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The book cites three court cases regarding challenges to colleges’ claims of amateurism by injured football players \(the first one, in 1960, went against the N.C.A.A., which promptly led to obfuscation in scholarship language to exclude the notion athletes performed “under contract,” and the N.C.A.A. won the next two in an endlahoma and Georgia, which eliminated N.C.A.A. control over which college football games could be telecast. \(The reader is led to believe colleges defended their “property right” to such telecasts, when what they did is challenge and overthrow the N.C.A.A.’ s There are justifications for restricting certain aspects of the realworld free market to keep it from destroying itself. None of those applies to the entertainment business, of which college athletics have been a part, under whatever name, since the beginning. Like the repeal of prohibition, all we’d be doing by paying players is legalizing what people already are doing, and have always done, and we’d level the playing field between those committing felonies and those guilty of misdemeanors. If you’re going to give up the farm, give up the house, too. Robert Heard is a writer in Austin. A journalist for more than forty years and author of seven books, he wrote and published Inside Texas, a newsletter about University of Texas men’s and women’s sports, for thirteen years. “Class War,” from page 15 poverty wage of $1 an hour. They get no benefits, unless you count the daily ration of one breakfast taco supervisors hand out to each worker. Lucent uses their labor; then, thanks to N.A.F.T.A., the company merrily trucks the Mexican-made phones right across the bridge into the U.S.A., delivering them to a store near you without paying any tariff or honoring any quota. Now in her early fifties, Ms. Harris finally landed another job, months after being abruptly abandoned by the globally wayward Lucent. She got one of those “14 million new jobs” that a crowing Bill Clinton tells us his economic policies have created. Hers is at a Target store, working for $7.50 an hour, though it’s only part time, so she has fallen plumb out of the middle class back into poverty. Ironically, in her job at Target, she sells the telephones she once made. Asked by Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur if the price is any lower on those phones now that Lucent pays $1 an hour to Mexican workers rather than the $13 she earned, Anna Harris’s eyes turned steel cold and she said: “There’s no difference in price. They’re selling them for $80 to $90.” Welcome to the New World Order. This article is adapted from the introduction to the new paperback version of Jim Hightower’s book, There’s Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos. Hightower’s radio talk show broadcasts daily from Threadgill’s World Headquarters in Austin, on over 100 stations nationwide. Find him at www.jimhightower.com , or e-mail: [email protected]. CLASSIFIEDS ORGANIZATIONS WORK for single-payer National Health Care. Join GRAY PANTHERS, intergenerational advocates against ageism and for progressive policies promoting social and economic justice. $20 individual, $35 family. 3710 Cedar, REVOLTED BY EXECUTIONS? Join the Amnesty International Campaign Against the Death Penalty. WORK FOR OPEN, responsible government in Texas. Join Common Cause/Texas, 1615 Guadalupe, #204, http://www.ccsi.com/comcause. CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER of the ACLU invites you to our noon Forum, the last Friday of every month, at Furr’s Cafeteria Banquet Room in Northcross Mall, Austin. For information call NATIONAL WRITERS UNION. We give working writers a fighting chance. Health insurance. Solidarity. Journalists, authors, poets, commercial writers.Forming locals in Austin and E-mail: [email protected]. PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. Join the Texas Civil Rights Project, 2212 E. MLK, Austin, TX 78702. $25/year. Volunteers also needed. Contact Jim 474-5073. GREEN DEMOCRATS. The Environ mental Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party is organizing statewide for the ’98 elections. It’s time for Texas environmentalists to create a grassroots political force to help elect earthfriendly politicians like Garry Mauro. For contacts in your part of Texas, call [email protected] . SERVICES MARY NELL MATHIS, CPA, 20 years’ experience in tax, litigation support, and other analyses. 901 Rio Grande, HOUSEBUYERS, The Consumer’s Agent. Specialists in representing cen315-2565. I’M MAD … at banks who don’t give real estate loans because of bad credit, problems or new employment. I do, call L.D. Kirk, Homeland MortDOLPHIN BLUE. Provides recycled content and chlorine-free copier paper, envelopes, toner cartridges, inkjets. www.onramp.net/dolphinblue Call for free literature, 800-932-7715. DESKTOP PUBLISHING AND DESIGN: I do newsletters, brochures, small magazines, etc. I’m experienced, literate, liberal and easy to work with, so if I can help, give me a call. Julia Austin, TextStyles, 442-9669, [email protected] WORLDWISE DESIGN, awardwinning graphic design studio. For creative, effective and professional designs for your educational and promoCLASSIFIED RATES: Minimum ten words. One time, 50 cents per word; three times, 45 cents per word; six times, 40 cents per word; 12 times, 35 cents per word; 25 times, 30 cents per word. Telephone and box numbers count as two words, abbreviations and zip codes as one. Payment must accompany order for all classified ads. Deadline is three weeks before cover date. Address orders and inquiries to Advertising Director, The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th, Austin, TX THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19 DECEMBER 25, 1998