JUNE 30, 2006 $2.25 OPENING THE EYES OF TEXAS FOR FIFTY ONE YEARS

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The High Costs of Electricity Deregulation by FOHREST WILDER JUNE 30, 2006 TheTexas Observer Dialogue

FEATURES FEAR AND LOATHING The fear and loathing in San Antonio article ["Fear and Loathing in San Antonio:

OVERRATED 6 Republicans get riled up over immigration and taxes at their state convention," Deregulation was supposed to lower June 16] appeared to originate more from the author of the article, rather than Texans' electric bills. Instead, rates are from those Americans about whom he wrote, who are interested in seeing the through the roof laws of the United States and the laws of Texas upheld. I thought we had all the by Forrest Wilder left-wing wackos out here on the left coast. I'm encouraged to know that there's diversity in Texas. Yee Haw! THE FIGHT FOR RELEVANCE 10 Len Turner Democrats look for signs of hope at San Jose, CA their state convention. by Dave Mann

FRAGMENTS OF ENGLISH 18 DEPARTMENT OF BACK - PATTING Texas has never been monolingual, and it never will be. We're proud to announce that Dave Mann's September 23, 2005, story about by Michael Erard nursing home abuse, "A Death in McAllen," was awarded the first prize for Investigative Reporting by the Association of Alternative Newsweeldies at the AAN annual convention earlier this month. Dave also received an DEPARTMENTS Honorable Mention in the category "News Story Long Form" for his March 18, 2005, story "Getting Plucked" about the poultry farm business. DIALOGUE 2 Contributing writer Andrew Wheat received third place for political columns EDITORIAL 3 ("A Homeowner Nails Bob Perry," May 13, 2005; "Muckraker Katrina;' Ah - ha! October 7, 2005; and "Delay's Beautiful Laundrette;' October 21, 2005).

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 4 Also, congratulations to longtime Observer contributor Steven G. Kellman, LAS AMERICAS 12 who received first prize in Arts Criticism for film reviews in The San Déjà vu in the D.F. Antonio Current. by John Ross

MOLLY IVINS 14 Eye Don't Think So A SITE TO BEHOLD

JIM HIGHTOWER 15 Spy Kids Too It's here! We've officially launched our new Web site at texasobserver.org . The address is the same, but we've improved our online ordering system and added new "Events" and "About Us" sections. Our revamped site is BOOKS & CULTURE accessible to people with visual and mobility impairments—something that few publications are able to say. POETRY 21 The Observer blog is still a work in progress. But meanwhile, we hope you by Emily Winakur enjoy the additional Molly Ivins columns available on our Web site Our continued thanks to Bryan Robison of GSD&M in Austin for his THE METAMORPHOSIS OF 22 IRWIN TANG ongoing help with the new site by Sofia Resnick

OLD KING COAL 24 by James E. McWilliams DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

AFTERWORD 31 Our apologies to poet Ute Carson, whose poetry was published in our June Save Family Farms, Save America 2 issue. In her biographical note, we incorrectly identified the title of her by Willie Nelson novel, Colt Tailing. Colt Tailing is available at BookPeople in Austin. Cover design by Matt Omohundro; cover photo by Roberto Adrian

2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 EDITORIAL Ah-ha!

ere at the Observer we the authority to ask people about their Whew. Got that? Enough excitement don't like to say, "I immigration status. (Houston Chronicle, to keep the pundits busy all summer as told you so." Instead June 21). A routine vote to renew the they ponder the split between President we prefer to say, "You 1965 Voting Rights Act was canceled Bush and his "base." Time to whip up read it here first." in the U.S. House of Representatives even more anti-immigrant hysteria out In our May 5 issue, "after rank-and-file Republicans revolted in the provinces—a nice distraction to ForrestH Wilder wrote, "For the savvy over provisions that require bilingual keep the voters from thinking about investor looking for a growth industry, ballots in many places and continued Iraq and a hard place. Should be really South Texas offers a sure thing... More federal oversight of voting practices in interesting. immigrants than ever are being appre- Southern states." (The Washington Post, But we're getting one of those "Ah-ha!" hended. That means that the federal June 22). That vote, said to have "sur- moments again. We suspect you won't government needs more detention cen- prised Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., be hearing much about historical and ters?' Maybe that's why we were struck and his lieutenants?' came in the wake economic forces that drive migration. with one of those "Ah-ha!" moments of Hastert's own surprise announce- Or the truly Byzantine aspects of our on June 21, when we read an AP story ment that GOP House members would truly Byzantine law. To borrow a phrase indicating that "ground has been bro- hold an unusual series of summer hear- from immigration lawyer and occasional ken for a 2,000-bed detention center to ings around the nation on immigration. Observer contributor Dan Kowalski, the help end the 'catch and release' policy (AP, June 21). law "allocates the same number of green for non-Mexican legal immigrants." The The hearings; Hastert said, are intend- cards per year for Mexico as it does for location? Raymondville, Texas. ed to educated the public about the every other country, from the smallest That AP story was one of several we Senate's bipartisan immigration bill. to the largest, from Liechtenstein to collected in a 48-hour period. (Must With all its flaws, the Senate bill had China: 25,620." have been the excess ozone or the sum- called for a gradual legalization pro- In other words, if a U.S. citizen peti- mer solstice.) Among the others: The gram. The House prefers its own dra- tions for a green card for her sister in library board of a suburban Georgia conian bill. Or as party fundamentalists Mexico, she has a 40-year wait: Yes, county where one in six residents is repeatedly said during the Texas GOP amigos. Forty years. (Austin American- Latino "has axed money budgeted to convention earlier this month, "No Statesman, June 13). buy more 'adult Spanish fiction'—books amnesty! No how. No way." Meanwhile, But ni modo. Don't bother us with like the latest John Grisham thriller in U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania the facts. Let the dueling hearings begin. Spanish or a Marcela Serrano novel in its Republican who chairs the Senate (Check out Laredo, for example, on July original language." (Gwinnett Daily Post, Judiciary Committee, announced he 7). And God help those high school June 21). In Houston a new group called would hold his own hearings early next students in Georgia who might want to Protect Our Citizens wants a ballot month "to ensure all issues are fully read a book by Chilean novelist Marcela referendum that would give city police aired." Serrano in the original Spanish. ■

THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 98, NO. 13 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954

Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger James McWilliams, Char Miller, USPS 541300), entire contents copy- rates on request. Microfilm available Executive Editor Jake Bernstein Debbie Nathan, Karen Olsson, righted ©2006, is published biweekly from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Editor Barbara Belejack John Ross, Andrew Wheat except during January and August Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Associate Editor Dave Mann Staff Photographers when there is a 4 week break between Publisher Charlotte McCann issues (24 issues per year) by the Indexes The Texas Observer is indexed Associate Publisher Julia Austin Alan Pogue, Jana Birchum, in Access: The Supplementary Index Steve Satterwhite Texas Democracy Foundation, a 501(c)3 Circulation Manager Lara George non-profit foundation, 307 West 7th to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for Art Director/Webmaster Matt Omohundro Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Telephone the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas Contributing Artists Observer Index. Poetry Editor Naomi Shihab Nye Sam Hurt, Kevin Kreneck, (512) 477-0746, Toll-Free (800) 939-6620 Copy Editors Rusty Todd, Laurie Baker Michael Krone, Gary Oliver, E-mail [email protected] Staff Writers Forrest Wilder, Tim Eaton Doug Potter POSTMASTER Send address changes World Wide Web DownHome page to: The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th Editorial Interns Rachel Mehendale, Editorial Advisory Board D'Ann Johnson, Jim Marston, Gilberto www.texasobserver.org. Periodicals Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Victoria Sanchez, Kelly Sharp, David Anderson, Chandler Davidson, Ocanas, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Postage paid at Austin, TX and at addi- Richard Whittaker Dave Denison, Sissy Farenthold, Rips, Sharron Rush, Ronnie Dugger tional mailing offices. (Emeritus) Books & the Culture is Lawrence Goodwyn, Jim Hightower, Subscriptions One year $32, two years CotturAl Aos Contributing Writers funded in part by the City Divbtioe Nate Blakeslee, Gabriela Bocagrande, Kaye Northcott, Susan Reid In Memoriam $59, three years $84. Full-time stu- of Austin through the Robert Bryce, Michael Erard, Bob Eckhardt, 1913-2001, dents $18 per year; add $13 per year Cultural Arts Division and for foreign subs. Back issues $3 pre- James K. Galbraith, Dagoberto Gilb, Texas Democracy Foundation Board Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995 by a grant from the Texas 41. Steven G. Kellman, Lucius Lomax, Lou Dubose, Molly Ivins, Susan Hays, The Texas Observer (ISSN 0040-4519/ paid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk Commission on the Arts. It

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 POLITICAL a TELLIGE Marching Out of Step

SYMBOLIC EFFORTS On the first the hanging tree mural from the Valdez rarely was mentioned around floor of the McLennan County Court- courthouse. His fellow commissioners Laredo as the front-runner. But in the house in Waco, a series of murals paint- refused. Gibson backed off a bit and Democratic primary, Valdez out-cam- ed 30 years ago depicts scenes from offered a motion to display the anti- paigned the wealthy incumbent county the area's past. One painting in particu- lynching resolution next to the mural. judge, a popular county commissioner, lar has divided the community. It shows His four white colleagues outvoted and a rich rancher-oilman. Valdez's awe- a noose hanging from a tree. him again. Gibson won't let the matter shucks demeanor took a lot of people Given the long and gruesome his- drop. He's raised the issue at every in Webb County by surprise, especially tory of lynching in the Waco area, not commission meeting since May. At the the candidates who finished behind everyone is so enamored with cele- hearing on June 13, according to the him. Ultimately, it was Valdez's nice- brating the image. In the first half of Waco Herald-Tribune, Gibson treated his guy image that helped him to beat the the last century, Central Texas often colleagues to a 45-minute presentation reigning County Judge "King Louie", experienced spasms of racial violence. on the history of lynching, including the whose family name is printed on schools No incident is more famous than the origin of the term (it apparently started and streets in Laredo. Valdez's demure 1916 lynching of a 17-year-old black with one Charles Lynch, known for his style also contributed to his besting of farmhand named Jesse Washington. He brutality toward American turncoats the other challengers, namely Carlos had been found guilty of murdering a during the Revolutionary War). Other "C.Y." Benavides III, who oversees family white woman and, minutes after the commissioners are growing weary. "It's oil and ranching interests, and County verdict, was dragged from the court- time to move on," Commissioner Joe Commissioner Judy Gutierrez, a harsh house by a white mob. They beat him, Mashek told the Herald-Tribune after Bruni critic. castrated him, and, before a crowd of the meeting. "Commissioner Gibson In the May 23 runoff, Valdez again some 15,000 that included the sheriff needs to realize that I'm tired of hearing surprised a lot of people in Webb County and mayor in the town square, hung about the noose... We spent a lot of time when he took a landslide 62 percent of him. The murder has become known working on that resolution and trying to the vote, crushing Benavides, who had as the "Waco Horror" and has received heal the wounds and trying to unite us, papered Laredo with his image. With renewed attention of late. It was the and all he has done since then is try to no Republican opposition, Valdez has subject of the recently published The divide us. I don't understand it." secured the county's top job and will First Waco Horror by historian Patricia Gibson, meanwhile, told the newspa- take office in January. Bernstein (see "My Ancestor's Violence," per that he's considering a class-action The runoff against Benavides was January 13, 2006). lawsuit to force the county to post the delayed from April until May because Recently the community has been resolution beside the noose painting. of a lawsuit by Bruni, who alleged cam- debating how to atone for its history "That might be where we go with it," he paign fraud. Though the suit was even- of racial violence. During the past few said. "This is a serious matter to me and tually dropped, Valdez says it served to months, Waco and McLennan County other folks in regard to that symbol." re-energize his campaign workers. He leaders have haggled about what, if adds that his army of volunteers proved any, official action to take. After much NICE GUY FINISHES FIRST He to be more dedicated than his oppo- negotiation, the five-member county didn't appreciate being called an under- nents' paid staff. "It makes a difference commission approved a resolution in dog, but that was really the best way when they are helping you because the late May that "condemns"—though to describe Webb County's amicable want to, instead of being paid," Valdez doesn't apologize for—the lynchings Justice of the Peace Danny Valdez, says. "We didn't sit back at all. We and "despicable acts of violence." who recently won a runoff election worked double-hard." Many leaders in Waco had opposed an to become the next county judge in Valdez says when he takes office apology, arguing that they didn't want Webb County. (See "The Fall of King in January, he'll work to rebuild some to apologize for acts they didn't take Louie," March 24, 2006.) He lacked the things in a community that's endured a part in. money, the charisma, and the power rocky campaign season—not the least of One of the forces behind the of his three sometimes-flashy oppo- which will be a sense of stability. resolution's passage was Lester Gibson, nents, but Valdez's daily block-walking the county commission's lone African and glad-handing paid off. He crushed SERGEANT, GET A HALL PERMIT American. After the resolution passed, his opponents in the primary and run- When Congress passed the No Child Gibson set his sights on removing off elections. Left Behind Act, it added a particularly

4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 onerous, little-known provision that badge, and limit their recruiting to of Youth Activists of Austin helped requires high schools to release student designated areas. Overzealous military organize teach-ins, benefit concerts, names to the military. The Pentagon recruiters (and the principals who have and vigils outside AISD headquarters has used such sensitive information been happy to accommodate them) that generated media coverage. They as grades, ethnicity, Social Security are not to contact students who have also met with school board trustees. numbers, cell phone numbers, and e- made it clear that they don't want to "There were some points we wish mail addresses to create a database be contacted. Parents will be notified we had gotten, like the hardware on of 30 million young people. Although of their right to ask the school not to campus," Kelly told the Observer. (The they can't change federal law, a group release their children's names. School students had sought to ban military of activist students has managed district trustees have also called for hardware, military vehicles, and military to convince the Austin Independent information about alternatives to recreational equipment, i.e., Army School District to place limits on military the military to be readily available to Cinema vans, Humvees, helicopters, recruiting at AISD campuses. The new students. video game systems and rock-climbing guidelines, which take effect in the fall, One student who worked on the equipment.) Nevertheless, she said, "It's will establish uniform (so to speak) rules campaign to turn around school a good policy for this state. Something for on-campus recruiting. From now on, district policy was Kate Kelly, an like this has never been implemented recruiters will have to check in at the entering sophomore at Austin's LBJ in any high school in Texas--much less principal's office, pick up a visitor's High School. Kelly and other members —continued on page 28

LooR, TIIEYVE PECoRATED FOR VIE ELEcTioN ISEASoNT

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5 FEATURE Overrated Deregulation was supposed to lower Texans' electric bills. Instead, rates are through the roof.

