(ARCHIVES: July 15, 2007) A Texan is ....

Friendly. Gracious. Kind. Giving. "As purty as a lady bird". These are only a few attributes observed in Lady Bird Johnson by those who knew her.

Born Claudia Alta Taylor in the small east Texas town of Karnack near Caddo Lake, Lady Bird embodied some of the best qualities of the Lone Star State. She served the nation and the world and was attested to the fact that Texans of all stripes care about children and families, racial and sexual justice, and the environment.

During her White House years, Mrs. Johnson served as honorary chairman of the National Head Start Program and pushed her husband, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, to fund more pre-school programs. She also tirelessly devoted herself to the environment and making America more beautiful.

In Washington, she enlisted the aid of friends to plant thousands of flowers to beatify the capitol's parks and then turned her eye to the nation's highways. She almost single-handedly began a movement to spread flowers along roads and let the natural habitat grow. Her efforts were practical as well…as weeds were mowed less.

On her 70th birthday in 1982, Mrs. Johnson founded the National Wildflower Research Center, an environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and re-establishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes.

Lady Bird was remembered for those things and many more after she died last week.

Her daughter, Luci Baines Johnson, said her mother had lived her "94 delicious years" to the fullest. "As long as she drew breath, she was wanting to discover and make an impact on beauty," she said.

Fellow Texan Bill Moyers, who served as special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson from 1963 to 1967, delivered a eulogy at Lady Bird Johnson's funeral service. "She aimed for the consolation and comfort of others," said Moyers. "She kept open all the roads to reconciliation."

He also told about how she also showed the courageous "true grit" of a Texas woman. As she campaigned in the South for L.B.J. after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, she bore racial slurs against her and her daughter with dignity and grace. She remained a lady even when ugly crowds hurled insults and invectives.

All former U.S. presidents and first ladies, except for George W. and G. H. W. Bush, and other dignitaries made their way to Austin this week to honor Lady Bird.

As her funeral cortege headed from Austin to Johnson City, daughters Lucy Baines and Lynda Bird followed their mother's example. They asked the drivers to slow down so they could wave to the hundreds of Texans who lined the highways to say their final goodbyes.

Even the Texas skies cooperated. Rain held off and the sun stroked the green fields still laden with wildflowers as a special Texan was laid to rest in the home that she loved.

It has been noted that a Texan is a person who can use the word y'all correctly and know that phrases like "yep" and "I tell you what" are sentences in themselves. And real Texans know that the state motto is "friendship" and not the phrase plastered on tourist t-shirts.

Being a Texan has meant many things through the years but one thing is for certain, it's about striving for the best qualities in ourselves - both individually and as we share this bountiful piece of earth together.

For a brief moment this week the world turned to remember what a true Texan was, and is.

Jump in Houston millionaires

Oil-capital Houston in home to 56,000 millionaires and the number has increased dramatically in the past two years. “Houston’s population should grow about 6 percent a year, the millionaire population should grow at over 10 percent a year,” said Frank Amsler, a money manager for Merrill-Lynch.

But overall, wages have declined in the Houston area. There’s actually been a lowering of wages. Far from becoming millionaires, Houstonians who work for hourly wages are barely treading water says the AFL-CIO union. One-fourth of Houston households now bringing in less than $25,000 a year.

The rich are getting richer. Meanwhile, Texas children are being left behind.

“We have a city that has the best medical services in the world, the largest medical complex on earth. And the highest percentage of children who do not have health insurance of any city in America,” said Stephen Klineberg at Rice University.

Exxon worth $500,000,000,000, 000.00

As the stock market continues to rise, Exxon-Mobil has become the first publicaly-traded company to be valued at 1/2 Trillion dollars. Shares of Exxon Mobil rose $2.33 to $89.62, pushing the market capitalization of the Irving-based oil company to $504.9 billion and greater than the annual economic output of Argentina, Finland and Kazakhstan combined.

Exxon, along with other oil companies, has benefited greatly from the war in Iraq which has pushed the price of oil to nearly $70 per barrel. Tax breaks by the Bush Administration and Texas legislature during the past decade have also helped to increase profits to the world's largest company. Exxon, Shell and other oil companies are lobbying against taxes to help pay for alternative fuels

Ranchers say border wall foolish

Texas rancher BIll Moody whose spread runs along the border between Eagle Pass and Del Rio says that the new border fence is a waste of taxpayer money and shouldn't be built. It'll be a big expense, a big problem, ugly as hell and unfriendly to Mexico."

Moody and other landowners, mostly conservatives, are teaming with environmentalists to stop the mult-million dollar monstrocity. "I think there's a bunch of knee-jerk politicians up in Washington who need to come down here and see what's really going on, instead of posturing in front of the TV cameras," said Roy Cooley, general manager of the Maverick County Water Control District in Eagle Pass.

