ustxtxb_obs_1998_06_19_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

ore , I bse THE. TEXAS rver VOLUME 90, NO. 12 A JOURNAL OF FREE 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 from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful 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 Founding Editor: Ronnie Dugger Publisher: Geoff Rips Editors: Louis Dubose, Michael King Assistant Editor: Mimi Bardagjy Associate Editor: Karen Olsson Poetry Editor: Naomi Shihab Nye Production: Harrison Saunders Business Manager: Jeff Mandell Staff Writer: Nate Blakeslee Development Director: Nancy Williams Web Editor: Amanda Toering Technical Consultant: Brian Ferguson Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Barbara Belejack, Nate Blakeslee, Robert Bryce, Brett Campbell, Lars Eighner, James K. Galbraith, Dagoberto Gilb, James Harrington, Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins, Paul Jennings, Steven G. Kellman, Jeff Mandell, Bryce Milligan, Char Miller, Debbie Nathan, John Ross, Brad Tyer. Staff Photographer: Alan Pogue Contributing Photographers: Vic Hinterlang, Patricia Moore. Contributing Artists: Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, Valerie Fowler, Kevin Kreneck, Michael Krone, Ben Sargent, Gail Woods. Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Arlington, Mass.; Bob Eckhardt, Austin; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; Molly Ivins, Austin; Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Jackson, Miss.; Kaye Northcott, Fort Worth; James Presley, Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. In Memoriam: Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995 copyrighted, 1998, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval World Widc Wcb DownHome page: http://texasobserver.org . Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, Texas. SUBS: One year $32, two years $59, three years $84. Full-time students $18 per year; add $13/year for foreign subs. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106. INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas Observer Index. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. DEPARTMENTS Dialogue 2 Editorial Money Talks 4 Dateline Texas Cleaning Up After the Bushes by Karen Olsson The People’s Press 15 by Cheryl Bishop Political Intelligence Molly Ivins Pig Deals and Bush’s Tobacco Ride Jim Hightower Murder, Inc.; Piracy, Inc; & the Sunscreen Skins Game Las Americas 23 Sierra Blanca Protest Crosses the Border by Richard Boren DIALOGUE HIGHTOWER NO EINSTEIN With the magic of imagination, I can see Jim Hightower \(“Dinner by DuPont,” during the time of the New Deal. Sometime during the mid-thirties he has a personal in terview with a prospective immigrant: “Well, Dr. Einstein, you certainly have a very impressive resume, and your work on the relationship between energy and matter is very interesting. However, you must remember we are in the middle of a Great Depression, and jobs of all kinds are scarce for Americans. If we allowed you to come here and work we would be depriving one of our own people of a priceless opportunity. Under these circumstances I just cannot, in good conscience, approve your application for a visa!” Of course, if Jim were Commissioner BOOKS AND THE CULTURE Unspeakable Moments 25 Poetry by James Hoggard & Debra Innocenti 26 27 29 30 32 ployment, he would not take the same position. Would he? Ed Cogburn Houston DIDN’T SEE NOTHING… Great pair of articles by Michael King on the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and its disgraceful protection of “grandfathered” polluters \(“Who’s Poiing industries to voluntarily cut down on emissions makes as much sense as asking defense contractors to cut down on the amount they overcharge the Pentagon, or asking George W. Bush to cut down on the soothing lies he tells about the nature of the hazardous radioactive garbage he plans to send down the nation’s highways and bury in an eternal sacrifice zone at Sierra Blanca. THIS ISSUE FEATURES How to Stop the Death Machine 6 Death penalty litigators Michael Mello and David Dow on the execution juggernaut. Mauro Defeats Bush? 8 The early polls appear overwhelming, but we asked a handful of Democrats how their man might beat George W. Bush. The High Cost of Hate Radio by Michael King 12 KLBJ-AM fired a radio host for “joking” about shooting the President. So right-wing Rollye James took the Johnson family to court and won. Texas’ Cotton Club Book Review by James Sledd Murders Most Foul Book Review by Chris Garlock 16 White on Black 18 Book Review by Bryce Milligan Afterword 20 Reporting the Real News by Norman Solomon The Back Page Study Law the Texas Way Cover art by Harrison Saunders 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 19, 1998 AMINO