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Subj: Red Ink Republicans
Dear BuzzFlash,
I saw the phrase "Red Ink Republicans" somewhere, possibly on BuzzFlash. With a sufficient push, I think that moniker has legs. It would therefore be my suggestion that BuzzFlash tag the Republicans with it where appropriate.
Doug Masson
Subj: I Wonder . . .
Dear BuzzFlash,
I wonder if Rush and W would be so quick to offer and support faith based education if the applicant for funding was an Islamic fundamentalist...Once you open pandora's box, really hard to close it down, ain't it? Imagine if federal funds were used to build the Al Qaeda network? Not completely out of the question...if they are willing to kill innocent civilians on a flight, they certainly are willing to embezzle federal funds.
I think America in small towns, even many social liberals, want to think that "faith based" initiatives will only include their personal religions...I got news for ya...THAT will not pass constitutional muster...it's open for everyone or no one at all, content neutral...I personally choose no one at all, as to me religion has nothing to do with education or instilling good behavior. I agree with Robin Williams, this is "One Nation, Under Canada, Above Mexico"...
Marc Lippincott
Austin,
Texas
Subj: Senator Hutchison's Remark
Dear BuzzFlash,
I don't know how many people caught the remarks of Sen. Hutchison at the memorial service for the Columbia crew today.
It seems to have left Dan Rather even speechless or at least moved along quickly after she said it. I felt I had to email her my thoughts on her remark through her website. I realize however that those emails are probably not even read and only possibly generate some form reply and I felt it might be reflected instead in BuzzFlash where I find so many incredible items of newsworthiness. The following is my message to her.
Dear Senator Hutchison,
I probably won't be the only one writing to complain about your serious gaff during the memorial service to the Columbia crew but I feel I must have a say.
It seems as thoughtless as Trent Lott's unfortunate lack of sensitivity, though not racial, for you to have included in the many good things to have come from space exploration the fact that now a missile can be guided from the "heavens". As with Trent Lott, there is nothing you can now say to alleviate the offense that should generate, especially given the fact you said it when and where you did. Most of us hope to find peace and goodwill for mankind through the efforts of space exploration, not more means of destruction. Perhaps this will not be as unpleasant for you as Lott's remarks were for him, but hopefully will give you pause for thought as to your own inner insensitivities.
Sincerely,
Kathe V. Brown
Dear BuzzFlash:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/opinion/02FRIE.html
Letter to the New York Times:
"Ah, Those Principled Europeans" by Thomas Friedman, February 2, 2003
It's remarkable that Thomas Friedman accuses France of acting morally superior when we have a president occupying the White House who believes "God is on our side" in this war. Maybe France's reasons aren't as "deeply unserious" as Mr. Friedman thinks. There are multitudes of people and countries too numerous to count who are rightly skeptical of Bush's accusations of WMD and his insistence (still unproven) of a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. Above all, the constant comparisons with Hitler must seem ludicrous to them. France is just one country among many that feels this way, but unfortunately for George W. Bush, its membership on the Security Council is proving to be a minor inconvenience in his march to war. Most of the other countries that have signed on (The New Europe) probably did so out of intimidation. So now we must mock the French in every way. How original.
Alas, let us hope that we don't someday have to suffer the terrible consequence of being weak after being powerful, and thus become stupid. Or is it too late?
Barbara
NYC
Subj: Wow, Check it Out!
Hi BuzzFlash,
I hope you will go to www.siliconvalley.com and see the article about Bill Gates and his father.
Bill Gates' father is fighting to PRESERVE the estate tax. he disagrees with Bush. He used to be a Republican and he has just changed to Independent. Bill Gates agrees with his father that the estate tax should be preserved. I hope you will post this article!
