ustxtxb_obs_1995_07_28_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

All Lucas with her dad ALAN POGUE T HU TEXAS server JULY 28, 1995 VOLUME 87, No. 15 FEATURE The Rise of Cumulative Voting By Robert Brischetto 6 DEPARTMENTS Editorials The High Cost of Deregulation 2 Watching the Sand Drift Away 4 Media Observer Lapdogging with Pundit George Will Jim Bob Moffet Around the World 5 Molly Ivins Environmental Deregulation Scam 11 Jim Hightower Newt Lectures Inmates & Olympic Tickets for VIPs 12 Books and the Culture Poetry by John Igo 13 Democratic Sellout Book review by Ronnie Dugger 14 Hold the Water and Chocolate Book review by David Theis 17 From an Empathetic Distance Music review by Brad Tyer ’18 In the Heart of the Lone Star Country On the Texas Sojourn and Vision of J. M. Coetzee by Steven G. Kellman 20 AFTERWORD For the Birds By Char Miller 23 Political Intelligence 24 Cover art by Valerie Fowler of the hippest cost-benefit Republicans, who would weigh the life of a child against what a new regulation might cost the meatprocessing interests that underwrote the new majority in Congress. \(In fairness to the industry, as Doggett observed, the Iowa Beef Packers supported the new meat inspection requirements, as did the American Meat Institute, until it smelled blood and joined the special-interest feeding frenzy in Safety Inspection Division of the Department of Agriculture estimates the cost to consumers at approximately two-tenths of a cent per pound. “That means when you take your 20 little leaguers for quarter pound hamburgers after the game, the addi tional cost to ensure the team’s safety is one penny,” Hildreth said. “This tiny cost far outweighs the cost of even one child getting sick,” he added, explaining in terms understood by the Republican majority in Congress the variables of an equation that makes sense to them: $3.7 billion saved in public health expenditures. Hildreth also observed that a growing population of elderly Americans combined with the increase in new strains of bacteria will mean more people suffering what Ali Lucas survivedif the new regulations are not implemented. “These rules have not been sprung on the Congress,” he said. “They’ve been making their way through the USDA rule-making procedures for at CORRECTION In “In Defense of Barrientos,” TO July 14, 1995, Texas Federation of Teachers lobbyist Eric Hartman was incorrectly identified as Greg Hartman. Eric is the TFT’ s Legislative Director, and also a former Observer editor. We regret the error. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3