ustxtxb_obs_1999_12_24_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

With this issue we take a much-needed break, as we do at this time every year. Our next issue will be dated January 21, Armageddon permitting. The office will be closed December 24 and 25. Happy Holidays! VOLUME 91, NO. 24 A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES SINCE 1954 Editors: Louis Dubose, Michael King Assistant Editor: Mimi Bardagjy Associate Editor: Nate Blakeslee Managing Publisher: Charlotte McCann Office Manager: Candace Carpenter Graphic Designer: Harrison Saunders Poetry Editor: Naomi Shihab Nye Development Director: Susan Morris Special Projects: Jere Locke, Nancy Williams Contributing Writers: Robert Bryce, Michael Erard, James K. Galbraith, Dagoberto Gilb, Paul Jennings. Steven G. Keilman, Char Miller, Debbie Nathan, John Ross. Staff Photographer: Alan Pogue Contributing Photographers: Jana Birchum, Vic Hinterlang, Patricia Moore, Jack Rehm. Contributing Artists: Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, Valerie Fowler, Sam Hurt, Kevin Kreneck, Michael Krone, Ben Sargent, Gail Woods. Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Chandler Davidson. Dave Denison, Bob Eckhardt, Sissy Farenthold, John K. Galbraith, Lawrence Goodwyn, Jim Hightower, Maury Maverick Jr., Kaye Northcott, Susan Reid. In Memoriam: Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995 Texas Democracy Foundation Board: Ronnie Dugger, Liz Faulk, D’Ann Johnson Geoffrey Rips, Gilberto Ocafias. The Texas Observer \(ISSN 0040righted, 1999, is published biweekly except every three weeks during January profit corporation, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. 477-0746. E-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web DownHome page: www.texasobserver.org . Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, Texas. Subscriptions: 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, MI 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. DIALOGUE A FACE ONLY A TOBACCO EXEC COULD LOVE I appreciated the “Gun Numbers” in Political Intelligence of November 26. Facts like these can build meaningful discussions as opposed to histrionics. A small request. I like to leave my copy of the Observer out where others can look it over. With a picture of John Cornyn on the front, I had to put it out of sight. The man aggravates me just with his insipid smile. Yuk. Please don’t repeat. Robert W. Touchet Austin THIRD WAY RADIO Re “No Peace at Pacifica,” by Michael King, November 12: Thank you for the ongoing coverage of the Pacifica mess. As a long-time listener, I would like to add my two cents. Garland Ganter et al. surely knew that they would offend certain long-time listeners as they remade KPFT into a middle-of-the-road music station. To be sure, there are those like myself who will no longer pledge. But, in Houston, pissing off a number of people does not generally lead to any kind of revolt. Indeed, it hasn’t in this case. Rather, there have been expressions of outrage and attempts to start a movement to take Pacifica back towards its original vision. Given that the station now sets records with every fund drive, these are no more than irritants. Ganter also marginalizes all detractors by trotting out the most offensive words and deeds of the recent brouhaha. Further, since Houston is such a corporate suck-up town, Ganter thumps his chest and proclaims that KPFT, even with its watered-down format, remains the voice of protest in Houston. \(Truth be told, the Houston Press serves a far more useful role in exposing the rot in this city. Hell, KPFT didn’t KPFT is being driven by a business mentality that dares people to find something better, knowing that most people will hang around, hoping for the day when it finds its way back to its roots. Sounds suspiciously like the Democratic Party of Bill Clinton. Now there’s something to be proud of. Fred Lazare Houston NICE PAPER, EH? I’m impressed with your November 12 issue. It covered one salient topic after another: Community Radio; Molly Ivins on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty getting shelved \(now, why hadn’t I on Fujimori by Gabriela Bocagrande was precious. Is that her real name or is it a tonguein-cheek pen name because you would need a big one to mouth off to those S.A. presidents. Best of all, which I almost missed, was the just-in-time story on Father Bourgeois of the School of the Americas Watch he’s dedicated! Thanks for a great publication. Susan Brown McDonald’s Corners, Ontario HATFIELD DEFENDED In the wake of the massive promotion of G.W. for president in the controlled national media, it sure is good to find your paper on the Web and your archive of articles about Bush’s record. Believe it or not, even the foremost national TV political pundits the other day all confessed total ignorance to anything substantial about Bush’s background. If they really bothered to look, as they say, “The truth is out there” even without much digging. What I find more amusing is the complete lock-step media backing of the decision by St. Martin’s Press to recall and destroy all copies of the so-called “unauthorized biography” of Dubya entitled Fortunate Son, by J.H. Hatfield. This, within some seventy-two hours of the book’s hitting the streets. The only thing said about the book in the national media to date was that it alleged G.W. was busted for coke in judge to expunge the record. Everything since has trashed the author. When denials of the alleged coke bust by G.W. and Bush Sr. and subsequent labeling of the book as total fiction didn’t work, the Dallas Morning News comes up with the story that Hatfield, the author of the book, is the same James Howard Hatfield who See “Dialogue,” page 21 DECEMBER 24, 1999 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER