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December 9, 2003 |
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Subj: Check out AOL News - White House Wants Kerry to Apologize for Profanity Excuse me, I think making Kerry apologize at White House demand is ridiculous. I mean, I am a Clark supporter, but let me say this. Message to the White House: We Democrats are behind our individual candidates but we will stick together when the White House makes ridiculous demands of one of the Democrats. mev Subj: Thanksgiving I have a little problem...maybe a little one, maybe not so little! Is there anyone who reads this website mailroom...who has a son or daughter in Baghdad? If so, or if you know of anyone who has someone over there...I would be so interested in hearing if they saw the president of the United States on his visit there! My granddaughter said that they did finally get thanksgiving dinner...with all the trimmings...the first real food they have had in the 6 months she has been there...and she told her dad that the president was there..........but, she did not see him...he was in another room....quarters......another place...it was hard to understand. I am just interested to find anyone, who's son or daughter saw him at the Thanksgiving day dinner where he was supposedly there for about 2 hours. You all know, that we saw it vividly all day..........the entire day, and much of the next two days....I would be most interested to know if anyone, I mean ANYONE..saw him! ..In the last video hookup..we did not go, me and my husband, we were attending a funeral. In the first, she was real clear...but the time lapse was about 2 seconds...so we had to wait for her to understand. Her vision was about two people at a time..so we had to take two people at a time to say hello..but you could see her well, and she looked well. In the last one...it was grainy and they said they could hardly see her..., but plainly as she was leaving, she had her gun around her back...that is hard! This is a girl about 4'9"...105-110 lbs....and she is carrying a gun...I know it is the only way...so we live with it... But, please, any answers to the question about Bush's visit..and anyone who saw him....thanks all. Shirley...........St.Louis Subj: SF Chronicle article re: Nuclear weapons approval I read the most terrifying article I've read in a long, long time in the Chron today regarding quiet congressional approval of a large build up of nuclear weapons. They did not (to my memory) use the word tactical weapons, but the article made it clear that these included "bunker busters" and other weapons intended to be used on the modern battle field. Please highlight this terrifying development if you can--we need to mobilize against this grave threat. Many thanks for your good work, Kathryn Hanson [BuzzFlash Note: Sean Gonsalves has an editorial on this issues.] Subj: Salon: Tucker Carlson heard Bush use profanity I think it was in his Talk Mag profile of then-Gov Bush that Tucker Carlson quoted Bush using profanity, which invoked the ire of Karen Hughes. Last fall, promoting his book in a Salon interview, Carlson remembered it this way: From Salon.com -
Jon Subj: 60 minutes program 7 December Just heard Bush as commander-in-chief installed one of Saddam's henchman in this city as police chief, and disbanded the democratic forces in this city! HYPOCRITES!!! Karen Subj: Plans Close for Base Closures in Europe This will be in Monday's Stripes. The Bushies are playing it coy, which all translates into their backs being up against the wall. They thought it would be so easy. What arrogant creeps. They have put deployed troops and their families through unimaginable stress. http://estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=19146
Different tone from the article I sent you on Friday, which cuts to the chase: http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=2637 A BuzzFlash Reader Subj: Hearts and Minds indeed . . . After reading the NYT article on U.S. Forces putting entire Iraqi villages inside barbed wire, I came across this in Pravda while chasing Enron article threads:
When these brainwashed MP thugs come back from Iraq to our decaying consumer culture full of Depleted Uranium and contempt for human life in general, is this what they have in their "Hearts and Minds" (if you can indeed glorify them as such) for US, the citizens of this country??? Michael
