state, even California, we operate like several separate states. Almost every part of Texas has a unique culture. There is no such thing as a campaign plan for all of Texas. Republican consultant Royal Masset analyzes the likely scenario for the Republican primary and the impact a McCain era could have on the Texas GOP.
Feature - HOLES IN THE WALL Homeland Security's border wall. Her report explores why the planned wall splits long-held family tracts, intrudes on modest income neighborhoods and disrupts public facilities such as the University of Texas at Brownsville, but stops abruptly at the property lines of the wealthy and politically powerful, protecting golf courses and resort developments.
SPECIAL WEB FEATURE Dispatches from the Border Wall, an interactive web experience featuring video clips of Melissa's trip up and down the border filming video interviews of mayors, landowners and other border residents to get the real story about Homeland Security's border wall boondoggle.
Political Intelligence - UNION BRAWLS & DOWN-BALLOT DISPATCHES
The Union Brand As the Texas primary approaches, unions matter. Two current union heavyweights have squared off in opposite camps and are sending organizers across the state.
Clutching Coattails It was not lost on politicos in the Rio Grande Valley that state Rep. Aaron Peña was the first to announce Hillary Clinton's arrival to the area. Peña needs all the boost he can get from Clinton's support and star power in his grudge rematch with challenger Eddie Saenz to represent District 40.
Hardscrabble Houston One of the most competitive Democratic races this primary is for House District 140. Incumbent Kevin Bailey, a longtime liberal, has supported Republican Speaker Tom Craddick, and his opponent, Armando Walle, is charging him with propping up an Austin leadership that has failed his Houston district.
School is Out After several weeks of daring U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega to a debate, his Democratic rival for the seat, Ray McMurrey, finally got his wish on February 13.
Picture This What does record voter turnout portend for Texas? Mark our words: There will be problems on March 4. And bet on the problems adding further fuel to the fight over a proposed voter ID law that would require citizens to show photo identification before voting.
Books & The Culture - THE DEVIL'S DOMICLE: WHAT WEST TEXAS HAS TO SHOW THE WORLD No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are arguably two of the best films of 2007, and each was shot in Texas. They have received extravagant critical praise, and each has been nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture. Both films depict a dark view of humanity, focusing on themes of violence and greed. This is how Hollywood takes its revenge on Texans. They make our state a stand-in for hell. Essay by David Theis.
Afterword - THE BIG EMPTY In Clarksville, the seat of Red River County, 2008 arrived trailing a sense of doom. On December 31, 2007, after some 30 years of business, the local Wal-Mart had closed its doors, resulting in the loss of 68 jobs and causing an uproar among many Clarksville residents, who didn't want Wal-Mart to go. Essay by C.B. Evans.
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2/08/08 - New in The Texas Observer
Feature - FULL STREAM AHEAD Last fall, after eight years at the Lower Colorado River Authority's helm, Joe Beal announced his retirement. The selection of his replacement has surprised and pleased environmentalists and agency critics. Tom Mason is an environmental attorney with an extensive career in public service. Some saw Mason's appointment as a left turn for the LCRA, an agency with a reputation for catering to developers. But despite the efforts of well-organized citizens groups, it looks like the LCRA will continue to place water sales ahead of environmental concerns. By Joe Nick Patoski
Feature - A DEATH RECONSIDERED Was Col. Ted Westhusing murdered or did he commit suicide as the army concluded? Robert Bryce follows up his blockbuster from last year on the officer found dead from a gunshot wound to the head in Iraq on June 5, 2005. Westhusing's death has sparked tremendous interest. Charged with oversight of military contractors in Iraq, corruption scandals surrounding these companies may well have precipitated his death. Whatever happened, Bryce concludes, Westhusing was a casualty of war.
Feature - THE LOYALTY FACTOR Democratic State Rep. Terri Hodge is under federal indictment and yet no challenger in either party has surfaced to oppose her this election cycle. To understand why, Jason B. Johnson traveled to Hodge's largely poor and minority district in Dallas. Instead of sparking outrage, Hodge's indictment has been met with skepticism by many in the African-American community who feel they've been shortchanged for decades by the city's white power structure.
Editorial - NEW FACES, RENEWED COMMITMENT With this issue, we welcome Carlton Carl as CEO and executive publisher of The Texas Observer. Working with executive editor Jake Bernstein and publisher Charlotte McCann, Carlton will oversee the editorial content and the business side of our venerable magazine. We also welcome Brad Tyer as our new managing editor, who replaces outgoing yet still-taciturn David Pasztor. Look for the Observer to be even louder and more eloquent, to savor and report even more on the political combat that is a special sport in Texas, to explore important cultural landmarks and trends. And we will do it all with renewed and amplified clarity, vigor, and humor.
Political Intelligence - THE MEANS BEHIND THE SCENES
Dawnna Dukes it Out State Rep. Dawnna Dukes may have one of the toughest and costliest primaries this election. Dukes reckons she'll need about $350,000 to beat her Democratic opponent Brian Thompson in her East Austin district. Why so much money to beat this political newbie? The cost of supporting Speaker Tom Craddick draws some serious blowback.
Talking Primary Blues The Man From Talk Radio, freshman state Sen. Dan Patrick, is trying to convince Republican primary voters in House District 130 to toss their six-year incumbent and install his guy. Some suspect he's building a political machine to drive a run for governor.
Watch Your Back Tom Craddick's name won't appear on the ballot, but the Republican primary in Fort Worth's Texas House District 99 is all about him.
Methodists to the Madness At the 20th annual United Methodist Women Legislative Event, women from all over the state gathered to discuss how to restore the notion of the common good and social justice to Texas politics.
Commentary - AGGIE AND HER KILLER Observer founding editor Ronnie Dugger's dear friend and relative Aggie met a horrible death at the age of 79, stabbed six times in the course of a robbery by 23-year-old Steve Rodriguez. The murder permanently damaged her family. Yet they ultimately opted not to call for execution, and Rodriguez was sentenced to life without parole. In an essay that celebrates Aggie's life and ponders her death, Dugger examines the family's decision and the ethics of the death penalty.
Books and the Culture - THE WORST NEWS IN THE WORLD Anyone concerned with human rights-with humanity in general-will come away from James Dawes' That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity troubled and well informed. Dawes considers humanitarian aid and human rights work, and examines the ways in which news of such work has been disseminated and received during and after the world's worst atrocities. Review by Tom Palaima.
Afterword - DEATHLESS PROSE In 2043, Texas literature is much the same as ever. Don Graham looks to the future and finds a familiar cast of characters - Larry McMurtry, John Graves, Dagoberto Gilb and others - living on and putting words to paper with robotic stamina.
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1/25/08 - New in The Texas Observer
Feature - REPLACING RONNIE EARLE The Texas Legislature is infamous for its pay-to-play culture. There is but one check on this process. State law gives a single prosecutor, the Travis County district attorney, the power to criminally investigate state officials. Ronnie Earle has held the office for 31 years. In December he announced his retirement, and four Democrats have filed to replace him. Now, for the first time in decades, a contested election will determine Texas' most important prosecutor.
Feature - PARTY OF TEN After Tom DeLay resigned from Congress under indictment in 2005, Democrat Nick Lampson took his seat. As election time approaches, 10 very different and colorful GOP candidates are vying to win the primary for the chance to take the seat back from Lampson. Apparent frontrunner Shelley Sekula-Gibbs held it briefly with disastrous results while filling out DeLay's term. Joining her are two former mayors, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's former chief of staff, a notorious state representative, a judge, a lawyer, a random guy, and two very different military men.
Feature - FLORES FRACTURES HIS DEMOCRATIC BASE Ismael "Kino" Flores, a veteran state Democratic representative, who has a reputation as a political bruiser, hasn't had a primary challenger for his District 36 seat since 2000. This time, Flores has a strong opponent in Sandra Rodriguez, a former juvenile probation officer and school board trustee from a politically active family. Flores is one of the most vulnerable of the House Democrats who supported Republican Speaker Tom Craddick, and he is being hammered for drumming up consulting fees with local governments and the neglect that Republican rule in Austin has had for the Rio Grande Valley.
