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The BuzzFlash Mailbag
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Subj: Noelle Gets a Special Break
Dear BuzzFlash,
Here in Florida the morning papers carried pictures of the Bush inauguration. Jeb Bush spoke of family values once again. While no one likes to beat on the children of a politician, hypocrisy can not be ignored, particularly when it dictates government action.
With him on the platform, in addition to papa and mama Bush, were Jeb's wife and his three children. All have been involved with the law in one way or another. Mrs. Bush had the problem of undeclared items on reentering the country, for which she was fined. George P. the elder son has a police report on file in Miami. Jebby was caught in the parking lot of a shopping mall with his pants down. Noelle has her problem with drugs.
Jeb himself has been involved with a number of questionable business activities ranging from his association with the fugitive Recarey (HMO Medicare Fraud, $200 million missing) to the Nigerian water pumps.
As for Papa Bush, his sons have turned out to have all sorts of problems. All have had questions about their ethics in business particularly GW with Harkin and the Rangers, and Neil with Silverado. Papa himself has allegedly become a billionaire since leaving office selling influence for Carlyle and fronting for the Moonies. Both of GW's daughters have been in trouble with the law and GW himself has had an admitted alcohol problem and alleged drug problem.
And of course the grandfather, Prescott, was in trouble fronting for the Nazis. A course of action charted by Jeb's great-grandfathers Bush and Walker.
While an adoring press constantly reminds us of the Bushs and their compassionate conservatism and their emphasis on family values, they ignore the true record of what appears to be a criminal family enterprise. It is a dynasty founded by a dysfunctional family. One that should not be lecturing us on family values. One that seems to operate only to benefit their own pockets and members of their economic class.
Robert E. Reynolds, Orange Park, Fl
Subj: Fighting Back
Dear BuzzFlash,
You guys have some clout, I love the way you are trying to expose the bush cartel for what it is.
Lets see if we can start to tag the opposition with the label "Regressive Republicans" the party insisting on the failed policies of the past!"
While at the same time beginning to portray the democrats as "Progressive Democrats" with the right vision for the future.
Could you get one of your well versed essayists to possibly run with this thought as words count mainly in an effort to try to get this phrase in the mainstream pop culture dialog? Just a thought. Keep up the good work.
Jeff
Subj: UN Report
Dear Buzz,
Here is a link to a PDF of the UN report depicting the potential humanitarian devastation that will befall Iraq in the wake of a US invasion. The report indicates that as a result of the sanctions against Iraq, the civilian population is much more vulnerable now then during the first Gulf War. Even without war, the country has virtually no reserves of food or medical supplies. Because of the current fragility of Iraq's civil infrastructure, a US attack will plunge a quarter of the population into dire circumstances, creating a humanitarian disaster of immense proportions. Imagine the entire population of metropolitan Chicago without food, clean water, sanitation and medical care. It is not a pretty picture.
First off, the report estimates that 500,000 persons will require medical treatment for traumatic injuries as a direct or indirect result of the initial action. Afterwards, they predict a humanitarian caseload of over 7 million people. That number includes 4.2 million children under the age of 5 and 1 million pregnant or lactating women in the central and southern parts of the country alone, plus an additional 2 million displaced persons. The report estimates that 3.03 million people will require therapeutic feeding. That includes 2.03 moderately or severely wasted children under 5 and the aforementioned pregnant and lactating women. 5 million people will be without sanitation and over 4 million with no drinkable water. The report also points out that because the country's border areas and northern governorates (the Kurdish areas) are heavily mined, coupled with the presence of numerous unexploded ordinances, any transient refugee population will likely suffer numerous casualties while trying to escape the devastation of the war and its aftermath.
This report should be required reading for every person who advocates an invasion. It is very chilling, indeed. I don't know why it has received so little media attention (but I have my suspicions).
http://middleeastreference.org.uk/war021210.pdf
Dave
Subj: Bush's anything-but-bold "economic" plan
Dear Buzz,
It is absurd to speak of Bush's proposed "economic" plan as bold unless one would also have labeled Hitler's Blitzkrieg invasion of Poland "bold." Normally, we reserve the adjective "bold" for those things we admire, not things that are monstrous.
Mr. Bush's plan will simply reward his biggest campaign contributors and assure their loyalty to him the next time around. The monstrous part comes when the ramifications of his plan come to fruition. The national debt will skyrocket, just as his predecessor Ronald Reagan's budgetary "wizardry" caused it to do. The burden will be borne by our children, but not by the children of the obscenely wealthy "friends" of George W. Bush. No, indeed, with the help of Mr. Bush's anything-but-bold "economic" plan, THOSE children will be as obscenely rich and tax-free as their selfish parents.
