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THIS IS PART 2 OF THE FEBRUARY 12, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG. CLICK HERE FOR PART 1.

Subj: Bush's Military Service

I'm a retired (1999) Army colonel with enlisted active service in the USMC (1967-69). Just as Mr. James Moore's article indicated, I also was piqued by questions about Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard (TANG) during another war, Vietnam, in the last presidential campaign. One, however, doesn't have to denigrate service in the National Guard, as the President intimated in his interview on Meet the Press, to comment that service there was a way of avoiding more arduous, and dangerous service in the active force, since President Johnson made an early decision to fight the war with draftees and not to call up the Reserve or National Guard forces. Right now, President Bush is not only the commander in chief, leading our Nation's armed forces, but also, in his own words, is a “wartime President.”Moreover, he has used the uniform to garner political support. The question as to whether he fulfilled his obligation to the Texas Air National Guard (TANG) during another war, therefore, is germane to his fitness to serve as President and his reelection.

I also requested and received a copy of his releasable records from the Army and Air National Guard Bureau in late 2000. My letter deals only with the quality of his service in the TANG documented in the released records and does not touch on other sensitive issues such as his direct commission without going through Officer Candidate School and his being chosen for pilot training although he had the lowest possible qualifying score. Both, however, do smack of favoritism in that era.

Without doubt, there is absolutely no evidence about the President’s duty in Alabama in the summer and fall of 1972. Most important, the President has an annual officer efficiency report from his TANG unit, dated May 2, 1973, for the period May 1, 1972, through April 30, 1973, in which both officers, lieutenant colonels, say they hadn't seen him since May 1972: “Lt Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of report. A civilian occupation made it necessary for him to move to Montgomery, Alabama. He cleared this base on 15 May 1972 and has been performing equivalent training in a non flying status with the 187 Tac Recon Gp, Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama.”But there is not one shred of documentary evidence, normally an Air Force Form 190 proving attendance at any drills in Alabama, and not one witness has come forward to attest to his attendance at any meetings in Alabama. On the contrary, the commander of the unit and another officer are on record as saying they never saw him. Why wasn't he given a report or a letter sent from the Alabama unit to his TANG unit? Moreover, he departed for Alabama without first obtaining approval to serve in a unit there. That is hardly conduct to be commended.

But the report raises a bigger question: Why didn't he attend any drills in his TANG unit after he returned to Texas from Alabama sometime around November 1972? That's five months of “no show.”The 1973 report even suggests that his unit commander didn't even know Lieutenant Bush was back in Texas.

There are documents in his record that purport to show that he made up lost time after receiving two special orders commanding him to active duty. But this supposed active service is not documented on the proper form, Air Force Form 190, as are all his previous active duty stints in the TANG. The form documenting these points is unsigned and undated, and, therefore, not credible. There is no signed, official document in his record showing that he earned any active duty points after May 1972. In fact, his Form 2, documenting service with a final entry of October 1973, clearly states he earned only 22 active duty training points in 1972; none are listed for 1973, and the "last paid" entry, although blurred on my copy, looks like 1972.

As to the origin of these questionable documents, an allegation has already been made in print by a former TANG lieutenant colonel, Bill Burkett, that the President's records were “scrubbed”of any derogatory information when he was governor and in charge of the TANG. Could someone close to the President have put this questionable form in his file to cover the gap in service? A simple forensic analysis of the paper in his file would answer this question. Altering and destroying official records are, by the way, a federal offense under 18 U.S.C. section 2071.

There are, however, other shortcomings in the file that need explanation. He failed to take his flight physical and was grounded in written orders dated September 19, 1972. Did he not have an obligation to take it? After all, the government, i.e., U.S. taxpayers, paid about $1 million to train him to fly. Some research on the regulations would provide proof that he was in violation not only of a standing order, because there is absolutely no evidence he ever took a flight physical and flew after 1972, but also of written orders directing him to take it : “Off[icer] will comply with para[graph] 2-10, A[ir] F[orce] M[annual] 35-13”; the orders were signed by a major general.

