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Subject: Bush on the Patriot Act

The President says critics of the Patriot Act don't understand how it helps combat terrorism. Of course they do. Just as they understand that, say, the mandatory genetic profiling and fingerprinting of every American would make it easy to solve crimes. What's missing isn't understanding, it's a willingness to sacrifice the constitutional freedoms and protections that define America. Certainly we could live in a country with almost no unsolved crime and where the lives of would-be terrorists, and of citizens, are transparent to the government. But it wouldn't be America. Those like the President who can't grasp this deserve the contempt Benjamin Franklin heaped on them: "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety."

Albert Clark, NY

Subject: Saudi Bandar helped?

According to Woodward's book, Plan of Attack, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia was called to the Oval Office and informed by Bush that he was going to attack Iraq. This man is a leader of a country that harbored most of the attackers of 9/11 - a fact that Bush must have known. Yet, he informed Bandar of his plan to attack another Arab country. And then, Bandar offered to lower the price of oil so that the economic situation here would be good, which would make it easier to go to war.

Clearly, there are advantages to the wealthy of Saudi Arabia for the U.S. to go to war with Iraq and land in the quagmire that they must have known would result. Two major strokes were accomplished at one time: It got rid of Hussein, who was a thorn in their side because he didn't always play their game and it turned Iraq into a maelstrom of Islamic terrorism, which ties the U.S. into knots, taking it out of the role of player in the real game.  Not only do the corporations win, but the Saudis come out the biggest winners of all, even if they don't get U.S. contracts in Iraq. They don't need 'em; they've got the majority of the oil, and what is left in Iraq will end up with either them or their corporate buddies. Of course, the Bush family and friends are among those buddies. 

The Bush administration has either played into the hands of the Saudis or it's been partnered with them from the beginning. In the end, it makes no difference. Every member of the Bush administration has played the role of traitor and should be treated as such.

With deepest regret,

Heidi Monson

P.S. I am now certain that writing this letter is a very dangerous thing to do. However, if we're to be cowed now, then there's no hope left.

Subject: Bumiller denies WH press conferences are scripted

Reporters do not submit questions to the White House beforehand, but administration officials have a good idea of what's coming from the questions reporters ask at the daily press briefings. "For the most part, we got all the subject matter," Mr. Bartlett said. He added that the president dislikes East Room news conferences not because he is afraid to answer questions, but because of the "pomp and circumstance" and what Mr. Bush considers the "peacocking" of reporters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/politics/campaign/19LETT.htm

According to Ron Suskind (via BuzzFlash):

For each press conference, the White House press secretary asks the reporters for their questions, selects six or seven of the questions to answer and those reporters are the only ones called upon to ask their questions during the press conference, Suskind said. This system makes it so that the president has answers already prepared for questions that he knows will be asked, Suskind said.

http://www.dailytrojan.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=656561

Mimir

Subject: The "Buddy System"

A cooperative practice of pairing two or more people together for mutual assistance or safety (especially in recreational swimming and 911 Commission testimony).

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Re Cheney Gun editorial

"...did in regards to Al Gore..." 

http://www.BuzzFlash.com/editorial/04/04/edi04030.html

Love your work, hate bad syntax and grammar and, God knows we don't want anyone to think we're anything if not brilliant. Just substitute the word regarding for "in regards" and keep plugging guys (and ladies) as we've got a shitload of work to do to get rid of George and his gang (did you coin the word "Bushevicks"?) by November. BTW Our son is a naval officer and keeps asking how much worse can this get? We write our Congressman Jim Ramstad asking why our son has a coward for a Commander in Chief and get platitudes in return. And the 20 year olds keep coming home in caskets. I cut out "Mourning in America" and taped it to the back of my Volvo. I hope everyone who sees it, especially people in Hummers, gets indigestion.

Dana K. Booth
Minnetonka, MN

Subject: A suggestion: count total casualties, not fatalities

BuzzFlash provides a great service.  Here's one small suggestion.

The true cost of the Iraq war has been hidden from the public by a deceptive administration and an inattentive press. One way is by lack of attention to the wounded.  Due to advances in rescue and treatment, the ratio of wounded-to-killed soldiers is much higher in Iraq than in previous wars.  Though alive, many severely wounded soldiers are maimed for life.