mev
Re: Blockbuster: Estrada Helped Ted Olson in Bush V. Gore
Dear BuzzFlash,
Please add my voice to those who don't want Estrada--I have been mad ever since Ted Olson got elected to Solic. General--------It infuriated me, when on CNN, old hateful Bob sat there and admitted he and Olson were in the room when this was okayed by the magazine staff---the mess in Arkansas-----I could have spit nails-----As for the election-Gore should have been President, and the more that I learn and see out of Bushy boy and his buddies, the madder I get with the Democratic Party---where was Daschle, Gephardt, etc., during the election? We never heard of them holding any big gatherings for Gore-------where was Edwards in North Carolina-----the list goes on------where were the Tennessee Democrats? Conservative state, so they thought---hiding because instead of standing up for what they knew was right they hunkered down for their re-election-----What was right was defending Gore over the lies-The NRA ran ads that were unreal and the deal over abortion should have been a hot topic and they should have told the truth instead of letting the Conservative Preachers turn everything upside down----half truths---------------Why did they not drive home all the Republican sinning--Blows my mind over the ineptitude --------Don't know if I will vote Democrat this time or not?--May end up staying home--------Don't they know that the American people get up and go to work beginning at 4 in the morning and what they hear mostly on politics is what they hear on the sound bites and when you let the Republicans come on all the media talk shows (Courtesy of the now Republican owned media mongers) and make accusations and tell lies and there is no democrat there to call them down;however, during the deal with Clinton and then with Gore's election, the Democrats sat there and 99 out of 100 times did not call the Republicans down or prove them to be out right liars--------
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Play by the Numbers
Dear BuzzFlash,
I thought that your readership might like the following:
Seems everything is fair in love and war. Certainly in Bush's class war. How many times have we heard the statement "the figures don't lie"? Well, maybe they don't, but how you use them certainly influences the public's perception. In reviewing the Residents (no spelling error) stimulus proposal I note that we have been told that, according to Table 1.1 of the January 14, 2003 "Distribution of Proposal by Income" from the "Tax Provisions in The President’s Economic Stimulus Proposals" the average tax savings would be $843 per household.
But look further and what do you find. If you are one of the bottom 61.3% (the 81,535,000 households who earned under $40,000 in 2001) your average savings would be $118. If you are one of the next higher 28.9% (the 38,405,000 households who earned between $40,000 and 100,000) your average savings would be $951. If you are one of the next higher 9.3% (the 12,301,000 households who earned between $100,000 and $500,000) your average savings would be $3,175.
And, surprise, surprise, if you are one of the 418,000 households (0.3%) who earned between $500,000 and a million dollars, your average savings would be $16,831. And if your were one of the lucky 226,000 households (0.2%) who made over a million dollars, your average savings would be $90,222.
So it turns out that the bottom 90.3% (132,241,000) get an average of $385 and the top 0.2% (226,000) get an average of $90,222.
Dan Scharlin
Dear BuzzFlash,
Not that there is anything necessarily devious going on, but it's an interesting coincidence to see CSX and the Carlyle group working together right now.
CSX Lines to be conveyed to Carlyle venture
Refrigerated Transporter - February 2, 2003 10:19pm
CSX Corp has reached agreement to convey its domestic container shipping unit, CSX Lines LLC, to a venture formed with The Carlyle Group for approximately $300 million in cash and securities.
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. Closing is expected to take place in first-quarter 2003.
CSX Corp will receive $240 million in cash and $60 million of securities issued by the venture. It has the potential to gain additional value if certain financial targets are met.
Charles G “Chuck”Raymond, the current CSX Lines president and chief executive officer, and his management team will remain in place for the Charlotte NC-based ocean carrier, which will be renamed Horizon Lines LLC. Raymond also will chair the board of directors of the company.
Credit Suisse First Boston Corp and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz advised CSX Corp on this transaction.
"Naturally the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
--Hermann Goering, Germany, 1939
Dear BuzzFlash,
There was a lot of good in these mailbags, I could not read until I returned from a trip. To dear Helen Thomas, she is one of our stalwarts and is to be commended for her blatant honesty Helen, he is the worst president we have ever had, bar none! Happy to hear that Tommy Franks may possibly get what is coming to him, hopefully! I watched him, right at the first of the Enron debacle, on c-spans Washington Journal. Someone called in and asked him if he was one of the people who cashed out millions and he said, with a straight lying bald faced."No I was not one of those who did that!" I had just read that there was already trouble with him being nominated for some high position, while stealing from the investors of Enron. What do they think we are????