Additionally, his officer efficiency rating by the same officers was lower in 1972 than in 1971. Normally, such a report was the kiss of death for an officer. Why was he rated lower in his "Performance of Duties" block in 1972 than in 1971?

During the last presidential campaign, the President claimed that he flew for "several years" after earning his wings. The "American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" defines "several" as "a number more than two or three." His record, however, only documents 22 months of flying. Such exaggeration and obfuscation is hardly in keeping with the President's promise to restore "dignity and honor to the White House."

Before commenting further on the President’s TANG service, the major media should obtain all of the President’s records, to include finance, medical, disciplinary, and tax, to become better informed for at least an in depth article or a probing interview about the President’s military service. The finance records should show all attendance at meetings because he would have been paid for them. The other records might flesh out the inferences that can be drawn from those records already released. In any event, the media should not give him a bye this time around because his service is relevant to his right to serve as Commander in Chief in war. Moreover, the media should obtain the help of an Air Force military personnel officer familiar with the contemporaneous regulations and forms for the Air National Guard.

Finally, the American people are entitled to have his complete military record before them so that each voter can judge his service record during another war is pertinment to his worthiness for reelection.

Sincerely,

Gerald A. Lechliter
Lewes, DE

Subj: Your Editorial on Sex

I've just finished reading your editorial on "Sex, Lies and the Bush Cartel." It is an excellent article, but you left out some important information about little Georgie's personal sex life.

It's always bothered me that the mainstream press ignored the fact that Bush went AWOL when he was in the national guard. Thank goodness they are starting to report on that now. but another thing they ignored then and are still ignoring now is George W. Bush's sexual escapades. During his first campaign for president, there were rumors all over the internet about his extra-marital affairs with a former Playboy Bunny who worked in a club in Austin. One message said he had broken off this affair one month before announcing his intentions to run for president. I never saw a syllable about this in the press, just on the internet, but it was so persistent, it was hard to discount.

There was also the rumor of his paying for an abortion for a 17-year-old girl back when he was in his 20s. It was rumored that his opponents even had the doctor who did the abortion and the friend who drove her to the abortion clinic who were ready to go public, but the woman herself refused to come forward. (She was either too afraid or Bush's henchmen got to her first and paid her off.) Have you tried to run down either one of these rumors? I think I have the old e-mails if you would like me to send them to you. This needs to get into the mainstream press. I hope you can make it happen.

Keep up the good work. There are so few voices that can get the liberal ideas out there like you can.

Barbara Santee, Ph.D
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Subj: Dancing through the Guard

Hi Buzz,

He got a very special invitation to the Guard Dance, he stayed a bit, he sat out a lot of tunes and he left early. Much has been written, exposed and much is left unanswered.

OK, the boy had a lot of family friends in high places--Yadda Yadda, we know how that works. But the answers are there, let your personnel records out and let the chips fall were they will, have you no faith in your ability to smirk your way out of a jam, gwb? All units maintain day records of attendance-those are not personal records, gwb would be logged in 'if he reported for duty', have the day records been seen?

A question left unasked is how gwb waltzed away early, how and why he was given an honorable discharge eight months before he 'completed his duty'? To go to Harvard business school??? His Guard unit meets one weekend a month, business school is a Monday to Friday thing---where is the problem, he could have done both. I know because I did.

So who orchestrated the 'Early discharge' and how where they repaid?

Best

Cole...

Subj: NOTHING is THEIR fault; WH blames Clintron for recession

it took them three years to get that figured out, and how convenient....

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Mailbag 2/9

To whomever the person was who wrote that they were concerned that after the nominee was picked, if it was not Howard Dean, we might all fold??

Oh, please have more trust!! I have been backing Howard Dean since the first...I voted for him in the Missouri Primary....and I am saddened that whatever happened,happened, but, I am so sick of the administration...I would vote for Foghorn Leghorn if he ran on the dem ticket! All our candidates are good people....and I just happened to be backing Howard Dean, because he came out right at the first, telling it like it was!

But, no one out there should be concerned that any of us will fold...and steal away! I trudged through the snow to vote for Howard...and I will trudge through the snow to vote for Kerry or Edwards or whomever.

