November 11, 2003

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Subj: Jessica Lynch

Re: The Bush Cartel Ministry of Propaganda Made a Mistake When They Tried to Make a Heroine Out of Jessica Lynch: She Turned Out to Really be One

Down here in West Virginia we can smell 3 day old dead skunk. We began to smell it when Jessica was given her medal and promotion behind closed doors and not by a Bushie. If she was such a hero as they were making out why didn't they have photo ops from Washington to Palestine. We really got choked on the aroma when it was noticed that she thanked many people including Gov. Bob Wise and Sen. Rockefeller but didn't say a word about King George. Lastly we think the stink of the skunk has become unbearable as the local neocons are trying to tear her down for not meeting that Iraqi. She was a hero when the thought they could use her but now they are going to try to tear her apart. Jessica was wounded in the service of her country unlike King George's daughters who think that public service means they get free drinks.

Michael


Subj: Beautiful Article!

Dear BuzzFlash,

I was moved to tears by the headline on today's page. The article on Jessica Lynch is something special...and so is she. In fact, I'd say, she's turned out to be a far greater hero to Americans, Iraqis and all good people than all our military leaders and politicians combined. So young, and yet so brave--in the tradition of Jimmy Stewart, we have finally found someone who, in her youth and honesty, is willing to sacrifice her own potential glory for the good of others.

I'm just waiting now for the next installment: Miss Jessica Goes to Washington!

Bravo,

Teresa Whitehurst, author, "How Would Jesus Raise a Child?"


Subj: "White House Puts Limits on Queries From Democrats" - By Dana Milbank, Washington Post 11-7-03

Hello BuzzFlash,

I read from the subject article that GeeDubya's White House finds it an inconvenience to provide answers for the same inquiry to multiple questioners:

"The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from congressional Democrats about how the administration is using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient solution: It will not entertain any more questions from opposition lawmakers.

They said this would limit "duplicate requests" and help answer questions "in a timely fashion."

It would also do another thing: prevent Democrats from getting questions answered without the blessing of the GOP committee chairmen."

hmmmmmm . . . how convenient.

So . . . . GeeDubya doesn't want to be bothered answering any questions from Democratic committee members, he will only answer to inquiries "coordinated through the committee chairmen and be put in writing from the committee."

What that means is that the White House will only answer to inquiries made by REPUBLICAN committee chairmen.

In today's day and age of technology, the White House cannot figure out a way to send the same response to multiple inquiries asking the same question? They cannot figure out a way to respond to multiple parties, such as CC-ing an e-mail, posting a response on a White House website, or some other novel and innovative approach?

I have a very simple solution to this problem for the White House and those pesky congressional Democrats:

Instead of meekly asking the White House to answer to questions via private congressional inquiry, why don't congressional Democrats, as well as those nine candidates running for the Democratic nomination, vocally and publicly demand answers to questions?!? And if we don't get a response, why don't we all CONTINUE to DEMAND answers, more PUBLICLY, LOUDLY and VOCALLY, until we GET those answers?

Eventually, if we are vocal enough, we will either finally get the answers we deserve, or if we don't, it will be clear to the American People that they do not think they need to answer to us.

HEY DEMOCRATS - START SCREAMING !!!!!!!

It's up to us to not let them get away with answering to the American People.

Warmest Regards,

GK, a Fervently Loyal, Patriotic, Devoted and Proud Liberal BuzzFlash Reader


Your editorial on Jessica Lynch was right on the point.

Keep it up!

Jay F. Bush


Subj: W

This morning I noticed that "President Bush expressed his condolences to Crown Prince Abdullah and told him the United States stands with Saudi Arabia in the war against terrorism." Too bad he can't do the same for the families of our dead / maimed troops.

Larry Rasnick


Subj: Bush, man of integrity?!

Dear Buzz,

I'm with FC from Rochester ("Subj: Bush's Phony Cowboy Image," mailbag, 11/10/03).

The fact that people ever thought--let alone still think--Bush is "a man of integrity" indicates another glaring failure of the media to inform, on par with their failure to successfully convey the fact that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.