The ones who will suffer the most under this so-called economic plan of Mr. Bush's will be the middle-class and the poor. Someone will have to pay the bills someday, and it won't be any of Mr. Bush's grabby campaign contributors.
There is nothing to admire in Mr. Bush's rewarding his campaign contributors and much to give cause for criminal or impeachment charges to be brought against him. I understand neither of those will be brought, but that doesn't mean intelligent and informed people should buy into the White House spin put on this proposal and label it "bold." It is many things but bold isn't one of them.
One Republican loyalist said, probably admiringly, that Bush wouldn't "be subject to the criticism that he didn't want to do anything." The French Sun King Louis XIV also did something: he rewarded his courtiers to keep them loyal, but when we read in history books about that kind of kingly largesse to supporters, we cringed and were repulsed.
Well, for what it's worth, I cringe and am repulsed when I read about Bush rewarding his courtiers to keep them loyal. Same game. Not bold. Just evil.
Lois Erwin
[BuzzFlash Note: Bastille Day is July 14th.]
Subj: Unemployment Bennies pass
Dear BuzzFlash,
Check this one out... This is the same exact compromise bill that Hillary put together in November.... The Farking Repukes wanted nothing to do with it until Rove realized that it was a huge blunder not passing it before everyone took a Christmas Break... The Admin/Rove quickly came out for it and Bingo..here it is....
Notice how the Farking Repukes are now taking credit for it.....
http://msnbc.com/news/855889.asp?0cv=CB10
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear Buzz,
I am not a numbers person (just ask my husband). But I can very easily rattle off a few numbers that I can't seem to get out of my mind these days:
- 150,000 Iraqi civilians killed in Gulf War I
- 200,000 Iraqi children dead and/or dying from radiation/other contaminants or sanctions after Gulf War I
- 5,000,000 Iraqi civilians living in city of Baghdad
- 2-300,000 US troops required to attack Iraq
- 160,000 US veterans of Gulf War I who are sick and/or disabled due to radiation/contamination
- 40,000 US troops stationed in South Korea and in harms way should North Korea take military action
- 1,000,000 soldiers in the North Korean military
- 8,500,000 unemployed Americans
- 1,000,000 unemployed Americans whose unemployment benefit will NOT be extended
- 40,000,000 Americans without healthcare
That is approximately 56,350,000 HUMAN BEINGS whose lives have been, will be or are directly affected by George W. Bush and his father.
Finally, it adds up to ONE "person," George W. Bush, a dictator and bully without a conscience, without a single care or concern for humanity. He is just so eager, so excited, so willing to murder innocents, scorch the Earth, and trample the human rights of anyone who gets in his way.
We've got to stop this madness. How could we allow this to happen? HOW CAN WE STOP HIM?
a BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Savage & Barkley on CNN's TalkBack Live Today 01/08/03
Dear BuzzFlash:
If you didn't see it or hear about it, Charles Barkley and Michael (Liberals are to blame for everything wrong in the US!) Savage of the "Savage Nation" radio show got into a heated, name-calling exchange on air and the segment had to be halted by the host Arthel Neville. Michael Savage is nothing more than a foul-mouthed, loathsome, narrow-minded, bigoted, angry white male with a radio show as his bully pulpit! Barkley gave as good as got from the Savage one too.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Fw: You stink
Hi there BuzzFlash,
I should have copied you on this message to Bronson. That darned editorial just made me livid!
Keep up the good work. I couldn't get through the day without you, Bartcop, MWO and many others. Of course, I have a bit of time on my hands as I was laid off by a former American corporation that has shipped its corporate offices and thousands of its professional middle class technical jobs overseas.
When I'm employed again, I'll send a contribution.
Kate Roche
Chicago,
Illinois
----- Original Message -----
From:
Kate Roche
To:
pbronson@enquirer.com
Sent:
Tuesday, January 07, 2003 2:59 PM
Subject:
You stink
Unbelievable is all I can say about your sad editorial. Still can't let go of the evil Clinton, can you. I guess recession, high unemployment, arrogant, disastrous foreign non-policy, total war, loss of civil liberties, government secrecy, government spying on Americans, ecological disaster, media consolidation, rampant corporate crime and more just can't get your mind off the last honestly elected president's personal mistake.
I'll bet you're sorry that Newtie and Livingston had to quit their posts - but then their flagrant adulterous affairs somehow don't bother you nor did they besmirch the purity of the posts they held. Republican sin is always different than Democratic sin. The stink of Strom Thurmond's harassing randiness and lifelong racism is also very high on your list of moral excellence, I suppose.
