(DFU ADVENTURE IN AUSTIN) Environmental Journalism Conference Is Packed With Katrina-Related Content

NOTE: this is a real news item. I used it so that I could make a few comments about my trip to Austin and the thing wouldn't be moved to the blog section. My comments are below this SEJ blurb, so if you want to just drop down to the bottom, you can avoid wading through the crap.
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Environmental Journalism Conference Is Packed With Katrina-Related Content
Thursday September 8, 3:33 pm ET

JENKINTOWN, Pa., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- "Everyone is an environmental journalist now," says SEJ Executive Director Beth Parke.

This is one of those rare moments when a slow-motion environmental disaster becomes a fast-breaking news event.

You can get up to speed fast at the Society of Environmental Journalists' annual conference hosted by The University of Texas at Austin, September 28th - October 2nd.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER for the premiere event on environment and media this year. Visit http://www.sej.org/confer/index1.htm for full conference details.

SEJ's annual conference is a rich mix of field trips, keynote speeches, plenary sessions, panels, and how-to craft sessions -- everything from taking your own water samples to filing a Freedom of Information request.

SPEAKERS: Molly Ivins, author and columnist, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Bill Moyers, broadcast journalist and president, Schumann Center for Media and Democracy.

ROUNDTABLE ON COVERING OIL & ENERGY: Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, Shell; Rich Marcogliese, Valero; Sherri Stuewer, Exxon Mobil; and Matthew Simmons, author of "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy"

FIELD TRIPS: Texas energy tour, Houston ship channel tour, Austin flood alley and riverboat trip, East Austin tour of race and environmental impacts on health.

COVERING DISASTERS: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanoes, oil spills, chemical and nuclear releases and explosions, and shuttle disasters.

GULF COAST SPRAWL, TSUNAMIS, HURRICANES AND COASTAL DEVELOPMENT: with Mark Schleifstein, Environment Reporter for The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune

BUSH ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD: with Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post; Congressman Richard Pombo, Chairman, U.S. House Resources Committee; William O'Keefe, George Marshall Institute; Pat Parenteau, Vermont Law School; and Carl Pope, Sierra Club

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN THE AMERICAS: Freedom of Information and Nuclear Waste in Mexico; Big Business and the Rainforest; Ecotourism; Species and Cross Border Migration; Biotech Crops; NAFTA. Presentations in Spanish and English.

PLENARY ON THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM: Judy Muller, ABC News and Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California; Rick Rodriguez, The Sacramento Bee, President, American Society of Newspaper Editors; Merrill Brown, News for the 21st Century and Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education; Bebe Crouse, National Public Radio; Nick Gillespie, Reason Magazine; Jay Harris, University of Southern California; Andrew Revkin, The New York Times

AUTHORS of new and forthcoming books, including former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, Rocky Barker, David Helvarg, Dick Russell and others.

PANEL SESSIONS: Oil, Plant and Pipeline Safety; Gulf Coast Rivers, Bays and Estuaries; Gulf Coast Dead Zones; Enforcing Environmental Laws; Sprawl; Desalinating the Gulf of Mexico; Green Energy Alternatives; Science and the Media

WORKSHOPS: How to File a Freedom of Information Act Request; Internet Investigations; Money in Politics Computer Lab; Using Online Databases, Blogs, Feeds, Wikis, and Podcasts.

DO-IT-YOURSELF TESTING: Reporters Conduct Their Own Environmental Sampling: Sara Shipley Hiles; Chris Bowman, The Sacramento Bee; Ben Raines, Mobile Register

SPECIAL EVENTS: Ride and Drive Advanced Technology Vehicles; SEJ Awards for Reporting on Environment; Reception and Party at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum; Exhibits.

The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) is the world's oldest and largest membership organization of individual working journalists who cover environment-related issues. SEJ's membership of more than 1,450 includes reporters, producers and editors in print, broadcast and online news media in the United States, Mexico, Canada and 31 other countries.

For complete conference details and to register online, visit SEJ on the Web at http://www.sej.org/confer/index1.htm .

Society of Environmental Journalists
PO Box 2492, Jenkintown, PA 19046
ph (215) 884-8174 fx (215) 884-8175

Dedicated to improving the quality, accuracy and visibility of environmental reporting.

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Okay, now for my comments. I was in Austin for a business purpose, and it was convenient that a group of lefty reporters from the Society of Environmental Journalists was in town at the same time. I realized that our paths would cross on my trip, so I made sure I stayed at the hotel they chose. Observing those who are usually on the other side is sometimes interesting.

