Neo Cons

PERRY'S PRAYER-A-PALOOZA

Jim Hightower — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

When Texas became a republic in 1836, its constitution banned "ministers of the gospel" from holding any political office.

Our problem these days, however, is not ministers in office, but politicians posing as ministers, literally seizing the pulpit to preach and proselytize. To see such Elmer Gantryism in action, look no further than the showboating Texas governor, Rick "The Pious" Perry. Embarrassingly inept at governing, he has lately turned to prayer as his official solution for all problems. I don't mean a quiet, contemplative kind of praying, but garish public displays.

In April, with a Biblical-level drought and some 800 wildfires ravaging the state, Perry's gubernatorial response was to proclaim three "Days of Prayer for Rain." The days came and went, but no rain. Presumably, Rick was praying up a storm, but not a drop fell from the heavens.

Undeterred, the gubernatorial padre simply doubled down on prayer politics. Proclaiming August 6 as a "Day of Prayer and Fasting," he invited all other governors to join him in Houston for a seven-hour prayer-a-palooza, dubbed "The Response." It's billed as "a nondenominational, apolitical, Christian" event to unify all Americans by calling upon Jesus "to guide us through unprecedented struggles." Wait... Jesus? What about all those Americans who're Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or other faiths? No room at the inn for them?

Adding to this PR fiasco, Perry's co-sponsor for The Response is the American Family Association – a Mississippi-based extremist outfit infamous for bashing gays and Muslims.

The governor's spokeswoman loudly insists that his Prayerfest "doesn't have anything to do with [Perry's presidential ambitions]" – which, of course, means that it does. But I'm fairly certain that God doesn't want anything to do with this goober's show.

SNEAKING THE PLUTOCRATIC AGENDA INTO STATE LAW

Jim Hightower — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Michigan's working families are mighty hard hit these days, but the state's new governor, Rick Snyder, has reached out with a helping hand.

Not for workers though. Instead, he handed out a 60 percent tax cut to corporations. To help pay for this giveaway, he snuck into law a provision that takes away six weeks of jobless benefits for out-of-work Michiganders, plus he intends to tax the pensions of working class retirees.

Where do today's far-right-wing governors get such far-out, nasty, anti-middle-class ideas? Directly from an extensive network of corporate-backed wonk shops set up in every state. They grind out extremist schemes to eliminate public services for regular people and sever corporations from any responsibility for the common good of our society.

In Michigan, the group is called the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Richly funded by such multibillionaire families as the Koch brothers, the Waltons of Wal-Mart, and the DeVoses of the Amway fortune, Mackinac vigorously pushes the billionaires' plutocratic agenda. It's a vehement opponent of unions, and it pushes privatization of everything from schools to highways.

In January, just as Snyder was taking office, Mackinac's dogmatists published four recommendations for turning Michigan into a corporate laissez-fairyland. They include a tyrannical proposal to let the governor seize control of local governments and install corporate overseers to cancel union contracts, re-write budgets, sell off public assets, and bypass or even dismiss local elected officials. This monster is now law in Michigan. Indeed, Snyder adopted all four of Mackinac's proposals.

These secretive front groups are modern-day Trojan horses, allowing a few corporate billionaires to come into state government and seize control of public policy – perhaps even in your state.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM FOR SALE CHEAP!

Jim Hightower — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Billionaires are different from you and me, for obvious reasons, including the fact that they buy much pricier baubles than we do.

A sleek car costing $100,000? Why that's just an impulse purchase. A few million bucks for a Matisse original? Go ahead – it'll liven up the hallway. How about throwing a fat wad of cash at a university to get an academic chair named for you? Sure, it's all a part of living in BillionaireLand.

Then there are megalomaniacal mega-billionaires like the Koch brothers. Using money from their industrial conglomerate, their foundation, and their personal fortunes, these two far-out, laissez-faire extremists are literally buying public policy. Their purchases of everything from politicians to the tea party help them push the privatization of all things public and the elimination of pesky regulations and taxes that crimp their style.

To advance their plutocratic cause, brother Charles has gone on a shopping spree for an invaluable bauble that most of us didn't even know was for sale: academic freedom. And it's surprisingly cheap!

For only $1.5 million, Koch bought a big chunk of the economics department of Florida State University. His donation gives him control of a new "academic" program at this public institution to indoctrinate students in his self-serving political theories. The billionaire gets to screen all applicants, veto any he deems insufficiently ideological, and sign off on all hires. Also, the department head must submit yearly reports to Koch about the faculty's speeches, publications, and classes, and he evaluates the faculty based on "objectives" that he sets.

Charles has made similar purchases of academic freedom at two other state universities, Clemson and West Virginia. Imagine the screams of outrage we'd hear from the Kochs if a labor union was doing this.

WHO'S BEHIND ATTEMPT TO MUZZLE MICHIGAN PROFESSORS?