BY FORREST WILDER

oris Marshall is perilously close to living state director for advocacy. beyond her means. Each month this 63- Some lawmakers and consumer advocates contend that the year-old African-American woman who primary accomplishment of deregulation so far has been to owns a small house in Satin—a spot on the boost power companies' profits. Meanwhile, true believers in road near Waco—stretches her $514 Social market economics say Texas needs more time to see the ben- Security check to pay for food, 10 prescrip- efits of economic competition. The one thing both sides agree tionICI drugs, gas for her aging Cadillac, and her phone and util- on is that Texas is in deep: The Legislature has taken major ity bills. She can manage—barely—but for how much longer steps toward deregulating and restructuring the electricity she doesn't know. "Only by the grace of God do I make it," industry, and there may be no turning back. says Marshall as she sits in her living room beneath a painting of a dark-skinned Jesus. In her lap is a stack of bills from her lectricity deregulation in Texas began as little more electric provider, TXU Energy. Marshall has watched her elec- than a gleam in Jeffrey Skilling's eye. Skilling and tric bill double over the last four-and-a-half years—from $70 other Enron Corp. executives, thinking big in the to $140 for a typical month—as TXU has raised its rate seven E 1990s, wanted a piece of the $19 billion Texas elec- times. "That's not good for no one that's on a fixed income," tricity industry. The public, as even proponents will admit, Marshall says. "You're not going to get lights for free, I know, had little interest in radically altering a system that provided but on the same token you shouldn't have to decide whether low rates and generally reliable service. But the Legislature to buy medicine or lights." moved toward deregulation in 1995, setting up competition Marshall is one of several million Texans unfortunate among power generators at the wholesale level. Retail com- enough to live in a part of the state where a grand experiment petition was a much bigger gamble. To convince lawmakers with deregulation of the electricity industry is well under way. and the public of deregulation's merits, Enron and its allies Since 2002, the year some electricity markets were opened promised that restructuring would offer Texans lower prices to competition, electric bills in these areas have risen 70 and "consumer choice." In 1996 Skilling (now facing 185 to 110 percent. Consumers with average-sized homes have years in prison for misdeeds at Enron) told the Fort Worth begun reporting monthly bills as high as $500 in Houston, Star-Telegram that the statewide average of about 6 cents Dallas-Fort Worth, and South Texas. At the same time, state per kilowatt hour was an "absurdly high" price for electric- assistance programs for low-income consumers have been ity. "There's nothing in this market that suggests we won't see eliminated. "So many seniors are in survival mode," says Lue the same savings of 30 to 40 percent we've already seen else- Taff, elder support director at the Senior Source in Dallas, where," he said. Today the state average is almost 12 cents per which provides a variety of services to the elderly. "They call kwh—and generally much higher in the deregulated areas. all of the agencies that they can, they ask for help from family The Enron-inspired dreams were entrancing, though, to the and friends, they eat less food, they may not buy their medi- Texas Legislature in 1999. That year, lawmakers approved a cations, and then they may hop around from one [electric] deregulation plan with bipartisan support. The new law, called company to another:' the Texas Electric Choice Act (Senate Bill 7), was designed to Taff and other social-service workers report that requests turn the regulated system on its head. Instead of regulators for help with electricity bills have been climbing for the past setting the rates of vertically integrated utility monopolies, few years. So far this year, the 2-1-1 hotline, which connects prices would be set by market forces. To accomplish this, SB people with nonprofit groups and government agencies, has 7 forced the privately owned utility companies to break up received over 126,000 calls for electric-bill assistance in Texas, (or "unbundle") into three components. The vast majority of 83 percent of the total call volume. While some cities and the 82 city-owned utilities and 74 rural electric cooperatives, utilities maintain funds for bill assistance, the agencies don't which together serve 6 million Texan customers, chose to opt have enough money to meet the demand each month. They out of retail competition. Other areas with investor-owned are being asked to fill in for the state, which until September utilities—El Paso, East Texas, and the Panhandle—were not of last year offered a 10 to 20 percent discount to some generally subject to deregulation. 400,000 low-income households. "The social safety net has For everyone else, it was a new day. Companies could get turned into a cargo net," says Joe Sanchez, AARP's associate into the power generation business, or into transmission and

6 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 offering electric plans other than the price-to-beat. And on January 1, 2007, the price-to-beat will be lifted, and full-blown competition will commence. The government's role will be limited to coordinating the electric grid and polic- ing the unfettered market. At first, economists, lawmakers, and industry reps hailed Texas as the model for deregulation. Even in 2001, the year before retail competition began, when California's deregulation experiment suffered from blackouts, price goug- ing, and illegal trading activities by Enron and others, deregulation pro- ponents touted the safeguards in the Texas model. But in the aftermath of California's disaster and Enron's 2001 collapse, many states hit the brakes on deregulation. Thirty-four states have scrapped or delayed retail deregulation or have confined it to large business Houston consumers protest high rates. photo courtesy of ACORN customers, according to a 2005 study by energy industry consultants. "Now as distribution of electricity, or the retail and marketing end the fiction of deregulation is exposed, more are figuring out of things. (The transmission and distribution of electricity, how to get out of it," says Mark Cooper, director of research considered a "natural monopoly," remained regulated, while with the Consumer Federation of America. Texas, he notes, is the production of power and the retailing to consumers was "hard-core" and represents perhaps the last stand of deregula- opened to competition.) The old utilities could split into tion in the United States. separate companies or restructure as a holding corpora- With that in mind, the free-marketers have sought to fight tion with distinct businesses. To get the process going, the off the naysayers. In April, Jim Burke, the CEO of TXU Energy, Legislature forced the largest utilities (Houston Industries, the largest power company in the state with over 2 million now Reliant Energy Inc., and Texas Utilities, now TXU), to sell customers, told lawmakers gathered to discuss electricity off enough power plants to reduce their market share to 20 issues the day after rolling blackouts across the state, "Texas percent of generating capacity. At the same time, companies has by far the most successful market in the country and were allowed to recoup some $9 billion in unpaid debts tied [is] arguably on its way to the most successful market in the up mainly in the state's two nuclear power plants. Consumers world." Burke cited figures that show 30 percent of Texans and industrial power users are still paying for these costs have switched to an alternative provider. He spoke of com- through a monthly charge on each bill. petitive alternatives to the price-to-beat in the most expensive On January 1, 2002, after a three-year rate freeze, the ini- deregulated regions and of innovative electricity plans. He tial round of retail competition began with new companies noted that there are a dozen retailers in some service areas, far vying to win customers. Reliant could sell electricity in TXU's more than any other comparable state. Burke also acknowl- backyard and vice-versa; a start-up company with $100,000 in edged the elephant in the room: "However, there have been capital and not a single power plant could try to snatch mar- a lot of challenges. Higher prices have cast doubt on whether ket share from the big boys. To give the entrants a leg up, SB 7 this is a successful model." makes the successors of the former monopoly utilities—First Choice Power, CPL, WTU, Reliant, and TXU—subject to ep. Sylvester Turner, a Houston Democrat, was a continued limited regulation. They are required to offer an supporter of deregulation in 1999, but he is now above-market "price-to-beat" rate to individuals within their one of the system's fiercest critics. Hailing from a regional service areas who have not switched to an alternative R solidly Democratic district in Houston where 20 provider. Twice a year, the retail companies offering the rate percent of the people live in poverty, Turner understands how can ask the Public Utility Commission, the state's regulatory a penny-ante issue for affluent people like the monthly elec- agency, for an adjustment to the price-to-beat based solely tricity bill can be of paramount concern to households surviv- on the price of natural gas. (At the time SB 7 was drafted ing paycheck to paycheck. "The reality is that Texas used to natural gas was cheap and favored for being relatively clean- be a low-cost energy state," he says. "Not only do we [now] burning.) In 2005, the incumbents were allowed to begin exceed the national average, we exceed what people are pay-

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 7 ing in regulated areas, what people are paying in co-ops, city-owned utilities." In April Turner, a 18-year veteran of the Legislature who mixes a lawyer's intellectual precision with preacherly appeals to the common good, orga- nized a town hall meeting in Houston to discuss electricity rates. Houston Mayor Bill White attended, as well as two U.S. congressmen, representatives from the electric companies, and con- sumer advocates. The turnout surprised

Turner: 700 people—frustrated and to ho angry—came from all over the city to P complain about high rates and confus- House ing choices. "No matter what the PUC Texas

and the industry is trying to convince to: ho

people, that all is well and this is the P best thing going and you're really get- ting a good deal," Turner said, "I'm sorry, I think the people beg to differ?' During the recent special session called by Gov. Rick Perry to draft a school finance plan, Turner proposed Rep. Sylvester Turner D-Houston) addressing the House on May 12, 2006. legislation to give rate relief to electric- ity consumers. One bill would have restored the $400 million "Lite-Up Texas" program, created Utility Counsel, the government's consumer watchdog for as part of SB 7, to its original purpose—providing a 10 to 20 utility matters, has calculated that the supposedly competi- percent subsidy to low-income electric customers. (Although tive rates have dropped less than 3 percent statewide since the the state continues to collect fees from customers' bills for beginning of the year. the fund, the Legislature transferred the money into general The reason, Turner says, is that "it's to [the competitors'] revenue in 2005.) Turner also proposed forcing the former advantage for the market to be artificially higher than it monopoly utilities to adjust their price-to-beat rates down- should." This way, the companies can still offer a small dis- ward to reflect lower natural gas prices, which he said would count under the price-to-beat while keeping an ample profit save the average consumer an estimated $20 to $25 a month. margin. In fact, while competitive rates have not climbed (With 1.7 million TXU customers on price-to-beat, the total as steeply as the price-to-beat, an Observer analysis of PUC savings for these households each month would be about $40 data shows that the average competitive offer in all five major million at current natural gas prices.) Since the price-to-beat service areas has jumped considerably. The increases range goes away in January, Turner was pitching the bill as "summer from a low of 57 percent (First Choice Power area) to 105 relief," as well as a way to get prices on track for full-blown percent (WTU area) between January 2002 and April 2006. competition next year. Competitive companies within the TXU service area came Turner says customers are paying "artificially inflated prices" in at a 77 percent increase, and the Reliant area power com- because the companies adjusted their rates upward, with PUC panies, 80 percent. CPL area competitive prices jumped 79 approval, after hurricanes Katrina and Rita when natural gas percent. If this is a competitive market, consumers can be prices soared. Since then, natural gas has come down about 25 excused for being the last to know; it appears that competi- percent, but the price-to-beat electricity rates have remained tors followed closely on the heels of the price-to-beat as the the same. "It is certainly accurate to say that the specific price- price of turning on a light, switching on the A/C, or watching to-beat, how it stands now, is inflated over the market price television became ever-more expensive. as it stands now," said Terry Hadley, PUC spokesman. But, he Still, the PUC plays up the 30 percent of people who have added, incumbent companies phased in their price-to-beat moved off the PTB and captured some savings. "Well over a rates so as to minimize impact and are offering discounts to million people have switched to a competitive provider and customers who wish to switch off the price-to-beat. apparently are satisfied with that," said Hadley. But, he added, But under the market design, inflated power prices should "Some people would say that's not enough." afford the other companies the opportunity to beat up on Turner's bills died in committee, a surprise to him since he the incumbents. Oddly, the competitors' rates have hardly had met with the governor the week before to sound him out budged. Tim Morstad, an analyst with the Office of Public on adding the bills to the agenda. Perry, Turner says, seemed

