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Subj: Science Vs. the Republicans

First, remember a few weeks ago how the state of Georgia tried to ban the word evolution from their textbooks? Then they reversed after even Jimmy Carter called them insane? And how they said all they were trying to do was remove a buzzword? All lies. While they put evolution back in the textbooks…at the same time, they dramatically cut back on all sorts of other things, like discussions of the age of the earth, plate tectonics, and so on. So first, their claim that they were just trying to remove evolution was a lie. And second, they got good press in the media for putting the word back in, but they still accomplished their goal of reducing teaching on the topic.

And second, on the global warming debate. Almost every scientific model of the effect of releasing CO2 to the atmosphere says that the Northwest U.S. have a dramatic drop in precipitation. It’s supposed to get a lot drier there. And guess what? The amount of precipitation in the Northwest U.S. has dramatically declined over the past few decades. In other words, the Global Warming models are being proven right directly before our eyes.

In a few decades, the U.S. is really going to regret the Republicans war on science. The only things that can come from this are bad.

Brian Balta
http://balta.blogspot.com

Subj: Scoop

__Wallace Carline, the Duck Hunt Host, Will Make a Killing Off the Bush Energy Plan

Two of the most controversial schemes built into the Bush/Cheney Energy scheme are calls for drilling in ANWR and a sweeping expansion of new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the biggest winners from Bush's call for a1.47-Million-Acre expansion of Gulf drilling would be the folks who prepare the sites for drilling and do the dredging for ships, right? Well, guess who is the biggest purveyor of these services in the Gulf of Mexico? Diamond Services Corporation, owned and operated by none other than Wallace Carline, who hosted Cheney and Scalia's recent duck-hunting venture. For story on Bush Gulf drilling plan see http://florida.sierraclub.org/miami/cons_offshore.htm Carline may very well be one of the names on Cheney's secret energy task force list. http://www.diamondservicescorp.com/dredging/

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Bush's Dental Exam

Shortly after Christmas of 1972, Bush was working in a Houston ghetto, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/ quoted below, but he managed to return to Montgomery on 6 Jan 1973 for the now famous dental exam, see http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/gwbush/gwb10673dent.html

QUOTE

By the end of 1972, Bush's father was mulling over a new job offer from Nixon –to be chairman of the Republican National Committee. With his parents back in Washington, Bush went to stay with them for the holidays and was involved in one of the most notorious incidents of his "nomadic" years. He took his 16-year-old brother Marvin out drinking, ran over a neighbor's garbage cans on the way home, and when his father confronted him, challenged him to go "mano a mano" outside.

There was no fight, and Bush was apparently able to mollify his father with the news that he had been accepted for the following fall at Harvard Business School. But with nothing to do until then, his father decided it was time to give this restless young man some broader exposure to real life.

Shortly after Christmas, Bush began working as a counselor with black youngsters in Houston's Third Ward in a program called PULL (Professionals United for Leadership) for Youth. The brainchild of the late John L. White, a former professional football player and civic leader, it was set up for kids up to 17 in a warehouse on McGowen Street and it offered sports, crafts, field trips and big-name mentors from the athletic, entertainment and business worlds.

Bush and his brother Marvin, who tagged along for the summer weeks, were the only whites in the place. "They stood out like a sore thumb," said Muriel Simmons Henderson, who was one of PULL's senior counselors. "John White was a good friend of their father. He told us that the father wanted George W. to see the other side of life. He asked John if he would put him in there."

Dressed in khaki, with his pants torn at the knees, Bush managed to fit right in. He "came early and stayed late," in the words of one former employee, playing basketball and wrestling with the youngsters, taking them on field trips to juvenile prisons so they could see that side of life and resolve not to end up there themselves. He also taught them not to run when a police cruiser came by.

"He was a super, super guy," said "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd, a 6-foot-9, 320-pound pro football great and PULL luminary who stopped by frequently. "If he was a stinker, I'd say he was a stinker. But everybody loved him so much. He had a way with people. . . . They didn't want him to leave." One little boy in particular, a 6-or-maybe-7-year-old named Jimmy Dean, made a special connection with Bush. "He was an adorable kid," said Edgar Arnold, PULL's operating director. "Everybody liked him, but he bypassed all these famous athletes, all these giants, and picked out George Bush, and vice versa." The two became inseparable. If George was a little late, Jimmy would wait for him on the stoop. "At business meetings," Arnold said, "that kid would be on top of George, head on his shoulders." When Jimmy showed up shoeless, George bought him shoes.

