ustxtxb_obs_2010_04_16_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES SINCE 1954 OBSERVER IALOGUE You HAVE SOMEONE WHO NEEDS TO REGISTER TO BECOME a US citizen, who forgets to do it or something. Then this same person serves two years in prison on drug charges. Obviously he has priors because on the East Coast you need several run-ins before you don’t just get probation. Now lets see, here is a several time felon, too forgetful or careless to apply to be a citizen, about to be deported and you expect me to read further about his sorry plight? The Observer in general neglects to give the full background on a person or event, for whatever reason, and puts its credibility in question before the story even begins. I wanted to continue with the story since I have visited the Port Isabel facility, but figured it wouldn’t be worthwhile since some facts were being hidden up-front. Alan Hebzynski POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG REPORTING LIKE THIS KEEPS THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE folly and lack of accountability in our current system. The “law and order” advocates have been selling us an approach for almost two decades to regulating immigration that has given us a lot less law and a lot less order. This article adds to the drum-beat for immigration reform. Douglas Rivlin POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG Marxism’s Brown Bear TEARS FREELY FLOWING, FROM LAUGHING AND FROM THE tragedy of the underlying issue of the Texas State Board of Education haplessly banning Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? \(“High Marx vorite books. I’m afraid I may have already turned him into a Red. Help me! Juan Alban POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG As A LONG-TIME STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION WATCHER, I have often stated that the SBOE should be abolished. At least start by taking away its power to administer the $23 billion Permanent School Fund, choose textbooks, revise textbook content, revise curriculum standards, etc. Soon it won’t have anything to do and that would be best. Steven Schafersman MIDLAND To THINK OF ALL THE TIMES, AS A MONTESSORI TEACHER, that I was unknowingly filling the impressionable minds of mere toddlers with Marxist propaganda. I Mia Pfleging POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG Now I KNOW THE FLAVOR OF POISON I WAS FEEDING kids in my weekly use of Brown Bear in a classroom of toddlers. But this cliffhanger leaves me wanting more! What am I really teaching when I read Goodnight Moon? Caroline Heaton POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG Perry’s Slush IT APPEARS THAT PERRY HAS USED HIS YEARS IN OFFICE to “work” the system to make sure that the Texas Enterprise Fund led to political donations \(“Slush from training his office staff to become bigtime lob byists, to appointing commission heads who cozy up with the companies they are supposed to be regulat ing, shows that he is all about taking care of the Bigs, and the Bigs’ are taking care of him. John Johnson POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG Sound Off editors@texasobserver org VOLUME 102, NO. 7 FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger EDITOR Bob Moser MANAGING EDITOR Chris Tomlinson ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Mann CULTURE EDITOR Michael May INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Melissa del Bosque STAFF WRITER Forrest Wilder ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Julia Austin CIRCULATION/OFFICE MANAGER Candace Carpenter ART DIRECTION Em Dash LLC MARKETING ASSISTANT Jaime Kilpatrick WEBMASTER Shane Pearson COPY EDITOR Rusty Todd POETRY EDITOR Naomi Shihab Nye INTERNS Laura Burke, Robert Green, Lara Haase, Hudson Lockett, Maddie Pelan, Jen Reel CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Emily DePrang, Lou Dubose, James K. Galbraith, Steven G. Kellman, Joe R. Lansdale, Robert Leleux, James E. McWilliams, Char Miller, Bill Minutaglio, Ruth Pennebaker, Josh Rosenblatt, Kevin Sieff, Brad Tyer, Andrew Wheat CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jana Birchum, Alan Pogue, Steve Satterwhite CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Michael Krone, Alex Eben Meyer, Ben Sargent TEXAS DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION BOARD Lisa Blue, Carlton Carl, Melissa Jones, Susan Longley, Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Gilberto Ocatias, Jesse Oliver, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, Geronimo Rodriguez, Sharron Rush, Kelly White, OUR MISSION We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the foundation of democracy. We will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. Immigrant Warehousing Thank you for this very accurate and well-researched article about immigrant learn about the realities of the horrible conditions in immigration detention centers across the country, and of the system’s excesses in spending and abuse. And thank you for providing the voices of detainees. These are human beings with equal rights and our news media and xenophobic culture too often neglect this fact. Excellent journalism. Tina Shull POSTED AT TEXASOBSERVER.ORG APRIL 16, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 1