Anybody who pays attention knows that 700 soldiers have died. But how many can recite the total number of casualties of this war?  It's now 3,076, excluding 1,256 lightly-wounded soldiers who returned to duty within 72 hours. (See http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx)

3,000, not 700, is the number that should be foremost in the public's mind today...3,000 and counting.

You could perform a service by helping keep the number of total casualties up front on your website.

Tom S.
Chevy Chase , MD

Subject: Bush's new HUD secretary assaulted a Dallas councilman

Buzz:

I don't know if you were aware of this, but Bush's new HUD secretary, Alphonso Jackson, assaulted a Dallas city councilman in 1993. Link and excerpt:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/1995-08-10/columns2.html/1/index.html

Then there was the Thrilla on Marilla--the lightweight bout between Fielding and Alphonso Jackson which kept us occupied for a few weeks in the winter of 1993. The councilman and the Dallas Housing Authority chief, you may recall, got uniquely physical during a tense meeting in Mayor Bartlett's office. When it was over, no one was at all surprised that someone would want to stomp grapes on Paul Fielding's face--his major in college was, no doubt, the art of bringing out the worst in people. What surprised everyone is that Jackson actually did it.

A diminutive, soft-spoken, horn-rimmed-glasses type, Jackson simply gathered himself into an absolute fury and, like a bull at Pamplona, rammed Fielding face first into the unyielding metal frame of a partially opened door. Blackening eyes. Mangling facial nerves. Sending ears to ringing.

Jackson blew his opportunity to become a sympathetic figure in the eyes of Fielding detractors when he panicked, dissolving into a choke mode--not only denying that he'd beaten Fielding up, but frantically concocting off-the-wall scenarios about what happened. In one, the mayor, who actually witnessed Jackson's handiwork along with half the mayor's staff, was blamed for the bludgeoning.

Bob J.

Subject: jellybeaners and mintheads

The Joint Chiefs' staff had placed a peppermint at each place. Bush unwrapped his and popped it into his mouth. Later he eyed Cohen's mint and flashed a pantomime query, Do you want that? Cohen signaled no, so Bush reached over and took it. Near the end of the hour-and-a-quarter briefing, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton, noticed Bush eyeing his mint, so he passed it over.

Cheney listened, but he was tired and closed his eyes, conspicuously nodding off several times. Rumsfeld, who was sitting at a far end of the table, paid close attention, though he kept asking the briefers to please speak up or please speak louder. "We're off to a great start," one of the chiefs commented privately to a colleague after the session. "The vice president fell asleep, and the secretary of defense can't hear."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25550-2004Apr19?language=printer

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Letter to the Editor - Election Gas Price Fixing

It's no surprise that there is a Saudi plan to reduce gas prices to help Bush get elected. After all - they owe Bush big time. 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia and they were funding Osama bin Laden. Bush and the Saudis are so close that the Saudi ambassador knew Bush was going to war with Iraq before Secretary of State Colin Powell was told. Saudi Arabia is getting quite rich this summer at the expense of the American people.

Marc Perkel
San Francisco, CA

Subject: New Campaign Ad

Dear BuzzFlash,

How's this for a new Bush campaign Tag?  Bush: Illegitimate and Incompetent.

Paul A. Foss
Bangor, ME

Subject: For your consideration

I want to meet the genius who comes up with the words and phrases the radical right uses to usurp political discourse in this country. The terms are used so fiercely and pervasively that no one -- not politicians, not the media and certainly not the general public -- can combat them. The words become a Gestalt that gives a patina of truth to bald-faced lies:

"The Patriot Act," more correctly The USA PATRIOT Act, seems so, well, patriotic. But every thinking person in the country knows that the "United and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" act is in truth a tool to subvert the Bill of Rights.

"Unborn victims," as in the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (as in Laci and Conner's Law), is specifically written for the "protection of unborn children."  Sigh... The entity in mommy's belly is first an embryo then a fetus; it becomes a child when it is born. That this law won out over the Motherhood Protection Act, specifically written for the protection of pregnant women, says all we need to know about the true purpose of this law.

"Partial birth" in place of late-term abortion is pure genius: use strong image-related words to describe a medical procedure that is rarely used as a way of limiting women's access to legal abortions.

"Enemy combatant" replaces the inconvenient war criminal or war prisoner. The latter require protections as outlined in international treaties and conventions, whereas the former gives our good Christian president the singular right to execute who ever (or is that whom ever) he so chooses.

