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COMMENTARY I BY JIM HIGHTOWER Impeach Bush? TORTURED LOGIC The only thin more disgusting than torturing priso ers of war is the effort W. is making t kill legislation that would ban such to ture by our military. The ban was intr duced by Sen. John McCain, a forme prisoner of war who was tortured length years ago by his Vietnamese jai ers. McCain’s amendment was passe in the Senate by a rock-solid vote of 9 to 0including 46 Republicans an even the GOP majority leader. McCai speaking of his fellow prisoners of wa said during the debate: “Every one o usevery single one of usknew an took great strength from the belief tha we were different from our enemies.” But, incredibly, the Bushites don’ want the U.S. to be different from the world’s brutes on this fundamenta matter. They are working feverishly to get the House to kill or water down McCain’s principled amendment. I that fails, the White House says that Bush will issue the first veto of his presidency, claiming that the ban on torture would tie the president’s hands Well, yes! The very idea of the ban is to bind our leaders to a standard of behav for recognized by all civilized nations The military knows that torture yields worthless information, false confes sions, and a bitter determination by the armies of those tortured to return the favor. Not only is it inherently evil to anction, as Bush proposes to do, the cruel, inhuman, and degrading” treatment of enemy soldiers that we capture, ut it also incites our enemies, putting ur troops in even graver danger. It’s one thing for Bush, Rumsfeld & ang to proclaim their moral bankuptcy to the world; it’s another to let hem drag our good name down with hem. To find out how you can help an torture, go to www.humanrightusa.org . BETTER BUSINESS MODEL What if business people started saying no? No to mega-growth, no to the 111Af ith that twisted macho smirk of his, George W. keeps telling us that he’s “a war president.” So, how’s he doing? Let’s check the numbers: ‘Official count of American troops killed so far in his war of lies in Iraq: 2,000 and rising daily ‘Official count of those wounded: 14,755 ‘Number of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq: 0 ‘Total tax dollars thrown into his Iraq war so far, counting the latest $50 billion payment: $260 billion ‘Number of Bush daughters, nephews, and nieces who are of prime enlistment age: 10 “Number of Bush family members who’ve enlisted in his war: 0 ‘Percentage of Americans who think the Bushites “deliberately misled the public” in order to go to war in Iraq: 52 percent ‘Percentage who now approve of his handling of the war: 32 percent Not so good, but there’s an even more startling statistic that the establishment media has deliberately failed to reportthe percentage of Americans who now want Congress to consider impeaching Bush if he lied about his reasons for invading Iraq: 50 percent! s This new data from Ipsos Public Affairs, ” the highly regarded, non-partisan polling company, shows a stunning surge b in grassroots support for removing W. o from the White House. It’s even more remarkable considering that the media G barons have provided zero coverage of r the burgeoning sentiment for impeacht ment. Likewise, not a single congressiot nal Democrat has stepped forward to b support what is fast becoming a major ity opinion of the people. They can hide the numbers, but they can’t long hide from the sentiment. To learn more, go to www.afterdowningstreet.org . g frenetic pace of trying to get superrich, nno to dog-eat-dog economics. No to o the prevailing corporate ethic that your rbusiness must always be getting bigger oto be a “winner.” Well, it’s happening. It r gets little coverage by a media constantat ly fawning over barons like Amazon or 1Starbucks, but there is a quiet rebellion d among entrepreneurs who are choosing 0 a heretical business path. These folks d want to make a profitnot a killing. n, They don’t want to run over their cornr, petitor or become a farflung chain. They f want more control over their own lives d and want their businesses to be based t on satisfying customers and treating workers as valued partners. One of t these community-based entrepreneurs says he rejected the chance to buy 1 out a competitor: “I’d rather pack my kids’ lunch and walk them to school.” Another, who runs a tea shop isn’t f dreaming of 10,000 stores, but of making customers feel truly welcome. “You need to become part of the community and give people an alternative to the big .chains,” he says, adding that, “when I go to Starbucks… instead of hearing -‘Thank you,’ I hear ‘Next.” Likewise, .the owner of a natural food store that successfully goes head-to-head with Whole Foods says, “We live in an isolated and lonely culture. People stop in our store for the social interaction as well as the products. We’re an oasis.” These community-based entrepreneurs are creating an economic model that contributes much more to society’s pursuit of happiness than the suck-emdry, Wal-Mart model. You can vote with your dollars: Either choose WalMart, where they have to hire a greeter to give you a hokey hello… or choose some real place, where they actually know your name. Jim Hightower is a speaker and author. To order his books or schedule him for a speech, visit www.jimhightower.com . To subscribe to his newsletter, the Hightower Lowdown, call toll-free 1-866-271-4900. NOVEMBER 4, 2005 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15