And Thank God that we now have honor and integrity restored what with the ex-cons that are now employed by the unelected administration: Abrams, Poindexter - and I'm sure ol' Ollie North will be back soon. Oh, and the ol' war criminal Kissinger, who's wanted for questioning in a number of countries just couldn't leave his lucrative secret consulting clients to help out his pal Dubya hide the fact that this incompetent administration sat on its hands while their best friends the Saudis looked the other way (or even funded them) when SAUDI terrorists planned and carried out the most terrible attack on our country. But I forgot again, it was Clinton's fault wasn't it. And didn't I read that a Saudi billionaire is giving Andover Academy a lot of money? Those Bush Boys really like the Saudi's don't they.
I'm sure you'll report me to TIPS/DARPA now. Can't wait for totalitarianism, can you? God Help America and save us from your kind.
Heil!
Kate Roche
Subj: genuine elite/phony "regular guy"
Dear BuzzFlash,
The resident's "stimulus" proposal reminds me once again of a little noted demonstration of his elite upbringing during the first debate with Al Gore way back when.
Had the debate been with anyone else, I would not make an issue of this, but given that Gore was daily throttled for being "inauthentic", I think it is noteworthy.
At least twice during that debate, Bush pronounced the word "rather" as "rahther." Following the debate, I never again heard him pronounce it that way. But, I think it betrayed the illusion that Rove, et al, have worked so hard to conjure -- that Bush is somehow not the uppercrust Ivy League twit that we all know him to be. The affected Texas twang is an important component of that illusion.
How, then, with all the concern over "earth tones" and "farm chores" did Bush's channeling Thurston Howell, III, not become an issue?
I don't remember a single mention of it in the media. Oh, sure, it's petty, but we're talking about the Washington Press Corps--pettiness is SOP.
Just asking.
Subj: US Used WMD in Iraq I?
Dear BuzzFlash,
Seems to me that the good ol' US of A was guilty of using Weapons of Mass Destruction (nuclear ones - no less) in the first Iraq War. In a Christian Science Monitor Story on Dec 20, 2002 by Scott Peterson reported that 320 tons of depleted uranium weapons were used in that war. This DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years (that's what the article says)! It is probably partially responsible for the 150,000 or so medical claims being made on the Veterans' Admin by Gulf War I vets. It is probably also responsible for and indeterminable number of deaths among Iraqi civilians. A report by the British Atomic Energy Agency indicates that 320 tons of DU could cause up to 4 million deaths. If all this is true is seems that the latest and greatest user of nuclear weapons of mass destruction is.... Well, you fill in the blank. I'm too depressed to go on any more...
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Letter to Peter Bronson, Cinti. Enquirer
Peter,
Still trying to palm off tired right wing polemics as journalism, eh? Your (yawn) recent Clinton-bashing article is one more sad attempt to hide the corrupt machinations of the Bush cabal, when measured against the accomplishments of Clinton.
Now that we're half a trillion dollars in debt again, after Clinton left us with a whopping surplus; now that we have a very poor excuse for a "foreign policy", wielded by sociopaths who have no idea what they're doing, as compared to the Clinton team's successful peace efforts; now that our schools, health care system, jobs, economy, mental health system, housing and infrastructure are quickly going down the tubes for lack of funds while Bush funds the rich through war, war toys, various corporate payoffs and a "national missile defense" system that doesn't work and wouldn't defend against anything if it did; now that more and more people are actively suffering since Bush stole the White House two years ago and promised "compassionate conservatism" and then joked about his dictatorship - you drag out the totally discredited story about the Clinton trashing of the White House? How totally pathetic. Perhaps you should drag your head out of the nether regions of your person and attempt to write something that just might be relevant to what's really happening in reality (did you know it was 2003 now?). I know it will be difficult for you, but give it a try.
It may help alleviate the terrible smell that comes off your column.
Dianne
Eugene,
OR
Subj: "Jeb's Real Agenda: Dismantle Government" Good article
Dear BuzzFlash,
Hi, I just read your article on "Jeb's Real Agenda: Dismantle Government". I fear you are wrong. While they wish to get rid of all social programs, the fascists wish to retain corporate welfare, the political police and drug dealing apparatus (CIA), the corporate terrorist fist known as the Pentagon War machine and the IRS to tax the middle class and poor. They want a strong repressive government with corporate socialism but no public socialism. This will be a hard sell to citizenry....heavy taxation with no visible benefit. I fear the only way they could pull it off is with a Nazi like storm trouper group to terrorize any objectors and periodic "terrorist" attacks done by themselves of course (Like most of the high profile crimes have been in the past 40 years).....these "terrorist" attacks will be blamed on the poor, the homeless, political opposition, and any country or group that they wish to loot. Most of the taxes have been cut for the parasite class......these tax breaks can be negated by canceling most social programs. The middle class and poor can now pay for corporate welfare and the corporate terrorist War Machine....and become formal serfs of the parasitical plutocracy.
