AUGUST 21, 2009 I $3.00 I OPENING THE EYES OF TEXAS SINCE 1954 TheTexa Observer BLOOD TREASURE A Mexican shark fisherman lives to tell the tale of an illegal industry gone overboard. 489 39 7 LOON STAR STATE I BEN SARGENT JOHN %WM BILL CIMUN MN GAM fac 141irt A true friend) (Were in attentent (41e don't needY0D--) TheTexas Observer AUGUST 21, 2009 BLOOD TREASURE by Kevin Sieff A Mexican shark fisherman lives to tell the tale of an illegal industry gone overboard. 8 WHITE MAN'S BURDEN by Dave Mann A Dallas suburb struggles with its sudden diversity. 14 THE FIRE THIS TIME by Forrest Wilder A "near- miss disaster" in Corpus Christi. 18 SO LONG TO THE COMMUNIST THREAT by Dave Richards The last of Texas' New Deal liberals. 20 DIALOGUE 3 BACK OF THE BOOK 22 REVIEW 27 Another river, another goodbye. Robert Jensen's All My Bones Shake. EDITORIAL 4 by Brad Tyer by Tom Palaima POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 5 CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK 24 POETRY 29 Radney Foster at Gruene Hall. by Josh Slotnick JIM HIGHTOWER 11, 17 REVIEW 25 DATELINE: MEXICO CITY 30 Eduardo Galeano's Mirrors. Mayan Mariana. Cover photo by Daniel Lopez by Liliana Valenzuela by Melissa del Bosque 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 DIALOGUE THE TEXAS OBSERVER VOLUME 101, NO. 16 A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 CLEARING THE AIR a far cry from 8o jobs at $75,000 a year. This is by far the best, most compre- If Corpus Christi sells its soul for those FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger hensive article I've seen yet regarding the pitiful numbers, it can expect declines in CEO/PUBLISHER Carlton Carl Las Brisas issue ("Something in the Air," tourism and an end to attracting new res- EDITOR Bob Moser Aug. 7). Thank you very much for an out- idents based on quality of life. So begins a MANAGING EDITOR Brad Tyer ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Mann standing piece of journalism. downward spiral. Not what the Chamber INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Melissa del Bosque Bill Reeves [of Commerce] crowd wants, certainly. STAFF WRITER Forrest Wilder Posted at texasobserver.org Sensible people call upon the Corpus ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Julia Austin Christi business community to end its CIRCULATION/OFFICE MANAGER Candace Carpenter You have done a service to the people, usual shortsightedness and set its goals a ART DIRECTOR Daniel Lievens especially the children, of this area, many little higher. Don't build Las Brisas. WEBMASTER Shane Pearson of whom attend schools within a short Alyssa Burgin POETRY EDITOR Naomi Shihab Nye radius of the proposed plant. Thank you Posted at texasobserver.org COPY EDITOR Rusty Todd EDITORIAL INTERN Josh Haney for bringing this issue before the people CONTRIBUTING WRITERS of Texas, as we need help to oppose the STEALING SOUTH TEXAS Nate Blakeslee, Robert Bryce, Emily DePrang, moneyed interests and the powerful who Some historians might say that Texas Michael Erard, James K. Galbraith, Patricia Kilday Hart, Steven G. Kellman, Robert Leleux, do not protect those liable to suffer harm is a rogue province of northern Mexico James E. McWilliams, Char Miller, Ruth Pennebaker, Kevin Sieff, Andrew Wheat from this plant's emissions. ("No Way Out," Aug. 7), while others CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Ann Smith would view the taking by military force Jana Birchum, Alan Pogue, Steve Satterwhite Posted at texasobserver.org of approximately half of Mexico in 1848 CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Maggy Brophy, Michael Krone, Dusan Kwiatkowski, as illegal. These poor people are simply Alex Eben Meyer, Ben Sargent Poetic and powerful journalism. I hope being exploited. TEXAS DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION BOARD Lisa Blue, Melissa Jones, Susan Longley, city, county, and state officials will read it. Lisa Lebowski Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Gilberto Ocafias, Margaret Duran Posted at texasobserver.org Jesse Oliver, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, Geronimo Rodriguez, Sharron Rush, Kelly White, Posted at texasobserver.org Ronnie Dugger (Emeritus) HOODIES UNITE IN MEMORIAM Molly Ivins, 1944-2007, Our air, our water, and the aesthetic Thank you very much for covering Bob Eckhardt, 1913-2001, Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995, Frankie Carter Randolph, 1894-1972 pleasure of the sea are the life of our Under The Hood Café and the good The Texas Observer (ISSN oo4o-4519/USPS 541300), city. We cannot have that stolen from people who go there ("Injured Hearts, entire contents copyrighted © 2009, is published 7). biweekly except during January, March, July and us. Thanks for a great article. Injured Minds:' Aug. October when there is a 4-week break between issues (22 Emilie J. Olivares Casey Porter issues per year) by the Texas Democracy Foundation, a 5o1(c)3 