Bush says he heard many years later that little Jimmy Dean was killed by gunfire as a teenager. "He was like my adopted little brother."

In keeping with family tradition, Bush did not boast of his pedigree, or even mention it, to others at PULL. "I didn't know he was of a silver spoon nature," Henderson said.

His car, like his clothes, carried no hint of it. "He had a bomb of a car," she remembered. "It was the pits . . . always full of stuff, clothes, papers. No one could ride in it with him. . . . He never put himself in the position of looking down his nose at someone, like, 'I've got all this money, my father is George Bush.' He never talked about his father. He was so down to earth. . . . You could not help liking him. He was always fun."

UNQUOTE

Jody

He Ought to Know

Saturday, February 14, 2004; Page A28

IT'S HARD TO RECALL a more brazen display of political chutzpah than the Bush campaign's assault on Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) as a captive of special interests....

________________________________

Curtain Goes Up on Glass-House Attack

By Dana Milbank

Sunday, February 15, 2004; Page A04

________________________________

You actually don't need to read these stories of Bush's hypocrisy that YOU DIDN'T EVEN PROVIDE ONE WORD OF BALANCE TO INDICATE, YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS.

Your story on Bush's campaign strategy contained pure White House shilling with no balance, Dana.

It was the FIRST story I've seen in the media (admittedly,Fox is probably taking your approach) that didn't (when talking about Bush's special interest accusations r.e. Kerry) admit with any credible semblance of journalistic ethics that Bush's special interest money demonstrably and objectively is orders of magnitude greater than Kerry's.

What are you going to say - that it wasn't the focus of the story? Of course it wasn't, but that doesn't mean you don't include ONE mitigating/balancing statement about the real dollar and cents figures involved here. Not even ONE LINE in your Bush ad piece. In other words, you did exactly what Rove and Mehlman want. With ZERO balance or response in your "reporting", the accusations stand as fact for all your viewers who don't have the time or initiative to READ or glean info on their own.

You even had he audacity to say that "The Bush campaign will try to show the FACT that Kerry....etc" and went on to describe their spin. THE FACT you say? What kind of linguistic misuse is THAT? Pretty scary and if this is how you're going to conduct yourself in this campaign, let me tell you: WE WON'T STAND FOR IT. We'll document your distortions and make them public; we'll come and demonstrate at the Washington, NY, or Atlanta offices -

This is only the beginning. Your pro-Bush spin is not going to stand. I don't care how much YOU personally adore this President and will clearly support and vote for him (it's transparent) - that's your right as an American. But LEAVE YOUR BIAS OUT OF THIS, Dana. It's journalistically reprehensible, and is documented in the CNN transcripts.

Dave Dorsett

Subj: We need a comparison. .

What would be enlightening, is to find another pilot from the same unit, who served, and see what his records look like after all this time...Put his stack next to the ChickenHawks.

......R. Johnsen

Subj: Help Ben Chandler Win KY

Ben Chandler is a Democrat in Kentucky running for Congress. He is leading his GOP opponent right now and Clark has encouraged his supporters to rally around Ben Chandler and other Democrats for House and Senate. (Clark is not going away, but is going to help Democrats win. He always thinks of the greater good.)

www.chandlerforcongress.org

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Meet the Press: Howard Dean

Howard Dean was good. He had an answer for everything Tim Russert asked him. I was Proud of Howard Dean. Tim Russert looked like a whipped puppy. I say yae ae ae ae ae ae ae!!!!!! for Dean

Jan

Subj: Where was Bush in 1972?

There has been a lot of discussion lately about whether Bush was doing his duty with the National Guard in Alabama in 1973. This interesting Salon article from 1999 suggests he may have actually been in Houston for much of that time performing community service.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/cocaine/

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Texas National Guard and Mr. Bush

Isn't it the press's job to find out who this Calhoun is and why he was willing to come out in front of the media and lie for Bush?