Belinda
Subj: food drops for poor nation?
Hey we have an evil dictator trying to steal our country and starve our citizens, maybe we can ask the U.N for help. Maybe they should drop food relief on the millions starving here in US since our dictator is using the money for his own evil gains...
Maureen
Westfall
Charlotte
NC
Subj: Draft
Dear BuzzFlash,
I have my own proposal for a "draft", that being that the children (male AND female) of any couple with a combined income of 1 million dollars a year, be drafted and put on the front lines without any recourse to the usual rich kid "outs" (National Guard, college, way too gay, and so on).
It's only fair that the people who stand to reap the windfall of oil confiscation also be at the greatest risk of personal loss. Pass it on, make them squirm.
JK
Sent to Peter Bronson:
Subj: Your recent article re White House
I am really surprised that any bona fide journalist can expect the public to admire their work when the article you wrote regarding your previous President was written so unprofessionally and was so obviously biased and distorted. Then to expect that your local readers would believe all your comments is insulting to their intelligence, to say the least. Fortunately, I am advised that you are not treated as an honest journalist and are totally disregarded by thinking readers.
Your article was sent to me by friends in Cincinnati as an example of the extremes that exist in the USA today and the obvious hate and bias in the mainstream press. They have promised to collect writings such as you have recently produced as an example for a media class I am conducting here.
Sadly, from what I have seen recently when scanning the US press such as CNN, Fox and the New York Times, misrepresentation, fabrication, selective reporting seem to have become the order of the day.
It used to be really wonderful to see real investigative journalism and honest comment.
Seems so long ago.
R
Williams
Australia
Subj: Ain't Life Grand for Bush and His Rich Friends!
Dear BuzzFlash,
If you think that Bush's plan to eliminate dividends from being taxed is a fair deal for the little investors...then what do you think it will do for the richest family in the country?
That being the Walton family that controls Walmart...Boy did Sam leave them set for life and Bush just added to their riches.
For example...The Walton Family owns 1,695,746,432 shares of Walmart stock. And with the dividend being a mere .30 cents a share...they will now get tax free ....heck, you do the math. I'm too disgusted to put the numbers in print!
Cary Lindsay
Subj: No tax on dividends will financially undermine state and local governments
Dear Buzz,
In addition to a big windfall for Bush and other wealthy elitists like him, the elimination of the tax on dividends is a deliberate means for financially undermining and dismantling our state and local governments.
Eliminating the tax on dividends will cause corporate stocks and bonds to compete with municipal bonds which are already tax free to their owners and the best and primary sources of income for our state and local municipalities.
After the successful financial undermining of our state and local municipalities, our Right Wing controlled Federal government will tell state and local governments that they must privatize their water treatment plants, garbage pickup, etc. because their is no more money left in Washington!
What private corporations will get those contracts?
You know.
Nancy Lynn Nagy (TN)
Subj: While you were sleeping, revisited...
Hi, Buzz:
Today, Gigi's letter in the "Mailbag" regarding the sleeping habits of "uncurious george" sent me searching. Sad to say, nothing that has happened during the time of George II's residency in the White House has caused him to lose much sleep--and that includes September 11, 2001.
On November 26, 2001, I wrote to Buzz regarding a The Times (London) article. The reporter referenced a report in Newsweek magazine (December 3, 2001 issue) which detailed george's actions on 09/11.
Despite the horrific attacks ON AMERICAN SOIL, George& laura were sound asleep by 11:30 the night of September 11th. An unidentified aircraft was flying towards the White House and the couple was awakened and taken down to a bunker. What was the chimp-in-chief's concerns at that time? Well, he was in a tee shirt and shorts, he grabbed the dogs, and Laura didn't have her contacts.
In the first days after the attack at the WTC, it was thought that in excess of 10,000 people may have been killed. If an attack of unparalleled proportions on the United States would not keep him awake, why would loss of life--especially that of foreigners--cause him to suddenly become an insomniac?
Below are the Times' url and article; then the letter I sent to BuzzFlash over a year ago.
Liz
Houston
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001530008-2001545016,00.html
MONDAY NOVEMBER 26 2001
False alarm roused Bush from his bed
FROM MARTIN FLETCHER IN WASHINGTON
ON THE night of September 11, President and Mrs Bush were roused from their bed and rushed down to the bunker below the White House because an aircraft had been spotted flying towards the President's mansion, George W. Bush disclosed yesterday. Describing his day to Newsweek magazine, Mr Bush also recalled the moment that Andrew Card, his Chief of Staff, told him of the second attack on the World Trade Centre as he was waiting to speak at a Florida elementary school.