A BuzzFlash Reader
[a single-payer-loving, U.N.-loving, gay-rights-supporting Canadian]


Subj: Jessica Lynch Editorial and Drudging up Jessica

Fine editorial on Jessica Lynch and integrity. Sunday night the insufferable Matt Drudge railed on and on, attacking Jessica Lynch for accepting a book contract (which Drudge would surely never do), for being attractive, for living in West Virginia, for being raped or not being raped, whichever (he sneered) it was.

We need to establish a website to post daily statements of the braying asses who spend hours vilifying and mocking decent human beings.

Doug Giebel
Big Sandy, MT


Subj: Guantanamo Base

Am I correct in believing that the United States leases this land from Cuba, Flies the Colors of the United States at that location every day of the year, but this area is not covered by U.S. jurisprudence?? Sounds a bit like horseshit to me.

Raymond


Subj: Peace Groups Demand a Cut

Dear Folks:

I guess you didn't pick up the piece from the Sacramento Bee on the undercover police officer who was spying on a peace group in Fresno, California. (Yes, I too was surprised to find a peace group in Fresno, but there it is.) Apparently local law enforcement agencies have been unable to find actual terrorist groups in their communities and are now reduced to justifying their allocations of funds to fight terrorism by spying on local peace groups. While one might suggest that this is not the most appropriate use of such funds, we must be sympathetic to those law enforcement agencies that have been unable to find active Al Qaeda cells on which to spy.

What is entirely unjustifiable, however, is the failure of the local police to share their anti-terrorism funds with the groups on which they are spying. In Fresno the police spy paid only the $12 membership fee to the local peace group which, so far as is known, had no plans to run planes into anything, plant bombs in front of the local federal building, or perform any suicide attack at the local mall. Thus, the local police agency was able to assert that it was devoting funds to anti-terrorism work when, in fact, they had one officer forced to sit through long, boring meetings. And we can assume that the federal government paid handsomely for his reports.

This is entirely unacceptable. Peace groups should demand at least 50% of the anti-terrorism funds used to spy on them. We should encourage law enforcement agencies to collect as much money as possible from the federal government, particularly in those states like California, where state budgets are in deficit. What cannot be tolerated, however, is the failure of local law enforcement to share the wealth with the groups on which they are spying. Leaflets, peace vigils and demonstrations cost money, and it is only fair that those provide the justification for police spying get a share of the resources.

Our slogan should not be something about the denial of civil liberties or the silliness of spying on the entirely harmless. Instead

IF YOU'RE GOING TO SPY ON ME, GIVE ME MY CUT!

Alison Brennan


Subj: Great Job! Gore is the true patriot!

Remember what Adolf Hitler once said:

"The bigger the lie the more people will believe it..."

Al Gore is right on the money!

A BuzzFlash Reader


Subj: Here comes The MATRIX, Part 5: The real Movie!

Hi to all at BuzzFlash.com,

I guess it's slowly time to say goodbye to Poindexter's Total Information Awareness TIA, for here comes the real thing through the backdoor: THE MATRIX! An even bigger attempt of data-mining, but this time as a private IIR-initiative sponsored by government money - thus Congress can't intervene or stop anything. Really a clever step one must admit frankly.

As far as we can see, the US Police-State is not just slowly emerging, like e.g. Al Gore marked it in his remarkable speech at the recent Moveon-event, but rather a reality, as it is the Global Police State as well. Things develop real fast and silent in the background, camouflaged as private projects, and the whole issue is from real big concern: if you guys in the US can't prevent and stop the Bushie's from turning the US into a Police State, we're facing the same road down just a little bit later-on ......

Check it out, and keep on going strong and have a real good time anyway.

http://www.iir.com/matrix/

With kind regards from Switzerland,

Jan Ackermann


Subj: Jessica Lynch Editorial

Dear BuzzFlash:

Regarding your 10 November editorial on Jessica Lynch. Bravo! That is the best piece I've read yet on the Lynch story.

Keep up the excellent work. The Bush Cartel must go in '04.

Best regards,

Jim Fiala.


Subj: The Tufts Daily

The Latest Bushism is Not so Humorous

As I was reading the Daily yesterday, I came across the article, "Bush bans partial-birth abortions" (November 5, 2003). I was nearing the end of the article when I read the President's declaration that "this right to life cannot be granted or denied by government, because it does not come from government- it comes from the creator of life." I nearly jumped out of my seat.

This statement is severely flawed, both in its content and in the larger context of abortion in America.

