WORLD CUP METRO- PERPLEXES Pg. 10' A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES JULY 1, 1994 • $1.75 BY LOUIS DUBOSE family delegates. We have already won." each candidate was required to establish Patterson knew that none of the 3,500 that he was strong in faith and resolute on Fort Worth delegates who showed up at the prayer the fundamental tenet of the political Chri- ”'D RATHER HAVE HIM inside meeting would consider voting for Dolly tian right: opposition to abortion. the tent pissing out than outside Madison McKenna, the Houston pro-abor- 'Barton was recruited by Meyer, who had the tent pissing in," Lyndon John- tion-rights candidate who, at this conven- backed out rather than face a fight with the son would say of some potential dissenter tion, defined the "left wing" of the Republi- Christian right that considered him too he knew he could neutralize by making him can Party, a left wing that informed by the moderate. Barton entered the race with the an insider. The idiom is Arabic, I recently politics of Barry Goldwater. endorsements of Senator Phil Gramm as was told by a Moroccan visitor well as Bill Price, the leader of to our editorial offices, and the Texans United for Life works best with small numbers and the most respected anti- of dissenters in big tents. abortion-rights lobbyist work- That's what traditional secular ing in Austin. "Joe Barton led Texas Republicans, who now the battle in Congress against find themselves jockeying for gays in the military," Price a spot outside the tent, learned wrote in a letter circulated by over the course of one long, the Barton campaign. "He has long weekend in Fort Worth. a 100 percent pro-life, pro- No one should confuse this family voting record." Price year's state Republican con- even "went negative" on be- vention with a fight between half of Barton, writing: "I the religious right and secular have lived in Dallas since Goldwater-Reagan-Bush Re- 1981 and I have never seen publkans. Because at this con- Tom Pauken at a pro-life vention the secular Republi- rally." Barton also had the cans weren't even players. support of unctuous Illinois What occurred over the second Republican Congressman weekend of June in Fort Worth Henry Hyde, known for his was a fight between members resolute opposition to abor- of the extreme Christian right tion, codified in the Hyde and the more extreme Chris- Amendment, and earlier for tian right. At the first prayer his perennial support of the rally of the three-day conven- Contra rebels who tried to tion (there were two, a Texas overthrow the Sandinista gov- GOP Pro-Family Rally and a ernment of Nicaragua. "Fi- Grand Old Prayer Rally), nally, Joe," Hyde wrote in a Alice Patterson, field director of the Texas Given the absolute dominance of the letter co-signed by New Jersey Congress- Christian Coalition, sized up the two candi- Christian right, which controlled an esti- man Chris Smith, "we want Texans to dates in contention for the party chairman- mated 70 percent of convention delegates, know that you do much more than simply ship vacated by Fred Meyer: "We are not the campaign between the two candi- vote your conscience to protect the unborn, divided," Patterson said. "We have the op- dates—Tom Pauken, a Dallas lawyer who you take action to save lives." Hyde praised portunity to choose between two individu- worked in the Reagan Administration, and Barton for his attempt to intervene in als for state party chairman who are exactly Ennis Congressman Joe Barton—became the same on every issue of concern to pro- something of a confirmation rite, by which Continued on pg. 3 WITH THE GOP 1 N FT. WORT H DIALOGUE Poetic Community that with Proposition 22, and even perhaps the defeat of the well-qualified progressive The "Afterword" on poet Joseph Colin Mary Arnold against a well-funded incum- Murphy exemplifies the connection of bent in the same municipal election. communities and all kinds of Texans to the The leader of the anti-Proposition 22 ef- Observer. Only a Journal that cares about fort accused the pro-22 forces of running a community can report in the style this arti- church-based campaign and flying below cle was crafted. The gift of this poet was the radar of public opinion polling. Public unknown to me until I read Dave opinion polling is a poor substitute for the Oliphant's piece on a recent tribute to this political community and speaks volumes A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES man and his life work. Thank you for pub- We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the for how we are all disenfranchised by the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are ded- lishing a few stanzas of his art, as well. status of the current art of professional po- icated to the whole truth, to human values above all in- I request the name and address of the pub- terests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation of litical analysis. The political battle needs to democracy: we will take orders from none but our own