Synopses & Reviews
The bestselling grassroots guru is back with his incisive take on the state of the union and life today in the good ol' U.S.A.
America in 2004 is color coded and it's not just a matter of red, white, and blue. The terror alert bounces from yellow to orange. The economy offers up a hundred shades of red ink. The environment is turning brown. National security is cloaked in gray shadows. And, as he did in the bestselling Thieves in High Places, Jim Hightower covers it all with uncommon insight, political fearlessness, and laugh-out-loud humor.
America's #1 populist gives us Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush a hard-hitting, fact-filled review of the real state of the union that you won't get from the establishment media. With his daily radio commentaries and award-winning monthly newsletter, no one has chronicled the madness of King George the W, the wimpiness of corporate Democrats, and the aggressive avarice of Wall Street with the thoroughness and tenacity of Hightower. Now he brings that investigative punch into this wild and woolly hook of fiery essays.
With his satirical "Six Perfectly Good Reasons to Re-elect George W. Bush"; his mix of damning indictments and uplifting stories; and side bars, cartoons, games, and puzzles, Hightower has clone the impossible: he has created a subversive read that makes politics fun again.
Review
Donts just read ittake Hightowers message to heart, take action on it, and take your country back! (Michael Moore, author of Stupid White Men)
Synopsis
With his usual candor, radio commentator and bestselling author Hightower returns with his lowdown on the Bushites, Congress, the War on Terror, the economy, and a host of other hot, newsworthy topics.
About the Author
Jim Hightower is an American original who burst on the national scene twenty years ago from the unlikely launching pad of Texas agricultural commissioner, an obscure (but powerful) office to which he was elected for two terms. He has since become America's most popular populist, spreading his message of democratic hope via national radio commentaries, columns, his award-winning monthly newsletter (The Hightower Lowdown), and barnstorming tours all across America. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Thieves in High Places, There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos, and If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS BUSH...AGAIN?
Six Perfectly Good Reasons to Elect George W. Bush
Introduction xv
1: GLOBAL WARMING! 1
George W Does the Environment
Bush Gets Hot 7
Making Government Listen 9
Mountain Massacre 11
Bushs Clean Coal Boondoggle 12
The Ever-Loopy Synfuels Loophole 13
A Dirty Dozen 14
Inside the Pink Zone 20
Messing with Frogs 21
Dumping High-Tech Toxins on Poor Nations 22
Democrats Get Down and Dirty, Too 23
Timber Scams 25
Kill Endangered Species to Save Them 26
Putting the Yuck in Yucca Mountain 27
Guess Who Loves Conservation? 29
Energetic Thieves 30
Shifting the Cleanup Burden 31
The Grassroots Water Rebellion 33
Polluting the Poor 35
2: CHEAP UNDERWEAR, BUB 39
George W Does the Economy
A Work in Progress 46
Bush Creates New Manufacturing Jobs! 48
Happy Days Are Here Again 49
The Statistically Employed 52
CEOs Average $25,000...an Hour 53
Converting Safeway to Greedway 57
Bushs PR Boo-Boo 61
Bushs Jobs Plan 62
High-Tech Execs to Workers: Go to Hell 64
Get to Work, America 68
Gifts to Power 69
A Big Idea 70
A Corporation That Breaks the Greed Mold 71
3: ONE WORD, BUCKO: YUM-YUM-YUM! 77
George W Does Food
Down on the Farm 81
NAFTA Gives the Shafta to Farmers 85
The Cows Have Come Home 89
Living High on the Hog 94
Frankenfood 96
Monsanto Goes Nuts 102
Bringing the Farm to the City 105
High on Hemp 107
The Mendocino Rebellion 111
4: YOULL NEVER HAVE TO FEEL ALONE AGAIN, MY FRI: 115 George W Does Liberty
BushZones Go National 120
The Miami Model 128
Bush Rewrites the Founders 136
Et Tu, Postmaster? 138
New Toys for Big Brother 139
Our Loopy Attorney General 140
Shredding Ashcroft 143
Spy, Inc. 145
The Intrusion Industry 146
Corporate Cancellation of the Sixth Amendment 148
Bye-Bye, Medical Privacy 149
Catch-22, the Corporate Version 150
Letting Consumerism Get Under Your Skin 151
5: RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM, COMPADRE 155
George W Does the Common Good
Forget Health Care, Were Going to Mars 165
Reforming Nursing Home Rules 166
Defending America from Canada 167
Why Drugs Cost So Much 171
Social Security Works 172
Edison Comes A-Cropper 175
Teaching Commercialism 176
Higher Education for All 178
Why Libraries Matter 182
The Book Thing 184
Where Did Ranger George Go? 185
The Corporate Takeover of Our Water 187
The Big Muddy of Corporatization 192
Budgeting for Class Warfare 196
Betrayal of Our Troops 198
Who Gets Taxed? 202
Lets Run Government Like A... 205
Heroes 206
6. YOU NAME IT! 211
What George W Means to Me 215
Connections 217
Solutions to Puzzles 225
Index 229