CIVIL LIBERTIES IN THE RUBBLE Pg. 5

A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES MAY 5, 19 95 • $175

DIALING FOR DOLLARS Guess Who Will Pay the Phone Bill for Southwestern Bell's Army of Lobbyists? HIGH TECH, HARD LABOR Silicon Valley Finds the Workforce of the Future — In Texas Prisons EX POST FACTO An Angry Adieu to the Three Publishers that Made Houston a One-Newspaper Town FROM THE PUBLISHER Evolving and Observing

EVEN WITH OUR CURRENT State anthologies, including This Same Sky Board of Education in place, come (Four Winds Press/Macmillan), an interna- right out and say it: we believe in evolution tional poetry anthology that everyone as the best available explanation of the should own. She's won a bunch of poetry generation of life forms populating this prizes, is currently Visiting Associate planet now or in the knowable past. Almost Professor at the Texas Center for Writers A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES at the University of Texas, and will publish We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the imperceptible. Occurring across eons. truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are ded- Creating all kinds of weird combinations. a collection of essays, They Weren't Even icated to the whole truth, to human values above all in- in a Hurry, in January (South Carolina terests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation of Breathe on land? Impossible. Walk on democracy: we will take orders from none but our own two feet? Why? Is the duckbill platypus Press). She has graciously agreed to bring conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the apex or nadir of the evolutionary poetry to the Observer that our readers the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. process? What about Rush Limbaugh? Can need to read. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not we use Phil Gramm to trace amphibian This issue also marks the beginning of for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we ancestry? A speaker named Newt? We a continuing column on our pages by Dr. agree with them, because this is a journal of free voices. were all cold-blooded once. Some of us Marvin Legator and Amanda Howells- SINCE 1954 never got over it. Daniel. Dr. Legator is director of the Divi- As a young man standing behind me at sion of Environmental Toxicology at the Founding Editor: Ronnie Dugger the Moody Gardens in Galveston ex- UT Medical Branch in Galveston and is a Editor: Louis Dubose claimed upon seeing a fish with feet, iden- world expert on environmental chemical Associate Editor: James M. Cullen tified as a mudskipper, inching through the poisons and public health. Ms. Howells- Production: Harrison Saunders Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka mud, "Goll dang, Darwin was right!" Daniel runs the Toxics Assistance Program Editorial Interns: Todd Basch, Mike Daecher, Kendyl And so we come to the evolution of the there. Together they have been writing a Taylor Hanks. Observer. Almost imperceptible. But here column for the Galveston newspaper on Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Barbara Belejack, survival in a chemical world. But don't Betty Brink, Warren Burnett, Brett Campbell, Peter we are: receiving stories by e-mail while Cassidy, Jo Clifton, Carol Countryman, Terry Fitz- the sound of Ronnie Dugger hammering expect a series of dire forecasts of doom. Patrick, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Jim Hightower, away on the keys of an old Royal type- This team devoted a number of column Ellen Hosmer, Molly Ivins, Steven Kellman, Michael inches in the Galveston paper to analyzing King, Deborah Lutterbeck, Tom McClellan, Bryce Mil- writer still hangs in the air. ligan, Debbie Nathan, James McCarty Yeager. And more important than the process, of the chemical content of New York drinking Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; course, is the substance it bears. We water to determine what gives New York Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler bagels their distinctive flavor. They will be Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; promised changes. And if you watch Bob Eckhardt, Austin; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; closely, you'll see they are coming—not in writing on topics of current interest as well Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cam- a blinding flash of light, but working their as in response to reader questions. This will bridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; be good. George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Austin; way in. Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Jr., For more than a year, we've been run- Expect more changes in the future as Ob- San Antonio; Willie Morris, Jackson, Miss.; Kaye ning the columns of former Observer edi- server editor Lou Dubose orchestrates their Northcott, Fort Worth; James Presley, Texarkana; entry into the mix. The generosity of our Susan Reid, Austin; Geoffrey Rips, Austin; A.R. (Babe) tors Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower. You Schwartz, Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. know them, so I won't say more. readers over the past few months has en- Poetry Consultant: Thomas B. Whitbread Since last fall, James Galbraith, noted abled us to devote some resources to more Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic Hin- economist, writer (co-author of the defini- extensive investigative reporting. That will terlang, Alan Pogue. Macro-Eco- bear fruit. Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, tive economics textbook, Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth nomics with William Darity, Jr., and So we arrive at this protean moment in Epstein, Valerie Fowler, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin contributor to many books and journals) the Observer's history as base instincts at- Kreneck, Michael Krone, Carlos Lowry, Gary Oliver, Ben and professor at the LBJ School, has graced tempt to swamp this democracy born in the Sargent, Dan Thibodeau, Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker. our pages with regular contributions ex- Enlightenment. Business Manager: Cliff Olofson plaining the new political economy of the Onward. Out of the mire. Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom universe. We are honored to be a home for —GEOFF RIPS Development Consultant: Frances Barton his work, which is a major contribution to SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year $32, two years $59, three years $84. Full-time the debate that we are determined will take students $18 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Micro- place in order to turn this country from its films Intl., 300 N. Tech Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106. Any current sub- scriber who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time; no current path. one need forgo reading the Observer simply because of the cost. Write "Dialogue" INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary In this issue, we are proud to welcome Index to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 1981,The Naomi Shihab Nye of San Antonio as Texas Observer Index. Texas Observer THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN (X)40-4519/USPS 541300), entire contents our poetry editor. She is the author of copyrighted, 0 1995, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval between issues in Jimmy and July (25 issues per year) by the Texas Democ- four books of poetry, including Hugging 307 W. 7111 St. racy Foundation, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) 477-0746. E-mail: [email protected]. the Jukebox, a selection in the National Second-class postage paid at Austin, Texas. Poetry Series. She is the author of several Austin, TX 78701 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. children's books and editor of poetry

2 • MAY 5, 1995

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THET HE TEXAS DIALOGUE se For the Record... MIT economist Rudi Dornbusch, Dorn- busch "stated emphatically" that he does Jefferson, in Notes on Virginia, while dis- not answer "political questions," although MAY 5, 1995 cussing the work of Monsieur de Buffon, he blames Salinas for the Mexican crisis, VOLUME 87, No. 9 wrote: "One sentence of this book must do and referred to him as the "Nick Leeson of him immortal honor: 'I like a person who Mexico." FEATURES points out a mistake just as much as one Readers of The Texas Observer should be who teaches me a truth, because, in effect, aware, however, that Dornbusch is not al- Dialing for Dollars a corrected mistake is a truth.'" I think my ways chary of political questions. In an arti- By Robert Bryce 6 friend Jim Simons and I should do each cle in the Financial Times of October 16, High-Tech Hard Labor other a little immortal honor. 1991, entitled "Lessons that Brazil can learn By Kyung Sun Yu In a letter you accurately entitled from Mexico," he said that "President Sali- 9 "When Liberals Failed Progressive Poli- nas has brought about a revolution by mak- Ex 'Post' Facto tics" [TO 3/24/95] Jim wrote: "In the late ing accountable government the central By Juan R. Palomo 12 '60s Dugger wrote off the radical move- focus of legitimacy. This change goes far ment with the ridiculous assertion that we beyond rooting out of corruption." There is DEPARTMENTS all favored violent revolution." I agree more on the "revolution of governance": a with Jim, that's a ridiculous assertion, and new "accountability of officials, continuity, From the Publisher I never made it: In and from myself I competence and courage," "jail sentences Evolving and Observing 2 know that I never thought, said, or wrote for tax fraud became part of the culture," Editorials it. Jim, please either prove me wrong or privatization "was left to professionals," accept my correction. etc. (In reality, the corruption of the privati- Deschooling Society 4 Now it's my turn to earn Monsieur de zation process was the principal factor in the Civil Liberties in the Rubble 5 Buffon's immortal honor. You also wrote rise of the number of billionaires from two Molly Ivins eloquently, Jim, in that letter: "Traditional to 24 in the Salinas era, and an inequality 14 electoral politics had failed but I did not level in which the top wealth holder owned White Power Militias and Hate advocate violence. I continue to believe... as much as the lowest 17 million, reflecting Jim Hightower that in the roll call for progressive reform one of the great looting sprees in modern Iceman Still Cometh; Son of in America...the libs were a no-show...In history, making even Mobutu look like an S&L; Wall Street Primary 14 the great crossroads of history that pre- amateur.) In short, Dornbusch's was perfect sented the last best hope of a real popular apologetics for a perfect dictatorship. Survival in a Chemical World progressive coup (the '60s), the liberals Salinas had, in fact, stolen the 1988 elec- Cancer and Vietnam flinched.... It was 27 years ago, but what a tion and followed this by abandoning the By Marvin S. Legator and moment in history to turn away from the populist promises of that election cam- Amanda M. Howells-Daniel 15 new voices of progressivism that could paign. He then put in place exactly the kind Bad Bills have metamorphosed in the country." of neoliberal project—essentially supply- So you have pointed out a mistake that side and trickle-down economics—that By Mary O'Grady and Kendyl Hanks 16 you believe that I made, and what I want was dear to the hearts of the IMF and Books and the Culture to know is what, specifically, is the truth transnational corporate community, and David Talamantez on the Last Day that you are pointing to. That is, Jim, what which was eventually incorporated into the should the left have said or done in the NAFTA treaty. In this project, populist of Second Grade '60s that it did not do, from what did The aims and small matters like income distri- Poetry by Rosemary Catacalos 18 Texas Observer and I flinch, what, ex- bution and the increasing immiseration of In Other Words actly, should we have done or said, but did the bottom 60 percent of the population are Book Review by Elzbieta Szoka 19 not do, that could have metamorphosed of no concern. In his 1991 article, Dorn- WorldFest the country then. Please be more specific busch congratulates Salinas for "having Movie reviews by Steven G. Kellman 21 than repeating the general damnation of made inflation Public Enemy Number Afterword "the libs," which, whatever else it is, is not One," implemented an effective "incomes specific. Let's get down to cases. Tell me policy" (i.e. forced real wages down), and Writing and Opacity what we—any of us, all of us should have for "recognizing the need to make peace By Michael Erard 22 done or said, and help us understand how with the world capital market." Then Political Intelligence 24 and why it would or might have worked. NAFTA. Obviously a Great Statesman, Perhaps the truth you are pointing to even if representing illegitimate authority will help us now. What is it? in a perfect dictatorship and redistributing Cover art by Michael Alexander Ronnie Dugger income from the poor to the rich. That Wellfleet, Massachusetts Dornbusch's enemy also is populism, and that accommodation to the de.mands of the helping Pinochet's "restructuring" in a Chicago Boys in Mexico "world capital market" is this basic crite- cruder political enterprise of "supply-side According to Barbara Belejack's "Mexican rion of sound policy, is also clear in his economics with machine guns." Soap Opera," (TO 3/24/95), which reported co— authored book, The Macroeconomics It is amusing to see how the Mexican on a speech given to Mexican executives by of Populism in Latin America (1991). The view is similar to that of the Chicago Boys. Continued on p. 4

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 3 EDITORIALS Deschooling Society THE HOUSE COMMITTEE on Public the back mike of the House during one of not create a new district with higher per- Education got one thing right in its 672- the countless debates of the court-ordered pupil wealth, those problems might be re- page rewrite of the education code. In Sec. mandate to provide equity in funding for all solved by leaving the central business dis- 37.121 of the subchapter on penal provi- of the state's school children. The Legisla- trict to the existing district and establishing sions, "Fraternities, Sororities, Secret Soci- ture, as some see it, has delivered the a new district whose residential property eties and Gangs" are finally brought into money and it's poised to deliver on the and malls provide sufficient (but not too one category. (Section 37.121 is followed other variable in Sam Johnson's equation. much) taxable wealth. In a city like Austin, by sections on possession of intoxicants on whose less-affluent minority communities public school grounds, disruptive activities READING OF the House bill's home- lie east of one north-south thoroughfare, and disruption of classes.) Fraternities are, le provisions suggest that about all white, affluent West Austin suddenly looks argues a psychology professor at the Uni- that that will be required of these districts is like West Austin ISD. Sufficiently divided, versity of Texas, very similar to gangs. The that they contribute to the Texas Teacher we all become adversaries and decentral- difference is wealth and class, but the be- Retirement System and adhere to statewide ization begins to look suspiciously like dis- havior, informed by the same needs, is the student admission policies. That's some- mantling of the state's public schools. same. The $12,000 jeep is a prosaic and art- thing of an overstatement, but this isn't: Which is exactly where the voucher pro- less low rider, initiation rites equally brutal Home rule districts will be freed from the gram leads. Those who believe that Kent and demeaning; frats, this psychologist 22:1 pupil-to-teacher ratio that was the fun- Grusendorf, a perennial leader of the con- says, are gangs for children of privilege. damental reform established by House Bill servative faction that opposed equity fund- Good to have that codified—almost. Be- 72 in 1984. The elimination of that require- ing for poor schools, is an advocate of poor cause the bill, which reported out of commit- ment will allow for some creative use of inner-city kids probably also believe that tee last week, still has to be approved by the faculty in wealthy school districts, where schoolteachers in Texas have collective full House, where debate is scheduled for many middle-class students are grounded bargaining rights. The Senate version of the May 4-5—and then reconciled with the Sen- in the three Rs by the time they enroll in new education code includes what is mod- ate bill. Not all of the House version is in- first grade. But it will set education back in estly described as a pilot program. More sightful and enlightened as section 37.121 cash-strapped districts, where home-rule than 300,000 low-income students will be and several important provisions in the bill will legalize larger class size—and, of eligible for vouchers by which they will were written for those children who will pro- course, smaller faculties and therefore move 80 percent of state and local per-stu- ceed from the state's 1,055 independent lower payrolls. So for students in need of dent funding from the public schools they school districts to the sorority and fraternity more time with a teacher, a petition signed leave to the private schools they enter. One houses that surround state universities. by 5 percent of a district's voters, followed or two sessions from now, the program will Home-rule districts and a detachment by a two-thirds vote of the board and an be expanded to the middle-class kids whom provision that would allow sub-division election, can set education back 11 years God intended to have vouchers. House and secession from existing school districts By the year 2000, for those kids that 11 Public Education Committee Chair Paul are two issues that could allow enclaves of years will seem like an eternity. Sadler kept the voucher provision out of the wealth and privilege to go their own way. Detachment or secession is another House bill, but Grusendorf is convinced And although the voucher system that mechanism that can only serve to segregate that there is sufficient support to change would move money and students from pub- kids who drive jeeps from kids who drive that on the floor . lic to sectarian schools is not included in low riders. Ten percent of the voters of any Floor amendments can make this bill bet- the House version of the bill, Arlington Re- subdistrict that includes at least nine square ter or worse—but probably not good. If it publican Kent Grusendorf—the ed. com- miles can compel a school board to hold a appears that the state's system of public ed- mittee's bad cop, whose chronically angry detachment election Although the creation ucation is being dismantled, maybe that's disposition made libertarian Republican of a new district cannot leave the existing because some are determined to dismantle Ric Williamson look like an even better district with lower taxable per-pupil wealth it. And it includes much of the Governor's good cop—has promised a floor amend- than it had before the detachment, and can- agenda, so he is waiting to sign it. —L.D. ment on the issue. With the exception of Ric Williamson's Continued from p. 3 nally? Having rationalized the looting of scheme to privatize the teachers' pension Mexico by a domestic and expatriate elite, system, there are few new items in the pub- collapse and the virtual ending of national and told us that the benefits were going to lic education agenda. (And three sessions sovereignty, little more than a year after the flow pretty soon to the Mexican masses, from now, Williamson's privatization installation of NAFTA, is disconnected the Dornbusches are now supporting the scheme will be a sanctioned and openly de- from that landmark event. Blaming the col- bailout of investors and the imposition of batable idea.) Some saw the advent of the lapse on an overvalued currency is absurd; the pain of "adjustment" on the already vic- home-rule districts in the crude calculus of this was what nurtured the boom that the timized majority. The latter are going to former Dallas-area Representative Sam apologists were lauding and crediting to wait a very long time for the world capital Johnson, who has left the State House to NAFTA up to the moment of truth. And market and its agents to do anything that join the Republican Congressional delega- where was "the market," supposedly adept serves their interests. tion. "We'll give you your money if you'll at using readily available information to get Edward S. Herman give us local control," Johnson said from prices right or adjust capital flows ratio- Narberth, Pennsylvania