Anderson Subj: Dirty Words Buzz: I just sent this message to ABC New's "The Note": Re your characterization of Dean: "... he is regularly careless, volcanic, dismissive, self-important, mercurial, hypocritical, patronizing, and politically tone deaf." (December 8, 2003) I'm sure you can find at least as many negative words to describe George W. Bush. How come I've never seen them from you? Sincerely, Claire Plume Regarding White House Pink Pants Prissies Hi Buzz, Regarding: It just goes to show that the Bush administration are "Major-League Assholes." Now, who came up with that phrase? Bruce Martin What did Dubyah call a reporter during the campaign..."Asshole"...and what did Cheney respond... Bigtime!!! How about them apples, Andy Card... J.Gocht sends... Subj: RE: The F***ed Up White House Pink Underpants Prissies: Don't forget "major league asshole." Or telling the NH paper his favorite subject when talking with his father was, "pussy!" Certainly there has to be many others, especially considering these two classics were uttered after the resident (allegedly) gave up drinking and "Found the Lord" in 1986. --Ever notice how most of his (alleged) insider trading and other (alleged) sleazy business deals seem to have occurred after this time too?? A BuzzFlash Reader Subj: Heard on a Call-In Show Dear BuzzFlash: Someone on a call-in show suggested Bush's 2004 slogan "Four More Wars!" Jim P Subj: Greens, Vote Strategically! I am a registered Democrat, but I have voted for independent and third party candidates in the past. My rule of thumb has been this. If the race is close, vote against the Republican. If, however, the race in your district or state is a blowout, you can safely vote your conscience. But you cannot, in good conscience, throw a close race to a Republican. Green Party voters in Florida, 2000, probably truly believed that there was little difference between the major parties and Al Gore certainly made his share of mistakes. But we have now seen that Bush is a dangerous extremist who must be stopped. An Al Gore presidency might not have been your dream situation, but think of the very real possibilities. No 9/11. No Iraq war. No Patriot Act. No massive assault on the environment, etc., etc., etc. One of the reasons the Democratic Party is weak is because the voters made it that way. The Democrats mostly struggle to win elections and are almost never rewarded for becoming more progressive. If every progressive-leaning citizen registered and voted Democratic, I believe the Democrats would have the strength and freedom to go out on a few limbs. Then it would be the Republicans that would be forced to move to the center! For these reasons, I will vote Democratic regardless of the closeness of the race. I can't build a third party. I'm too busy trying to help build a second party! Third parties are very interesting, and often better. A third party movement can be a great force for change. But it must not be a force for continuation of disastrous Republican policies. The Republican threat is real and dangerous and must be stopped. So please don't use your vote for evil, even indirectly. Don't destroy the village in order to save it. Thank you Green voters for not aiding and abetting the destruction of this green Earth. Joseph Luna RE: Wrapping Iraqis in Barbed Wire Dear BuzzFlash: About the wrapping of Iraqi towns in barbed wire, what can we say but "In order to free the Iraqis, it became necessary to imprison the Iraqis." Jim P By the way, not "Liberal Media Stations" it should be "Informed Media Stations" Subj: It's starting to creep in Eugene I was listening to our local NPR news program "The Northwest Passage" here in Eugene on KLCC, when they aired a news item that made me very angry and gave me the creeps at the same time. The local City Council passed a law requiring any public gathering over 25 people to obtain a permit to assemble. This is something that state Rep, John Minnis, a Republican (of course) ex-policeman, was trying to do in the Portland Metro area earlier this year. This is how it progresses....by degrees so small that you don't think about it unless you are aware of the larger context of affairs. It needs to be publicized. Thank You, Michael
Anderson In the Forbes article "WSIS Discovers WWW And Wants In" (at [Forbes], the notion of a international "control" over the Internet is discussed. And while the impetus here is given as "commitment to build a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge." And the discussion seems to center on controls far removed from speech. But once a [forgive me, Al Gore] "controlling authority" is set in place, it tends to absorb power until checked. The old "Camel's nose" under the tent flap quickly becomes a herd of, in this case, regulator’s. And based on the debate on controlling the Internet that rages on talk radio and in churches and parent groups across the nation, once any entity has a hand on Internet controls, the pressure to use those controls on "content" will be unbearable. So, I'll intrude with a rant on that tangential possibility. As one of a semi organized group of personal computer users who had used the PC to communicate with others across the nation, and then the globe, I had the opportunity to use the Internet in the 1980's, long before there was a Web, HTML, audio or graphics