On the Road with Tish Hinojosa and Friends THE TEXAS v 01 (7" • 6.1,11k. r „edva • •••' ♦ (0.1. 1 ...40.• .41 A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES serverMARCH 27, 1998 • $2.25 . DESCHOOLING SOCIETY Who's Behind the Public School Voucher Movement? THIS ISSUE FEATURE Deschooling Society: Who's Behind School Vouchers? by Louis Dubose 4 Bob Bullock says he resigned from Putting Children First when it became "partisan." As even a blind man should see, the school voucher movement was never anything else. Public Output by Michael King 8 The TNRCC is holding "town-hall meetings" around the state to try to clear up its murky image. If it looks like tin-horn public relations, that's because it is. DEPARTMENTS BOOKS AND THE CULTURE VOLUME 90, NO. 6 Dialogue 2 Red Clay and Dusty Places 18 A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the Poetry by Jim Cody & truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are Dateline Texas dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all G. Timothy Gordon interests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation Revolting Taxpayers in San Antonio 10 of democracy: we will take orders from none but our by Karen Olsson John Ross on Mexico at War 19 own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrep- resent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or Dumb Dumpers in Austin 11 Book Review by Philip E. Wheaton cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. by Nate Blakeslee Writers are responsible for their own work, but not The Old Gringo 22 for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we Molly Ivins 14 A Conversation with John Ross agree with them, because this is a journal offree voices. Getting in Step SINCE 1954 So What's [Censored] News? 24 Founding Editor: Ronnie Dugger Jim Hightower 15 Book Review by Chris Garlock Publisher: Geoff Rips Brave New Dinners, FDA Gutting Editors: Louis Dubose, Michael King & Hi-Tech Low-Ball The Water Music of Three Divas 26 Assistant Editor: Mimi Bardagjy Profile by Louis Dubose Associate Editor: Karen Olsson Political Intelligence 16 Poetry Editor: Naomi Shihab Nye Afterword 30 Production: Harrison Saunders Interim Business Manager: Jeff Mandell The Back Page 32 A Sweatshop in Time Circulation Assistant: Nate Blakeslee Bush Unpardons Leadbelly by Joanna Hofer Development Director: Nancy Williams Web Editor: Amanda Toering Cover art by Kevin Kreneck Technical Consultant: Brian Ferguson Editorial Intern: Juliana Barbassa Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Barbara Belejack, DIALOGUE Betty Brink, Brett Campbell, Lars Eighner, James K. Galbraith, Dagoberto Gilb, James Harrington, Jim High- tower, Molly Ivins, Paul Jennings, Steven G. Kellman, SWIFTIAN RAZOR non-person. May God have mercy. Bryce Milligan, Char Miller, Debbie Nathan, John Ross, This letter is in answer to the execution R. C. Leonard Carol Stall, Brad Tyer, James McCarty Yeager. Philadelphia Staff Photographer: Alan Pogue of Karla Faye Tucker by the Great State Contributing Photographers: Vic Hinterlang, Patricia of Texas ("The Humanity of Karla Faye Moore. Tucker," February 13). Hundreds of let- FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS Contributing Artists: Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, ters have been received by the governor One needn't be a rocket scientist, or even Valerie Fowler, Kevin Kreneck, Michael Krone, Ben requesting clemency, but the law must be a U.N. functionary, to recognize that the Sargent, Gail Woods. United States should make no deals with Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; followed in this peace-loving state. I Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler Davidson, Houston; would like to make a modest proposal. Middle Eastern terror ("War Ink," March Dave Denison, Arlington, Mass.; Bob Eckhardt, Austin; 13). A country which has invaded and Sissy Farenthold, Houston; John Kenneth Galbraith, Texas should adopt the invention of the Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; French doctor, the guillotine. A platform occupied a neighbor, stockpiled weapons Molly Ivins, Austin; Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; of mass destruction, persistently defied Maury Maverick, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Jack- should be erected at the steps of the state son, Miss.; Kaye Northcott, Fort Worth; James Presley, capitol in Austin. On Sunday at high the U.N., and sent assassins on a murder- Texarkana; Susan Reid, Austin; A.R. (Babe) Schwartz, ous errand into a friendly nation, deserves Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. noon, a brief prayer service would pre- In Memoriam: Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995 cede the dropping of the blade and the the most forceful condemnation by the THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-4519/USPS 54 1300). entire contents one remaining superpower. Kofi Annan copyrighted, 0 1998, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval separation of the head from the torso. between issues in January and July (24 issues per year) by the Texas Democ- must surely share this elementary judg- racy Foundation, a 50l(c)3 non-profit corporation. 