He said that he tried not to look shocked. "I was very aware of the cameras," he said. "America is under attack. I'm trying to absorb that knowledge. I have nobody to talk to. I'm sitting in the midst of a classroom with little kids and I realise I'm the Commander-in-Chief and America's under attack."
He was whisked back to Air Force One, where he told aides: "We're at war. That's what we are paid for, boys. The first thing we had to do was understood what the heck was going on." Air Force One embarked on an eight-hour odyssey before it was deemed safe for Mr Bush to return to Washington at 5.30pm. Still nettled by the criticism, he insisted:
"I wanted to go back to Washington. There is strong advice that I did not, primarily from the Vice President."
He held a National Security Council meeting in the emergency operations centre in a bunker below the building. Then, as they were going upstairs, a secret service agent said: "Mr President, we're staying down here in the basement."
The President recalled: "I had taken a look at the bed which (Laura) points out was about a 1955 roll-out, pull-out. I said: 'No, we're not. I'm really tired. I've had a heck of a day and I'm going to sleep in my own bed.' "
At 11.30pm, they were sound asleep. "I can hear a guy breathing quite heavily. 'Mr President! Mr President! There's an unidentified aircraft heading toward the White House.' So we get out of bed. I'm actually in my running shorts with a T-shirt, old shoes. Grab Barney, grab Spot (the family dogs). Laura has no contacts, she's holding on to my arm. We get into the elevator, straight down, in towards the conference room.
"And I'm thinking: 'What the heck is going on?' Then an enlisted fellow walks in and goes: 'Mr President, good news. It's one of our own.' "
======================================
September 11, 2001. 11:30 p.m. The very night of the worst terrorist attacks in any nation's history. A mere fourteen hours after the initial attack. Where were you? What were you doing? What were you thinking?
Personally, I was watching the news non-stop--and had been since the first plane hit the WTC. The tears would not stop. It was quite possibly the worst day of my life. My son is a Marine. What was going to happen to him? Were there any more attacks coming? We live in the suburbs of Houston--"oil capital" of Texas, if not the U.S. Were we a target? What about my three younger boys, finally asleep after a long evening of having their fears calmed. Who would calm mine? I felt compelled to stay up and keep vigil in case I needed to wake everyone in the house to evacuate. In retrospect, maybe that was not a realistic thought. But, who knew at that point in time? Certainly, by 11:30 p.m. the story was far from complete.
The events of the day remain incomprehensible. Thousands of our citizens, along with citizens from at least 80 other countries, were brutally murdered. All commercial flights were grounded. Fighter jets scrambled to shoot down any errant planes. We watched the greatest city in the nation come to a complete standstill--shell shocked, terrified, and in abject mourning. Americans across the country united with New Yorkers, and those in Washington, D.C., in experiencing the grief and the terror. The civilized world joins with us, feeling the same range of emotions. The mayor of New York City was going non-stop, having barely escaped death by exiting WTC with minutes to spare. Families of those who were known to be dead and families of those who were listed as "missing" were spending the first of, no doubt, many sleepless nights.
Now, imagine this: you are allegedly the commander in chief. Where were you, King George? Sound asleep. Read that again: SOUND ASLEEP. Now...think about it. Really think about it.
He arrived back in Washington, D.C. at 5:30 p.m., and is in bed by 11:30 p.m. No angst keeping him--or his wife, st. Laura, the great comforter/healer of these United States--from getting a good night's sleep. No tossing and turning. No nightmarish images haunting his night. Not up with advisors agonizing on where this path was taking us. Not a worry about the thousands of those in the military who would be called into action by your order. A few miles away, the Pentagon is in flames--a horrific reminder of the victims lost and entombed both there and in New York--not to mention the smoldering remains of Flt. 93 and its passengers in a field in Pennsylvania. And shrub and Laura are asleep. Correct that: SOUND ASLEEP.
If this does not prove that in NO way, shape, or form is George II calling the shots, I don't know what will.
Who else but a person: without the burden of leadership; one who will NOT be making life and death decisions; one without a care in the world, and certainly with no depth of feeling or compassion, could have put his head on a pillow that night and slept? Soundly or otherwise. One would expect someone with a "good heart" (one of George's favorite phrases) to be standing shoulder to shoulder with his countrymen. How do you shake the images of that morning and go to bed? Where is the sense of duty to the nation? He boasts of telling a secret service agent that he will not sleep in the bunker, but in his own bed. How brave. And, while he was sleeping, who WAS making the decisions normally made by a commander in chief?