Jim Hightower — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Suddenly – from out of the blue – three professors at three different Michigan universities simultaneously received identical freedom-of-information demands for any and all of their emails that used certain words.

The three are professors of labor studies, and the words in question were: "Scott Walker," the union-busting governor of Wisconsin; "Madison," the capitol city at the center of mass protests against Walker's assault on worker rights; and "Rachel Maddow," the TV talk show host who has covered the public rebellion against Walker.

However, this odd demand for emails did not really come from out of the blue, but from out of far right field, specifically from a ferociously-anti-union corporate front group called The Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Peek behind the Mackinac curtain, and you'll find piles of right-wing money from the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, the Prince family, and the Waltons of Wal-Mart.

Now, guess who had also been major funders of Scott Walker's gubernatorial run last year? Yes, the Kochs, DeVoses, Princes, and Waltons. Also, this year the same plutocrats dispatched their network of front groups to help the governor push his attack on Wisconsin's public employees. So it's really no surprise to learn that the billionaires' Mackinac unit would now launch a chilling witch hunt on state university professors. Apparently, the Mackinacers were hoping to cherry pick some tidbits from the emails to "prove" that professors of labor were using their public positions to – gasp! – advocate for labor, or even to promote a pro-labor political movement.

As is usual with these supposedly non-partisan, right-wing fronts, Mackinac officials are denying any political motives in what obviously is a crude, McCarthyite attempt to intimidate and muzzle people whose opinions they don't like.

NAME THOSE NUTS!

Jim Hightower — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0700

In a recent commentary, I noted that during the past three decades the Republican Party has been jerked from its historic position of mere conservatism... to right-wingism... to today's kooky crackpotism.

The media establishment, however, doesn't want us to notice this ideological devolution, so it's still referring to the current crop of corporate-funded, hate-the-government extremists as "conservatives." Trying to squeeze this bunch into that moderate concept is a worse fit than trying to dress a bull in a pink tutu. So I asked you readers to give us a more honest term for them – and you promptly generated hundreds of apt monikers!

Many of your suggestions play off the Republican brand itself, including Republicons, Republicants, Repugnicans, and Replutocrats. Others went straight to the convoluted ideological twist being propounded by the right-wing Republican mutants, offering such names as Regressives, Paleocons, Destructivists, Theocans and Kleptocans.

Then there were entries based on the discombobulated distortions of the new know-nothings, including Confusionistas, Confabulists, Fearists, Naybobbers, Suppressionists, Munchkins of Mayhem, and the old Spiro Agnew phrase: Nattering Nabobs of Negativism. Less friendly were several labels referring to the fact that deep down, a bunch of this year's GOP stalwarts are shallow – a fact captured by such names as Delusionaries, AbsurdiTeaists, Ignorazzi, Moronicans, Knuckle-draggers and Jingofunditarians.

The unabashed willingness of the candidates to front for the corporate agenda also produced vivid offerings, such as Corporativists, Corpservatists, The Forked Tongues, and Scroogicans. Ooo, Scroogicans – that's even fun to say!

Good job, people. Thanks for sharing.

NAME THOSE NUTS!

Jim Hightower — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The media establishment, however, doesn't want us to notice this ideological devolution, so it's still referring to the current crop of corporate-funded, hate-the-government extremists as "conservatives." Trying to squeeze this bunch into that moderate concept is a worse fit than trying to dress a bull in a pink tutu. So I asked you [listeners] [readers] to give us a more honest term for them – and you promptly generated hundreds of apt monikers!

Good job, people. Thanks for sharing.

"CONSERVATISM" HAS TURNED INTO "CRACKPOTISM"

Jim Hightower — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I'm at a loss for words, so I need your help.

Not so long ago, Republican officeholders in our country were conservatives, a political philosophy which literally encompasses the notion of conservation. Those Republicans wanted to conserve important things – like the public infrastructure, the rule of law, public education, and even our environment. During the last 30 years, though, voters in the GOP's primaries systematically culled these classic conservatives from office, replacing them with right-wing, laissez-faire ideologues. These new-breed Republicans largely rejected our country's commitment to the common good, instead supporting privatization of government functions and tax favoritism for the corporate elite.

The media, however, made no linguistic adjustment to this fundamental change in philosophy, simply shifting the "conservative" label to the right-wingers. But if they can be called conservative, what the hell do we call the new new-breed Republicans who're presently displacing those politicos who displaced the actual conservatives?

This year, the Republican primary has gone from plain old right-wingism to right-wing crackpotism. In Nevada, Wisconsin, Colorado, Delaware, New York, Kentucky, and elsewhere, many GOP nominees to Congress and other offices are farther out than Pluto! "End Social Security," they rant, "Stop punishing BP," "Cut off unemployment benefits to jobless Americans," "Keep the government's hands off of our Medicare" ... and on and on. Instead of tea, I think there these people's tea bags are filled with loco weed.

