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The BuzzFlash Mailbag
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Subj: Be gone said the King with a wave of the hand . . .
Dear BuzzFlash,
When most people were young they were taught by their parents basic principles of fundamental human decency and respect for their fellow man and woman. They were taught to treat others with respect and dignity no matter what the social situation or circumstance. In the Christian religion these basic tenets of human conduct and interaction were set forth by its founder, in a basic but profound command: "Do Unto Others as Ye Would Have Them Do Unto You." Apparently Mr. Bush has never become acquainted with this rule, even though he claims that the rulemaker is his "favorite philosopher."
I find it deeply disturbing that any person would talk to another human being in the manner that Mr. Bush arrogantly addressed these reporters, as detailed by this article. Essentially Mr. Bush, in spoiled, rich boy fashion treated them as the "hired help" when he curtly and derisively informed them that he was going to issue a statement and then they could leave so he could be about "his business." He then told them: "Get out of the room as quickly as you came in."
Excuse the hell out of me, but the title of President of the United States does not give an individual the right to order other human beings around like they were his personal slaves or subhuman cattle. The attitude exhibited by that statement is nothing but unbridled arrogance and contemptuous disrespect for basic norms of fundamental human decency; however it is, of course, nothing new from Mr. Bush who believes that his title of President confers upon him the absolute right to do as he pleases with no respect for principles of law or basic fundamental norms of decency and human behavior. He is after all the same person who told Bob Woodward that "I'm the captain of the team" and "I don't have to answer to anyone."
I am sorry to inform Junior, who evidently was not paying attention to all those fancy Yale "history-type" classes but that's just not how it works. Despite his expressed belief that "things would be a lot easier if this were a dictatorship" with him as the dictator, this is, in fact, a democracy in which his power derives solely from the just consent of the governed. That means he does answer to someone. In fact, he answers to a whole lot of someones known as the American people. He works for them, and he serves them, not the other way around, a fact which these type of incidents show that he clearly cannot grasp. Because he answers to the American people he is bound by his oath of office to uphold the Constitution and his powers to act come only from that document and from those given to him by Congress. He has no other power and no other authority; therefore he sure as hell did not have any authority, either legally or morally, to treat other human beings in such a degrading fashion as he did here. Abusing the hired help may be a favorite pastime of some of the rich folks who are Mr. Bush's best friends, but it is clearly not acceptable behavior from a person who holds the position of chief servant of the American people. As chief servant of the American people he is morally and ethically responsible for treating each person with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-wh/2003/jan/10/011006376.html
Dan DeLisio
Subj: Pentagon's Private Army
Dear BuzzFlash,
I thought I would bring this to your attention if you haven't seen it already.
The most recent, February 2003 edition of WIRED contains a dynamite article called, "The Pentagon's Private Army."- by Dan Baum
"They're the State Department's private army, the Pentagon's smallpox task force, the IT squad for everyone from the FBI to the SEC. Welcome to the future of national security - brought to you by Computer Sciences Corporation, a division of Homeland Security Inc."
Of course, CSC recently bought Dyncorp.
"Private contractors and subcontractors operating abroad are subject to neither US law nor the military code of conduct. They don't count under congressional limits on troop commitments, and they aren't obliged to talk to the media. The government needn't even discuss the details of the agreements: The Pentagon and State Department aren't required to reveal to Congress contracts that are smaller than $50 million, and many of DynCorp's are. All of which raises troubling questions of accountability."
We have a subscription. As of yet, the only copies we've found on the news stands are still last month's.
Corporate armies, anyone?
Linda
Subj: Media Consolidation
Dear BuzzFlash,
This is the response I received from Rep Lloyd Doggett of Texas concerning the current review of media ownership rules. This is a good man, general fighting locally instead of on a major national stage (he's been instrumental in the Longhorn Pipeline debate and organizing with local anti-war groups here in Austin). If you find the time, look back into his past concerning the time he, and a few other democratic activists in the legislature, shut down Texas government for a few days in protest of Republican control by hiding out in a garage apartment.
* * *
January 14, 2003
Joseph
A. Finfer
Austin, Texas
Dear Joseph:
Thank you for your communication regarding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its review or media ownership rules. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter and I certainly understand your concerns.
As you know, the FCC is currently reviewing media ownership policies and deciding to what extent they should be revised. The current rules limit a broadcaster from owning TV stations that reach more than 35% of households in a given area, restrict a company from owning both a TV station and a newspaper or radio station in the same market, cap the number of TV or radio stations that can be owned in a single market, and prevent companies from owning more than one of the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC).
Any changes that the FCC makes to these media ownership rules could massively and irreversibly change the media landscape. Any further consolidation would be practically impossible to undo--like putting a genie back in the bottle. As one of the two Democrats on the five member FCC, Commissioner Michael Copps, said "At stake in the FCC's review are core values of localism, diversity, competition and maintaining the multiplicity of voices and choices that undergird our precious marketplace of ideas and that sustain American Democracy."