I really think this is sleaze at its finest and should be brought to light. We no nothing about this man whose alibi of Bush is being discredited.

Marie Pickert

Subj: O'Reilly Apology and Krauthammer statement

Hi BuzzFlash, 2/15/04

Can you please run a headline story about Bill O'Reilly's 2/10 apology to Good Morning America? As you know, on 3/18/03 he said on the show, " if we attack Iraq and Saddam Hussein comes up clean--he has no WMD--I will apologize to the nation and never believe the Bush administration again." He did apologize last week and it was a strong statement. He ended it, of course, by letting Bush off the hook--"the C.I.A. ate my homework." BUT AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS. We also need to reread Charles Krauthammer's statement to the American Enterprise Institute on April 22, 2003. "Hans Blix has five months to find weapons. He found nothing. We've had five weeks. Come back to me in five months. If we haven't found any, we'll have a credibility problem."

Where is Krauthammer's statement about the obvious credibility problem 11 months after the US invasion of Iraq? Americans who are becoming more and more aware of Bush's lies need to read about O'Reilly and Krauthammer and other Bush supporters who are eating their words. Let's order up their retractions with ketchup and mustard.

Thanks,

Judy Munro-Leighton

RE: Nascar, Bush, & NBC

I am deeply troubled at NBC and Nascar for turning the pre-race show into what amounted to a Bush campaign commercial. I have no problem with the fact that Bush was there for a photo-op, but NBC should be ashamed.

All during the pre-race festivities which included a bald eagle, a patriotic Lee Greenwood song, a giant flag, an air force fly over, and shots of a military color guard--NBC kept cutting to shots of Bush which clearly seem like an attempt to link him to the patriotic images and events. I have no problem with Nascar designing a patriotic show, but NBC's coverage was nothing more than an outrageous campaign commercial. Bush was shown again and again for over 10 minutes juxtaposed with the patriotic show, all that was missing was a shot of a mom handing Bush an apple pie.

The interview also was troubling, because it allowed Bush to mislead the public about his Guard days, talking about his flying fast jets yet neglecting the fact that he was grounded in 72 for not taking a physical. It was almost as hard-hitting though as Russert's softball drool fest last week. Is NBC, whose parent co. GE is a huge military contractor, going to be as bad a propaganda outlet as Fox--fair & balanced News? Shouldn't Bush's campaign have to pay for this campaign commercial. Now Bush and the corporate media have ruined 2 of my favorite sporting events--the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500. What's next Bush doing play by play for the NCAA tournament? Bush presenting the Stanley Cup? Bush carrying the olympic torch? Today's Media is a disgraceful accomplice to the lies and propaganda of the most corrupt bunch of people since the Nixon administration.

thank you,

stevie gardiner
somerdale, nj

Subj: Ann Coulter on Max Cleland

I am continuously amazed and enraged that anyone gives print space to someone like Ann Coulter. She must be channeling the infamous Tokyo Rose of WWII fame. The woman is so crazed she is a parody of right wing nut cases. Her venom loaded piece on Max Cleland is typical of her foaming at the mouth invective. In that example of bottom of the barrel, yellow journalism she implies that Cleland was an incompetent who could have dropped a grenade on himself while serving in a safe spot in the National Guard: She states that he picked up a grenade and dropped it on his foot during a "routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends" In fact Cleland, a captain in the Army Signal Corps was disembarking with his team from a helicopter on a recently secured mountaintop near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Viet Nam. They were there to set up a radio tower. See the whole story at: http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_02_13.html

Where Coulter gets the "beer drinking with friends" angle only she knows -- some cobwebbed dark corner of her twisted mind. Her lies are so extreme that one wonders how even the faithful on the right can stomach them. She also implies that Max Cleland does not deserve the "war hero" designation. Apparently she seems to think that he earned that honor by becoming a triple amputee. He had already earned his Silver Star citation four days before that tragic event.

It is sad that Republican mouthpieces have so far degraded themselves that they will trash true heroes like Cleland, Kerry, and McCain but will defend to the extreme (although probably not to the death) corner cutters and liars like George W. Bush. If the Republican party had any honor or integrity left they would denounce people like Ann Coulter for the trash-talking crazies that they are.

