ustxtxb_obs_2005_10_21_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

OCTOBER 21, 2005 TheTexas Observer FEATURES And especially to BILL and JUDITH MOYERS, for inspiring us all in the work that we do to make our communities better places to live, and to demand that our state and our country live up to its ideals. OUR EVENT VOLUNTEERS Jan Austin Naomi King Carissa Baldwin Linda Lewis Rosie Barnberger-Chavez Janet Lincoln Carolyn Bingham Sioux Mahadeo Ian Davis Yael Ouzillou Leslie Geballe Lauren Reinlie Judy Gedalia Sofia Resnick Danny Gerling Forrest Wilder Share Kaplin TO ALL OF YOU WHO JOINED THE OBSERVER FOR “A Conversation and Dinner with Bill Moyersi!, WE THANK YOU!!! TO: OUR SPONSORS OUR GUESTS OUR REMARKABLE VOLUNTEERS THE TEXAS DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS THE TEXAS OBSERVER STAFF You created a community, and your participation made the evening a great success. 4. Wo u s BENCH PLAY Harriet Miers and the troubled Texas Lottery by Dave Mann and Jake Bernstein THE TIES THAT BIND What would Proposition 2 do to these Texas families? by Emily Pyle DIALOGUE EDITORIAL Stealth Fighters POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE CAPITOL OFFENSE Tommy and the $190,000 by Jake Bernstein FUNDAMENTALLY SPEAKING I found the article “Meet the Fundies” interesting, illuminating and infuriating. After reading the piece a second time, I wondered… …what if someone said: “I [don’t] dislike Christians. I know a lot of Christian people who are wonderful people, who are very kind and gracious, who are my friends.” …what if someone said: “I have absolutely nothing against the Christians; what I am against is their way of life. It’s not the person, it’s the belief system?’ …what if someone said: “I can say with a clear conscience, do not hate the Christian person: I am against the belief system, not the person. In my years of running this organization, I have helped, talked to, and befriended Christian people. Do I condone the belief system? No, I don’t.” John Lyon Austin, TX I just read this article [“Meet the Fundies,” October 7]. Amazing. Don’t these people read? That is, anything besides the Bible? That’s one book; there are millions of others out there that contain essential information regarding life on this planet. By the way, the numbers that Markarian states about gay people could very well be applied to straight people as well. She must live in an incubated world. As a gay man, I have practiced none of the sexual activities she mentioned despite experiencing a very sexually active life. Plus, I’m 67 and still going. She states at one continued on page 29 DEPARTMENTS 6 8 2 3 4 12 13 14 15 COMMENTARY DeLay’s Beautiful Laundrette by Andrew Wheat MOLLY IVINS From Revolution to Racket JIM HIGHTOWER Protect Your Kids from the Pentagon BOOKS & CULTURE POETRY by Anita Plummer “ALL WE HAD WAS NUISANCE POWER” by Char Miller CRASH COURSE IN EMPATHY by Carrie Fountain NOWHERE ELSE BUT WATERLOO Slackers, lounge lizards, and politicos aplenty in Olsson’s fictional Austin by Karen Olsson AFTERWORD The Marrying Kind by Erasmo Guerra Cover illustration by Mike Krone and Matt Omohundro 17 18 22 24 30 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER OCTOBER 21, 2005