Feature - EROSION ON THE BACK 40 Being a "God, guns, and gays" Republican (for, for, against) has served Charlie Howard well in state House District 26, a conservative bastion southwest of Houston that includes Sugar Land, where the GOP faithful sent Tom DeLay to Congress 11 times. Howard, a 65-year-old, far-right social conservative loyal to Speaker Tom Craddick, is seeking a seventh term in Austin. His primary race might be the weathervane that indicates whether Texas' political winds are shifting.
Feature - A CRADDICK LOYALIST ON THE LINE In 2006, Rep. Nathan Macias edged out incumbent Rep. Carter Casteel by just 46 votes in a campaign largely funded by "God's Sugar Daddy," James Leininger. Macias faces Doug Miller, a former New Braunfels mayor who is involved in a long list of civic organizations.
Editorial - THE CRADDICK PRIMARY As the 2007 session drew to a close, Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick had so offended enough members of his own party with his autocratic and bullying style that enraged Republicans were willing to join Democrats in ousting the tyrant from Midland. Even if Craddick does emerge from the 2008 cycle with enough votes to remain in power, it might well be a pyrrhic victory, guaranteeing more conflict in the 2009 session.
Political Intelligence - UNDERCARD PITTY PAT
Margo, Just in Time State Rep. Pat Haggerty sees his true opponent in the election for District 78 as Tom Craddick. His actual opponent, Dee Margo, has enjoyed the support of heavy-hitting Republicans for some time, although he may not get to run if he can't establish residency in District 78.
Something to Cheer About? Texas Cheerleaders beware. Former State Rep. Al Edwards from Houston-who gained national notoriety in 2005 for proposing a bill banning sexy cheerleading routines-is running for his old seat in the Texas House.
Okely Dokely Darth The first thing you might notice about Rep. Phil King is that he's the spittin' image of Simpsons character Ned Flanders. Like Flanders, he is pious as hell. For the first time, he has a formidable opponent in the GOP primary in Joe Tison, former Mayor of Weatherford.
Blogger Bonanza The Netroots Nation convention, which will be held in Austin this July, will offer panels, presentations, and film screenings focused on using the Internet and web logs as vehicles for progressive thought and collaborations.
Commentary - SAVING SPEAKER CRADDICK A year from now, 150 newly elected House members will vote to replace or retain Speaker Tom Craddick. The outcome of that internal election could hinge on who wins a relatively small number of closely contested House races this year. Craddick urgently wants to shape the outcome of those matches, but is legally barred from doing so. A peek behind the scenes suggests that a significant chunk of this dicey political work could fall to some of Craddick's fellow Midlanders. Those tracking Texas' biggest pending political bout would be wise to keep an eye on the political activities surrounding the likes of Tim Dunn, Ernest Angelo, David Porter, and Jeff Norwood.
Books and the Culture - A GOOD PLACE TO SHED YOUR CULTURE In the summer of 1986, Paul Christensen decided a summer in France would be the perfect antidote to an early midlife crisis unfolding in the wastelands of East Texas. In Strangers in Paradise: A Memoir of Provence, Christensen describes in loving detail the windswept hills of the French countryside, the simple wisdom and quirky charm of the local Provencals, even the life-restoring possibilities of shopping for fruits and vegetables. Review by Josh Rosenblatt.
Afterword - SLEDDING THROUGH A BUSH FAMILY FANTASY Since the Bush family home in Midland, Texas, opened to the public in April 2006, the house has attracted thousands of visitors from 33 countries and 48 states. The plain frame house, built in 1939, has been restored to a painstaking recreation of a 1950s-era family home, a carefully airbrushed paean to a simpler time.
