„ ° JANUARY 26, 2007 Dialogue TheTexas Observer ROAD HOGS I have long suspected that this mad project is NOT in the best interests FEATURES rush to toll roads ("The Highwaymen," of this country! And I hope and pray December 15) was born not so much that he understands this! LOW-HANGING FRUIT 8 from necessity, but from the same Joel E. Young Texas faces obvious problems that logic that thwarts universal health Weatherford the 80th Lege could easily fix. care and seeks to gut Medicare, public It probably won't. education, and Social Security: Any AIDING AND ABETTING by David Pasztor trust fund managed by government Your December 15 issue carried an is just so much "dead capital" in the article ("Craddickism") illustrating FLEDGLINGS 10 eyes of an investment banker. how greatly Speaker Tom Craddick They're newly elected. They're still Your well-researched article made and his allies benefited from the quid chirpy. Which freshman lawmakers that very clear. I have forwarded it to pro quo with nursing-home compa- will take wing? my elected representatives and some nies and other medical providers as a of my activist friends, and I will not result of passing tort reform. DEPARTMENTS stop speaking out about this issue. You might have added that the courts Every Texas voter who opposes these of Texas, largely ruled by Republican DIALOGUE 2 highway boondoggles needs to keep judges who have also benefited greatly this issue front and center with their from campaign contributions from EDITORIAL 3 elected reps and on the editorial pages those sources, have extended the So Much for Accountability of our newspapers. reach of the bill to benefit the health- Articles like yours are invaluable in care industry even further. POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 4 making that job easier for us. The courts have held that not only Julie Keller medical malpractice, but all forms of BAD BILLS 6 El Paso claims pressed against nursing homes CAPITOL OFFENSE 12 and medical providers, come under The Price of Innocence The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is the rubric of tort reform legislation by Dave Mann an abomination! This plan has been and are subject to its onerous eviden- conceived by a group of miscreants tiary requirements and to its limita- MOLLY IVINS 14 and scoundrels! These folks include tions on damages. Enough is Enough our illustrious Gov. Rick Perry; Ric Victims of rape by fellow patients Williamson and his entourage in the or by employees of the nursing home JIM HIGHTOWER 15 TTC; and do not forget our "elect- have been subjected to the terms of Surreal World ed" hero, Secretary of State Roger the act, even when the evidence shows Williams; AND our elected minions that the rapes probably resulted from ANDREW WHEAT 16 in the Texas Legislature who had not the negligent hiring practices or neg- Wall Street's Pound of Bush Flesh the presence of mind or matter or ligent supervision of the patients. LAS AMERICAS 18 intelligence to oppose this idiocy! Everyone recognized upon passage Guarded Language Also, I would like to admonish our of the act that any negligent provision by Michael Erard president, George W. Bush, who has of health-care services would be sub- ostensibly given his blessing to this ject to its terms, but few anticipated project! Hopefully and with deep- BOOKS & CULTURE that the courts would consider that seated prayers, this information is even intentional assaults like rape untrue. I have supported President would be covered as well. POETRY 27 Bush throughout his campaign and Terry Weldon by Wanda Garner Cash shall continue to do so. However, this Austin CORPS FAILURE 28 by Char Miller A BIT OFF BALANCE AFTERWORD 30 You'll undoubtedly notice that this issue is lighter on arts and culture The 2nd Biggest Mesquite Tree in Texas than usual. The lawmakers are back in Austin, and they threaten to by Wade Williams make more laws, so our political coverage is amped up for this issue. We'll right the balance next time around. Cover photo by Jody Horton. 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JANUARY 26, 2007 6 EDITO 1AL So Much for Accountability ven during the darkest diated the Republican leadership, par- tigation by the federal prosecutor was periods of the past few ticularly in the House, booting key making some Abramoff clients uncom- years, when cronyism, allies of Speaker Tom Craddick like fortable. Last year, prior to the elections, arrogance, and men- Kent Grusendorf and Gene Seaman the Justice Department insisted it was dacity had an almost out of office. Gov. Rick Perry won re- telling U.S. attorneys across the nation suffocating hold on election, but a majority of voters indi- to focus on public corruption. Now WashingtonE and Austin, we always felt cated they'd prefer someone else in the that the election is past, the Justice the pendulum would swing back in our job. And two issues—a push to build Department is undertaking an unprec- direction. We marveled at our leaders' 18 coal plants throughout the state and edented housecleaning, pushing out at overreach, shook our heads, and clucked the ambitious proposal to privatize least four U.S. attorneys, and maybe as that the day of reckoning must surely state highways—have sparked excep- many as seven. be just over the horizon. Indeed, the tional civic uprisings. Yet a challenge In Iraq, rather than listen to the " accountability moment," as Dubya likes to Craddick's speakership from the American public, a bipartisan group of to call elections, came in 2006 with the forces of reform fizzled. Perry is still political elders, or even the generals in midterms. The American people spoke. governor. The coal plants and the ill- the field, the Bush administration has No to the Iraq war! No to corruption! conceived Trans-Texas Corridor con- decided to escalate the conflict. When It was a good year. Congress changed tinue to move at full throttle. The work Fox News' Chris Wallace pointed out hands, and suddenly some semblance for positive change in Texas has only to Vice President Dick Cheney that of balance returned to American gov- just begun. national exit polls showed 67 percent ernment. A potent symbol of corrup- In Washington, the level of corrup- of voters said the war was either very tion, Jack Abramoff, went to prison. We tion, of double-dealing and outright or extremely important to their vote, even witnessed the humiliation of our plunder cries out for stiff prison sen- and only 17 percent supported sending beloved Tom DeLay, who was hound- tences to be handed out like candy in more troops, the dark lord replied ed off the ballot and forced to all but canes. While Abramoff was a start, the blithely, "The polls change." deliver his seat to a Democrat whom he feds hustled him off to jail before the He continued, "... you cannot simply had previously vanquished. Our topsy- full scale of the scandal could truly be stick your finger into the wind and say, turvy system was finally righting itself exposed. Nonetheless, the former lob- gee, public opinion is against [the war], a bit. Or so it seemed. byist did point the way toward a solu- we better quit." Now, with the first month of 2007 tion for the Bush administration's cor- Cheney will not quit. Nor will Perry under our belt, it should be clear to ruption problem. In 2002, Abramoff or Craddick. Whatever power these everybody that it will not be so easy. allegedly helped convince the president people have, they will use. The pen- In Texas, the cause of reform clearly to remove the U.S. Attorney in Guam. It dulum will go only so far on its own made great strides in '06. Voters repu- appears that a public corruption inves- without a big collective push. ■ THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 99, NO. 2 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger James K. 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