June 3, 2004
The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag.
THIS IS PART 2 OF THE JUNE 3, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG. CLICK HERE FOR PART 1.
Subject: Abu Typewriter
The Times' response to the abuse of journalistic ethics mirrors the administration's response to the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Minimize and insist what is wide spread and systemic is isolated and unauthorized; no editors have stood up to be accountable nor has an in-house investigation been announced. Refuse to point fingers yet, immediately and publicly, support the principal players, Miller has a byline already Continue the abuse while urging critics and fence-sitters to 'move-on'; NYT 'held back' more Chalabi Iran leak info this week in cooperation with the White House.
I expect soon that the NYT will announce the symbolic destruction of Judith Miller's laptop(with Iraqi Chalabi's approval) wherein these " acts of a few rotten apples" have stained the Old Grey Lady's dress.
Joe Blue
Subject: Mailbag . . . 6/2
Great..y'all, as usual.
This will be my last read until Sunday night, then I will catch up...miss your site already. Well, you can count on me being there when the movie "Fahrenheit 911" opens -- with bells on!!! I cannot wait!!!
On the other hand....Does anyone think that there is something really unhealthy going on with Bush and that Gun? I really do not remember anyone ever placing such a value on a gun....is it making him feel good about all the innocent Iraqis he has killed? Or, all the innocent american soldiers killed. Limbaugh was at it again...today, talking about how he had never seen such visceral hatred as from the democrats about Bush!! And, had I been able to get through...I would have told him to go back and check his own show in the late nineties.....that would show you some Visceral Hatred...Big Time! William Jefferson Clinton did nothing...but they had him as the most abashedly horrid person in the universe..
You almost have to read the book by Joe Conason to understand where the RNC got together in the late eighties .. I excused Lee Atwater after he died of a brain tumor, thinking he must have been crazy..but now, I think perhaps it was something that was visited upon the man because of his evil plans....for Bill Clinton. He decided at this meeting, that they would get this young upstart governor of Arkansas, where it hurt, with women. After pronouncing that the 'old man' (Bush Sr.) was gonna blow the election!
True story...And, like a lot of democrats...and people who loved Clinton...I will never ever get over it.....and we should never forget that!
Shirley St.Louis
Subject: Iraq - The Central Front on Terror?
Would someone in the media please tell Bush that we are not largely fighting terrorists in Iraq. While some of the warfare may be terroristic in nature, the last time anybody looked there was no connection to Al Qaida. Why then does Bush keep repeating that "Iraq is the central front on terror" when the "enemy" there are mostly Iraqis, insurgents, nationalists, loyalists, resistance fighters, rebels or militiamen? In other words, all those who don't want occupying forces to dictate how they are to be governed. Because everything Bush says or does is for political gain, I suspect he keeps playing the terror card because he can politicize us with fear and keep his political numbers on the so-called war on terror high. In his speech at the Air Force Academy, he once again referred to Iraq as the "central front on terror" and even compared our presence there to WWII. In either case nothing could be farther from the truth. But then George 43 knows a lot about stretching the truth.
Charles
F. Siford
York, PA
Subject: Bush's War Trophy
It would be interesting to know if Army regulations were followed in retaining Bush's "war trophy" of Saddam's pistol.
b. War trophy. Any item of enemy public or private property utilized as war materiel (i.e., arms, military accouterments) acquired in a combat area or zone within a prescribed period of time, and authorized by the commander to be retained under the provisions of this regulation.
c. Firearm. Any weapon (including a starter gun) other than an antique firearm which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; the frame or receiver of any such weapon; any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or any destructive device.
d. War trophy firearm. Firearms of small caliber up to and including caliber .45 (or equivalent expressed in terms of other linear measure), and all gauges of shotguns, except for “firearms”prohibited by the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. 5801–5862) further described in paragraph 6.
7. Authorization of war trophies
a. Members of the United States Armed Forces may be authorized to retain and bring into the United States items of enemy equipment acquired in a combat area or combat zone within prescribed periods of time, unless otherwise prohibited under the provisions of this regulation.
d. An individual authorized to retain war trophies, including war trophy firearms, will be issued DD Form 603–1 (War Trophy Registration/Authorization) by the appropriate major commander. DD Form 603–1 (image size 7 by 4 4/6 inches) will be locally reproduced on 8–by 51/4–inch paper and prepared in triplicate (fig. 1) and will include—
(1) Identity of the individual retaining the trophy and inclusive period of service in the oversea command.
(2) Description of the war trophy article, including a serial number, if available, of any war trophy firearm.
(3) Signature of designated representative of the commander authorizing retention of the article. The original copy will be retained by the individual concerned. One copy may be packaged with the article or carried by the individual accompanying the shipment, but must be made available to the appropriate U.S. official at the port of entry. The remaining copy will be retained by the command executing the certificate. Additional registration requirements
pertaining to war trophy firearms are prescribed in paragraph 8.