I thought hijacking the democratic process was the worst this "man" could do. He is a never-ending contradiction as he of reveals the deepest parts of his shallowness.
Liz
Houston,
TX
Dear BuzzFlash,
Go buy yourself a cheeseburger and a beer on George!
This year, according to the Citizens for Tax Justice, the top 1% of Americans--those making $374,000 or more--stand to gain $30,000 each, while the lowest 20% will get only a $6 tax cut. Go buy yourself a cheeseburger and a beer on George!
Looking at it another way, the top 5% will get 47% of the benefits, while the bottom 60% will get only 8% of the benefits.
http://www.progressive.org/webex/wx010803.html
A BuzzFlash Reader
Re: Bush Cartel Deficit Spending is Its Way of Starving the Government
BuzzFlash-
This makes perfect sense!! Also, they have been able to rape and pillage the national coffers that the liberals accrued. Wow, 9/11 couldn't have happened at a more propitious time, almost seems contrived. They get to do anything they want, decimate the country financially, all in the name of Homeland Security. Then the middle class gets stuck with the bills. It amazes me when I watch all my friends, still thinking this administration is doing so fine a job!!! It is such a treat to read there are a few out there that see the reality too. Thank you so much for being accessible to us, BuzzFlash!!
Kathie Gatfield
Subj: Peter Bronson
Dear BuzzFlash,
I think I counted 8 letters regarding pseudo journalist Peter Bronson's boring attack on the Clinton Staff's (non) trashing of the White House in the January 8th mailbag. I'm sure there were others sent that were too numerous to include. I also e-mailed him -- and was considerably more vitriolic than the ones in the mailbag.
I observed something about his first responses - they were basically "form letters" - and, I believe that he never read any of them - just figured out by the first line that they were negative. (I accused him of that in my reply) So he suggested to all of us that we read the report he refers to. A report that does NOT come to the conclusion that he espouses. Obviously he read as much of that report as he did our correspondence.
Notice his second responses -- this time suggesting that we all read the report incorrectly !!
Basically, he's incapable of thinking -- and, therefore, will never be able to get to the point that makes him question what he believes in. We could all spare ourselves aggravation by not giving him any more attention - he won't learn anything from what we say, because he refuses to avail himself of our wisdom.
In my response to his response I put him in the company of the repuglican Neanderthals - limbaugh, drudge and coulter (not capitalized for lack of respect). It will be interesting to see if I get a second response ignoring what I said !!
Thanks for being there, Buzz !!
Beautiful Barb
Seattle
Subj: Hunger in Ohio - 60 Minutes II
Dear BuzzFlash,
I hope you run this story that accompanied a 60 Minutes II report Wed night 1/8.
Rita Palmer
* * *
With the economic recession, there has been a sudden leap in the number of people on emergency food assistance. In Ohio, some of the food lines look like something from the Great Depression, reports Scott Pelley.
It’s not just the unemployed. Plenty of people working full time are still not able to earn enough to keep hunger out of the house. If you think you have a good idea of who’s hungry in America today, you may be wrong.
More: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/08/60II/main535732.shtml
Subj: Bronson
Dear BuzzFlash,
Bronson answered my first email, below, with the same exact response as he did Cathy - with the same link to the GAO. He may be using an auto-responder to the protest emails and so may not be actually reading their content. Be that as it may I did send a second email thanking Mr. Bronson for proving my point.
First email: Subject: Way to go...
....promoting more hatred and ignorance. How well does swill-writing pay these days?
It's one thing to oppose the Clintons' policies - and even to speak out against President (a TRULY ELECTED president, you know?) Clinton's personal failings. It's another thing to indulge in pure ad hominem attacks, almost literally BASELESS with regard to fact - and then try to pass that "effort" off as legitimate journalism. In reality, you're just another hate-mongering hack who knows he has a ready and very easy audience, aren't you? So much more difficult to write something worthwhile, based in even a modicum of truth, that readers and colleagues alike could respect.
As regards that terrible smell? Hate-mongering sends up a terrible stench.
____________
Response to Bronson's apparent automatic reply:
Thank you for your note.
Why don't you read the GAO report for yourself and draw your own conclusions. Everything I reported is documented there in great detail.
Here's the website:
http://www.counterclintonlibrary.com/GAOReport.htm
Subject: Thanks for proving my point via the GAO website link
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, however, you didn't address the main thrust of my note - which was that you are promoting, as will the anti-Clinton "museum" you referenced, HATRED. I would feel similarly if some party decided to memorialize resident Bu$h, in a similar manner. Why? Because while I despise his horrible record and his corrupt administration, he is still a human being and as such still deserves to be respected as such BY THOSE OF US WHO WISH TO BE CONSIDERED "human" themselves. Cruel is as cruel does. Clinton-haters simply end up making Clinton look better, and themselves look foolish (and pitiful).