4 • MAY 5, 1995 Civil Liberties in the Rubble IVIL LIBERTIES are a tough sell, even ern origin condemned the violence and terrorist acts. But federal authorities were Cin dispassionate times, but the bomb that hoped that no Arab group was behind it. able to apprehend, prosecute and incarcer- collapsed a side of the Alfred P. Murrah "Our hearts were pumping fast then," she ate, for a very long time, the World Trade Federal Building in Oklahoma City into said. "I know a lot of Muslim people were Center bombers. Moreover, according to rubble, burying nearly 200 victims, includ- afraid of backlashes." They were ready for the FBI's own statistics, terrorism in the ing children in a day-care center, may also trouble. United States, and terrorism against U.S. have blown a hole into the Bill of Rights. She was upset with news media and par- targets abroad, have actually decreased over To some the atrocity in Oklahoma City ticularly radio talk shows that drew upon the the past few years. "We therefore question represented the Pearl Harbor of terrorism in similarities with attacks by Arab groups in why the Administration is asking Congress the United States. There were calls for Argentina, Beirut and the World Trade Cen- to do damage to the Constitution when ade- tough new measures to deal with radical ter in New York City. She listened with con- quate and quite effective law enforcement groups, and President Clinton was quick to cern as they speculated as to which Middle- tools to combat terrorism already exist?" respond with a proposal to create a new do- Eastern group might be responsible. Even the ACLU asked in a press release. mestic counterterrorism center to be after the suspects were identified as white Jim Harrington, director of the Texas headed by the Federal Bureau of Investiga- Americans, she said, "There's a lot of denial Civil Rights Project in Austin, said the FBI tion. But civil libertarians warn that the in the American public that it might be an already has enough power to prevent ter- counterterrorism measures threatened to American militia group and a lot of people rorist activity. He said people forget the ou- repeat the mistakes of the past and erode had in their mind that it had to be a Middle trageous, politically motivated intervention constitutional safeguards. Eastern group. I guess a lot of people were of the FBI in the antiwar and civil-rights Even before the Oklahoma City bombing, disappointed." movements of the 1960s, when agents and Congress was considering the Clinton Ad- Anne Marie Baylouny, spokeswoman for their informants rifled through office files, ministration's Omnibus Counterterrorism the American-Arab Anti-Defamation Com- tapped phones and infiltrated the ranks of Act of 1995, which would give the President mittee in Washington, said some mosques targeted groups with few if any checks or vast power to brand individuals or organiza- and a Muslim day-care center in the Dallas balances. "We spent 20 years restricting tions as terrorists and expand the authority of area received threats in the wake of the the FBI and the CIA from doing internal the FBI to open investigations that are not bombing. She fears that Clinton's counter- surveillance and if we now turn around and based upon evidence of criminal activity. terrorism bill would give the executive use this [bombing] as a pretext to relax The bill would allow the government to de- branch broad discretionary power to harass those restrictions it will put us back where port aliens who have been convicted of no supporters of foreign dissidents, particularly we were, but the government will have crime, based on information known only to those of Arab descent. "There is a whole more sophisticated surveillance equipment the government; grant the president the history of targeting Arabs and Muslims," and techniques," he said. power to freeze the assets of, and bar contri- she said. During the Gulf war, she said, The FBI and other government agencies butions to, unpopular organizations pro- Arab Americans were interviewed by the need guidelines and independent magis- claimed to be "detrimental to the interests of FBI. "They were asking about political trates watching over them to protect against the United States" and bar judicial review of points of view and stands and about these abuses. More draconian counterterrorism such actions; subject U.S. citizens to lengthy people's private lives," she said. measures will only inspire more activity in prison sentences and fines for contributing to The counterterrorism bill comes on the reaction. As Harrington said, "The lesson legal, non-violent and even charitable activi- heels of the President's action in freezing we ought to learn is that all we do is in- ties of organizations or governments unpop- the assets of Palestinian groups that might crease terrorism and reaction by repres- ular with the U.S. government; expand fed- interfere in the Middle-Eastern peace pro- sion," he said. "It is counter-productive and eral wiretapping authority; and violate the cess. The January 23 executive order froze it feeds their paranoia." principal of equal protection under the law, assets of 12 organizations labeled as "terror- by making aliens, but not citizens who en- ists." The prohibition outlaws any contribu- THE PRESIDENT'S proposals become gage in the same conduct, responsible for a tions, including humanitarian aid, to listed Iilaw, Americans would have to be careful wide array of federal crimes. groups, including the Popular Front for the about supporting foreign groups, such as The original bill was troublesome Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic the Committee in Solidarity with the People enough, but after the Oklahoma bombing, Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas of El Salvador, the Zapatista rebels in the which brought terrorism to the heartland of and two outlawed right-wing Israeli groups. Mexican state of Chiapas or other Central America, the President proposed an addi- "If there is probable cause to believe American groups that oppose U.S.-backed tional list of measures that would make it someone is involved in a criminal act they regimes. On the domestic side, where easier for the FBI to infiltrate and eaves- should go in and stop them, but they should- would you draw the line? The "wise-use" drop on any domestic group by lowering n't be allowed to go on fishing expeditions. property-rights movement that seeks to un- the threshold of evidence needed to justify My understanding is that they are allowed to dermine environmental regulations at times such invasive measures. That bill appears pursue conspirators now, but they must fol- has used rhetoric that resembles that of the to be on the fast track for approval. low guidelines that protect civil liberties." militias. Legislation that targets abortion Civil rights are still worth protecting. As opponents also can cut groups such as EN SAMAR SAKAKINI, a local the American Civil Liberties Union noted, ACT-UP, EarthFirst! and others that prac- lAcoordinator for the American-Arab the bombings in Oklahoma City and the tice civil disobedience. And how about the Anti-Discrimination Committee in Austin, World Trade Center in New York and the Farm Bureau, which has thousands of mem- heard about the bombing in Oklahoma recent subway gas attack in Japan clearly bers who use both fertilizer and fuel oil? City, she and other Texans of Middle-East- demonstrate the terrible consequences of Lock 'em up! — J.C.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 5 Dialing for Dollars BY ROBERT BRYCE Austin Newspaper Association (TDNA) and the The big dailies want to get further into HONE DEREGULATION has be- Texas Cable TV Association, have seven electronic publishing, but they don't want come the 74th Legislature's version lobbyists apiece. to have to pay Southwestern Bell for it. pof the Lobbyist Employment Act. According to press reports, the TTA They want an independent company (read Why? Billions of dollars are at stake; the spent $20 million on advertising, grass- anybody but Southwestern Bell) to provide critical bill is 70,000 words long and ex- roots efforts and lobbying in 1993. It will them service. Meanwhile, everybody ceedingly complex, meaning you need a likely spend that much or more this time. wants to produce and sell TV shows and lobbyist to decipher it; and the measure Southwestern Bell and the TTA didn't pass movies. will shape the explosive growth that's cer- the bill they wanted last session, which On April 18, SBC announced a five- tain to occur in the telecommunications in- critics from the newspaper industry say year, $500 million partnership with the dustry over the next decade. Whenever was too good a deal for Southwestern Bell. Walt Disney Company, Ameritech and money and market share are at stake, you This year, it looks like Southwestern Bell BellSouth—two other "Baby Bells"—to can count on finding a gaggle of lobbyists. will get a bill signed into law that will develop "entertainment and interactive And San Antonio-based SBC Communica- allow it to mold the pending deregulation programming for distribution by the three tions Inc. has a phone book-full. to its own desires. phone/video/communications companies. The Public Utility Commission (PUC) HB 2128, the mammoth telecommunica- SBC executive Edward E. Whitacre Jr. said was scheduled to go through the sunset tions bill carried by Representative Curtis in a press release that the deal will allow process in 1993—at a the company to "move time when SBC's main beyond its current subsidiary, Southwestern boundaries and closer to Bell Telephones, had 86 Southwe stem Bell, which had $11.6 billion its goal of becoming a lobbyists at the ready. in reven ues last year, has a grand total of full-service telecommu- But the Lege decided to nications provider." wait two years before 129 lob byists looking out for its interests. Being full service means putting the PUC through being global, which SBC sunset, the cyclical hear- assuredly is. ings procedure by which agencies justify Seidlits, a Democrat from Sherman, passed The company owns 10 percent of Tele- their existence and rework their regula- the House on April 19 and is now being fonos de Mexico, the Mexican phone com- tions. The extra two years gave SBC time scrutinized by the Senate Economic Devel- pany worth some $1 billion, as well as siz- to let a few lobbyists go and this year opment Committee. It should reach the able investments in France ($600 million) Southwestern Bell will struggle by with Senate floor in the next few days. and Chile ($316 million). just 83. Add in another 28 lobbyists who Wall Street sees the bill as a potentially While SBC goes Hollywood and in- work for Southwestern Bell publications, big win for SBC. Analysts at Merrill Lynch ternational, consumer groups in Austin are messaging services and cellular phones, released a report on March 14, just after the struggling to keep from getting run over by and you begin to get an idea of how impor- bill was filed, which says that if HB 2128 is the Southwestern Bell juggernaut. With the tant the Texas market is to Southwestern passed as written, it will be "extremely fa- fewest lobbyists and the least PAC money, Bell and SBC. vorable to SBC." Calling SBC its "fa- consumer groups are searching anywhere Southwestern Bell can also count on vorite" of the Baby Bells, the brokerage and everywhere for allies. They don't care help from lobbyists from the Texas Tele- house said the bill has "very strict build-out who provides local phone services, they phone Association, a trade group that rep- requirements for competitive entry at the just want a competitive environment that resents local exchange telephone carriers. local level that would protect SBC from will lead to lower prices. Before HB 2128 TTA has 18 lobbyists. competitive 'cream skimming.' was filed, Texas Citizen Action, Texas To get an idea of how big SWBT's lob- While the bill protects SWBT's butter, Consumer Association and Consumers bying effort is, consider this: Exxon, the it's still not clear who will leave the table Union allied themselves with cable opera- Irving-based oil giant, had 1994 revenues hungry. Southwestern Bell has lots of po- tors and the daily newspaper lobby to op- of $101 billion. The company currently has tential competitors and all of them want to pose Southwestern Bell. 27 registered lobbyists for all of its opera- eat off each others' plates. For instance, The TDNA took out full-page ads in the tions. SBC, which had $11.6 billion in rev- long distance companies like AT&T want five major-media-market newspapers at- enues last year, has a grand total of 129 to sell local phone service. Local phone tacking Southwestern Bell. The ads, which lobbyists looking out for its interests. companies like Southwestern Bell and US had huge headlines that said, "Beware of Groups opposed to Southwestern Bell have West want to sell long-distance service. Monopolies Bearing Gifts," criticized a also hired an army of lobbyists. According Cable companies like Cox and Time deal that Southwestern Bell proposed at the to the Ethics Commission, long distance Warner want to sell phone services. South- beginning of the legislative session. The carrier AT&T has 29 lobbyists. MCI has western Bell wants to expand its cable of- deal would free Southwestern Bell from nine and Sprint has six. Other parties with ferings. All of them want to sell subscrip- price regulation by the PUC. In return, the interests in the bill, such as the Texas Daily tion services that could include Internet company promised to invest $1.1 billion in access, and electronic versions of maga- infrastructure for fiber optics and other up- Robert Bryce is a contributing editor of the zines and newspapers. Speaking of news- grades. Whatever happens, Southwestern Austin Chronicle. papers, they want their piece of the pie, too. Bell starts the deregulation era from an en-

