Jim Hightower's Common-Sense Commentaries

A JUDICIAL SOB STORY
A lot of Americans are hard-hit these days. There's the devastation
suffered by hurricane victims, of course, and the Census Bureau reports
that America's poverty rate has risen for the fourth consecutive year,
adding nearly 6 million more people to the poverty rolls since 2000,
despite a growing economy.
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=109281


SAMSUNG, THE IMPERIOUS MOOCH
All hail the Emperor! Render unto Caesar what is his! Pay tribute to
the Empire!
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=109282


A BETTER BUSINESS MODEL
What if business people started saying "no?" No to mega-growth, no to
the frenetic pace of trying to get superrich, no to dog-eat-dog
economics... no to the prevailing corporate ethic that your business must
always be getting bigger to be a "winner."
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=109283


CALLING ALL CHILDREN
Here's what I say: There just aren't enough cell phones out there! Yes,
they're on the golf course, in church, on airplanes and trains, in
elevators, in museums, on the beach... and in every other conceivable space
on earth - except one: The tiny hands of children.
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=109284


BEWARE OF GETTING RICH!
Time for another peek [Lifestyle theme] into the "Lifestyles of the
Rich... and Cranky."
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=109285


HALLIBURTON GOES AFTER WHISTLEBLOWER
A bunny is a soft creature, right? Well, not if the creature is Bunny
Greenhouse, the tough-as-nails officer who served as the top procurement
official for the army corps of engineers.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107989

WHILE NEW ORLEANS DROWNS, FEMA DOES PR
Of all the awful stories that poured out of hurricane-ravaged New
Orleans about the deadly incompetence of Bush, FEMA, and the homeland
security czar, the most damning are those detailing how the Bushites' top
priority was to shore up their own political standing.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107990

THE BABBLINGS OF PAT ROBERTSON
Well now we know why those puff-headed preachers of the ultra-right are
so eager to have the 10 Commandments plastered everywhere - apparently
they can't remember them.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107991

DON YOUNG'S WAY
Time for another Gooberhead Award [Beanie Cap Breakdown] - presented
periodically to those in the news who have their tongues going 100 miles
per hour... but forget to put their brains in gear.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107992

GEORGE W'S NEW CHARITY
Won't you give? Water pumps are needed, as are school supplies, and so
much more. We know that you'll come through, for the American people
are phenomenally generous... so, please, open your pocketbooks now.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107993


DELIBERATE DISASTERS
We now know that the disastrous collapse of the Lake Pontchartrain
levee in New Orleans was no accident.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107186

STEAKHOUSE ETHICS
If you want to see the difference between the ethics of a family-owned
company that's grounded in a community... and the ethics of a
corporate-owned chain grounded in nothing more solid that maximizing its own
profits - look at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107187

THE NEW POLL TAX
Anyone younger than 40 will not remember that many Americans - mostly
in the South - used to have to pay to vote. It was called the "poll
tax," and the unvarnished purpose of this $1.50 assessment was to price
poor people (especially poor African-Americans) out of the voting booth.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107188

THE ONGOING MADNESS OF MAD COW DISEASE
You've probably never heard of Mike Johanns - but he could make you
deathly sick.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107189

CAMPAIGN FOR READER PRIVACY
Time for another Gooberhead Award [Beanie Cap Breakdown] - presented
periodically to those in the news who have their tongues running 100
miles an hour... but forgot to put their brains in gear.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3357262&l=107190

Sen. Dick Durbin was fuming with outrage

over Ahmed Chalabi’s arrival in Washington today:


Mr. President, I also would like to note that something curious is happening in Washington today. There is a man by the name of
Ahmed Chalabi who is visiting Washington. Mr. Chalabi is under active investigation. He is under investigation for the charge
that he leaked intelligence, including the fact that the United States had broken a crucial Iranian code and that he turned that
information over to the Baghdad station chief of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

The Senate's Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

unexpectedly pulled the Senate into secret session Tuesday afternoon in order to have closed discussion of Iraq intelligence.

The maneuver immediately shuttered the doors of the Senate and cleared the Senate press galleries. It has been invoked just 53 previous times in the history of the body.

The Senate can vote to end closed session by a simple majority.
"This past weekend, we witnessed the indictment of the I. Lewis Libby, the Vice President’s Chief of Staff and a senior Advisor to President Bush. Libby is the first sitting White House staffer to be indicted in 135 years."...
"We demand that the Intelligence Committee and other committees in this body with jurisdiction over these matters carry out a full and complete investigation immediately as called for by Democrats in the committee’s annual intelligence authorization report. Our troops and the American people have sacrificed too much. It is time this Republican-controlled Congress put the interests of the American people ahead of their own political interests."

Read the whole transcript.