8 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 amenable. But in the last days of the session, Perry OK'd an on people's credit history, confusing offers, misleading terms item from the industry's wish list—"securitization" of bonds of service, companies going bankrupt or abandoning the retail to pay for hurricane-related costs to the utilities—but not market, and lack of trust between new electric companies and Turner's bills. The next day, May 12, Turner took to the House consumers. "We think electricity is headed down the same floor to scorn the body for doing "more for the electricity path we've seen mortgages and other financial institutions people than we'll do for mom and dad working two and three headed," says Virginia Goldman, the head ACORN organizer jobs just to keep their electricity on." in Houston. "The people with the worst credit and the least To Turner's chagrin, the PUC had joined the industry in amount of money are going to end up paying the most and vigorously attacking Turner's price-to-beat-adjustment bill having to go with the electric providers that have the most as government tampering with the market. PUC Chairman predatory rates." Paul Hudson—who only months earlier had floated a simi- There is evidence that this tiered system is already in play. lar proposal at the PUC that was rejected by the other two One company operating in the Houston area, Affordable commissioners—told Turner, "There are some customers in Power Plan LP, sells prepaid electricity plans from conve- the marketplace today that I believe are paying more than nience stores. At a rate of 17 cents per kwh, Affordable is the they should, and I invite those customers to switch [provid- least affordable in the entire Reliant service area, but Kamram ers]." Hudson and deregulation backers have been flogging Visani, the company's president, says it charges a "premium" a PUC study commissioned by Turner that concludes that a for not requiring a deposit or credit check. "We have a lot of consumer in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas could customers who have been denied services by other companies have saved $1,450 and $800, respectively, over four years by because of bad credit or no credit," says Visani. (The PUC switching to the lowest-cost provider each year versus what staff is recommending $446,000 in fines against Affordable the study's authors predict the consumer would have paid for allegedly illegally disconnecting customers; Visani says the in a regulated environment. "It's simply unacceptable that charges are baseless.) so many customers are seemingly unwilling to choose a new In the end, many consumers say they don't see any sub- electricity provider in the face of new cost savings," Hudson stantial savings from the dozen or so competing companies told Turner. in their area. At least in the TXU service area, this suspicion seems to be borne out by fact. he PUC study "looks at what may have happened," This spring, there were 13 companies offering 30 plans says Carol Biedrzycki, executive director of Texas to Marshall in the TXU service area, according to the Ratepayers' Organization to Save Electricity, or Texas PUC's online clearinghouse, powertochoose.com . The cheap- T ROSE. "It doesn't look at what did happen. And it's est offer-11 percent off the price-to-beat rate of 15 cents blaming the consumer for everything wrong with this mar- per kwh—was StarLight Electric's month-to-month "Star ket." Turner, who has dismissed the PUC study as a white- Treatment Plan." However, the fine print contains some sur- wash, worries that lawmakers are naive about actual con- prises. The listed price of $134 per month can be adjusted sumer behavior. "The reality is, every year people are not monthly to "reflect changes in the cost of fuel used to gener- going to switch," Turner says. Low-income individuals tend ate electricity," according to the company's "electricity facts to "stay with the incumbent for many reasons—the trust label." And for each month a consumer uses less than 1,000 factor, the lack-of-trust factor with other providers, they've kwh—say, 999 kwh—a "meter fee" of $10 is imposed, at been bombarded so much, they're working two, three jobs, which point it is more expensive than the price-to-beat. Like so they stay." most companies, StarLight researches an applicant's credit For her part, Doris Marshall hasn't received a single solici- history and can require a deposit ($350 in this case) if the tation from a TXU competitor in the mail but has looked person's credit is found "unsatisfactory." into other companies on her own. She is not impressed. "I'm Other deals rely on an almost comically complex formula skeptical about people I've never heard of and know nothing for setting rates. TXU offers a variable-rate service plan called about," she says. "I know TXU and Reliant." That attitude "Energy Market Tracker+" under which monthly rates fluctu- was also reflected at a May 30 rally at a Reliant shareholder ate based on the price of natural gas futures contracts on the meeting organized by the community action group ACORN. New York Mercantile Exchange. Consumers who have deep Protesters there, while criticizing Reliant, Houston's incum- knowledge of energy trading may wish to take a chance. But bent utility, for "overcharging," said they didn't trust other getting out of the two-year contract costs $200. "The average companies, especially in a power emergency. "With the hur- consumer is not equipped to make these complex decisions," ricane incident, you don't want to change companies," said says Sanchez. "If you get the wrong plan, you're locked into it Patricia Thompson, a Houston postal worker. She said that and can't get out of it." with a sister who depends on an oxygen respirator, "I can't Hadley, the PUC spokesperson, said the agency closely take the chance" of switching to an unknown provider. monitors the powertochoose Web site for violations of the "When consumers complain, they are often told they can rules, but acknowledged that some companies' electric plans save money if they shop around," says AARP's Sanchez. "But needed to be reviewed. He warned that if "something seems there are a number of barriers to that"—high deposits based —continued on page 16

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9 FEATURE The Fight for Relevance Democrats look for signs of hope at their state convention

BY DAVE MANN

f the Democratic Party of Texas supplied its delegates with a single take-home message at its recent con- vention, it was exemplified by the chorus of a '70s pop-rock song that blared several times in the con- vention hall—Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." The party die-hards heard that sentiment, or something likeI it, many times during the three-day gathering that began June 8 in Fort Worth. Seemingly every speaker at the various caucuses, workshops, and floor speeches urged the audience to "take back" and "reclaim" and "fight back." Gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell, in his keynote speech, observed that Texas Dems will soon "learn how to win again." Whether delegates are inclined to keep the faith probably depends on how far into the party's future they choose to look. Texas Democrats have many reasons, some of them evident at the convention, to feel optimistic about future election cycles. But in the immediate future—the next few months—the prospects aren't good, and you didn't have to look hard at the convention to see the bare patches of a party that, in the here and now, will likely remain far from power. There were no delegates at the convention from 98 counties, which is nearly 40 percent of the state's total of 254. The party Chris Bell is increasingly an urban one. While that trend bodes well for photo i y have Mann Democratic legislative, congressional, and judicial candidates in fast-growing urban areas, it's tough to win statewide with the party melting away in the countryside. tion rather miffed because she lost her speaking slot when Meanwhile, this year's slate of statewide hopefuls isn't the Saturday's program ran long.) The party ticket has fallen a most inspiring lot. Parked on a flatbed truck in front of the ways in prestige since the heady days of four years ago and the Fort Worth Convention Center was an old school bus, courte- buzz-generating—and ultimately disastrous—trio of Tony sy of the Democratic candidate for comptroller, bearing a sign Sanchez, Ron Kirk, and John Sharp. The lack of glitz shouldn't that read, "Rick, it's still broken?' It was meant as a comment be surprising. Most political observers view this election cycle on Gov. Rick Perry and the public school finance debate, but as Democrats' low ebb, at least in statewide races. There are the image of a broken down bus outside the Democratic con- more appealing Democratic contenders eyeing statewide vention with the banner "Fred Head for Comptroller" seemed office. They're presumably waiting for a more forgiving politi- to be saying more than intended. cal climate—perhaps as early as 2010—in which to run. Only the old-timers had likely heard of Head—a member Bell is the only one with even a shoot-the-moon chance of the famed "Dirty 30" group of legislators from the 1970s. of winning this year. So far he's run a well-organized and He hasn't held public office in 25 years. The party's delegates savvy campaign, evidenced by his trouncing of old-pro Bob probably knew Bell and Barbara Ann Radnofsky—who's Gammage in the March primary. For those reasons, Bell made a remarkable 400 campaign trips around the state in her received the convention's prime time slot: the last speaker on challenge to U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison—and David Van the convention's second night. His appearance was preceded Os, a former state Supreme Court candidate who's running by the usual trappings of a major campaign: the warm, per- for attorney general this time. But some delegates must have sonalize-the-candidate intro speech from his wife and a slick wondered who on earth was Maria Luisa Alvarado (lieuten- documentary-style video. But when the candidate took the ant governor) or Hank Gilbert (ag commissioner) or VaLinda stage, he was still just Chris Bell. He is tall and trim, with a Hathcox (land commissioner)? (Hathcox left the conven- fresh face and round wire-rim glasses. He looks like a lawyer

10 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 or a city councilman (he's an attorney and former Houston city councilman, and served a term in Congress). Bell is an earnest man with reasonable, well-thought-out policy posi- You didn't have to tions on important issues such as education, heath care, and stem-cell research. But he doesn't exactly exude charisma. Bell can be funny, though. He has a wonderful, deadpan look hard at the style and precise comedic timing, and he had the delegates— and even some reporters—laughing. After listing the state's many problems and poor national rankings in such areas as convention to see education funding, SAT scores, and children's health insur- ance, Bell offered, "When Rick Perry is forced to explain why Texas is last in so many categories, he just smiles into the the bare patches of camera and says, 'I'm proud of Texas, how about you?'" His Perry impersonation was spot on. Bell had to wait 30 seconds for the laughter to subside before delivering his kicker, "Well, Rick, we're proud of Texas, we just don't like what you're a party that, in the doing to it?' Bell also had one-liners for the state's comptroller and independent candidate for governor. "Someone once said that Carole Strayhorn is Rick Perry in a skirt. I, on the other here and now, will hand, see Rick Perry and Carole Strayhorn as two sleeves of the same empty suit. She is nothing more than a politician in search of a parade... We don't need a Carole-come-lately. We likely remain far need a leader?' For Bell to win, the theory goes, Perry, Strayhorn, and sing- er-author-independent candidate Kinky Friedman must split from power. the GOP and independent votes, while the large majority of Democrats push Bell into office with about 35 percent. To pull this off, Bell must generate a huge Democratic turnout and together on party unity. Meanwhile, there was little of the excite the faithful enough to prevent defections to Strayhorn public, petty sniping seen as recently as two years ago in or Kinky. The convention speech was an opportunity to keep Houston or the strained—and faux—collective happy face the partisans on his side, and Bell was certainly making his the party presented in 2002. And compared with this year's pitch. But his speech didn't seem to rev up the crowd. His factious, raucous GOP convention, the Democrats' gathering policy declarations about ending the "tyranny of the TAKS felt like a family reunion. test," about fostering an education "revolution" that raises That was perhaps the surest sign that the slow role-reversal teacher pay and appeals to a "new mainstream;' and about in Texas politics is finally complete: The Republicans, having increasing funding for health-care programs and stem-cell ascended to total control of state government, are struggling research all received enthusiastic applause. But Bell never to keep their activist base happy while trying to govern the roused delegates to their feet for ovations the way former state. The Democrats, meanwhile, have coalesced into a vocal, presidential candidate Wesley Clark—the early evening head- unified—for the most part—minority party. The turncoats liner—had a few hours before. "To win, all we need to do is purged from office for working too closely with the GOP stick together;' Bell said. Indeed, but he will need to energize leadership—most recently San Antonio Sen. Frank Madla the base more than he did at the convention to prevent the and Houston Rep. Al Edwards—were nowhere to be seen at serious Democratic campaign money (and later precious the convention. Instead, the most visible elected officials were Dem votes) from defecting to Strayhorn. the party's young, sharp, on-the-rise lawmakers who are often discussed among the chattering class as statewide prospects. evertheless, there were plenty of indications that State Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas and Rep. Marc Veasey of Democrats should feel good about the party's long- Fort Worth, two of the convention's co-chairs, and Rep. Mark term future. Chief among the positive signs was Strama of Austin were seemingly everywhere—hosting recep- N the party's apparent unity. Sure, there was a con- tions, stalking the halls, schmoozing with delegates. tentious race for the party's chairmanship—a tussle between When these and other future stars of the party are ready the moderate and progressive wings. West Texas attorney to run for statewide office, emerging Democratic majorities Boyd Richie, a centrist who's served as the temporary head of in the state's urban areas may be able to elect them. With the party since April, bested Austin liberal Glen Maxey, who many rural counties unrepresented, most of the convention's put on a spirited campaign befitting his reputation as one of nearly 5,000 delegates were big-city folks. Wherever you the state's best organizers. But even that fight appeared to turned, the diversity of the party was on display: Anglos end amicably with pledges from Maxey and Richie to work —continued on page 29

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 LAS AMERICAS Deja vu in the D.F. BY JOHN ROSS

riving in from the when Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the son of members of Cardenas' fledgling Party Mexico City airport, I Lazar° Cardenas, the nation's last leftist of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, asked the usual dumb president (1932-38), squared off against were killed in political violence. In 1991, questions. In his New a Harvard-trained neoliberal techno- the PRI and the conservative National York Times Magazine crat named Carlos Salinas. The contest Action Party, or PAN, voted to destroy piece of June 4, David pitted the revolutionary nationalism of the evidence and burned the ballots. RieffID had reported that airport taxi driv- the Mexican left against the Washington For many veterans of that terrible ers were being pressured not to vote for Consensus. time, the shadow of 1988 casts itself leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador As it turned out, Salinas and the then- ominously on the current election. The in the July 2 presidential election. Was ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, Federal Electoral Institute, the theoreti- this true? (PRI) at that time the longest-ruling cally nonpartisan entity that grew out of Hector, a 36-year-old business grad political dynasty in the world, stole the the debacle of 1988, again seems to be a from the National University who was election. Not long after that, NAFTA creature of the ruling party. This time forced to drive a cab for a living, told was on the agenda. On July 2, Lopez around, the ruling party is the PAN, and me that at his workplace, two drivers Obrador intends to reverse the tide the IFE has come down hard on Lopez had been threatened that they had to let loose 18 years ago. But in Mexico, Obrador while condoning Calderon's vote for right-wing candidate Felipe history is a closed loop; the same bone- dirty tricks. Calderon. "But no one is going for it?' headed mistakes and miscalculations Item: Last year IFE President Luis he said. "How can they do that? Isn't the are made over and over again, and what Carlos Ugalde forbade Lopez Obrador ballot supposed to be secret?" Before happened back then is apt to repeat from traveling to Los Angeles, where I could answer, he responded, "To me, itself. he had been invited by that city's first it's a lot like 1988, when they stole This will be my fifth presidential elec- Mexican mayor since 1842 to deliver the election from Cardenas. Like I said, tion here. But none has equaled the the Grito of Independence. According we're not going for it this time." In 1988 high drama of 1988, when Salinas and to Ugalde, the trip would have vio- Hector had been an 18-year-old student the PRI, blindsided by the arrogance of lated new laws against campaigning in about to enter the university. After the power, failed to see Cardenas coming the United States. But PAN President election, he joined his older brothers in and had to steal ballot boxes, burn their Manuel Espino was subsequently given protesting the Great Fraud. contents, falsify tally sheets, and "crash" the green light to canvas in California. As the taxi glided to a stop at the vote-tabulating computers. On election Item: The IFE winked at the interven- light on a wide slum avenue, a ragged night, electoral officials lied to reporters, tion of non-Mexicans in the presidential youth threw himself gracelessly onto telling us that "the system had collapsed?' campaign so long as they were work- the cab hood and started soaping the It didn't come back up for 10 days, when ing for Calderon. Spain's former right- windshield. Hector waved him off sadly Salinas was declared the winner with 51 wing prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, and dropped a coin in his cupped hand. percent of the popular vote. Thousands his media don Antonio Sola, and Fox "How can a country so rich have so many of voting stations were never included News commentator and "political con- poor people?" Again he answered his in the final results, and most of the sultant" Dick Morris have all worked for own question. "This is two countries, public refused to believe the official Calderon. International observers who amigo. One up there for Calderon," he results. The post-electoral period was might side with Lopez Obrador have said, pointing to a bank of skyscrapers bloody—as was the pre-electoral period. been warned that they can be expelled in the distance. "And the rest of us down Two of Cardenas' aides were assassinat- from the country under Article 33 of here with Lopez Obrador," a reference ed on the eve of the election. PRI mal- the Mexican Constitution if they inter- to the former mayor of Mexico City and feasance was met with a groundswell fere in the electoral process. current presidential candidate, Andres from the disaffected, who rose against Item: For months, the IFE allowed Manuel Lopez Obrador, known in the the only party they had ever known the PAN to run a blizzard of venomous press as AMLO. and demanded economic and political hit pieces attacking Lopez Obrador as a In many ways the presidential election democracy—and that the ballot boxes DANGER to Mexico (big red letters are that is just days away is the most sig- be re-opened and all votes recounted. stamped across the screen) before pull- nificant since the watershed year 1988, Between 1988 and 1991, more than 500 ing the plug under court order.