6 • MAY 5, 1995 viable position. The company controls $5.7 million," Jones said. "They'll litigate into the regional Bell companies, a court about 75 percent of the 10 million tele- this forever. It's a game for them. It's life required the company to allow competitors phone lines in Texas. Their next biggest support for me." Jones said his legal fees to use its networks. That allowed anyone to competitor is GTE Southwest, which has are now close to $2.3 million. get into the long-distance business. Today, about 1.4 million customers. The rest of the Jones is not a big player. He currently anyone can rent line capacity from AT&T, lines are divided among 59 smaller compa- has 250 business customers and 300 resi- MCI, WilTel or any of the other big long- nies. dential customers. Metro-Link employs distance carriers. You rent their line space, Southwestern Bell is just one of the three people (Jones is one of them) and an- resell it to a customer and pocket the differ- Baby Bells facing deregulation. In Florida, nual revenues are about $500,000 per year. ence. Under Seidlits' bill, Southwestern Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee and Vir- During the trial, Jones said company docu- Bell owns the infrastructure. If you want to ginia, lawmakers are considering ways to ments showed that Southwestern Bell compete with them, you build your own. deregulate the phone business. But in each makes a 1,300-percent profit on calls like An analysis by Texas Citizen Action case, the Baby Bells have the upper hand. those made between Houston and Galve- says that requirement will cost competitors The local phone service providers like ston. To add insult to injury, Jones said up to half a billion dollars in the state's five Southwestern Bell no longer have a Southwestern Bell is now planning to offer largest metro areas. "We don't think any monopoly, but they are being freed from the same expanded calling service that he company is gong to come in and compete restrictions on the prices they can charge started at Metro-Link. "They will stop at with them," says TCA director Tim Curtis. customers. In addition, they own all the nothing to stop competition," he said. HB 2128 came out of months of negotia- phone lines that consumers paid them to "They have done everything they can to tions. After the last session failed to pro- build over the past six or duce a workable bill on seven decades. Thus, they t It phone deregulation, legisla- can force competitors to tors and lobbyists met for come through them to months in a group called the reach the market or force i) Joint Interim Study Com- those competitors to build mittee on Telecommunica- their own lines. Gary tions. The group was co- Samuels of Forbes maga- LI chaired by Seidlits and zine summed up the situa- David Sibley, a Republican tion in an article last Senator from Waco. But the month, saying the new sit- negotiations went nowhere. uation gives the old mo- SWBT and TTA lobbyists nopolies "most of the free- i say AT&T was never seri- dom of unregulated, ous about the negotiations competitive enterprises, but and kept sending different little of the competition. 1 people to the meetings. Even Meanwhile, the Bells have AT&T reps say the com- the best of both worlds." I I I . A pany was disorganized. Daniel Jones knows all ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL ALEXANDER That hasn't prevented about Southwestern Bell's power to stifle drive us out of business." AT&T from attacking the measure. The competitors. In 1985, Jones and two part- While Southwestern Bell wants to limit company pooled forces with MCI and ran ners started a company called Metro-Link competition at the state level, it is furiously attack ads on TV, claiming the current Telecom, which offers expanded local call- lobbying Congress for laws that would phone deal was done for special interests. ing services between Galveston and Hous- allow the company to jump into the long- Curtis says that his group and other con- ton. Because the cities are in different area distance business. Bills currently pending sumer groups collaborated, shared infor- codes, callers in Galveston (409) have to at the federal level could go further than mation and, are cooperating however they pay Southwestern Bell a long distance fee HB 2128 and allow cable companies, long can with the companies. to talk to friends in Houston (713). Jones, a distance companies and local phone com- While Southwestern Bell meant to keep former marketing man for Southwestern panies to invade each others' territory. AT&T and other players out of the local Bell, saw a niche. He began offering callers Whatever happens, the Baby Bells want to phone business, HB 2128 could hurt niche the ability to call between the two cities for get into the long distance business, and players like Internet access providers. The a flat fee, with no per-minute charges. For they want to do it immediately. On March Internauts are worried the bill will classify 18 months, Jones' business rocked along. 3, Gary McBee, the chairman of the Al- them as resellers, which would put them Then Southwestern Bell informed him that liance for Competitive Communications, under the auspices of the PUC. If that hap- the lines it was leasing him would cost him told a group of legislators in Washington, pens, Internet providers could be forced to not the $12,000 per month that he was pay- "In my mind the answer is clear—full, free pay three times as much for their phone ing, but $85,000 per month. The company and fair competition, not the heavy hand of lines. "The problem is ambiguous terms," also informed Jones it would not list his regulation, brings progress.... Our funda- says Scott McCollough, an Austin attorney customers in their Houston area phone di- mental goal is to open all telecommunica- and former assistant attorney general who rectories. tions markets—including our own—to full deals with electronic access issues. He says Jones appealed his case to the PUC and competition as quickly as possible." the bill doesn't clearly spell out who will sued Southwestern Bell for unfair business But that's not what Seidlits' bill will do. be considered a reseller of phone services. practices, breach of contract and deceptive Instead, it will require companies wanting Before the House voted on the bill, Sei- trade practices. The PUC sat on the case to compete with Southwestern Bell in the dlits promised that the Internet problem but Jones won his civil case in district court local phone business to build their own fa- would be solved. "That's not the intent of and was awarded $5.7 million in July 1993. cilities. That's not what happens in the the bill," he said and he promised to fix the He hasn't collected a penny nor does he ex- long-distance business. bill when it came to House floor for a vote. pect to. "I'm not counting on getting that In 1984, when AT&T was broken up When the bill came to the floor, an amend-

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 7

• ment by Representative Scott Hochberg, The newspapers got what they wanted, ley, who like Clayton made the list of the D-Houston, was added. Rhonda McCol- and while the bill didn't help the cable Ten Most Influential Lobbyists in Texas, lough, a spokesperson for Hochberg, said companies, it didn't hurt them either. Time [TO 2/24/95] represents Sprint as well as the amendments should allow Internet to Warner and Tele Communications Inc., the the TDNA. continue offering services. "The way two biggest cable providers in the state, Bill Cryer, who was press boss for for- things are treated now is the way they will each have about a million cable customers. mer Gov. Ann Richards, is working with be treated after the bill is passed," she said. Under the Seidlits bill, they may be able to George Shipley & Associates to help Looking back over the past two years, provide local phone service if they are will- AT&T fight the good fight. Marta Greytok, Roger Kintzel, publisher of the Austin ing to build switching equipment and other the former PUC commissioner who failed American-Statesman and the chair of infrastructure. to unseat Land Commissioner Garry TDNA's telecommunications committee, Mauro last November, is working for says the 1993 effort to overhaul the phone UT CABLE LOBBYIST and former Metropolitan Fiber Systems, the fiber-optic business was destined to fail. "The timing House member Bill Arnold still thinks company that has been battling Southwest- is right for the bill now," Kintzel said. His B the bill is stacked in Bell's favor. "The ern Bell for months. MFS provides high- paper and publishers of several others are local phone business in Texas is worth speed digital fiber lines and local phone satisfied with the bill because it will pro- about $8 billion per year," Arnold said. service to businesses in Houston and Dal- hibit Southwestern Bell from competing "Cable TV in Texas is a $1-billion busi- las. And MFS wants to expand its opera- directly against them in the information ness. That gives you an idea of the sheer tions in Texas, but Greytok says HB 2128 services business. Later this year, the size of the folks that are involved here." could prevent any expansion by her client. Austin daily will begin an experiment in While cable operators and are ready to "It's not a good bill," she said. electronic distribution. Like the Houston sign off on HB 2128, consumer groups and Thus, niche companies like MFS, con- Chronicle, which has similar plans, the AT&T are keeping up the fight, much to sumer groups and long distance carriers are Statesman will be available on Prodigy, the the financial prosperity of lobbyists and po- the only ones left fighting against HB nationwide computer service. Last month, litical consultants. Some appear to be 2128. The battle may last into the final days Cox Enterprises, which owns the Austin working both sides of the issue. Lobbyist of the session as AT&T and its allies work daily, announced a venture that will allow Billy Clayton, a former House Speaker, to add provisions that will allow more com- the Atlanta-based conglomerate to join lobbies for AT&T Consultants and LDDS, petition for local phone service. If they fail, with the Hearst Corporation (owner of the a long distance company that wants to get some observers are already predicting that Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News into the local exchange business. Clayton the issue will come back to the Lege in a and four other smaller papers in Texas), also represents Southwestern Bell Mobile few years. When that happens, you can be Gannett (owner of the El Paso Times), Systems. certain that the lobbyists will be waiting, Knight-Ridder and Times Mirror, to put Clayton isn't the only powerful lobbyist cellular phones at the ready. their publications on the Internet. making money from both sides. Rusty Kel-

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8 • MAY 5, 1995 High Tech, Hard Labor The Global Econo Behind Bars BY KYUNG SUN YU EN DEREK HERVEY was convicted on drug dealing Wcharges in 1993, he landed a sentence of 15 years of hard labor and a ticket to travel through time in the Texas prison system. At a state-run medium-secu- rity prison in Sugar Land, Hervey sowed and harvested crops much like prisoners did a century ago. Field work was "hot, hard work, very abusive, kind of like the breaking point," Hervey recalls. "They wanted to let you get all your anger out in there and try to transform you, instill disci- pline. That was basically what it was de- signed for." Two years later, Hervey was fast-forwarded into the future. Today, in- side a minimum-security prison operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corporation at Lockhart, he assembles circuit boards for a high-tech company. Hervey, 22, considers the months he's spent working for Lockhart Technologies

Inc. (LTI) and learning marketable skills as PHOTOS BY REESE ERLICH time well-spent. The parts that he and 100 Derek Hervey assembling circuit boards in fellow inmates produce are supplied to gi- Lockhart Technologies•Wackenhut plant. ants of the PC industry, including IBM, Texas Instruments, Dell Computers and tical to what we're doing here," Hilt said. Wackenhut warden Scott Comstock says Compaq. Hervey hopes that when he "But there are many small repair places he was looking to the future when he leaves prison his newly acquired skills will where you have TV repair and computer brought those companies into his prison. help him turn his life around. "It's a big in- repair. And they certainly are acquiring "We didn't want a license plate manufac- dustry," he said. "From what I know, peo- skills, soldering skills, that could be appli- turing company back there. We wanted an ple work for Motorola, Texas Instruments cable in those industries." industry that could provide marketable job in Dallas.... It's booming and there are a lot Hilt understands that job prospects can skills," Comstock said. "We really wanted of subcontractors. It's something I can be limited. American Microelectronics laid an industry that was high-tech." apply for returned back into society." off 150 Austin workers before it changed At Wackenhut, even the vernacular Leonard Hilt, president of Lockhart its name to Lockhart Technologies and sounds like criminology newspeak. Prisons Technologies, is not so optimistic. Al- moved into Wackenhut's Lockhart facility are corrections facilities and prisoners are though Hilt is pleased with the quality of in January 1994. That displacement of residents. Prison guards are corrections of- work done by inmates, he doesn't think workers, in apparent disregard of the pre- ficers. Guards working in the industrial fa- they will find similar jobs outside. "I think vailing wages and labor opportunities in cility wear suits and are called industry of- those people are not going to get jobs iden- the area, has union members concerned ficers. And it's job training and about bills before the Texas Legislature rehabilitation rather than discipline and that would expand prison work programs. punishment. And Wackenhut recently took Reese Erlich contributed reporting and re- another step in its reworking of criminol- search for this article James Cullen pro- ACKENHUT IS AMONG the ogy, opening a Renaissance facility for vided additional reporting on legislation in frontrunners in the booming pri- women. But it's still a prison. Austin. Kyung Sun Yu is a freelance writer Wvate prison industry, only a few The warden discovered his inmates' ca- and works on the staff of "We Do the lengths behind Corrections Corporation of pacity for work in 1993, when Wackenhut Work," a public television series about America, the industry leader. Wackenhut was scrambling to build a worksite to workplace issues. Its half-hour documen- operates 15 private prisons in the United house LTI's operation. Fifty Texas con- tary, "Prison Labor/Prison Blues," takes States, four of which are in Texas. It also victs worked for two-and-a-half months, viewers into prisons in Texas, Michigan, operates prisons in Australia and England. often for 18 hours a day, helping with the Oregon and China and considers the ongo- In Lockhart, 30 miles south of Austin, construction of the building that would ing debate on prison labor. The documen- Wackenhut inmates make components for house LTI's circuit board assembly plant. tary will air on some PBS stations in Texas electronic stethoscopes and navigational Comstock said he made the inmates—who throughout April, May and June. Call 510- devices, brass valves and fittings for air often worked from 6 a.m. until midnight— 547-8484 for more information on airtimes conditioners for Chatleff Controls Inc. and take daily brakes for lunch and dinner. All or to obtain a videotape of the program. eyeglass lenses for United Vision Group. inmates had Thanksgiving and Christmas

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 9 off. And all the prisoners volunteered According to state Comptroller John sure to cut costs, and as crime busters de- to work without pay, the warden said, to Sharp's 1994 Texas Performance Review, mand more than stricter sentencing laws and escape the daily rut, to work with their Gaining Ground: Progress and Reform in the removal of recreational amenities from hands or to just be outside again. Texas Government, prisons must qualify prisons, anti-crime rhetoric includes calls to "By and large, inmates like to work and under the federal Prison Industries En- put prisoners to work. In March, the state of they like to work hard," Comstock said hancement Act (PIE) to be able to contract Alabama reinstated chain gangs, and in- with almost paternal pride. "They brought with private companies. Prison industry mates chained together at the ankles are now that project on line and they did it for about programs must "consult with organized picking up litter along the state's highways. $200,000." The $200,000 total price was labor and local business that might be af- In state and federal prisons, inmates $300,000 less than what Wackenhut' s con- fected by the industry before startup, to en- make goods ranging from military uni- tractor, A&S Steel, had estimated. When sure that inmate labor will not displace forms to dormitory furniture to component the project was complete, Wackenhut offi- local workers," the Comptroller reported. parts for personal computers. Oregon State cials were reassured that their residents Gunn said the AFL-CIO was not consulted. Penitentiary inmates in Pendleton make were ready for a more lucrative venture. By "To our knowledge, no labor organization stylish blue jeans called "Prison Blues" that 1994, assembly operations were in full was consulted before these programs sell in the United States for about $30 swing at Wackenhut, where lines of men began," he said. apiece. In October 1994, Oregon voters wearing protrUding goggles maneuver Labor officials were told by federal pros- overwhelmingly approved a ballot initia- picks on circuit boards imprinted with elec- ecutors that the requirements to consult tive requiring inmates to work and abolish- tronic mosaics. with organized labor and local businesses ing non-competition restrictions and pre- "Our industry partners, vailing-wage requirements. they run real ... industries But it's private businesses that are profit driven, that are that are now expanding in the market driven. And that is nation's prisons. TWA em- imperative, in creating an en- ploys inmates from the Ven- vironment, even for the resi- tura County juvenile facility dents to work in. It's a com- in Southern California to petitive work force," take airline reservations. Comstock says. Toys `12' Us hired Illinois Some argue that it is more prisoners to do demolition than competitive. At Wack- work and stock shelves at an enhut, LTI pays one dollar a outlet in Aurora in 1993. Be- year in rent and $4.25 an tween 1989 and 1992, Ohio hour for inmate labor. Ac- prisoners manufactured auto cording to federal law, in- parts that were supplied to mates must be paid the in- Honda Motors by Weastec dustry's prevailing wage if Corporation, and today, the goods they make are to be sold out of as well as prohibiting the displacement of more than 700 inmates in Ohio's prison sys- state. Most prisons deduct about 80 percent workers no longer appears in the law. tem work for nearly 20 private companies. of the inmates' wages for the cost of incar- However, Comstock said, the company As the promise of profits begins to bear ceration and victim restitution. "Basically obtained documentation from the Texas fruit for LTI, Hilt's initial doubts about the it's a little for us, a little for the state," Her- Employment Commission that the prison move are waning. "We have the residents vey explains. "It's not to give us a lot of industries would not displace "free-world to a point where they're working well," money, but it's just to help us, give us a lit- workers." LTI was planning to move to Hilt said. "We have a continuous training tle initiative." Mexico, he said, so they followed PIE program going on that we should be able to Prisoners are not covered under the fed- guidelines under a provision that encour- make more money inside the facility here eral Fair Labor Standards Act, so employers ages prisons to seek out companies that than in the free world." are exempted from paying workers' com- might move out of the local area or outside "When you operate a prison industry op- pensation benefits and unemployment in- the United States. eration, for all practical purpose—that's surance. The state takes care of health care. employees or residents, that's their whole And a prison environment offers other RISON LABOR HAS A LONG his- life," Comstock says. "So they're very ded- perks for an employer. "I think normally tory in America: In the 19th century, icated to the job." when you work in the free world you have pconvicts worked in garment factories people that, many days, for one reason or and coal mines and on plantations and rail- HILE WORK MIGHT provide another, they call in sick or they have car roads. Between 1883 and 1885, Texas pris- meaningful activity for idle problems, they have family problems," LTI oners provided much of the manual labor to Wprisoners and a labor pool for President Hilt says. "[The inmates] may build the state Capitol in Austin. "Prisoners private employers, some contend that have family problems, but they're not ap- had to work long hours, they were not paid prison labor is an affront to human rights. parent here. The residents are here every for their labor," said Paul Lucko, a prison "You know it's a crime to put somebody to day. They're punctual. They're here at the historian at the University of Texas at work under the conditions that we criticize assigned time that they're supposed to be. Austin. "They worked similar to the way China for," says the labor federation's They don't go on vacations and they have a slaves worked." But public outcry against Gunn. "Absolute indentured slavery. very good attitude in going to work." corruption and unfair competition led to re- That's all you can call it. Anybody who Texas AFL-CIO President Joe Gunn forms in the use of prison labor. During the calls it less than that wants to look at the complained that when LTI moved into the 1950s, inmates were limited to such work world through rose-colored glasses." Lockhart facility, Wackenhut ignored re- as making license plates and furniture sold Former Wackenhut Industry Officer quirements that prison labor not compete to state agencies. Dawn Hankleman argues that prison work with local workers or businesses. But as states come under increasing pres- programs might not stop inmates from re-