Rest assured that I will continue to monitor this situation and will remain mindful of your concerns as opportunities for Congressional involvement arise. In the meantime, please keep me advised of any federal matters on which I may be of assistance.
Lloyd Doggett
201 Cannon
House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-4865, (512) 916-5921
www.house.gov/doggett
Subj: Check the Blueprints
Dear BuzzFlash,
Several times, I've said that if you want to get a jump on what Bush will do next, look at Ronnie Reagan. Bush is a walking blueprint of Reagan.
-Reagan
had double digit unemployment
-He cut taxes for the wealthy
-Coined Trickle Down Economics (Term for common people getting economically
trickled on)
-Axed programs that helped common citizens
-Ran up the national debt
-Broke the Unions
-Funneled big bucks to the Pentagon
-Told us trees cause pollution
-Invaded the tiny island of Granada (GW picks on bigger fish)
-Covered by Bush Sr. pardons, thus squashing the Iran/Contra investigations
When Reagan cut programs, financial responsibility went to the states. In turn, financially strapped states cut programs and raised taxes and removed tax deductions. So how did Reagan's big tax cuts help the common man? His tax cuts created the illusion that he was doing something about high taxes. All he did was hand them to the states. Get ready. Any tax cuts Bush is boasting about will be transferred to tax hikes and axed programs by the state in which you reside. Just check the Reagan blueprints!
~ Cathy
Subj: NYT Editorial
Hi Folks:
I love your site and I am a frequent reader. I was just reading about the NYT editorial on Bush and his efforts at making the Repugs a better place for minorities, blah, blah, blah. You should also add The Boston Globe. They had the same sentence in their editorial! Like Papa like Son.
Just thought you would like to know. Again, thanks for all of your hard work.
Therese
O'Donnell
Newburyport,
MA
Subj: Peter Bronson
Dear BuzzFlash,
As one who works in Cincinnati and lives across the river in Newport, Ky., I want to thank you very much for responding intelligently and thoroughly to Peter Bronson's article(s) regarding Mr. and Mrs. Clinton. I appreciate your efforts and diligence in confronting the lies and distortions perpetuated by our local newspaper. Thank you again and keep up the good work.
Julie Tarvin
Subj: BUSH AT IT AGAIN
Dear BuzzFlash,
Here we go again G.w.Moron Bush is at it again getting angry at Iraq because he is Impatient. He just has to have men go out and fight and get killed in HONOR of him. I think it's a way of getting rid of his cowardice factor that no one out there in the news media wants to talk about (deserting the military in time of war). With his money, and his solid gold pacifier still in his mouth, He cares not how many die or how many needless guardsmen have to be taken away from their jobs and families. He is very sure that there are WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION out there. He can't make a case to the amer public because its a secret WHERE AND WHAT THEY ARE. A secret from who? Saddam Hussein? Imagine that, we don't want to tell him where his own weapons are in Iraq. Where's the logic? We can't prove they are there, because we really don't know, and we can't find them (maybe because they really are not there) so we must assume that Saddam is lying and if he doesn't produce the weapons THAT ARE NOT THERE, we are going to BOMB THE HELL OUT OF THEM.
No matter how many people get killed, to say nothing about the fanatics that are going to raise hell here in the states with unprotected citizens. This whole thing is a result of a hot tempered alcoholic moron, jumping the gun and spending millions sending troops to the area, rather than waiting for the proper time. Troop ships at the proper time could have moved the troops a lot cheaper than 300 at a time in 4 engined jets burning tons of fuel. Saddam come out come out where ever you are and produce a weapon, preferably one of mass destruction, to keep the babies happy.
I think that Bush has not been taking his prozac or has developed an intolerance for it. Perhaps he should have a frontal lobotomy. Simpler, why not give him a battery of IQ tests and a psychiatric exam and have him put away till he is cured and let the real pres run the country for the next 2 years>>>>>>>>>>>>>who? >>>>>>>>>Karl Rove, and the other incompetent bush senior who is secretly in there now. We can cure the mental prob but not the low IQ. Bin Ladin is still out there, dead or alive, but who the hell cares, we have other fish to fry now. And if we have enough men left we can go to the other side and have a really big war with N. Korea. By the by, has the dead from Afghan gotten over a thousand yet that we are not hearing about, or is it a secret? I think W. mortimer snerd, bush attitude is who cares MY DADDY IS BIGGER THAN YOUR DADDY, and I have numerous protective shelters I can hide in as I did on 9-11, and my family has 57 bank accounts overseas in secret accounts.
CHARGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ed Peltz
Subj: Iraq
Dear BuzzFlash,
The opponents of the unilateral push for war often make the point that Bush will manufacture an incident and use it as the reason for attacking Iraq.