12 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 All we're missing is the phrase, "the system has collapsed," said my friend Luis Cota, a veteran of 1988. For months, the hit pieces have flickered across the In many ways the tube, sometimes four to a commer- cial break. Lopez Obrador's pugnacious mug intercut with such boogiemen presidential election that as Hugo Chavez and Subcomandante Marcos, and images of the recent police riot at Atenco in the state of Mexico. is just days away is the Calderon's media mavens have bor- rowed a trick from the campaign of former President Ernesto Zedillo by inciting the voto del miedo, the vote most significant since the of fear. The technique worked well for Zedillo in 1994 after the Zapatistas rose up in Chiapas and Salinas's hand-picked watershed year 1988. successor, Luis Donaldo Colosio, was gunned down in Tijuana. The message hasn't been lost on Calderon's handlers, who have invested millions in the TV a PRI count can be believed. Most of Obrador from the ballot—and even to onslaught. those spots emanated from SEDESO, imprison him—for the heinous crime The presidential elections mean big the department of social development, of trying to build an access road to a bucks for Mexico's two-headed televi- and vaguely suggested that checks might hospital. (He was enjoined from doing sion monopoly, Televisa and its junior dry up if Calderon were not elected. so by court order. See "La Loteria Mas partner TV Azteca—about $1.3 billion Former SEDESO Secretary Josefina Grande," July 16, 2004.) AMLO turned in primetime spots by the time it's Vazquez Mota is Calderon's right-hand this legal lynching on its head by mobi- over. From the campaign get-go last woman. One of Calderon's brothers-in- lizing 1.2 million citizens for a silent January, Televisa has tilted to the PAN law installed a SEDESO computerized march through the city he then gov- and attacked Lopez Obrador, sometimes directory that contains the names and erned as mayor. The April 24, 2005, showing AMLO in herky-jerky frames addresses of recipients of the ministry's march was the largest political demon- with lots of spooky music to accentuate largesse during the Fox administration. stration in the history of this republic. the DANGER. Back in 1988, Televisa The PAN-PRI putsch to beat back Before the impeachment attempt, the and its star anchor, then staunch PRI- Lopez Obrador, who led the presiden- PAN and the PM had tried to hang the istas, gave Cardenas the same treatment. tial pack by as much as 18 points for former mayor with a series of video- Alternating with the Get AMLO blitz 30 months before Calderon's media tapes secretly shot by a crooked con- is a Fox government crusade to extol its onslaught, reached fever pitch in 2005. struction tycoon pissed off at AMLO for questionable accomplishments—nearly Fox and unctuous PM standard-bearer denying him city contracts. The videos a half million spots since January, if Roberto Madrazo tried to bar Lopez aired heavily on Televisa and TV Azteca throughout 2004. They never managed sAIRWANNOM to link Lopez Obrador with any wrong- doing and in fact strengthened his lead. On the eve of the June 6 presiden- tial debate between Lopez Obrador and Calderon, the imprisoned Carlos Ahumada announced that his wife would distribute new videos testifying to Lopez Obrador's corrupt moral values at High Noon the next day. Allegedly at 6:10 that morning a beige, bulletproof Suburban carrying Ahumada's annoyed-looking wife Cecelia Gurza, her three children, and her ex-con chauffer, was raked by gunfire as it slid out of the driveway of her palatial home in southern Mexico —continued on page 17

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 COMMENTARY I BY MOLLY IVINS Eye Don't Think So

think we need to stop President Bush from looking people in the eye. On June 13, he told the new prime minister of Iraq that Basically, what I'm getting he had come there to "look you in the eye." Do we even know if the cultural at here is, do you suppose significance of "looking someone in the eye" is known or accepted in the Middle East? Even if Middle Easterners are kindly disposed toward looking one the rest of the world just another in the eye—say it's not consid- ered rude or worse—would they know what to make of Bush's declaration to assumes George W. Bush U.S. troops that he came to look "Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes and deter- mine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are." is a moron when he goes Who knows if Iraqis think this is determinable by the deep-eye look. Come to think of it, I'm not sure it is. overseas? People interpret things differently. Not long ago, I was in the beautiful home of an exceptionally rich person, even by Texas standards. I saw what I part of Iraqi general knowledge? Then ging point. Number of people killed took to be a lovely sort of "treatment" the president urged the Iraqis to end keeps going up, signs of militias out of on the spiral staircase—a swathe of sectarian strife. I, too, think this would control, sectarian violence, spreading cloth draped artistically about the twist- be a good idea. Thought so for at least anarchy ... not good. ing spiral. Commentator-author Bud three years. Basically, what I'm getting Years ago, Mrs. T. Cullen Davis, of Trillin was with me, and he thought the at here is, do you suppose the rest of the tacky Texas murder trial fame, said as painters had been there and just left world just assumes George W. Bush is a her husband tried to grab a fabulous a drop cloth on the stair rail, which is moron when he goes overseas? necklace he gave her, "This ain't no take- the reason you can't take Bud anywhere. I realize the trip was arranged to try to sie-backsie." (You may now take a deep Maybe it's like that in the Middle East take advantage of the killing of Zarqawi, breath while considering the depth of with the deep-eye look—people just for Bush to "get a bounce out of it," as that comment.) can't tell. politicos say back in Washington. But I feel that Iraq is also a "no takesie- Now here are the media all in a tizzy I'm just not sure there's much bounce backsief It is a putrid human, social, and because the president went to Iraq with- left in Iraq. It's not good enough any- political disaster, and getting worse, not out telling hardly anyone—a big shock. more to turn a corner or see a light at better. The people who got us into this I don't want to ruin anyone's surprise, the end of the tunnel—too many cor- should not be forgiven—they should but I trust you have considered that the ners, too many lights later. I guess we not even get a "bounce" from it. There is president couldn't let anyone know he can still seize the moment, although the only one thing I want from them—to get was coming in advance because the bad confusion over how Zarqawi died kind us and our Army out of there, instead of guys would try to kill him. Sorry to take of undercuts that. cavalierly announcing that task will be any of the fizz out of the celebration The trouble with Iraq is what keeps left to "future presidents:' ■ of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's demise, but happening there. We haven't rebuilt the let's not get overexcited. place—in fact, it keeps getting worse Molly Ivins is a nationally syndicated Bush said his message to the Iraqi peo- in terms of basic services. You have to columnist. Her most recent book with Lou ple is, "Seize the moment?' Do we think admit, leaving a place worse off than Dubose is Bushwhacked: Life in George they knew what he meant? Is carpe diem Saddam Hussein kept it is not a brag- W. Bush's America (Random House).

14 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 COMMENTARY I BY JIM HIGHTOWER Spy Kids Too

n repressive regimes, it's com- CORPORATIZING THE BORDER ATTACK BY CORPORATE FOXES mon for the authorities to run What a surprise. George W. wants to turn While W., Congress, and the media have closed governments. It's also the illegal immigration issue into anoth- us all looking south to what they call common to crack down on peo- er multibillion-dollar boondoggle for the "invasion" of America by impover- ple who dare to try shining a giant corporations. Such military con- ished illegal immigrants, or looking east little light on the government's tractors as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, to what they call an "endless threat" to actions.I Take China. On May 28, it was Boeing, and Northrop Grumman are America from hordes of fanatical Islam- reported that authorities there were lined up at the federal trough, drooling ic terrorists—there's another, very real, prosecuting a newspaper researcher for at what Bush calls the Secure Border but very quiet, siege taking place on our revealing in a published report that a cer- Initiative. This scheme will give gov- people's government... from within. This tain Chinese official was about to resign ernment contracts to corporations to assault is being mounted by extremely as chief of the military. The researchers build a high-tech "virtual fence" along wealthy and powerful guys in pinstripe crime? Divulging "state secrets." nation's borders—"the most technologi- suits—a corporate assault on our public Thank goodness we don't live in such cally advanced border security initiative resources and institutions. They fly the a repressive state, right? Yet, on this in American history," bragged Bush. flag of "privatization," and their goal is same day, it was also reported that the That's not a high hurdle, for our his- to take over our public sector, essential- Bushites were trying to prevent two tory of border security is littered with ly eliminating it and substituting corpo- civil liberties groups from challenging high-priced technological failures. Take rate governance. In an important book the legality of Bush's ongoing program the nearly-half-billion dollar program titled, The Fox In the Hen House, Si Kahn of spying on millions of Americans. of video cameras, electronic sensors, and Elizabeth Minnich document the In an extraordinary move, the govern- and other cutting-edge technologies startling extent to which this has already ment asked two federal judges to block that corporate contractors provided for happened. Corporate lobbyists, corpo- these watchdog groups from exercis- the Mexican border just a few years ago. rate-funded think tanks, and corporate- ing their constitutional right to go to Half of the cameras didn't work or were owned politicians have been pushing court. Why? The Bushites claimed that never installed. The ground sensors did privatization (a euphemism for cor- merely defending the legality of their set off alarms—but in 92 percent of the poratization) for decades, with Nixon, sweeping spy program could divulge cases they were triggered not by illegals, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton "state secrets." Then, the next day, it but by a wild animal or a passing train. willingly turning over public purposes, was reported that Bush's lapdog of an Now, here they come again. Lockheed assets, and control to these private, anti- attorney general, Alberto "See No Evil" Martin, for example, is touting its democratic, profit-seeking interests. As Gonzales, was warning journalists that Tethered Aerostat Radar as a border Kahn and Minnich show, the privatiz- they could be prosecuted just for report- solution. This massive blimp, twice the ers hit the mother lode with the Bush- ing on big stories like Bush's secret spy size of Goodyear's, would be tethered to Cheney regime. With their extremist, program. Gonzales menacingly declared, the ground by a long cable, monitoring anti-government ideology, the Bushites "There are some statutes on the books all movement below. One little problem, are gleefully selling out the public good which, if you read the language carefully, though: it can't be used in high winds. by selling off whole chunks of our gov- would seem to indicate that [prosecu- Another piece of razzle-dazzle technol- ernment. We know about their push to tion] is a possibility." What would be ogy was a $6.8 million unmanned plane privatize Social Security and schools— the charge against reporters? Divulging to patrol the border. It crashed in April but few are aware of the massive turn- "state secrets?' after less than a year's use. These mili- over of power to corporations in such So, let's review: The Bushites secretly tary contractors have sorry records of areas as the military, parks, prisons, and run an illegal and unconstitutional spy cost overruns, fraud, and products that social programs. For more informa- program against their own people. Then, are defective or useless —we're to turn tion, check Kahn and Minnich's website: when it's uncovered by reporters and border security over to them? Bush's www.thefoxinthehenhouse. corn. ■ challenged in court, the BushCheney scheme is all about political posturing regime goes after the reporters and and fattening his corporate backers. The Jim Hightower is a speaker and author. challengers, trying to hide its autocratic problem of illegal immigration requires To order his books or schedule him for a act behind the curtain of "state secrets?' an honest economic solution—not speech, visit www.jimhightower.com . To How different are they from China's merely buying more hardware from subscribe to his newsletter, the Hightower repressive regime? high-tech hucksters. Lowdown, call toll free 1-866-271-4900.