But, folks, why does the trouble die out so quickly? It does not matter what we find out about one of these scalawags, it just slips on by and nothing is ever found done, until they kill someone and are caught red-handed. I am just so down on this entire administration...they lie, ..for money...they cheat for money. They will literally do anything for money.
I watched some of the SOTU, but couldn't bear it...all! When the Chimp got into the torture thing, I had to stop it!
There are those people, most of the ones I work with, who think that it will be very hard to beat Dubya in 2004..and I fear they are right!!!
My friend, the only democrat I know in this city (almost, I know that the city is all democratic)...anyway, she says she is afraid. She says that if it is as fixed as the last one, we will not be able to throw the bum out! If one party controls everything, how...how can we do it??? Working your backside off, just doesn't matter. On my trip, a funeral, I sat with my cousin who spent about 4 terms in the Missouri state house, and he said, "The minute Bush was placed in the White house (he told his wife), we will be in a war within 18 months."
Quite a prediction, especially with no evidence of any kind of WMD. Even, the pipes they have found are for sure ones left over from the first Iraqi war..in 1991. They have no evidence that they ever had anything in them...that is how long they have been there. If they keep this up,they will have Hussein so mad, it will be like swatting hornets! Perhaps, as some have said, he should turn the tables and order us inspected for WMD! All of the weapons came from us anyway!!! What the hell would the chimp do then????
Keep up the good work! I did see a good sign, on my way to work, which is only about 5 blocks, so this took courage....the sign read, 'No war with Iraq...not in our names.' I have every intention to knock on their door and let them know how pleased I am with their courage! This town has the reputation for being the most democratic place in the midwest, then why can no one speak their mind anymore??? I think I know, when you do, the right looks at you like you killed someone, and when that someone is your own child who has been so brainwashed they are not even aware, it is killing! It is hard to see your three kids change sides for an idiot!!!!
They are all educated, loving people...so long as the subject of politics is not brought up...then we go into a shell. So, it is just not discussed anymore. That is why I have BuzzFlash...I need to send a donation, right???? Right!! I challenge all buzzers to send..even $20 from all of us will help!
Thank you very much........Shirley St. Louis
Subj: Was Columbia being used for Military Purposes (followup)
Dear BuzzFlash,
I just noticed on CNN that military personnel were checking Columbia debris with a geiger counter. Hmmm.
Yours,
John Bonanno
Quote of the Day
"The spectrum of opinion on national political commercial talk radio shows ranges from extreme right wing to very extreme right wing —there is virtually nothing else. There are 80 hours per week, more than 4,000 hours per year, programmed for Republican and conservative talk shows, without a single second programmed for a Democratic or liberal perspective. ... Political opinions expressed on talk radio are approaching the level of uniformity that would normally be achieved only in a totalitarian society. There is nothing fair balanced or democratic about it." -- Atty Edward Monks, in an Oregon newspaper, on the prevalence of right-wing hosts on radio talk shows.
From: http://www.bartcop.com/
Chewgababy
Dear Buzz;
I just wanted to write to let you know that I was offended by one of your headlines. Here is the headline:
Richard Perle Announces, "France is No Longer Our Ally." Someone Needs to Put a Muzzle on this Guy and Tie His Leash to the Fire Hydrant. 2/5
This offended me because the headline aims to equate Richard Perle with a dog, which my dog found rather insulting.
Troy Torstrick
Dear Buzz:
It seems hypocrite extraordinaire, Mr. Bill O'Reilly, is getting his widdle feewers hurt over the boycott of Rush Limbaugh sponsors:
http://www.the-hamster.com/feb1.html#5
SALUTE to "Tack Back The Media" and it's outstanding campaign!
Might this same type of activism work against FAUX news? Anyone out there in cyberspace have the time to track down the sponsors of O'Reilly? How about Hannity and Colmes?
Becky Knight
Dear BuzzFlash:
Have your barf bags at hand.
Despite no FACTS connecting Iraq and the al Qaeda, Dennis "fascist frontline" Miller made lame jokes on Leno about their having each other on speed dial.
And just WHO is crowing about their newest hired tongue? Joe Scarborough! As a guest host on Nachman. I especially love the latest catchphrase----"Hollywood Mafia." Also rich is the Joe Scar bio, which mentions what he drew national attention for.
