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
Hightower Lowdown
"If ignorance is bliss, George W must be ecstatic." -- Jim Hightower
In This Issue
A lod of Bush baloney enacted since 9/11
December's Lowdown
The many REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL after Election Day 2008
After casting her ballot for Barack Obama, Amanda Jones said simply, "I feel good about voting for him." Ms. Jones, of Cedar Creek, Texas (a town just south of Austin), is African-American, and what gives her vote some historic punch is that she's 109 years old. Her father was a slave. Her mother was born right after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. She's been through it all--Jim Crow segregation, women's suffrage, the Great Depression, the poll tax, FDR, the civil-rights movement, desegregation, 13 years of George W (five as guv, eight as prez), and now: Barack Obama. This last change fills her with joy, she says.
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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.