Support BuzzFlash Get a copy of click image MORE BuzzFlash INTERVIEWS WORLD MEDIA WATCH P.M. CARPENTER MAUREEN FARRELL BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZ SOUTHERN STYLE CARTOONS THE ANGRY LIBERAL EDITORIALS CONTRIBUTORS MAILBAG PERSPECTIVES ANALYSIS NEWS ALERTS LINK ARCHIVES SEARCH ABOUT FAQ

Important Note: Because we can't always determine your intentions, we need to ask a favor of you when you send us email. If you DO NOT WANT YOUR EMAIL PUBLISHED in the Mailbag or in the Contributors section, please write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the Subject line or at the top of your email. That way we'll know it's just a comment to BuzzFlash. Additionally, if you submit a mailbag item and DO NOT WANT YOUR NAME associated with your submission, sign your email, "A BuzzFlash Reader." If you send email unsigned, we will post your name with your submission, or, if that's not available, your email name (not the full address, just what's on the left side of the email address). Please try and keep your word count under 400. We can only post a small percentage of what is sent to us. The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Thanks again for your email and your patience.

Subj: DRAFT takes Giant Step Closer - CBO: Army "unable to sustain an occupation force of the present size beyond March 2004"

GREETINGS!!

The DRAFT just took a giant step closer! Unreported in the U.S. media, the CBO reported early last month that the army will be "unable to sustain an occupation force of the present size beyond March 2004". They cannot extend the tour of duty (see below) as that will completely blow the recruitment and re-enlistment rates. That is just another red herring to throw everyone off the real story.

All Bush can do now is somehow get through the next year by calling up every person in a uniform and send them to Iraq. Remember that the Pentagon admitted it will increase troops and keep at least 100,000 through 2006. In short, Bush and Rummy run out of replacement troops next Spring and they're planning to replace regular soldiers with Reservists, Band members, the Coast Guard and anybody else they can get their hands on without using the DRAFT.

But then they are done. They will have to move to activate the DRAFT as soon as possible after the election or give up the Iraq/PNAC Plan and let Saddam come back in.

Put what is below with the SSS plan to bring DRAFT ACTIVATION TIME down to 75 days by March 31, 2005. (http://www.sss.gov/ click on 2004 Performance Plan -- and notice they put the DRAFT BOARD NOTICE BACK UP -- THIS TIME ON THE HOME PAGE!!)

Maybe 2005 we could squeak by with some double deployments but they would have to be temporary. But 2006--no way. The Pentagon just said they need at least 100,000 through 2006!

This article and this quote from the CBO has not been reported anywhere except the Financial Times of London...

<snip>

Army tour of duty in Iraq 'must be longer'

The US army will not be able to sustain current force levels in Iraq beyond next spring unless it extends the tour of duty of its active units to more than the current year, the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday.

The Pentagon's decision this summer to extend the tour of duty of US troops in Iraq to a full year had already provoked strong criticism.

Douglas HoltzEakin, director of the CBO, told the US House of Representatives armed services committee yesterday that "the active army would be unable to sustain an occupation force of the present size beyond March 2004 if it chose not to keep individual units deployed to Iraq for longer than one year without relief".

The CBO said the army did not have enough active component forces "to simultaneously maintain the occupation at its current size, limit deployments to one year, and sustain all of its other commitments" - as the Pentagon had planned.

The analysis came amid growing concerns about the US military's ability to sustain its high levels of troop deployments abroad. More than 300,000 US forces have been called up since October 2001. There are still more than 190,000 troops, including 60,000 reservists, on active duty today.

Nearly 60 members of the committee, including Duncan Hunter, its chairman, have signed a letter to Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, asking him to bolster the troop strength by two divisions and "reduce the reliance on the Guard and Reserve for those functions that will continue to be needed for the war on terrorism".

But Mr Rumsfeld has repeatedly said he will not increase the size of the army. The committee also heard that more reservists would need to be called up, despite growing concerns about the increased burdens being placed on reserves.

David Chu, undersecretary of defence for personnel and readiness, said the Pentagon expected to call more replacement reservists to active duty in the coming winter and spring. "The result of that call-up will be a temporary but significant increase in the number of reservists on active duty, while those coming on board are trained to replace those who will be coming home," Mr Chu said.