[LINK]

Rosamond


Subj: Conservatives and the lie of "less government"

Conservatives claim that they want less government. This claim is only partially true. They want less government when it comes to things such as regulation to ensure safety and fairness in business and when it comes to the government taking any of their wealth to help the impoverished. However in all other areas they want big government involvement, areas where individual choice should reign supreme. For instance, the government wants to be able to mandate whether or not a person should be forced to remain alive in a vegetative state. They want to remove the possibility for a woman to obtain an abortion, regardless of the consequences, after all, making abortion illegal will not stop abortions. It will simply ensure that the wealthy women can obtain safe, albeit illegal abortions while the poverty stricken will be butchered in back alley clinics. In short, they want the government to dictate and criminalize issues of morality. Unfortunately, when the religious right is involved, their idea of morality is much narrower than the average Joe. After all, the Bible says that fornication is a sin and that those who indulge in such will not be allowed to enter eternal paradise in Heaven. Does this mean that we can soon expect the government to criminalize heterosexual premarital sex? If I choose to indulge in sex outside of marriage will I soon be facing jail time or fines? The government cannot legislate morality, it just doesn't work.

Patricia Schoenberger
Eden Prairie, MN


Subj: Honoring Rush Limbaugh

To the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Claremont Institute:

It is certainly your right and privilege to choose to honor anyone you wish with your "Statesmanship" award, as you plan to honor Rush Limbaugh on the evening of November 21. I must, however, ask why you would choose such a person as Limbaugh to honor with such a high-sounding award.

I will not debate Rush's politics with you, nor will I debate your own. However, I feel compelled to ask if you have considered the following information:

Rush Limbaugh is an admitted drug abuser. He has admitted buying them illegally from street sources, or rather, sending an employee out to risk herself to buy him illicit drugs instead of risking his own neck. He has continued this behavior for the past six years without breathing a word to his audience or his patrons, who assume that he actually tries to occupy the moral high ground to which he admonishes the rest of us to aspire. Only when he was "outed" did he belatedly confess to his illegal and immoral behavior. To further his crimes, he lied to millions of people by pretending that he was "choosing" to reveal this information to his audience, that his confession and its timing had nothing to do with the fact that stories were already going to press about his addiction. Not only is he a junkie, no different that the crack addict nodding off behind a dumpster, but like the stereotypical street junkie, he lies about his addiction until caught out, when he resorts to excuses for his unacceptable behavior: a fine example of "justify and deny."

He has frequently and repeatedly excoriated drug users of all stripes, and makes no differentiation between abusers of street drugs and those who purchase black-market prescription drugs. Nor should he. Yet Limbaugh has not admitted that he is a drug abuser; instead, he says he is "sick." (He has routinely laughed off the idea that drug addiction and alcoholism is an illness or a disorder when others have made that point about other addicts.) Instead of standing by the principles he espouses and turning himself in to the police, he has hired a top-drawer lawyer -- the same lawyer he reviled on the air during the William Kennedy Smith trial -- and withdrawn into the rarefied atmosphere of a luxury spa and rehabilitation center.

Instead of admitting and discussing the moral, spiritual, and/or physical weaknesses that led him to become an addict, as he routinely characterizes those other addicts who have been targeted on his show, Limbaugh has lied about the cause behind his own addiction. He has concocted mysterious and sudden " spinal pain" that has caused him to become hooked on drugs. I find it interesting that the same man who spent six years in supposed agony, enough to be driven to buying painkillers and hallucinogens from street-corner drug dealers, could take up the game of golf (a game quite taxing on the spine) and become quite proficient at it. Obviously he is lying about the root causes of his addiction.

While he tells his audience that he wants to be honest with them, he tells them a package of lies, one wrapped within the other. And people like you and your organization buy into it.

I do not presume to judge the man for becoming addicted to drugs. All of us have within us the seeds of our own destruction, in one form or another. For becoming an addict, Limbaugh deserves our pity, not our hatred. However, I do presume to judge him by the standards he has set forth for every other human being on the planet. He is intolerant of any sort of drug abuse -- except his own. He insists that truth is a precious commodity, to be valued above all else -- except when it comes to his own failings. He has sat in judgment of many, many others and found them wanting. He has made those people targets to be reviled, lambasted, and dismissed. Now we find that for the last six years, while he was sitting in judgment of the rest of us, Limbaugh was indulging in the very behaviors he pretended to despise. He was raging against the evils of drug addiction while illegal, unnecessary drugs were coursing through his own system, skewing his judgment and altering his mind. By omission, he has lied to his audience and his patrons every single time he went on the air under the influence of these drugs.