As to the GAO report, you simply proved my point. First of all, as per the link you sent me, the report specifically states these type of pranks occur when there is a transition from one party to the other. They have in the past and they likely will in the future. They also specifically state that some of the damage could not be attributed specifically to Clinton staffers. They said a lot of other things too, but I don't have time or inclination to discuss them with you because you are CLEARLY not interested in the actual facts - just those which support your hate-filled agenda.
The publicized damage was grossly over-reported and exaggerated, and, regardless of whether or not there was damage to the White House from Clinton staffers - this does not mean HE condoned it - or even knew about it. More importantly, it doesn't excuse YOUR BEHAVIOR in continuing to whine and publish words of hate - in an attempt to get others to hate him too because of an essentially trivial issue - given the scope of the damage Bu$h II is inflicting on Americans daily!
There is a difference between rational, fair, i.e., mature, opposition to a party or a particular politician and purposeful hate-mongering which you are a party to - whether you have the decency to admit it or not. All that hate actually makes YOU more disgusting than your target. Why don't you hold your OWN "heroes" accountable - and raise your credibility to about a millimeter - or would that take too much time out of Clinton-hating activities? Haters blame Clinton for everything from the heart break of psoriasis to the groundhog not seeing his shadow! The 60+million dollar witch hunt of the Clintons proved exactly what we knew about Bill before we VOTED for him: That he was an adulterer. Wow what a bargain: 60 mil to find out something we already knew.
In retrospect, I think the target of the email should be to the editors; Mr. Bronson obviously could care less.
Carolyn
Subj: Draft Gore Web Site
Dear BuzzFlash,
We are grassroots Democrats from across the country who believe Al Gore is the only true voice of the Democratic Party and the only viable and deserving candidate for the nomination in 2004. We are not affiliated with or authorized by any candidate or political party. Our membership, however, does include members of various Democratic Party organizations, including Democratic county chairs in various states. What are the goals of Draft Gore 2004?
We are taking our case to Al Gore to persuade him to reconsider his decision and run for president. We don't expect an immediate decision. We hope he will keep our plea in mind and listen to us as we demonstrate to him how deep and wide his support is. Our premise is that the Democratic Party leadership does not dictate who our nominee should be. We decide that. We will build a national movement and present our case both to Al Gore and to the Democratic Party.
http://www.draftgore.com/index.htm
Rebecca Knight
Subj: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Dear BuzzFlash,
Anybody out there remember the classic sci-fi film by that name? In it, an alien landed a spacecraft on the Mall in Washington, D.C. and asked to be allowed to speak to the UN to deliver a warning: disarm or you will be destroyed. The alien, Klatu, didn't specify by whom the destruction would take place. He did make it plain that we would certainly do it to ourselves, even if no one "out there" did. Klatu never made it to the UN, but he was able to demonstrate to the world that those who sent him meant business. He caused a shutdown of all power throughout the globe at a specified time on a specified date. From cars to trains to wristwatches, everything came to a halt.
On January 18, there will be very large antiwar demonstrations in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and in cities across America. According to George Monbiot of The Guardian (Jan. 7, 2003), "On January 18, demonstrators will seek to blockade the armed forces' joint headquarters at Northwood, in north London. Three days later, there'll be a mass lobby of parliament; at 6 pm on the day the war is announced, protesters will gather in almost every town centre in Britain. On February 15, there'll be a massive rally in London." There will also be demonstrations in cities throughout Europe on February 15.
The idea is this: a global work stoppage, an international sick day if you will, to take place on Friday, February 14 to protest the war on the world currently being waged by the Bush administration. Monbiot goes on to add, "The [Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament] and the Stop the War Coalition have suggested an hour's stoppage on the day after the war begins. Many activists [in the U.K.] are now talking about building on this, and seeking to provoke wider strike action - even a general strike."
It is we, the folks who show up for work every day, who are providing the tax dollars to pay for this war on the economy, the environment, worker safety, civil rights, and on the poor. We are the ones who keep the machine up and running. We are the ones whose children are being shortchanged on education, health care, and clean air and water. We are the ones who will reap the whirlwind (or will be sucking wind) when the bill for the administration's misguided and dangerous policies comes due.
A general strike early in the last century brought down the Tsar of all the Russias and changed nearly a century of history. The Communist party came crashing down in Poland thanks to the solidarity of its workers. If we choose peaceful noncooperation in maintaining a system badly in need of course correction, we may surprise ourselves at how quickly change can be effected. No organization is necessary, in fact it would probably be counter-productive. Just start forwarding this email. Let's all get truly sick and tired of it all on February 14, 2003 and make it the day the Earth stands still.