Yesterday, members of the committee said US forces were stretched too thin and the demands placed on the National Guard and Reserve were too high.

Mr Hunter said: "Today's military is deployed on a scale we haven't seen since the second world war. Unfortunately, we're engaged in all of these activities with a military that is smaller than that of 1990."

<snip>

Find this article at: Financial Times

Or if you don't have a subscription to the Financial Times of London http://www.dangerouscitizen.com/Articles/968.aspx

Also made this a thread on DU again.

- Dems Will Win

Subj: YAY RALPH! GO WE GO!

Thanks, buzzies!

The formation of Ralph's exploratory committee is the best news I've read all year, really since 2000. Another Nader run'll hold the Democratic race-horse's feet to the fire, force him--whichever white well-connected older male he is--to stand for SOMETHING, which you well know the Democrats absolutely hate. The '02 election was clearly just the usual wishy-washy " vote for us we're not the party of the incumbent prez, uh, except in the things you like about that party that's us all the way" Democratic cravenness you yourselves so thoroughly castigate. Your insane Nader hatred just enables Democratic enablers like Gephardt and Daschle, however. They know from your Nader diatribes that, however you rail against their political games of cowardice and cynicism, you'll always come home.

NADER IN '04!

Cory Hinman
Ann Arbor,MI

Subj: Nader

Ralph Nader has a new Nader 2004 Exploratory Committee website with this e-mail address info@naderexplore04.org . I wrote him this e-mail:

Don't run for President.

You won't win, and we don't need another four years of George Bush.

How about telling your readers to send Ralph Nader an e-mail telling him not to run?

A BuzzFlash Reader

R.e. your very savvy hussein/captured comment- even if you were half joking...

I believe there's a chance (50% maybe..??) that the U.S. military either:

1. Has Hussein and/or UBL locked up.

2. Has killed Hussein and/or UBL and is keeping the body(s) on ice.

3. Knows at all times where they are via visual surveillance or paid "inside" operatives who are waiting to get ransom money.

If either is caught or killed at a time when Bush absolutely has to lay his best cards down (5 days prior to the November election, especially if he's behind in the polls) NO ONE will be able to convince me that this wasn't the mother of all staged and manipulated "October surprises". Finding WMD at exactly that time would be a close second.

I think that this is a good idea to get out there NOW (and continuously) in the public discourse (with a little healthy CYA disclaimer that this is admittedly just a possibility) so that if it does happen folks will have ALREADY considered that this could occur because of Rovian cynical political machinations. This would make it easier to immediately hit the media for last minute damage control with verbiage like "THIS is the potential scam we've been warning you about for a year...".

Just a thought, try to disarm them and take away the Administration's "WMD" with a unilateral pre-emptive strike. The best thing would be if the suggestion could get enough press that one of the Administration would have to go ON RECORD saying something like "that's ridiculous" which statement could then be saved and trotted out by us in a response to a staged event like this.

It's a damn shame to even have to spend one's time considering strategies like this, but if we don't play hardball and devise savvy tactics (since Rove does), we're going to get 4 more years.

Dave Dorsett

Second article down. Your headline ["One More Week to Help the Voter Confidence Act, HR2239"] is off a bit. There is at least the first six months of 2004 to get this legislation passed to safeguard the November election. Many volunteers, who are working to get Co-Sponsors for HR 2239, will be working during the Thanksgiving "recess" to go one-on-one with Representatives who are in their home districts. More than a few of us are urging several Senators to author a bipartisan, companion bill to HR2239. (No specific name yet, but a high level of interest has been generated with senior aides.) If legislation is NOT passed during this one week, we MUST NEVER believe that all is lost. Actually the battle has just begun!!! And WILL NEVER BE OVER, for me personally, until I touch an electronic screen and then have the same machine generate a paper ballot that I may verify and then drop in a locked ballot box.

Please do what ever you can to rectify the mistaken idea that one week is all we have left. We must not lose the surging ground-well of activity for this Democracy saving legislation.

Thanks for your help in this matter. I really treasure your web site.

Sincerely

Madeleine Hervey
Dallas, TX

[BuzzFlash Note: We updated the article accordingly.]

Re: Janklow's diabetic reaction excuse

Dear Buzz:

It's beyond me how a lawyer could think anyone would be stupid enough to believe a diabetic reaction could cause Janklow to not see a stop sign, yet allow him to keep his car on the road at a high rate of speed.

