July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle
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July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

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NEWSSpecial Session Could End in FireworksIf Gov. Rick Perry gets his way, the legislativespecial session that starts on July 1will be over before the July 4 holiday.If he can pull it off, it will be the shortestspecial session of his tenure as governor – allseven specials he has called since takingoffice in 2000 have run for almost the full 30days allowed by the Texas Constitution. Butthis time Perry’s staff has engineered a highlyrestricted call, dealing with three pieces of outstandingbusiness from the regular session.The greatest acrimony is not over why Perrycalled the special session, but when andhow. The regular session finished on June 1,and Perry announced on June 9 that lawmakerswould need to come back – but he didn’tprovide a date. The prevalent rumor was workwould start right after Independence Dayweekend, but when he issued the call onJune 25, he only gave legislators six days’notice that they needed to return to theCapitol. Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, saidthere were rumors that Perry was working on“a very short time frame [with] the Fourth ofJuly holiday as an incentive to get this shortorder of business done.” However, she said,“It certainly would have been nice to get a littlemore warning.”The big issue now is transportation. Firstis Senate Bill 1, releasing the $5 billion inTexas Department of Transportation generalobligation bonds that legislators failed toauthorize in the regular session. Lawmakersalso failed to pass the TxDOT Sunset bill, aswell as the Department of Insurance, RacingCommission, Office of Public InsuranceCounsel, and State Affordable HousingCorporation Sunset bills: so SB 2 saves theagencies from closure.The need for those measures was clearand well established, but Perry hasextra business in mind. Whileignoring pressure from conservativesto bring back the divisivematter of voter ID and bipartisancalls for reforming theChildren’s Health InsuranceProgram, Perry added theestablishment of the TexasTransportation RevolvingFund to SB 1. That could berisky for a short session since theoriginal language, filed in the regularsession as SB 1350, never made it to theHouse floor and lawmakers may want a fulldebate. Finally, there’s SB 3, another issuearising from the failure of the TxDOT Sunsetbill. In 2007, the legislature passed a moratoriumon comprehensive development agreementsfor new toll roads but granted exemp-tions for a handful that were already in negotiations:SB 3 continues those exemptionsfor four years.While there’s little disagreement that theseare all major issues, the legislation proposed,especially the Sunset bill, is raisingquestions. To keep the agencies open, Perryproposes bringing back the terms of HouseBill 1959 – the Sunset Safety Net bill. Simplyextending the life of those five agencies andadding them to the 2011 Sunsetschedule – when the massiveHealth and Human Ser vicesCommission is up for review –would make that cycle impossiblyhuge. So the proposalreschedules what agencieswould be reviewed in 2011and 2013, to rebalance theworkload. Sunset AdvisoryCommission Chair Carl Isett,R-Lubbock, called this “the shortestpath to ground: to reauthorizethose agencies, come back in two years andpass the reforms that were contemplated inthe full Sunset bill.”But HB 1959 was a stop-gap measureintroduced at the last minute purely becausethe main Sunset bills didn’t pass. In terms ofgovernmental oversight, it’s like losing a tire,putting a doughnut on your car, getting to themechanic, and, instead of buying a new tire,getting a replacement doughnut. That’s frustratingfor Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who,as vice chair of the Senate Com mit tee onTransportation & Homeland Security, said hespent the regular session “up to my elbows”in the TxDOT Sunset process. Perry’s planrestarts the process, and an exasperatedWatson said, “We just did it.”Isett counters that, even without a full bill,Texas Transportation Commission ChairDeirdre Delisi can still use the Sunsetreview to reform TxDOT: “We’ve clearly shownthe direction we want them to follow, and, tothe extent that they implement those recommendations,it’s that much less legislationwe have to pass next time.” When all fiveagencies come back in 2011, he said,“We’ve already done the full-blown review, sowe’ll just have to look at what’s changed.”Yet even with both Republicans andDemocrats publicly saying they don’t plan tosabotage the session, there’s no guaranteethat all this legislation can be handled inthree days. Perry may be planning for anearly sine die, but, Watson warned, “If youcome back, who knows how it extends?”