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Hightower Lowdown
"The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it's conformity." -- Jim Hightower
In This Issue
Dressed up in their designer suits, they trade in human cargo
The new racketeers
Also in this issue:
- Zapping the beef supply
- Granny d marches on!
- Postmodern piracy
- Suffer the little children
- Hogs at the trough
- Charity begins in the house
- Bill's beer
Do Something!
March's Lowdown
Giving corporations more power to buy politicians of their choice
"For too long," wailed the senator in a heart-tugging cry for justice, "some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process."
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate, has never been mistaken for a bleeding-heart liberal, so you can rest assured that his anguish over inequality did not concern the disenfranchisement of minorities or poor people--or any kind of people, for that matter. No, it is the tragic political deprivation faced by America's corporations that moved Mitch to such an outpouring of woe.
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Hogs at the trough
No sooner had Dennis Hastert become Speaker of the House than he got an invitation from Haley Barbour, the former Head Hog of the Republican Party, to have a cozy dinner with several people eager to be his pal. They were lobbyists for such outfits as Bell Atlantic, Microsoft and GTE. To make their new buddy feel welcome, they pitched $100,000 into the trough of Hastert's political action committee.
Then the lobbying firm of Fierce & Isakowitz held a breakfast for Hastert, inviting 100 people to feed $2,000 each to Hastert. The firm just happens to represent HMOs that want Dennis to kill the "Patients' Bill of Rights."
Shortly after, the firm of Clark & Weinstock set up yet another breakfast for Dennis with lobbyists putting another $2,000 each into his PAC. This spring, Hastert has 20 of these coffee and cash gatherings set up. As an aide says, Dennis "likes to do breakfast." I'll bet.