ustxtxb_obs_1991_07_12_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

The Feel-Good War VIC HINTERLANG EDITORIAL Anti-war demonstrators at the Capitol Salute to the Troops parade in Austin, June 30 “We carried you in our arms, on Independence Day. And now you throw us all aside, and turn us all away….”” Bob Dylan, Tears of Rage. AS THIS ISSUE of the Observer went to press, cities across Texas and the nation were caught up in militaristic Independence Day parades, many glorifying the Persian Gulf war machines. We too give thanks for the safe return of American troops, while mourning the 100,000 dead Iraqis who seem to have been overlooked, and the more than 200,000 Iraqi children projected to die as a result of allied action. We also understand why those who attended the festivities were so desperately eager to celebrate American derring-do abroad, because the picture on the home front is quite different. According to the National Jobs with Peace campaign, during the six weeks of the Gulf war, 2,875 Americans were murdered; 3,750 died of AIDS; 225,000 were robbed, raped, or assaulted; 400,000 lost their jobs \(bringing unemployment hunger; 34 million went without health insurance. Children fared especially badly: 1,250 died from poverty; 4,000 more died due to low , 3 Obl II el X A $ per 307 W. 7th St. Austin, TX 78701 JULY 12, 1991 VOLUME 83, No. 14 FEATURES Allen Parkway Village By Scott Henson 1 Income Texas By Lisbeth Lipari 4 DEPARTMENTS Dialogue 2 Editorial 3 Political Intelligence 24 Books and the Culture Visions of Mexico By Nick Dauster 17 Splendors of Chicano Cinema By Steven G. Kellman 19 Dead to Rights By Joe Wakelee-Lynch , 20 Afterword Dumping on Kinney County By Don Parks 22 Cover photos by Patricia Moore. Clarification In our legislative roundup last issue, the first reference to one quoted souce was accidentally edited out. The “Woodford” referred to in the story is Suzy Woodford, executive director of Common Cause/ Texas. THIS IS NOT TO SAY that all the nation’s problems would have been solved had we never fought Mr. Bush’s war. What is depressing jingoism exhibited by some of those who attend these ceremonies which have now gone on longer than the war itself. The forced intensity of much of the exultation makes me wonder whether it stems from a perfervid need on the part of the American public to celebrate something. Like the summer “feel-good” mov ies, the parades, and the war itself, provided an See War page 15 birthweight \(many preventable if their parents had had access to preand perinatal health pro68,750 dropped out of school; 83,200 were abused or neglected. While the media vilified Saddam Hussein as an “environmental terrorist,” accusing him of torching Kuwaiti oil wells \(many of which were million acres of farmland were damaged by salinization due to irrigation; 142 million tons of carbon from fossil fuels polluted the atmosphere remained victims of acid rain; 310,000 miles of waterways stayed polluted. And two million acres of rainforest were destroyed worldwide. Anyone who hoped the war would recharge the economy was disappointed. Nine billion dollars was added to our world’s-highest trade deficit; the “official” national debt grew by $40 billion, to over $3.3 trillion; $90 billion \(mostly to the United States’ additional $2.7 trillion offgan the new year with serious budget deficits a record number. These figures have been lost in the rockets’ red glare. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3