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15 —Dereg, continued from page 9 sentation to lawmakers recently. other words there is no profit on that way too complicated that should be a This allows generating companies like [fuel] charge," says Clark. The only profit red flag to at the very least be careful TXU Power, which boasts a portfolio culled from ratepayers is 9 percent off before signing up with such a plan." of coal- and lignite-fired power plants, the top that goes into the city's coffers. Caveat emptor. to reap huge profits, $520 million in Because the entire rate structure for city- the first quarter of 2006 alone. That owned utilities and cooperatives is cost- hat makes the Texas exper- profit margin, says Tom "Smitty" Smith, based, and because they spend much iment with deregulation director of consumer group Public less on marketing and executive salaries, especially interesting is that Citizen, ultimately shows up in people's public power has generally been able to a "control group" has sur- bills. "TXU puts 38 to 40 percent of avoid skyrocketing retail prices. Rural vived—the municipal utilities and rural their revenue in the pocket of their cooperatives, created by farmers and electric cooperatives. Nobody. disputes shareholders," he says. "The difference is ranchers in the 1930s with the help of that higher electric rates are partly due reflected almost percent-by-percent in the Rural Electrification Administration, to the near-tripling in cost of natural gas, the cost of electricity to the consumer?' have the unique distinction of being the fuel for 46 percent of Texas power Jess Totten, a member of the PUC's directly owned by the ratepayers, who generation. But the rates of still-regu- oversight division, agreed that higher exercise democratic control over the lated city-owned utilities and electric prices in the wholesale market are due cooperative's decisions. cooperatives, which also use natural gas to "the fact that companies that own Consumer advocates suggest that the power plants, are substantially cheaper coal and nuclear are earning significant best model for electricity may be a long- almost across the board. A ratepayer in profits that are based on the difference established one. "We as citizens could Austin—who must buy power from the between the market price and their cost and should control our power sources," city-owned Austin Energy—spends a of production?' But, he added, that's says Smith. "Take back our power sup- little less than $95 each month for 1,000 the way the market is supposed to work. ply ... and develop new municipal utili- kwh of electricity. In San Antonio, it's "[P] eople get price signals from the mar- ties and new rural electric co-ops. That's about $72. Austin and San Antonio ket; they see that coal is an attractive the preferred way?' have the advantage of owning their own resource; and they invest in coal." TXU But undoing deregulation is easier power plants, but the statewide average definitely got the signal. With earnings said than done. "It's a Humpty-Dumpty bill for customers served by municipally of $1.7 billion in 2005, four times that problem," says Jim Boyle, a longtime owned utilities is a little over $100 and of 2004, TXU is plowing that cash into Austin utility lawyer. "Once you've is $97 for cooperatives, according to 11 new coal-fired plants in Texas at a unbundled it's extremely difficult to the PUC. cost to the company of $10 billion. TXU re-bundle?' And virtually no one in The cheapest service plan—one nego- expects the plants to earn $180 million the Legislature, including Turner, is tiated by the City of Houston—in the a year and pay for themselves within exploring the idea of "re-regulation." entire deregulated market is about 35 eight years. (TXU has also been making The power companies, meanwhile, are percent more expensive. 'What accounts other power plays with cash: Executives promising that as retail competition for this difference? "[T] he energy being and PACs affiliated with TXU Corp. matures, rates will be settled by the sold in the deregulated service areas contributed at least $2 million to state market, companies will develop inno- didn't cost any more to produce than candidates and committees from 1999 vative "demand-side" products such as in the regulated areas:' says Biedrzycki through 2005, according to Texans for meters that show consumers what they of Texas ROSE. "The difference is in Public Justice. During the same time are paying for electricity at any given the way the pricing is established." In period, the company spent between $5.9 moment, and investors will be driven to the deregulated market, economists and million and $13.3 million on lobbying.) build power plants that are efficient and industry experts say, expensive natural Nonprofit, city-owned utilities and environmentally friendly. gas-fueled plants generally act on the rural electric cooperatives, which That leaves open the question of how CC margin" to set the wholesale price that together serve about 25 percent of the electricity will play out as a political retail power companies must pay for state's residents, on the other hand, issue. A Katrina-size hurricane could all power generation. Even though it's calculate the price of electricity based disrupt natural gas facilities along the currently much less expensive to create simply on the cost of producing or Gulf, sending prices through the roof; a electricity from coal and nuclear gen- pursching power and delivering it to scorching summer could lead to a mass erators, costly natural gas plants control customers. Austin Energy, like other of people unable to pay their bills; or the market price. consumer- or city-owned utilities, bases a round of consolidation could leave a "[O]wners of nuclear and coal plants its rates on fixed costs (wires, power handful of companies controlling the have no incentive to charge anything plants, payroll, etc.) plus "a dollar-to- power industry in Texas. One thing is less than the gas-based market price [to dollar recovery of fuel costs" based on for sure, says Turner: "Electricity is a retailers]," as the Association of Electric the average of their fuel costs, says Ed political issue, and it's going to get hot- Companies of Texas explained in a pre- Clark, Austin Energy spokesman. "In ter and hotter?' ■

16 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 —Las A mericas, continued from page 13 day one. Thais what his campaign has people, like C• rdenasi, will not believe City. Televisa sped to the scene of the always been about: rich vs. poor, white he did not win. There is generalized The lurid black-and-white footage vs. brown, the bottom vs. the top, the conviction among pundits that the ran all day. Now there were bullets in yawning divide that puts 70 million presidential election will be very close, the campaign, tsk-tskled Madrazo, who Mexicans under and around the pov- decided by 100,000 or fewer votes out was running in third place. Ahumadais erty line while an in nitesimal clique of a probable 42 million (53 percent lawyers called off distribution of the of fat cats swill champagne from silver of the electorate). If the IFE awards new videos, and a presidential spokes- goblets. His detractors, most promi- Caldern v ictory, AMLOIs supporters ci man decried the muzzling as yet another nently the Zapatista Subcomandante with or without AMLO (a gifted street Lpez 0 brador plot. Marcos, tend to scoff. After all, Lpez protest leader) ci will hold what used To Mexico City District Attorney Obradoris moneybags ó at least at the to be called 1 the second election in the Bernardo Batiz, the whole deal smelled beginning of his wildly popular reign street.i Back in 1988, the anger of los de bad. In fact, Mrs. Ahumada and her as Mexico City mayor o was multibil- abajo was palpable and got away from chauffer stand accused of shooting up lionaire Carlos Slim, the richest man in C • rdenas. The National Palace was re- their own car. Shades of 1988. Latin America. bombed, highways were blockaded, and Looking positively presidential and government of ces were invaded. PRI- ike all staged political spec- not at all the red-eyed devil of dan- istas death squads stalked the city, and taculars, the debate proved to ger that Caldern e xcoriates, Lpez Salinas sent in the military. Luis Cota be really a string of set-piec- Obrador was calmly passionate in his and I went to a lot of funerals. Thatis L es with some heavy sniping commitment to los de abajo, the under- the part Luis remembers most. between Caldern and Lpez Obrador dogs, pledging to defend them from Not long ago we stood on the edge over who was the bigger liar. Caldern the depredations of Caldern and the of Mexico Cityis great plaza, the Zcalo , tried to look authoritative, but looked neoliberal elites. Wefil see. as the debate was about to begin. We more authoritarian, 1 tough on crimei Admittedly, there are a lot more poor eyed the dark thunderheads pushing thrusting his index nger at the cam- Mexicans than fat cats, which should up from south of the city. 10jal- corn- era, frenetically fending off AMLOIs work to his advantage on July 2. The paer o,f sighed Luis, lit doesnit happen insinuations that he was the candidate Mexican electoral process has indeed againi of the rich. AMLO proclaimed himself moved on since the bad old days, but the candidate of the poor. IThe Poor the shadow of 1988 looms large. If John Ross is in Mexico City waiting to see FirstV1 has been his campaign cry from indeed AMLO is denied victory, his how it all turns out.

'`,M3,2.=, -MffeNgii .M3WOMEMUV VOMOM1061:42.VMM4a4." Are you getting the big picture 'on Texas? a're de fdino: :on the mainsxearn tmdia, 1)u. re. iast ttiftg a $napshol.. l're Texa.s Observet, you'reg tun. Yucia [n de rcporting ana .coranuntary that provi ..40 ;5 a vicw Daxa.,s and the nation found nowhere else. Th mporte get it. Yism. uccd. to .k et: it

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JUNE 3 0, 2006 THE TEXA S OBSERVER 17 FEATURE Fragments of English Texas has never been monolingual—and it never will be

BY MICHAEL ERARD

Lyndon B. Johnson poses with students at a South Texas school in 1928. photo: LBJ Library

here is a concoction of self-satisfied myth and igno- Texas is populated by recent immigrants and the descendants 111I rance about English that is served up at Sunday of immigrants, slaves, and conquered natives. Contrary to services, on the floor of the Texas Legislature, in what the Republicans are writing in their political platforms newspaper editorials, and in political party plat- these days, this state has never been monolingual—and it forms with the alacrity of nachos at a high school never will be. football game. This myth holds that English in So if you were going to tell the real story of English in Texas was God-given, inevitable, and inherently superior. In Texas, which is really the story of English and other languages, the immortal words of Ma Ferguson, "If the King's English too, you could very well begin with a Spanish grammar book was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me." that was stolen from Stephen F. Austin by a Comanche war Thanks to Mel Gibson, everybody knows that Jesus didn't party. Accompanied by two other settlers, in April of 1822, speak English but Aramaic. (He probably knew Hebrew and the founder of the earliest Texas colony set out on horseback Greek as well.) Maybe if Gibson had made a movie about the for Mexico City; despite warnings, they went without military multilingual Alamo, where German, French, and Spanish- escort. Austin rode with his grammar tied to his saddle, so he speaking men died alongside those who spoke English, it could study as he rode. Two days south of San Antonio, they would be easier to point out the obvious and make it stick: stopped so that Austin could make coffee. Almost immedi-

18 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 ately, Indians saw smoke from the fire, found the travelers, and were outnumbered.) By 1836 Mary Austin Holley wrote that took their saddles, bridles, food, weapons, and baggage. CC you hear nothing but English," from the Texans. "[I] t is about After a century of warring against, trading with, and living as great an accomplishment to speak Spanish there, as it is among Mexicans in the missions, some Comanches spoke French in our own States." Spanish, which is what Austin spoke when he confronted the The Texas Revolution itself had been thoroughly bilin- thieves. Later he swore it had saved his life. "Assuming great gual. All the letters that revolutionaries wrote to Mexican composure," his cousin Mary Austin Holley would later write, officials were in Spanish. Spanish didn't exactly wither away "he went up to the chief, and addressing him in Spanish and with Independence, either. Even after the Texas Republic was the few words of Indian he knew, he declared himself to be an founded, it was assumed that Spanish would be widely used, American, and demanded to know if their nation was at war particularly since the Anglo revolutionaries had been joined with the Americans." The chief let them go, returning most of by liberal Spaniards. An early charter of San Antonio ordered their things—but not the Spanish grammar. that city employees be bilingual. President Sam Houston Presumably Austin found a replacement. After only a few (who had run away from home as a boy and became bilingual weeks in Mexico City, he was writing long letters in simple but in Cherokee, though he never learned Spanish very well) gave grammatical Spanish, according to Gregg Cantrell, a historian several towns the power to establish schools, and left unde- at Texas Christian University and the author of Stephen F. fined whether schools had to teach in English. Austin, Empresario of Texas. Other Americans living in Mexico Spanish newspapers continued to flourish. The Catholic City came to rely on Austin's translations, even though he Church was very pro-Spanish, and Protestant preachers who appeared to have no particular gift for language except moti- came to Texas to proselytize realized the need to speak Spanish vation, hard work, and the fact that it had saved his neck. (He and distribute Spanish-language Bibles. Yet the legal status of also came from a multilingual family; his father, Moses Austin, Spanish speakers went downhill almost immediately—in spoke French). 1841, the Texas Legislature suspended the printing of laws in Austin had gone to the Mexican capital to pay a visit to offi- Spanish. However, by 1856 laws were again printed in Spanish, cials there and reassert the terms of the Texas colony; Spanish and the Texas constitution of 1875 was printed in English, would be an important personal and political asset. He wrote German, Spanish, and Czech. Even the Constitution of the letters to his brother, Brown Austin, urging him to learn the Confederacy was printed in German and Spanish. Texan law language: "study the familiar phrases and lessons, and write and politics was multilingual because it was politically expedi- them, also repeat your verbs as you learn them to Francisco ent to be so, not because Texans were tolerant multicultural- or some other who can correct your pronunciation." For the ists. George W. Bush may have been the last Texas Republican rest of his career, Austin spoke a "facile Spanish with all the to grasp this fact. phrases of gentility," according to historian T.R. Fehrenbach. Austin would boast of his ability to "beat around the bush" (as s Texas A&M historian Carlos Blanton shows in he put it) in Spanish and as a member of the legislature of the his recent book, The Strange History of Bilingual state of Coahuila y Tejas in the 1830s, he proposed a school, Education in Texas (Yale, 2005), English didn't an "Institute for Modern Languages," where Anglo children A completely crowd out other languages—there were would learn Spanish, English, and French (no evidence exists places where law and ideology did not penetrate, places like that such a school was actually founded). the family and the classroom. Then, as now, being American Although his language abilities are well documented, Austin's and speaking English were not necessarily synonymous. motives remain a matter of historical debate. Some scholars Blanton stresses that 19th century Texas was no multicul- see him using linguistic flexibility to serve inflexible political tural paradise, at least by modern standards. But thanks to goals. As University of Texas-Pan American linguist Glenn a radically Jeffersonian approach to education that left local Martinez has written, "Austin understood that knowledge of communities free to establish public schools as they saw fit, Spanish permitted the empresarios [colonist contractors] the bilingualism and bilingual education flourished—not only in most negotiating flexibility with the Mexican government to Spanish, but in German, Czech, French, and Polish—at least favor the colonists." Other scholars, such as Cantrell, insist until the 1880s. The diversity that resulted from this ultimate that Austin's motivations, linguistic and otherwise, were more form of local school control, writes Blanton, was "dizzying." complex than a desire to conquer. Whatever his motives, one Spanish was a classroom language (sometimes to the exclu- fact remains clear: He was one of the few officials of the Texas sion of English) in public and parochial schools all along the colony who ever bothered to learn the language of their adopt- border from Brownsville to El Paso, as well as in San Antonio ed country. Although they had signed contracts dictating that and Corpus Christi. In addition, small private schools called the official language of the colony was Spanish and that they escuelitas sprang up, partly because parents were disgusted would open schools to teach the language, most of the Anglo with the quality of public schools, partly out of resistance to settlers huddled in English-only enclaves, stubbornly refus- Anglo domination. In 1892 there were 40 escuelitas in Webb ing to assimilate to the dominant culture of the country in County alone. which they were a minority. (In Texas, Anglos outnumbered Meanwhile German-English schools, public and private, Mexicans 5 to 1, but in the state of Coahuila y Tejas, Anglos were established in Austin, New Braunfels, San Antonio, in