Oh, sorry! I forgot about desperation.

Regards,

William Wilgus
Silver Springs. FL

Subj: Do the Bush people Lie about EVERYTHING?

Greetings to BuzzFlash, 12/3/03

Thanks for posting the three stories with the amazing news details about Bush's trip to Baghdad. Now we know that The White House lied when it reported that a British pilot spotted Air Force One. Bush was made to look "brave" as he continued his secret journey even though he might have been detected. Another lie to add to the stream of lies & misinformation that Americans accept from Bush and his handlers. The 12/2 CNN story, "Who was the pilot who spotted secret Bush flight?" might have reached more Americans, although most people remain unaware of this ridiculous lie, designed to make Bush's trip more dramatic. We need to make sure this story does not get lost like all others (WMDs, the outing of the CIA agent, Jessica Lynch, the "raid" at Samarra this weekend, etc. etc).

Please tell all BuzzFlash readers to contact their local media and the national television networks that provided such dramatic coverage of Bush's trip on Thanksgiving Day. Thank you.

ABC (212) 456-4040 peterjennings@abcnews.com

CBS (212) 975-3691 evening@cbsnews.com

NBC (212) 664-4971 nightly@nbc.com

MSNBC (201) 583-5000 world@msnbc.com

FOX (212) 301-3000 comments@foxnews.com

CNN (404) 827-1500

NYTimes nytnews@nytimes.com

Judy Munro-Leighton

Subj: Bush Approval on Rise after Thanksgiving?

According to one of your reports, President Bush's approval rating is on the rise after the Thanksgiving visit in Iraq. This is the most disgusting news I've read since this debacle began in early March. Its so obvious that Bush made this trip for political aspirations or he would have visited at least one funeral service out of 451 in Dover. Any person with a bit of humanity, should be feeling nauseous about now.

Ed Deuning
Corona, Ca.

Subj: Dear CNN...

A recent missive of mine to CNN...

*****************

Okay, there's this here report by David Ensor:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/12/02/wmd.warning/index.html

Mr. Ensor, how can you report this with a straight face?

CNN Corp., how can you publish this kind of material?

How can any of you possibly write a headline to an article entitled "U.S. gets tough over WMD trade" and not say in the byline something to the effect of "But White House Still Refuses Explanation for Exposure of CIA WMD Operative Valerie Plame Despite 'Tough Talk?'"

Are you, as journalists, engaged in the business of asking these imperial clowns tough questions or not?

Or, by Eliot, is the Republic going to die for you hollow men "not with a bang but a whimper?"

I guess there wasn't any point to the First Amendment after all.

Rob in the PacNW

Subj: Steve and Mary's ideas about actions against the media

I am interested in participating in one or both types of actions (boycotting sponsors of right-wing programs, canceling of satellite subscription). As a matter of fact, I've been thinking about canceling my DirecTV in protest of the fact that Rupert Murdoch is going to buy 39% of the operation. My only regret would be not getting the Comedy Channel, CSPAN, Red Sox games, and hour after hour of Law and Order. I would get more done if I didn't watch.

I am very pissed off about the media. They have licenses to use public airwaves, and they have not served us well.

Leslie, MA

Subj: A Great JFK Quote

"What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label 'Liberal?' If by 'Liberal' they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of 'Liberal.' But if by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people - their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties - someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"

--John F. Kennedy accepting the New York Liberal Party Nomination, September 14, 1960

Sent to: am@cnn.com <am@cnn.com>; headlinenews@cnn.com <headlinenews@cnn.com>; insidepolitics@cnn.com <insidepolitics@cnn.com>; spin@cnn.com <spin@cnn.com>; crossfire@cnn.com <crossfire@cnn.com>:

Subj: what are you scared of?

so the bushies want dean to unseal those records.

hey bush, how about shining some light on those harken files, release those military records gee, maybe you might find out where you were those 18 missing months. :):) that energy file and release those files on 9-11 what are you scared of?

karen massey in south carolina

Subj: Disinfotainment

A new word for the White House press operation's product (cf the lie about the British Airways pilot during the Grand Thanksgiving Photo Op): Disinfotainment.

