ustxtxb_obs_2009_10_30_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

THE TEXAS OBSERVER VOLUME 101, NO. 20 A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger CEO/PUBLISHER Canton Carl EDITOR Bob Moser MANAGING EDITOR Chris Tomlinson ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Mann BOOKS & CULTURE EDITOR Michael May INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Melissa del Bosque STAFF WRITER Forrest Wilder ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Julia Austin CIRCULATION/OFFICE MANAGER Candace Carpenter ART DIRECTOR Daniel Lievens WEBMASTER Shane Pearson POETRY EDITOR Naomi Shihab Nye COPY EDITOR Rusty Todd INTERNS Ryland Barton, Sara Haji CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Nate Blakeslee, Robert Bryce, Emily DePrang, Michael Erard, James K. Galbraith, Patricia Kilday Hart, Steven G. Kellman, Robert Leleux, James E. McWilliams, Char Miller, Ruth Pennebaker, Kevin Sieff, Brad Tyer, Andrew Wheat CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jana Birchum, Alan Pogue, Steve Satterwhite CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Maggy Brophy, Michael Krone, Dusan Kwiatkowski, Alex Eben Meyer, Ben Sargent TEXAS DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION BOARD Lisa Blue, Melissa Jones, Susan Longley, Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Gilberto Ocanas, Jesse Oliver, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, Geronimo Rodriguez, Sharron Rush, Kelly White, IN MEMORIAM Molly Ivins, 1944-2007, Bob Eckhardt, 1913-2001, Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995, Frankie Carter Randolph, 1894-1972 entire contents copyrighted 2009, is published biweekly except during April, June, October and December, when there is a 4-week break between fax Email [email protected] , texasobserver.org . Periodicals Postage paid in Austin, TX, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER Send address changes to: The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin TX 78701. Subscriptions: yr $32, 2 yr $59, 3 yr $84. Students $20. Foreign, add $13 to domestic price. Back issues $5. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N Zeeb Rd, 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. Investigative reporting is supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute. Books & the Culture is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Arij , OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE Soros routhlat:hh: Netveefk Tee. Commission on the Arts \(9. Lie 4 , qty i=! 1:111P k ej f, .211, 141. DIALOGUE FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS This story about a prison riot \(“The the most important issue in the immigration debate. Regardless of which side you take on immigration issues, what often gets lost in the argument is that these immigration detainees are human beings. As a country we need to respect that. If compassion and respect for human rights are values we preach, why do we turn our backs when these are absent in our own country? Breaking the law by entering illegally is a problem. No one denies that, but in detaining these individuals, we also take responsibility for them. As this story illustrates, we are miserably failing in that regard. A. Devan Posted at texasobserver.org The criminals are running the institution to the detriment of the “inmates.” The roles need to be reversed, and the neckties should be behind the bars. Bob Higgins Posted at texasobserver.org The government has a choice in the matters of these folks who are ill; it’s called prosecutorial discretion. They don’t have to spend taxpayer money to provide medical care. They can release these nonviolent folks to seek care on the outside. It’s criminal to hold them in a place that cannot meet their medical needs. Nancy Kuznetsov Posted at texasobserver.org This is the biggest pile of B.S. I have read in a while. I live [in Reeves County] but don’t work at the prison. I think your article was very liberal and slanted. I’ll just keep the name of your rag so that I never waste my time reading any more articles from you again. Kelly Davis Posted at texasobserver.org DUTCH CARE? Recently I was in Amsterdam, and their citizens were eager to discuss our health care reform headlines \(“Public own health care system and its low cost that Americans might choose a public option, citing specific examples from Britain and Canada. The key is for all people to have health insurance and for the government to highly regulate prices. Camille Renshaw Posted at texasobserver.org Most of the people I know without health insurance will be penalized by the Senate plan. They do not have health insurance because they can’t afford it. Now they will be fined because they can’t afford it. How did this become the Democratic position? In my case \(currently underemployed by someone who doesn’t offer health subsidies will make health insurance affordable. Now about that supposedly Dutch health care: No Republican or private insurance company in the United States would accept it or call it anything but socialism. Gary Denton Posted at texasobserver.org A QUESTION OF INNOCENCE A person has one life to live. To be locked up in prison falsely accused of committing a crime is probably one of the most horrific things I can think of my mind, the three appeals court judges are just as guilty as arson investigators Torres and Selvera of keeping an innocent man in prison. Rob Greitens Posted at texasobserver.org I work with a law enforcement agency. I see people who are coerced into saying and doing things by officers. I try to discourage my law enforcement co-workers from using such tactics. Some will never cease; too bad, we all will suffer when this happens! Joe Roy Posted at texasobserver.org OCTOBER 30, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 3