Barb in Portland

Subj: Daytona 500

Daytona just another photo op to get NASCAR dad vote.Bush Air Force One seen leaving Daytona long before Daytona 500 is over. A true Nascar fan would never leave the DAytona 500 before it was over. Didn't even stay for the first half of the race. Plane left before 100 lap. Considering the time it would take to get to airport, likely he didn`t even see any of the race. Would Bill Clinton or John Kerry diss the Nascar fans like this.Or would they have stayed around to honor the winner and shake his hand.Or possibly hand him the big check And the trophy. Just Wondering?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Re: Bush and the Texas Air National Guard

My hypothesis:

The semi-literate Bush eagerly signed up for training in " lying." Discovering, too late, that the word was actually "flying," he skipped out at the first opportunity.

Paul Breslin
Evanston, IL

Subject: GW Bush ?Daytona

Dear NBC, MSNBC ,Meet The Pres.

Did your Reporter that interviewed G W Bush at Daytona have a GOP life Pioneer Membership??? My Goodness, did he care or forget when he asked our C.I.C. that lob ball question, regarding NASCAR?? The president said he read about the Popular Daytona Race in the Papers!!!!!

Also, that Shill question about the Texas Rangers, GWB, the owner who got that position while Dad was VP..!! That regarding the Alex Rodriguez trade he read that in his NEWSPAPER, ALSO!!!

Does NBC NOT Remember that just 2 weeks ago G W Bush said, more than once, that He DOES NOT READ The NEWSPAPER.. Is this not another Mislead/Lie /Mis-Quote from GW BUSH???

Follow The Rhetoric,

A. LINCOLN, Honest, GOP

Subj: First daughter Barbara going out with a wanted fugitive

Sounds like a prospective Bush son-in-law. He'll fit right in.

How come the tabloids are running with covers of Bill Clinton and John Kerry, but leaving these juicy tidbits alone? .... Liberal media my ass!!

A BuzzFlash Reader

- - -

"Courtin' trouble"

First Daughter Barbara Bush's dirty-dancing partner has been hot-footing it from the law.

Gotham gadabout Fabian Basabe - pictured in a hip-lock with Babs on the front page of the Daily News yesterday - is wanted on three warrants in California.

The social climber has been busted for speeding, driving under the influence and trespassing. He even jumped bail in one case, court records show.

Other court files show a string of infractions - but no open warrants - in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, including two collisions.

<More>

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/164361p-144043c.html

Subj: Bush lies at Daytona

"I was just as surprised as the Yankee fans and the Boston Red Sox fans when I opened up my paper today," President Bush, the Rangers' former owner, told NBC at the Daytona 500.

Wait sec, I thought this guy said he doesn't read the papers? He said he had a staff that briefed him on what "the filter" was saying.

He does it so often, he doesn't know when he's doing it, and therefore can't stop.

Mahalo

Subj: They deserve no memorials

To Whom It May Concern;

Ann Coulter has attempted to get more attention for bashing Max Cleland. Coulter's latest attack has proven once and for all, she deserves no more air time, no more attention, no more of our energy to correct or educate her. Let us allow her to disappear off the airwaves and into obscurity.

And as a fitting send-off (even though no RWer deserves such an honor), let us quote Sir Walter Scott [http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/canto06.html]:

"Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung." *

They do not deserve our tears, our honor, or any lamentations. They have not
earned them, and their passing will be without fanfare. Whenever we hear the
Rovespeak from the echo chamber, quote this poem as a prayer for their demise.

_________

*quoted in the movie Groundhog Day

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: regarding the DEAD LIEUTENANT

Dear BuzzFlash,

I learned, via BuzzFlash, of Ann Coulter's tasteless column "Cleland drops a Political Grenade", in which she wrongly insinuates that Former Senator Max Cleland lost both his legs and an arm (and several teeth) in Vietnam-- by dropping a grenade on his own foot while drunk.

This is not true.

I also learned, via BuzzFlash, of the recent death of Lt. Seth Dvorin in Iraq-- under circumstances apparently-similar to Cleland's wounding.

What a chilling reminder of just how far beyond-the-pale Ms. Coulter's flippant remarks really are.