I think we are all jumping the gun a little, too. Dean has come in second in the last three caucuses or primaries...Washington, Michigan and Maine! Looks bad for him In Virginia and Tennessee....but, you can just never tell...However, just remember that we do not want another 4 years of this administration...I will be there on Nov.3rd...

Now, I have written a letter already to Michael Powell (I think it was Mr.Westermann) and told him how silly I thought he was...and he is. He went though a dozen ignorant commercials...about male enhancement drugs...(I wonder if he had to explain what an erection was to any of these kids at his house)...and, the entire show, at half time was a bump and grind experience...He is confused about what his job is, as are most of the cabinet members!!!!

And, to Sue, I always thought that query during the Clinton Impeachment (He does not know what 'Is" 'Is")...and "What do we tell our kids?, was just as ignorant as the Boob flash...I hated it more ( I watched the entire impeachment hearings) when that dim bulb (Mary Bono) asked his lawyer, "What do we tell our kids?" It was all she could come up with....someone who did not even likely finish high school. It has always made me sick...Well, now the parents are having to explain why 530 american soldiers have been killed in Iraq....3-4 thousand have been injured and maybe permanently, and many, many innocent Iraqi civilians are dead....I have heard numbers of 6 thousand to 20 thousand....we will never, ever know!

Oh, and the presidents interview? Gag me with a spoon...are we to believe that he really thought there were weapons...? I knew when we went in, there were none!!!!

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

Subj: Bush -Lying IS a character issue!

Bush and the Republicans would like us all to forget about his Texas Air National Guard service, or lack thereof. We're all supposed to accept that he was honorably discharged and let it go at that. But there's more to the story than just the missing year. There's also the U.S. Air Force service he claimed but never served.

What happened is that Bush claimed in campaign literature (from a failed Congressional race), that he served in BOTH the Texas Air National Guard and The US Air Force. When questioned about this during the 2000 presidential race, Bush spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, defended the claim by saying "everyone knew" that the Texas Air National Guard was PART of the US Air Force.

For those who don't know, serving in the Texas Air National Guard is not the same as serving in the US Air Force and having served in one does not constitute service in the other. This in no way denigrates service in the National Guard, it is just a simple fact that inactive duty in the Texas Air National Guard is different from active duty in the US Air Force.

The irony is that if Bush had been in the US Air Force in the 70's and had failed to show up for a year, even his daddy would have had a hard time keeping him out of trouble. But he wasn't in the Air Force, it was a lie he told to give himself unearned stature for a political race. Kind of like padding a resume to get a job, except in this case, what he was claiming to have had was active duty military service during a time when tens of thousands of Americans were dying in Viet Nam.

In other words, he not only failed to show up for his cushy, unearned Guard spot, he then went on at a later date to claim additional military service in the Air Force. And that was a blatant, self-serving lie.

The media gave it a pass, possibly because most of the media weren't veterans and wouldn't know the difference and probably because they were giving Bush a pass about everything at the time. Most news outlets weren't even looking at the missing National Guard service, forget about something as insignificant as a presidential candidate falsely claiming to have had additional military service during a time of war.

Even if Bush were to have blamed these inaccurate statements on his drinking and partying, by the time of the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush was allegedly a sober, born-again Christian. One would think that the requirements of his faith, if not his sobriety, would dictate an honest reckoning with his past. So, does he come clean when asked about his military service? Does he acknowledge the error? Nope. He has his campaign give the non-answer, "everyone knows". Well, this is what I know. Mr. Bush is a liar. He lied about serving in the Air Force, He lied about his Guard duty. He lied in the State of the Union address. He lied to the U.N.. He lied when he blamed the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln for the "Mission Accomplished" banner. He lied about WMDs. And as despicable as those lies are, there's something especially ugly about a man who has lied about his own military service and then, as President, sent Americans into a war based on more lies. How much uglier can it get? That he also lies about supporting the troops while cutting their benefits out from under them? That he lied to take us into this war and then shamelessly helps his friends and supporters profit financially from it? He's done all that too.

