ustxtxb_obs_1999_01_22_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

VORMISMEBRIMNo is a ummit -F* “No one is going to threaten the Governor o the State of Texas.” Was that George W. nobly defending Harlingen against an invasion of Central American radicals? Making a stalwart stand against yet another West Austin onslaught of Silicon Valley carpetbaggers? Gearing up for the O.U. game? Nope. The Governor was just letting those pesky Canucks know that he isn’t about to get weak-kneed over the rights of foreign nationals accused of crimes in Texas. In early December, a delegation of Canadian citizens came to Austin to oppose the execution of Stanley Faulder, who in 1975 had not been accorded his consular when he was charged with a Gladewater murder. The Canadian protest was seconded by the U.S. Department of State understandably uneasy that foreign governments might begin according similar treatment to U.S. citizens who get in trouble he may have lost others in another lateyear foreign policy foray. The Governor took a three-day tour of Israel at the invite of the conservative National Jewish Coalition, and looked altogether fetching in a yarmulke at the Wailing Wall. He used the occasion to backtrack on yet another immigration issue the vexed question of whether non-Christians are allowed into heaven. Recall that when he first ran for Governor in 1994, Bush casually told an inter viewer that he believed the only avenue to the Promised Land is a declared belief in Jesus Christ. Chastened by the negative reaction from non-Christian potential voters, the Governor went to family friend Billy Graham for advice and has since officially ceded salvation credential confirmation to the heavenly Border Patrol. Upon returning from his Jerusalem photo-op, he told reporters, “My faith tells me that acceptance of Jesus Christ as my savior is my salvation, and I believe that,” but added, “I have also made it very clear that it’s not the governor’s role to decide who goes to heaven. That’s God’s role.” God was not available for comment. In the aftermath of Bush’s waffling, it remains unclear whether he believes Jews, Muslims, Buddhists etc., indeed have a right to the afterlife or just a ticket to the celestial lottery. Does Israel have a divine claim to the West Bank, or should it stand in line behind Palestinian Christians? And what about those Canadian visitors can they appeal for divine clemency on religious grounds? Those who supported a stay of execution for the late Karla Faye Tucker found out the while abroad. But the Governor stood tall against these impudent foreigners and feds, warning them sternly, “If you’re a Canadian and come to our state, don’t murder anybody.” \(Rumors of hundreds of dejected Canadian criminals fording the Red River into Oklahoma could not The Bush-Who-Would-Be-President undoubtedly accumulated some hardright points with his uncompromising stand against the Northern invaders, but THE MILLENNIUM: Et 2 K? t comes as no surprise that certain millennial religious sects have seized on the Y2K computer problem as the harbinger of doom. And of course the right-wing survivalist types hardly needed another reason to head for the hills with their dried goods, ammo, and Dobermans. But would you believe that Y2K is also the sign the left at least the new agey, lifestyle-politics left has been waiting for? luctant to examine the issue, Utne Reader editor Eric Utne has gone Y2-Krazy, granting the topic considerable space in his bimonthly magazine and putting together a widely-distributed booklet, Y2K Citizen’s Action Guide: Preparing yourself, family, and your neighborhood for the year 2000 computer problem and beyond. “As we prepare for Y2K, something surprising and unexpected and quite wonderful is going to happen,” Utne explains in the introduction to the Citizen Action Guide. “Possibly for the first time in our lives, we will begin to know what it means to live in a real community.” For Utne, the millennium bug is our London Blitz, the defining event that will finally teach us to rely on one another, “to knit webs of affiliation, care, and mutual support,” and in the process, usher in the new culture in which we all truly want to live. The Guide is a preparedness buffet, 6 THE TEXAS OBSERVER whose contents range from extremely sober and pragmatic evaluations of likely impacts, to jargon-filled discourses on “inner preparedness” and the “emotional challenge” of Y2K. Hardest to digest was the contribution from Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer of the Institute of HeartMath. Founded by Childre in 1991, the Institute researches “intui-technology” the development of intuition and the “mind’s fuller capacities” achieved by “aligning the heart with the mind.” The Institute does a brisk business in seminars and training \(their clients include website. The Institute’s contribution to the Guide fers just a taste of the HeartMath program, which, by a stroke of good fortune, is completely adaptable to the unique demands on internal self-management, family, social, and organizational climates, etc. posed by Y2K. Metaphysical mathematics aside, the Guide is a sobering read. It surveys the very real issue of the state of government computers \(the Social Security Administration, for example, believes it has worked out its bugs, yes, porations in a race against the clock to update their systems. Among the government agencies in the not-prone-to-panic category who are now Y2K-threat believers is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has re . portedly warned nuke operators \(who as a group have been slow to act on Y2K compliance. No nukes in the new millennium? Utne might be on to something after all. + JANUARY 22, 1999 -.-7+,..-,-ameseNriatimemarstmeNt ‘.-t1,1:71.17giffel..1261g