over the 'Net. So, maybe that is why I remember something that seems to elude governments (who view the 'Net as needing content regulation), the pundits and many groups that, with good intentions, continually define the Internet as a high-tech bogey man out to corrupt their children. The Internet is none of what they portray. Put simply, and correctly, the Internet is a phone call. Yes, it is a phone call in which we can "listen" to the other person/company/pervert/government in graphical format. Instead of words, pictures can be used, or text on a page, or sound or any combination thereof. But it's still just a phone call. And, as I don't wish to see any government, or the UN, to monitor my conversations and/or decide on whom I might choose to have a conversation, I don't want a government, or the UN, to decide what I do with my phone call on the web. Yes, perverts use the web. They also use the phone. Some would argue perverts use TV and radio, as some parents view rap music and sexual images in advertising as harmful to their children. But in those cases, parents perform the censorship of the content they allow their children to view or listen to. If governments get involved in legislating the Web, how long will it be before a future John Ashcroft just decided that he finds that Liberal BS offensive, and forbids Liberal sites? How soon before sites like BuzzFlash, Salon.com, Cursor.org and Alternet become the forbidden fruits of intellectual discourse. The United Nations was formed to promote peace on the planet. It, with help from the Bush administration, has become a miserable failure at that task. That shows a desperate need for the countries of the globe to get to work on fixing the UN to where it can help contain an arrogant superpower Hell-bent on world domination. It doesn't show a need to transform the UN into a worldwide censor of political and/or moral thoughts expressed over the phone! Parents have had to adapt to changes in the dangers facing their kids from time immemorial. They need to do so again. There are many "Internet Nanny" type programs out there that perform the task of limiting the sites a child can access from a computer. They need to use them. They need to familiarize themselves with their children's interests in order to help them advance their interests in a manner that also keeps them safe. But they don't need someone at a desk in the UN building to decide those things for them. Jack Ballinger Subj: Millions for Minutes "If I Only Had a Brain" Bush had wasted millions of tax dollars for useless photo ops that can easily be turned against him: Mission Unaccomplished; London Humiliation State Visit; Plastic Turkey Day in Baghdad. Not to mention providing Late Night television jokes that write themselves. The 2004 election is War. Soros or Media Fund need to get nasty with the TV ads: The Trafalgar Square Bush Statue Toppling as backdrop with text scrolling in the foreground of bullets of Bush "worsts." And the Crotch Jockey photo must be used to hoist him up on his own petard...so to speak. Rove likes to use images, we need to use them against them. Bring em on! Suzanne Subj: Reagan-head dimes Dear Buzz, I am a very progressive independent who comes to your site often (in fact, I've made it my homepage). I must, however, take issue with you over the proposed minting of a Reagan-head dime. It may surprise you to learn, but I am fully in favor of the bill, and I hope it will pass quickly. My support, however, is conditional on one amendment to the proposal: that the head of Ronald Reagan be simultaneously minted on the obverse of the nickel, thus also replacing the Jefferson nickel. You might wonder why I would lend my support to such a proposal. The answer is simple, and the symbolism would be unavoidable. Ronald Reagan was the president who initiated the process of selling off the Government of the United States piecemeal to corporate interests. This process, under Bush Junior, has been accelerated to the point of near-completion. Labor has been abused to the point that most of the nation's manufacturing jobs have been shipped off to countries with vast supplies of cheap, unskilled labor which are simply dying to be exploited. In the place of those jobs, now gone forever, have come McWal-Jobs, flipping shitty pickle burgers for minimum wage or greeting bargain-hungry shoppers in lieu of collecting retirement and pension benefits. In short, American workers are being nickeled-and-dimed. What could be more appropriate than seeing the face of the man who started it all on the face of those nickels and dimes? Kevin Christy Subj: The Bushes sent out over one million Xmas cards, but 500 sympathy letters are too much Because the Christmas cards are for donations, you can bet that the moron and his wife signed each one adding a little note to many. It's the priorities, stupidity. A