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Without any form of documentation it is Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) 477-0746. E-mail: [email protected]. ment, which President Clinton has stated World Wide Web DownHome page: http://texasobserver.org. Periodicals difficult to confirm, but I believe that no Postage Paid at Austin, Texas. one has been discovered alive with his or so eloquently. SUBS: One year $32. two years $59, three years $84. Full-time students $18 per year; add $13/year for foreign subs. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, for- her head literally missing. Why, then, does the U.S.A. continue to eign. group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor. MI 48106. Finally, a collection should be taken up give moral support, and billions yearly, to INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas hulex and, for the years 1954 through 1981, to pay for the cremation of the person exe- Israel? The Texas Observer Index POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, cuted, and the ashes scattered to the four James Sledd 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. winds. The victim is now a true Austin 2 ■ THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 27, 1998 HEARD THAT March 13 is an excellent issue. I particu- THANKS: YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN! larly enjoyed the review of Mark Adams' ate last year we went to the people Molly Ivins calls "the most loyal readers in book and his retrospective on the Progres- the world" — with a request that you contribute to the Texas Democracy Foun- sive Democrats at U.T. in the 1930s Ldation, the non-profit corporation that publishes the Observer. All right, it was a ("Memoirs of a Progressive Packrat," by contribution to the Observer, but the non-profit makes those contributions 100-percent David Richards). Also, I guffawed when I deductible. Our argument — that a fragile journalistic institution like the Observer is a got to Molly's line about possibly taking good investment — was bolstered by the generous offer of Bernard Rapoport to begin her effort in the early 1970s to be "one of the fundraiser with a $20,000 challenge grant — assuming our loyal subscribers and the guys" too far ("Three Chords and the other supporters would donate at least that amount. You have — and much more so. Truth," by Michael King). At this point our readers have contributed approximately $70,000. One reprimand. The fine piece on The Put simply, this has been the most successful fundraiser in Observer history. That Back Page ("War Ink") leads with a quote money will allow us certainly to keep the doors open through 1998. But it also means from George Orwell, but, inasmuch as he we can finally begin to invest some money in building circulation, in promotion to new died in 1950, he did not write those fine readers, and in creating a permanent financial base — so that we do not have to return insights about "pin-stripe bravery" on the so frequently to our readers to ask for support, and the Observer can continue to thrive part of some "leading" journalists. The au- as a trouble-reporting (and trouble-making) institution, on into the next century. thor deserved recognition, if only the ini- Molly eloquently summarizes our predicament in her new book, You Got to Dance tials of one of your editors. with Them What Brung You: Robert Heard After forty-three years [now forty-four] of surviving largely on subscription in- Austin come, the Observer has finally learned what every other political magazine in Amer- ica figured out a long time ago: It can't be done. To remain independent of advertis- The Editors respond: ers, political magazines must have either a wealthy backer ... or they must build in a The Back Page is "staff-written," so we permanent fundraising component, just like a university. The Observer is now en- generally share in the glory (or the gaged in building an endowment that will keep it independent. blame). But thanks, anyway. — M.K. You have helped us enormously in reaching that goal. As you know, the handful of pro- gressive publications that do the sort of reporting we do — The Nation, The Progressive, RETURN OF THE NATIVE In These Times — all depend on a community of friends and funders to sustain them. And I was kidnapped from Texas at an early we will no doubt return to you during our five-year program to build the endowment that age of four. Since then I have lived in Cal- Molly mentions.