I do not condemn his addiction. I condemn his hypocrisy. I condemn his lies. I condemn the fact that he considers his audience too stupid to see through his transparencies. And I condemn you and your organization for giving this paragon of hypocrisy and moral double standards any sort of award.

Max Black


AN AMERICAN OUTRAGE--Feeding the Not-So-Poor Politician's Child

Nepotism (Liz Cheney and Ben Stevens) cronyism are so blatant in the Bush Administration that no one even bothers trying to conceal it anymore as daily more offspring of the powerful suckle at the taxpayer "tit".

Amanda Lang


Subj: Yard fury over Bush visit

I thought you might find this interesting:

"American officials want a virtual three-day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protestors. They are demanding that police ban all marches and seal off the city centre."

"...the Met and the US Secret Service have reportedly agreed "rules of engagement" allowing Bush bodyguards to shoot anyone they believe is clearly threatening the life of the President." [LINK]

Nick


Subj: Letter to the Editor - Is America Torturing Prisoners?

There have been many allegations that the Bush Administration is torturing prisoners of war being held indefinitely at Guantánamo Bay, which they deny. But who is telling the truth? Are they being tortured or aren't they? The question can be easily resolved if Bush would let in the media or the Red Cross - but he refuses to do so. Why? Who knows for sure - but when you have a president who is covering up - it makes you wonder if he has something to hide.

Marc Perkel
San Francisco, CA.


Subj: Veterans Day

Every Vet should go have a drink and send the bill to the White House. Hell, they've got $87 Billion, you'd think they could buy a vet a drink.

Richard L. Fricker


Subj: Janklow Must Be In Deep Shit.... CNN Is Now Calling Him A Democrat

In a article on the Janklow pretrial maneuvering, CNN has a Picture of Janklow, labeling him D... which I assume does not mean dumb or drunk, but democrat. This is in their Political section....

Duane

[BuzzFlash Note: Perhaps CNN was trying to deflect more criticism of the Grand Hypocrisy Party and the moral degenerates it attracts.]


Subj: Voters Should Demand More

Dear BuzzFlash,

When we use an ATM machine, we get a receipt for the transaction. Credit card transactions yield receipts too. In fact, any transaction that is worth its weight is met with some type of receipt or signed copy of an agreement. When we have discrepancies with business, what is the first question the clerk asks? Do you have your receipt! We are a nation of records. There are companies that make a business of storing records off-site for most of our corporations.

Why don't manufacturers of touch screen voting machines encourage paper trails? I'm certain that Diebold would refuse to do business with a bank that did not offer receipts and copies of their transactions. Can anyone imagine dealing with a bank that does not offer ATM receipts or monthly statements on account activity? Imagine your credit card company sending you a statement that says pay $200 this month and that's all... no record of balance... no record of what you paid last month... no record of recent purchases, etc. Essentially, most touch screen voting devices offer no more than the scenarios above. The only proof you have is that you voted. Your signature in book at the precinct verifies that you were there - not who you voted for.

Voting in America is the most important and precious transaction we make, yet when we use touch screen voting devices, we have no idea if our votes registered correctly in the master memory bank. Now here's the irony... if you were foolish enough to send that $200 to the credit card company, mentioned above, and they applied it to another customer, you would never know. It's just a scenario, but you would be outraged if you could prove that your money was credited to someone else. The touch screen devices and their flaws are not scenarios. Why more Americans are not demanding accuracy from touch screen voting devices is an extremely troubling question.

~ Cathy


Subj: Another sign of the apocalypse

Tom Daschle on MSNBC this morning bemoaned the fact that more attention is paid when Democrats and Republicans wrangle than when they work together and, continuing on, described his relationship with Trent Lott and Bill Frist as "great" and "good" respectively. He's proud of that?

In his place I could see expressing the hope that with an abundance of patience and skill a good politician can find a way to work with all sorts of for the common good" but if I had a "great" relationship with Trent Lott, I wouldn't exactly boast about it.

