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Subj: SAVAGE Indeed!
GUESS WHO SAID THIS?
"You rats! You stinking rats who hide in the sewers! You think you can go after my income? ? You think I’m Dr. Laura? You think I'm going to roll over like a pussy? You're wrong. I'll find out where you get your money from. You live by handouts, all of you. You live off grants, all of you. You're a bunch of beggars and we will do everything we can within the legal realm to cut off that funding! We are also going to the U.S. Justice Department under John Ashcroft. What you are doing is illegal!"
If you came up with MSNBC-TV host Michael Savage, responding to gay and lesbian groups protesting his hiring, buy yourself a brownie.
***Got this from Eric Alterman's column.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Illegal Bribery
Buzz,
I am no lawyer, but isn't attempting to bribe foreign officials illegal? Should someone call Judicial Watch?
FROM: ARTICLE LINK
At the White House, Fleischer said Turkey would lose a proposed $15 billion aid package unless it went along.
"The particular package that we've been talking to them about was predicated on assistance and cooperation in any plan for the use of force against Iraq," Fleischer said.
Keep up the good work.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: US Wants North Korean Nukes
Dear BuzzFlash,
The US government-by-thugs is desperate for North Korea to have nukes. The administration is praying a missile test will be made, and that it will have the possibility of hitting the US. We're going to let this drag on as long as humanly possible. Then, that crazy "Star Wars" Missile Defense System will me mandated, tested or not.
Yes, the administration is crazy - crazy sly. We're going to be brought past the point of no return again by one distraction and another. Brought once again to a point we never should have gotten to in the first place.
KaBoom.
Vicki Roush
Key
West, FL
Hi BuzzFlash,
Below is a blurb from this week's issue of New York Magazine:
Eric Alterman: Conspiracy Theorist
First Hillary Clinton griped about a right-wing conspiracy; now it’s Eric Alterman’s turn. The columnist for The Nation was scheduled to do a reading in L.A. last week from his anti-conservative book What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News. But, he says, a woman claiming to rep him called the store to cancel, saying he was ill. She did the same with C-Span, which was to tape the reading. Fortunately, Alterman found out about it, and the reading went ahead as planned. But then, Alterman says, when he got to the airport, he was told that a woman had canceled his plane ticket.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sure, Eric is just a paranoid. It was all in his imagination. Just like it was all in Hillary's imagination. (His "anti-conservative book"?). Time to cancel my subscription.
Barbara
NYC
Subj: things that make you say "Hmmm"
Dear Buzz,
Isn't it a terribly convenient coincidence that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been arrested just as war is about to begin? It seems to counter the argument that we can't fight al-qaeda and Iraq at the same time. Presto! We get a key arrest. Curious.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
Thanks so much for all the information you are putting on your site. I feel so educated! And very scared. I took Elaine in Petaluma's advice and called the Baltimore precinct - I spoke to a man in media relations - I think he was a director, or something like that. He was actually very nice and we spoke for a while. He told me he wanted to read the article himself because he had heard nothing about the 14 hours and about the room being freezing and no food, etc. He seemed pretty open minded and wasn't being too defensive, which I didn't expect. He explained that when the mall called the police to remove these people, the police had no choice because it is the law under the Supreme Court (remember them?) that the mall had the right to chase away these people because the mall is private property. We had a pretty civilized conversation about the whole thing and I explained that I was concerned because I am hearing stories like this from all over the country. I told him about the one in upstate New York where the man was arrested for wearing the Peace shirt. The same excuse was used there. The mall is private property and they have the right under federal law to remove these "trespassers". This is what's going to be going on from now on. They now consider wearing a t-shirt or handing out flyers to be civil disobedience! When I expressed to the man from the precinct that there seems to be a pattern developing, he shared with me that he was around in the Viet Nam era and the same pattern was going on then. I then told him that the protestors are much more well-behaved this time around, and that there must be bigger things for police to be spending their time with (such as terrorism, maybe?). Anyway, as several other BuzzFlashers have suggested, when these things happen, as they will continue to, we all should really speak out, no matter where they are happening. It's getting scarier and scarier. Nuns getting kicked off planes, etc. Shrubco is really protecting us from those dangerous flyer-hander-outers and t-shirt wearers.
