Duty to Warn

AUSTIN, Texas -- In one week and two days, I will be finished with nine months of treatment for cancer. First they poison you; then they mutilate you; then they burn you. I've had more fun. And when it's almost over, you're so glad that you're grateful to absolutely everyone. And I am.

We've all done our best here; whether this thing comes back is out of all of our hands. My wise friend Marlyn Schwartz said that those of us who survive owe a debt -- to Carole Kneeland, Mary Sherrill, Jocelyn Gray and all the others who didn't make it. They would have given anything they owned, any part of their bodies, for the gift of life. We who survive have it, and we owe it to them to cherish it -- joyfully.

The trouble is, I'm not a better person. I was in great hopes that confronting my own mortality would make me deeper, more thoughtful. Many lovely people sent books on how to find a deeper spiritual meaning in life. My response was, "Oh, hell, I can't go on a spiritual journey -- I'm constipated."

AUSTIN, Texas -- Humanizing Al Gore is the topic du jour, so let me contribute my mite.

In the summer of '92, the Clintons and Gores were on a bus trip in East Texas having a whale of time. As they rolled through the small towns, when there weren't enough people to justify getting out and forming a rope line, the bus would go into a "slow roll" while Bill and Al stood on the steps leading down to the glass doorway, waving at people and letting them get a good look.

At one point, Clinton went to the back of the bus and Gore was left in the doorway by himself, waving and smiling genially at the folks while muttering something like: "Hi there. Bill Clinton wants your vote very much. Right now he's in the bathroom, but he still wants your vote. Hi there."

Of course, it wouldn't seem so improbable to see headlines about "Fun Al Gore" if the media hadn't created the Wooden Al stereotype in the first place (with a little help from Gore in his Mr. Rogers mode).

Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy the faux-naif routine offered by Republicans and their media flunkies: What could Gore mean by "the people against the powerful"?

AUSTIN, Texas -- Yup, Al Gore wrote his own speech, all right. Don't you love the instant cliches? "He did what he had to do."

The conventional wisdom decided not to be knocked out of the park by it (mandatory cliche) but agreed that he did what he had to do. But how will the American people respond to the news that he did what he had to do?

The American people, perversely paying no attention at all to any of this, preferred "The Daily Show" take on all this on Comedy Central, a shrewd programming choice.

My favorite line of the convention was from Jim Miklaszewski of MSNBC. Sitting in the midst of the California delegation on the first night, he looked around pop-eyed and said: "You know, I have to say, there's more diversity in this one state's delegation than there was at the whole Republican convention."

LOS ANGELES -- On the televised surface, the Democratic National Convention exuded plenty of sweetness and generosity. One speaker after another explained that America's working people have a wondrous friend in a party that is committed to fighting for their interests. It was great theater -- of the absurd.

Behind the carefully crafted media facade, however, advocates for big business had ample reason to celebrate. For them, the two-party system was functioning just fine. No need to worry about the two teams of horses in the presidential race when they're both running in the same general direction.

Past sources of irritation or challenge inside the Democratic Party were, so to speak, subdued. Jesse Jackson was often moving yet also restrained when he spoke to the convention on Tuesday evening. "Old-line liberals had their night," USA Today reported the next day, under a headline that used the derogatory term "old guard" to describe speakers strongly critical of corporate priorities.

AUSTIN, Texas -- I'm not a weapons expert, and you're not a weapons expert, so how are we supposed to know whether the National Missile Defense system is a good idea?

Even if you've read enough about it to be skeptical, there are real, actual experts claiming that it's a dandy notion. Generals at the Pentagon bent over double with brass want this thing. And many, many of the politicians of our nation agree that it will be a bonanza of contracts for defense plants in every congressional district.

So there it stands (well, actually, it doesn't -- it keeps blowing up): a monument to our nation's peculiar political and weapons procurement systems.

You may recall that the last time they tested it, the booster thing attached to the kill-thing that's supposed to fly off and hit the incoming missile failed to come apart from its other thingie, and went gerblob instead. (See? Anyone can discuss National Missile Defense.) That cost us $100 million.

And the time before that, it turned out that the Pentagon had cheated to make the missile-hitting missile look good.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Seems like half of Texas is busy manning the pumps on both sides of the state's reputation.

The Bushies keep trying to prevent the foreign press from portraying us as a place where retarded people are promiscuously offed and we let half our kids rot in poverty. (Actually, it's only one-fourth.) The rest of us keep wondering where this state we hear about from the Bushies is located, where we "lead the nation in education" (27th out of 44 states ranked by Rand).

The latest jaw-drop is the news that our very own governor -- George W. Bush -- is personally responsible for the law that entitles the top 10 percent of every high school class to a place in the state college or university systems.

Gee, and we thought his only contribution was not to veto that bill after a bunch of black and Hispanic legislators, infuriated by the Hopwood decision ending affirmative action, worked like dogs to get it passed. This system will increase minority enrollment at your state colleges, too, if you still have segregated high schools.

cold black monolith
               reflecting the source
                from the east...
                 phallic monument
                  symbolic underwriter
                   as background static
                    emits from yet another
                     monument also reflected
                      this one from the west...

It's always dangerous when politicians claim to be doing God's will. So, as the novelty fades from Al Gore's selection of Joseph Lieberman, journalists should ask some probing questions about the ticket's conspicuous piety.

Over the years, Republican policymakers have been fond of saying that they rely on divine guidance. Cementing his alliance with fundamentalist Christian groups, President Reagan loved to perform at high-profile prayer breakfasts and the like. All too often, political leaders -- especially conservative ones -- have tried to blur the separation between church and state.

Now, the Gore-Lieberman campaign has launched itself with a very public display of devout posturing. For them, the Old Testament has become fine grist for the centrist mill. The New Democrats are morphing into New Theocrats.

At the formal announcement of his selection for the V.P. slot, Lieberman declared that Gore "has never, never wavered in his responsibilities as a father, as a husband and, yes, as a servant of God Almighty." The vice president stood a few feet away, beaming.

AUSTIN, Texas -- What with George W. Bush moralizing all over us from Philadelphia and Al Gore back in his Dudley Do-Right mode choosing the seriously righteous Joe Lieberman, looks like we're in for a season of moral one-upmanship and sanctimoniousness.

I'm sure that all this will improve our characters, but in the meantime, we need to solve a few problems -- like the energy mess.

The Republican answer to energy problems is always: "Drill more! Open up the Arctic wilderness! Let us drill on the beaches! Give the oil companies more tax breaks! Free Saddam Hussein!" and other useful slogans.

The D's mutter about ratcheting up the mileage requirements on cars (a move stalled in Congress by auto lobbyists for the past five years) and gigging the auto companies to produce less pollution.

The environmentalists urge us to invest in renewable energy sources and ditch our SUVs.

None of this helps either electricity bills or the price of gas right now, though you'll never hear the pols admit it.

An interesting semi-historical footnote concerning Dick Cheney's oft-reiterated references to President Clinton's weaseling under oath. "He knows what the meaning of 'is' is," says Cheney in his campaign stump speech to show the moral superiority of the Republican camp.

Which leads us to this story about Karl Rove, Bush's campaign manager and the man they call "Bush's brain."

Rove, as all the world knows, has been a Republican political operative in Texas for 23 years. During that time, Texas Democrats noticed a pattern that they eventually became somewhat paranoid about: In election years, there always seemed to be an FBI investigation of some sitting Democrat either announced or leaked to the press.

After the election was over, the allegations often vanished, although in the case of Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, three of his aides were later convicted. The investigations were conducted by FBI agent Greg Rampton, who was stationed in Austin in those years.