Sincerely,

Rosamond


Subj: Who needs an exit strategy?

Dear Buzz:

Its occurred to me that there's a very good reason this administration has no exit strategy in Iraq --- they're not planning on exiting.

When you think about it, they've slogged through this horrendous monstrosity of a mess this far. (Can't you picture the neocons in private shaking their heads and muttering 'dang' over how hard this has been?). Do we really think they're going to just hand over all that lovely, profitable oil to of all people... the Iraqi's? Not on your mama's tintype. That black gold is the only reason we went through this horror to begin with. Its our's damn it, we stole it fair and square.

No, we're in for the long haul. As long as there's a neocon shadow government in play over here (and that could last one more year or 50), money and bodies will be pumped into this region to "reconstruct and liberate." Don't be surprised if the draft gets slowly and quietly reinstated. The only saving grace is the fact that Iraq is such a mess, its put the brakes (at least for now) on getting their mitts on Syria and Iran. But there's always tomorrow...

Laurie


Sent to the CBS Evening News:

Subj: Roberts Report on Intercept of Plane heading to White House

Your report of the quick interception of the small plane heading to the White House once again raises questions about 9-11.

Andrews AFB responded when the plane was only 47 miles away. Yet on 9-11 no planes from Andrews were launched to intercept Flt. 77 which was returning from Ohio, some 350 to 400 miles away. Flt. 77 hit the Pentagon at least an hour an a half after the first hijackings were known. Maybe you should have mentioned this in your story and that no explanation has ever been given for this failure on the part of NORAD. In fact NORAD is resisting turning over documents to the 9-11 Committee. The Commanding General resisting this is the same one that was in charge on 9-11 and who was rewarded for his failure by being promoted to CG of the new Northern Command. It is unusual for one man to have two commands.

Your report also mentioned that Cheney had been immediately taken to the Emergency Command Center (White House Bunker) just as on 9-11. That is not correct.

According to the Woodward/Balz Wash. Post series "10 Days in September", Cheney was not taken to the ECC until just before Flt.77 hit the Pentagon. In fact according to the article he saw the report on TV while going to the ECC. No one has explained why he was in his office rather than in the ECC. Also in that same series was the report that Rumsfeld came from his office to the scene of the crash. But he too should have been at his post in the National Military Command Center, not in his office. And we all know that Bush sat in a classroom listening to a story about goats while Flt. 77 zeroed in on the Pentagon. He too should have gone to his post, AF One, immediately upon learning of the attacks.

So why were no planes intercepted? Why is the FAA and NORAD refusing to provide the data? Why were Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld not at their posts while the nation was under attack?

Congress and the media have failed the nation in not getting answers to these questions. Hell, they haven't even been asked. Failed is perhaps too weak a word, betrayed might be more suitable.

Robert E. Reynolds, Orange Park, Fl


Subj: Cut and Run?

Your headline and link Arrested Russian Businessman Is Carlyle Group Adviser might just explain the recent "retirement" of Poppy ... what did he find out on his recent visit to Russia that made him make the decision? Or maybe he just wanted more time to spend with friends and family? Had to wonder at the unusual timing - unless of course it was so he could spend more time with Babs telling him what to say and do ... did you notice recently when the happy couple do co-appearances, she fills in the gaps and even answers for him? Momma Bear or Nancy Reagan role?

J Karen


Subj: CBS Cancels Reagan Series

It's a very ironic joke that "The Reagans" was moved to Showtime from prime time. The Neoconservative attack dogs that forced CBS to capitulate shot themselves in the foot, making a pretty obvious case to America that they are going to rewrite history in true Orwellian fashion, starting with their beloved leader. When they put out their own "historically correct" version of the Reagan Administration sometime in the future, it will likely be on a par with everything else they've done in the media since 1980, that has now come to fruition in the Cheney/Bush Regime of Corporatists: doublespeak, groupthink, lies, and distortion. Ronnie was the sleeping night watchman who delegated authority to these creatures to kick in the door to start looting and locking down America (and the world), and. quite frankly, the less memorializing media "events" we are presented with of stuffed-shirt, talking-head creations like Reagan (and Bush, for that matter), the better. Their memory should be ground to dust and ploughed with salt.

