I'm back from seeing Palast and Hightower. What can I tell you?

[BurtWorm]

They were both hilarious! Has anyone else seen either one?

[devilgrrl]

1. No, tell us more.

I've not seen Jim Hightower or Greg Palast, what did they talk about?

[BurtWorm]

3. Jim Hightower is on a tour promoting his new book

so he gave a little taste of it. In truth, he didn't say much that I didn't know, except for a mess of salty Texan aphorisms. But he is such a pleasure to listen to: a smart, funny, decent guy who speaks plain truth about the greedy bastards in power and the wobblicrats who don't do shit to counter them. He was hilarious on the subject of Daschle's mealy mouthed response to the tax cuts. My brain is too fried to remember exactly what Daschle said, but you can probably imagine, it wasn't memorable anyway. And Hightower peppers his talk with quotes from Twain and other early American radicals.

Palast was a bit less organized, and occasionally unintelligible--he left a bunch of sentences unfinished and didn't connect the dots as well as he does in print. He seemed a little bit nervous, which surprised me. Still, he was very funny talking about how he gets his documents. He told a great story about FBI agents who came to see him in London and literally on the way out the door dropped on his desk a classified document naming bin Laden family members (the grey sheep of the family, Palast speculated) whom their bosses had ruled out investigating in the months leading up to 9-11. The agents called him a half hour later and said, "We dropped a document in your office. Have you seen it?" "Yes," Palast replied. "We'll be by in half an hour to pick it up....(dramatic pause)....or forty-five minutes if you need the time."

My favorite line of the night was Palast's: "I'm one of the guys working on getting a First Amendment enacted in England. They might as well take ours 'cause we're sure as hell not using it."

[efhmc]

2. Actually went to college with Hightower and helped with his campaign

when he was running for something when we were freshmen. Can't remember what office but he won.

[BurtWorm]

4. Wasn't it agricultural commissioner?

He's very impressive. Super smart. That inelligence and decency really comes through. He restores ones faith in Texans. (Of course so do Molly Ivins and Bill Moyers. Not to mention Roky Erickson.)

[efhmc]

6. No sweetie, that was a college freshman office. Many years before the

big time.

[BurtWorm]

8. Oh! Now I get you.

Was he as decent as he seems? My brother has a theory that if you're going into politics you have to be an a-hole. He bases this on a meeting with an Arkansas progressive politician--an 100%-er kind of progressive--who was one of the biggest a-holes my brother ever met.

PS: I somehow missed the phrase "when we were freshmen" in your previous post. My brain is fried.

[efhmc]

9. I liked him then and have always liked him. Many Tx. dems don't

because he definitely does not tow the party line. Not sure he would remember me since I've only observed him from the sidelines since those long ago days. (Is the correct term tow or toe?)

[BurtWorm]

10. Toe the line, I think.

He seems like a mensch. A tough mensch. I loved it when he referred to the sorry assed Democrats as "my party."

[efhmc]

11. Oh no, this ole Texas gal does not know what that means. Please

elucidate.

[BurtWorm]

12. I take it you mean "mensch"

It's from Yiddish. It means "salt of the earth." (Literally it means "man," but you can use it to refer to any person who exhibits solid human decency.)

[efhmc]

13. Good word and a good reference. How is it pronounced?

Not in my pocket, sits by the computer dictionary.

[BurtWorm]

14. Mensh

Like an old Jewish tailor might ask, "Vanna shee shum mensh shootsh?"

[efhmc]

15. Look, I'm trying to close down and go to bed so stop making me laugh.

eom

[BurtWorm]

16. Shorry

Shveet dreamsh!

[efhmc]

17. That's it. I'm out of here.

Goodnightttttttttttttttt.

[JanMichael]

5. Saw Palast a couple of months ago.

He spoke to a packed audatorium in Sarasota, FL! Home of Katherine "I only need one more Dalmation for my coat" Harris.

[BurtWorm]

7. Now that's a great setting for Gregory Palast!

I'll bet he shared some good Cruella stories with the crowd.

[Missy Vixen]

18. We had the "Greg Palast Weekend" last year

Greg was appearing several times over two days in Seattle and its suburbs. He was a bit unorganized when we saw him, too, and seemed truly touched by the outpouring of interest and affection towards him. (My husband called my cell phone in the middle of Greg's talk at a local bookstore; it's pretty hard to hide a ringing cell phone in a small crowd! Greg stopped talking and said, "Go ahead, answer it, we'll wait.")

Did he pass around the letter from Jeb Bush's office ordering the "scrubbing" of the voter rolls in Florida? I still can't believe I held that letter in my hand.

We also saw Greg Palast at Seattle's Town Hall; there was a spontaneous standing ovation of about 20 people when he took the stage. He was a little embarrassed, but by the time the talk was over, the crowd stood en masse and wildly applauded.

I hope you had a great time seeing him; we hope to see him again soon as well!

Julie

[BurtWorm]

19. No, he didn't pass around letters

but he held them up, and even held up his laptop to show the 300 or so in the audience (it was a benefit for WBAI/Pacifica Radio) the Choicepoint software that recorded felons whose crimes were to be committed in 2007.

He got a standing ovation, by the way. So did Hightower.

[Kool Kitty]

20. I believe WBAI is going to run the whole program later this

week-Thursday evening, if I'm remembering correctly. (I love WBAI.) They ran a speech by Hightower tonight that he gave last night at A True Majority gathering. It was terrific, and I'm really looking forward to hearing both of them later in the week.

[BurtWorm]

21. Thanks for the heads up!

I wonder if it will be shown on Public Access cable tv.

[Kool Kitty]

22. Good question.

Amy Goodman's show, "Democracy Now!" is on public access or dish
TV. I can't get it because I don't have a dish. But it would be good if it was on.

[BurtWorm]

23. This event was being taped

so it probably will be on somewhere sometime soon.