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19 Students at a Czech summer school in Granger in 1914. photo: Institute of Texan Cultures at the Univ. of Texas at San Antonio

rural Comal County, along the southeastern coastal plains, classrooms and community schools. and in Victoria and Gillespie counties, among others. Czech But what kind of teaching went on in those schools, and schools were also numerous and in the southeastern town was their demise a good thing? "There's not a lot of evidence of Panna Maria, the oldest Polish settlement in the United about the community schools," Blanton says. "The thing States, a Polish school existed until the 1920s. But animosity that most characterizes the instruction in these community among the ethnic communities ran high. "I don't regard the schools, if I had to use one word, I'd call it experimental. If I 19th century as a utopian bilingual time," Blanton said in a had to use another word, I'd have to call it amateur." But he recent interview. "That bilingual tradition was growing on doesn't use that word in a negative light. Community schools awfully rocky soil, and it was subject to all kinds of hostile were about "people doing the best they can." For instance, at people and hostile ideas. It was only a matter of time until it a German school in Comal County, one teacher taught in was eradicated." English from Monday until mid-day Wednesday. The other At this point the history of language in Texas takes an teacher taught in German for the rest of the week, not because interesting turn. The conventional view of American history such a schedule was based in any educational theory, but attributes the outlawing of bilingual education to the rise because that's what the teachers knew how to do. At another of assimilationist ideologies in the early 20th century and school in Bellville, the German teacher taught English as if it the xenophobia inspired by World War I. But it was modern were a classical language like Latin, asking students to trans- educators devoted to progress who finally did in bilingual late sentences from German to English and back. This teach- education. The bilingual schools had long been a public ing was haphazard and unprofessional. Yet as Blanton argues, headache for education officials, who complained about the most public education in the 19th century was haphazard and Czech and German schools as much as the Spanish ones. As unprofessional; communities clung to their bilingual schools, Blanton characterizes the views of the time, "too many local which managed to produce people who were successful mem- liberties retarded 'progress' and could only be circumvented bers of a society that was mostly agrarian. And, it's important through righteous regulation by trained experts." Starting in to note, thoroughly American. the 1880s, those experts imposed educational reforms such as The new, modern, English-only curriculum appealed to standard curricula, teacher certification, and top-down school those who feared urban immigrant ghettoes and thought administration—all of which spelled the death of bilingual —continued on page 29

20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 POETRY I BY EMILY WINAKUR

READY OR NOT

The lake burns my eyes reflecting the sun. The sun is here after years in the clouds. The rain is in puddles flying away.

For now I believe it won't ever fly back, fly down from a bruise in the sky, as though God has many a hole to fill. THE PROBLEM OF SPRING Explains Piaget- I'm like one of his babies. Sky and squirrel. Equally sexy objects I can't see behind now, in Spring, when everything's moist and growing the silk screen of spring. bigger, pinker, seduction a daily prospect. I won't reach Jovial, tempting for the worrying. Spring, the distance winter and summer flank. Where and why On evening programs, everyone's loving someone, do the bad things go? kissing someone—lips closing gaps like cars in Into a closet, fists into eyes, traffic jams. Jams, we counting down, down, down, say, because of stickiness, helpless touching, because that's the way blushing red as raspberries. Loving should be simple. Yes. This bumper-to-bumper world should the game is played? nourish it, court it, And among the dust motes, under the bed plant it, tend it, harvest it, store it piled where someone sleeps, up, preserved in pantries. Come autumn, winter someone hides, weather, love should sweeten things—toast and herbal waiting. teas—should be shared with

pets and guests and given away in jars, spread sheen-thin, lasting. Wasting it now, in Spring, in ocean amounts—no one survives the tumult, salmon are dying.

EMILY WINAKUR began studying poetry as an undergraduate at Rice University. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Washington. Her work has appeared in The Comstock Review, Asheville Poetry Review, and Natural Bridge, among other publications. She teaches at Ransom Everglades High School in Florida. —Naomi Shihab Nye

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 21 BOOKS & THE CULTURE I BY SOFIA RESNICK The Metamorphoses of Irwin Tang

rowing up Chinese- against every aspect of colony. Chinese kid in my class, so I would American in College deal with the taunts and stuff. One of Station, Irwin Tang TO: What is the most autobiographical the things I always noticed—maybe in experienced the chal- story in this collection of short stories? middle school—was that the black kids lenge of being a minor- IT: It is all autobiographical. Every story weren't picking on me. So my identifica- ity among minorities in is based on some very important aspect tion with black culture began in sort of a aG small Texas town. After struggling to of my life and my personality. The story very negative sense—in the sense that I define his identity, he began to channel about the law student and the gang liked the black kids because they weren't his frustrations and confusion into writ- banger. That has so much to do with trying to beat me up; they weren't gang- ing, first in the form of hip-hop lyrics my conflict, my sort of moral dilemma ing up on me. Once in a while, one of and later as journalism and fiction. Tang being the friend of someone who I them might stand up for me, and so I has written for Asian Week, The Nation, thought was doing wrong things, and was very open to black culture. It didn't and National Public Radio. He's also also, at the same time, my wanting to seem weird to me that—as my sister had been a longtime political activist, work- be that gang banger, that gangster, that's put it—I had become one of the "broth- ing with Cesar Chavez and the United "Two, One." "Burials and Upheavals" is ers" in high school. But it seemed weird Farm Workers and leading student polit- straight family history. The other stories to other people. ical coalitions. In 2000, he published are often told in the sort of poetic or The Texas Aggie Bonfire: Tradition and frantic or over the top or circuitous and TO: What do you think has been the big- Tragedy at Texas A&M in response to the obtuse voice. "Burials and Upheavals" gest breakthrough for Asian-Americans in 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 stu- has a much more relaxed tone with just American media? dents. Five years later he self-published a slight reverence towards my parents IT: The biggest breakthrough? That's How I Became a Black Man and Other and my ancestors, which is so very really hard to say. The sad part of Metamorphoses, a collection of autobio- Chinese of me. it is that America has a history of graphical short stories that explores rac- separating Asian-American men and ism, Asian-American history, and exis- TO: So what was it like growing up as a women. The greatest breakthroughs for tentialism. A revised edition was pub- Chinese-American in College Station? Asian-Americans in the media have lished in February. Currently he is work- IT: I think the worst part of it was the all been for Asian-American women; ing on Asian Texans: Our Histories and constancy of racism, ostracism, harass- they're much more easily accepted Our Lives, which will be published by ment, violence, and the complete, utter by the American public. The greatest University of Texas Press. alienation of what seemed to be the breakthroughs would be like The Joy Recently the Observer spoke with Tang. entire world. I was born there, born in Luck Club, both the book and the movie, The following is an excerpt of that con- downtown Bryan—which is kind of a where it's all about Asian-American versation. ghost town now—and lived there my women, mothers and daughters, with first 22 years. white men and negative portrayals of Texas Observer: In the title story of your One image that really haunted me and Asian-American men. book, you describe your struggles grow- haunts the stories in the book—even I would tell people to go see movies ing up as an Asian-American in College though a lot of the stories are funny—is that really capture our humanity. Go Station, struggling to identify yourself the image of the noose that was hung see two recent releases, which might when you weren't black or white. The on the tree in my front yard when I was be considered breakthroughs. Go see story describes your metaphorical "meta- 12 years old. Americanese. And Lane Nishikawa morphoses" and how you grew to accept I also grew up in the small, tight just made a movie about the Japanese- and embrace your identity. How do you Chinese community in College Station. American 42nd regiment and combat define yourself now? It was constantly growing during my team, Only the Brave. Those two movies time there. My father was the second are very different from anything that has Irwin Tang: I am an American, an Chinese professor at A&M, and it just been made for the mainstream. Better Asian-American, a Chinese, a Chinese- grew from there. But there were very Luck Tomorrow also, I guess. Those are American, a modern-traditional mash, a few kids; there were mostly graduate all extremely recent movies. But of multiculture clash ... a misplaced yellow students and professors. When I was course there's more in literature, but it's man, a slave to desire and consumption, growing up, the vast majority of kids predominantly Asian-American women. a microbe of the market, and a rebel were black or white. I was the only American publishers feel a lot more

22 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 comfortable with [Asian-American women writers] because they know that Amy Tan was a great commodity. There is so much that has You know, even though Chang-Rae Lee, who's a man, might be a great writer or Ha Jin might be a great writer, they're not as sure of a thing as Amy Tan. not been written about our

TO: Why did you establish your publish- ing company, the It Works? history, about our lives ... IT: I established it first in the year 2000 when I published a book about the Texas A&M bonfire. I didn't want to our humanity. It's like a big write a book about the bonfire. I wanted to publish other people's essays about the bonfire, but I realised after research- ing and starting to write that I had a pile of gold sitting there. book on my hands, and it's probably the most honest book ever written about Texas A&M because it incorporates both the reverence for the Aggie Spirit and United States, even as they themselves of anti-Asian immigration legislation, the actual history of Texas A&M and were being interned in prison camps. Asians were the first (and for many some of the more disturbing aspects of There's so many moving stories because decades the only) illegal immigrants the culture at A&M. so many people had to go through so of the United States. The Border Patrol The reason why it's called the "it works" much. Even my parents, when they first was formed to stop Asian immigrants, is because "it" is the most generic thing moved to College Station back in 1967, and the Department of Labor deport- that there is, and the most American there were people writing letters to the ed Asians caught without residence thing that there is, is "it," a pronoun pos- editor because of the growing Chinese papers. As a result of this, the El Paso sibly meaning anything. And "it" is also population, [telling us] that we should Chinatown became one of the most my initials (laughs). all take our sperm back to China, so important Chinatowns in the nation, as I imagine that this was the attitude illegal Asian immigrants crossed the Rio TO: You're also doing a book, Asian that so many Asians encountered when Grande from Mexico into the United Texans: Our Histories and Our Lives. they came to Texas, the first ones espe- States and attempted to hide at first in IT: It's a history of Asian-Americans cially. Unusually, one of the first places the El Paso Chinatown. in Texas, and it's being published by around which the Chinese settled in From El Paso, the immigrants would the University of Texas Press. It will be Texas, was just north of College Station, often hop on a box car to other places out between 2007 and 2008. I'm the in Robertson County. It's where the in the nation. El Paso was most likely principal author and editor; there are very first large groups of Chinese settled the most important stop on what was other writers who contributed chapters because they worked on the railroads, known by immigration officials as the to the book. It's a straight-up history, and they ended up settling within the Asian "underground railroad:' Many of but it stresses the voices and lives of black community in Robertson County, these early Asian immigrants—almost certain individual Asian-Americans, or back in the 1870s. all were men—married Mexican and Asian Texans rather, and it's just a fasci- Mexican-American women. Similarly, nating, fascinating history because our TO: How long have you been working on many of the very first Chinese rail- history is so closely intertwined with this book? road workers in Texas married African- the African-Americans and especially IT: Since 2002. American women. And so these very the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans early biracial communities were formed. of Texas and war and all sorts of wild TO: What's the most compelling informa- A biracial young woman named Herlinda events. The Chinese were willing to do tion you've discovered about the history of Wong Chew helped about 200 Chinese- all sorts of stuff to survive in this nation. Asians in Texans? Mexicans escape from Pancho Villa Just in those first few decades, I don't IT: In light of the current immigra- and into El Paso during the Mexican know how many thousands or tens of tion debate, one of the most compel- Revolution. In the late 19th and early thousands died violently—either killed ling aspects of Asian-Texan history 20th centuries, Chinese were treated or as a result of their working condi- has to do with the immigration of terribly in Mexico. When the Mexican tions. The Japanese were sending the Asians into and through Texas after the Revolution began, the Chinese were nat- boys off to fight World War II for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Because -continued on page 27

