The Hightower Report

---

SOFTENING THE WORDS OF WAR

Putting a fabric softener in your wash is one thing, but members of America's media establishment appear to be running some of their biggest stories through a word softener.

Consider the big story of mushrooming public rage about Bush's war in Iraq. Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way it's being handled, 66% say it was a mistake to go into Iraq in the first place, 58% say Bush lied about his reasons for going there, 58% say being in Iraq is not worth the lives it is costing, and 73% say we should be bringing our troops home.

Public anger is so great that Bush can't travel among the people, instead delivering his speeches on military bases or to invitation-only audiences in guarded cocoons. Meanwhile, outside, not a day goes by without sizable war protests in every region of the country.

Yet, the armchair media barons either are oblivious to the depth of the public sentiment or are deliberately toning it down. Their stories are filled with such ridiculous newspeak as: "The public is increasingly disenchanted with the conflict." Disenchanted? No, no – characters in a Harlequin romance novel get "disenchanted," not us war opponents. We get horrified, disgusted, and outraged. Also, Iraq is not a "conflict" – it's a hellacious, brutal war!

Then we hear various pundits say that the public is "war weary" or suffering "Iraq fatigue" – as though we're bored with a TV show, a toy, or a game. But we're not fatigued or weary – we're mad as hell, appalled, revolted, embarrassed, nauseated by our so-called leaders!

Terms such as "weary" and "disenchanted" cast you and me as passive, spoiled-brat consumers of national policy. The hell with that – we're citizens, not consumers – and an agitated, passionate citizenry is the only hope of changing disastrous national policies, whether the media elites like it or not.

---

'BURDEN' ON CORPORATE CROOKS

Sure enough, George W. really is a compassionate conservative! For the past several months, the Bushites have been working behind the scenes to comfort a group of citizens whose members feel severely put upon: corrupt corporate executives.

Yes, the people who brought you the culture of corruption that allowed Enron and so many others to rip off workers and shareholders now whine that they are frustrated with the "burden" of having to comply with audits of their corporate manipulations, as well as having to face investigations, prosecutions, and lawsuits involving corporate wrongdoing. So, two committees of top-level executives from the likes of DuPont, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and Office Depot have drafted a sweeping series of regulatory changes to make it much more difficult to catch corporate crooks and hold them accountable.

The Bushites, always softies on corporate crime, have felt the pain of these complainers and are going all out to rig the rules for them. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, for example, has encouraged the Nouveau Enrons in private, while publicly wailing that today's ethics requirements "made it more burdensome for companies to operate." Well … yeah, Henry, that's the idea! Laws are supposed to make it "burdensome" for criminals to operate.

Also, Bush has just named Robert Steel to be the senior official in the treasury department to approve or disapprove the changes proposed by the two corporate committees. Who's he? A Wall Street banker who was chairman of one of the committees … so Steel will be ruling on his own proposals.

Bush & Company know that this power play is so smelly that the public and Congress will reject it – so they deliberately withheld their plan until after the elections and intend to enact it by executive decrees, bypassing Congress. To oppose them, call CorpWatch at 510/271-8080.