BuzzFlash Reader Subj: UNFAIR AND CERTAINLY UNBALANCED Dear Buzz, I hardly every tune into the Faux Network, but yesterday I was flipping channels, and happened to be on Faux at the top of the hour, I paused to hear the headlines, and was amazed and disgusted at the way they frightened their viewers. For instance, the top story was that Saddam Hussein had WMD's ready to use on our troops, and the next boogey man story, was that Bin Laden and Al Qaeda were leaving Afghanistan for Iraq (I wonder what idiot would inform their enemies of their moves beforehand). I quickly switched onto CNN and compared their headlines, which certainly did not refer to these two stories, and I must say CNN came across as rational and calm. I have no doubt that Faux News is using its networks to scare people into believing the sky is falling, and that it is blatantly exaggerating (and maybe even lying) every possible scenario regarding Iraq to try and convince and frighten the people into supporting the Bush position. If one is ignorant enough and keeps watching this awful network, it is not surprising that there is a high percentage of folk who thinks that Saddam and Al Qaeda are linked. They have been brainwashed into thinking so by these scary headlines. I wish the people who blindly watch Faux news would take the time to compare other channels and how the news is covered. I guess we should be prepared for more lies and horror stories from this lying network this coming election year. A BuzzFlash Reader Subj: Report: Sunday's MoveOn "Uncovered" Documentary House Party Awesome! MoveOn scheduled 2,000-3,000 US house parties 12/7, to view Director Robert Greewald's documentary; "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War." About 100 were at the party I attended in San Francisco. 700+ parties dialed-in the post-film conference call. One group in Nebraska checked in with 250 people. The film was excellent. Very informative. All the participants are high level, articulate, very credible, moderate career professionals. Lots of clips of Bush Inc contradicting themselves and the undeniable evidence that the entire thing was an outrageous, totally bogus lie. Lots of Bush saying really stupid things that garnered snickers. All of them clearly lying so boldly--was pathetic. The CIA people were impressive and clearly angry and disgusted. John Dean, Nixon White House Counsel articulated all the illegality. If this doesn't get Bush Inc impeached, nothing will. MoveOn will reschedule another event in January. Greenwald is starting another film on the corporate corruption with government--available in June. MoveOn staff introduced themselves briefly during the conference call. It was fun to put a voice to the names, Eli, Joan etc. They all seemed really cool, and were complimentary of people's activism, passion and commitment. They read all their emails and are truly impressed. The Director was attending a party in LA. There was only time for him to answer a few questions, but you got a sense of his personality and intelligence and decency. The questions sent in by MoveOn viewers will be answered by Greenwald and posted on the MoveOn website along with photos of the different events. My suggestion is that as many people as possible buy the video. Tell friends/family/co-workers to buy it. And set-up as many viewing parties as possible. This would be a good project to do through MeetUp.com....or through the local Democratic HQs. Another bit of info from the party. The RNC is training canvassers and providing all of them with Palm Pilots that are programmed with individual voter into and a script slanted to each household they canvass. They are leaving no stone unturned. The 2004 election will be another revolutionary war--this time fought with technology. To the cleverest will go the nation. Roll up your sleeves Buzzers. We're all in this together to save America. Suzanne SF Subj: Kerry Quote The Kerry story, where the F-word was used by the Senator to describe the state of Bush's Iraq war, and White House underlings "in turn" attempted to cast vulgarity on Kerry as an abnormal state of mind, so that he might apologize to Bush, which Kerry does not intend to do -- I recall Richard Nixon's claim in 1960 that he always kept a civil tongue (a claim disputed by the Watergate tapes), which prompted this reply from John F. Kennedy: "To hell you say." Dale Reynolds Subj: 2008 Unless the Ds take back the White House in 2004, it looks increasingly likely that we will see a face-off between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush in 2008. Senator Clinton is not a controversial choice but Gov. Bush is. Rumors are that the Bush family machine is already gearing up for that possibility. In fact, some say that it is part of the reason that 43 will not replace Dick Cheney as vice president; bringing in someone new would create a potential rival for Jeb. Interestingly, Newt Gingrich floated the notion of Jeb as a presidential candidate yesterday on Meet the Press. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time anyone has done so in such a public forum. Here is an excerpt from the transcript:
For a full transcript, see: http://www.msnbc.com/news/1002348.asp Certainly if the thought of four more years of W is nauseating, the prospect of Jeb coming in behind him is even worse. Of course the best way to stop this horrible vision is to elect a Democrat in 2004, not that anyone should need another reason to do that. Michael Subj: FDR, Reagan, And The Dime Buzz... The ignorance (and I'm sure the audacity) of some republicans to replace FDR with Reagan on the dime is astounding. These shameless people disgust me. FDR was was put on the dime and honored for a reason: He established the March of Dimes in 1938 to save America’s youth from polio. His premise was that people can solve any problem if they work together. He created a partnership of volunteers and researchers, and within 17 years, the Salk vaccine had been developed and polio was on the run. It is also doubly noteworthy because FDR was also crippled. As for Bush wanting to return to the moon, well, all I can say is 'been there, done that.' If this know-nothing of a man truly had the vision and leadership of a JFK, he would have said that we're going to send a manned vehicle to mars. Rick in MD Subj: Social Security I was just watching replay of Your World with Neil Cavuto for Monday Dec.8 and he had Bill Thomas (r-ca) talking about Medicare bill (bill thomas is on ways and means committee and started this whole thing)-you must get transcript of that interview. Bill Thomas said they were going to work on Social Security and some other things in the next year. He also called Medicare an albatross. Funny, boomers paid in for 40 yrs-and they don't want us to get our investments back. Please get transcript and let public know. Karin Dicker Subj: Civil Rights & Freedom Hi, This thought has been bouncing around in my head for a few days. Us liberal types need to reclaim an American flag that will be memorable and yet historical at the same time. I seriously do propose that we adopt the old "Don't Tread On Me" flag that was used in the infancy of this nation. It would be the "first Navy Jack" version (the snake on the red and white striped background). There is already at least one company manufacturing and distributing the stickers, shirts, and caps. http://www.navyjack.info/sticker.html If not this flag, then something very much like it with strong historical and emotional meaning that harkens back to our original purpose as a nation and leaps forward to the ideals of preserving those precious freedoms that are quickly becoming endangered. Thanks, J Johnson I suggest that John Kerry immediately put out a news release saying something to the effect that "I will apologize for my language in describing Bush's Iraq policy if Bush will publicly apologize to Max Cleland for W allowing his Republican scumbag supporters to question the patriotism of the 3-member amputee in a Viet Nam war battle. That hateful, organized attack on Cleland was even more fucked up than Bush's opening up a quagmire by invading Iraq in a manner that makes Bush eligible for a future war crimes court." "Did Bush lose anything during the Viet Nam War? Well, maybe a little sleep. Oh, no, I forgot ... he didn't even show up for service in the Air National Guard." A BuzzFlash Reader Subj: Reagan's Dime Why not Reagan on the dime? After all, the Canadians have the Looney{their dollar coin}, we can have our Dufus. The cab drivers in Washington ask which airport Dulles or Dufus? Francis Subj: Why Should I Vote for Ralph Nader? Dear BuzzFlash: It is with interest that I read the ongoing debate between those who fervently support Nader and those who fervently don't. My question is, regardless of whether he will hurt the Democratic nominee's percentage of the national vote or not, why should I vote for Ralph Nader? What's different about his policies that would make me want to switch my interest from Dean or Kerry over to him? What is Nader's plan for resolving the Iraq mess? What is Nader's plan for resolving the hideous budget deficit? What is Nader's plan to rescue, as soon as possible, our environment from the hideous "Acts" of Bush? What is Nader's plan to give answers to our citizens about what really led to 9/11? What is Nader's plan for reducing the hideous unemployment in this country? What is Nader's plan for keeping manufacturing jobs from being exported overseas? What is Nader's plan for working with NAFTA, the WTO, etc. What is Nader's plan to combat AIDS here and in Africa? What is Nader's plan for the securing of our national ports and nuclear facilities? What is Nader's plan for reducing American dependence