APRIL 4, 2008 I $2.25 I OPENIN,9tHE EYES OF TEXAS FOR FIFTY THREE YEARS War of the Wells The Railroad Commission has failed to protect Texans from pir 60,vvt, drillers, so citizens ar fight back on their 9w By RUSTY MIDDLETO Despite its own scientists* objections, state regulators are greenlighting a massive nuclear waste dump in West Texas, ) 1Z,RFS 1 \\'1[ 1 )ips e**A'AutatAtikanp,,,,,,,, APRIL 4, 2008 Dialogue The Texas Observer A CRY UNHEEDED victims navigate the legal system in FEATURES Laela Threadgill was my sister, and the process of obtaining protective this article ("See No Evil;' March 7) orders, divorces, child support, and WAR OF THE WELLS 6 explains everything. Emily, you are an additional resources. Through our The Railroad Commission has failed to amazing writer, and more messages unique Legal Access to Rural Shelters protect Texans from oil and gas drillers, like this need to be brought to peo- initiative, TRLA works closely with so citizens are learning to fight back ple's attention to let them know how shelters in our service area to provide on their own. unprotected women really are. Laela domestic violence victims with legal by Rusty Middleton was extremely afraid. I remember one assistance from the moment they seek time she stood outside the police sta- outside help. GOOD TO GLOW 10 tion calling for help, but no one came We strongly encourage people need- Despite its own scientists' objections, state to help her! ing legal assistance in the Austin area regulators are greenlighting a massive Megan Threadgill to contact us at 512-374-2777. More nuclear waste dump in West Texas. via e-mail information on our services and con- by Forrest Wilder tact information for our other offices BITE BACK! 16 MEMORY LANE is available at www.trla.org. How Americans can reclaim their food. An I really enjoyed the piece about the Kevin Dietz excerpt from Swim Against the Current. early years of the ACLU in Texas ("The Texas RioGrande Legal Aid by Jim Hightower with Susan DeMarco ACLU in Texas—The Early Years," Austin March 7). DEPARTMENTS Such glimpses into the history of GRINGO MADE GOOD progressive activism in a regressive Mr. Hoinski writes in a way that just state like Texas are fascinating. The pulls you into the music and wraps DIALOGUE 2 fact that people have been willing to you up in the border tensions that face EDITORIAL 3 struggle against such difficult odds is many in Texas ("Tear Down the Wall," 7). reassuring, and somehow offers hope March As an Hispanic American, POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 4 that we may one day emerge into the it's nice to see a "gringo" like Mr. 20th century. The 21st century may Hoinski really get into this important BOOKS & THE CULTURE remain beyond reach for some time issue. I'd love to see more from him in yet. the Observer. POETRY 20 Bill Cowan Daniel Galaburda by Jorge Antonio Renaud Beaumont via e-mail SINO EYES 21 Thanks, Dave Richards, for helping NO WALL HIGH ENOUGH This year's FotoFest explores the ironies us remember those who have made a Excellent report, Melissa del Bosque and intricacies of China. difference ... including you! ("Holes in the Wall," February 22). by David Theis Tom Green Thank you for pointing out the finan- via e-mail cial and political innuendos, and THE RIGHT WAY, RECLAIMED 26 for punching holes in the myth that by Emily DePrang MORE HELPING HANDS this wall was spearheaded by people Texas RioGrande Legal Aid who care about illegal immigration. AFTERWORD 29 commends The Texas Observer for Couldn't our tax dollars be spent more by Michael Erard its recent look into the resources wisely than having so much money go available for victims of domestic toward a wall? Cover photo by Steve Satterwhite violence in the Austin area ("The Safe Allissa Chambers Place," March 7). Victims of domestic via e-mail violence often face numerous legal difficulties in separating from their Thanks for your excellent article on abuser, protecting their children, and the border fence. I hope some national rebuilding their lives. TRLA is proud to newspaper picks up the story to make offer its services, both in Travis County it more widely known. and throughout Central, South, and Bob Baker West Texas, to help domestic violence Los Angeles, California 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER APRIL 4, 2008 74311TOR1 AL Fool's Gold I 'm coming to you as an opti- What that means is that sometime in In other ways, of course, soldiers die, mistic fellow," George W. Bush May, many of us will get a $600 check which is less exciting, as 4,000 American announced at the Economics from the government, and if we're patri- families and counting have learned the Club of