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 BOOKS & THE CULTURE Old King Coa BY JAMES E. MCWILLIAMS way. Perhaps it could have been serial- obsessed with the fact that the guy was ized over several issues. That way, more eating chicken for lunch. "As he talk- Big Coal: The Dirty Secret readers would have absorbed Goodell's ed," writes Goodell, "he munched on a Behind America's Energy Future urgent message. The book reads the piece of fried chicken?' A quote from By Jeff Goodell same back to front as front to back, and the legislator is followed with Goodell's Houghton Mifflin thus could easily have been stretched remark that he was "munching on his 352 pages, $25.95 out over several Sundays, enabling mil- chicken." Another quote ends with the lions to wash the rather sad message guy "sucking on a chicken bone' And IF ew things make coal down with a decent cup of coffee. soon, you're also wondering: Why does companies happier than Two. The promotional package Goodell keep bringing up this piece of high gas prices and the supporting the book repeatedly draws chicken? New journalism is great, so occasional blackout. a link between burning coal and using long as the method does not undermine Complete power losses, your computer and other entertainment the message. in fact, really fire them gadgetry. "Few of us realize," reads the All that said, Big Coal addresses a up. A case in point would be the black- back-cover blurb, "that coal already critical environmental issue with an outs that rolled across Texas last April supplies more than half the energy arsenal of apposite facts and a balanced 17. Three days later, TXU Corp., one needed to power our iPods, laptops, tone of moderate muckraking to "give a of the state's major power providers, lights—anything we use that consumes sense of the broad impact that coal has announced a $10 billion plan to add electricity." Then the concluding kicker: on our lives." Coal is cheap, abundant and expand coal-fueled plants to power "Big Coal shows us that our shiny white (although less and less accessible), and the homes of 6.5 million Texans. No iPod economy is propped up by black job-producing. But it's also extremely doubt many of these Texans are well rocks." Hmm. How relevant to the dirty (that is, carbon-producing) and aware that coal is dirty and dangerous. millions of laptop users out there who terribly inefficient (only 3 percent of the As Tom "Smitty" Smith, head of the care about the environment and think coal that's mined is actually turned into Texas office of Public Citizen, told the their obsessive tap-tapping matters electricity). As Goodell reports, if for Austin American-Statesman, "If these none. The only problem is that Goodell no other reason than America's "geo- plants are permitted, their carbon emis- never develops this connection in his logical good fortune," coal has become sions will cook our climate, their mer- book—despite the fact that the latter our "default fuel of choice," especially cury emissions will cause brain dam- quote is his. (I mention this just to point as "energy dependence" becomes more age to unborn children, and the fine out yet again what desperate lengths and more a hot-button political issue. particles will choke the neighbors." But publishers go to these days to sell books, For all its problems, coal consumption blackouts are blackouts, so many con- especially downer-enviro-gloom-and- is booming. Not only does coal produce sumers are content to look the other doom books, of which this is one.) half the energy we consume, but in 2005 way when TXU politely rejects coal Three. Goodell, whose real journalis- 120 new plants "were either planned or "gasification"—a way to recycle carbon tic home base is Rolling Stone, is clearly under construction in the United States" dioxide emissions—as something that a student of the new journalism. He (see "The Coal War," Nov. 4, 2005). In causes the company "economic ten- eagerly dons his hardhat and takes us addition, "long-shuttered mines were sion," which is too say, it cuts into its into the belly of the beast, narrating reopening, and old coal miners were profits. his own experience doing the reporting dusting off their boots?' The increased As Jeff Goodell ably demonstrates while conveying the contents of that consumption of such a polluting form in his new book, Big Coal, the politics reporting. When it works, it's fairly bril- of energy is what ultimately inspires of coal in the United States is some- liant. Too often, Goodell's attempt to Goodell's efforts. With measured indig- thing that has a direct impact on every show us what it was like on the ground nation he highlights and explains the American. It also epitomizes what Al feels one-dimensional. It's as if he's writ- serious environmental consequences of Gore calls an "inconvenient truth." Big ing for movie executives rather than an using coal, paying special attention to Coal is an important book, but there audience capable of grasping nuance. the rank corruption practiced by coal are a few problems that should be men- One example stands out. In a meeting executives and bought-and-paid-for tioned up front: with a Georgia legislator who was try- politicians who aim to whitewash the One. Big Coal began as a 2001 article ing to chaperone the illicit love affair human costs of those consequences. for the New York Times Magazine. It between coal companies and regula- Living near a coal mine is a nightmare. would have been better off staying that tors, the author becomes inexplicably Goodell, who did extensive research

24 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 in West Virginia, pays attention to what happens when coal companies level mountaintops to access increas- ingly stubborn coal seams. The Bush administration, working through the Department of the Interior, helped reclassify mountaintop removal debris as "fill" rather than "waste." As a result, the stuff is allowed to sit in piles with- out treatment or proper disposal. The problem with this seemingly innocuous reclassification is that the "fill" leaches acid and heavy metals into the water supply. Compounding the problem is the issue of coal slurry impoundments. West Virginia has 135. Executives seem to have forgotten that back in 1972, a slurry impoundment broke, flooded a hollow, and killed 125 people. They also seemed to have forgotten that one of the state's biggest slurry dams sits directly above an elementary school. Or, given their indifference to regulat- ing these slurries, it's more likely that the companies—"who see the world as a spreadsheet to conquer"—just don't care. Vast lakes of black water thus also go unregulated, leaking lead, arse- nic, beryllium, and selenium into local drinking water. One result of this mess is the emer- gence of new mines, operations that take advantage of lack of oversight to engage in environmentally irresponsible behavior to enrich shareholders. At the rate at which mines are opening in West Virginia, a Rhode Island-sized chunk of the state will, in 10 years, be directly affected by mountaintop-removal min- ing. Another result, of course, is a slew of health issues that are gruesomely con- firmed by local doctors, who find direct correlations among slurry impound- ments, "fills," and health problems like thyroid cancer, kidney stones, and birth may have heard, are talking mercury, directly into the soil and water, where it defects. The choice here seems clear to and mercury knows no bounds. Mercury- settles and accumulates. In water mer- anyone with even the stickiest moral laden. fish have been a big topic lately in cury is eaten by tiny fish. The tiny fish get compass. But guess who's stuffing the the Times, Consumer Reports, and other eaten by tuna. The tuna gets eaten by us. pols' pockets with re-election cash? And national media outlets. Goodell, in one We're not talking rocket science here. guess who's providing the entire mining of the book's best sections, links the Again, this is not the first time the town with free Christmas turkeys? issue of mercury in fish to coal.. Turns world has confronted the specter of Don't feel safe, though, because you out that American coal plants churn out mercury-laden fish, Minamata., Japan, don't live in Appalachia, or because your 48 tons of mercury every year. Thirty in the 1950s also had a. tragic fish story state rep has his hands in some other percent falls to ground like a thin layer to tell. In the late 1930s the Chisso Corp., executive's pants for some other pervert- of black snow. That is, 32,000 pounds of a company that manufactured acetalde- ed cause. The chattering culinarians, you mercury goes from American coal plants hyde (used to make plastic), routinely

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 25 dumped mercury (a catalyst in making and advocate the unregulated burning took global warming seriously. With said acetaldehyde) into the bay upon of this energy, which clogs the envi- a 2001 promise from Bush (one made which the town sat. By the 1950s, not ronment and food supply with heavy during his campaign and printed in his only were inordinate numbers of people metals, and adds dramatically to the "Transition 2001" manual) to place a cap slurring words and falling into shaking world's carbon output (thus spiking on carbon dioxide emissions, Whitman fits, but even the town's cats went nuts. the Greenhouse effect), is difficult to went off to Trieste for a G-8 summit on By the 1960s, babies were routinely born comprehend. It's so astounding in its global warming and promoted this sur- without arms or legs. All in all, more shamelessness, so bold in its disregard prisingly enlightened U.S. position. She than 1,500 people died of mercury poi- for human safety and quality of life, was later quoted as saying that "a num- soning. Countless others were injured. that even a seasoned politician such as ber of high level executives from coal, The pols and execs, though, are keeping Christine Todd Whitman, former head utility, and railroad companies," as well this one quiet, too. of the EPA, says she was snowed by it. as several Republican senators, pounced Story after story along these rather In another one of the book's narrative on the administration to avoid what grim, rather depressing, lines should high points (one that Goodell acknowl- former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour convince even the staunchest supporter edges comes from Ron Suskind's The was publicly calling Whitman's "eco- of coal that there are serious prob- Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the extremism." When she returned from lems to confront, and that the industry White House, and the Education of Paul Trieste, Whitman discovered that Bush should at the very least be closely regu- O'Neill), Goodell retells the story of how had reneged on everything he'd said lated. The level of cynicism and corrup- Whitman came into office hoping to to her about global warming. He told tion required to ignore these problems show the world that the United States her, point blank, there was no point in

To a westerner, nothing is more uncivilized than the sulfry burning of coal is helping to destabilize the climate of the smell of coal. You can't take a whiff without thinking of entire planet. labor battles and underground mine explosions, of chugging All this would be much easier to condemn if the West had smokestacks and black lung. not done exactly the same thing during its headlong rush But coal is everywhere in twenty-first century China. It's to become rich and prosperous. In fact, we're still doing it piled up on sidewalks, pressed into bricks and stacked near Although America is a vastly richer country with many more the back doors of homes, stockpiled into small mountains in options available to us, our per capita consumption of coal is the middle of open fields, and carted around behind bicycles three times higher than China's. You can argue that we man- and old wheezing locomotives. Plumes of coal smoke rise age it better – our mines are safer, our power plants are cleaner from rusty stacks on every urban horizon. There is soot on – but mostly we just hide it better. We hide it so well, in fact, every windowsill and around the collar of every white shirt. that many Americans think that coal went out with corsets Coal is what's fueling China's economic boom, and nobody and top hats. Most of us have no idea how central coal is to makes any pretense that it isn't. And as it did in America one our everyday lives or what our relationship with this black hundred years ago, the power of coal will lift China into a bet- rock really costs us. ter world. It will make the country richer, more civilized, and In truth, the United States is more dependent on coal more remote from the hard facts of life, just like us. today than ever before. The average American consumes The cost of the rough journey China is undertaking is about twenty pounds of it a day. We don't use it to warm our obvious. More than six thousand workers a year are killed in hearths anymore, but we burn it by wire whenever we flip China's coal mines. The World Health Organization estimates on the light switch or charge up our laptops. More than one that in East Asia, a region made up predominantly of China hundred years after Thomas Edison connected the first light and South Korea, 355,000 people a year die from the effects bulb to a coal-fired generator, coal remains the bedrock of of urban outdoor pollution. The first time I visited Jiamusi, the electric power industry in America. About half the elec- a city in China's industrial north, it was so befouled by coal tricity we consume comes from coal – we burn more than a smoke that I could hardly see across the street. All over China, billion tons of it a year, usually in big, aging power plants that limestone buildings are dissolving in the acidic air. In Beijing, churn out amazing quantities of power, profit, and pollution. the ancient outdoor statuary at a 700-year-old Taoist temple In fact, electric power generation is one of the largest and I visited was encased in Plexiglas to protect it. And it's not most capital-intensive industries in the country, with rev- just the Chinese who are paying for their coal-fired prosperity. enues of more than $260 billion in 2004. And the rise of the Pollution from China's power plants blows across the Pacific Internet – a global network of electrons – has only increased and is inhaled by sunbathers on Malibu beach. Toxic mercury the industry's power and influence. We may not like to admit from Chinese coal finds its way into polar bears in the Arctic. it, but our shiny white iPod economy is propped up by dirty Most seriously, the carbon dioxide released by China's mad black rocks. —From The Big Coal by Jeff Goodell

26 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 talking: "I've already made my decision." —Q and A, continued from page 23 our history, about our lives, about our Goodell sums up Whitman's reaction: ural scapegoats. Hundreds of Chinese— points of view, our humanity. It's like and even their Mexican wives—were a big pile of gold sitting there. It's also Whitman knew, in that instant, not killed by the revolutionaries. extremely compelling to me because the only that the administration would Some of them helped U.S. General stories of immigrants and their children do nothing about global warming, John J. Pershing hunt in vain for Pancho are always exciting. Sometimes you can't but also that Bush was a different Villa, and they tried to return to the not write about something—like when kind of man than she had taken him United States with Pershing. But they Shaquille O'Neal was taunting Yao Ming to be. He had allowed her to run were at first blocked at the border with those racial taunts and no one was around the world, putting her own because of the Chinese Exclusion Act. saying anything, no one was writing credibility on the line and using her With the help of General Pershing, these anything about it. hard-won political respectability to Chinese, who became known as the I tried to get the Los Angeles Times, elaborate on a commitment he had Pershing Chinese, were allowed into the AP, Sports Illustrated, all these people to made to the American public. When United States. They worked for years write about this, and no one would— his pals in the coal and oil business for the U.S. Army until Congress passed they didn't think it was a story. So, I had kicked up a fuss, he had broken what was essentially the first political had to write it, and luckily it became a that commitment without even dis- asylum law in U.S. history. The Pershing compelling story within the sports cul- cussing it with her. Chinese settled in San Antonio, El Paso, ture, and as a result, the sports culture and Houston, found Chinese, Mexican, in America has changed in its attitude Nevertheless, Whitman stayed on the and white wives, and established gro- toward Asian-Americans. You know, job for two more years. What's even cery stores and restaurants. since then when Dallas Cowboys coach more depressing—as Goodell shows Bill Parcells said that the Cowboys had time after time—is how grown men TO: What has influenced you to focus on "Jap" plays, meaning "sneaky" plays, he and women will casually abuse power Asian-American issues in your writing? was immediately censured by the mass to feather their bloated and gilded nests What are your goals as a fiction writer media, whereas before the Shag inci- with the lives of the powerless. ■ and as a journalist? dent, that sort of thing would have just IT: As a writer of nonfiction, I like to been accepted. ■ James E. McWilliams covers gloom and seek out what has not been written; I like doom books for the Observer. Fifteen to write what hasn't been written. And Former Observer intern Sofia Resnick new coal-fired plants are now proposed there's such a huge sort of void when it is a freelance writer based in Austin. for Texas.Environmentalists estimate that comes to Asian-Americans. There is so To learn more about Irwin Tang, visit as currently proposed, these plants will much that has not been written about www.irwinbooks.com. add millions of tons of smog- and ozone- forming compounds to the air, as well as thousands of pounds of mercury to our lakes and streams.

