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WORD COUNT
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APRIL 30, 2008
A LITTLE PAPER DIGS
OUT BIG STORIES – by Jim Hightower
To learn what's really going on in our mixed up world, it helps to have
such indefatigable and trusted diggers for truth as those who write for
The Texas Observer. In the past, this little paper has been the home of
such muckraking editors as Ronnie Dugger, Molly Ivins - and even me.
Editors come and go, but the Observer just keeps digging, breaking
national stories that big-name media powers miss. or avoid.
Take a recent report by Observerite Melissa del Bosque about the big
wall that Homeland Security is erecting across America's southern border
with Mexico. Security Czar Michael Chertoff tells us that this
18-foot-high monstrosity is necessary to keep out terrorists and illegal
immigrants. His Czarness asserts that, while border residents don't want
the wall, they must sacrifice their land, homes, businesses, heritage,
and peace of mind for the greater good.
But, wait - reporter del Bosque has uncovered curious gaps in the big
wall. For example, while it will rip through the backyards of low and
modest-income families in Brownsville, Texas, it miraculously stops at
the edge of River Bend Resort, a lush golf course. The wall picks up
again on the other side of the resort. Excuse me, but won't enterprising
border-crossers simply learn to dress up as golfers or caddies and putt
right through this gap?
Further up the border, there's another special gap for Sharyland
Plantation, a 6,000-acre development of million-dollar homes. Sharyland
is owned by billionaire oil heir Ray Hunt of Dallas - who happens to be
tight with President Bush. Indeed, del Bosque found that Ray has donated
$35 million to help build Bush's presidential library. So, no wall for
him.
It's such unethical gaps as these that The Texas Observer consistently
reveals to us. To learn more about this story and others, go to
www.texasobserver.org.
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For more information on Jim Hightower’s
work – and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, The
Hightower Lowdown, visit
www.jimhightower.com -- A photo of Jim Hightower is available
CLICK HERE
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