– Richard Whittaker$4 Million Later Austin loses lab to WacoWhen the Department of VeteransAffairs’ brain imaging lab leaves Austin forWaco, there won’t be much to move. An MRImachine used for research belongs to theUniversity of Texas. The lab’s director wasfired in January, and the plan he developedto study and treat returning veterans withtraumatic brain injury has been scrapped.Most of the money is gone, too. Of the $6.3million in taxpayer money allocated in 2004 tothe Central Texas Veterans Health CareSystem to fund the lab, a little more than $2million is left, says VA spokeswoman DianaStruski. What remains, she says, will be usedto clear out the Brain Imaging and RecoveryLab’s offices at the J.J. Pickle ResearchCenter and terminate the lease with UT.After spending more than $4 million, theAustin lab is closing without one veteran havingbeen studied or treated. Last month, theVA announced that the BIRL was moving toWaco, where researchers using a $3.5 millionmobile brain scanner at the VA’s Centerof Excellence for Research on ReturningWar Veterans will conduct brain research.The ousted director of the BIRL, neurologistRobert Van Boven, says that much ofthe wasted money was gone before hearrived. “By the time they hired me, they hadalready pissed away one-third of their money– $2.1 million,” he says. A July 2008 reportby the VA Office of Investigator Generalbacks up his accounting.When Van Boven took the BIRL’s helm inJuly 2007, he wrote a formal protocol to exclu-sively study traumatic brain injury in veteransreturning from battle. He reallocated theremaining $4 million in BIRL funds for a fouryearTBI study, and the budget was approvedby his bosses at the Central Texas VA.But before the research began, Van Bovenbutted heads with his superiors. The dayafter the BIRL’s official grand opening in January 2008, Van Boven was suspended fromhis leadership role and reassigned to clinicalwork. He was fired in January of this year.The federal Office of Special Counsel iscurrently conducting an investigation intopossible whistle-blower reprisals; it is illegalfor a federal agency to fire an employee fordisclosing misconduct.Beginning in the fall of 2007, Van Bovenbegan reporting misuses of BIRL funds to hisbosses at the Central Texas VA, based inTemple. Van Boven alleged that an ongoingstudy of diabetes-related eye dysfunction –begun before he was hired – was outside theBIRL’s mission. Moreover, he reported that anendocrinologist and a contractor conductingthe research were not qualified researchersand had little or no data to show for contractwork billed to the VA and hundreds of hoursof brain scanner time, for which UT chargedthe lab $486 per hour.Van Boven’s superiors at the Central TexasVA – including Edward Sherwood, then chief ofstaff, and Paul Hicks, associate chief of stafffor research – refused to act on his disclosures,so Van Boven went over their heads to officialsin Washington, D.C., adding accusations of mismanagement.His disclosuresresulted in two VA Office ofInvestigator General reports –released in July andDecember 2008 – that partiallysubstantiated claimsthat the research was faultybut did not verify his allegationsof mismanagement.Late last year, a VA committeewas set up to considerclosing the lab. “Thepanel has met, and therecould be a possible recommendationto close theRobert Van BovenBIRL,” Struski said inDecember. However, after anoutcry from veterans’ groupsand a letter from four Central Texas congressmen,the VA announced last month that theBIRL would be moving. “We looked at theduplication of efforts between the BIRL andthe Center of Excel lence’s missions, geographicaccess to active members, and not havingduplication at two sites,” Struski says. Shewas also quoted in a June 22 Washington Postarticle as saying that problems uncovered atthe lab were “part of the decision” to move.Mild TBI and post-traumatic stress disorderare a dual affliction seen in manyreturning war veterans and an area whereexperts agree that more study is needed.The center, which broke ground in April, andits mobile brain scanner will be better able toThose with medium and severe TBI, shesays, tend to be hospitalized and are beingserved at other facilities, such as the newNational Intrepid Center of Excellence forTraumatic Brain Injury, which opened last yearin Bethesda, Md.Van Boven, meanwhile, has taken a positionwith the U.S. Army as clinical director ofthe TBI program at the Irwin Army Com munityHospital in Fort Riley, Kan. Neverthe less,he continues to fight the BIRL closure. “Whatreally pisses me off is that nobody has beenheld accountable for the waste, fraud, andmismanagement at the Central Texas VA,” hesays. “They want to deny the problem, coverup the problem, bury the problem, and at thesame time use it as an excuse to shut downserve outpatients with mild TBI, Struski says. the BIRL.”– Laurel CheskyJANA BIRCHUM20 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E JULY 3, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m

