A jittery week at the polls, huh? One measure of our political anxiety is that liquor sales spiked this week. Also, it’s probably not a coincidence that a new breakthrough in drug legalization was made on Tuesday, when 56 percent of Oregon voters said YES! to sanctioning the use of “magic mushrooms,” which are said to relieve anxiety and depression. Continue reading →
One word in particular, one sound, one horror that I can’t get out of my head is this: George Floyd crying out “momma,” as his life was cruelly and senselessly crushed in yet another brutal, White-on-Black murder by a so-called “officer of the law.” This can’t be America, can it? Continue reading →
America lost one of its best public interest agitators last week, and I can’t let him go without a tip of the hat. David Freeman was not a household name, but he certainly was a household hero – a smart, tenacious champion for consumers, clean energy, and common sense over the price gouging, pollution, and general greed of Big Energy. Continue reading →
Editors’ note: The following is the column that was rejected by the Creators Syndicate, who feared reprisal from the corporations mentioned in the article. Read more about the controversy at the Austin Chronicle; for more information, contact Deanna Zandt, [email protected].
A two-panel cartoon I recently saw showed a character with a sign saying: “First they came for the reporters.” In the next panel, his sign says: “We don’t know what happened after that.” Continue reading →
After Hightower’s longtime partner, DeMarco, took her leave of us from this crazy planet, our staff and the board of the Lowdown decided to have a little dinner together in her honor– she didn’t want any kind of public memorial– at hers and Hightower’s house. Laughs, love, and food abounded. Here are our photos and a few of the recipes we shared with each other.
Some are born with good luck, but Lady Luck didn’t bless me until I was 30 years old. She arrived in the form of a petite bundle of feistiness, inherent smarts, political savviness, personal warmth, playfulness, and beauty– named Susan DeMarco. Continue reading →
Back in 1973, Organic Gardening wrote about a new report from the National Academy of Sciences which denounced the lack of quality research in state- and federally-funded programs. And look who makes an appearance: Hightower, who was then part of the Agribusiness Accountability Project. Dig that hair, y’all!
Buckle-up friends, it’s going to be a hairy ride.
Start with Day One for President Trump (gotta get used to saying that). He will need to be up-and-at-’em no later than 12:01 am, for during his campaign he promised to get oodles of big stuff done on his very first day in office, including: “Repeal Obamacare;” Begin working on impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall;” Meet with Homeland security officials and generals to begin securing the Southern border; Fix the Department of Veterans Affairs; “Repeal every single Obama executive order;” Suspend Syrian refugee resettlement; “Get rid of gun-free zones in schools;” “End the war on coal;” “Defend the unborn;” “Start taking care of… our military;” And convene top generals and inform them they have 30 days to come up with a plan to stop ISIS.
Good grief! Americans have actually put a xenophobic-misogynous-racist-nativist-narcissistic blowhard in the Oval Office. Has our country gone right-wing? Or completely nuts? Continue reading →