Our troops deserve better than to be deployed under false pretenses. And they deserve better than to have their reputations spit-on by Ann Coulter.

Sincerely,

I. Ceede

Subj: Re-elected?

Hi BuzzFlash,

I do not care how one spells it. The print media are using reelection, re-election and reelection.

He is not seeking re-election. He is seeking election. We need to get this reelection notion out of the media. Can everyone help with this and write letters to their editors? Thanks.

Rgds,

Linda Deak
American Abroad

Subj: Lt. Dvorin's Mother Slandered by Right-Wing Idiots

I read with interest the article regarding the death of Lt Dvorin's death in the line of duty as a soldier. His mother stated that he died for nothing.

When I read the "comments segment" about the article I was disgusted to see that it had been flooded by right-wing comments questioning this grieving mother's patriotism.

I intend to compose a letter in support of this poor woman's comments, but I thought I'd alert my fellow Flasher's to this right wing cruelty-fest.

Don't let the fascists have the last word!

Michael J. Fowler
Firefighter/Paramedic retired

Subj: to the un and media

how embarrassing for our country! i hear republicans on tv saying things like "well mr. bush is just not good when you put him in a position of having to answer questions, he is much better when he can read a speech at a podium"

THIS IS OUR PRESIDENT! WE COULD HIRE THE ASSISTANT MANAGER AT MCDONALDS TO PRACTICE ALL DAY READING A SPEECH SOMEONE ELSE WROTE FOR HIM!! NO DOUBT HE COULD DO IT WELL! it's that answering questions part that is important!!!!!!!!

km in sc

Subj: Since 1999, hunger in America - now called "food insecurity" by experts working in the field - has increased by 3.9 million people, more than 1 million of them children.

Dan Glickman: Hunger should be an election issue

Jobs are on the rise at the same time that domestic hunger is reaching a record high. While the White House crows about a revitalized economy, the Agriculture Department recently released figures showing that hunger in this country increased for the third consecutive year.

MORE > Dallas News

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subj: Truth in the News

I had occasion to read Rev. Moon's Wash. Times last week ( I didn't buy it, it was free at the hotel). I also read the Wash. Post & NY Times the same day on a 3 hour airplane flight.

What a contrast. Here is what the Editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden says in his column. "Over 40 years the Democrats have raised sneering at military service & sacrifice to an art form. The mere sight of a uniform... sends liberals into.... cardiac arrest." "John Kerry is leaving it up to his friends to sneer that George W. was a weekend warrior."

This is news reporting from the editor of a national newspaper. No wonder those of us looking for reasonable, responsible reporting and discussion of political events love BuzzFlash.

Harold Martin
Waynesboro, PA

Subj: Charlie Rangel

New York Congressman Charles Rangel is an example of a Democrat who is not going to be browbeaten or intimidated by Bush apologists like Tim Russert. On Sunday's "Meet the Press", Congressman Rangel said that he would "never forget Florida" (i.e., the judicial "steal" of the Florida 2000 Presidential election results). He said that "my people fought long and hard to acquire the right to vote, and that right was stolen from us in 2000". And, he took that famous Tim Russert line from 2000 "Get Over It", and shot right back at Russert: "I'm not over it; I'll never get over it". You gotta love this guy. He also said that to win any black precinct in 2004, what a candidate should do is wear a lapel pin that says "Don't Forget Florida". Gee, after all that pressure from the corporate media and their Republican buddies to "forget Florida", it appears that this year we're not going to do so; in fact, it will become our rallying cry, sort of like "Remember the Alamo".

Donald P. Russo, Bethehem, Pa.

Subj: A BuzzFlash Rumor Analysis

BuzzFlash is my major source of news stories and I have a link to BuzzFlash on my website. I commend you on providing so much insight to the stories of the day. Thank God we now have a clearer window into the world other than the nightly net work news services.

However, I am a bit disheartened at your recent BuzzFlash rumor analysis about an unnamed governor and a possible divorce proceeding. A bit of titillation ending with a quote from President Bush about some guy with a pretty face.

There is way too much titillation in the mainstream media today and I am disappointed when those who otherwise really just want the unadulterated facts employ similar methods as a means of promulgating clarity onto the hypocrisy of the Republican Bush administration and their mainstream media minions.