Michael Anderson
Oakridge, OR


Subj: Veterans Day

Hi, Buzz!!

Here in Emporia, KS, we are celebrating Veterans' Day and have been for some days now. Armistice Day became Veterans' Day in the U.S.A. at the suggestion of one of our citizens, Al King, back in 1953. This year, Congress passed a bill recognizing Emporia, KS as the Home of Veterans' Day. Since this is the 50th Veterans' Day, we are putting on the dog here, with memorial services, concerts, movie screenings, re-enactors from the Civil War and WWII, and a parade on Tuesday morning. The local paper reports that George W was invited to our observance, but declined to come. The paper didn't give a reason, but I can think of some. Why would W come here, when Kansas is already a solidly Republican state - especially when there are relatively few of us who can afford to fork over $2,000.00 for a plate of rubber chicken? And why would he want to face the veterans whose benefits he's doing his utmost to cut? Especially when the newest of those veterans belong to a local reserve unit that's just back from Iraq? They, more than anyone else, are in a position to know how this administration "supports" the troops. No way George would want to come here and face the music. But then, he never has, has he?

Jane Hawes
Emporia. KS - Home of Veterans Day


Subj: Did I get the caption correct?

On the Today Show they said Dubya was going to honor vets today by doubling the death benefits and making it possible to expand or create new national cemeteries?

He isn't doing much for the injured, but he is for the ones who die, except going to meet the planes with the bodies like his father and Bill Clinton did? He is better at hiding the bodies than most serial killers. I guess it is a good idea to increase national cemeteries since he intends to fill them. He is hiding the injured in Georgia and Ft. Knox. I just love a guy who can make funds available for millionaires, but not injured GI's.

Let me guess, the GOP owns the land for the cemeteries and the funeral homes? He did get into a pretty good bruhaha as Gov of Texas involving money-grabbing funeral directors.

It makes me feel a damn lot better that he prays for the casualties at all his fund-raisers and we can assume he asks them all to contribute to the fund for getting the guys on leave from hubs to homes.

I just love this stinking AWOL. Someone tell him he still owes the country nearly two years of service and he won't have to pass a flight exam, we'll just let him dig all the graves he is filling.

Karen Webb, Moore, Ok.


Subj: Bremer Yanked Back to U.S.

He's been ordered back to D.C. and is on his way.

The official word about his return to Washington is being downplayed but it's fairly significant. Bremer had a slew of important appointments in Iraq, and a tight schedule, so this could really be a major shift. Iraq is exploding today, and it looks like the insurrection is spreading south.

Bremer, you'll recall, was the moron who disbanded and refused to pay or employ the entire Iraq army right down to the lowly rank and file. I hope they fire his sorry ass.

Anyway, when I find a good link I'll send an article.

A BuzzFlash Reader


BuzzFlash--

I thought you might be interested in a story on the front page of my local paper this morning-- the Lawrence Journal-World.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/iraq_war_local/story/151606

The man in charge of destroying Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -- should any be found -- doesn't expect he'll have much work to do.

"I would be very, very surprised if we were to find any sizable amount" of weapons, said Douglas Englund, director of the Iraq Weapons Elimination Directorate for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense. "I frankly thought that we would have found something."

He goes on to question why his team is still even in operation...

Gavin


Subj: The Draft

I appreciate where Maureen Farrell is coming from but her argument is fatally flawed. If armies are necessary then it follows that the armies of a democracy must be citizen armies. They must be composed of the citizens without regard to social or economic status. Rummy and his crowd do not want a citizen army. They do not want a cross section of the population, why?, because that will awaken the public. The public might take a very different position when just anyone, any John of Mary Doe might be called upon to carry out another life threatening aggressive foreign policy.

G. Michael Aussem


Subj: Bush and Veterans Day

Bush's White House Communications Director said of the military action in Iraq, "It's incredibly important that they complete the mission at hand," in reference to Bush's message on Veterans' Day.

Just as it was incredibly important for Bush to complete the mission at hand BUT DID NOT from May 1972 until October 1973 when he went AWOL.

How come nobody can make that charge stick on him? If he or the Pentagon won't release the records or the records have gone missing, it is enough proof that there is a cover up happening. From what I've been able to read, the officer who was to evaluate Bush's performance of duty during the period of time stated that Bush could not be rated because he was not present for duty at his assignment. Case closed.

