You wait a month to get a doctor appointment, then you sit in the waiting room an hour because Dr. Incorporated is perpetually overbooked, then you’re finally rushed in for your 10-minutes with the doc… tick, tick, tick… and then you’re scooted out, uncertain whether you’re supposed to take pills or make funeral arrangements.

Recently, our friends over at The Marc Steiner Show on The Real News Network stopped by Hightower’s house in Austin for a long chat about Texas politics and the history of progressive populism. Enjoy! And if you like what you hear, make sure you visit

In a song about outlaws, Woody Guthrie noted that, “Some’ll rob with a 6-gun/Some with a fountain pen.” Indeed, the big money thievery in our society today is being perpetrated by the Fountain Pen Gang of corporate monopolists, Wall Street financiers, and Washington lobbyists. They’re trying to pull off another multibillion-dollar heist right now in the airline industry. It’s a merger caper that would gouge consumers, shortchange airline workers, and cut service to communities by further shrinking competition in an already-monopolistic market. Just four giants – American, United, Delta, and Southwest – now control

Our recent post about rewilding lawns and gardens garnered a ton of conversation about the value of letting nature take over. Many of you asked for information on how to get started with rewilding, and many of you are well into the process already, and had information to share. We love seeing our community come together to support each other like this!

What it is about today’s vituperative, foam-at-the-mouth Republican party? No longer disguising their desire to repress women, workers, immigrants, the poor, and all others who differ with (or are different from) their own partisan clan, the party has turned to a politics of hatred and division, openly seeking to

Years ago, House Speaker Sam Rayburn declared: “Every now and then, a politician ought to do something just because it’s right.” Which brings us to the carny sideshow of Rep. George Santos, the Republican lawmaker so bizarrely dishonest that even a majority of Congress critters finally gagged and tossed him out. But now we’re being treated to the institutional spectacle of Republican members piously proclaiming that his expulsion shows that the GOP is “the party of accountability,” courageously establishing a “high standard of integrity.”

According to an old saying, “You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.” True. But that raises this question: Who would even try squeezing blood from a turnip? Well, metaphorically speaking, if “blood” means profit, and “turnips” are customers, airlines are eager to apply the squeeze. As are banks, credit card outfits, cable TV and Internet hucksters, car rental companies, concert promoters… and can anyone decipher their insurance policies!?

We heard you!

When we asked you for your favorite political and protest music last month, y’all didn’t hold back! We loved your suggestions and have been slowly sorting through all of them (and singing along while we do).

Growing up, I absorbed a lot of values from my Ol’ Texas Daddy – a strong commitment to the Common Good, a healthy work ethic, and a lively sense of humor. But one thing about him I’ve rejected: His determination to have a perfect yard of thick, verdant, St. Augustine grass. Lord, how he worked at it – laying sod, (watering), fertilizing, (watering), weeding, (watering), spreading pesticides, (watering), mowing… (more watering). But it was too hot, too dry, too infested with blight, bugs, slugs, and such. He was up against Texas nature, and he just couldn’t win.