Barbara
NYC
Subj: Pressgaggle.com-Ari Fleischer's Vanity Site
Dear Buzz,
http://www.pressgaggle.com/index.html
No mention of who sponsors the site but notice that the "Excerpts" section skips over FEB. 25, the day that Mr. Fleischer got laughed out of the briefing room.
The site is nothing but a bunch of links to the White House. Pretty soon the site could be renamed "The Press Gag Room" if Bush & Co. has its way. Maybe the goal is to have all websites link to the White House.
Regards from the very worried,
Jamie Peppard
Huntington NY
Subj: Coalition of the Willing
Dear BuzzFlash,
The totally inane expression "coalition of the willing" being touted by the White House makes me double over with laughter. The least they could do is call it the "coalition of the threatened, bribed and inconsequential". Bravo to France, Russia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, etc, etc, etc. The message that is being sent to the US administration is " I know it is a shock but you are only ONE country amongst many not the sole decision-maker for the world."
As for the Bush threat that the UN must support the US or become irrelevant, I think the countries that make up the UN will give their response and that will be "Your threats and intimidation are irrelevant!"
You do a FANTASTIC job of keeping us well informed! Thank you Buzz!
Bev
Subj: our democracy
so let me get this straight. while we are arresting people in a mall for wearing a peace t-shirt-----our government is on tv telling us they want to free the people in iraq from a dictatorship. the arrest gets very little news coverage but the disdain and news coverage of the college girl turning her back on the flag is talked to death. hmmmmm, just wanted to understand what kind of country bush is making for us.
katie johnson
Subj: The ABA and Miguel Estrada
Dear Buzz,
Oh smart, patriotic Americans! Please help my feeble brain figure this out! Why are the Republicans saying that Miguel Estrada received a"unanimous top rating by the ABA" when fighting for his nomination? I could have sworn that G.W. and his merry band of hypocrites were trying to eliminate the ABA rating system for judicial nominees. Which is it - do I have a vivid imagination, or a well-justified distrust of this administration?
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Did you See This?
'Peace'
T-shirt gets man arrested
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/03/05/offbeat.peace.arrest.reut/index.html
Scary stuff. I saw your link to it after I started composing this email...this link has a pic of the "offensive" shirt. I'd like to find one just like it and wear it around everywhere I go.
Funny how something as scary as this, assuming it's entirely true, gets put under the category of "Offbeat news". Welcome to the true "Homeland"...
Faron
Subj: Please don't let them hijack patriotism
Dear BuzzFlash,
When the American Right hijacked Christianity, they cynically painted Liberals as having ceded the moral high ground. Now, in response to our stand against war on Iraq, they are attempting to hijack patriotism. We cannot let them get away with this.
The Glenn Beck "Rallies for America" are attracting more and more attendees and gaining prominence in the media. At the Oklahoma City rally this week, a small group of young anti-war activists tried to give voice to the patriotic belief that, by their very willingness to step into harm's way for our country, American soldiers have earned the right to competent, principled leaders who will not send them to their deaths for oil and imperialism.
Despite the fact that the rally was advertised as open to the public, the protestors were thrown out of the building, one was pushed to the ground and her sign destroyed, and two of the protestors were arrested. The building owners are now considering filing charges against them for trespassing.
All of these wonderful young people deserve our praise and support. But, more important, if they're willing to take a stand against the fascist co-option of American patriotism, should we not follow their brave example?
If you're against the coming war, do not buy the lie that your belief is inconsistent with patriotism or that respect for the soldiers equates with support for unprovoked assault on a sovereign nation. Let the world know that your concern for the American men and women at the front is all the greater in the face of such a morally unjustifiable act.
There are at least four pending Glenn Beck rallies. If you live in or near the cities listed below, please consider attending, in peace and in defense of true patriotism.
Mary P.
Tucson,
Az.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Omaha, NB Rally for America
March 8, 2003
Noon at the Heartland of America Park
8th & Douglas Streets in downtown Omaha
http://beck.integritytoday.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pittsburgh, PA Rally for America
March 8, 2003
11 AM Point Park
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Philadelphia, PA Rally for America
March 16, 2003
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charleston, SC Rally for America
March 22nd, 2003
2:00pm Joe Riley Stadium
http://www.730wsc.com/rallycentral.html
Subj: The Worst Nightmare
BuzzFlash:
What a horrible scenario: El Chimpo unites the world against the United States and moves close to the edge of an illegal and immoral war with Iraq. Suddenly at the last minute there is some type of resolution. Hussein is exiled, assassinated; who knows.... The end result paints El Chimpo as a conquering hero with firing a (or very many) shots. Kind of like when the world was on the edge with the Cuban missile crisis.....