Nobel winner apologizes for hateful remarks

Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams, speaking at the Women's International Peace Conference in Dallas last week, said "Right now, I could kill George Bush", marring the peace conference.

Her comments were roundly condemned and she was immediately asked to apologize. "My feelings now and again get way ahead of me," Williams said. To say that was wrong."

Burned soldiers recover in San Antonio

Soldiers returning from Iraq are being treated for their burns in the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

More than 500 have been treated for severe burns that might have otherwise killed them in prior war. Each has a personal story of the tragedy of the war.

(ARCHIVES: July 3, 2007) Ladies of peace and liberty

l am a woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore,
And I know too much
To go back and pretend.

"I Am Woman" - Helen Reddy and Ray Burton

It sometimes amazes me that less than 100 years ago, most women weren't allowed serve as clergy, hold jobs in a variety of occupations, or even vote as "free citizens" in these United States. Thank God those days are gone and that women are taking the reigns of leadership in full partnership with their male allies, both at home and around the globe.

In only a few decades we have seen a world in which the paradigm of power and domination is being replaced with one of respect and conciliation, where justice and gentleness can challenge violence and destruction. Another world is becoming possible, advanced by ladies of peace and liberty.

Next week, July 10-15, thousands of leaders from around the globe will be in Dallas to attend the 3rd International Women's Peace Conference, with a goal of continuing to create "paths of peace by example and positive action, both locally and globally, through encouragement, communication, education and friendship."

Sponsored by Peacemakers, Inc. this conference will include three Nobel Peace laureates - Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Jody Williams and Betty Williams - along with exciting workshops, entertainers and special events. Texans will have an opportunity to gather with people from around the world who are interested in the "Essentials of Peace" (the theme for this year).

Throughout its history, Texas has been fortunate to number women in leadership who value liberty and equality in addition to peace and social justice. The eloquent Barbara Jordan, quick-witted Ann Richards, compassionate Shirley Chisholm, and funny Molly Ivins are only a few of the Texas women greats of the past who have risen to national prominence while defending freedom and justice.

Most Texas men also value (even if they don't always acknowledge) the contributions of their counterparts. In science, business, medicine, sports and literature the impact of women on the state has been both significant and grand and there is even greater hope for the next generation.

Recently, while attending a social justice conference, I found myself surrounded by a gaggle of little girls in pretty dresses and makeup. I had somehow ended up in the middle of pre-teen beauty pageant contestants and their parents. Some appeared quite taken aback by my my t-shirt that read "This is What a Feminist Looks Like".

After a few minutes, one father of a little blond-haired coiffed girl approached me, curious about how a man could be a feminist. "Do you think your daughter deserves every chance in this world?" I asked in response to his questioning. "Don't you hope that she will be able to use all of her gifts fully?" He repeated that this was certainly the case and he believes in, and supports, his daughters one-hundred percent.

"Then," I gently replied, "you might just be a feminist." At first he looked like he might get angry and then he finally understood what my shirt meant. As fathers, we both became comrades in that conspiracy of love that makes each one of us fully human.

And while the struggle for equality and justice is certainly not over, significant strides are being made. Even in remote corners of the world, women are gaining greater independence and dignity and gaining ground without resulting in violence....something many men still don't get.

When someone asks how I came to know these things, I reply that I was fortunate to have women role models in my life - particularly my mother - who valued their own dignity as well as those around them.

As we celebrate the experiment of independence and freedom this July, let us remember those ladies of freedom and liberty to whom we owe so much. Roar!

Texas Cattle Women

Throughout Texas history, women have been instrumental in all aspects of daily life...including cattle ranching. A new book - Texas Women on the Cattle Trails - by author Sara R. Massey explores the lives of sixteen women who "rolled up their sleeves and participated in the most grueling parts of life on the trail."

Each woman faced the hardships of early Texas rural life and the challenges of weather, disease, danger, and work. Read about the rich contributions from this relatively unknown segment of Texas history.

Cindy Sheehan in Crawford July 7

Cindy Sheehan will return Camp Casey in Crawford on July 7 weekend to celebrate her 50th birthday and bid farewell to many of her Texas friends. She has sold her 5-acre property and plans to take a break from peace activism.

Friends of Cindy will gather at the camp and organizers from around Texas will meet at the Crawford Peace House to formulate plans for future plans to bring the war in Iraq to an end.

Impeaching Bush and Cheney

Austin will hold an "Impeach Now" forum at the at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Austin on July 7, 4:00 pm. The discussion will be preceeded by a CodePink “I miss America Pageant” and is sponsored by World Can't Wait.

Subjects to be addressed include: Why Can We Impeach? (The legal basis for impeachment),
Why Should We Impeach? (The moral imperative for impeachment), How Do We Impeach? (Necessary steps to impeachment and actions to take get there), and . Why haven't we impeached yet? (What has prevented this action?).