Some might say that it's a waste of time to get so worked up over something that happened thirty years ago. I say it's important. The lies told then have become the foundation for all the lies that have followed. Perhaps the lies he got away with telling then have emboldened him to become the liar he is today. If this isn't a relevant character issue, I don't know what is.

Ruth

Subj: Bush's language is apocalyptic: It's no accident

Dear BuzzFlash,

An old meaning of the word 'aspersion' is to 'sprinkle with Holy Water.' The term 'anathema' originally meant to make an offering at a temple. When Henry VIII dispersed the monasteries, they were known as 'the great standing army of Rome.' Since the time of Augustus Caesar through Constantine's committees creating the Canon of the Bible, religion has been married to the politics of state control.

America was a brave experiment. Benjamin Franklin and his broad Deist, Enlightenment perspectives led him to speak a language more symbolic / poetic than today's--yet it was perfectly understood in his time. That capacity for thinking symbolically is something that has gotten lost between Georges Washington and W Bush. I keep thinking of Walter Isaacson's description of Franklin's funeral... all the clergy from the entire city marched at the front with his coffin--the Rabbi with them. It says everything about the brave experiment, and everything about what our current leaders and their castrati would like us to lose.

Bush's language is apocalyptic. It's no accident; it's something that he has in common with Hitler: he is, like Ashcroft and so many of his chosen, a Millenialist. Their literal belief borders on psychosis.

The Universities are losing their funding: part of starving the beast. It's the universities that stand apart, remembering history--a history the Right is trying to rewrite. This weekend, we're seeing the lies that led us to war: the cherry-picked intelligence, cherry picked by a vast Right-Wing now in control of our government. It's time to speak out everywhere.

Good wishes,

Deborah Conner

Some of you guys were here last January when my friend had to go to Iraq. Perhaps you read the letter that I wrote at that time. Just in case you are interested, my friend should be coming home from Iraq next month. He's made it this long and as the time winds down I get more and more afraid for him. When he does get back here, where he belongs, I just hope that he's the same sweet man who left. He's become a grandfather again during his time away. This little baby will be almost a year old before it meets its grandfather.

Regarding bush's AWOL status and why we want to know. Okay, here's the deal. If this administration and their followers could question my patriotism when I called for no war with Iraq, then I can question bush's honesty and patriotism regarding his AWOL status. It's just as simple as that. They made the rules for this game and I'm simply playing by their rules.

Now that the pro war folks know that this war was waged based on deceit, why aren't they angry and screaming? Our soldiers went to war and died because someone hyped the information about the danger of Iraq. So who was patriotic, those who sent our soldiers on a death mission or those who tried to protect our soldiers? Supporting our troops takes on a whole different meaning now in the wake of the latest information from Kay. Supporting our troops also means protecting our troops from wars that never should have been. We need a President who truly does support our troops, not just uses them!

With sincere appreciation to BuzzFlash and all the you guys,

pissed off patricia

http://www.opednews.com/blog_pissed_off_patricia.htm

Hi Buzz,

John McCain campaigns for Bush then is appointed to the panel to investigate Bush.

Where is the outcry over this!

Also if I were John McCain and were slandered like he was by HIS party in the last presidential campaign [accused of having an illegitimate child, mentally insane from pow camp, wife was a drug addict, etc]

I would grow a spine and leave the republican party.

Thanks,

Buzz reader

Subj: Russert Interview

I noticed something odd during the MTP appearance of "President" Bush. At one point, during the discussion on WMD, NBC cut from a tight shot of Bush to a wide angle shot, showing Russert, Bush, and a desk sitting right behind them. Seconds into this shot, Bush motioned towards the desk, and said "Sitting behind this desk..." and then seconds later, they went back to the tight head shot. How did NBC know to include the desk in a five second shot, unless it was all rehearsed? Makes you wonder...

Gene Winters
Independence, MO

Subj: Why the Rush?

Hi Buzz,

I have mulled over it many times, and I finally figured it out. (I'm a bit slow so it's taken me awhile.) Why was going to Iraq a “MUST DO NOW”kind of scenario for President Bush? The United Nation’s weapons inspectors were in Iraq; Saddam was contained; a fuller picture of a broken regime was starting to emerge from what the inspectors were finding. So why the rush?