lisher for Joe Murphy's posthumous vol- be joined away from the phone banks and conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent ume of poetry, The Perfection of Beauty. the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater ads on TV and into the churches and to the ignoble in the human spirit. Blake Gentry, Tucson, Arizona neighborhoods. It appears to be a strategic Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in option that progressives do not recognize, publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we Editor's Note: The Perfection of Beauty re- if they do not actively oppose such efforts. agree with them, because this is a journal of free voices. mains unpublished, but A Return to the Tim Mahoney, Austin SINCE 1954 Landscape by Murphy was published in 1979 by Prickly Pear Press, 1402 Mimosa Air Quality A Priority Publisher: Ronnie Dugger Pass, Cedar Park, Austin 78613. and is Your recent piece on Carbon I and II [TO Editor: Louis Dubose available for $5 at that address. Murphy Associate Editor: James Cullen was featured in Three Texas Poets, also 5-6-94] continues the service of journalists Production: Peter Szymczak published by Prickly Pear Press ($7.95). who bring this threat to air quality to na- Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka tional attention. At the Department of En- Editorial Interns: Todd Basch, Carmen Garcia, An- gela Hardin, Trae Monroe. ergy we are helping with renewable energy Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Barbara Belejack, Get Back to Grassroots sources along the border, and would try to Betty Brink, Warren Burnett, Brett Campbell, Peter use our permitting authority to block the Cassidy, Jo Clifton, Carol Countryman, Terry Fitz- I read with interest your commentary Patrick, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Jim Hightower, "God-Awful Politics in Austin" in the May sale of dirty power into the United States. Ellen Hosmer, Molly Ivins, Steven Kellman, Michael 20, 1994, issue concerning the Austin elec- Working out rules of binational border air King, Deborah Lutterbeck, Tom McClellan, Bryce Mil- emissions rules is and should be a top ligan, Debbie Nathan, James McCarty Yeager. tion, which involved the passage of Propo- Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; sition 22, the conservative Christian initia- American priority. Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler tive against the unmarried "domestic Bill White, Deputy Secretary of Energy, Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; Washington, D.C. Bob Eckhardt, Austin; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; partners" health insurance program for Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cam- City of Austin workers—whether the do- No Shiite Republican bridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; mestic partners were gay or straight. George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Austin; I must protest the use of Shi'ite Republicans Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Jr., It appears to have been a surprise that the San Antonio; Willie Morris, Jackson, Miss.; Kaye initiative passed, let alone by an overwhelm- in one of your Political Notes. It borders on Northcott, Fort Worth; James Presley, Texarkana; ing margin of 62-38 percent. The lesson that racism and is typical of a lack of knowledge Susan Reid. Austin; Geoffrey Rips, Austin; A.R. (Babe) appears to be learned from the article misses of other cultures and is based probably on a Schwartz, Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. media-based image of Shi' a Islam. The Poetry Consultant: Thomas B. Whitbread the boat. It is not that "the people" are so Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic Hin- much homophobic or fiscally conservative; Amal Militia in Lebanon (Shi'a) have a lot terlang, Alan Pogue. in my humble opinion, it is that the progres- more in common with Jesse Jackson than Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, Patrick Buchanan and his ilk. Most of the Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth sive community has not joined the issue, as Epstein, Valerie Fowler, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin in so much of progressive politics. Rather we Shi'as I have known have been left in eco- Kreneck, Michael Krone, Carlos Lowry, Gary Oliver, Ben have depended on coalitional work which di- nomics and more committed to diversity Sargent, Dan Thibodeau, Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker. vides and conquers—the same politics that is than one would believe. Linking a particular Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson utilized in the conservative Christian com- religious belief with the worst elements of Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom munity—rather than creating a political men- the Republican Party is sloppy, especially in Development Consultant: Frances Barton tality which is inclusive, addressing the this case.