This event is open to the public

July 4th "Bring 'Em Home"

Many Texans will celebrate July 4th eating barbeque and fajitas, watching fireworks and calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

In the Longview area, residents of "Common Good for East Texas" plan a "Bring them Home Now" rally. In Houston and Dallas attendees at fireworks shows will be wearing black armbands, t-shirts and other items in silent protest against the ongoing war and occupation. In Austin, peacemakers will gather at the "Peace Grove" in Zilker Park.

In San Antonio, Texans for Peace will hold a fundraiser to continue the End the War in Iraq campaign and to raise money for the upcoming Teaching Peace in Texas conference.

Bioweapons danger at A&M

Bioweapons accidents are becoming more the norm than the exception, according to the Sunshine Project.

A recent incident at Texas A&M resulted in an order from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for the university to cease and desist all research with "select agents", as bioweapons agents. This highlights the growing concern from Texans worried that their state is being further polluted.

"One can see in Texas A&M's statements and actions an ingrained resistance to transparency about accidents," says Sunshine Project Director Edward Hammond, "this is the result of an irrational and ineffective federal system in which incentives are tilted against reporting and transparency." Add Hammond, "Instead of a 'culture of responsibility', the federal government has instilled a culture of denial.

Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, recently headed A&M

(ARCHIVES: June 21, 2007) Free the Children

Children should be free. They should enjoy summer playing outdoors. Their lives should be full of baseball and soccer teams, camping, swimming and other blissful childhood pleasures. They shouldn't be locked up in prison.

The imprisonment of innocent children flies in the face of everything in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution: democracy, liberty and justice.

Yet, just outside of Austin at least 200 children will likely spend summer inside the walls of the T. Don. Hutto Detention facility in Taylor. Their crime: having parents who can't produce documentation showing legal residency.

Entire families are incarcerated in this modern day prison camp that opened in 2006 and is run by the largest private prison company in the world, Corrections Corporation of America. The Department of Homeland Security agencies Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), runs this unit as a "residential facility" for immigrant parents and their children. It holds people from thirty different countries, some taken off of airplanes as they made their way to Canada or elsewhere.

A prison is a prison

Several lawsuits have already been filed against the conditions and treatments inside the prison and calling for a release of all minors in federal custody. Child detainees have had to wear prison garb and were detained in prison cells for about twelve hours per day. They received only one hour of recreation per day and are rarely seen outdoors.

Additionally, during the school year children were allowed to go to public schools and children's access to medical and mental care is limited. Guards disciplined children by threatening to separate them from their families. Teachers at the center are not required to be licensed in Texas, and the state's family welfare agency exempted Hutto from child care licensing requirements.

Some conditions have changed as a result of the lawsuits and rallies, the razor wire no longer tops the fence and food and hours of schooling have improved. But it's still a prison in which children and their families live under traumatizing and dehumanizing conditions

Anna Baubonyte, a fifteen-year-old high school student, told how she doesn't expect to graduate from high school and how she is afraid of the guards. She was brought to Taylor in December 2006 from Illinois, along with her nine-year-old sister Sunny and mother. "Being closed in our room with the same people every day and have nothing to do drives me nuts."

Sherona Verdieu, a 13-year-old from Haiti whose father was kidnapped and eventually killed when her mother could not pay ransom, said she was worried about crying - that this could be cause for separating her from her motner.

Mustafa Elmi spent his third birthday in prison. That day he had to report to his cell three times for headcount. Such routines characterized Mustafa's life, as well as that of his mother, Bahjo Hosen, 26, during their first seven months in the United States, the country to which they fled to escape political persecution in their native Somalia

Elsa Carbajal, a 24-year-old woman from Honduras who fled after being raped by the son of a police officer, said that her 5-year-old son and 3-year old daughter "think that they have done something wrong to be imprisoned."

Bahjo Hosen sleeps - with her 2-year-old son, Mustafa, curled up next to her - on a narrow metal bunk bed in a roughly 8-foot-by-12-foot cell with an open toilet and sink. "I never dreamed I would be in jail," said Hosen, who fled a Somalian clan's death threats,only to be locked up in the immigrant detention center in Taylor.

Majid and his nine-year old son Kevin were recently released after an appeal by the Canadian government. The Iranian immigrants were sent to Taylor after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Puerto Rico as they made their way to Canada to seek asylum from torture in Iran. "I want to be free," wrote Kevin.

There were also recent charges of "inappropriate contact" between a guard and a detainee that included "relations between two adults", implying sex-for-favors that sometimes occurs in prisons.

Government gone wild

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a for profit company running the majority of privatized prisons in the US, is paid 2.8 million dollars a month ($84,000 per child per per year) to keep these children behind bars. It would be cheaper to buy new homes for the families. But rich profits keeps the prison in "business" and money flowing to politicians. CCA has made significant political contributions to Governor Perry, Lt. Governor Dewhurst and House Speaker Craddick, among other politicians.