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1/11/08 - New in The Texas Observer
Feature - THE MAN WHO RAN TEXAS Excerpts from God Bless Texas, a new biography of Bob Bullock, one of the most powerful, feared, and unpredictable politicians in Texas history. By Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson. By Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson
Feature - THE MAN IN THE PANAMA HAT Gary A. Keith reclaims the legacy of Bob Eckhardt, the quixotic liberal, in Eckhardt: There Once Was a Congressman from Texas. Review by Brant Bingamon.
Feature - BOUND AND DETERMINED With independent bookshops struggling to hang on in even the largest cities, owners are forced to become even more creative in small places, where their inventory of titles outnumbers the local population. By Stayton Bonner
Books and the Culture - FROM THE BIG THICKET TO VIETNAM AND BACK Marian Haddad looks at three books (Coming to Terms, Reflections from Pete's Pond, and To Wake Again) by San Antonio literary icon H. Palmer Hall.
Books and the Culture - A STATEWIDE INVESTIGATION Lone Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction is an unvarnished tour of Texas through the eyes of crime fiction writers, which features 30 excerpts from Texas' best mystery novels. Review by Stayton Bonner.
Books and the Culture - CHECK-OUT TIME Joe O'Connell plumbs death and its lessons for the living in Evacuation Plan. Review by Josh Rosenblatt.
Books and the Culture - LEAVES OF SASS Dagoberto Gilb rises in the literary order with his second novel The Flowers, which recounts the coming-of-age of a ballsy California picaro. Review by Steven G. Kellman.
Books and the Culture - THE MIRACLE OF LA SOLEDAD An excerpt from The Truth, a new novel by Geoff Rips that takes on the big questions.
Afterword - ALIVE AND SINGING THE TRUTH On June 20, 1968, Willie Nelson wrote one of the greatest poems in the long and sorrowful history of war literature. His song poem is called "Jimmy's Road." Willie would call it a peace poem. While it wasn't originally a huge success, "Jimmy's Road" now has a second life and Willie's movement for peace has a much broader audience.
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12/14/07 - New in The Texas Observer
Feature - BOOTS ON THE GROUND Veteran Texas journalist Jan Reid explores the Rick Noriega for Senate Campaign. Rick Noriega is fed up with the mess that Bush, the neocon ideologues, and apologists like U.S. Senator John Cornyn have made of the war in Iraq, and with the ongoing disaster of the border policy. So he's throwing his hat, or maybe his signature combat boots, into the ring, preparing to oust Republican incumbent Cornyn. He has hurdles to jump. His campaign coffers are low, and Texas voters may not be ready for a Latino Senator. But Noriega is determined, qualified, and may be just the ticket for exasperated Texans. By Jan Reid
Feature - BURYING THE OPPOSITION For more than a decade, Waste Control Specialists has planned a permanent home for some of America's most unwanted waste in a desolate corner of West Texas. Controlled by billionaire and Republican donor Harold Simmons, the company already has permits to handle toxic waste, and has managed to lobby a bill through the Texas Legislature privatizing radioactive waste disposal. Along with environmental groups, some insiders in the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are expressing grave concerns about the safety of Waste Control's plans. It's TCEQ's call, but the agency is seen by many as promoting business interests over safety and environmental concerns. By Forrest Wilder
Editorial - A BRIEF LOOK BACK, THEN FORWARD As is our tradition, we won't publish in late December, instead using the holidays to enter a silent period of maniacal planning for next year. Before we do, it seems appropriate to pause and reflect on what, by any standard, has been an extraordinary year of triumphs and tragedies befitting these tempestuous times.
Political Intelligence - COAL DAY IN HELL
The Coal Front Despite reports to the contrary, Big Coal is alive and well in Texas. Ten coal-fired power units are being permitted or constructed around the state. Together, the plants would emit 56 million tons of carbon dioxide, the main global-warming gas, every year, according to estimates by the SEED Coalition.