To maintain his regained popularity among the beer-swilling U.S. sheeple, what is the pResiden'ts next action? "Conquering" a tanking economy? Of course not. In a very easy move, all those troops and military hardware are brought to aim on North Korea.
War is the only policy the Rushpugnicans understand. Such a move would rally the brain-dead to the Commander-In-Thief's side and give him the needed momentum to carry the 2004 election (along with a few rigged electronic voting machines).
Bill Dougan
Fred Kaplan - "Bully Bush"
"In last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, George Packer reports that when Bush met in January with top Iraqi exile-dissidents, they had a hard time explaining the differences between the Sunnis and the Shiites. The president seemed surprised that the two groups existed, much less that they had conflicts."
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: W National Guard Papers
Re: http://www.BuzzFlash.com/contributors/03/03/05_Vol_lores.jpg
Did you notice that in addition to not checking the overseas area preferences, the y/n box was not checked on the question about conviction in civil court or pending actions in civil court, including minor traffic violations? Now I know that if I don't check a box of this type on my licensure renewal, I will get a query from the State Board, and no renewal until the question is answered. (Admittedly, the licensure board doesn't want to know about your parking violations (specifically excluded), but it sure wants to know about any DWIs, drunk and disorderly, and probably any arrests at shopping malls for wearing peace T-shirts.
Nancy Phillips,
M.D.
St. Louis, MO
Subj: The Mall's New Story
Dear BuzzFlash,
You just gotta love those desperate liars whose story never quite hangs together. My friend called the mall that had the lawyer arrested for wearing a peace shirt. Here's her summary:
"I got the number for the mall PR people in Albany, NY. She read me a statement that claims the 2 men were disruptive and not kicked out JUST for the t-shirt. She could NOT tell me why they would then be charged with trespass and NOT disorderly conduct."
Whoops! Someone who can remember the previous story and notice the discrepancies! What's a lousy cover-up brigade to do?
Robyn Su
Millerz
Quincy,
MA
Subj: Lawyer turns tables on Bully Bastard mall owner
Dear BuzzFlash,
Re: Mall owner wants to drop charges against T-shirt lawyer
Evidently, the manager and owner of the Guilderland, NY mall had not considered the possibility of a lawyer with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct falling prey to their charades.
The exposed episode makes me wonder how many other shoppers have been asked to remove their anti-war T-shirts, leave the property, or face arrest. How many others wearing anti-war T-shirts (who were not lawyers) have fallen prey to the charade without any notoriety whatsoever?
The mall owner made the statement that T-shirts distract the shoppers. If he bases his bouncer tactics on that statement, half the mall would be asked to remove their shirts or face arrest. Think of all the Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts out there. How about all the little kids sporting Disney character T-shirts. I find it hard to believe that mothers would be asked to remove Mickey Mouse T-shirts from their children based on the owners excuse, "T-shirts distract shoppers."
We should thank our lucky freedoms that an anti-war lawyer was singled out for harassment ...this time!
~ Cathy
Subj: Blitzkrieg
Dear Buzz,
Apropos of the "shock and awe tactics" our military is planning to use to smite Iraq, the Nazis invented the idea and called it Blitzkrieg. It worked in the beginning but served to inspire enormous hatred and resistance in their enemies, and the Nazis lost the war. It might be useful to refer to shock and awe tactics by that old German name - it isn't Iraq who is behaving like Hitler.
All the best,
Pamela Jones
Subj: Why the "Alerts"?
Regarding the question above: I believe the answer is "To cover the administration's collective ass."
Best to BuzzFlash, and good luck in the coming conflict.
--Philip.
Subj: Bush Administration Defined
Which do you think has the nicer ring to it??
Megalomaniacal
sociopathic prevaricators!
or
Megalomaniacal
prevaricating sociopaths!
Wes McKane