The answer is right in front of us. The window of opportunity was closing. The more information about how depleted Saddam’s forces and abilities were, the less likely the American people would be in supporting the neo-con plan. Bush had to act and act fast, the UN inspectors were uncovering what he (Bush) already knew, that Saddam did not pose an immediate threat to the world, that indeed he was a broken man on the verge of a regime failure. So Bush rattled the war drums and got those pesky inspectors out of there. Over 500 American service men and women have paid the ultimate sacrifice and thousands of Iraqi civilians have needlessly died. Saddam was a bad bad man, OK, but the person who initiated the death of those thousands of Iraqi civilians and the death of those hundereds of young soldiers for his own political purposes is a bad bad man too. I call it TREASON!

Jennifer Prunty
Sacramento, CA

I may be a crazy Canuck, but here goes anyway...

Whoever picks up the Democratic Party's nomination should pick Max Cleland for a running mate.

I saw him on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and he truly impressed me. He stands on his own against your right-wing media. Can you imagine a debate between him and the king of the neocons, Cheney?

Kerry-Cleland....experienced warriors to lead the war against terrorism, rather than the current two chickenhawks. Wow!

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Let the Tide Turn

Hey Buzz:

Just got a good chuckle from reading how huffy, holier-than-thou Scott McClellan said that "opponents" are resorting to "gutter politics" by continuing to demand that Bush provide evidence of his Guard service. And I am *so excited* to see the press corps showing a little gumption for a change!! Hey, little Scottie, they're just bringing it on!

John Kerry, up to this point, has not been my candidate of choice (although I admire many things about him, particularly his stellar environmental record), but I've got to say he's looking mighty authentic, mighty heroic, and mighty presidential next to the spinning chimp.

The members of Bush Co. must be tearing their hair out trying to decide whether to trot out Bin Laden now or to wait until October as they'd originally intended.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Hello all,

Love the BuzzFlash site, nice to know not everyone in this country is brainwashed.

You all should google this and read what comes up. I'll let you all draw your own conclusions.

Enron Afghanistan Pipeline Taliban

Keep up the good work.

thanks

Doug

Re: Why Wasn't George Flying?

I agree with Bill Coady. It's one thing to cover up the fact that Bush wasn't attending meetings and may have been missing for long periods of time.

There's something really amiss here. Aviation is like a disease without a cure; once bit by the bug, you never get it out of your system. NO pilot would ever willingly let his flight status lapse UNLESS there was a serious roadblock to renewal, like death or drug use.

It's time to investigate his drug use.

Christopher Alan
Chicago

Subj: Bush and the Gay Marriage Phobia

In a somewhat transparent ploy to turn the voting public's attention in any direction that deflects it from national security, the Iraq debacle, and the economy--areas in which even Bush's modest intellect cannot fail to miss the simple fact that his record reeks like three-day-old fish--he is now doing his damndest to turn the gay marriage debate into a significant campaign issue, via the absurdity of his proposed, utterly mean-spirited Constitutional amendment. What I have yet to hear Bush (or anybody else) clarify in addressing this issue is in precisely what capacity gay marriages or civil unions would impact negatively upon the quality of my heterosexually-married life.

If memory serves, a dozen or so years ago, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, the Christian Right's favorite condemnation of gays had to do with their putative, prodigious promiscuity. That particular slap in good, God-fearing folks' faces, however, seems to have conveniently vaporized into the ether in the face of the apparently far more offensive proposition of a monogamous commitment made by two people who love each other. So, please, Rev. Falwell, et al., enlighten me--which is the greater sin? The Christian Coalition repeats ad nauseum that homosexuality will land any human being who practices it smack in the bosom of Lucifer after breathing his/her last. But since it's the homosexuals who can anticipate eternal torture, why on earth would anyone not guilty of this Everest of deadly sins really care all that much about someone else's impending damnation? After all, a healthy segment of Those Whom Jesus Loves do not exhibit any palpable sympathy toward the unfortunate billions who'll be left to suffer on a Satanist Earth after these lucky winners all get Raptured.