Hell of a Highway Interstate 35 is not only one of the nation's busiest freeways, it's also the highway to hell. A suburban Dallas minister claims to have received a prophecy from the Almighty to turn I-35 into a "highway of holiness," while conservative groups suspect I-35 is part of a sinister plan to create a NAFTA superhighway.
Safe at Home? A recent report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors predicts that continued calamity in the housing market may soon become a drag on Texas' economy.
Books and the Culture - LONG LIVE THE KING Jim Dauterive, writer and executive producer of the beloved animated television sitcom "King of the Hill," recently donated boxes of archives documenting 11 years of behind-the scenes, madcap writing and production to the Alkek Library at Texas State University.
Books and the Culture - MUHAMMAD ROCKED THE CASBAH San Antonio, with its small Muslim population, may seem an unlikely birthplace for Muslim punk-but that's exactly what it is. Kourosh Poursalehi was a 16-year-old Sufi from San Antonio in 2004 when he created a song that made a fictional punk-rock movement come alive. Story by Lydia Crafts, photos by Kim Badawi/Redux
Books and the Culture - BUY SOME STUFF, ENSLAVE SOMEBODY In Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy, John Bowe aims to make explicit the connection between the rise of the global market and the growing number of people throughout the world living in poverty, doomed to spend their lives providing goods and services for people born into wealthier circumstances. Review by Josh Rosenblatt.
Afterword - EVERYWHERE ELSE, IT'S CALLED FOOTBALL David Theis loves soccer. It never really made sense to him until one day in a sports bar when it all clicked for him: the drama, physical grace, and international rivalry of the world's favorite sport.
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11/30/07 - New in The Texas Observer
Feature - OVERDOSING ON POWER Drug courts can keep addicts in treatment and out of jail-if judges let them. In the past decade, drug courts like the one in Travis County have successfully handled nonviolent defendants with drug and alcohol addictions and saved taxpayers money. People who complete drug-court programs rarely tumble back into substance abuse. But as drug courts become more widespread, it appears that-like the narcotics they were created to fight-the courts can be abused. By Dave Mann.
Feature - SUZY ROBERTS NEVER HAD A PRAYER The No. 1 rule of Pearland politics is, "Don't Feed the Christians." Don't give them anything to work with-no questions, no jokes, nothing. Nobody told Suzy Roberts, who, after being elected to the Pearland Independent School District in May, immediately shook up the board by asking whether it was legal for the board to be opening its meetings with a prayer. Roberts spoke up for religious minorities in Pearland, and she got crucified. By Emily DePrang
Feature - LEAVES OF GOLD They are called aggregators, a new breed of entrepreneur. They descended on the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Overton in September to sell skeptical East Texas landowners on the notion that there is opportunity in global warming for those who grow trees. East Texas is emerging as a favorite hunting ground for players in the booming market for carbon credits. While the promise of fortune is great, many landowners are waiting to see what influence government regulation of industrial greenhouse emissions will have on the market. By Stayton Bonner.
Editorial - EDUCATION, IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT Not long ago, tuition at Texas colleges and universities was the cheapest in the nation. At the state's inception, Texas' leaders understood that they had an obligation to provide education for citizens, but the Texas Legislature stepped away from this commitment in 2003, when it deregulated tuition. Since then, average tuitions in Texas have ballooned by more than 40 percent, and it's about to get worse.
Political Intelligence - EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES
Hogs at the Trough The Ivory Tower is indeed gilded for the chiefs of Texas universities and colleges, with state university presidents commanding salaries in the mid-triple digits. Not so for university professors and staff, whose salaries and benefits have stagnated. Barack and the Big Money Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's visit to Austin on November 17 was intended to raise cash from supporters. He talks an anti-Washington, anti-fat cat line, and has indeed has received very few contributions from big business. Baptist Censureship Wade Burleson, trustee on the Baptist International Mission Board, spoke up against board policies restricting what Baptists can believe. He now has the dubious distinction of being the first board trustee in its 162-year history to be censured, which means he's barred from active participation in meetings. Papering Over the Wall The federal government's draft assessment of potential environmental problems that might spring from building 70 miles of fence along the border in South Texas dismisses alternatives to the wall that local residents and the Mexican government would prefer. Better Late Than Never? It's taken more than two and a half years, but the Texas Forensic Science Commission-the state agency that's supposed to investigate mistakes by the state's crime labs-has finally begun work. The commission, created in 2005, has languished from lack of funding while innocent people may be sitting in Texas prisons
Books & Culture - AN IMAGINARY CRISIS In How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue, Stephanie Mencimer writes a bracing narrative of who, how, and why "tort reform" became law in Texas and elsewhere. Review by Suzanne Batchelor.
