ustxtxb_obs_1992_07_24_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

Page 9

by

THE TEXAS s rver JOURNAL OF REE VOICES We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to. the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation of democracy: we will take orders front none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powedid or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we agree with them, because this is a journal of free voices. SINCE 1954 Publisher: Ronnie Dugger Editor: Louis Dubose Associate Editor: James Cullen Layout and Design: Diana Paciocco, Peter Szymczak Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka Mexico City Correspondent: Barbara Belejack Editorial Interns: Jubilee Barton, Jay Brida, Paula George, Lorri J. Legge, Kate McConnico Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Betty Brink, Warren Burnett, Jo Clifton, Terry FitzPatrick, Gregg Franzwa, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Ellen Hosmer, Steven Kellman, Michael King, Deborah Lutterbeck, Tom McClellan, Bryce Milligan, Greg Moses, Debbie Nathan, Gary Pomerantz, Lawrence Walsh. Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; Bob Eckhardt, Washington, D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Austin; Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Oxford, Miss.; Kaye Northcott, Austin; James Presley, Texarkana; Susan Reid, Austin; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. Poetry Consultant: Thomas B. Whitbread Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic Hinterlang, Alan Pogue. Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck, Michael Krone, Carlos Lowry, Ben Sargent, Dan Thibodeau, Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker. Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom Executive Assistant: Gail Woods Special Projects Director: Bill Simmons Development Consultant: Fiances Barton SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year $27. two years $48, three years $69. Full-time students $15 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail. foreign. group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Microfilms Intl.. 300 N. Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. MI 48106. Any current subscriber who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time: no one need forgo reading the Observer simply because of the cost. copyrighted. 01992. ispublished biweekly except for a three-week interval 477-0746. Second-class postage paid at Austin. Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER. 307 West 7th Street. Austin. Texas 78701. A Member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies No Peace in Middle East I am a longtime subscriber and reader of The Texas Observer and have always been impressed with the accuracy of your reporting. I must, however, take exception to the article entitled “Peace Talks Falter” in the June 19 1992, issue. The article was not only inaccurate, but it was also unfairly slanted. As chairman of Texans for Justice and Freedom, an organization supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship, I negotiated an agreement on platform language with Chairman Bob Slagle of the Texas Democratic Party and Ruth Ann Skaff \(of Memphis, ing the Arab-American community. The language we agreed upon with regard to the Middle East was almost word for word the language Texans for Justice and Freedom drafted. We never discussed inclusion or exclusion of language expressing the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel, as you mistakenly report. The agreements we reached contained a certain code of conduct. After several violations of the agreement by Arab-American delegates, Chairman Slagle declared that the Arab-American delegates had breached the agreement and that the agreement was null and void. Since there was no agreement on platform language, the Platform Committee, in its wisdom, and not as retribution for the breach, adopted platform language which mirrored previous platform language recognizing the special relationship between the United States and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. The platform also added the language earlier agreed upon with the Arab-American delegates. The ArabAmerican delegates attempted to offer a minority report of the Platform Committee on the floor of the convention and that report was voted down by 2 to 1 according to Democratic Party officials. Your Associate Editor, James Cullen, apparently decided not to interview members of Texans for Justice and Freedom or Chairman Slagle. Had he done so, he would have learned that the “factual scenario” he received from the briefing party was incorrect. Finally, we agree with Ms. Skaff that the Democratic Party should continue to work with Arab-Americans. Our primary goal, however, is to elect Bill Clinton to the White House and not to engage in the unpleasantness attendant with the breach of an agreement. Marc R. Stanley, Chairman, Texans for Justice and Freedom, Austin Editor’s Note: Cullen attended the Platform Committee hearing at which the alleged breach of the agreement was discussed and observed as attempts to preserve the compro mise failed. Skaff, who maintains a Houston residence and is a Democratic National Committee member from Texas, said the Arab-American Democrats believed they abided with the substance of the agreement. On Perot’s Myth James Cullen’s piece on Perot \(“Henry far the best of the current round. I’ve xeroxed it liberally and passed it around. There is a kind of Perot sickness in Dallas, and apparently everywhere, waiting for Jesus, Rapture, Final Solution, Purity, etc. Essentially a very .outrageous moment in history. Keep up the deconstruction; the myth has a lot of technology and dinero this time. Rod Davis, Dallas No Cake Walk Ann Richards’, Gib Lewis’, and Bob Bullock’s recent message to Texas public schools, in which they reneged on promised school funding, taught students across the state a whole new meaning to “The Turn of the Screw.” Great lesson, gang. Carol Countryman, Athens P.S.: Coming soon: Bake Sale and Car Persistence Rewarded Just a few comments regarding your paper. First, I do appreciate your renewal letters Tormat. Second, I feel it is essential to have your paper this year what with a Native Son possibly being a presidential candidate. Third, I wish you had Molly [Ivins] as a more frequent contributor. I had wanted to see your publication for several years, but never was able to track it down. Finally, our youngest daughter, who is a Business Librarian at the University of subscription and I have enjoyed having it. Lee Gray, Aledo, Ill. P.S.: I wish we, in Illinois, had a similar check on our state government. Write Dialogue. 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701 DIALOGUE 2 JULY 24, 1992