on Saudi oil? What is Nader's plan to reduce or end racial profiling of minorities, especially of African-Americans and Arab-Americans? What is Nader's plan to restore law and order at the Executive level of government? What is Nader's plan to work within the den of vipers that is the Republican-controlled Senate and Congress to get ANY legislation passed? What about individual taxes? What's Nader's plan there? What about making some real strides in regard to corporate corruption -- what's the plan? What about national healthcare -- what's the plan? What is Nader's plan to put the fractured people of this country back together again? I'm not being facetious with my questions. If Nader had answers which excited me enough, I would take him more seriously. Howard Dean was an underdog with the same chance as Nader of being elected when he started out, and although he may not yet have offered answers to all of my above questions, he's answered enough of them and answered them in such a way that he's gotten me excited enough to whole-heartedly back him -- along with a number of folks I've seen wearing "Another Green for Dean" buttons, I might add. Kerry currently seems to be re-discovering his spine as well, and I am also following his campaign. Should there be a stupendous nomination upset, with Kerry winning the nomination instead of Dean, I could still stomach voting for Kerry. At this point though, I can only consider a run by Nader as a "vanity campaign" and can't imagine it will have nearly as much impact in the 2004 race as it did in 2000. For one thing, there are many more of us out here now who realize the very constitution and principles of this country are at stake, and we are not willing to give our votes away on a lark. (Although some insist that's what we're doing with Dean -- but I remember the same being said about candidate Clinton in '92.) Sincerely, Bri Held Subj: WESTAR EMAIL $$$ to GOP (scroll down)
A BuzzFlash Reader There are a few big points missing in your editorial. Why should the greens endorse the lesser of two evils with nothing to be gained for themselves? By voting for the lesser of two evils, that evil can only become stronger, by being allowed to ignore it's opposition. If the greens do not nominate a candidate, they'll essentially be endorsing the democratic candidate. They shouldn't do that unless that candidate is willing to make some sort of campaign promises or concessions to appease the greens. I am not suggesting the greens could win the presidency in 2004, but urging them not to run a candidate is quite a leap... Additionally, the greens did not cost Gore the election is 2004. Gore cost himself the election by running a weak campaign. (We also know that Bush didn't really win, but that's not the point of this message.) Why are the democrats worried about losing a few votes to Greens anyway? They should be trying to get the 50%+ of registered voters (mostly poor) out to the polls. There are many more votes to be gained by this group than by the greens that bother the vote. Your points about the republicans funding Nader are well put, and Nader may well be too egotistical at this point. But that shouldn't stop the greens from nominating someone else. Instead of trying to convince people to vote for someone they don't like, why not try to find more people who do like your candidate and get them to vote? -Owen Brand Subj: Tut-Tutting Over KERRY's F-word Media alert, media alert! Yes, our crack investigative yakkers are about to unleash one of their tempests of tut-tutting over Senator KERRY’s having used the f-word regarding Shrub’s performance in the Iraq attack. And His Fraudulency’s minions have put out the word that Himself is not pleased and needs an apology. Let’s recap: For one thing, Shrub’s own cussword of choice is known to be a**h***, his use of which was documented twice for sure, the drunk time he used it on Al HUNT in front of HUNT’s wife and children and the supposedly sober time during Campaign 2000 when he used it on Adam CLYMER. KERRY was describing how Shrub performed his job, while Shrub just attacked persons with his vulgarity. KERRY has said Shrub has more important things to fret about than this. I say that our media tut-tutters could spent their time wondering about this mal-Administration’s record of: Illegal war, pillaging of the public funds, ravaging of programs for the public good, destruction of civil international relations, humongous conflicts of interest with his oil buddies and with Poppy and the Carlyle Group, the hijacking of our country by a cabal of wingnuts-------for starters. Our media yakkers might subsume the above issues all into one for easy wondering: Why are Shrub and his mal-Administration so hostile to people in general? John Garza Subj: Bad Republican Leadership! Mika |
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