New York on March 14. otic, we'll buy ourselves new washing hardest way possible over the last five Most economists agree the machines or espresso makers. (If we're years. Or soldiers return home physi- country is already in a recession. smart, we'll put a down payment on cally disfigured or mentally scarred, or Many believe we may be on the precipice that new, 85-mile-per-gallon Chinese both. Even here, there's apparently cause of an economic depression, just steps scooter; oil prices spiked to more than for optimism, for as Bush asserted in removed from a run on the banking sys- $106 a barrel the day the president a Pentagon speech on March 19, "The tem. At the same time, we've just passed a acknowledged the slowdown.) surge has done more than turn the situ- macabre milestone—the five-year mark— That's the president's short-term solu- ation in Iraq around—it has opened the in the war in Iraq. Intelligence analysts tion: a homeland cash surge built on door to a major strategic victory in the agree that al-Qaida has regrouped and debt and designed to push a stalled broader war on terror:' is growing stronger. These are President American economy over the speed Unfortunately, we can't all indulge in Bush's likeliest legacies. bumps of a mortgage industry in melt- Bush's rosy outlook. That luxury, as F. But the president refuses to blink. down, skyrocketing gas prices, a credit Scott Fitzgerald knew, "is the content of This could be because he is steadfast crunch, and a belly-flopping dollar. small men in high places." and positive of outlook. Or it could be But don't be downhearted. The presi- Maybe Bush is already—in his mind's because, as Oscar Wilde formulated in dent isn't. As Bush clarified on March eye—enjoying a comfy retirement, col- The Picture of Dorian Gray, "The basis of 18 to an audience of dockworkers in lecting high-dollar speaking fees or tee- optimism is sheer terror:' (Thus an opti- Jacksonville, Florida, "... I want people to ing up at a Dallas country club. He will mist, as lexicographer Elbert Hubbard understand that in the long term we're not have any trouble paying the mort- defined it, is nothing more than "a neu- going to be just fine. People will still be gage on his ranch or keeping Crawford's rotic fellow with gooseflesh and teeth able to work." ATV fleet gassed up. No children of his a-chatter, trying hard to be brave.) For example, people might look for will die in this war. He can afford the "It's clear our economy has slowed," jobs with the military-industrial com- luxury of assuming something good the president bucked up and acknowl- plex, a sector promising almost limit- will turn up. For the president, some- edged on March 7, "but the good news less growth, not to mention glamour. thing always has. If it doesn't, say, for is, we anticipated this and took deci- (The president told military personnel the rest of us, that won't be his problem sive action to bolster the economy, by in Afghanistan via video conference on for long. It will fall to the unfortunate passing a growth package that will put March 13, "It must be exciting for you person who takes the presidential oath money into the hands of American ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, of office in January 2009 to try to fix workers and businesses." you know, confronting danger:') Bush's mess. ■ THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 100, NO. 7 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger James McWilliams, Char Miller, The Texas Observer (ISSN 0040-4519/ paid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk CEO/Executive Publisher Carlton Carl Debbie Nathan, Karen Olsson, USPS 541300), entire contents copy- rates on request. Microfilm available Executive Editor Jake Bernstein John Ross, Andrew Wheat righted ©2008, is published biweekly from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Managing Editor Brad Tyer Staff Photographers except during January and August Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Associate Editor Dave Mann Alan Pogue, Jana Birchum, when there is a 4 week break Publisher Charlotte McCann Steve Satterwhite between issues (24 issues per year) Indexes The Texas Observer is indexed Associate Publisher Julia Austin by the Texas Democracy Foundation, in Access: The Supplementary Index to Circulation Manager Sandra Beckmeier Contributing Artists a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation, 307 Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the Art Director Leah Ball Sam Hurt, Kevin Kreneck, West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. years 1954 through 1981, The Texas Observer Index. 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