8. Registration of war trophy firearms
a. Requirement for registration of war trophy firearms is in addition to certificates of authorization for all war trophy articles prescribed in paragraph 7.
b. Registration of war trophy firearms is the responsibility of major oversea commanders, and will include the following procedures:
(1) Execution of DD Form 603 (Registration of War Trophy Firearms) in duplicate, by any of the following:
(a) Provost marshals of commands or installations.
(b) Shore patrol officers of commands or installations, or, in the absence thereof, by proper authority designated by the appropriate naval command.
(c) Security and law enforcement officers of U.S. Air Force commands or installations.
(2) The original copy of DD Form 603 will be retained by the individual authorized possession of the war trophy firearm, to be presented upon request by proper authority. It is not transferable.
(3) The duplicate copy will be forwarded by the certifying officer direct to The Provost Marshal General, Department of the Army, Washington, DC 20314.
9. Shipment of war trophies
a. War trophy firearms may not be mailed or shipped to the United States but may be personally transported or included in accompanied baggage subject to carrier regulations and as prescribed by the major oversea commander.
Special restrictions upon movement of firearms on vessels or aircraft are defined in AR 55–71.
10. Violations, seizures, and disposition
a. Articles or material unlawfully shipped or carried into the United States are subject to be seized by the United States Customs, or other appropriate military or civilian authority or agency. The attention of all members of the Armed Forces is directed to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 103, concerning the possession and disposition of captured or abandoned property which has become the property of the United States. Captured enemy property, including war trophy firearms, is the property of the United States, as captor, and, therefore, is subject to recovery by the United States Government.
b. Property seized may be held for legal considerations and then disposed of in accordance with appropriate law, Departmental instructions, or orders of cognizant authority.
Tom Holmberg
Subject: War Crimes Act of 1996
Dear BuzzFlash,
"US law—the War Crimes Act of 1996 (18 U.S.C. 2441)—prohibits “war crimes” defined to include any grave breach of the Geneva Conventions on Prisoners of War. It is clear that this prohibition applies to US officials and note that punishments for violations of Section 2441 include the death penalty."
So when do the trials begin ? The evidence is all there in public domain. We don't need an international court - our own laws deal with these crimes. This is not a complicated law !
The Law
Sec. 2441. - War crimes
(a) Offense. -
Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.
(b) Circumstances. -
The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are that the person committing such war crime or the victim of such war crime is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a national of the United States (as defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act).
(c) Definition. -
As used in this section the term ''war crime'' means any conduct -
(1)
defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party;
(2)
prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907;
(3)
which constitutes a violation of common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva, 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party and which deals with non-international armed conflict; or
(4)
of a person who, in relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended at Geneva on 3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996), when the United States is a party to such Protocol, willfully kills or causes serious injury to civilians
Bee
Subject: "Bush Seeks Lawyer in Probe Over CIA Leak"
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-bush-leak.html
Ok, this could be the President's Watergate, Nothing big, just a CIA operative is outed by someone in the administration, a felony, Something that in a war time situation could be considered Treasonable. What do we see happening, Bush is hiring an attorney. Is this bigger than a Blow Job, I should think so, unless you are one of those people who think sex is bad and violence is good. Does the president need to worry in this case, I guess he thinks he does, there has been a grand jury investigation ongoing since January. Read the story, it gets worse.
What I don't understand is how this administration has been able to get by so long on such thin ice without something giving.
1) The election
fraud to start with,
2) The Vice President in cahoots with his buddies in the Oil business determining
the nations energy policy and the Vice President refusing to let the public
in on what was determined and by whom.
3) The president refusing to sign the Kyoto Accords in reducing the green house
gasses around the world. 4) The 9/11 fiasco and the mystery surrounding why
the Ben Laden family and other Saudi Arabians are the only people flying in
the nation other than the military for the next day.
5) The deliberate misidentifying the Iraqi regime on Hussein with the Al Qaeda
terrorists,
6) The deliberate exaggeration of the threat Iraq posed to the United States
and the rest of the world.
7) The patriot act and the needless restrictions on civil liberties in the
nation plus the compiling of lists of ordinary citizens who have protested
the governments policies to be harassed and potentially detained when they
fly overseas.
8) the needless invasion of Iraq
9) The declaration of a war against an unknown enemy for an unlimited period
of time.
10) The illegal detainment of enemy combatants who are held without their rights
as prisoners of war.
11) The torture of prisoners of war and others who have not been accused as
enemy combatants or as criminals.
12) The Conspiracy to withhold much if not all of the above information from
the American people....need I go on?