We do not need to employ these tactics. With such a clear target as the George W. Bush administration, all we have to do is expose the facts with clarity, unrelentingly. By titillating with a "counter view" we are discrediting our own cause which is for the good education of all Americans.

Loyally yours,

Stephen Macbeth

Subj: I am glad the Democrats are fighting back

Dear BuzzFlash,

Now that the Bush administration has been exposed for misleading this nation into a bloody war in Iraq, and since all the reasons for going into war have been disproved, it is pathetic to hear republican congressmen now being interviewed on tv. say that it was because of this war that Libya is now offering to cease their WMD related programs. I wish someone would ask them if this was the new Bush doctrine - bomb the hell out of a helpless country, kill thousands, spend millions, just to have another nation stop their WMD programs. What a bunch of incompetent fools. I sometimes wonder what kind of misguided and blind loyalty Bush supporters seem to have, to go along with the terrible mess made by the worst administration in our history.

I hope other BuzzFlash Readers were able to watch MTP with Tim Russert yesterday. It was such a joy to see Russert question Ed Gillespie about the ad that the republican smear group made about John Kerry and special interests. Russert played a part of the wonderful response from the dems, stating that Bush was the one with the most contributors including Enron, and that he has the record for the person with the highest amount contributed by special interests in history. He also quoted a few lines from an article calling the republican ad "political chutzpah" because Bush had the nerve to accuse Kerry of this when he cannot afford to talk!! Ed Gillespie I could see was red in the face and totally uncomfortable at this confrontation. I can already see that this ill conceived ad by the republicans will go nowhere. I really don't know which chump in the republican camp came up with this idea.

People in glass houses should never throw stones.

I must say that I am very impressed with the democrats. They are fighting back very hard, and I hope they keep this up until November.

We should not allow the republicans to smear, lie and vilify our candidate, just like they were able to get away by smearing Max Cleland.

They are a despicable lot, and we should not take it anymore.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Dear Buzz,

With so much going on today and all of us trying to cope and stopping the lies coming from the right wing spin meisters, I ask your readers to take pause on what is happening on the island of Haiti. It is unraveling faster than a ball of yarn, our unelected "leader" says he does not support REGIME CHANGE probably because he doesn't even know or care who the president is. I do not know what we can do to support the Haitians, but badger the hell out of our elected officials and get them to do something now. I'm sure the collective feeling in officialdom is why bother, they are people of color, extremely poor and to top it off, no oil, no gold and no diamonds, so f**k them. This is a terrible tragedy happening before our eyes and I refuse to believe that we cannot prevent a horrible nightmare from occurring. Any suggestions??

Thanks,

Ruth Gottlieb
West Palm Beach

Subj: Privileged Hypocrisy

One of your Link Headlines asks the question, "...how did the young man with marginal test scores get the plum wartime assignment?"

SIMPLE: Affirmative Action for Rich White Boys!!!!

Eldon Leuning
Bothell, Washington

Subj: BBC Going Down Forever

Can Buzz give us a place to write about the dismantling of the BBC, and it’s going private? I loved the BBC. My gosh, the History with WWII and everything else!!! What’s next? Buckingham Palace?

Americans don’t have public news anymore, either, in our new Soviet Republic of the United States; the BBC was a main source. It is truly scary if the BBC is going to be broken up, and no longer the giant of England’s source of Public News. Shame! Shame!

A BuzzFlash Reader

Just a thought.

Someone ought to research the names of the 500 who were on the waiting list of the National Guard that Bush leap-frogged over with his privilege. Let's start with No. 500 on up and see how many were forced to serve in Bush's place and who was killed, injured or came back a psychological wreck.

It would have a tremendous impact on the nature of Bush's dance around service and his current gung-ho attitude about war.

Mike Kilroy
Aliso Viejo, CA

Subj: MISSISSIPPI VOIDS NOVEMBER 2003 EVOTE ELECTION FOR ERRORS

So the election machine companies say no one has every proved vote fraud on the voting machines. However, the same cannot be said of massive machine error. Here's a real clincher to the line about voting machines being the safest, most secure form of voting ever devised.