10 • MAY 5, 1995 turning to crime after they are released. incentives for private companies to hire in- "How much does a private company put "You've got a different class of prisoners mate labor. Those measures were attached dollars above rehabilitation, above what now than before. A few years ago you got a to H.B. 2162, an omnibus criminal justice they're doing to the local economy," Gunn guy stealing to feed his family. Now you've bill sponsored by Allen Hightower, says. "They buy off the local establishment got people who steal so they can buy their Huntsville Democrat, that recently passed by giving some support jobs to that area. drugs. These guys are used to making big the House. Another bill, H.B. 2318 by They'll hire a few prison guards, they'll money on the streets. If you can go out mak- Allen, which would establish work pro- hire bookkeepers, they'll hire the accoun- ing $100 a night, you're not gonna be happy grams for juveniles in the Texas Youth tants.... And this is kind of hush money is making four-twenty-five an hour. There is Commission; was passed by the Correc- what I call it." no amount of job training that can change tions Committee and at press time was Comstock contends that "there are no that. You can only rehabilitate a person who awaiting House floor debate. fiscal advantages to us. We're in the prison wants to be rehabilitated." Lobbyists for organized labor hope to get business, the rehabilitation business." Hankleman quit her post at Wackenhut the prison work measures stripped from the Hankleman disagrees. "Wackenhut does in this past year due to what she says was omnibus bill in the Senate, as well as to stop not do anything where there is not a profit. mistreatment of Wackenhut officers. She the prison construction and TYC work bills. If they weren't making a profit, they presently has a worker's compensation and Rick Levy, legal counsel to the Texas wouldn't have added two new industries " unemployment insurance claim pending AFL-CIO, said Conley's bill, which allows And Comstock envisions further growth against Wackenhut. contractors to pay minimum wage to in- for Wackenhut. "We would like to expand Comstock contends that as prisoners are mates, puts those contractors at a competi- our employment base here with our resi- managed by a system of incentives, they tive advantage over contractors who em- dents tremendously. We've only got about are learning work skills that will allow ploy people from the outside. And prison- a hundred and five inmates employed," them to function in a market economy. labor contractors won't be required to pro- Comstock said. "LTI for example has con- Prisoners who work receive "good-time" vide training or safety programs or to commit tractually committed to employ 225 resi- or time off their sentences. Prisoners who to hire the prisoners when they are released. dents once their industries are fully ex- refuse work often receive "set-offs" which panded." LTI is expanding in a growth detract from their good time. Some inmates industry. The United States has a prisoner at Wackenhut have received as much as a "You know it's a crime population topping one million. With three-year set off. 101,000 inmates. behind bars, Texas ranks "It's punishment," said Bobby Over- to put somebody to second in the nation, and by the end of this street, who served time in three Texas pris- work under the year the prison population in Texas is pro- ons, including the Wackenhut prison. While jected to reach 146,000. in prison, Overstreet performed various du- conditions that we And if current trends continue, most of ties, including working out in the field pick- criticize China for." those coming into the system, like Derek ing mustard greens. "I didn't learn anything. Hervey, will be African-American men I just did it for good time credit." convicted of drug-related crimes. At the end Still, prison officials promote prison "It just gives contractors access to a cheap, of 1993, African Americans, who make up labor as job training that they consider an docile labor force that they don't have to 12.4 percent of the total U.S. population, ac- effective tool for rehabilitating criminals. pay workers compensation, unemployment counted for 50.6 percent of the state and And the appeal that proselytizers of both or health insurance for," Levy said. federal prison population. Drug offenders punishment and rehabilitation see in put- Once strictly a private security firm, comprise the fastest-growing segment of ting prisoners to work has facilitated a quiet Wackenhut Corporation formed Wacken- the prison population, totaling more than 18 industrial surge inside penal institutions. hut Corrections as a subsidiary to operate percent of state and federal prisoners. In 1994, the Correctional Industries As- private detention centers for the Immigra- "You have a lot of young men in here. sociation reported that federal and state tion and Naturalization Service. In 1988, They make mistakes. But they deserve a prison industries in the United States em- Wackenhut and CCA each won two con- second chance," Hervey says. "I think you ployed more than 70,000 inmates and gen- tracts to operate private prisons in Texas. have to educate while they're incarcerated, erated more than $1 billion in sales. Texas And private prison executives are elimi- in order for them , to have a chance to go out employs the largest number of inmates nating other obstacles to their entry into the into society and compete in the job market among state prisons in the United States. criminal justice market by winning over ... because they already have a strike At the end of 1994, Texas state correctional some who had been adamant opponents. against them." For now, Hervey reports to industries employed over 7,000 inmates, a Linda Marin, the executive director of work each day, determined to do what he

90-percent increase since 1980, and Coalition United for the Rehabilitation of can about that strike against him. ❑ grossed $93 million in sales, mostly from Errants (CURE) in Austin, a prisoners' - 80 prison-operated factories. rights group, says the CURE' s initial ob- Recently, the Texas House of Represen- jections to Wackenhut were allayed after tatives moved to create more job opportuni- CURE members made unannounced visits ANDERSON & COMPANY ties for convicts. A bill introduced by San to Wackenhut facilities. Marin says she COFFEE TEA SPICES Antonio Democrat Karyne Conley recently found Wackenhut inmates were more moti- TWO JEFFERSON SQUARE passed in the House. If it is approved by the vated because the inmates are treated more AUSTIN, TEXAS 78731 Senate and signed into law, convict labor humanely than they would be in state-run 512 453-1533 will be used to help build the $2 billion in prisons in Texas, where inmates who Send me your list. state prisons scheduled for construction in refuse to work are locked down. Texas. However prison historian Paul Lucko is Name Representative Ray Allen, a Grand wary about looking to private prisons to Street Prairie Republican, has sponsored bills to solve the problem of crime. "Their interests City Zip allow the Texas Department of Criminal are to make money. They're trying to make Justice to expand work programs and tax a profit. As a panacea, I don't see it."

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 11 V

Ex Post Facto "Rapacious capitalism" kills the Houston Post BY JUAN R. PALOMO Houston dying papers. More than a week after the "Let the facts be submitted to a candid T A TEXAS EMPLOYMENT execution, we have yet to hear from him. world," adorned Fort Hobby's walls near Commission meeting of former Publisher Ike Massey did write us all a its main entrance, its functioning motto Houston Post employees two days "Dear Post Person" letter, in which he was, "Don't rock the boat." Under the Hob- after the paper was shut down and its assets claimed the Post died because of the in- bys, the Post won a Pulitzer Prize (the only sold to its cross-town competitor, one par- creasing cost of newsprint. one ever claimed by a Houston paper), but ticipant wanted to know what to put down "You have no reason to hang your head," that was hardly ever mentioned by the time in the application form blank calling for a Massey wrote. "Your actions made the I arrived in 1979. Why? Probably because reason for the "job separation." Post a great newspaper." the readers might have started demanding How about, suggested movie critic Joe Leaving aside the outrageous lie that the that the paper again commit great journal- Leydon, putting down that "we are victims Post was ever a great newspaper, for ism. That would not be possible as long as of rapacious capitalism?" Massey to suggest any of us would for one Bill Hobby was lieutenant governor and One of the dangers of closing down a moment contemplate hanging our heads in hoping to one day be governor or U.S. sen- newspaper—as opposed to shutting down shame is typical of Post mentality. ator. Great journalism tends to ruffle feath- most other types of businesses—is that you Over the years, some very good and very ers and ruffling feathers is the last thing unleash hundreds of people who can, and dedicated people have worked at the Hous- you want to do when you care about col- often do, use their creative word skills to ton Post. Even on its last day, the Post had lecting votes and campaign contributions. badmouth you. When I inquired about writing Sure enough, on April 18, a column, I was told bluntly the day the Post died, there that Oveta Culp Hobby—the was a whole lot of bad- The paper was killed by three things: late governor's wife and the mouthing going on. The tar- greed, greed and damn greed. former lieutenant governor's gets were Billy Dean Single- mother—would never allow it ton—the industry's Agent because she did not want the Orange, who has elevated his search-buy- better, livelier, more creative, exciting and Post to develop any "stars." Stars, it was and-destroy tactics to a shock-art form— daring writers than the Chronicle, which explained, tended to get big heads and and the Hearst Corporation, owners of the has got to be the most boring newspaper in pretty soon start demanding to be allowed Houston Chronicle, which bought the America in spite of its vast resources. to actually say something. paper from Singleton. Many have gone on to better things for var- And finally, it was the Hobbys who real- Normally, when a newspaper is shut ious reasons, not the least of which were ized the paper would never again be a cash down, its employees spend their final days low pay and the lack of support and respect cow and quickly sold it to the foolish and recalling the good times, sharing war sto- from management. The rest of us stayed arrogant Canadians in 1983. The Canadi- ries and telling each other, "We gave it our on, again for various reasons, but primarily ans thought they could turn the paper best shot and now we go out with our heads because we wanted to be there, we were around by introducing garish color and held high." comfortable doing what we were doing. graphics and by bringing to Houston a bit But that would come later. On the final If anybody should start making friends of their brand of brash Canadian (read day at the Post, there was primarily anger, with the concept of shame, it is Massey, British) tabloid journalism. By the time not just at the fact that we had lost our jobs Singleton and the numerous other top Post they realized they'd made a mistake, it was and that a 111-year-old institution had managers over the past three decades who too late. Many of the readers they offended died, but at the cowardly manner in which will never be able to wash the paper's in the first weeks never came back, even if it had been done. We were told at a 9:30 blood from their hands. the Post was at last producing some impor- meeting, before most editorial staff mem- Starting with the Hobby family, who tant hard-hitting stories and commentaries. bers had arrived, that there would no final owned the paper for most of this century, farewell edition and that Hearst wanted us continuing with the Toronto Sun people HE CANADIANS ALSO introduced out by 5 p.m. Immediately, armed guards and finally Billy Dean, the Post has seen a totally alien concept to Houston hired by Hearst set up a barricade at the virtually nothing but unforgivably gross Tjournalism: competition. Beating the main entrance, demanding identification mismanagement, incompetence and ne- Chronicle became an obsession with many from everyone, even people who'd worked glect. reporters and it was no longer OK for the there for decades. It was the Hobbys who sat on their hands Post to ignore a story the Chronicle—or Singleton didn't even give us the cour- while the Chronicle—then the city's Num- any other news outlet—had broken. Now, tesy of showing up to make the announce- ber 2 afternoon paper and by all industry if the Chron had a story one day, it was our ment. More than likely, he was circling logic, the one headed towards the newspa- duty to go after it and produce a better story somewhere over America in his private per graveyard—slowly but steadily move the next day. And we often did. plane, like a vulture, searching for more ahead in the crucial circulation and classi- But the Canadians also spent money fied advertising battles. It was the Hobbys foolishly. Our White House correspondent, who gave up the good news services, which for instance, started travelling with the Juan R. Palomo, formerly a columnist with were quickly taken over by the Chronicle. president on every out-of-town trip, do- the Houston Post, will write for food. While the words of Thomas Jefferson, mestic or foreign, a very expensive under-