John Ferguson, "The Prophet of Prison" chief of $1.3 Billion-per-year CCA says it has cells to spare. "We have seen this percolating demand for many years that we didn't sense other people saw," he says. "This company has prepared itself." Earnings per share are up 130% over the last 12 months, according to Forbes. The educated and attractive CCA executive team is staffed with many political operatives.

In the past, whenever an otherwise peaceful illegal resident was caught, they were usually allowed to return home to their families under "catch and release" to await a deportation hearing. "If we break families up and put them in separate detention facilities, we get criticized," said Gary Mead, assistant director for detention and removal with ICE.

With calls for greater vigilance on the issue of illegal immigration, the government began a crackdown and ICE prisons have been built around the country to hold detainees. U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, he thinks the Hutto facility "offers the optimal solution to our nation's growing illegal immigration problem."

Critics point out that under U.S. and international law, it is illegal to incarcerate people who have committed no crime.

In April, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante attempted to visit the facility. His visit was denied by the U.S. government.

Despite being barred from the facility, Bustamante interviewed former detainees and issued a statement in May. In addition to statements on human-rights violations, such as substandard prison conditions, he wrote that "there is no centralized system in the United States to obtain information regarding those arrested by immigration officials or where individuals are detained." His full report, including recommendations, will be presented to the U.N. later this summer.

Children Should be Free

While human rights attorneys from the Texas Civil Rights project and the ACLU battle the government in court, ordinary Texans have stepped up to work towards the closing of the prison and freeing of children. We know that children should be free.

Fathers and mothers have joined together are demanding that the imprisoned children been given their freedom: that these children should be allowed outside the walls of the prison to do as other kids do during the summer - go swimming, walk their dog, rid bicycles - basic childhood freedoms.

Groups around the state are sponsoring ongoing vigils outside the T. Don Hutto facility. Several groups are sponsoring the 10th "No Child Left Behind Bars" - "Free the Children" vigil in Taylor on June 23 to coincide with Amnesty International's World Week of the Refugee. coalition of groups, including the Amnesty International, and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), Texans for Peace, and others.

Join your fellow Texans. Put a stop to prison camps and free the children! In Taylor, this weekend.

North Tex Muslim family abducted

In the latest example of American dream turned dementor hell, the federal government has abducted a North Texas muslim family at gunpoint. The parents were hauled Haskell prison while they were seeking assylum and their sixteen-year-old son was shipped off to a juvenile facility in Chicago.

"Ali Charania is a senior at Coppell High School Ali was accepted and paid tuition to attend the University of North Texas "Mean Green Workshops for Debate Camp" this summer because he was chosen to lead the University Interscholastic League Lincoln Douglas Debaters during his senior year at Coppell High School. He was the star of the debate team, and his coaches had high hopes for his success in state and national debate tournaments during the 2007-08 school year." Now Ali sits in jail.

People's Freedom Caravan coming to Houston

The Peoples Freedom Caravan will come to Houston and join a rally for environmental justice that will take place in the Manchester neighborhood of East Houston on Sunday June 24th. The event will draw attention to the enviromental pollution of Houston that results in the deaths of thousands of children each year.

In the spirit of the freedom rides launched 46 years ago, grassroots organizations and activists from Arizona, Alabama, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi are planning the People’s Freedom Caravan to culminate at the United States Social Forum (USSF), June 27 to July 1, 2007, in Atlanta, Ga.

Children in Port Arthur learn about the Environment

Southeast Texans are teaching their children about the importance of being good environmental stewards. In Port Arthur, Audubon Society members show kids how environmentalism can be fun.

Part of the EnviroKids program at The Museum of the Gulf Coast, elementary age students are participating in a program that teaches the history of local wildlife and what even the tiniest of people can do to help the Southeast Texas environment.

Juneteenth Celebrated

Throughout the state, Texans celebrate Juneteenth this week and remembered the evils of slavery and what it means to be free.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.

In Brownsville, residents celebrated across racial lines. “It’s one of those holidays that’s not off the wall, and I think a lot of people recognize it,” said Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos. “It’s an important day for us because of the emancipation of slaves and a lot of folks don’t give it the attention it deserves.”

(ARCHIVES: June 8, 2007) Welcome to the Lone Star State of Surveillance: National ID Coming Soon

In January 2006, Texans for Peace posed the question "Is it Facism Yet?" conjecturing that we are moving towards a police state. What seems, on one hand, the kind of dark conspiracy theory found in fictional novels or movies is becoming a topic of increasing concern by all who value liberty and freedom.

Evidence continues to mount that the small minority of citizens who fantasize about authoritarian control continue to come up with new strategies that, in their end, only diminish the lives of all. What's to become of a state where "independent" is our middle name?

Today we find Texans being hauled into court for violating daytime curfews, farmers and ranchers threatened to have their land taken away for corporate interests, non-criminal citizens placed in lockup, and coming soon …. a national identity card.