It must truly be a constant comfort to be so unquestionably assured of one's own rectitude. So given the comfortabilty factor, what completely eludes me is the so-called Christians' obvious disinclination to leave everybody else the hell alone. I was raised as a Catholic, and although I'm no longer one, the dogma I absorbed in my youth makes me pretty sure that Jesus values us for those whom we treat kindly to an exponentially greater degree than for those whom we sleep with.

So regarding the consummately unkind mindset of these sanctimonious "Christians" toward their fellow man who happens to be gay...if he were to peruse this supremely bigoted amendment that the president is hawking, What Would Jesus Do?

My guess is: probably vomit.

Ellen Remore
Old Tappan, NJ

Subj: Dennis Kucinich

A MESSAGE TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF DENNIS KUCINICH FOR PRESIDENT

The values and policies that Dennis represents are as valuable today as they were before the Democratic primary process began in 2003. Given the unfolding of John Kerry as the most likely Democratic Party candidate (and the one most likely to prevail over Bush) , it is vital that we as supporters of Dennis continue to enumerate the values that Dennis stands for. If Dennis makes a reasonable showing in the primaries and thus has enough delegates, this will have a direct influence on Kerry's presentation to the American public. How can this come about?

Our last chance exists in the March 2 primaries. Mainly California, Ohio (Dennis' home state), New York, and Minnesota represent fertile ground for promulgating Dennis' ideas. To do this Dennis must of course have prime TV time to reach enough voters. Given the fact that it is not possible to raise significant sums of money under the $2,000 Federal maximum limit, the one possibility for Dennis to reach enough voters is for millionaire donors to set up a totally independent campaign to purchase air time in support of Dennis' ideas. For what will money be worth if Bush is elected since the President has already taken us to the verge of nuclear and/or biological annihilation. Money is worthless in a world of holocaust. There will be no children to leave one's wealth to. Are we exaggerating here?

So this message is to urge anyone who reads this to obtain the " millions" of dollars necessary to buy serious air time in the March 2 primary states. Please pass this message on. Anyone able to purchase this air time, do it now for there is only one REAL "political issue" and that is world survival. Please act now..

God bless the world--no exceptions.

Howard Seidell & Tom Cahill

Buzz writes: "Powell used a known, untrustworthy source in his UN speech 2/10"...

Guys... what the hell else could he possibly have used?!

jj.

Subj: BS from Noonan

I just read a piece on truthout.com that was written by Peggy Noonan. The gist of it was that George W. was no good at interviews (such as Sunday's not-even-live Meet the Press debacle) but could carry a speech, similar to Ronnie Reagan, and that, though they could come off as bumbling fools in extemporaneous situations, both were "tough and engaged" in a crisis. Well, the biggest crisis that any president in my memory has faced occurred on September 11, 2001. I vividly recall watching George W. Bush speak that Tuesday night, just hoping for a sign of strength and resolve. Instead, I witnessed a nervous, quaking man who seemed as though he would dissolve if he was made to speak a minute longer. Well, the only thing he inspired in me that night was fear and anxiety and dread. This "tough and engaged" nonsense is right-wing hype, based on absolutely nothing but illusion, and it is fitting that Noonan, the mistress of smoke and mirrors herself, has reared her ugly head to perpetuate it.

Rico

Subj: Holy Shit! O'Reilly Apologized about WMD!

This is unbelievable.

As many of you know, Bill O'Reilly, the conservative big mouth pundot on FOX, promised to apologize if no Weapons of Mass Destruction were found in iraq. There is even a countdown clock here: http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/clock.htm

According to Reuters, O'Reilly apologized on Good Morning America. Will wonders never cease? Read all about it here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story

Brendan

Subj: Bush on Vacation again?

Sounds like he's planning on another vacation (see end of article):

" Nor did Bush bite Monday when a journalist asked whether he was "fishing for votes" at the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World.