Hey! What about what he DIDN'T draw national attention for: lying about the health record of the young aide found dead in his office from multiple skull wounds!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/867098.asp
You should see the blurb, too, for the article I just sent----it describes Dennis Miller as a "Bush fan."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/NACHMAN_front.asp?0si=-
Dennis Miller, true renegade?
Guest host former congressman Joe Scarborough explored the incongruity of having a Hollywood celebrity support Bush and the conservative agenda. Appearing on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show," Miller admitted to being a "Bush fan. Scarborough cheers Miller on. Click here to read what he said.
R Miller
Subj: The Best Way to Deal With Iraq
Hi Buzz,
Thanks for being here; a sane voice in the increasingly bipolar American wilderness!
I'm watching Colin make his points on TV, and it strikes me that the best way to control Iraq is for the inspectors to keep on Saddam's case, FOREVER if necessary. Who cares if he has spies among the inspectors, or if he cleans sites before the inspectors arrive? If he has to keep moving everything, HE CAN'T USE IT. If you've ever moved a household, you know what I'm talking about.
I know this won't net Dim Son any oil, but I don't care about that either. It could save the lives of 500,000 innocent Iraqis, and save the Cradle of Civilization.
Darlene
BuzzFlash,
I am sending this letter to my reps (via snail mail because of the length). Sorry it's so long, but I hope everyone is talking and writing about this nonstop. Please write everyone you can think of.
Dear Senator Clinton, Senator Schumer and Representative Carolyn Maloney, Following are excerpts from different articles regarding voter fraud. They are not my words, but I wouldn't be able to make the case any clearer than these people. While I know you are all aware of this, the question is what will be done? We have less than 2 years until the 2004 election. Of course there would be no time for an investigation what with the speed that things move in Washington. Just look at 9/11. But let me make something very clear: This is what makes people NOT VOTE! We now have a population in which less than 40% of the people vote. Do we want to try for 20%, or perhaps 10%? I have never NOT voted. However, if I come to believe that elections are fixed, which right now doesn't seem very far fetched, I will no longer vote and I will convince everyone I know not to vote. Yes, this will result in 4 more years of George Bush. The same result probably now holds true if everyone votes. Everything we do, the letter writing, protesting, organizing, campaigning, speeches, voter outreach, raising money, is all for nothing if this situation continues to go unchecked. These electronic voting machines should be banned immediately and I would like to see some legislation come up for this very, very soon. Every day a little piece of our democracy dies. When voting goes, there goes our life support. It will be time to give up then. Are you afraid of the republican accusations that the Democrats just cannot get over it and accept that they lost? Well here's my answer. Yes, we certainly would be able to accept we lost if we did in fact lose. We cannot accept a loss that wasn't a loss. Who cares what they say? We must move past that.
Article by Thom Hartmann for Common Dreams News:
" Maybe Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel honestly won two US Senate elections. Maybe it's true that the citizens of Georgia simply decided that incumbent Democratic Senator Max Cleland, a wildly popular war veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam, was, as his successful Republican challenger suggested in his campaign ads, too unpatriotic to remain in the Senate."
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence that the sudden rise of inaccurate exit polls happened around the same time corporate-programmed, computer-controlled, modem-capable voting machines began recording and tabulating ballots."
"But if any of this is true, there's not much of a paper trail from the voters' hand to prove it." " The respected Washington, DC publication The Hill has confirmed that former conservative radio talk-show host and now Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel was the head of, and continues to own part interest in, the company that owns the company that installed, programmed, and largely ran the voting machines that were used by most of the citizens of Nebraska."
From Interview with Earl Katz about his documentary "Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election" " Can you talk a little bit about the so-called felon purge and its implications for the casting of ballots in the infamous Florida election of 2000?"
"Well, we actually refer to it as a false felony list because it was set up to cast as broad a net as possible. Tens of thousands of non-felons -- people whose votes should have been counted -- were not counted. And most of these "false felons" were from African American communities in Florida, which mostly vote for Democratic candidates. So it was a way of intentionally disenfranchising people."