Those who seek power and control (or as they might argue "safety and security") have teamed up to control everyone's identity and movement combined in three mechanisms: voting, driver's licenses, and immigration. Now they have convinced federal and state authorities to begin new "Real IDs" to go into effect in 2008 (just in time for state and federal elections).

Should you be concerned about belligerent nationalism and self-imposed authoritarian rule, or is the federal government's ability to identify and track all persons the price we should be willing to pay for a well-ordered society? Or, is this just another bureaucratic overreach by out-of-touch federal officials who occasionally come up with dumb ideas?

Before answering, let's take a look at the history behind the national identification card. Here's how it all began.

After the 2000 presidential election fraud in Florida, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which among other things, required all county election officials to collaborate with the Texas Department of Public Safety when checking to see whether a voter registration.

HAVA required local governments to move to electronic voting with the stated purpose of improving access to voting by visually challenged individuals. Since that time, the DPS has become regularly involved in collecting information about every voter's (not every driver's) information. This is the same bill that took control of soldier's voting from local election officials and placed it under the Department of Defense. "Trust us" said the Republican-controlled Congress and President Bush.

Next, fears against immigrants were whipped up. In the fervor to ensure that all residents' status are know, a move began to make all persons carry an ID that includes personal information in addition to their nationality and immigration status. Since many immigrants apply for driver's licenses, the DPS was asked to facilitate national immigration control measures, in addition to voting.

Additionally, the Immigrations and Customer Enforcement (ICE) bureau - a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agency - began building "detention camps" or immigration prisons, throughout America. The one in Taylor, Texas is currently holding U.S.-citizen children who have committed no crimes but are being held because their parents may have entered the country illegally.

Then, came the 2005 military appropriations bill. Buried among requests for equipment to fight the war in Iraq and military golf course upgrades, came funding for the REAL ID Act. This emergency supplemental providing the funding for The Act that compels states by 2008 to make their driver's licenses comply with federal antiterrorist standards. It gives unfettered authority to the DHS to design state ID cards and driver's licenses.

But we shouldn't have anything to fear from our own Department of Homeland Security, right?

National ID cards have long been advocated as a means to enhance national security, unmask potential terrorists, guard against illegal immigrants, and help with identify theft. They are in use in many countries around the world including most European countries, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Additionally, identification documents have been routinely used by world leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin to "protect" their citizens. (It should be noted that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates once teamed up with Yvgeny Primakov, former head of the KBG who advised Saddam)

While the U.S. version is called "voluntary" by proponents it will to all intents and purposes by required by almost everyone. For example, it will be required to visit a courthouse or federal building, board a train or plane, receive federal benefits such as Social Security or Medicare, open up a bank account, sign up for college, and - of course - to vote.

With REAL ID the state will be required to maintain copies or digital images of important identity documents, such as birth certificates, for seven to 10 years. They are also required to feed it to a national database that would presumably be accessed by government officers, such as the Attorney General, Vice President, and Deputy Chief of Staff of the White House, among others.

Surprisingly, such as noble and sensible identity plan has countered a bit of resistance.

Several states have pointed out that a national identity card is unworkable and costly, so DHS is planning to have a private companies aggregate the data aggregator, much as they use private contractors in places like Iraq. The plan calls for the outsourcing of all drivers license and ID card checks to a private corporation, who would then charge the states for each check performed. DHS head Michael Chertoff personally ordered this option to be chosen, according to a senior administration source.

Under this scheme, citizens of every state will be at the mercy of a company like ChoicePoint or Acxiom to 'approve' their identity. The advantage is that your sensitive driver's license, personal, and voting documents then can be bought and sold just like your credit information. The federal government can then gain access to this information without having to comply with any laws, such as the federal P rivacy Act. Such a deal!

While we chuckled and shook our heads when radical neocons proposed such ideas at first, we now find that they've become law through the concerted effort. Thanks to the President's mindless minions in Washington, Texas is scheduled to be one of the first states to require this national ID card.

But again, perhaps not.

Resistance to a national ID is growing. Ten states have already joined a revolt against REAL ID with the most recent being Georgia and Nevada, places that like Texas where there is some distrust for the "art of government." Additionally, over forty major organizations - from conservative to liberal - have also joined an anti-national ID public campaign. Individuals are also planning boycotts and pledging to refuse national IDs.

Not convinced yet that there's a reason to be concerned?

Perhaps a national ID will lead to nothing untoward instead of becoming a tool of repression in the hands autocrats. One need only look to the dictatorships of the 20th Century to see the dangers that can ensue when the movement of citizens are restricted and free speech, voting, and liberties are controlled.

The abolitionist Wendell Phillips famously said, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." While few people would willingly give up their liberties, new government actions - including the REAL ID - moves us steps closer to what could eventually become a totalitarian state of Texas.

Will we find ourselves and our children branded like cattle at some point in the future?

Only time, and the willingness of good people to say what they believe in and want, will tell. In the end, we get the government we deserve.

Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together

A new pro-immigration group, headquartered in San Antonio, is planning a $2 million advertising campaign to encourage Congress towards passing a sensible immigration reform package.

Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, a non-partisan organization, plans to focus on savings accounts and micro-loans and the value that immigrants add to America. The group's ads will launch on the National Council of La Raza's ALMA Awards show.

Texas, biggest greenhouse gas polluter

Texas has the dubious distinction as the #1 polluter in the U.S, according to an analysis of carbon emissions data by the associated press. Texas cranks out more than the next two biggest producers combined, California and Pennsylvania, which together have twice Texas' population.

Texas is "benefiting from both cheap electricity while polluting the planet and make all the rest of us suffer the consequences of global warming," said Frank O'Donnell, director of the Washington environmental group Clean Air Watch.

Dirty Coal is the primary culprit of the state's air pollution, but it is also caused by large industries and lack of strong environmental controls. Even the little town of Jewett is targeted at the site of a $1 Billion coal plant.

In unrelated news, Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest oil company, and Enbridge Inc. are planning a pipeline to haul crude from Alberta's tar sands to the heart of the U.S. refining industry in Beaumont and Houston.

Gay mayor for Dallas?

Dallas could become the larges city in the nation with an openly gay mayor later this month if a long-time councilmember wins a run-off election. Ed Oakley's candidacy is the latest indication that Texas is a diverse state.

Dallas, with a population of 1.2 million, has a reputation as a conservative stronghold, but is already home to several gay elected officials, including the sheriff.

"I'm not discounting Oakley based on who he likes or doesn't like, and I don't think people view him being gay as limiting to his ability to make decisions," said Mark Jones, a local businessman. "This is not a town where homophobia will affect people's decisions.

Cindy Sheehan: The politics of peacemaking

Adopted Texan, Cindy Sheehan, who brought more international attention to Crawford than it's other famous resident, is taking a break from antiwar efforts. Her efforts to end the war in Iraq on behalf of her son Casey, who was killed there in 2004, having encountered and been scarred by the political animal called "Congress".

She sent a "notice" out to the peace community on Memorial Day saying that she needed a rest from the non-stop efforts to end the war. "It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most," wrote Cindy while stating that she hasn't given up faith in the goodness of Americans.

Restorative Justice Conf: Jun 24-27

Texas will host the National Conference on Restorative Justice, June 24-27 in San Antonio and Kerrville. More than 200 criminal, church and social leaders from around the world will meet to to promote the implementation of restorative justice practices in communities across the nation and how criminals can re-enter society.

U.S. Congressman Danny K. Davis of Chicago (co-sponsor of the Second Chance Act) and law professor and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine P. Geske will be among the keynote speakers the conference, which is hosted by the San Antonio SoL Center, the Methodist Church, Baptist General Convention and Schreiner University, among other groups.

June 22-23: Texas peace leaders: Attendence pequested

The national assembly of peace and justice organization leaders is scheduled for June 22-23 in Chicago. This is the third such assembly sponsored by United for Peace and Justice and Texas leaders are particularly requested to attend since the issues - from Iraq to Immigration - will be discussed.

If you, or your organization, plans to attend, please contact Charlie Jackson at Texans for Peace once you have completed your online registration with UFPJ.

In the Spring of 2007, members of the U.S. Congress were faced with a pivotal opportunity to end the war and occupation of Iraq. (see more) Those members who voted to continue funding for the Iraq war and occupation are hereby labeled 'War Accomplices' and recorded in history for their cowardly act, along with the entire Administration of President George W. Bush.   Representatives: Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Cuellar, Culberson, Edwards, Gohmert, Gonzalez, Granger, Green, Hall, Hensarling, Hinojosa, Johnson (Sam), Marchant, McCaul, Neugebauer, Ortiz, Poe, Reyes, Rodriguez, Sessions, Smith, Thornberry Senators: John Cornyn, Kay Bailey Hutchison

(ARCHIVES: May 16, 2007) The War on the Poor: Plutocracy in the Age of Oligarchs

Just exactly when did we go from a "war on poverty" to a "war on the poor"? - Sojourners Magazine editorial

During the 1960's most workers were able to find a job that would provide a minimum of food and shelter for their families and the chance, even for the poorest, that a college degree would ensure upward mobility. Even while the government was wasting billions on "that old crazy Asian war" it was also attempting to eradicate poverty, racial injustice and sexual and age discrimination in the U.S. and usher in a "great society".

"It seems like only yesterday," say the baby boomer leaders who control the nation's wealth and power today.

But somehow the promise of the past hasn't caught up with the reality of today. Something went horribly wrong, particularly in Texas which is home to some of the richest, and poorest, Americans.

