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0 NE WEEK after the inauguration of Ann Richards and Bob Bullock, what is most vivid in my memory is not anything that the Governor or Lieutenant Governor did or said on January 15. What I best remember is Houston political activist \(and Billie Carr standing on the huge speaker’s platform above the Capitol steps and quietly taking Democratic Congressman Mike Andrews to task for his support of the MichelSolarz resolution the House measure authorizing the President to use force in the Persian Gulf. “I am so mad at you for that vote,” Can was overheard saying. “Who knows what’s going to happen now?” Before steelworkers’ Washington lobbyist Sam Dawson could disarm her, Carr reminded her Congressman that the vote he cast would probably result in a confrontation between two madmen: “Bush and Hussein.” It was an odd encounter. Immediately to the south of the three figures on the Capitol steps, some 20,000 guests awaited Richards and Bullock. A few compass points to the west, a choir sang Boublil, Kretzmer, and Natel’s lyrics from Les Miserables: “Can you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men.” It was also an odd moment because it was the first time in eight years that Carr, Dawson, and even Andrews had been so close to executive power in their home state. I wonder if Andrews recalled that moment some 33 hours later, when the President explained, in a speech broadcast to the nation, why he, as Commander in Chief, had ordered U.S. warplanes and missiles to direct tons on ordnance at Iraq. Nndrews wasn’t the only member of the Texas Demodutic delegation to break with the House leadership, which had proposed a measure to allow time for the sanctions against Lufkin Congressman Charlie Wilson also voted for the Michel-Solarz resolution. Making his way through the inauguration crowd, Wilson came face to face with a former statehouse colleague, Frances “Sissy” Farenthold. “You voted with the President, didn’t you?” Farenthold asked of Wilson. Wilson said that he had. “Is that good or bad?” “Horrible,” Farenthold said, as the Congressman moved toward the VIP section. “I don’t know what the consequences are, but I refuse to follow George Bush into this war,” Farenthold said after Wilson left. “The questions haven’t even been asked on what are going to be the civilian casualties we haven’t been able to get an answer on what are the prospective military casualties, to say nothing of the civilian casualties. [Or] to have any discussion of the possibilities of retaliatory strikes against all the capitals in the Middle East. … We’re going to be dealing with this for decades. …” ON THE DAY after the inauguration, 4,000 protestors marched on the Capitol, many of them picking up on an inaugural theme and chanting “The people are back,” and inviting Richards and Bullock to join them. Richards and Bullock, both with more than they can manage in the current legislative session and little influence over a Republican President’s warmaking powers probably prudently sat tight. But one week after confronting the two Texas Congressmen, Carr and Farenthold seem far more prescient than the 24 U.S. Representatives and one Senator from Texas who might have made a difference, yet voted to give George Bush a green light. At a Saturday afternoon rally, again on the Capitol steps, the usual suspects turned up to protest the war: freshman State Representative Elliott Naishtat, Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman, and Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire. Aleshire, who was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, addressed the moral issue, claiming that “this war can not be justified” and that “this war, like so many before it, is unnecessary.” Then, speaking to the crowd of 2,000, while he was being videotaped by an Austin Police Department camera crew that positioned itself squarely in front of him, Aleshire made the pragmatic pitch to elected officials at all levels: “… I’ve been advised to hide and keep quiet. When this nation is at war, I defy any public official to claim that it is irrelevant to our official duties. What we do now will determine policies and budgets for years to come at every level in government in every community in this nation.” In the end, though, the issue is moral and constitutional, and no one addresses it quite so eloquently and passionately as does San Antonio Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez, who hours before the U.S. initiated hostilities in Iraq. introduced a resolution to impeach the wartime media, which in this war is controlled in a fashion unprecedented in most free societies, reports what all the news the Department of Defense determines is fit to print, Gonzalez’s remarks should be kept in mind: “The preservation of lives is at stake, and F– -4 E TEXAS p TH bserver JANUARY 25, 1990 VOLUME 83, No. 2 FEATURES Entangling Alliances . By Scott Henson 5 The War Vote By Jennifer Wong 8 Terms of Impeachment By Henry B. Gonzales 11 Uncivil Liberties By Brett Campbell 12 DEPARTMENTS Editorial 3 Political Intelligence 17 Social Cause Calendar 23 Books and the Culture True Stories By Steven Kellman 19 Joint Sessions By Bill Adler 21 Afterword . Night Flight By Char Miller 22 Cover photo by Alan Pogue: A protestor at the January 19 peace rally at -the State Capitol. the preservation of our country our democracy is at stake, as well. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and stand up t6 the President on behalf of the soldiers who will die, the ciivilians who will be massacred, and the Constitution that will be destroyed if this country goes to war in the Middle East.” L.D. CORRECTION In the January 11 issue, the editorial, “The Best Ethics Money Can Buy” incorrectly implied that Speaker of the House Gib Lewis once been indicted prior to December, 1990. In 1983, Lewis was not indicted, but pleaded no contest to a charge that he failed to correctly disclose business interests on his financial statement. At the time, Lewis paid a fine. We regret the error. EDITORIAL Voices of Reason THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 –,