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Hightower Lowdown
"El camaron que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente"
December's Lowdown
Corporate elites and their small-minded political servants are creating the Incredibly Shrinking America
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." What a paragraph! This sparse, 52-word opening of our Constitution did not merely launch a fledgling nation--but a bold experiment in democratic idealism.
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In This Issue
A lod of Bush baloney enacted since 9/11
Looting the treasury
Also in this issue:
- congressional grab bag
- resurrecting cointelpro
- mr. schwab’s ducky deal
- please, bill, go away
- assembly-line surgery
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mr. schwab’s ducky deal
Charles Schwab is one lucky duck. Not only is he a billionaire stockbroker, heading the Wall Street firm that bears his family name, but he also owns a private duck-hunting club on 1,500 acres of wetlands in picturesque Northern California. He calls it Casa de Patos — Spanish for “House of Ducks.”
In order to attract more feathered friends within gunshot range of his duck-loving pals, Schwab has had much of Casa de Patos planted in rice.
Now, Charlie didn’t get to be a billionaire by spending his money foolishly. Instead, he spends your money foolishly. His legal beagles figured out that as a rice grower, Schwab was eligible for federal farm-program subsidies from us taxpayers — lots of subsidies. Mr. and Ms. Joe Schmoe Taxpayer fork over some $500,000 a year in federal crop-support funds so Schwab can be sure that guests at his exclusive club have plenty of ducks to kill.
This program was meant to help struggling small farmers — not a pleasure-seeking Wall Streeter with a net worth of some $4 billion. With program perverters like Schwab, we taxpayers are sitting ducks.
To help return the farm program to real farmers, call Farm Aid: 617-354-2922.