I was off to a really good start just after leaving the airport. The guy who drove the van for the trip to the hotel, was turning the dial on the radio looking for a certain station. Much to my chagrin, his was operating the FM dial. Well, no talk radio for awhile. But it was worse. He was actually searching for an Austin public radio station. Had he found it, I would have jumped from the van.

Austin is indeed a stinking liberal oasis in a solid red state. There were still a number of Kerry-Edwards loser bumper stickers and others which said things like ONE WORLD, ONE PEOPLE. My favorite was seen downtown --- SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS, A VILLAGE IS MISSING ITS IDIOT.

I've been to Austin before, but it was a little later in the year. The first day I was there, it was humid and 105 degrees. Awful.

Lots of Bush-Bashing was going on in the hotel. I overheard some of it while in the bar and just standing in the lobby. Several people were genuinely orgasmic when they heard of Tom DeLay's indictment. I made calls to DeLay's office, Hastert's office, the RNC national office, and the GOP Congressional Committee office to fill them in about Hillary's $1.9 million campaign finance fraud. They need to be attacking Hillary and comparing it to what DeLay supposedly did. Where is the prosecutor to indict Hillary?

On the last day, a woman was reading the Bill Bennett comments in the newspaper and just sounding absolutely disgusted. I had to interrupt and suggest that she maybe go to the last paragraph where he condemned such ideas as evil and reprehensible. Oh. But it probably still didn't matter. The tolerant left is filled with hate, and they are not shy about expressing it. With the GOP in power, it must really suck to be them. No, it must really suck to be them at any time.

I was unable to get into the speeches by Molly Ivins and Bill Moyers. Maybe it was the FReeper tatoo on my forehead. Boy, those would have been fun, huh? I am not a masochist, but sometimes you have to just hear the other side. It really does solidify your ideas and values when you see in person how insane those people really are. Someone I know heard Ivins and told me I wouldn't have liked it.

Darn, had I been able to find out the hotel where Moyers stayed, I would have liked to ask him about his drunk driving citation and that little deal where he tried to out a homosexual for Lyndon Johnson.

Although I could have taken a little time to visit the LBJ Library, I've been there before and didn't think I could stomach a second visit.

It wasn't an earthshaking visit, but I did manage to annoy a few liberals. Not only did I wear my OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM Navy ballcap with W-04 sticker in the bill, I carried my HOW TO TALK TO A LIBERAL IF YOU MUST with me and made sure that I put it out so people could see it.

Business went well, I had a few discussions with libs, and I managed to sneak away from a reception and call Mark Levin's show. I had a little wine to drink and finished my conversation with Mark saying that I hoped I was coherent after the alcohol. I further explained to him that the Chappaquiddick Lifeguard has more alcohol for breakfast with his cornflakes than I had at the reception.

One of the great shirts I saw while on my way for dinner and drinks on Austin's trendy hot 6th Street (I think that was the street) said: TEXAS IS BIGGER THAN FRANCE. After a few drinks at Coyote Ugly, I didn't remember the store where I saw the shirt or I would have brought it home. Coyote Ugly was an interesting nightspot, but the dancers on the bar doing a simulated lesbians sex scene was fairly disgusting. And those who know me know that I am far from a prude.

In the middle of the debauchery that is downtown Austin, was a small group of young people passing out information about Jesus. While most people ignored them, I walked over to tell them -- good for you.

In a store at the hotel, they featured a shirt that said KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD. I don't think that will be a problem. I will give this to UTA. They have a beautiful campus and magnificent football stadium. Get rid of the leftists and it would be a better town.

It could have been a little more fun and a lot more confrontational, but there is the DFU adventure in Austin.

BUMP, I am not sure Austin should be considered part of Free Texas.. BTW- every villages idiot in Texas always moves to Austin.

"In a store at the hotel, they featured a shirt that said KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD. I don't think that will be a problem."

Well, they'll try, but the Austin area is actually becoming more conservative (particularly in the northern suburbs).

The city itself will always be Babylon-On-The-Colorado (as a San Antonio columnist is fond of calling it) but the old Yippies are dropping like (fruit) flies and the next generation is more interested in getting a jobs at Dell.

If you think your trip gave you a great cross-section of the city, you're very mistaken. You must have been hanging out in the wrong parts of town. I'm a long-time Austinite, and I can tell you that most of the city is becoming pretty conservative now. You'll usually only find that sort of hippy, left-wing stuff in the central city anyway. Besides, they're fun to laugh at, and it makes the place interesting. I lived in Dallas for almost three years before I moved back here, and while it was nice to be in a more conservative area, it just wasn't home. As much as I hate the politics of the city proper, it's not enough to make me want to move. It's a fun city.

By the way ... Williamson County. Look it up. All the benefits of Austin down the road, without all the wacky neighbors.

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