"The Death Tax" is their supreme construct to date. Such is the power of right-wing talk radio that truck drivers making $35,000 a year have identified estate taxes as one of the most serious problems facing America.

"Elite" is the catch-phrase wizard's newest entry. It's impossible these days to watch or listen or read anything from the right side of the equation without encountering this word. How sweet that a golden oldie like this would gain such currency. Spiro must be feeling very proud of his spawn these days.

These artificial terms are designed to seem like slang. The genius part is that they are simple and highly emotional. If I had to put a name to the wizard I would nominate Newt Gingrich. Or maybe it's just the output of a sweatshop deep in the bowels of the American Enterprise Institute or the Heritage Foundation. No matter what their parentage, we who care about social discourse, we who care about the beauty of our language, we who love America, seem helpless to put a stop to the steady drip of their corrosive effect on the unalienable rights that our forefathers envisioned for us.

Keta Hodgson
West Hollywood, CA

Subject: http://www.dod.mil/releases/

Every day now I receive a news release of the latest casualty. I try to read every one of them. I bet Bush doesn't.

Karen
Platteville, WI

Subject: Woodward - Great in "Bush at War" - Now a Liar?

Funny how Bob Woodward was probably considered a genius and profound writer by the Bushies when he wrote "Bush at War" - but now that he's critical of Bush, he's a hack, makes up stuff, and is unreliable. Where have we seen this story line before?

BG

Subject: kidnapping?

Why is it that WE take prisoners of war and THEY are kidnappers?

Suzanne- one of the first 32 or so BUZZ readers

Subject: Now he can be Impeached!!

Dear BuzzFlash,

With these revelations about how Bush lied to Congress about the misappropriation of $700 million the proof is there for articles of impeachment to be drawn up against the worst president in our history and his henchmen. Will the survivors of our men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for a "lie" join in demanding the removal of the president, vice-president, secretary of defense and secretary of state? And the other enablers?

They should all resign or be removed from office; including the Rehnquist 5. The blood of our troops and the innocent civilians and the combatants of Iraq covers the visages of our highest leaders. One can only hope that the spirits of the prematurely departed will haunt those responsible until their last breath on this earth.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/60minutes/main612067.shtml

...the end of July 2002, they need $700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. ... Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this.

Tom Veilleux

To Randi and roomies....I agree totally.  John Edwards' smile could melt butter...beside Cheney with that sneering 'talk out of the side of his face'...how could he lose.? In fact, I think every one of the candidates in the primaries should have a place in a Kerry cabinet, except, Lieberman!

 To Tom T, of Austin, thanks for the kind words to me and to Buzz...I agree with everyone that in this hard time, I had to have BuzzFlash to go to, or not make it!

My granddaughter is home...but all is not well. There is something that I cannot put my finger on...but any of you who have relatives or friends in this war....be very careful when they come home. She is either asleep, or on the go, she cannot sit still.....and regrets not being back with her unit, but told us all a thousand times when she was at the airport that she was just glad to be home!!

Part of the melancholy about being back there is that, the week after she got home, she got the news that her dear friend she had met was ambushed as he and friend came back from a five-day pass through Fallujah. He lived four days, and they finally took him off life support. He was a contractor working for a British security firm...she is going to S. Africa for his funeral....but, once again, nobody knows when he will get home. I thought Vietnam was awful....and my brother was home in 10 days....this man died on 4/12/04, and still, they do not know when he will be home.

I have seen George Bush make speeches three times this weekend...and each time, he just repeats himself. He tells us all the same lie..."Iraqis hate us...you see, they hate freedom." He has that half smile on his face like a madman the entire time.

I have heard some Iraqis on camera say that the country was much better with Saddam....and no one in this administration would believe that if you showed them proof! I can give George about three minutes,tops!! I cannot stand that arrogant smile!!

To Beth...About history books looking back on this time....and whom they would blame??  I would imagine it will be all Bill Clinton's fault...everything else has been!

Much love to all of you who have cared....and especially to Buzz. You guys know how much I care...how hard you work to make this the place to come to. I wish Air America could get their feet off the gound....and zoom like BuzzFlash did! Nothing in this country...has pleased me more than the success of BuzzFlash. It is unusual in a time like this for any site for US...to succeed!!