12 • MAY 5, 1995

taking. Huge, lavish parties with lots of Editorial page editor Lynn Ashby was will miss us, for a while, but then life will booze and the best food possible were the constantly berating columnist Bob New- go on. It has to. For five days after the order of the day. All this at a time when berry, an African American, and me for paper's closing, I stubbornly refused to Houston was going through its worst reces- being too liberal and several times even pick up the Chronicles that had been sion in recent memory. threatened to fire me if I kept losing the thrown on my lawn. I just couldn't bring Soon it became evident to them that they Post more subscriptions. myself to do it. On the sixth day, I relented. would not be raking in millions of dollars "Got another cancellation today from a Guess what? I survived. So will most of the from their investment, and soon it ceased subscriber because of your column," he 1,900 people who lost their jobs along with being fun. In 1987 they looked around for wrote a couple of months ago. "I don't me. ❑ someone to take it off their hands and, sure know how much longer I can keep you enough, there was Billy Dean, ready and around. Nothing personal, just a business eager to do so. Taking the Post's pension decision." This is Texas today. A state full of fund profits, the Canadians retreated north Sunbelt boosters, strident anti-union- of the border to lick their wounded egos. VEN ON THE DAy before the ists, oil and gas companies, nuclear Life in Billydeandom was a nightmare paper's closing, during 'our regular weapons and power plants, political from the beginning. To run the paper, he Eeditorial board meeting, after I'd sug- hucksters, underpaid workers and brought in David Bergen, a man with the gested we should be prepared to write our toxic wastes, to mention a few. biggest journalistic ego in the country— "farewell" editorial, Ashby blamed our and the least to show for it. Bergen appar- controversial columns for the paper's prob- BUT DO NOT DESPAIR! ently believed that by screaming and shout- lems—while insisting that we needed to pr,„„,,,, bill TEXAS ing he could convert the staff from skeptics give our readers something they couldn't to adoring supporters. His tenure turned out get in the Chronicle. 1 411 to be a disaster all around and Bergen was Go figure. sere r exiled to California in 1991, but he was The Post was not solely responsible for succeeded by one of his proteges, Charles its death, of course. Cooper. It was Cooper who had the dubi- As I told one TV interviewer the night of TO SUBSCRIBE: ous distinction of presiding over the public its closing, the paper was killed by three relations disaster that resulted from my fir- things, "Greed, greed and damn greed." ing—for refusing to keep quiet about his Much of that greed originated across Name not letting me come out as a gay man in my town, at the Chronicle. Its lead over the column—after Billy Dean had assured me I Post was so vast that there was never any Address need not fear for my job. danger that we would overtake it. If it had Under Billy Dean, the staff was gradu- wanted to, it could have let us continue City ally reduced to the point that at times col- making modest profits and carving out our lege interns were assigned major breaking niche among Houston's readers. State Zip stories because there were no regular staff But this is America, home of rapacious members around to do them. With raises capitalism, where most of the profits is not $32 enclosed for a one-year subscription. handed out sparingly and selectively, and good enough, it has to be all of the profits. ❑ with constant rumors of the paper's To that end, the Chronicle, both before and ❑ Bill me for $32. demise, staff morale hit all-time lows and after it was bought by Hearst, ran an exten- kept declining. Thousands upon thousands sive and deliberate dirty campaign to un- 307 West 7th St., Austin,TX 78701 of dollars that could have gone to staff dermine the Post's standing with its readers salaries were foolishly wasted sponsoring and advertisers. Last year it used its power such things as chili cookoffs and other to take from the Post its only remaining • %%4 7.5ea charity events, activities that produce some Sunday coupon supplement, leaving the goodwill but do little to increase circulation .10 Horse Post without any coupons. • or advertising. In spite of all this, the Post continued to • Inn The Post also stubbornly refused to pro- survive and at times produce outstanding • mote its best assets: its writers, particularly journalism. It survived primarily because rt Kitclicilcitc ,, ( - 11)1c . I ICilIC(1 1 )0()1 its columnists, and in fact, often behaved as the Chronicle was putting out such a lousy Ob. if it were embarrassed by us. The only product. Had it continued to be a contest /)(' \ id(' ///c (mil HI licki, i , 10, columnist it would regularly tout was based strictly on good journalism, the (11/ .1111 ∎ 11111 , , 1\lond sports writer Mickey Herskowitz, whose Chronicle eventually might have won this IIP \ \ zijk i Nc 1()1 PH\ ;itc pw•I lc. long tenure there had made him an institu- newspaper battle anyway, but it wouldn't I 1.1 1094 I ; r ',/ t (pH ' /./ t r( rpc( ti j ( 7/(// 7/ j tion and therefore safe to promote. (Ironi- have been any time soon. f A: , Imim ph r . rc cally, it Herskowitz who sent this computer The official reason given for the closing ) message systemwide, "Dean, I hope your of The Post was the high cost of newsprint. i \I I.()RI) \ NI I R \ILti .0, bones hurt for a long time.") While it is true that newsprint prices have Pets \Velem-he Pi- It's not that the Post's columnists were skyrocketed in recent months, that was not tt, great. We weren't. But we were good. We the only factor. But to blame high 1423 11th Street sre, took stands and we often challenged read- newsprint prices for the death of the news- ilitS" Port Aransas, TX 78373 '$ ers to think—and we certainly were a lot paper is like blaming high rent prices for better than the Chronicle's. Except for Lori the suicide of a homeless person. The Post (512))..719-5 22,1. 1 Rodriguez, the Chron's hard-hitting minor- had been dying for a long, long time. Did for A)(.scr-v:ii ri()17.. ,, '.- ,f ity affairs columnist, Chronicle columnists the Post deserve to die? Probably. In the have written piece after tedious piece with- end, our strengths just weren't enough to out ever saying one darn thing. offset our weaknesses. Our loyal readers -%„,d• vs 1...... • war.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 13 MOLLY IVINS

"Who are these people?" years now. It should also be pointed out are talking about how to fix what's wrong, Glad you asked. I'm in regular corre- that BATF's famous forensics lab cracked not the ones who just work people into a spondence with them myself. Here's a bil- the World Trade Center bombing case and snit over the problems. Listen to the people let-doux that arrived just last week: will probably provide the evidence in the who have ideas about how to fix things, not "Molly Ivins: We have a strong response Oklahoma case. the ones who just blame others. to leftist, feminazi, elitist media persons White Power, the KKK and the Lone Star Do I think the climate of hate speech, such as yourself. You are an enemy of the Militia (and related branches) are all part of hate radio and hate politics contributed to White race, the White family unit and the same old racist, hate-mongering bunch of the torn, tiny bodies in Oklahoma City? I White America. You will be defeated along cockroaches who have been around all our know they did. The poisoning of the well of with your agenda of social subversion and lives. These belly-creeping dimwits are public debate by people like Representative decay. The People of Cincinnati and of the haters, which gets us into the same old trap: Bob Dornan, now running for the presi- Nation have rejected your agenda and your What do you do about hating the haters? dency of the United States, is just as much clown prince Clinton. We are taking our na- The phenomenal torrent of rhetoric un- a part of the bomb that went off in Okla- tion back and we are ready to deal with you leashed by the Republican right lately on the homa as the fertilizer that went into it. Hate and your ilk by any means necessary! WE theme that Government Is The Enemy plays speech is fertilizer for bombs. DESPISE YOU AND YOUR KIND! ! !" right into the hands of the haters. The more So should we limit freedom of speech? Follows a small sticker in black, red and people talk about government as Them, Of course not. But with freedom comes re- white with a swastika and the . slogan some unreachable, uncontrollable Other, the sponsibility, and people should be held ac- "WHITE POWER!". Also appended: a copy more extreme the haters get. I've got news countable for their words. And the rest of of a column I wrote with "Commie Fag for the haters: Government Is Us in this us have a responsibility, too: to use our own Lover" scrawled across my picture and country. Well, us and a lot of corporate spe- freedom to speak out against the haters. some uncharitable and unprintable sugges- cial-interest money. (Speaking of corporate The poisonous stew of gun nuts, racists, tions on it. Just a regular piece of fan mail in special-interest money, perhaps the timber, right-wingers and religious zealots has the daily life of a leftist, feminazi, elitist mining and ranching interests would now been allowed to boil and bubble, heated by media person like myself. like to rethink their funding of the increas- paranoia and lies, until it finally exploded. Except for the piercing logic of calling ingly violent anti-environmental groups.) And it turned out that all the macho someone a "feminazi" in a letter with a Does this mean anyone who criticizes fantasies of all the losers who like to play swastika pasted on it for identification, this the gummint should now shut up, lest we at war were just the miasma of sick is pretty impressive. somehow encourage the scum who are minds—there was no enemy. There were This is one of the less loony pieces of willing to kill children in their blind hatred? only mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, White Power mail I receive. The ones about Of course not. But as I have been preaching sisters, brothers, husbands and wives. the supposed invasion of this country by the for a long time: Listen to the people who And babies. ❑ United Nations are truly far gone in paranoia, not to mention the remarkable theory that President Clinton is about to import 100,000 Chinese cops to take people's guns away. JIM HIGHTOWER OK, so we more or less know who these people are, but what's wrong with them? Iceman Still Cometh Newt said it was a perfect symbol of how Why would they so completely suspend out-of-touch, over-pampered and perk-crazy disbelief as to fall for this stuff? Who in his Congress had become. And he was right. right mind could believe any of this? Now, I thought surely I'd seen everything, having been to the state fair twice and been "No more free ice," Newt commanded. Twenty-five years in the newspaper bidness So. Guess who's still having a bucket of have given me a fairly strong faith in the involved in Texas politics. But this is one for Ripley's Believe It or Not. You've ice delivered to his office every morning? proposition that if you haven't read about it Bingo! The Newt! So are such top Republi- in The Daily Disappointment or seen it on heard of Stupid Pet Tricks? This is Stupid Politician Tricks. can leaders as Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, the network news, it's probably not true. John Kaisch and Bill Archer—all of whom Oddly enough, I happen to agree with the When Loudspeaker of the House Newt Gingrich took control of the Congress in pose as Big-Time Budget-Whackers. White Power nuts on both the Branch Da- Oh: of those 73 new Republicans who vidian case and the Randy Weaver case— January, he said he was going to stop the perks and pampering lawmakers get. He marched into Washington this year, de- gross misuses of government power, as I manding an end to "Business as Usual" ... said at the time. But don't let them con you made a particularly loud fuss about one re- ally silly freebie: the delivery every morn- believe it or not, 51 have arranged to get the into thinking that the bombing in Oklahoma frozen freebie delivered daily. City is somehow the government's fault. ing of a bucket of ice to each Congressional office. That's right, Believe It or Not, we Bear in mind that automatic ice deliver- These same cuckoo birds have been dinging ies have stopped. So for Newt and all the around in the ozone about the Bureau of Al- taxpayers were making daily ice deliveries to members of Congress. rest of these hypocritical to be getting a cohol, Tobacco and Firearms (known in bucket- a-day from us taxpayers, each one their literature as BATFAG) for years and actually had to sneak a call to the Capitol Jim Hightower, a former Observer editor and Hill iceman—and request it! Texas agriculture commissioner, does daily No wonder Newt and Gang won't pass Molly Ivins, a former Observer editor, is a radio commentary and a weekend call-in talk term limits, won't ban members from tak- columnist with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. show on the ABC Radio Network ing gifts from lobbyists and won't consider

14 • MAY 5, 1995 SURVIVAL IN A CHEMICAL WORLD

Cancer and Vietnam variety of adverse health effects, including ronmental physician and Agent Orange birth defects and cancer. Coordinator to manage the Agent Orange Q: I am a Vietnam veteran and several After the cessation of the use of the her- years ago I was diagnosed as having non- Program. If you contact your nearest center bicide, concern for long-term health effects you will receive counseling and informa- Hodgkins lymphoma. Is there a possible of this chemical has been fueled by reports tion. connection between my service in Vietnam from a growing number of veterans who and the cancer? Where can I go for help? There is an excellent videotape avail- developed cancer or fathered handicapped able, an Agent Orange Veterans Registry children. and fact sheets and newsletters that will A: Between 1962 and 1971, U.S. military Even after all these years, and thousands forces sprayed nearly 11.2 million gallons help keep you advised of the latest infor- of studies, definitive information on long- mation on the subject. of a herbicide known as "Agent Orange" term health effects associated with this You may be interested in a recent au- over approximately 3.6 million acres in chemical is lacking. Vietnam. thoritative report on veterans and Agent Some veterans' organizations and public Orange, "Health Effects of Herbicides used The herbicide was used to strip the thick interest groups remain skeptical that the in Vietnam." jungle canopy that helped conceal opposi- issue has received full and impartial con- This monograph is based on an expert tion forces and to destroy crops that enemy sideration by the Department of Veterans forces might depend upon. committee report of the National Academy Affairs and other federal agencies. of Science. Based on animal reports that a minor At the present time, the Department of component of the herbicide, Dioxin or If you call (409) 772-9110, the number Veterans Affairs (formerly the Veterans of our Topics Assistance Program, we will TCDD, could cause birth defects in ani- Administration), on the basis of available mals, the spraying was halted in 1971. assist you in obtaining the report and pro- scientific interest, compensates, for speci- vide you with additional information on Since that time Dioxin has been identi- fied conditions, veterans who served in this important issue. fied as one of the most toxic man-made Vietnam between August 5, 1964, and May chemicals known and in animals it causes a 7, 1975. Toxic Tip Those conditions include a rare skin con- If you are interested in environmental is- Marvin S. Legator is a professor and direc- dition (Chloracne) and specific cancers, in- cluding non-Hodgkins lypmhoma. sues, particularly the health effects of pesti- tor of the division of environmental toxicol- cides, there is an authoritative and well- ogy at the University of Texas Medical This is not to say that your cancer was necessarily caused by your service in Viet- written weekly newsletter called Rachel's Branch at Galveston. Amanda M. Howells- Hazardous Waste News, published and cir- Daniel is with the Toxics Assistance Pro- nam, but that your service in Vietnam could have caused or significantly con- culated at no cost by the Environmental gram at the University of Texas Medical Research Foundation, P.O. Box 5036, An- Branch. The views expressed in this column tributed to your disease. At each Department of Veterans Affairs napolis, MD 21403. (Fax 410 263-8944, do not necessarily reflect those of UTMB email: [email protected].) Rachel can be ob- Galveston. Medical Center there is a designated envi- tained through electronic mail. ❑ campaign-finance reform—they won't erties are time bombs. Many aren't worth Buchanan, "Dollar-Bill Phil" Gramm, "B-1 even give up free ice! 20 cents of the original dollar lent on them. Bob" Doman and all the rest. That Newt is quite a trickster, isn't he? Some aren't worth a nickel on the dollar." Already the national media are covering It's enough to give you a bad case of "tri- them as they traipse through New Hamp- Son of S&L chotillomania." Ever get that? It's the un- shire, New York and other early primary Are you sitting down? controllable desire to tear your hair out. states. But the conventional media are ig- Ready or not, like a bad sequel to a hor- Investigators report that these financial noring what really is the first primary elec- ror movie, here comes: "Son of the Savings flimflammers are listing housing develop- tion in the country—and maybe the most & Loan Scandal." That's right, the finan- ments, shopping centers . and other proper- significant: It's the "Wall Street Primary," cial finagling of the 1980s that led to a ties on their books as though they are worth and it's under way right now. $300-billion-plus bailout by us taxpayers is millions—when in fact they're vacant lots, The winner here is not chosen by vot- baaaack—and oozing toward your wallet. abandoned shacks or burned-out buildings. ers—one person, one vote—but by dollars. State and federal investigators in Texas, And in some cases, the property simply Check it out. Goldman Sachs, Morgan New Jersey, Arizona, Pennsylvanth and doesn't exist at all! Stanley, American Express, Chemical elsewhere have just disclosed that—once They conservatively estimate that losses Bank and J.P. Morgan executives have again—financial insiders are playing footsie so far in "Son of S&L" total $20 billion— bought into "Dollar-Bill Phil," who raised with real estate brokers, developers and with many more billions in losses to come. half-a-million bucks at one Wall Street other fast-buck artists. Once again, billions And when these losses cause the financial in- cocktail party. Likewise, Paine Webber, of dollars are being drained from S&Ls, stitutions to fail, guess who gets the tab? Us Prudential and Bear Stearns each have a banks and insurance companies that have sorely abused taxpayers, that's who. As Yogi piece of Bob Dole, who raised a million been financing deals that are grossly over- Berra once said: It's deja vu all over again. bucks in a one-night stand with New York valued—some of them involving the exact stock brokers and speculators. same properties that were sold and resold at Wall Street Primary See how it works? Washington serves inflated prices in last decade's S&L scams! There they are, a gaggle of Republican Big Money because Big Money gets to As one investigator put it: "These prop- presidential wannabes: Bob Dole, Pat vote earlier than you. ❑