Once again, however, the media merely labels them "conservatives." Surely you can think of a better, more apt term. Send your suggestions to info@jimhightower.com. Best suggestion wins a free subscription to The Hightower Lowdown.

THE OXYMORON OF "TEXAS EDUCATION"

Jim Hightower — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I love nuts. Pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios – I love them all. But my favorite nuts by far are those homegrown natives on the Texas Board of Education. You just can't get any nuttier than this bunch!

This little known board is making our state a punch line for comedians everywhere, because the majority of the panel's members are ultra-right-wing nutballs. How nutty? They're insisting that ideological indoctrination be paramount over education in the state's classrooms. The board's main power is to adopt curriculum standards for textbooks to be used from first grade through high school – and they've just put forth some whoppers in their unrelenting effort to plant their own ignorance in our history, government, economics, and sociology textbooks.

For example, they shoved Delores Huerta, the much-admired farm worker leader, from the list of people who exemplify good citizenship, dismissing this historic champion of justice as a socialist. On the other hand, the majority mandated that such right-wingers as Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and Newt Gingrich's Contract with America be taught in history classes.

Speaking of justice, nutty board members were so offended by this core American concept of "fair treatment for all" that they stripped it from a list that instructs grade schoolers on the characteristics of good citizenship! No doubt they'd also strike "justice" from our Pledge of Allegiance if they could.

Among others getting their history-book status diminished were such giants as American democracy as Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. – while those getting a boost include Joe McCarthy and Jefferson Davis. Texas education wasn't that great before this radical insistence on right-wing correctness, but these doctriaire morons are turning the phrase "Texas education" into an oxymoron.

WHEN TOM SPEAKS, PEOPLE GIGGLE

Jim Hightower — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

O, let us rejoice, for he's back!

Tom DeLay, I mean – the corrupt ego maniac who rose to power in the U.S. house of Representatives before falling into disgrace over his habit of trading legislative favors for corporate campaign cash. Not only was DeLay a poster boy of congressional corruption during the Republican years of this decade, but he also pushed some of the goofiest, most extreme ideas spawned by right-wing ideologues.

For example, while he consistently prevented increases in the minimum wage for the lowest-paid Americans, he just as consistently saw to it that his own congressional pay was increased annually. When confronted with this hypocrisy, Tom blurted out, "I challenge anyone to live on my salary." He was making $166,000 a year! You hear a guy say something like that and you think: a hundred thousand sperm and you were the fastest?

Unfortunately for commentators like me, DeLay got indicted in 2005 and dropped off the political radar. But now – O, Glory – he's back! There he was on CNN recently, wallowing once again in the mud of right-wing gibberish. There should be no extension of unemployment benefits for the millions of Americans in today's severely depressed job market, he grunted. Why? Because, asserted Tom, such a program "Keeps people from going and finding jobs."

Shaking her head incredulously, the interviewer asked if he was actually saying that people were unemployed because they want to be? "Well," answered this once-powerful lawmaker, "it is the truth, and people in the real world know it."

The real world? Tom hasn't even visited there for decades. But bless his heart, thank goodness he's not letting reality intrude into his fantasy world, and thank goodness he's back on TV. I for one find his insights as refreshing as ever.

PALIN IS READY FOR THE NATIONAL POLITICAL STAGE

Jim Hightower — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

It went unacknowledged by the mass media, but Sarah Palin recently made a major contribution to the public good. By abandoning her position in Alaska's state government and moving to Fox News, Palin instantly raised the IQ level of both places.

Let's give credit where credit is due.

Freed from the boring burden of having to be in office and actually govern, the Sainted Sarah of the Hyper-right can now use her Fox bully pulpit to tell President Obama, the Congress, and others how to govern, thus qualifying her to run for higher office. This is what is called "leadership development" in our fascinating new world of celebrity politics. Abe Lincoln could never have cut it here.

Nitpickers on the left point out that Palin is not exactly bent over double with smarts, but – hey – who needs that when you've got sparkle? She's the darling of the antiestablishment tea-party wing of the GOP, and with the FOX money she's raking in, plus getting $100,000 a pop for speeches, she can buy the smarts of others and learn enough sound bites to get by in a Republican primary.

Indeed, she has already put such "thinkers" as Randy Scheunemann on her political payroll to coach her on that confusing foreign policy stuff. Sarah and Randy are a bit of an odd couple, since she is posing as the voice of the farthest-out-outsiders, while he is a consummate Washington insider – a longtime GOP lobbyist who specializes in representing foreign governments. That's not exactly in the spirit of the Boston Tea Party, is it?

But such inconsistency will be glossed over by Palin's ubiquity in the media – Fox has even built a TV studio in her living room so she can wax wise at a moment's notice. Besides, she believes God is guiding her to "the next open door." With a backer like God, you really don't need a lot of human smarts.