Shirley in St.Louis

Subject: re-thinking war

Whatever the latest rationalization or invented excuse the White House chooses as its daily feed to the prone media, the fact is Bush never declared war on the Iraqi people. So why is there talk of sending more troops which would be a solution only if war has been declared? Even John Kerry is insisting that we need to convince the world to help us by sending their troops to help ours.

Can we please take a damn breath here and stop for a moment and think!!

Saddam Hussein is caught. He is no longer a viable force for good or evil in the world. He has been effectively neutralized. His finger is not (nor ever was apparently) hovering over the button that would create the much vaunted mushroom cloud that would destroy us. So why are we still waging war in Iraq? Do the Iraqi people threaten our security? Is there any person or place in the United States who is at risk because of the Iraqi people? For that matter, is there anyone anywhere in the world at risk because of them?

Even though the Bush Administration broke international and national laws, ignored our Constitution and invaded a country that didn't have the capability of being a threat to anyone, (and did it all based on the most outrageous and obvious lies) we can at least stop the idiotic face-saving macho cojones strut now and try to think of solutions that don't entail military build-up. And there ARE such solutions available if true thinking leaders come forward.

What if we ask Sadr and Al Sistani and the Kurds, and the rest of the Iraqi people whom they would respect enough to talk to and lay their arms down to conduct such talks? What if every country were to offer a delegation of their citizens to travel to Iraq and help them set up a government and eventual elections without bloodshed? What if all those millions of people who marched for peace before this crazy war were asked to send aid to the Iraqi people? Do any of you doubt what the outcome would and could be?

We can stop this suicidal slide Bush and his mob have pushed the world into. And we can do it by consciously and deliberately declaring PEACE on the world. Hell! It may have already started with those millions of peace activists in every country on earth who marched on February 15, 2003, to protest Bush's illegal war on Iraq.

In all seriousness, it's become an increasingly urgent matter of survival to our planet to do some serious re-thinking about war.

Judith Foster
Berkeley

Subject: Letter to the Editor...Shreveport Times

Dear BuzzFlash,

Here is a copy of my Letter to the Editor which was recently printed in the Shreveport, La. Times (the heart of "Ditto Monkey" land), if you would care to print it in your Mailbag section.

Republicans must have cringed as they watched George W. Bush bumble and stumble through his April 13 "news conference." When asked what has been his biggest mistake Bush got his deer caught in the headlights look and stammered about being under "too much pressure to come up with an answer." Asked why he needed Dick Cheney with him to testify before the 9/11 commission Bush said "to answer questions." That pretty well sums up Bush's expertise.

Any time Bush is confronted about the missing WMD's in Iraq, the missing link between Saddam and 9/11, or his inability to coordinate all the pre 9-11 warnings about terrorists, he simply pleads ignorance and says case closed.

Like Bush, the GOP slime machine is also failing. Their lie about John Kerry having an affair evaporated in thin air, as did their fake picture of Jane Fonda standing beside Kerry on a podium. They tried to smear Kerry's Purple Heart until it dawned on them that he also got a Bronze Star and a Silver Star in Vietnam and all Bush ever got was an absentee record in the National Guard. So now they say Kerry is a "flop flopper" on the issues, but that is also evaporating in the face of 20 documented Bush lies and flip flops.

Bush will probably haul bin Laden out of a rabbit hole before the election. That shouldn't surprise anybody. What's surprising is that Bush is what conservatives call a good "Christian." As though Jesus Christ was about "trickle down" economics, lies, war, and schemes that benefit the wealthy at the expense of everybody else. Jesus was about truth, peace, and "the least among us." Hardly the ideals of George W. Bush.

Al Pease
Shreveport, La.

Hey there,

Because there have been so many books written (that basically make the exact same accusation about the Bush White House), and there are going to be more coming out (Joe Wilson, for one), maybe Condiliar should just make one blanket statement declaring that the authors of all past, current and future books about Bushco are disgruntled liars. The constant repetition must get tiring for her. 

Barbara in NYC

Subject: Bush and Bandar

01/22/04: Bush: "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."

Woodward: So on Saturday, Jan. 11, Cheney invited Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, to his West Wing office. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were also there.

Prince Bandar had served during four American presidencies. At age 53, Bandar was almost a fifth estate in Washington, amplifying Saudi influence and wealth. He insisted on dealing directly with presidents and is almost family to Bush's father, former president George H. W. Bush. And he had maintained his special entree to the Oval Office under this President Bush.