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 15

olfsm■-•11,, BAD BILLS

The Most to populate private psychiatric facilities in- Red Tape and Unkindest Cut stead of correctional institutions. Reproductive Rights Bad Bill #1: fvj Revolting Developments Bad Bill #6: S.B. 40 S.B. 1033 Sponsor: Sen. Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) Bad Bill #4: Sponsor: Sen. Chris Harris Status: Passed in the Senate; Referred to H.B. 2471 (R-Arlington) House Corrections Committee Sponsor: Rep. Ron Lewis Status: Referred to Senate Health and This bill provides for the voluntary surgi- (D-Mauriceville) Human Services Committee cal castration of recidivist sex offenders. Status: Pending in House Natural Re- This offering would require all Texas fa- Senator Bivins insists that the procedure is sources Committee cilities that provide abortions to become intended as a form of treatment for repeat Major development firms such as FM ambulatory surgical centers. Proponents rapists, child molesters and the like. Properties, Inc., and Circle C Land Corpo- say that this stipulation is necessary to pro- Orchiectomy, as surgical castration is ration have been vexed for years by the tect the health of Texas women who seek technically known, is customarily carried City of Austin's ongoing efforts to limit abortions. The Texas Department of out by urologists, licensed surgeons who building on its periphery; Austin environ- Health reports no upsurge in complica- specialize in the treatment of the human mentalists lobbied successfully for city tions from legal abortions which would genitourinary tract. As physicians, their regulations and extraterritorial jurisdiction warrant this change. professional ethics forbid them to excise to protect water quality in the area. FM Peggy Romberg, of the Texas Family healthy tissue, particularly in response to Properties helped draft this bill, which Planning Association, points out that this legislative demands. When Senator Bivins would allow it and other developers to ex- bill would prevent most private physicians introduced this bill in the last legislative empt their projects from Austin water- from offering pregnancy terminations in session, one Texas physician, then a resi- quality requirements. their offices at low cost, because of the re- dent in urology, recalled, "Everybody in Cynics have suggested that Rep. Lewis' quired compliance with 52 pages of regu- our department thought this [bill] was the decision to carry this bill was influenced lations for ambulatory surgical centers. stupidest thing they had ever heard." Sup- by his part-time employment as a market- Texas Association of Obstetricians and port for the measure from urologists across ing representative with J.I. Specialty Ser- Gynecologists President David Kittrell, the state was not forthcoming this session, vices, Inc., a company that insures water M.D., estimates that forcing abortion either. districts of 1,000 acres or larger. providers to become ambulatory surgical Senator Bivins' measure was miscon- centers would drive the average cost of an ceived from the get-go: Surgical castration abortion in Texas from $300 to as high as does not reliably produce impotence in the Breathe Deep $1800. "This is an effort to increase cost human male, or predictable reductions in Bad Bill #5: and decrease access [to abortion]," he re- aggressive drive or behavior. The current marked in a telephone interview. medical literature recommends pharmaco- H.B. 2973 Sponsor: Rep. Curtis Seidlits logical approaches to the treatment of It Just Don't Feel Right! compulsive sexual criminals, the popula- (D-Sherman) tion at which this bill is aimed. Status: Reported favorably out of House Bad Bill #7 State Affairs Committee H.B. 163 The research data on second-hand smoke Sponsor: Rep. Ted Kamel (R- Tyler) Catch 'Em bung. continues to pour in, and in response, com- Status: Referred to Public Health munities large and small in Texas have Bad Bills #2 & 3: H.B. 163 would make the distribution or been passing local ordinances to restrict the sale of condoms in public schools a crime. S.B. 6 public use of tobacco. It was only a matter H.B.327 The bill joins the multitude of bills pro- of time before the tobacco industry struck posed every session that is informed by the Sponsors: Sen. Chris Harris back with a little lawmaking of its own. (R-Arlington) belief that if teachers and parents teach This bill would water down anti-smok- adolescents that sex is bad, adolescents Rep. Toby Goodman (R-Arlington) ing ordinances across the state, under the Status: S.B. 6 referred to Criminal Justice will avoid it Most of these bills ignore ev- pretense of promoting uniformity in smok- idence that condoms are an effective pre- Committee; H.B. 327 passed in the House ing regulations. It is similar to legislation and the Senate vention of teen pregnancy and the spread- introduced on behalf of the tobacco lobby ing sexually transmitted diseases. Rep. Goodman' s original draconian mea- in other states, but Stanton A. Glantz, a sure on juvenile justice has been consider- University of California medical school Readers are invited to submit their own ex- ably tempered in the Texas Senate. How- researcher who specializes in analysis of ever, both these bills retain provisions amples of measures before the Legislature anti-smoking legislation, characterizes this which demonstrate high levels of idiocy, which would allow 14-year-old offenders Texas proposal as "the worst example of a to be certified to stand trial as adults, and underhandedness, and/or avarice. Contact pro-tobacco bill I have ever seen." Mary O'Grady or Kendyl Taylor Hanks, 16-year-old convicts to be confined in the The ever-open-handed Philip Morris adult prison system. The Bad Bills Girls, TO, 307 W. 7th St., Companies joined the Texas Restaurant Austin, Texas 78701; telephone 512-477- Of course, if these measures become Association, the Texas Bowling Centers law, prisons will be reserved for impover- 0746; fax 512-474-1175. To find out the Association and several other trade associ- status of any bill, call the Legislative Ref- ished juvenile delinquents; young felons ations to advance this example of unen- from better-heeled families will continue erence Library toll free at 1-800-253- lightened self-interest. 9693 or in Austin, 463-1251.

16 • MAY 5, 1995

-04•14....•■^,34.% . A public service message from the American Income De Insurance Co.— aco,lexas- _ OrnAr 'T.70,44f

MID THE SORDID TALES and bloomy statistics that form our daily Afare, here is a piece of great good news: Cancer is curable! Conditioned from tremble at the mention. once virtually synorr' ous.wit we all can take hea Thanks to a small a and dedicated health-ca son nmen ais at the M.D. Anderson ogroa.et Nee on Texans Ng man m

ks to VI ties?

exactly. eficiary. In December -IL: small, malignant ' se of my tongue. Dr.erae tert at M.D. Anderson saw ay I can operate on said. A part of M Tocla be removed. I s poe. rays or p fear, not knowing if I would be able to lines. The Houston fail r speak intelligibly. center of an ever-WL:„ .... Four weeks of radiation treatment telecommunications 67.s\''' followed the surgery. Then speech Indigent women in Tex as therapy. I've returned 15 times for Grande Valley are screened re checkups. Doctors tell me I have for cancer of the cervix. St, :passed a magic milestone. Ninety per - transmitted via television to tent of head and neck cancer recur- derson for diagoo##s. rences develop in the first three ypgrs. mote rural com ortunate to have health ins I and New Mexico s able to handle the cost treat- receive similar V out financial strain. But I had The beneficento:"' of new

peonil Ss, M.D. Anderson would , discovery radiate ted me. My welcome and Houston center to ev er would have been exactly globe. A recently p. newborn infants is saV :Unique ins itu- lives by detecting deadly n

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 17 BOOKS & THE CULTURE

David Talamantez on the Last Day of Second Grade BY ROSEMARY CATACALOS San Antonio, Texas 1988 David Talamantez, whosemother is at work, leaves his mark everywhere in the schoolyard, tosses pages from a thick sheaf of lined paper high in the air one by one, watches them catch on the teachers' car bumpers, drift into the chalky narrow shade of the water fountain. One last batch, stapled together, he rolls tight into a makeshift horn through which he shouts David! and David, yes! before hurling it away and darting across Brazos Street against the light, the little sag of head and shoulders when, safe on the other side, he kicks a can in the gutter and wanders toward home. David Talamantez believes birds are warm blooded, the way they are quick in the air and give out long strings of complicated music, different all the time, not like cats and dogs. For this he was marked down in Science, and for putting his name in the wrong place, on the right with the date instead of on the left with Science Questions, and for not skipping a line between his heading and answers. The X's for wrong things are big, much bigger than David Talamantez's tiny writing. Write larger, his teacher says in red ink across the tops of many pages. Messy! she says on others where he has erased and started over, erased and started over. Spelling, Language Expression, Sentences Using the Following Words. Neck. I have a neck name. No! 20's, 30's. Think again! He's good in Art, though, makes 70 on Reading Station Artist's Corner, where he's traced and colored an illustration from Henny Penny. A goose with red-and-white striped shirt, a hen in a turquoise dress. Points off for the birds, cloud and butterfly he's drawn in freehand. Not in the original picture! Twenty-five points off for writing nothing in the blank after This is my favorite scene in the book because.... There's a page called Rules. Listen! Always working! Stay in your seat! Raise your hand before you speak! No fighting! Be quiet! Rules copied from the board, no grade, only a huge red checkmark. Later there is a test on Rules. Listen! Alay ercng! Sast in ao snet!

Rars aone bfo your spek! No finagn! Be cayt! He gets 70 on rules_ , 10 on Spelling. An old man stoops to pick up a crumpled drawing of a large family crowded around a table, an apartment with bars on the windows in Alazan Courts, a huge sun in one corner saying, To mush noys! After correcting the spelling, the grade is 90. Nice details! And there's another mark, on this paper and all the others, the one in the doorway of La Rosa Beauty Shop, the one that blew under the pool table at La Tenampa, the ones older kids have wadded up like big spit balls, the ones run over by cars. On every single page David Talamantez has crossed out the teacher's red numbers and written in giant letters, blue ink, Yes! David, yes!

ITH THIS ISSUE, the Texas Observer begins a regular presentation of poetry, cel- Webrating the splendid voices currently at work (and at play) in this abundant field Poetry editor Naomi Shihab Nye lives in worldwide. Our writers may have some link, past or present, to Texas, or may never have San Antonio. She edited This Same Sky, A set foot in the state before. Their words will explore, consider and illuminate the mysteries Collection of Poems from around the World of individual and collective experience in ways which poetry, that fluent and versatile sis- (Four Winds Press/Macmillan, named a ter of lengthier texts, has always done best. Notable Book by the American Library As- Rosemary Catacalos, native of San Antonio, has long been a champion of poetry in ed- sociation) as well as two anthologies forth- ucation. She worked as a journalist, arts administrator, and writer-in-residence in dozens,of coming from Simon & Schuster, The Tree is Texas schools before receiving a Stegner Writing Fellowship and moving to California. Older than You Are, a bilingual gathering Her book of poems Again for the First Time was published by Tooth of Time Press, New of poems, stories and paintings from Mex- Mexico. She currently directs the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University. ico, and I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You, -NAOMI SHIHAB NYE. co-edited with Paul B. Janeczko.

18 • MAY 5, 1995 4 Latina Lit BY ELZBIETA SZOKA IN OTHER WORDS Cubans, poor and non-white Marielitos over fiction, drama and essay. The poetry Literature by Latin= of the United States. who came to this country in the 1980s, has, section is also the most thematically and Edited by Roberta Fernandez. since they arrived, experienced class and stylistically diverse. In poems by Marjorie 554 pp. Houston: racial prejudice and has more in common Agosin, the female body and related im- Arte Pablico Press. $ 19.95. with other Latino groups. Silvia Burunat agery are used metaphorically to express and Ofelia Garcia, editors of Veinte Alios social or political messages like in The Red ILE LITERARY CRITICS de la literatura cubanoamericana, which is Shoes, dedicated to Marilyn Monroe: and academics contemplate the cited by Fernandez, predict that by the year slow death of literature and the 2000, Marielitos' literature, written in En- (..•) rise of various forms of audio-visual expres- glish, will have a tone of resistance similar She rises shattered sion, a growing number of Latino writers to that of the literature of Latino activism. with her red shoes, crimson and academics prove that there is still a lot Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and pulp-red, to write about. And a number of their titles, Cuban Americans are the most numerous stretching and binding traditionally found only in "multicultural- and most established groups and their work the edges ism" sections of bookstores, have recently receives most of the attention. But the writ- of her legs found their way into the catalogues of main- ing of several other important Latina writ- red shoes, surprising, stream publishers and distributors. Their ers in the United States, who come from swiftly running down commercial ascent has not been fast or easy. Sephardic, Argentinean, Chilean, Domini- the sidewalks, heading In In Other Words, the first anthology to can and Colombian ancestry, is also in- in a rather strange direction for bring together poetry, fiction, essay and cluded in the anthology and this extraordi- those bandaged feet drama of Latina authors living in the United nary variety is impressive. One of the most but the red-stained shoes Sates, Roberta Fernandez describes the celebrated Latina poets in the anthology, lead her to the three groups that dominate the community: Marjorie Agosin, is Chilean, as is Cecilia smells, the illusions Mexican American, Puerto Rican and Vicuria. Marie Elise Wheatwind, who de- behind closed doors, the racks, Cuban American. Fernandez writes that the scribes herself as a "coyote" of mixed her- the clauses. literature of Mexican Americans and Puerto itage is half Chicana, one-quarter Swedish (..•) Ricans in the United States is generally a lit- and one-quarter Russian Jew. Lorna Dee erature of resistance to the majority culture Cervantes is a fifth-generation Californian Or in Ritual of My Breasts, dedicated to and that Cuban-American literature—with of Mexican and Chumasch Indian ancestry. Pablo Neruda as a possible reply to his fa- its focus on Cuban culture and history- Rosemary Catacalos of Greek and Mexican mous poem Cuerpo de Mujer: -remains closer to the literature of Ameri- ancestry was born and reared in San Anto- can ethnic and immigrant experience. nio. Rhina Espaillat a Dominican-born for- (...) This distinction between Cuban-Ameri- mer high-school teacher of English, lives in My breasts cans and other Latino groups is attributed Massachusetts. Sandra Maria Estevez is a in their likeness, hold to class differences. "Unlike the great ma- Puerto Rican-Dominican living in the two ceaseless suns, jority of Mexican and Puerto Rican immi- Bronx. Olga Elena Mattei, one of the most a slather of pink sand grants, the first waves of Cubans to arrive important Colombian poets in New York, and they parch bone-dry when in this country (1959-1962 and 1965-1968) was born in Puerto Rico of a Colombian they feed the world, came from the middle class and/or the pro- mother and a Puerto Rican father. Alma when they are on display, alone, fessional class. Thus, the writers associated Luz Villanueva, of Yaqui, Spanish and for a little bit of bread and misery. with these groups received a traditional German ancestry, works and lives in Cali- (...) Hispanic education in Cuba. Their litera- fornia. Paula Maria Espinosa, who studied ture, written in Spanish, upholds the tradi- on the East Coast and now lives in Califor- The theme of the desert runs through the tional values of their class and focuses on nia, is of German-Jewish and Sephardic poetry of Pat Mora, a Chicana whose work the historical reason for their exile—the origins. Nora Glickman from New York, has been published in various anthologies. Cuban Revolution. While this wave of im- was born in La Pampa, Argentina, and In a poem Mi Madre, the mother/desert migrants has refrained from assimilating studied in Israel, England and the United represents life and perseverance: linguistically or culturally to mainstream States. Linda Freyer, who grew up in Cali- America, they nonetheless have had the fornia and now lives in New York, is of I say feed me. skills to experience a high degree of eco- French, German and Mexican descent. But She serves me red prickly pear on a nomic success in this country. Thus, they in this rich Latin-American mix, where are spiked cactus. have no reason to feel confrontational to- the Brazilians and the Portuguese? It is wards Anglo-Saxon culture and their litera- hard to believe that their large communities I say tease me. ture lacks an activist tone." on the east and west coasts have produced She sprinkles raindrops on my face on But a new and not-so-elite group of no literature worthy of publication. Or is a sunny day. the Spanish language the only common de- nominator of the new canon? I say frighten me. Elzbieta Szoka teaches at St. Edwards Uni- The work in the anthology is arranged by She shouts thunder, flashes lightning. versity in Austin. genre, with a slight dominance of poetry

