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Hightower Lowdown
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three left turns do. -- Jim Hightower
In This Issue
Corporate greed triumphs over patient need
How they took the care out of our health care system
Also in this issue:
- Victory in the sweatshops
- Congress reaches out to families
- Casualties of war
- Bogging down in colombia
- Put the "public" back in pbs
Do Something!
July's Lowdown
Big biz wants to own the information superhighway while We the People bump along the backroads
In the 1970s, Lily Tomlin developed an iconic comic character she named Ernestine--a telephone clerk who took perverse pleasure from hectoring customers. Her character was a perfect portrayal of the arrogance of AT&T, the monopolistic telephone giant of that day. In one skit on on the TV show, Laugh-In, Tomlin had Ernestine delivering a TV pitch for the corporation:
"A gracious hello," she cheerfully began, speaking directly into the camera. "Here at the Phone Company, we handle 84 billion calls a year. So, we realize that every so often, you can't get an operator, or for no apparent reason your phone goes out of order, or perhaps you get charged for a call you didn't make. We don't care!"
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Casualties of war
The United States is at war again. And I'm not talking about Yugoslavia or Iraq. We're in the thick of a trade war with the European Union, sparked by Europe's refusal to import U.S. beef that contains synthetic hormones, steroids, and antibiotics. Imagine getting testy about a little estrogen in your hamburger patties. (Of course, here, the meat industry and its puppets in Washington don't tell us about these additives. We might be testy, too, if we knew about it.)
The Clinton Administra-tion is firing back by jacking up tariffs on European goodies. The target list includes . . . mustard! Yes, the tangy Dijons of France, the sweet German blends, the biting English concoctions. We're talking 100% tariffs— doubling the prices on these delectable condiments.
But get this: Most of the mustard seed that goes into Europe's fine creations comes from over here—from Montana, North Dakota, and Canada! As the head of America's official Mustard Museum at Mt. Horub, Wisc., put it: "Hello, Madame Trade Representa-tive, is anyone home? Does the word 'Duh' strike a responsive chord?"
Is this stupid or what? Our trade warriors help the conglomerate beef industry by punishing family farmers who produce mustard seed. American farmers, watch out for friendly fire.