MISSISSIPPI SENATE DECLARES LAST NOVEMBER'S ELECTION INVALID

In the November 2003 election, Hinds County, Mississippi used the WINnVote touchscreen machine (the same as the one used in Fairfax County, Virginia disastrous election). Poll workers had trouble starting the machines, some of the machines overheated and had to be taken out of service, poll workers were scrambling to find enough paper ballots, and many voters left with polls without voting because of the long delays.

<http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/04/mvproblems.html>

The problems were investigated by a Mississippi Senate committee, and on January 19, it recommended invalidating the outcome of the race for the District 91 Senate seat and holding the election over. Two days later, the Senate approved the recommendation. The new election is set for February 10.

The last we heard the Democratic candidate, Dewayne Thomas, was considering pulling out of the race and conceding to his opponent, Richard White. We hope Thomas doesn't allow faulty machines to determine an outcome that should be decided by the voters.

<http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0401/21/ma04.html>

Oh, and just for good measure...

VENEZUELA HAD TO CANCEL ITS 2000 NATIONAL ELECTION BECAUSE OF VOTING MACHINE PROBLEMS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/americas/764372.stm

Let all our votes be counted,

Steve Corrick
OperationEnduringVote.org

Subj: Letter sent to RK Paul of (R) Ga in response to his comments re: Ann Coulter 's comments re: Max Cleland

Dear Sir: I totally agree that what Ann Coulter wrote about Max Cleland is beyond the pale and she once again has crossed the line- I find that she often plays loose with facts in her invectives and diatribes. I wonder in light of your remarks quoted in a story that ran on Channel ll's web-page why you - if you did not- make a similar statement in regard to the ads that your fellow Republican Saxby Chambliss made during his race against Cleland. I know that all is fair in love and war and supposedly politics but the accusations that were made were much the same as those of Anne Coulter. Perhaps since I no longer live in Ga, I missed them and if so, I apologize. On the other hand had someone from your side of the aisle come to Cleland's defense and had spoken out against such ads, I think we would have heard about it all the way to TX.

If you are wondering why I have taken such an interest in Max Cleland, I will explain. Max and I are basically the same age. I was reared in Kirkwood and East Atlanta. Max was from Lithonia. During the Vietnam era, I , too served in the military. As it happened, I was stationed in the DC area when I got a call from a friend who had recently been medivac'd from Nam and was at Walter Reed. He told me that there was a young officer who had just arrived who was in terrible shape and might be cheered by a Ga face from so near to his home. My husband and I went that night to see our friend and to see my fellow Georgian. It was Max Cleland. He was in awful shape. I have difficulty even today recalling how severely injured he was. As coincidence would have it, one of my college friends had dated Max and I remembered seeing pictures of him pre-VietNam and could not believe I was seeing the same person. We saw Max several times during his Walter Reed time and watched from afar as he began his life - I cannot began to imagine what it must have taken for him to come so far and to overcome so much. I doubt that many would have had the intestinal fortitude to do so. For Anne Coulter or for that matter, Saxby Chambliss to have questioned this man's patriotism and sacrifice is unspeakable. I could not believe that so many in Georgia bought the unpatriotic message - I will pray that those Georgians who voted for Chambliss did not but disagreed philosophically with Senator Cleland. Unfortunately with the hate-filled air waves of talk radio that spew opinions such as those of Ann Coulter as gospel, I am afraid that many were misled by half truths. Just like the young man I encountered at Walter Reed, Max once again did what he has seemingly always has done, he survived and once more has emerged with that big smile that we saw 35 years ago has again succeeded against adversity not of his making.

In that regard, I appreciate your speaking out for what is not only good taste, but what should be the thanks of a grateful nation to Max Cleland and to the many others like him who put themselves in harm's way in doing their duty and serving our country. Whether the war was just or unjust does not heal wounds, replace limbs or alter the lives of the many who valiantly answered the call and served and were injured while doing so no matter the circumstances.

Very truly yours,

Peggy Carlin, Hurst, TX

Subj: Question from Canada

Your site is fascinating and keeps me up late many nights catching up on the latest news on your unelected President and his henchmen. We have the same scenario in Canada, as our current Prime Minister, Paul Martin, is also unelected and a very, very rich shipping magnate who registers tankers off-shore to avoid Canadian taxes. To paraphrase BuzzFlash, "So many hypocrites, so little time".