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 19 (...) is less confrontational than Moraga's, yet sharp, sardonic musical satire about female I say teach me. she does not admit that in certain areas the stereotypes in Latino culture. In a beauty She endures: glaring heat white patriarchy has become the oppressed contest scene, four participants, Miss Little numbing cold rather than the oppressor. Havana, Miss Chile Tamale, Miss Conchita frightening dryness. • The political activism and militancy that Banana and Miss Commonwealth are pre- dominate Moraga's essay Art in America sented to the audience by a stereotypical She: the desert. con Acento come close to demagogy. She Latino showman. The first contestant intro- She: strong mother. begins by criticizing the North-American duces herself as "Fina de la Garza del policy of military and economic invasion in Vedado y Miramar. From the best families In the work of Cuban American poet Lour- Latin America. A few paragraphs later, of the Cuba de Ayer." Asked about her best des Gil, the themes of exile and identity foreseeing an inverted invasion, she writes: assets she replies: "(...)Fidel took every- gain a transcendental dimension. In A "Third World populations are changing the thing away. So, here in the U.S. of A. my Stranger Came, she reveals a balance of face of North America. (...) By the 21st cen- only assets are 36-28-42." Miss Chile gains and losses, characteristic of most tury our whole concept of "America" will Tamale identifies herself as Lupe Lupita Latina writings: be dramatically altered, most significantly Guadalupe Viva Zapata y Enchilada and by a growing Latino population whose confesses that "migra" is after her and she desperately needs a green card. Miss Con- (.-•) strong cultural ties, economic disenfran- During the interminable months chisement, racial visibility and geographical chita Banana does not tell us a real name, she spent proximity to Latin America discourages any which might let us know her nationality. among us, reality entered every room. facile assimilation into Anglo-American so- But the bananas she wears on her head re- Windows to the east ciety." She ridicules Cuban Americans, who mind us of Brazilian singer Carmen Mi- and west, drenched in wintry light, "stand under the U.S. flag and applaud randa, who in the 1930s was the first Latina settled the stage for images we lost George Bush for bringing 'peace' to to achieve commercial success in the and gained - the mute reflections Nicaragua" and who "hope one day he will United States. Miss Commonwealth, who of places that we knew. do the same for Cuba." The reader is left in her song complains about the budget cuts and food stamps, and whose real name is (..•) with the impression that Moraga is too quick to find a scapegoat for the , problems Lucy Wisteria Rivera, represents an island There are many more linguistic and in- of the Western Hemisphere, indicting the whose political status she does not want to tellectual treasures in the poetry section and United States while ignoring corrupt institu- discuss because "Beauty and politics do not unfortunately it is impossible to illustrate in tions in Latin America itself. mix." The play was performed in New a brief review the richness of styles and The fiction section includes works by es- York, at Duo Theater in 1977 and at Stormy voices of the poets brought together in this tablished Chicana writers Helena Maria Vi- Weather Café in Los Angeles in 1979. anthology. ramontes, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Mary The history of "Latino" literature can be It is easier to summarize ideological Helen Ponce, Beatriz de la Garza and Gra- followed back to 16th-century Spain and trends, often clearly biased, in Latina ciela Lim6n, and Latina writers from other even further, to older Native-American essay. Gloria Anzakitia and Cherie Mor- backgrounds, the most celebrated of whom roots. Among the strongest literary influ- aga, two vocal Chicana feminist poets and is Puerto Rican writer from New York, ences on the movement, Fernandez cites writers, are best known for editing the an- Nicholasa Mohr. Mohr is, so far, the only works by Elena Poniatowska, born in Paris thology This Bridge Called My Back: Rad- Latina writer who has enjoyed continuous to a Polish aristocratic family and reared in ical Writings by Women of Color. In it, success (since 1973) in the literary main- Mexico, and Mexican novelist Juan Rulfo. they collected works that challenged the stream. Her semi-autobiographical novels The work of both writers focuses on the masculine definitions of Chicano identity. and short stories deal with the sensitivities of theme of cultural marginalization. Latino In Other Words includes essays by both adolescent women in the barrio, and as much writers today, according to Fernandez, are women, and essays by Roberia Fernandez as she is a part of Latina tradition, she is also influenced by a diverse mix of writers and and Judith Ortiz Cofer, perhaps the least very universal. Perhaps a combination of literary currents, such as Afro-American demagogic and the most thought-provok- these apparently opposing characteristics ex- "womanist" Alice Walker, Jewish-Ameri- ing of the essayists. plains her success. In Happy Birthday, Mohr can poets Philip Levine and Adrienne Rich In La Conciencia de la Mestiza/ Towards tells a story of Lucia, a terminally ill girl cel- or Pablo Neruda and magical realism. a New Consciousness, Anzaldtia returns to ebrating her 20th birthday in a hospital. In Other Words is an exciting volume the roots of the mestiza race. She quotes While she waits for her boyfriend Eddie, she because it is so diverse and controversial. Mexican philosopher Jose Vasconcelos, falls asleep and dreams of a river in Puerto But it is so bereft of ideological contradic- who called it a cosmic race, a fifth race em- Rico, where she used to play as a child and tions and so dominated by the ideology of bracing the four major races of the world. where one day she began to bleed in the Latina resistance to Anglo-Saxon society She stresses the importance of Vasconcelos' water. She dreams of her family and of her and the rejection of mainstream America theory of inclusivity and discusses the theory first lover. But instead of Eddie, his mother that it is in conflict with the "inclusive the- of exclusivity, which she sees at work in comes to visit her in the hospital and for a ory" discussed by Anzalthla. white America. Her ideas illustrate the while they talk about him. Lucia falls asleep Assimilation is discouraged if not movement towards multiculturalism and again and in her dream, or maybe agony, ridiculed by Moraga. Yet the mainstream against "white males." She is aware, though, "She stepped into the river and felt the water success of Mohr and other authors included that divisiveness can be dangerous. "It is not envelop her. She turned and swam toward in the anthology suggest a contradiction at enough," writes Anzaldtia, "to stand on the the deeper part. Slowly and without any re- the center of the debate about the future of opposite river bank (...) challenging patriar- sistance, Lucia let the current take her down- Latina literature. Only insiders know where chal, white conventions. A counterstance stream and she drifted with the river into a these heretofore marginalized authors will locks one into a duel of oppressor and op- journey of quiet bliss." go. One can only hope that their success pressed. (...) The counterstance refutes the Latina theater is represented here by only will somehow help the less fortunate, who dominant culture's views and beliefs, and, one play, Beautiful Senoritas, by Cuban- have probably never even heard of multi- for this, it is profoundly defiant." Her essay American writer Dolores Prida. It is a culturalism. ❑

20 • MAY 5, 1995

vee..ws■remorw...... w.grar■NOPMIP,..44.1 .04,4■•■.....",00,44■Irer#0/04*,21ww"e. no..qt,ato,}4.! , ty.414., ly • Think Globally, Screen Locally BY STEVEN G. KELLMAN 28TH ANNUAL WORLDFEST- fails to measure up to his famous father and Francois Clouzet. In Guy Jacques' HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL FILM Je (Jerry Lewis!), it also offers Texas audi- M'Appelle Victor (Call Me Victor), Jeanne FESTIVAL ences much to see that is of genuine import. Moreau plays a crippled recluse who has not In an annual instance of crass cross-town left an attic for 30 years. In Pure Formality, IKE ALPINE, Amarillo and Seguin, L antagonism, the Houston International Fes- Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso) di- Houston is a one-newspaper town, but tival, which each year celebrates the arts, rects Gerard Depardieu and Roman Polan- the aerospace capital harbors galactic crafts and cuisine of a different nation, ski in a cat-and-mouse encounter between a aspirations. When Babylon on the Buffalo opened on the same day as WorldFest. But, man who claims to be a famous author and a Bayou screens a group of new movies, it focusing on Turkey, where Kurds and sec- police inspector who doubts it. calls the event WorldFest, and it opens the ularists find little to celebrate, the former In 1992, WorldFest showed 150 entries eclectic extravaganza with duelling bag- seemed less worldly than WorldFest. at theaters scattered across Harris County. pipes and mariachis. Klieg lights illuminate In Gerard Corbiau's Farinelli, Bel- This year's selective program, reduced to the skies above Meyerland Plaza, the non- gium's finalist for foreign-language Oscar, 49 features, 52 shorts and 10 videos, is far descript shopping center where two of six WorldFest offered the portrait of an 18th- more manageable and consistent. If you screens at a General Cinema multiplex are century castrato. A high note was also want to find a turkey, you have to look to set aside for 10 days to indulge those af- struck by Il Postino (The Postman), a the arts of Ankara at the Houston Interna- flicted with uncommon cases of cinephilia. lovely account of Pablo Neruda's friend- tional Festival, not to the roster of films On April 21, three days after the demise of ship with a modest mailman during the left- the that were judiciously gleaned from more Houston Post, the 28th annual edition ist poet's exile from Chile on the island of than 300 submissions. Todd, who ex- of WorldFest—which began in Miami and Capri in the 1950s; Englishman Michael panded the franchise two years ago to moved first to Atlanta and then the Virgin Radford directed Frenchman Philippe South Carolina, for a November World- Islands before settling in Houston 18 years Noiret in this Italian delight. Boro Fest-Charleston, aptly describes the 1995 ago—commenced operation. Draskovic's Vukovar Poste Restante is a operation in Houston as a "lean, mean Opening night drew a capacity crowd to wrenching tale of cross-cultural romance movie machine." For 1996, he promises Burnt by the Sun, which has already won an set and filmed within the devastation of further pruning, so that avid audiences will Oscar for foreign-language film. J. Hunter contemporary Croatia. The Key, an Iranian be restricted to a regimen of merely 40 Todd, WorldFest's irrepressibly upbeat entry by Ebrahim Forouzesh, depicts the films in 10 days. founder and director, introduced his initial mischievous resourcefulness of a 4-year- However admirable its individual offer- entry as not just the best foreign-language old boy locked alone with his baby brother ings, what good is WorldFest? Visitors to film but simply the best film of the year. into their apartment while their mother Sundance and Telluride are able to discover And Houston's Barnum was not vending goes shopping. Other international features virgin works not yet bought for distribution bunk. Dedicated to "everyone who was include Jan Hrebejk's Big Beat (Germany), or brought to publicists. But many World- burnt by the sun of the Revolution," Nikita Hector Carre's Dame Lume (Burn Me) Fest films have already been seen at other Mikhalkov's plangent drama focuses on a (Spain), Valery Bytchenkov's The Happy festivals and are exhibited for publicity, not single day in 1936, when Colonel Sergei Failure (Russia), Hans Peter Moland's The discovery. Trailing clouds of Oscar glory, Kotov (played by the director himself), a Last Lieutenant (Norway), Gordon Burnt by the .Sun was scheduled for national hero of the Bolshevik victory two decades Maugg's Der Olympische Sommer (The distribution a week after its Houston screen- earlier, receives a surprise visit from an Olympic Summer) (Germany), Yang Li- ing, as was My Family, the saga of a agent of Stalin's secret police intent on pri- Kuo's Panda the Sun (Hong Kong), Nancy quintessential Mexican-American vate revenge. Burnt by the Sun familia is a magnif- Meckler's Sister My Sister (United King- directed by Gregory Nava (El Norte) and icent evocation of a distant summer day in dom) and Richard Hobert's Spring of Joy starring Jimmy Smits and Edward James a dacha vibrant with the doomed colonel's (Sweden). Olmos. You need not rush to Meyerland extended clan. The gorgeous performances Though it billed itself as a salute to 100 Plaza to catch James Gray's Little Odessa, are worthy of Chekhov, and of Todd's hy- years of motion pictures, the 1995 World- perbolic praise. with Tim Roth and Vanessa Redgrave, or Fest included no silent films and no retro- James Lemmo's Bodily Harm, starring In previous years, WorldFest/Houston spectives. Its sole acknowledgment of cin- Linda Fiorentino and Daniel Baldwin. International Film Festival drew on a small ema's centennial was inclusion of several But Todd estimates that fully one-third world. This edition does include Kim films from France, where the Lumiere of his offerings will never be seen in local Henkel's bloody Return of the Texas brothers began exhibiting slightly before theaters or even on TV. As congenial as it Chainsaw Massacre and Dan Mirvish's movie pioneers in other countries. Paris quirky is to attend a series of first-rate offerings Omaha, the Movie. But, commenc- had promised a package of 10 films includ- slightly prior to their first commercial run, ing with a Russian treasure and concluding ing an early Lumier, but the plan appar- with it is for independent and foreign features Funny Bones, a British drama about a ently fell victim to the inefficiencies of and for shorts that all the effort of a festival struggling comedian (Oliver Platt) who Gallic bureaucracy. makes divinest sense. Nowhere else but WorldFest procured for itself five new Houston are you likely to see Ed Asner in French films, among them Robert Enrico's The Golem, as a rabbi wise to the avenging Steven G. Kellman teaches comparative three-hour epic account of The French Rev- monster in a seedy LA neighborhood. After literature at the University of Texas at San olution, starring Klaus Maria Brandauer, discarding earlier bulk, the WorldFest Antonio. Jane Seymour, Christopher Lee, Sam Neill monster is more haunting than ever. ❑

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 21 , AFTERWORD Writing and Opacity