nonprofit foundation, 307 W. 7th St., Austin Posted at texasobserver.org Posted at texasobserver.org TX, 78701. Telephone (512)477-0746, fax (5 12)474-1175, toll free (800)939-662o. Email observer@texasobserver. org, www.texasobserver.org . Periodicals Postage paid in Thank you so much for reporting facts. Wow! This really opened my eyes. I fig- Austin, TX, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER It's tough to get anything but glossed-over ured the whole town of Killeen was pro- Send address changes to: The Texas Observer, 307 myths, fear-mongering and misquoted par- war because it keeps them in business. W. 7th St., Austin TX 78701. Subscriptions: 1 yr $32, 2 yr $59, 3 yr $84. Students $20. Foreign, add $13 to tial truths from the majority of the "press" Congrats to Under the Hood! domestic price. Back issues $5. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available in Corpus. These facts need to appear daily Chayo Zaldivar from University Microfilms Intl., 30o N Zeeb Rd, in local and state news venues or the CEC Posted at texasobserver.org Ann Arbor MI 48106.. INDEXES movement will be shut up and bulldozed The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The under. Greed, greed and more greed seem BEN ONBOARD Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas Index; and, for the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas to rule what happens (and doesn't) in It's fantastic to have Ben Sargent pro- Observer Index. Corpus Christi. Please stay on this issue ducing cartoon commentary for the Investigative reporting is supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute. and see if you can get your fellow investiga- Observer ("Wackiest Governor;' Aug. 7)! Books & the Culture is funded in part by the City of tive journalists to do the same! Congrats to the Observer and Ben! Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Jamie Josephs Ted Siff Posted at texasobserver.org . Posted at texasobserver.org 11.11 OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE hiev,eek t, kSaes Ilexes Cahund A,,. Crennusslon DIN:sion on the Arts Thank you for this piece, although I Thank you for Ben Sargent's lat- wish more effort had been put into inves- est cartoon. Whatever would we do tigating claims about what jobs would for vicarious erotic entertainment if it truly be provided in Corpus Christi. weren't for Republican politicians? Half-a-dozen white-collar executives and Richard Sutherland dozens of minimum-wage employees is Los Altos, Calif. AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 3 EDITORIAL Gay Panic 13 ack in the good old Clearly, only the strongest of adjectives against police harassment in New York wonderful days, Texas would suffice to convey the horror of those City bars, often credited with sparking politicians knew how to three words. Imagine: being kinda, sorta the modern gay-rights movement. On insult each other with called gay! In 21st-century America! Four that auspicious night in late June, as style. (Sam Houston decades into the gay-rights movement! At folks celebrated in Fort Worth's Rainbow on legislator Thomas a time when 6o percent of weekly church- Lounge, local police and Texas Alcoholic Jefferson Green: "He has all the charac- goers favor allowing gays in the military! Beverage Commission (TAB C) agents teristics of a dog except loyalty.") But the Quel horreur, indeed. raided the joint in what they claimed was ultimate insult in today's Texas politics— a routine liquor-license inspection. That the call-out to end all call-outs—is a mere The ultimate insult in stretched the definition of "routine" just three-letter affair that wasn't even one of today's Texas politics a tad: Not only were seven arrests made, George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words. but one patron, Chad Gibson, landed in We learned this at the tip end of July, is a mere three-letter intensive care with a severe head injury right around the time that Sen. Kay Bailey affair that wasn't even he suffered while being detained. (Police Hutchison announced that she would, at initially reported that he'd been drunk long last, challenge Gov. Rick Perry in one of George Carlin's and fallen down during the arrest, but next March's primary. Clicking around Seven Dirty Words. the truth later emerged.) her Web site, standbykay.com, Austin The raid was rotten enough. Some local American-Statesman reporter Gardner officials' reactions were worse. Fort Worth Selby found some 2,200 hidden search Granted, the campaigns were obliged Police Chief Jeff Halstead seconded officers' phrases—a not-uncommon trick used by to say something about the Statesman's gay-panic excuse: Patrons, Halstead said, underhanded Web geeks to drive traffic discovery. But both went above and had stirred up trouble by making sexual to a site. Google frowns on this practice, beyond, seizing on a golden opportunity advances on the police. (There's no bigger because it can skew search results and to gay-bash.