Sitting on the edge of the table in Cheney's office, Myers took out a large map labeled TOP SECRET NOFORN. The NOFORN meant NO FOREIGN -- classified material not to be seen by any foreign nation.

Myers explained that the first part of the battle plan would be a massive aerial bombing campaign over several days against Iraq's Republican Guard divisions, the security services and command and control of Hussein's forces. A land attack would follow through Kuwait, plus a northern front through Turkey with the 4th Infantry Division if Turkey approved it. Included was massive use of Special Forces and intelligence paramilitary teams to secure every place in Iraq from which Hussein could launch a missile or airplane against Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Israel.

Special Forces and intelligence operatives would distribute $300 million to local Iraqi tribal leaders, religious leaders and the Iraqi armed forces. The Saudi-Iraqi border would have to be covered. Special Forces, intelligence teams and other strikes would have to be launched from there. If there were alternatives, Myers said, they would not be asking the Saudis.

Bandar knew that his country could create a cover for the arrival of U.S. forces by closing a civilian airport at Al Jawf in the northern desert, flying Saudi helicopters day and night as a routine border patrol for a week, and then withdrawing. The U.S. Special Forces could set up a base there that might not attract much attention.

Staring intently at the 2-by-3-foot Top Secret map, Bandar, a former fighter pilot, asked a few questions about air operations. Could he have a copy of the large map so he could brief Crown Prince Abdullah? he asked, referring to the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia.

Susan

Subject: The Messiah Is Upset

U.S. President George W. Bush has rebuked Spain's new Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, for his decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq. According to a White House spokesman, during a five-minute phone call Mr. Bush expressed regret at the "abrupt Spanish action." He also warned Madrid against taking further actions which would give "false comfort to terrorists."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3640459.stm

So what are we going to do, attack Spain?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: by direction of God

To add to what Carolyn of Tennessee said in today's mailbag: GWB is in the same group as those poor demented mothers who kill their children because "God told them to do it." Only he has killed thousands because he was crazed enough to think he was following God's will. 

A Thankful BuzzFlash Reader

Oh BuzzFlash:

I loved your headline, "Okay we've stopped being nice here at BuzzFlash. Bill Frist is a slut!"

LOL!!!

Absolutely no place on the internet can bring a smile to my face quicker than BuzzFlash. You're the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did see one problem with the headline though, you left out "CAT KILLER."

Carolyn in Tennessee
(Trying to forget that "Cat Killer" and I grew up in the same city.)

Subject: CHENEY COMMANDS AND THE VILLAGE IDIOT THINKS IT IS GOD!

Dear BuzzFlash

After the Bob Woodward interview on 60 minutes, I finally concluded that yes, George Bush has a few screws loose, and thinks that God has chosen him to be his crusader and attack other nations. Unfortunately, the moron does not realize that Tricky Dicky is the man behind the curtain. I kept wondering how the corporate crook communicates (as God) to the village idiot and thought that maybe:

1. Bush has a 800 Hotline to God and that Cheney speaks with a disguised voice at the other end.

2. Cheney has fixed a secret speaker (with Scooter Libby's help) in the Oval Office, and when Bush is alone, gives his commands (like "George Bush, you have been chosen to attack Iraq, and I command you to do so using any devious methods".

Honestly, it is no laughing matter though to have a delusional leader like Bush, who thinks very seriously that he is God's "chosen" one, in fact it is very, very dangerous for our country to be led by someone whose sanity is now very questionable. The mess in Iraq is a perfect example of this. Our kids are now being killed in Iraq because God's crusader decided to send them on this foolhardy mission. How much more of this insanity do we have to take?

Roseanne

Subject: What's your take on this?

I was listening to Dubya yesterday on CSPAN address a crowd of supporters in Hershey, PA. He was trying to get support for extending the Patriot Act, which is set to "sundown" shortly. The time limit was built into the Act by Congress to allow its reevaluation and change any part if necessary. Here's what Dubya told the crowd:

"You see, the Patriot Act is set to expire next year because some of them up there in Congress didn't think this war on terrorism would last very long..."

Now, is this A) the rambling of a simple minded man who really doesn't know why the Act is set to expire, or B) the lie of a cynical man who thinks so little of his audience that he figures he can say anything and get away with it?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Is Bush a Tool of the Saudis?

Do certain Saudis have material in which to blackmail the Bush family? Look at 911 from that perspective and the subsequent events in our politics.

Karen H.