BY MICHAEL ERARD HO HAS SEEN HOMELESS I'm embarrassed: Obviously, I don't people writing? know the etiquette. I'm naive, I know, no One evening, while my girl- Jack London, no George Orwell. "You ob- W viously haven't spent much time with the friend and I were eating on the patio at a local barbecue restaurant, an old woman, homeless," my girlfriend says, and she's hunched over, barefoot and dirty, came in. right. She went to Berkeley and knew the Muttering to herself, she put down her cof- spectrum of street personalities, like one fee cup and a sheaf of papers and then guy named Rare, who'd come into the bak- moved from table to table, begging for a ery where she worked and shout, "How do cigarette and a light. When she got back to you like it? Hot and tight!" But I went to a her table with her lit cigarette, she took out rural college in a town without sidewalks. clean paper and began writing industri- In the days that followed my meeting ously. She did not talk as she wrote. What with Nora, I noticed other young people, could she be writing? • maybe students, interrogating the drunks She got up to beg another cigarette, and on "the Drag" west of the campus. The stu- the wind blew a page near us. I picked it up dents are earnest and grave, and a few take and looked at it before returning it. WILL, notes. Is this a necessary part of an urban it said at the top in ballpoint. I, NORA X., education? I'm wary of trying to take it BEING OF GOOD HEALTH AND SANE apart. I had tried to rehabilitate Nora's wis- MIND AND GOOD MEMORY, she had dom from her insanity and poverty, but it started. Her cursive was even and beautiful, was impossible. Not worthless, just impos- all the diagonal strokes parallel, a hand that sible. no one has anymore, what we would call calligraphic. THIS IS MY THIRD WILL. NOTHER WOMAN has moved THE FIRST WAS WRITTEN IN 1966 into the neighborhood. She is AND IS NULL AND VOID. THE SEC- Ayounger than frail Nora but larger, OND WAS WRITTEN IN 1987 IN SAN has a crewcut, wears overalls, and carries a ANTONIO AND WAS DECLARED blue nylon sleeping bag. She sits in the NULL AND VOID. She continued: IN donut shop, which is open all the time, or at 1955 I WAS DIAGNOSED AS a sidewalk table at the fancy bakery—writ- SCHIZOPHRENIC, IN ST. LOUIS... The MICHAEL ALEXANDER ing. When I saw her recently, she had a col- rest of the page, and onto the other side, lege-ruled spiral notebook, like students was a record that detailed, year by year, her order to molest children." On the same carry, stuffed with loose sheets and hand- finances, employment and health since page are scrawly transcripts from TV news: bills. What does she write? I'm curious, so 1955: How much she had spent on rent and "WAR! WAR! THE MEXICAN HORDES I look over her shoulder as I walk by. It is food, how long and where she had worked, ATTACK!" A good Catholic,Nora be- dates and sums of money, and lists of her doctors' diagnoses. She had barely ac- lieves that real priests don't molest chil- words. The notebook pages are filled. As counted for the 1950s when the page dren. And cigarettes don't give you can- are the margins of the handbills. She works ended. cer—that's Mexican and Communist diligently and obliviously, pressing hard I spent several hours talking with her af- propaganda. She writes poetry but would with her pen. The page is inked and perfo- terwards, sitting in a laundromat and on the not show it, because it "has no meaning to rated with the indentations. pavement in front of a donut shop. She is anybody but me." Writing, as an act and as marks upon a writing a will, she says, because she has to Nora talks in a raspy smoked-out voice, surface, has many functions. As a physical leave her estate to someone so that the state on and on, mostly to herself, as if she's object, writing is letters or other graphic doesn't get it. She will leave the money—a used to her own company. She's keeps her marks on a page that transmit a representa- total of $800 now in a San Antonio bank— head down and talks, to no one in particu- tion of spoken language through time and to her daughter, who is dying of cancer. lar. I follow her to a laundromat, where a space. Such marks establish the authentic- She also keeps a small legal pad that con- man tells me not to waste my time on her. ity of contracts, treaties and other legal tains her proposal for a law outlawing "all It's hard for me to focus on what she's say- agreements. Albertine Gaur, in her History men who pose as priests and doctors in ing, it's full of tangential detail, so I ask of Writing, writes that "geometrical signs, questions to keep her clear. Then she stops symbols and patterns, are frequently used her monologue and looks up, startled. as property marks." Writing, as lists, serves Michael Erard is a writer living in Austin. She's forgotten about me and seems of- to aid memory. Letters are substitutes for fended by the interruption. physical presence. In our culture, writing

22 • MAY 5, 1995

••• indicates and authorizes Continued from p. 24 the previous existence of events, people and places. a waste of time and a risk to their jobs to re- Plenty of written words port violations to the TDA. The coalition are consumed in public, also charged that the TDA not only does not but their public produc- keep accurate records, as required by law, tion is rare. We usually but it has admitted it created false numbers write at home, in private, for its reports on users of Compound 1080, or in places like libraries a very dangerous poison. and classrooms, desig- nated as "literate." Cafes ✓ WELFARE REFORM. Senator Judith can be "literate." A sub- Zaffirini, Laredo Democrat and Senate way is not "literate." The Health and Human Services chair, . put to- street is not "literate." gether a coalition of Democrats and Republi- Graffiti, also a kind of cans to pass a welfare reform bill that is public writing, is offen- marginally more progressive than that passed sive because it is so terri- by the House, but one of the interesting votes torial and aggressive. was on an amendment that would consoli- The act of writing can date 23 separate job training programs in a be more meaningful than Texas Department of Workforce Develop- what is produced. In a ment. The Senate voted 20-11 not to table a parking lot near several move by David Sibley, a Waco Republican, churches that offer shelter to let the governor directly appoint the to the homeless, I found agency's head. The vote was a slap at orga- ripped-up OK soda nized labor, which has fought hard for the posters and pizza parlor MICHAEL ALEXANDER Texas Employment Commission to come up coupons. I pieced together with the nominee, whom the governor could the fragments until I could read: "for a they write. They don't even have homes, or accept or reject. while. freeman does not ever tell anyone the street is their home, they sleep in nests where he is going and how long he is going or shelters, and they write. They have a V BINDING ABATEMENTS. Local to be there and how long he is going." task, something to do. They're writing their governments would have the key to the state "doctor, dentist. of three and a queer (real). world. Those familiar with the homeless Treasury under a bill approved by the Sen- and a ring of women and one, another. to are probably not surprised at all, but I am ate on a voice vote April 27. The bill would talk, to of no degree." fascinated by any impulse to write, for refund state sales taxes to cover 80 percent "under 20. years of twenty. (no.) what people write is sometimes not as im- of the local school property taxes of large sweet—you an—that's that is from." portant as the simple, obvious fact that they industries that qualify for other city or "clothing went from February 1979, The do. Nora, the other woman, should not be county property tax abatements. The state apt. to the cleaners, apt to the rear. car to writing but they are. In this determination Comptroller estimated S.B. 345 by Buster the farm. off FM 916. Signif. Texas to to remain inside the realm of social possi- Brown, R-Lake Jackson, which the Senate Houston Tues. my mother. home.mine." bility is the meaning of the acts of their approved on April 27, would cost the state "pay. pay. pay. pay." writing. more than $50 million a year when fully op- These transcriptions don't do justice to In a history of the effects of resurgent lit- erative. The Center for Public Policy Priori- the look of the writing that covers all blank erate practices in 11th- and 12th-century ties noted that tax abatements were de- space. Five or six styles of handwriting are Europe, Brian Stock writes that in literate signed to bolster local economies in times of used, one between another's two lines, societies, "the presentation of self is less of economic distress and quoted the 1989 Se- frantic sometimes, and crowded. Never a subjectively determined performance and lect Committee on Tax Equity, which con- scrawled or illegible, but like personal more of an objectified pattern within artic- cluded that abatements "should not be al- notes or a list, quickly written and familiar ulated norms." That is, individuals are only lowed to degenerate into tax giveaways only to the writer's eyes. Some looks as if it recognized when they can be "read," either when economic conditions improve." was written by a young person, some by an when they are written about or when they older person. There are different colors of themselves write. They will show the prod- V VEGGIE RIGHTS. Vegetables ended ink: black, blue, red. This writing isn't in- ucts of their writing, or they will let them- up with more rights in the courthouse than forming or communicating and it isn't the selves be seen writing. farmworkers. and consumers after both poetry of the streets. It's unintelligible lan- The homeless live their lives on public chambers of the Legislature approved the guage unelevated by a cult of art. The prod- paths but are transparent to most people. "veggie libel" bill that would allow farmers uct is not a message at all, not intended for Unless they practice this civilized and rec- to sue for false disparagement of produce. our eyes, for no one's eyes. It is writing ognizably human activity called writing, The bill, which the Senate passed to the without meaning. Writing without voice. they'd be invisible. Walking, breathing, governor on a 29-2 vote, was designed to The writing of people who have no voice. talking is not enough. muzzle concerns about matters such as pes- The writing of people who do not write, So they write. ticides used on crops and hormones used to who are not supposed to know how to In the desire for permanence, not in the stimulate production. At least the House put write. But they do. Daily. And all around written word but in the act of writing, I rec- the burden on the plaintiff to prove that the us. What do people without identification ognize the homeless. I recognize, I read disparaging statement 'aer treat and families do? They write. Without in- that desire to be valued, to be regarded as requiring the defendant to prove that it was come, disenfranchised, they write. They human, and to put some drag on eyes slip- true, as the original version required. So eat find paper and pen and a flat surface, and ping by. your vegetables and not a peep about that broccoli, George. El]

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 23

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POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

A con- phone, learning the Mac while working on the governor's desk. With little more than a ✓ LIBERTARIAN LITE GOV. month remaining in the 74th Lege, environ- stituent who wrote to Lieut. Gov. Bob Bul- a book, and trying to get on the internet to lock to make her case against one of several e-mail his children." "It's almost a Shake- mental advocates are tracking hundreds of bills that could have a negative impact on "right-to-carry" concealed weapons bills spearean tragedy what's happening to the environment. Environmentalists can moving through the Legislature was sur- him," said former U.S. Secretary of State only count on five or six consistent votes in prised by Bullock's response. It wasn't just Henry Kissinger, who is also quoted in Bullock's argument—"I support the right to Bartley ' s column. the Senate, far short of the 11 needed to block objectionable legislation, and the best carry because I have personal safety con- hope in the House is that the Calendar Com- cerns, like single parents working nights in V GRAMM'S CHURCHILL. Dole's mittee will slow the flow on floor debate. high crime areas to support their fam- Chamberlain. That's the way Gramm sees The legislative climate makes it impera- ily..."—that concerned the correspondent. it, according to his remarks, as reported in tive that environmental advocates look to the Enclosed with the Lite Governor's letter was the Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire." The Texas Senator and presidential courts, said Ken Kramer, state director of the - study: "Shall Issue": The New an 80 page Sierra Club, which filed a lawsuit in federal Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws. candidate has suggested that Dole is some- court in Midland to stop federal subsidies of The study is published by the Independence thing of a Neville Chamberlain Republican, irrigation in the Edwards Aquifer watershed. Institute of Golden, Colo. When contacted, inclined to accommodate the Democrats, as Kramer said it makes no sense for the U.S. David Kopel, the co-author of the study, de- he did in last year's health care debate. Department of Agriculture to pay more than scribed the institute as "a non-profit, free- "When the Britons decided to stand up to $8 million in price supports—the difference market think tank for educational choice, the the Nazis..." Gramm said in a speech in Iowa, "they didn't turn to somebody who between the market price and the cost of pro- right to bear arms, and civil liberties in gen- duction—on crops such as cotton, corn, eral." Kopel said the Independence Institute yesterday was for appeasement." Dole, as sorghum and wheat that are grown on irri- is "like the Heritage Foundation," the Wash- in infantryman in World War II, was ington-based Republican thinktank that did wounded while serving in Italy. Student de- gated land in Uvalde and Medina counties, when the same crops are grown in the same much of the thinking for the Reagan Revolu- ferments kept Gramm out of the military during the Vietnam war. Meanwhile, the counties by dryland methods, without wast- tion. When asked if the institute was funded ing water from the stressed aquifer upon by the Adolph Coors Co., the Golden, Colo., San Antonio Express News reported that which San Antonio also depends. brewer that gave us James Watt and the anti- Democratic Houston lawyer John Odam is environmental Wise Use Movement, Kopel considering running against Gramm in the Senate race. (Texas law will allow Gramm V TDA LAX? After the Texas Senate re- said that he doesn't know how much funding buffed attempts to force more accountability Coors currently provides the institute. But to run as a candidate for president and the Senate on the same ballot.) Odam, a former out of the Texas Department of Agriculture, Coors, Kopel said, was very helpful in "get- approving a bill to reauthorize the agency ting the institute started." Asked about the assistant Attorney General, ran against cur- rent Democratic Attorney General Dan for another 12 years, a coalition of eight foundation, a Colorado ACLU member consumer, farmworker and environmental characterized its thinkers as "gun nuts." Morales in the 1988 Democratic primary, and lost. groups has asked the federal Environmental V BAD GRAMMAR, SAD EXILE. Protection Agency to take over pesticide regulation in Texas. A letter to EPA regional Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley V GRAMM'S SECOND. Dole's first. Kansas Senator Bob Dole continues to hold administrator Jane Saginaw compared the reached a long way, misplaced a preposi- Texas pesticide program to the three federal tional phrase, and still came up short in a a commanding lead over Phil Gramm, ac- requirements for state programs. It claimed mid-April attempt to rehabilitate former cording to a poll conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. According to the $500 criminal penalty for violations by Mexican President Carlos Salinas—who producers in Texas is clearly deficient to the serves on the board of Dow Jones, which the Poll, 58 percent of Republicans and EPA's $50,000 penalty. owns the Journal.. "Mexicans rip out the strict independents polled selected Dole as their choice for president while only 14 The coalition noted that Commissioner still-beating heart of the man who occupied Rick Perry has not referred a case for crim- the peak of the Aztec pyramid with an ob- percent selected Gramm. When retired Gen. Colin Powell was offered to the same inal enforcement in the past four and one- sidian knife," Bartley wrote, quoting a Cal- half years and the civil enforcements have ifornia-based Mexico thinktanker. Some polling sample, he surpassed Gramm, who fallen markedly since 1991, with no sus- would argue that Salinas used a club rather dropped to third place. pensions of licenses and only $31,000 i than an obsidian knife during the six years top of the pyramid, imposing V GREENWATCH. Only the courts and fines in 1994. While TDA officials say th he spent at the of complaints and penalties hay austerity on his country's middle class and the calendar can save the state's air and numbers . water regulations, it seems, as bills that fallen because the agency is doing its job, poor while adding 24 to Mexico's list of the coalition said farmworkers believe it i billionaires. Here is how Bartley sees Sali- would undermine environmental rules and nas, now in exile in Boston. "He describes give more leeway to developers and poten- Continued on p. 23 driving for himself, answering his own tial polluters move slowly but surely toward

24 • MAY 5, 1995

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