" I'm here to buy some fishing gear," the president replied. He walked out with a rod, a reel, some spinner lures, fishing line and some artificial worms."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news/spontaneous_bush

A BuzzFlash Reader

i would like to know how bush who scored only 25% on his aptitude test was allowed to jump over thousands with much higher scores to get in flight training! isn't bush the one who said we shouldn't be passing kids if they don't make the grade?

ss

Subj: Bush Paystubs

I smell a rat on this pay record deal. Tim "the whore" asked about pay records and Bush "the young moron" muttered they're someplace in Colorado. Now it would appear that they have miraculously appeared. Flaw number one is that the "whore-moron" conversation is the only thing that would imply that these documents satisfactorily support the time served defense of the " moron's" Guard record. Karl Rove has worked another very cagey deal here. All the records, not a few pay stubs.

Keep hammerin'

ol' quid pro quo

DaveFagan

Subj: Bush AWOL for coke arrest community service?

We all remember Hatfield's report of GW Bush's 1972 cocaine arrest. It's no surprise a hard-drinking coke user would duck a doctor's appointment.

Today the Associated Press released a timeline of Bush's military record that includes mention of his working at a Houston poverty center in 1973.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news/bush_national_guard_timeline

Can anyone make a timeline showing when he was allegedly serving in the reserves vs. when he was "working" at the center in Houston?

Keith

Subj: May I recommend a movie?

This is so far off the track of this mailbag....and has nothing to do with the times we are in right now....but, it is chilling.

Yesterday, rummaging through a bunch of "toss away" movies, I ran onto one about the Enrique Camarena story....he was the American DEA agent, killed in Mexico in 1985-86, I could remember everything about it, because I followed the story closely back then, I picked up the movie..not only because of that, but because Benecio Del Toro was in it. He, some of you might remember, won an oscar for a movie a couple of years ago...he was Supporting Actor..in Traffic..with Michael Douglas.

Anyway, it was long, done in the form of a documentary.....and very well done. I am amazed that I never found it before.

Many stars...Treat Williams....Steven Bauer...Craig T Nelson...& Elizabeth Pena as I remember hearing at the time...either donated their services or did it for scale...I don't exactly remember. The DEA of this country...vowed they would find out who killed him. It was during or right after the Medillion Cartel(msp.) and just before the problems in Central American with the Sandanistas(msp)...and Reagans involvement!

Anyway...you will never quite understand the degree this country is kept in the dark about these things, until you see a movie like this.

After a 2 hour movie of men almost catching....then losing...then catching...you were almost out of breath....when they got him...and called the Presidents advisor...I have no Idea who it was .....but,.it was stopped from what I gathered by President Reagan because of some money deal with the Mexican Government....I remember at the time, wondering what was done about it.

They brought Enrique back, flagged draped coffin, full military honors.......but even though ,if anyone else remembers, the DEA spent countless hours, months, years trying to find his killer.....it was stopped in the end anyway because of the government of this country.

It is chilling....and very scary...I do not think I ever realized how crooked this country can really be, to stay in good with another country...especially when Money is involved.

If any of you have ever seen this movie...I would like to get your take on it...I could have had it all misconstrued.....but, i don't think so.. It really makes you think!!!!!!!!!

The movie was produced by Michael Mann....the producer of the "Miami Vice" series years back!

Mr.Westermann, who is a writer and a movie maker...perhaps if he has seen it, could shed some light on at least his take on it!

I am so amazed that I never was able to even rent the movie before...it just turned up!

Shirley.....St.Louis

Subj: Saddam Hussein

If Saddam Hussein was such an evil madman, why isn't he on trial right now for crimes against humanity? Is it so that the American voters don't hear the truth about how their own gov't supported him while he carried out his atrocities? Just asking.

A Canadian BuzzFlash reader

Subj: NIP AND TUCK AND COLIN, TOO

Now that the Jackson breast has, so to speak, been nipped in the bud, with much righteous indignation about the decline of the West, and all that, we might want to consider, too, Colin Powell's high-minded and right-out-front indignation when Clinton tried to address the issue of gays in the military, probably a rather foolish focus on Clinton's part so very early in his administration. Somehow, strangely, Colin's high-minded morality seems to have flown the coop, so to speak, when it comes to delivering false information to an international body in order to encourage a war. No mea culpas here. After all, wars only kill people, and people got to die sooner or later anyhow. Boy, oh boy, if Pinnochioism were alive and well in this administration, there wouldn't be room for anything but noses and nostrils. They'd have to stack the rest of the liars in the national Archives, or somewhere. God only knows where they'd put all the breasts!

