-Caveat Lector-
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Here is today's ZNet Commentary Delivery from Jim Hightower.
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THE DARTH VADER OF CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REFORM
It's Goober Time again {Beanie-cap Breakdown} -- time to give the
Hightower Radio "Gooberhead Award" to yet another public figure who's got
his tongue going 100 miles an hour . . . but forgot to put his brain in
gear.
Today's awardee is a repeat winner: Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky!
Mitch is the Darth Vader of campaign finance reform-a man whose mission in
life is to smite any and all proposals that would even slightly slow down
the gusher of corrupt corporate money that is poisoning American politics.
So zealous is he that Sen. Mcconnell has lashed out at a group he would
normally be playing kissy-face with: Corporate executives. He recently
fired off angry letters to some 20 top executives of such companies as
Xerox, General Motors, and Sara Lee.
These execs are members of the Committee for Economic Development, a
corporate policy group that is very conservative, like Mitch. But it seems
that CED has done the unpardonable-it has come out in support of a
campaign-finance reform proposal-a very limited, mild reform, but enough
to drive McConnell crazy. Of course, that's a pretty short trip for him.
The New York Times reports that Sen McConnell lambasted the wayward
executives for trying to {quote} "eviscerate private sector participation
in politics" and attempting to impose "anti-business speech controls." Uh
. . . Sen. Gooberhead, these people are the "private sector" . . . they
are "business". Never mind all that, bellowed Darth Vader, who even
scrawled at the bottom of one letter a notation that {quote} "I hope you
will resign from CED".
This is Jim Hightower saying . . . What a Gooberhead. The implied message
from this powerful senator is: Back-off of any reform proposal, or
kiss-off getting any legislation you want from the Republican senate.
Mitch McConnell's letter is a perfect example of why we have got to reform
this whole corrupt process. "Defying Senator, Executives Press Donation
Rules Change" by Don Van Natta, Jr. New York Times: September 1, 1999.
GOING TO WAR IN COLOMBIA
Does this scenario have a ring of deja vu for you? The U.S. government
intervenes in a civil war in a foreign land on the side of the ruling
elites, providing a few helicopters at first, then more military
equipment, then putting military "advisors" on the ground . . . and the
next thing you know, U.S. officials are announcing that our country's
vital national interests are at stake in this civil war and we must
excalate our involvement.
Welcome to Colombia, which will become the new Vietnam for America if you
and I don't start saying "no" as loudly and clearly as we can. The elite
class in Bogata, Colombia's capitol, have long been enjoying a prosperous
life--a prosperity not shared with the majority of the country. As a
result, rebels in the countryside have gained strength and now control 40
percent of the nation, getting ever closer to Bogota's enclaves of
privilege.
The U.S. has quietly stepped in, trying to shore up the ruling
government's inept, corrupt, and brutal military. You might be surprised
to learn that Colombia already is the third largest recipient of U.S.
military and foreigh aid money in the world-nearly $300 million this year.
We also have more than 200 military advisors and trainers there. And now,
the Clinton Administration is set to escalate our involvement
dramatically, putting a billion dollars into Colombia's government, and
sending more U.S. equipment and personnel to try to defeat the rebels.
The rationale is that all-purpose bugaboo-the War on Drugs. Colombia
supplies 80 percent of the cocaine coming into the U.S., and the rebels
get financing from some of this trafficking. Of course, the Colombian
military--a notorius human rights abuser--also profits from the drug
trade, as do some of those elites in Bogota.
This is Jim Hightower saying . . . Be alert! In the name of our failed
drug war, Washington is getting us mired deeper and deeper in a shooting
war. "US Ready to boost aid to troubled Colombia" by Douglas Farah.
Washington Post: August 23, 1999. "Colombia abuzz with talk of
intervention" by Serge Kovaleski. Washington Post: August 23, 1999.
FOWL FACTORIES
What's the most dangerous animal in the U.S. (besides human beings, I
mean)? The rattlesnake? Grizzly bear? Wolves? None of the above. The
chicken is the most dangerous animal to us humans. It's been widely
reported that this humble bird is now subjected to such an inhumane,
industrialized processing system that it now commonly comes to your table
contaminated with such bacterial killers as salmonella and E coli. But,
less reported is the fact that 40,000 workers will be seriously injured
this year as they grapple with the eight billion chickens that zip along
the conveyor belts of America's processing plants.
Investigative journalist Christopher Cook reports in Harper's Magazine
that in these fowl factories, chickens are not the only victims. Workers
called "catchers" go into holding pens that are suffocatingly hot-each
catcher uses his or her hands to grab some 8,000 frightened, pecking,
clawing birds a day, with many of the catch cutting and urinating on the
workers. Another group called "evisc" workers manually eviscerate the
chickens, twisting and pulling the innards from up to 100 chickens per
minute- a job that costs many their fingernails, which are destroyed by
the bacteria in chicken carcasses. Workers called "deboners" stand
shoulder to shoulder, slicing and hacking with knives and scissors all
day-and slashing themselves as their blades slip off the slimy carcasses
or as they slip on floors slick with chicken gore.
Cook reports that these workers typically are paid only $6.50 an hour,
have 16 times the national average of trauma injuries. It's hard to get
workers to do this awful jobs, so processors like Tyson and Kentucky Fried
are pressuring congress to create a "guest worker" program so impoverished
immigrants can be brought in to do their dirty work.
This is Jim Hightower saying . . . Hey Congress. . . clean up this mess .
. . don't cover it up. "Fowl Trouble" by Christopher Cook. Harper's
Magazine: August 1999.
CEO EXCESS Time for today's "Hog Report" {snorting hogs}!
Today's featured porkers are the CEOs of America's top corporations who
are not merely hogging the trough, they've climbed right up into it and
are keeping everyone else away. Only 20 years ago, the average Boss Hog
made 42 times what the average factory worker was paid-a disparity that
was considered an outrage at the time.
But a report by two groups-Institute for Policy Studies and United for a
Fair Economy-finds that the disparity today has increased by 1,000
percent! The average CEO now makes 419 times what the average blue collar
worker is paid. What's at work here is the fact that CEOs have gained
autocratic power over our economy-the power to inflate their paychecks
absurdly and to hold down the paychecks of employees artificially and
arbitrarily.
Think about it like this: If the minimum wage had gone up in the decade of
the nineties as drastically as the top Hog's pay has gone up, it would not
be $5.15 and hour, but $22 an hour! And if the average worker's pay had
risen at the same rate as CEO pay, today's worker would be getting
$110,000 a year.
Executive excess is rationalized by the hogs in the name of competition:
We have to pay our executives top dollar, they say, in order to compete
for world-class CEO talent. But if you actually look at the rest of the
world, as these two groups did in their report, you'll find that no other
country is fattening their executives like ours are fattening themselves.
In Europe, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, corporations are competing
against ours while paying top salaries that are only a fourth of U.S.
execs are hauling off.
This is Jim Hightower saying . . . Time to get the hogs out of the trough.
At least let's stop subsidizing CEO extravagance by letting corporations
deduct these gross paychecks from their taxes-make the shareholders foot
the bill, not us taxpayers. "Decade of Executive Excess: The 1990s." Study
and findings by Groups including Institute for Policy Studies, United For
a Fair Economy. September 1, 1999.
A<>E<>R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
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