Richard Stringer
Metairie, LA

Subj: Bob Bennett R-Utah owes $170K plus overdue property taxes to 2001, also more on Bill Janklow

Businesses affiliated with Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, "owe more than $170,000 in overdue Salt Lake County property taxes dating back to 2001," the Salt Lake Tribune reports. "The Anniversary Inns -- a group of bed-and-breakfast hotels in Utah and Idaho -- also have had lots of problems paying sales and tourism room taxes." http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Dec/12032003/utah/116603.asp

" In an emotional first day of testimony in the second-degree manslaughter trial" of Rep. Bill Janklow, R-S.D., "jurors watched a police videotape that captured the words -- and ultimate horror -- of the state's only congressman in the hours after he allegedly killed a motorcyclist," the Los Angeles Times reports. "In a broken voice, Janklow asked for information" on victim Randolph Scott's family. "He then sat in silence for several minutes and, with a heavy sigh, mumbled, 'Jesus.'" http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-janklow3dec03,1,5927314.story

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Fox tries to cover their biased base

whoa.....

since last night and early this a.m. FOX news official webpage ran a poll asking visitors to the site show their true colors on the beating of the man in Cincinnati...

90% said the man caused his own death basically...

yet...

when I just checked the site for news I noticed their "Breaking News" alert stating: Cincinnati Beating death ruled a Homicide". low and behold, the Poll results and the Poll itself are gone....

hmmmm?!?!

a buzzflash reader

Subj: Bush Thanksgiving Jaunt

According to what I have read,

1. The soldiers had to eat Thanksgiving dinner at 5:30am Iraqi time.

2. Bush is holding a decorative turkey dinner in the picture and not a real one.

3. The story about a British Airways pilot spotting Air Force One is also false.

What a load of turkey doo-doo.

Karen Webb

Dear BuzzFlash,

I think the name was Steve(?) who wrote wondering why we did not boycott Bill O'Reilly and Limbaugh..I have been boycotting anything sold on the Limbaugh rant for a year..ever since I started listening to him, for as long as I can each day, and to check and see if he actually changed since he took the cure!!!

The "Drying out of Limbaugh"...he has not changed, for anyone's information, one bit..and he will not. He says he did not even do anything hypocritical by calling other addicts immoral...and aiding and abetting the enemy! Someone asked him one day, and he said, "No I was not hypocritical...of course, my doing something wrong...still does not make it right for anyone else!"

And we wonder how they become such great double talkers.

The bit on this website yesterday about Rumsfeld's "Foot in mouth" incident...still has me troubled..I still cannot figure out what he means ...and it is so hilarious it scares me a little. Do any of you realize that there are many republicans out there, who are reading it and saying "Way to go, Rummy"? (I printed the statement out...and stare at it, just trying to get it!) Oh, well...He should be ready for the field soon!

Shirley....................St. Louis

PS...I have not watched O'Reilly since the inauguration of the dimson....and I can't take Sean Hannity for more than a minute...tops...I have high blood pressure...ha!

Subj: Electronic Voting

From New Scientist.com
------------------

Election officials in Boone County, Indiana, were amazed when their electronic voting system reported 144,000 votes cast at a recent election, given that fewer than 19,000 people were registered to vote.

When the computer-generated vote tally displayed the spurious totals to a crowd at the county courthouse, county clerk Lisa Garofolo told the Indianapolis Star: "I about had a heart attack."

A lengthy discussion of the type that is all too familiar to computer users then ensued between county officials and employees of MicroVote, the Indianapolis company that supplied the software. Between them they managed to smooth out the glitch, and the count was reduced to 5352 votes.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: How campaign contributions affected the Medicare Vote - senators, donors and amount - How Crooked is/isn't Your Senator?

Dear BuzzFlash:

I thought it would be interesting to see if/how special interest groups influenced the recent vote on the Medicare Reform Bill. I created a spreadsheet with the senators listed as voted yay or nay, and listed some of their top supporting industries by campaign donation. Amounts are listed, information from searching www.opensecrets.org.

When you look at the whole picture, it is clear that campaign finance is the one most corrupting factor in politics.

I have converted the spreadsheet to pdf format, so adobe acrobat reader is the software that opens it.

I analyzed more industries than shown, but had trouble formatting, so I tried to show the most related and/or the most unusual. http://www.geocities.com/citizen27106/MedicareVoteNov25.PDF

See how crooked your senator is/isn't.

Regards,

Joyce McCloy
Winston Salem, NC