No pretense is needed to attack. He will invade and take over the country and then plant some WMDs. He will then declare, "We saved the world, We told you all along that the 'Evil One' had them." It will definitely shut up any of the critics and render them impotent and irrelevant for a long time. The larger and louder the dissent was, the bigger and more powerful the victorious 'Good One' becomes. He stood alone against the world and saved us all, long live King George!!
Jim Savoia
Subj: Lieberman for President?????
Dear BuzzFlash,
I am a lifelong Democrat but, I will not vote for Joe Lieberman. He should be running as a Republican. Maybe, if Dick Cheney can't make the run as VP in 2004 Joe Lieberman can replace him on their ticket.
Democrats just so NO to Lieberman!!! Run a real Democrat in 2004.
Gerald
Grandstaff
Fort Wayne,
IN
Subj: Antiwar Demonstration
Dear BuzzFlash,
Just about everyone who is opposed to the war against Iraq knows that thousands are going to Washington DC for a National Antiwar Demonstration on Saturday the 18th, a rally and march that the organizers say will be our last chance for a massive display of dissent before the United States goes to war with Iraq. But I bet there are some people out there who will hardly know the importance of this event because they are uninformed and because the cable and TV networks as well as the major newspapers will hardly cover the events, either in Washington or in cities all over the USA where simultaneous demonstrations are scheduled. It will be wrong not to listen to all these voices, but instead I bet we'll see the chief warmonger as well as the other hawks with whatever they have to say, as if they don't get enough coverage for their propaganda day after day, on Fox, Cnn etc.
This is an appeal to all BuzzFlash readers who are opposed to war against Iraq, let's all send emails to C-span, PBS, CNN, etc. to request that they put on some live coverage of the demonstrations for the benefit of the ones that cannot be there, or for the uninformed or indifferent ones. There's live coverage of sports, conventions, speeches, parades, funerals, court proceedings, car chases, you name it! Should not such a large and very important event as the Peace movement be also covered live? We've seen enough coverage of lies and evasions, let's see what the people have to say!
" Give Peace a Chance"
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: bush poll
Dear BuzzFlash,
This poll is on AOL today. I am still astounded.
Do you approve or disapprove of how George W. Bush is handling his job as president?
37% Strongly
approve 168,576
32%
Strongly disapprove 145,247
16%
Disapprove 72,873
14%
Approve 65,314
1% No
opinion 5,621
Total votes: 457,631
Do you think President Bush understands the problems of ordinary Americans?
51% No 231,756
45% Yes
205,602
4%
Not sure 20,307
Total votes: 457,665
NOTE: Poll results are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those users who chose to participate.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Rep. Dennis Kucinich
BuzzFlash:
Americans should consider drafting Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the Democrat from Ohio, to run for president. He could be the people's president: If one-quarter of America's 280 million people each sent him $1.00, he would have $70 million to finance his campaign, and he would have no obligations to special interest groups or corporations. Rep. Kucinich is courageous, responsible, dedicated, and articulate, and his views are reflective of mainstream America.
bhm
Re: GE Workers Strike Over Health Insurance
Dear BuzzFlash,
As the country sinks ever deeper into recession, insurance premiums and medical costs continue to rise out of all reason. Of course this administration will do nothing to stop their supporters from robbing the public, as long as they get paid.
What the country needs desperately is a nationwide strike to put an end to the creed of greed being condoned by Repugs.
Hooray for the GE Workers!
A BuzzFlash Reader
GE Workers Strike Over Health Insurance
Thousands of GE Workers Strike in Protest of Insurance Co-Pay Hike; Picket Killed by Police Car
The Associated Press
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. Jan. 14 —General Electric Co. workers picketed at plants around the country Tuesday as thousands joined a two-day strike protesting an increase in health care co-payments. In Kentucky, a striker was killed by a police car.
Union officials said about 20,000 members of the International Union of Electronic Workers/Communications Workers of America and the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America were participating in the strike, which began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Subj: Letter Faxed to NBC
NBC Viewer
Relations
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Fax: (212) 664-2994
Dear NBC, January 14, 2003
In memory of Kjeston "Michelle" Rogers the woman who was killed by a police car while picketing with 20,000 workers of General Electric to protest the increase of their out of pocket health care costs, I have now launched a boycott to many who will listen through the Internet. Many are truly angry out here that a life was lost due to the profit margin of your parent company. Is the bottom line of your company and GE worth the price of a human life?
When we see CEOs, news anchors like Katie Couric, and the stars of Friends receiving bloated salaries, we are angry that 20,000 of GE's workers have to pay higher out of pocket costs for what everyone in our country deserves: Good health care.