"Now there was one scene that had a remarkable statistic in it -- where you interviewed a Florida county election supervisor where they did a survey of the people listed on their county felons' list and found that virtually all of them were eligible to vote. Out of 900 and some people, there were very few actual felons on it. But they were required by Katherine Harris to deny the right to vote to anyone who was on that list."
"In the same relative time period, back in Washington, supporters of Bush and Cheney were creating a sort of mob scene outside of the Vice President's house at the Naval Observatory in D.C. -- again chanting and yelling "Get out of Cheney's house" to Gore. And it seemed that there was a lot of very visible bullying going on during the election. And this mob scene in Miami-Dade was probably the most visible and most widely known symbol of that effort to intimidate the vote recount."
"Now you have a scene in there that many people have read about and heard about: Congressional staffers -- some of them working for Tom DeLay or apparently recruited by him or his staff -- actually conduct an intimidation riot in Miami-Dade County, which shuts down the voting recount there at a critical time. And you identify these people in the film -- who they are and who they are working for in Congress. And it's kind of chilling to see these relatively young Republican shock troops conducting of a mob action in a voting place, which I thought was illegal."
Barbara-NYC
Subject: About Rush Limbaugh
Dear Buzz,
Rush Limbaugh's logic is defective, and his rhetorical methodology is fatuous. It comes from a lack of understanding the nuances of real life. His simple-minded rage venting only serves to cover up a deep fear of being found out. His Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.) is much lower than is Emotional Quotient (E.Q.) which is far more potent and active. He has highly developed cunning which many times is mistaken for I.Q. and he has a tried and true sense of strategy in which he has learned that he can dominate any situation or conversation if he approaches all things in attack mode.
Psychologists are familiar with this type of habitual and compulsive acting out. It's based on feeling threatened and on the fear of being beaten in an argument or in any other way. It stems from deep feelings of psychological and intellectual inferiority. He puts on a blustering act of aggressive anger to silence others before they expose his lack of mental depth.
As for his audience of "20 million" they are simply a reflection of those who are like him. They are his army of angry automatons whom he easily manipulates emotionally by fomenting their resentment and impotent rage against those who are better than they are in every way.
Mr. Limbaugh has been seduced by his own self-delusions and thinks that by manipulating a segment of the population into a frenzied rage that it makes him more powerful than he really knows he is.
His simple-minded approach boils down to the George W. Bush quality of seeing everything in the most basic black and white, right and wrong, us or them mentality in which he thinks that by demonizing everything he doesn't happen to agree with and which can expose his deluded take on reality that he'll end up the "winner".
A devoted fan of BuzzFlash,
Madelon from Alaska
Subj: Blood of the Lamb
Dear BuzzFlash,
"Wonder Working Power" were selected words our selected president used in his State of the Union Address. But does he understand the full import of the words?
Taken from a hymn, "Power in the Blood" written in 1899 by Lewis E. Johnson and printed in a Methodist Hymnal. The chorus sings to the blood of the lamb: "There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder working pow'r, In the blood, of the Lamb; There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder working pow'r, In the precious blood of the Lamb." Three verses are interspersed with this refrain and might have a deeper meaning than either Bush or his religious mentor imagined, blood of the lamb might warn of the blood sacrificed by the precious children on the battlefields of this war, this Shrub War, first Poppy and now Junior War. This high technique, modern war in an area once known as Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilizations between the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers, Iraq. A devastating war in an ancient area claimed as the bedrock of many religions. Is this a bloody omen for the future of our civilization? Are we willingly trading the precious blood of the lamb (children) for oil?
"Wonder Working Power," the blood of the children. Corporate stigmata, exchanged for world hegemony.
A BuzzFlash
Reader
Silver
City, NM
Dear BuzzFlash,
Having just listened to Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council, if that is all they have, they have nothing! Fuzzy pictures that could have been taken in any country, "sources" with no backup proof, and, most of all, the theme of "Trust us." I DON'T trust them. These are the same people who lied through their teeth during the Vietnam war; hid the fact that any chemicals Saddam has, US and British companies gladly supplied; and we already know they will do and say anything to get this unilateral war on as Bush's poll numbers drop.
We all know that this war is on, on in February, regardless of proof of anything, or nothing. The UN must not give them cover! The Bush cartel's feet must be held to the fire!
Bev