Books & Culture - WHAT THE FIFTH IS TAKING In Bulldozed: 'Kelo,' Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land, Carla Main gives the notion of eminent domain a persona, bringing humanity and a slap-you-into-reality perspective to the political debate over the Fifth Amendment. Review by Cynthia Hall Clements.
Afterword - LOUISIANA JUSTICE Alec Hamilton is a white male who has lived in a predominately African-American neighborhood in New Orleans for almost six years. He experienced Hurricane Katrina firsthand and traveled to Jena to march with those who were opposing the harsh treatment of African Americans by the police and courts. A recent traffic accident and experience with law enforcement has made Hamilton further reflect on racism in the United States.
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11/16/07 - New in The Texas Observer
Feature - LETTERS FROM PRISON When convicts enter the prison system, they enter a world beyond the comprehension of civilians. This issue features two submissions from prisoners serving time in state prisons. Both convicted to long term sentences, these men write with eloquence, poetry, and anger about their unseen lives and about the paths that lead them to incarceration. Photographs by Alan Pogue.
Editorial - BREAK THE CHAIN More than 700,000 Texans are either behind bars or on probation. If state leaders and prison officials consciously set out to create the least effective, most destructive, fiscally unsound prison system possible, they probably couldn't match the irrationality of the Texas model.
Political Intelligence - NO WALL WILL STOP THE WAVE
Fencing over the Fence Tucked into the 2005 federal Real ID Act is a little-noticed provision with major implications for South Texas. Section 102 gives the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security unprecedented power to suspend any law that stands in the way of building a wall along the border. Privatization Pains The walking wounded gathered in a small town north of Houston, on October 27. They weren't soldiers, but representatives of military contractors in Iraq who feel they aren't receiving the medical treatment and disability benefits they deserve. Bad Behavior Fed up with years of inaction, on October 29 the county attorney for El Paso County asked state environmental officials to recommend that a criminal investigation be opened into ASARCO LLC. The copper mining company operated a smelter in the city for more than a century leaving a toxic legacy of lead, arsenic, and other metals. Home Alone State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) calls it an approaching tsunami. In 2008, more than $300 billion worth of volatile subprime home loans will spike to higher interest rates nationwide, and a torrent of foreclosures will likely follow. In Texas, the effect may be severe.
Books & Culture - HOW SWEET THE SOUND Black gospel recordings risk being lost forever. To prevent this tragic cultural loss, Robert Darden, a former Billboard gospel music editor turned professor of journalism at Baylor University, has started the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. Michael Hoinski talks with Darden about his work, a task so difficult and lengthy that it will likely outlive Darden himself.
Books & Culture - A SIMPLE MIND RUN AMOK Thomas Palaima looks at A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency, Glen Greenwald's analysis of the rise and fall of the Bush administration.
Books & Culture - THE CUBAN ENIGMA Paul Christensen compares three books (Ismaelillo, Before Fidel: The Cuba I Remember, and Closed for Repairs) that plot a trajectory in the tormented life of Cuba, the island at our back door and one of the great enigmas of the American political imagination.
Afterword - CONFESSIONS OF AN EX-PROTESTOR Outraged by the war in Iraq and the actions of President Bush, Emily DePrang began protesting as a student at The University of Texas. These protests gave her a sense of comfort and community. Then she was arrested and jailed. Hailed as a hero, she found her efforts empty and profoundly reevaluated how to bring peace to the world.