Subject: Black Out

Saudi Special Treatment

What about the 47 or 49 pages blacked out on the 9/11 Special Report that described activities of the Saud family. Could this have something to do with the current reports of a Prince Bandar promises to lower oil prices prior to the U.S. election as a gift to Bush the Lesser?

cwald
N.M.

Subject: Tom Ridge

Dear BuzzFlash Readers:

I just saw Mr. Ridge, the Homeland Security Director, tell us that where they don't have any "specific" threats, we should use common sense.....

Where was the common sense in 2001!

Mary in Indiana

Subject: Cognitive dissonance

Recently, I had a conversation with some conservative acquaintances over lunch. One was in the military who was actually looking forward to going to Iraq in a few weeks. The other a retired cop. At some point during the conversation, the topic switched to Bill Clinton. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They were so upset about that haircut Bill Clinton got years ago at the LA airport, supposedly holding up all other traffic. (That's complete bull. I once flew out of our local airport during the same hour that our current republiCON president was in town. Air Force One was on the runway. No air traffic was being held up. We were looking down on Air Force One as our plane lifted off the runway.)

Doesn't matter that the current Con man in office has got us into a war of tragic consequences, with non-stop lies, or that he has destroyed so much of what made this country great. No, these people were still worried about a haircut Bill Clinton got years and years ago!

They went on and on about how when Bill Clinton campaigned and toured the country, he would hold up traffic for hours and hours, inconveniencing everyone in the city, and that made him a Very Bad Person. Unlike Mr. Bush, who is too cowardly to actually meet and shake hands with ordinary people, without pre-selecting them ahead of time, and without having "free speech zones" miles away, Clinton was all too happy to meet and greet any and everybody. He was in his element during those times. But that often meant he didn't stick to his schedules as closely, and would sometimes delay departure for hours. Mr. Bush is simply uncomfortable being out of his isolated bubble. But because Bush's visits were "prompt and efficient" my friends would say, (which really meant Bush's modus operandi is to get in, get what he can, and get out), that somehow makes him a better person than Clinton. They sniffed that "Clinton didn't need to use a motorcade to get around town, he could have used a helicopter."

I tried to point out that I thought that Mr. Bush's appalling stunt on the aircraft carrier was far more egregious, as he was cynically exploiting the military for his own political gain, and inconveniencing every sailor aboard that carrier, delaying their return to port. And that he too could have used a helicopter to land on the aircraft carrier, but instead chose to use a fighter jet, at the cost of god knows how many of our taxpayers dollars.

My friends response to that? "Well, he at least he owns that aircraft carrier!"

I couldn't believe they actually said that.

Then the topic shifted to Guantanamo. The guy in the military said, "Well, those prisoners don't have it so bad.They are in luxurious conditions compared to what they are used to back in their own countries. They probably think they are on vacation at a resort."

Unbelievable. This, folks is what we are up against. Apparently, a large chunk of our population wants to live in a fascist state. They are perfectly comfortable with having a dictator as leader, of having the government lock up hundreds of people with no rights, no visits, and no trial. These same people are still so upset about a Bill Clinton haircut.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: My "BushCo" plan

I have decided to use the BushCo plan for managing my credit starting today. First I will max out all my cards with cash advances which I will use to buy merchandise and services. This of course makes my expenditures totally unaccountable because I will be using $100 bills to buy everything just like we did in Iraq. Hopefully I won’t have the same problem they encountered in pre-war Iraq where there was such an abundance of $100 bills that our "agents" , the so-called “Superstars" (what a misnomer) had to wire for small bills because no one had smaller bills for change. To help counter this contingent I will only shop at the most expensive stores because I am creating jobs. (I will explain that one when BushCo does). Of course I will hire someone to actually shop for me because once again I am creating jobs. (I should get an award) I’m not worried about getting less “bang for my buck" because I am still hoping a group of teenagers down the street will help pay my bill when they get jobs. I haven’t asked them of course and they don’t know it yet, but they WILL pay. Some of my money I will of course donate to the owners of the Fortune 500. This will create jobs sometime in the future. DON’T ASK ME WHEN….SOON I SAY….

When I do get my bills I will return a reply, "Don’t you realize we are at WAR?? WE MUST make sacrifices. My plans are to decrease my outstanding debt in five years. Of course I have a plan but it must be kept secret to protect my personal security. Until then just get off my ass. I will update you in about 2 years."

Larry P