Until this problem is correctly rectified by the CEOs of GE to meet the demands of these workers, I have called upon many to write GE and NBC demanding that these workers are treated with the dignity they deserve. I am also calling upon many to boycott GE products, and all products advertised on your networks. While nothing can be done to bring this woman back, in her memory give your workers the health care they deserve.
Regards,
Mrs. Mary MacElveen
Subj: Bush Declares a Sanctity of Life Day
Dear BuzzFlash,
Democrats should run with this one and tie it to Iraq, Afghanistan, and every where else the repukes have their tentacles.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030114_2126.html
Chewgababy
Subj: American Conservative Mag: An analysis of Bush as presented in Woodword's book
from t ikeda
Excerpt: At still another point after the Afghan war has started, the president says to his staff, "Look, our strategy is to create chaos, to create a vacuum." And Woodward ends the book with another quote from the president, in which he again reflects the obsessive chaos theory of the neoconservatives surrounding him like sentinels and for whom Iraq has become the sina quo non of political existence: "We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of our great nation." Whew.
http://www.amconmag.com/01_13_03/print/geyer7print.html
You're Invited to the War Party
By Georgie Anne Geyer
Ever since his Watergate revelations, which helped evict a president and change the United States for all time, for better or worse Bob Woodward has stood as the major force in a new genre of journalism. He talks, wheedles, and, using government officials' personal ambitions and dreams of political eternity, implicitly threatens his way into the often closed corridors of power-there, he is a master at getting a certain number of figures who try their best to remain aloof and unknown to tell their stories. The proposition, understood if not explicitly spoken, is that this book, as his former ones, will tell the story-you miss out on leave on this journalistic port, fellow, you miss the whole historic ship!
Dear BuzzFlash,
At the White House, President Bush called Tuesday for welfare recipients to work more hours.
Jackie Corr
Bush Urges Welfare Changes
States say his proposed funding freeze would make a bad fiscal situation worse.
By Edwin Chen and Stephanie Simon
Times Staff Writers
January 15 2003
At the White House, President Bush called Tuesday for welfare recipients to work more hours. In Olympia, Wash., and Lansing, Mich., and in state capitals around the nation, welfare officials asked: How?
Facing their worst budget deficits in decades, state after state has cut back the support services designed to wean families from government checks. Tens of thousands of children have been cut off from subsidized day care. Millions will soon lose subsidized health insurance. Less money is available to buy bus passes for families with no transportation to work. Even job-training programs face cuts.
Subj: Election Coverage
Good morning,
With the presidential election of 2004 getting more and more mainstream press, I think it's time to remind ourselves that the coverage should never ever be in the style of a horse race.
All the instant polls, the talk of who has this or that much money or party backing plays right into the hands of the lazy media and, more importantly, take up the time of Americans (think non-BuzzFlash readers) who will not or cannot take time to inform themselves about the issues that presidential candidates hold.
What we must demand of the mass media is coverage of the positions of candidates. We deserve to know not only who they claim to be, but Americans deserve to know the voting record of a candidate who claims to be "for abortion" or "an environmentalist". If that person's stated position is in contrast with votes, that needs to be shared. Every time you see CNN or FOX do a puff piece on a candidate filled with the sound bite of the day, get on the phone or email and complain. If the company reporting your news has contributed to a party or candidate, demand that be disclosed at the beginning of the story.
I know that BuzzFlash won't fall in to the trap of handicapping horses. But we at BuzzFlash are a small # of people. We need to keep the heat on the media and the candidates (and I'm not recommending any one of them...can anyone recommend a good site for a bio/history on Howard Dean?) and demand that we cover the issues this time around.
thanks,
Jeff Spakowski
Ferndale,
MI
Subj: This American Life Broadcast 1/10/03: Secret Government
Listen on-line (RA file) –This American Life hosted by Ira Glass airs on National Public Radio.
http://www.thislife.org/
On the home page, go to Episodes/Real Audio By Year (03).
Regards from Kate / Boynton Beach
Click Here: Check out "Yahoo! News - Bush Declares Sanctity of Human Life Day"
Dear BuzzFlash,
What is this? A joke!!!! Bush declares national Sanctity of Human Life Day. Here's a man responsible for 147 executions in Texas, thousands of deaths in Afghanistan and now he's about to unleash a war against Iraq which will cause untold deaths. How can he declare this with a straight face?
Gigi
Subj: David Frum
Dear BuzzFlash,
There's been speculation that David Frum was fired from the White House for his "Axis of Evil" phrase in the State of the Union. After about a week of "all David Frum, all the time" on radio and tv (as he stumps for his new book about Dubya), I'm pretty convinced that he was sent out of the White House as part of the campaign for the 2004 presidential election. In interview after interview, he is simply reconfiguring history and misstating the reality of this failed presidency. What do people think - does anyone else see this as the propaganda machine that I suspect it is?
Sandy Blakeney