My question is this:

Since there is so much information "missing" from George W. Bush's military records, has anyone reviewed the records of other members of the National Guard who served at the same time as him to compare the contents of their records to his?

I would be willing to bet that everyone else's military service records are much more complete (including dental examinations)! The comparison would surely serve to reinforce the theory that George W. Bush's records were tampered with and would beg the next question...Why?

Not that it's really any of my business, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask the question.

Regards and good luck to the United States when electing your next President.

Jacquelyn Ross
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada

Subj: Is this what America is made of?

Dear Fox News and any Network that allows Ann Coulter as a Guest:

What on earth is wrong with you people? Have you no pride in this nation or respect for the people who are out there laying down their lives for your sons and daughters? Why don't we just send Ann Coulter into war to fight for us since she's so critical of those who do? Maybe she thinks she can do better. If not, no great loss. Wouldn't that be great for your ratings? Isn't that all you care about anyway?

Do you really need to show vile, disgraceful right-wingers who have no regard for anyone else's well-being but their own? None of them care about the common folk. They only care about their party, and will put down anyone who's not in their party, so they look better. Isn't this called insecurity? Can't you get more confident blabbers who are out for the welfare of society and the betterment of this nation, instead of ones who just care about promoting their own causes?

Don't you have a responsibility as a media outlet to have competent talking heads who can be an example of morale character and not cut-throat personalities that hammer at the American people like we're all full nonsense if we don't agree with them?

I believe most of the American public are more intelligent and have more moral fiber than the blabbers vying for our attention - which is an ugly turn-off.

SAYING AN AMPUTEE VET 'DIDN'T GIVE LIMBS FOR HIS COUNTRY': Coulter wrote < http://www.townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/ac20040212.shtml>, "Cleland didn't give his limbs for his country or leave them on the battlefield"

SAYING A SILVER STAR WINNER IS NOT A "WAR HERO": Coulter said < http://www.townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/ac20040212.shtml> people " should stop allowing [Cleland to be] portrayed as a war hero"

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228

Signed: Who's Going to Fight for our Country?

Subj: Bush Pal Also Grounded

Remember when, several years ago, Bush said (at first) that he didn't know James Bath all that well [he was the sole representative in America for investments for Osama's brother Salem (sp?), and it was alleged that the 5% stake (50,000 dollars) put into Arbusto by Bath was really bin Laden money.] Look where the name James Bath turns up again.... he was #7 (#6 was Dubya) on that list in the document from the National Guard records that shows pilots who were being grounded.

See: http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/grounded.gif

Both grounded, a month apart, for failing to get their physicals.

Then also see more on James Bath, investor in Arbusto and Harken Energy, and the Bushes at http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD202B.html

Have fun!

A BuzzFlash Reader

john kerry said he will release all of the meetings he has had with lobbyist he took money from. Will bush do the same? will bush debate kerry the usual three times?

randi and roomies in madison wi

Subj: Nascar big daddy-o wanna be bush

NY Times page one Bush/Nascar photo interesting. It shows the "starchyer ingins" all around sportsman totally surrounded by security wearing corporate logo'd jackets. Five pairs of identical dark glasses. Two agents with backs to camera are blocking/protecting his front. Daytona speedway. Good place to recruit future cannon fodder, isn't it? He's not looking too chipper. And what was it he tossed to the ground as he turned to leave? The sacred starter flag, maybe? The larger photo directly above shows the continuing chaos in Haiti, just off the coast. I was in south Florida when these desperate people were landing on the coast in rickety overcrowded boats. His two hours spent in Florida at the racetrack might have been better used back at the office figuring out what to do for those poor people right on our doorstep. He sure knows how to hang around D.C. when he wants to quietly sign some sneaky executive order on a Saturday, though, as he did recently.

Liz W

(Buzz, I appreciate you. I spent hours the other day forwarding stuff to block heads who get a kick out of sending me the scurrilous anonymous made-up limbaugh type lies. I always pretend to be shocked at the ignorance, not of them, of course, but the illiterates who created the nonsense. I may well be wasting my time, they probably don't vote anyway.)