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JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 27 —PIs, continued from page 5 electronic-only machines damage the their June 6 primaries. (The new model a district." As to the ban on military right to a secure election; no paper trail allows voters to request a printout after hardware, "They took that one out" means unreliable recounts; and since submitting the ballot. The paper trail is of the proposed guidelines "because there are more secure and verifiable not automatic.) one of the principals thought it was systems out there, failure to implement The good news for electoral reform- educational." them creates an equal-protection vio- ers seeking a paper trail is that older lation. "We're not advocating going off eSlates, like those used in Travis County, CAN WE HAVE A RECEIPT? When electronic, but we do want verification," can be retrofitted. The bad news is that you go to the bank, you get a receipt said TCRP Director Jim Harrington. The there's no indication the fix will be after every transaction. So why don't TCRP has singled out the eSlate elec- applied before November. ■ you get a receipt after you vote? That's tronic voting system, used in Travis the argument behind a lawsuit recent- County, as a major problem. Produced WRITE DIALOGUE ly filed in Travis County by the Texas by Austin-based Hart InterCivic Inc., the 307. W 7th Street Civil Rights Project on behalf of David machine has been the subject of mul- Austin, TX 78701 Van Os, the Democratic candidate for tiple complaints throughout the state. [email protected] Texas attorney general; the NAACP of Alleged problems include Austin and its president, Nelson Linder; unrecorded votes, incomplete and local voter Sonia Santana. Van ballots, and phantom counts, Os and fellow plaintiffs are demand- such as the 100,000 extra ing that Secretary of State Roger Wil- votes that appeared out of SIdal, Nava International Headquarters liams and Travis County Clerk Dana nowhere in Tarrant County's Iii Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic DeBeauvoir remove any machine that March primaries. coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we doesn't create a paper ballot to back up Hart InterCivic says its now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads, the electronic record. That would bring machines already produce an and even black bean gazpacho. Texas into line with 26 other states that accurate tally, but the compa- already require a printed voting record. ny has developed a new eSlate 3601 S. Congress off E. Alpine The suit alleges three violations of model that creates a receipt. Penn Field - under the water tower (512)707-9637 www.rutamaya.net the Texas Constitution and the Texas Six counties in California check our site for monthly calendar Election Code: Reported problems with used the new machines in

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28 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 —Bilingual, continued from page 20 farmers' income, which may have been —Democrats, continued from page 11 that linguistic assimilation would help substantial. Of course, Germans had and Latinos, African Americans, and break them up. But immigrant lan- other advantages that other immigrants Asians; yellow dog delegates clad in guages such as German persisted the didn't: They were white, and they were jackets and bow-ties standing next to longest not in cities but in rural eth- literate (even if only in German; lit- tattooed motorcyclists in leather vests. nic enclaves like New Braunfels. Today, eracy skills transfer from one language Democrats are slowly taking over Texas' Texas's German past has been neutral- to another). major population centers—the cities ized into a quaint ethnicity celebrated Which brings us back to the and suburbs of Dallas and Harris by worst festivals. It's easy to forget that present—by way of the 19th century. counties that are filling with immigrants Germans accounted for half of all immi- The social realities are far different and minority voters. That's a nice trend gration to the state in the 19th century, than Republican xenophobes would to have on your side when the GOP has and that as late as 1940 over 86 percent have their constituents believe. We can so clearly branded itself the party for of second-generation Germans in Texas glimpse the real history of English in white folks. could say they had grown up speaking this state in the image of that grammar The Democratic Party may be urban German. (Incidentally, as late as 1960 book tied to Stephen Austin's saddle and diverse, but in 2006 that's not enough New Braunfels had the most hours of and whisked away by the Comanche. just yet to elect Democrats statewide. German language radio broadcast in the It's a history that acknowledges that But in certain urban areas, Democrats entire United States.) language occupies no territory and may gain seats in the Texas House and "Of course, immigrants look more possesses no motives; it spreads like a win a healthy share of judicial races. desirable after a couple of decades or weed and cares only about its perpetuity. There have already been promising signs a couple of generations than they did So while the public discourse this that Texas Dems have bottomed out upon first arriving in the U.S.," says year is full of talk about immigrants and are on the way back up. As bad as Walter Kamphoefner, a historian at learning English, legislating a "national 2004 was nationally for the party, Texas Texas A&M, who has studied the eco- language," or singing the national Democrats actually gained a seat in the nomic success of German speakers in anthem in Spanish, it's important to Texas House—reversing a 30-year slide. the United States. "The good immi- remember that millions of interactions Moreover, parts of the Republican base grants are always the old immigrants, take place every day between people seem disenchanted with their party's and the bad immigrants are always the who speak English and people who governance in Austin and Washington. new ones, even if the same groups and don't—the stuff of ordinary life that At the recent GOP state convention, even the same individuals over time never makes it into myths and official party leaders' concern about Republican move from one category to another." histories. That's what we would have apathy this fall was evident: Numerous There was a time when the patri- witnessed if we had been there the elected officials implored the die-hards otic loyalty of ethnic Germans was in moment that Austin was arguing with not to stay home on election day. A soft question, and when their highly-vis- the Comanche chief. Republican turnout might not tip state- ible tendency to live in enclaves was And that's what we can witness today wide races, but it could help Democrats feared. But people who held on to their down at the Home Depot, where Spanish gain more ground in the Texas House. heritage language did not necessar- instructions on bags of cement are more (Democrats hope that Donna Howard's ily remain poor or have limited social prominent than instructions written special election upset win earlier this mobility. Analyzing data from the 1940 in English, and where young Anglo year in a West Austin legislative district U.S. Census, which asked respondents men know the Spanish words related that leans Republican portends more for their "mother tongue," or the prin- to tools and construction—words that success this fall.) Then, of course, there's cipal language spoken at home during most native English speakers never even the big prize this cycle: The U.S. House. their childhood, Kamphoefner showed learn in their own language. It's not Democrats have fielded several intrigu- that German speakers were more likely a matter of law or policy. The life of ing congressional candidates in Texas. to own their own homes than to rent language persists in scenes of daily life The list of challengers features four with them; they also tended not to move far that are as transient as wildflowers: they military backgrounds, including an Iraq from where they were born. Thus, they bloom, flourish, and die in multitudes, veteran, and a self-described Army wife were economically and socially stable. invisible and unrecorded. In many ways whose son currently serves in Iraq. An Most were rural and self-employed they know us better than we know upset win or two in Texas could help (that is, they were farmers or skilled ourselves. ■ propel Democrats to a majority in the craftspeople), though young German- U.S. House. Americans were also moving into Michael Erard is a contributing writer On a state level, none of that may be white-collar work in large numbers. and lives in Austin. He has written about as sexy as winning a governor's race English speakers had slightly higher language topics for The New York Times, or snatching back a U.S. Senate seat. incomes (by only 8 to 15 percent), but Wired, The New Republic, and other But for the moment, it's what Texas the census didn't collect data about publications. Democrats can believe in. ■

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29 AFTERWORD I BY WILLIE NELSON Save Family Farms, Save America

Editor's Note: This article appeared in While good, healthy, fresh food from A diet of fresh, wholesome food will the Spring 2006 issue of Waterkeeper, the family farms is the most visible product improve health outcomes for kids and official magazine of Waterkeeper Alliance. of the movement that each of us can provide new direct markets for family enjoy, the movement stands for much farmers. s one of the founders more. It represents the interests of all Family farms are the engines for eco- of Farm Aid, I have who care about the future of this land, nomic vitality, in both rural communi- watched with admira- its resources and its people. As members ties as well as urban areas that benefit tion and a good amount of this movement and as eaters, the food from jobs created by vibrant local and of satisfaction the we choose to buy connects us directly to regional food systems. When family growth of what many those who produced it and to the multi- farms thrive, so do main street busi- Anow call the "Good Food Movement," ple reasons why it is in our own interests nesses. The Good Food movement is the growing interest in and demand for to see this movement flourish. creating new markets and opportunities organic, humanely-raised and family The future of safe and sound food that help farmers stay on their land; it farm-identified food that is transform- production depends on taking care of provides hope for new and young farm- ing the way America grows its food and the most basic resources needed to grow ers to make farming their life. A grow- how our food gets to our tables. food: soil and water. Family farmers eat ing number of those now participating While it might seem obvious to many, the food they grow in their fields and in direct farm-to-consumer marketing good food comes from farms with drink the water from their wells. They are first generation farmers! The more healthy soil and clean water. I've always know that they have to take care of the we keep farming local, the stronger the believed that the most important people soil and water in order to pass on the community. Participating in local and on the planet are the ones who plant the promise of the farm's bounty to the next regional food and farm markets helps seeds and care for the soil where they generation. Sustainable family farms are keep food dollars circulating in the grow. As the stewards of the land, fam- the alternative to the large-scale indus- local economy—rather than increasing ily farmers are the foundation of this trial farms that erode our soil and pol- the profits of distant corporations that movement, as well as its guarantor. lute our waterways. Excessive chemicals, suck the dollars and the life out of our No one can say they planted the soil erosion, run-off from hog factories communities. original seed that gave rise to this move- laced with hormones and antibiotics, Many Americans are becoming aware ment, but many can claim they have and the growing threats of widespread of the startling and troubling fact about helped nurture and cultivate its growth. genetic contamination from genetically our food system known as "food miles." Farm Aid's vision for America is to have engineered crops threaten our capacity On average, each food item travels 1,500 many family farmers on the land—a to grow the food we need to feed our miles before arriving to our tables. It vision born out of our strong convic- country. By supporting family farms makes little sense to burn fossil fuels tion that who grows our food and who through the Good Food movement, we that pollute the environment to ship cares for the land and water is of vital are all helping to ensure that our chil- apples across the country and around national importance; that farmers and dren and our children's children inherit the world when local growers can pro- their fields are the fabric that holds our a healthy and resilient environment. vide us with fresh apples, the purchase of country together. Good food leads to good nutrition which keeps dollars in the local economy. The Good Food movement isn't and good health. There's no comparison By strengthening local food production, just about good and delicious food— between fresh, organic food at the local the Good Food movement is reducing although this is certainly one of it's farmers market and the mass-produced, the distance food travels and the ecologi- greatest achievements. It's at the center additive-laden, highly processed stuff cal footprint of American agriculture. of some of the most important issues that corporations would have us think is Keeping farmers on their land also and debates that will define American real food. The rising epidemics of child- enables them to use their know-how society for years to come: issues like hood obesity and diabetes are clearly and ingenuity to help us achieve more stewardship of our soil and water, local linked to the highly processed food energy independence. Farmers are key and democratic control of decision peddled to kids and served in school to our energy future—growers and har- making and land use, health and nutri- cafeterias. The Good Food movement vesters of renewable energy that will tion, and a thriving and sustainable is helping to turn this situation around, power our vehicles and heat our homes. food and farm economy needed to feed bringing farm-fresh food grown by local Farm Aid is working to link The Good and fuel America. farmers into school lunch programs. Food and Green Energy movements as

30 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 30, 2006 two sides of the family farm-centered agriculture system we envision. The Good Food movement increases the demand for humanely-raised beef, pork and poultry products by family Think about one food item farms. As opposed to the factory live- stock farms, where thousands of ani- mals are raised under one roof and never see the light of day their entire that you can buy from local lives, family farm-raised animals are fed natural diets and allowed to live in humane conditions. farmers and commit to I believe keeping family farmers on the land is inextricably linked to a strong and thriving democracy. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "cultivators of the earth buying it. These small and are the most valuable citizens ... they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most simple actions are building lasting bonds." Family farmers are the backbone not only of a strong economy; they are also the defenders of local, the Good Food movement democratic control of decision making. In communities across farm country, large and powerful food corporations are working their political connections and changing American at the State House and on Capitol Hill to change local and state laws to take local control and decision-making away agriculture for the better. from communities, stripping local com- munities of their democratic right of self-determination. In many examples, corporations are working to change state laws so that communities cannot block the construction of hog factories. We live in a time when all of us must food from the family farm. curbs the power of factory farms and take our responsibility to exercise our If you enjoy good food and care about the influence of lobbyists for large food democratic rights seriously—before it's the issues behind this movement, I invite corporations. If you care about health too late. The Good Food movement you to take action today to ensure the and nutrition for children, demand a is about democracy at the grassroots future of family farming and your right Farm Bill that puts more fresh, whole- level-building decentralized, sustainable to choose food from family farms. The some food in our cities' schools. If you and locally controlled farm and food most direct and regular action you can want your children and grandchildren economies. take is to search out and buy as much of to enjoy the benefits of a clean envi- Growing up in Texas, I learned at an your food directly from farm families in ronment, demand a Farm Bill that early age the difference between a fresh your area. Our food choices today shape increases protection of our natural tomato, a fresh farm egg, and the stuff tomorrow's agriculture. Buying organic resources by helping farmers transition most other people eat and think is food. milk today strengthens tomorrow's out- to organic and more sustainable grow- There is just no way to compare a fam- look for organic dairy farmers. Think ing methods. The future of good food ily-raised ham to a ham from a factory about one food item that you can buy depends on you. ■ farm, or fresh strawberries to berries from local farmers and commit to buy- shipped thousands of miles. To under- ing it. These small and simple actions Willie Nelson is the president and foun- stand this, you have to taste it yourself. are building the Good Food movement der of Farm Aid. His annual Fourth of July The next time you drive by your local and changing American agriculture for concert will take place at Carl's Corner. fanners market, stop by and pick up the better. The concert will benefit the Texas Organic some farm-fresh food. I guarantee you If you care about local and demo- Farmers and Gardeners Association won't regret the flavor and freshness of cratic control, demand a Farm Bill that (www.tofga.org).

JUNE 30, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 31 '• •