Jeff Morgan
Rochester, MN


Subj: Jessica Lynch

She may have been manipulated when presented as a hero by the powers that be, as far as I'm concerned she's a true hero now for speaking truth to power. That really took courage and moral clarity.

A BuzzFlash Reader


Subj: Have you seen this?

This from the newspaper for the military, Stars & Stripes:

"The delegation made a stop at the military hospital in Landstuhl, which has treated more than 7,000 injured and ill servicemembers from the Iraq war. The congressmen met with several injured soldiers, one whose arm had been amputated by a rocket-propelled grenade, and another who was injured by a homemade bomb."

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=17821&archive=true

Brian & Steph


I am watching the Veteran's Day festivities at Arlington National Cemetery on television. The camera gets a shot of George W. Bush. He's got his hand over his heart and is chatting with the guy next to him through the whole thing. It was same kind of whisper you use in church. It was unbelievable. This while the Old Guard that guards the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is being deployed for the first time since Vietnam. We need a leader who respects the service of men and women in uniform. We need Wes Clark.

Diogu


Maureen's column about avoiding the draft didn't address our new deferment that anyone can use. Merely say that you are gay. Don't ask, don't tell allows anyone to avoid being drafted. Please forward this for her consideration.

Respectfully Yours,

Lamonte


Dear Buzz,

Lady Shrub was in Delaware yesterday to read to children –and to attend yet another fund raiser for hubby. I heard only a brief sound byte from her visit as she was touting the No Child Left Behind lie. She is supposed to be savvy about education and reading, yet I heard her refer to the standardized testing required by the program as “diagnostic testing”. Now, I am not an educational specialist, but standardized tests such as are given at schools are hardly diagnostic. All they do is measure achievement. Diagnostic tests actually diagnose (imagine that) learning difficulties in children. If the Head Shrubs do not even understand the difference between achievement tests and diagnostic tests, how can they tout their silly program. It would be wonderful if every child had access to diagnostic testing! Imagine, we could find out really how children are processing information in the classroom and remediate their problems!

Just a passing thought……

Also, what about our wonderful government throwing out the settlements of soldiers who were tortured during Gulf War 1? Since we got no help from anyone else, our brave soldiers have to give up money so that we taxpayers can afford to rebuild Iraq. It just becomes more and more surreal……..

Barbara Silverman


Subj: Liberal Media

I read BuzzFlash on a daily basis and am greatly annoyed by the apparent decision of CBS to cancel the Reagan miniseries by moving it to cable TV. I think you should post a call to boycott CBS and its parent company Viacom.

This is not about anyone’s personal feelings or opinions regarding Ronald Reagan the man or the President. This is about a television network kowtowing to a few bullies. We already live in an age were our media outlets have become less than enlightening but if CBS goes ahead and cancels an already completed entertainment program the system is worse than I thought and this is from a serious cynic.

The following is a list of Viacom’s holdings BET, MTV, Showtime, CBS, Viacom outdoors, CMT, Blockbuster, Paramount, UPN, TNN, TV Land, KingWorld, Nickelodeon, Infinity, Noggin, VH1, Comedy Central, The Movie Channel, Flix, Sundance, Simon & Schuster and Famous Players Theaters.

I plan on distributing this to a number of other websites.

Thank you for your Website.

Edward Cecchi


Subj: Credit where credit is due

Could you please inform Maureen Farrell, who has an excellent piece on the prospects of a draft, that the information she is quoting from the Toronto Star and the Guardian were the result of, and in some cases were lifted from, my original piece on the administration's efforts to restore the draft machinery, which ran in Salon magazine (salon.com) on last Monday, days ahead of those publications. The Star's reporter actually went to my sources--Pena and Lebow--for his piece.

Neither publication cited the Salon piece.

I'm glad the issue has blown up and made so much news, but it would be nice to be credited at least somewhere...

Regards,

Dave Lindorff
Salon Magazine


Subj: Rumsfeld 11/11 appearance on CBS morning show

Rumsfeld says he has "had the chance to go" to many hospitals where Iraqi troops are, and, he says' that they are all volunteers who (paraphrasing) asked to go for their country. He "had the chance to go." Did he really "go?" Or did he pass up the "chance?"

Janice

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