the hightower reportBY JIM HIGHTOWERREPUBLICANS ON HEALTH CAREWe’ve heard a good deal about theDemocratic Party’s plans to reform America’scorporatized, no-care health-care system –but it’s time we considered what Republicancongressional leaders are offering.It’s really pretty simple – nothing. When itcomes to altering the power of the insurancegiants to control our health-careoptions, the Republican position can beexpressed in one word: HellNo! The party’sintransigence stems not only from its servilityto corporate funders but also from itsblind faith in the mythical workings of theholy free market. The Washington Times, aCapital-area mouthpiece for the GOP,summed up Republican opposition to BarackObama’s idea for a publicly run insuranceoption in this sentence: “The governmentcannot possibly do for Americans what themarketplace can.”Let’s see – that would be the marketplacethat presently excludes 47 millionAmericans from any coverage, under-coversabout twice that many, has doubled ourinsurance premiums in the past eight years,costs us more for health care per capitathan any other country, limits our choice ofdoctors, creates profits for insurers byaggressively denying doctor-prescribed treatmentsto sick people, delivers a quality ofcare that ranks 37th in the world (just anotch above Slovenia), and intentionallyblocks consumers from access to cheapermedicines.Wow, I think Republicans are right – governmentcouldn’t possibly do all of that forthe American people!Three out of four Americans say that thiscurrent system, controlled by insurance-companyprofiteers, must be completely overhauled.Yet all we’re getting from the oppositionparty is head-in-the-sand subservienceto the status quo.Aren’t there any grassroots Republicanswho can move their backward party forward?WALL STREET’S GAS-PUMP ROBBERYLike a Fourth of July bottle rocket, ourgasoline prices are shooting upward.However, tongue-clucking market analyststell us there’s nothing we can do about it,for it’s simply the law of supply and demandin action – so suck it up, and pay up.Supply and demand? The supply of crudeoil has risen to its highest level in nearlytwo decades, even while the demand forgasoline has fallen to a 10-year low. Supplyup, demand down. That’s a classic marketformula for cheaper prices at the pump –yet they’ve risen by some 60 cents a gallonin the past two months alone.We’re being had by some brand-name dealers.Not Exxon, Chevron, et al. – but suchnames as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley,and other Wall Street dealers who placeunregulated, speculative bets on the futureprice of oil. Sound vaguely familiar? Yes, thisis the same so-called “dark market” of derivativesand swaps that led to the subprimemortgage crash, which then brought downWall Street and crushed our economy. And,yes, these are the same banksters you and Iare bailing out with trillions of our tax dollars.Yet, here they go again. By pooling moneyfrom hedge funds and other large investors,speculators such as Goldman and MorganStanley have been buying trillions of dollars’worth of “oil futures” – which essentiallyare bets that oil prices will rise to acertain price by a certain date. This massiveinflux of what amounts to gamblingmoney totally distorts the real value ofpetroleum. As a CNBC energy analystreports, “It’s this money flow – rather thanthe fundamental supply-demand data –that’s driving oil prices higher.”Every dollar that these Wall Streeters beton oil prices is a dollar they are not investingin our real economy. They stole from us on ourmortgages, and now they’re doing it on gasolineprices. When will Obama and Congressfinally crack down on these thieves?For more information on Jim Hightower’s work – and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter,The Hightower Lowdown – visit www.jimhightower.com. You can hear his radio commentaries onKOOP Radio, 91.7FM, weekdays at 10:58am and 12:58pm.4 th OFJulyOFF(*second item of equal or lesser value)SALE30% OFFALL REGULAR PRICED MERCHANDISEJULY 3, 4 & 5We will be closed July 1&2 toprepare for this huge saleA portion of our warehouse will be open.Floor samples from our wholesale showroomsaround the country have just arrived!THE FIRST 25 CUSTOMERS ON JULY 4THHAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DRAW FOR A$1000 SHOPPING SPREE AND MORE PRIZESNEW ARRIVALSDSHS#7882 and Abortion Pill Abortion CareHere, it’s all about you.512-443-2888austinwomenshealth.comSAHARARUGS (9’x12’)$995CASPER END TABLEIN CLEAR, CHERRY, OR SLATE$5502090 WOODWARD STREET, AUSTIN, TX 78744 • 512.225.0333WWW.FOURHANDSHOME.COMa u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m JULY 3, 2009 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 21