Texas with a population of twenty-six million people (0.4% of the world's population) is home to 25 of the world's 793 billionaires. According to Forbes magazine, there are more billionaires in Texas than either the entire country of Canada (19) or Mexico (10). The number of Texas millionaire families exceeds 225,000. Millionaire families are almost common in most urban areas of the state: Harris Co. - 96,592, Dallas Co. - 67,080, Travis Co.- 20,500, Bexar Co - 25,000.

Yet, across Texas and America millions of families live in poverty. In America today, 37 million people live in poverty, (defined as a family of four with less than $20,000 in annual income).

In addition to lacking the income needed to buy basics such as food, clothing, housing, and fuel, One in five Texas families has zero or negative net worth, according to the Texans Finance Commission.

There's a war on the poor in the Lone Star State. Where once land was given away for free, now live in poverty more than 3 million poor Texas children. They are part of the millions across the country who have been "left out" and left behind as wealth grows rapidly for those at the top.

All of this comes at a time when many of an earlier generation, who once wore "free speech" and "question authority" buttons, now own the instruments of the press and hold the reigns of power. But Instead of restructuring social, political and economic power, they have found that "life is good at the top" and are less concerned with social inequities than in their youth.

With the enormous rise in wealth since the 1980s the "virtue of selfishness" and its disciples appear to be firmly in charge of politics and the public purse. Some advocates of this near feudalism also question whether capitalism even needs democracy. Public good and civic virtues, considered old fashioned by both arch-conservatives and those who once advocated "turn on, tune in, drop out". It has been instead replaced by a social plutocracy of both liberals and conservatives "in charge".

The new oligarchs constitute a greedy and predatory class who own businesses - but don't believe in paying living wages (can you say "modern-day slaveowners"?), own rental property and land - but charge exorbitant rents, own banks - and charge usurious interest, and own the media outright...but complain when "their" candidate doesn't win.

These "Machiavellian moneyed elites infest and dominate nearly every node of power in our maleficent socioeconomic and political infrastructure," while having little heart for those destroyed by their wars or their perfidity.

Le Monde environmental editor Hervé Kempf recently complained that "the Rich are destroying the planet" while failing to acknowledge that it is exactly the readers of his magazine, along with readers of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and the Economist (or Mother Jones and Texas Monthly for that matter), that are likely to constitute "the rich", compared to the masses of poor on the planet.. In pointing out unbridled greed and ostentatious consumption he neglected to criticize members of his own class of elites - those who are in power today.

It is essentially those who are vested with the assets and wealth of the world who game a system that tax redistributes for the wealthy in a perverse upward mobility, who author laws and regulations that create barriers to small businesses, who finance the police and military ready to put down any workers' revolt, and who will bankroll the set of elected leaders in the White House and Congress (along with elected parliaments and even dictators around the world).

Although we live in a world in which there is plenty for everyone and enough to go around, these small groups remain in firm control of land, technology, and capital.

While oligarchs and plutocrats aren't necessarily evil persons individually and many will dispute that they should even be included under such raw terms ("we're well off, but certainly not 'rich'" they will say), they are the ones, for good or bad, who enact public policy that disenfranchises the poor while providing "corporate welfare" for those who don't need it.

These are the same individuals and companies that got rich in student lending, sub-prime mortgages, and usurous credit card rates. They own you, your home and car, and you children's future...and plan on leaving you to pick up the tab while they move their liquid assets offshore.

All of these actions are an assault on both the poor and middle class. The effect of this "war" is just as real as car bomb - people die and have their lives forever shattered. And, there's an escalation in the works. We see their vacant eyes and torn bodies everyday, at the street corner, counting pennies at the supermarket, in vacant parks.

The plutocrats that have fostered starvation in a land of plenty are those who have taken advantage of politics and the war to fatten their purses. They include the hundreds of investors in private equity firms who have spent $355 Billion (do you ever wonder how they got so much so fast?) already this year buying corporate icons like Clear Channel, Bausch & Lomb, HCA, Toys R Us, Univision, TXU and Sallie Mae.

Only this week, it was announced that Chrysler Motors was sold to a private equity firm that is headed by John Snow, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush (some analysts call this a "steal" at only $7.4 billion). Not mentioned was that Snow made his fortune at CSX Transportation, which benefited by federal funding. Also unmentioned was the $1.9 billion federal loan provided by taxpayers to Chrysler in 1979. Even PBS (itself funded by some of these same oligarchs) fails to take them on. Purposely overlooked is the tremendous amounts of public monies that first go to support these companies and then the tax deductions that come from restructuring. In most cases it is the wages of the workers themselves that go to fund their own demise - as we will certainly see in the case of Chrysler. Get the picture?

These types of deals have become increasingly common since the 1960s, in a world flush with cash. Washington can't seem to mint money fast enough for the plutocracy or give enough power to the oligarchs.

All of these examples are presented as proofs of 1. How plutocrats plunder the public purse while creating public welfare for large corporations and, 2. How oligarchs (usually one in the same) hoodwink the public while seizing power. This same sort of manipulation goes on now at the state and local level as well.