Norman Weinstein
NYC

Subj: Watch out for the Bush administration's "October surprise"

The dishonesty of this administration knows no bounds. As such, I'm predicting that one or more of the following 5 "surprises" will occur near this year's presidential election, helping Bush's election chances:

- Osama Bin Laden will be "captured".

- WMD will be "found" in Iraq.

- Libyan leader Quadafy will "provide information" linking Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda.

- National Guard drill records will be "found" showing that Bush did indeed perform his drills from 1972 to 1973

- The "investigation" into who outed CIA covert WMD operative Valerie Plame will determine that it was not a senior official in the Bush administration who provided her name to Robert Novak

Kimico Myers
Columbia, SC

Subj: Bush's Dangerous "Thoughts"

Dear BuzzFlash

On Meet the Press, Bush said that he "thought" they would find WMD's in Iraq. This "thought" has cost us over 500 lives, millions of dollars and still counting, over 10,000 Iraqi lives, and an expensive investigation. When is it okay to invade a country on a "thought"? It sure seems that Bush is incapable of intelligent "thoughts". He should give this nation a break and stop thinking. He has proved to us that his thinking is very dangerous.

Which leaves me to think that he is an incompetent thinker.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: AWOL

It's hard to explain here in 2004, why George Bush's service record is such a sham and incredibly disgusting. During the early 70's Vietnam was a hateful thing to those of us who were young and watching our friends and family members marching off to this war that meant nothing except killing. It didn't even start out to be a war for the US, we went there to "help" other countries, countries who pulled out and left us there. It was a war about nothing except a lot of money for those who had military contracts. This nothing war kept piling up body bags, one after another. Sons, lovers, fathers, brothers, friends were in those body bags. One after another, year after year they flew those black bags home.

Slowly as the years dragged on and no resolution, just death and dismemberment, young men started going AWOL, or running to Canada or Mexico anyplace to hide from their government who would send them into hell without a thought or seemingly a care. I myself begged a friend of mine to go AWOL and he even thought about doing so, about running away with the hundreds, thousands of others who ran away, but he didn't, he went back when he was called...he came home rolled off the plane in a black body bag.

I was adamantly anti-war and believed in my friends and family members going AWOL, getting deferments, running to Canada, anything just get out of the whole mess, just to stay alive. The anger in the US, as anti-war protestors trying to stop their government from this insanity, became more and more violent.

There are many of us alive today who would not point a finger at George Bush's military record from 1972/73 not even if he was AWOL, myself included, if it was because he was taking a stand, making a statement like so many others. But he wasn't making a statement, he wasn't doing anything but goofing off, drinking, whoring, living it up. He wasn't running away from what men love to call "their duty." A duty that had become sick and evil and everyone knew it was sick and evil. Millions of us did not believe it was anyone's "duty" to die or be maimed in that God forsaken place. But not George, he wasn't an activist, he wasn't afraid, he wasn't anything but a spoiled rich kid swimming in a sea of booze, and he has no right to pretend to be anything else.

Those that ran paid a price, many of them could never come home again. And God knows those who went paid the biggest price of all and millions of them would never be the same if they did survive. It was almost impossible during those years to stand for nothing, but he managed to stand for nothing, even the ones who were afraid stood for something.

How could this man be President of the United States, how could we have let him buy his way in. How could we possibly let someone like this send our sons, fathers, brothers, lovers and yes sisters and mothers to another war without meaning or reason. How could we let him prance around the deck of the Abraham Lincoln like he had the right.

We don't get to see those black bags roll off the plane like we did in the late 60's and 70's, but they are rolling, one by one they are rolling off those planes. I don't have to see them to know what it looks like, I don't have to see the faces of the families as they claim the bodies of their loved ones. Once you've seen it, you never forget.

Johnson and Nixon ultimately paid a price for their involvement in that other war, is it George W. Bush's time to pay the piper? I hope so.

Sally A. McDonald