the hightower reportBY JIM HIGHTOWERREPUBLICANS ON HEALTH CAREWe’ve heard a good deal about theDemocratic Party’s plans to reform America’scorporatized, no-care health-care system –but it’s time we considered what Republicancongressional leaders are offering.It’s really pretty simple – nothing. When itcomes to altering the power of the insurancegiants to control our health-careoptions, the Republican position can beexpressed in one word: HellNo! <strong>The</strong> party’sintransigence stems not only from its servilityto corporate funders but also from itsblind faith in the mythical workings of theholy free market. <strong>The</strong> Washington Times, aCapital-area mouthpiece for the GOP,summed up Republican opposition to BarackObama’s idea for a publicly run insuranceoption in this sentence: “<strong>The</strong> governmentcannot possibly do for Americans what themarketplace can.”Let’s see – that would be the marketplacethat presently excludes 47 millionAmericans from any coverage, under-coversabout twice that many, has doubled ourinsurance premiums in the past eight years,costs us more for health care per capitathan any other country, limits our choice ofdoctors, creates profits for insurers byaggressively denying doctor-prescribed treatmentsto sick people, delivers a quality ofcare that ranks 37th in the world (just anotch above Slovenia), and intentionallyblocks consumers from access to cheapermedicines.Wow, I think Republicans are right – governmentcouldn’t possibly do all of that forthe American people!Three out of four Americans say that thiscurrent system, controlled by insurance-companyprofiteers, must be completely overhauled.Yet all we’re getting from the oppositionparty is head-in-the-sand subservienceto the status quo.Aren’t there any grassroots Republicanswho can move their backward party forward?WALL STREET’S GAS-PUMP ROBBERYLike a Fourth of <strong>July</strong> bottle rocket, ourgasoline prices are shooting upward.However, tongue-clucking market analyststell us there’s nothing we can do about it,for it’s simply the law of supply and demandin action – so suck it up, and pay up.Supply and demand? <strong>The</strong> supply of crudeoil has risen to its highest level in nearlytwo decades, even while the demand forgasoline has fallen to a 10-year low. Supplyup, demand down. That’s a classic marketformula for cheaper prices at the pump –yet they’ve risen by some 60 cents a gallonin the past two months alone.We’re being had by some brand-name dealers.Not Exxon, Chevron, et al. – but suchnames as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley,and other Wall Street dealers who placeunregulated, speculative bets on the futureprice of oil. Sound vaguely familiar? Yes, thisis the same so-called “dark market” of derivativesand swaps that led to the subprimemortgage crash, which then brought downWall Street and crushed our economy. And,yes, these are the same banksters you and Iare bailing out with trillions of our tax dollars.Yet, here they go again. By pooling moneyfrom hedge funds and other large investors,speculators such as Goldman and MorganStanley have been buying trillions of dollars’worth of “oil futures” – which essentiallyare bets that oil prices will rise to acertain price by a certain date. This massiveinflux of what amounts to gamblingmoney totally distorts the real value ofpetroleum. As a CNBC energy analystreports, “It’s this money flow – rather thanthe fundamental supply-demand data –that’s driving oil prices higher.”Every dollar that these Wall Streeters beton oil prices is a dollar they are not investingin our real economy. <strong>The</strong>y stole from us on ourmortgages, and now they’re doing it on gasolineprices. When will Obama and Congressfinally crack down on these thieves?For more information on Jim Hightower’s work – and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter,<strong>The</strong> Hightower Lowdown – visit www.jimhightower.com. You can hear his radio commentaries onKOOP Radio, 91.7FM, weekdays at 10:58am and 12:58pm.4 th OF<strong>July</strong>OFF(*second item of equal or lesser value)SALE30% OFFALL REGULAR PRICED MERCHANDISEJULY 3, 4 & 5We will be closed <strong>July</strong> 1&2 toprepare for this huge saleA portion of our warehouse will be open.Floor samples from our wholesale showroomsaround the country have just arrived!THE FIRST 25 CUSTOMERS ON JULY 4THHAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DRAW FOR A$1000 SHOPPING SPREE AND MORE PRIZESNEW ARRIVALSDSHS#7882 and Abortion Pill Abortion CareHere, it’s all about you.512-443-2888austinwomenshealth.comSAHARARUGS (9’x12’)$995CASPER END TABLEIN CLEAR, CHERRY, OR SLATE$5502090 WOODWARD STREET, AUSTIN, TX 78744 • 512.225.0333WWW.FOURHANDSHOME.COMa u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m JULY 3, <strong>2009</strong> T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 21

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