While Texas is busy selling roads to Spanish firms giving state taxpayer monies to offshore companies like Accenture, large cities are merrily helping provide tax incentives and contracts to multinational corporations.This new generation of Texas "leaders" makes it illegal to live in tent cities (Austin), force landlords to turn away undocumented families (Farmers Branch), pay subminimum wages (El Paso), steal taxpayer dollars (Dallas), etc. At this rate, little will be left for the next generation.

In his inaugural address, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke about a better world that could be created as the country's wealth grew. He knew all about privations and what it meant to be poor in Texas. When he was a boy, entire areas of the state were still without electricity. He helped secure loans to ensure that rural areas could build cooperative (not corporate) telephone companies along the lines of the co-op electric and water utilities.

LBJ also had a vision for the future. He spoke of an America as "the star that is not reached and the harvest sleeping in the unplowed ground" as he provided challenging wisdom that helps our way forward today. "You must look within your own hearts to the old promises and to the old dream. They will lead you best of all." Johnson wasn't a sentimental fool, he knew that these things take hard work. At the same time, he also believed that by working together, with ol' fashioned ideals, anything could be accomplished.

A democratic and just society cannot be built on the crumbs of those who exercise power for the few and pile up wealth that isn't earned. Whether you call it Reaganomics, laissez-fair capitalism, or the "New Feudalism", such a cockeyed system doesn't work. The "trickle down" effect of these policies has been shown to create more poor each day and pulls the underpinning from beneath middle class families. It is both immoral and anti-democratic.

It's time for us to band together - from the gated communities of Plano to the unpaved streets of Del Rio - to take action. We need to demand honest and transparent government that does not give taxpayer monies to large corporate. We need to support businesses doing "good" while doing "well". And, we need to restore the "American Dream".

It's time to end the war on the poor.

Educate first, pray later

During the legislative session there were calls to "fix" education by putting Bible study in every school. State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, authored H.B. 1287, which would have required every public high school to offer classes about the Bible beginning in September of this year.

From East to West Texas, folks are saying "enough"...the Legislature shoud focus more on education and less on preaching. Two groups of Texans are currently suing the Ector County schools for a Bible course that violates their religious liberty. A 2006 study by Dr. Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, identified 25 public high schools already offering such courses in Texas.

June 22-23: Texas peace leaders: Attendence pequested

The national assembly of peace and justice organization leaders is scheduled for June 22-23 in Chicago. This is the third such assembly sponsored by United for Peace and Justice and Texas leaders are particularly requested to attend since the issues - from Iraq to Immigration - will be discussed.

If you, or your organization, plans to attend, please contact Charlie Jackson at Texans for Peace once you have completed your online registration with UFPJ. We would like to find out if there are groups who would like to get together for transporation, housing, and events in Chicago.

Faith leader speak out for a nuclear free world

The National Council of Churches, the National Religious Partnership on Nuclear Weapons Danger, the California Council of Churches, and Peace Action, have announced a new faith-based initiative - Faithful Security - to oppose the President's plans for new nuclear warheads. The Administration proposes spending $150 billion dollars to rebuild the nuclear weapons complex and build up to 200 new nuclear warheads per year.

"The administration's proposal to build more nuclear warheads is not only immoral and unnecessary, but also dangerous," stated Jessica Wilbanks, Coordinator of the National Religious Partnership, which counts the Episcopal Church, the Islamic Society of North America, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism among its fourteen national partners. "If other nations follow suit, we could be caught up in another arms race."

Freedom fightin' Fairooz

Once a teacher in Grand Prairie, Desiree Fairooz now spends all of her time trying to bring an end to war. The 50-year-old member of the Dallas Peace Center, Code Pink Dallas and the Arlington Peace Center often now finds herself sitting in jail, instead of the classroom.

She believes she can make a difference and help End the War in Iraq. “Americans,” she said, “need to take time out of their schedules to be part of the political process and take part in their democracy.”

Workshop Houston: An idea that works

PBS's Now, had an excellent segment this week on a success story in Texas: Workshop Houston.

Workshop Houston helps empower inner-city residents through projects that teach skills and provide creative outlets. The Third Ward Bike Shop is an excellent example of both. Begun in 2003 this program rovides quality do-it-yourself bike repair and innovative youth programming.

Since that time, they've opened three more shops and Teen clubs and are becoming a valuable part of Houston's Third Ward. They are a great role model for Texas and the entire country.

True Texan: T. Boone Pickens donates $100M

Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens announced that his foundation will donate $100 million to two leading University of Texas medical centers. The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas will each receive $50 million, the largest gift ever to the UT system by a living donor.

The money will go to a fund that must grow within 25 years to $500 million — through earnings on the original principal or other donations — before the centers can use it. Pickens says he wants to create competition for "good". ""I like to leverage the money and to put some pressure on someone else to ante up." What a Texas-size idea!