Rita Weinstein
Subj: LA Times Scrubs Itself
Dear BuzzFlash,
http://www.latimes.com/la-na-terror9jan09,0,5281516.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
"The decision by three judges on the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., marked a significant victory for the Bush administration since it came under attack for allegedly overstepping the law in dealing with captives from the war on terror."
The initial first publication of this by the Times included the following:
"4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ONE OF THE MOST CONSERVATIVE APPEALS COURTS IN THE COUNTRY"
The Times has since scrubbed this line. Apparently the "liberal media" decided on second pass that this was an irrelevant detail.
Dan Moran
Subj: War
Dear BuzzFlash,
While America and the rest of the world keeps watching the War "log," and trying to find the best date to begin, what with Saddam's massage schedule and George Bush clearing brush at Crawford, it's really hard to pin down a date. Mel Brooks could write a great comedy around the "comedy" being played on the world stage. Does anyone ever remember a war being scheduled? Or going after a "bear" without teeth as Iraq seems to be, and ignoring a real threat in North Korea; if this administration weren't so capable of inflicting true tragedy on us and the rest of the world, it would be funny.
In the meantime Bush/Rove/Cheney are busy as beavers chewing away at that "strong, resilient" economy our illustrious leader (using the term loosely) reminds us we have. They have us so busy watching the world wide fires they start, we aren't paying too much attention to the fact that Bush and this Congress is set to gnaw right through the solid economic foundation we thought was there.
It's a pretty neat trick, while we are turned to face the war, they pass the economic package under our nose, when we realize what that means and our attention turns toward the serious domestic issues we have, they start fighting the war. Wherever Bush waves his flag "over here, over here, I'm over here," we run in that direction and then he pops up someplace else entirely.
Right now they have us running on so many fronts it's hard to keep up. Judicial nominations, war, environment, social security, civil liberties, economy, unemployment, education, health care, all of this is in chaos. We need a plan, a really good plan and we need to be more clever than they think they are. Any ideas?
I find it ironic that the American Revolution started against England, ruled at the time by a King named George who was insane. Not that I'm drawing parallels, no, no that would be un-patriotic. Still it's an interesting fact.
Sally McDonald
Subj: Re: Bush Cartel Deficit Spending is Its Way of Starving the Government
Richard,
I heard that during the Reagan Administration payroll taxes were increased 5 times. A middle class tax raise if I've ever heard of one. Social Security funds never did make it to the "lockbox" now did they. No, these funds are supporting tax cuts for the rich.
If this is correct, the Republican claim that cutting taxes resulted in collecting twice the amount of taxes is one of the most bogus claims ever asserted.
I heard this on Sunday afternoon 1/5 on KFI radio in Los Angeles. It was the Johnny Wendell show. He also writes or wrote for the LA Weekly under the name Johnny Angel. He is a weekend host so I couldn't find an email address at KFI. Also didn't see an email address for him at the LA Weekly, last column was 11/02.
Maybe BuzzFlash could track this down and write a column on this misleading "economic theory" that those who idolize Reagan continue to "sell".
Thanks,
Cathy
Crowley
Los
Angeles
Dear BuzzFlash,
Calling dividend taxes "double taxation" may be fine from the political standpoint--sure to provoke a sense of entitlement and victimization--but it does not reflect the entire picture. It is true that all companies are owned by households and that there is a form of double-dipping that occurs when both corporate earnings and dividends are taxed. But we also need to remember that stock ownership has limited downside risks (the cost of the investment) and unlimited upside returns (the sky is the limit for capital appreciation). The problem is that business failures are not limited to the capital invested. When a company goes out of business, innocent people--creditors, vendors, employees, customers--are forced to absorb the losses. These losses are not absorbed by the "owners." Stockholders are protected by the fact that a corporation is legally a separate person, and are therefore shielded from the liabilities that ownership normally incurs. In other words, stockholders are sheltered by the very fiction that is supposedly robbing them blind.
The advocates of dividend tax cuts apparently want the advantages of ownership when it comes to divvying up the pie, but not its obligations when the pie splatters all over the room. Unless "all gain and no pain" has suddenly become morally instructive, it demonstrates a rather deformed sense of morality to act as though dividend tax cuts would increase the moral integrity of our economic system. Indeed, since all companies are ultimately owned by households, it makes sense to deal with the double-dipping problem on the corporate earnings side. Anything that deleverages business, increases capital expenditures, and distributes real earnings to shareholders is all to the good. Dividends, though, are income, and should be taxed as such.
Paul Ryan