I would suggest that each one of us adds to this list, verifies the accuracy of this list and becomes active in resisting this government that is now acting illegally and as a rouge state. It is our duty as citizens to arrest these criminals and set this nation back upon a constitutional course at the very least by removing the current administration.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: Advice for the Plame leak's investigators
Dear Buzz,
Apparently the Plame leak investigation has hit several snags because of uncooperative witnesses. Frankly, I'm a little surprised by that, since we are now well known (all over the world, no less) for our creative interrogation techniques.
Why not employ our experienced intel-gathering specialists from Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and elsewhere in this investigation? I'm sure Rumsfeld has some hoods left over, even in Karl Rove's head size; and, if push comes to shove (no pun intended), chemical lights and other useful accessories can be purchased from a local hardware store (send the bill to the Pentagon please). If needed, ask Gen. Miller to visit and offer you helpful suggestions.
I think you agree with me that it would be a shame to bungle a perfectly good investigation just because the criminals refuse to cooperate. I'd say: Do what you must to make'em talk. After all, here you know a crime has been committed, while in Abu Ghraib (and Gitmo and elsewhere) you've been wasting your excellent torture skills on innocent people.
Buzzer.
Subject: Larry Flynt doesn't require working legs, he has a tremendously working BRAIN: "Sex, Lies & Politics"
Oh boy, and is Washington gonna hate THIS book too... Just read the reviews at the bottom, they tell it all. On my MUST READ library book list, (sorry BuzzFlash, can't afford to actually BUY these books, I am a single mom with no child-support...!) Love Larry's quote: "they call me a bottom feeder, and it's true, but look what I found at the bottom..."
And this one by Walter Marks, author/playwright: "Larry Flynt took a bullet in his back for his beliefs, but he still has more spine than all the Bush-league pundits in America.”
You rock,
Mr. Flynt.
http://www.larryflynt.com/notebook.php?id=31
MP in Vancouver
Subject: One Good Turn...
JML
How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to replace a light bulb? The Answer is SEVEN:
One to deny that a light bulb needs to be replaced
One to attack and question the patriotism of anyone who has questions about the light bulb,
One to blame the previous administration for the need of a new light bulb,
One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of light bulbs,
One to get together with Vice President Cheney and figure out how to pay Halliburton Industries one million dollars for a light bulb,
One to arrange a photo-op session showing Bush changing the light bulb while dressed in a flight suit and wrapped in an American flag,
And, finally, one to explain to Bush the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.
Subject: Marriage Amendment in Missouri
A friend from St. Louis says the whole key to winning Missouri, as in many states, is how successfully the repubs are at suppressing the vote in the inner city combined with firing up their religious extremists base. The repubs pushed a marriage amendment to be on the ballot in Missouri for the purpose of bringing out the extremists. They messed up and it is suppose to be on the ballot in August. This article is about them trying to change the vote to November.
People who say "the amendment to the constitution will never happen" need to keep the real reason for it in mind.... which is to help them win the close ones. Missouri is a close one...
note: Attorney General Jay Nixon mentioned in the article is a very popular Democrat statewide.
My friend describes this as two pit bulls sniffing each other before the fight. haha This fight may very well decide Missouri.
MW
* * *
Timing for gay marriage ban vote is argued
By Matthew Franck
Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau
06/01/2004JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday plunged into the legal fight over when the state should vote on a gay marriage ban, but during nearly 40 minutes of oral arguments, the court provided few hints on how it might rule.
Subject: Bumper Sign
We need a bumper sign that reads
DEMOCRATS FOR DEMOCRACY
Carolina
Subject: Der Spiegel: The Revenge of the Unwilling
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,302448,00.html NATO Summit in Istanbul
The US Administration is asking for NATO deployment in Iraq. But Old Europe is resisting. France is making demands, Germany is reacting with reserve. The German administration wouldn't veto a NATO deployment, but foreign minister Joschka Fischer is insistently warning of the dangers.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: Trifecta
I hope Barbara Bush will forgive me for messing up my Beautiful Mind with these thoughts of her son.
I can't help but wonder what her son's next trifecta will be.
1. OBL will be found.
2. Another horrendous attack on American soil.
3. Crash of a plane carrying a Democratic candidate.
Scary stuff. If she cared about the Beautiful minds of Americans as much as she cares about her own Beautiful mind, she would demand that her son resign.
Paula Maddox
Clinton, IL
Subject: Polygraphs at the Pentagon
I see where the Bushites are falling all over themselves to use polygraphs at the Pentagon over Chalabi. I wonder why there is such a rush? Could there be questions of loyalty and leakage asked? After all, King George's court didn't have to do this over the outing of a CIA agent.
Dissent
is not Terrorism
Freedom is not Legislated
Michael H.
Subject: Miller Time Again
After all the hand-wringing and alleged mea culpas, Judith Miller was back in the New York Times yesterday, ironically on page A10, bylining a significant story, according to today's Editor & Publisher magazine. It's about Iraq, and Chalabi, and why on earth should anyone believe a word this woman writes??
The fact that she is still writing on Iraq, and even reporting in the paper at all, is like a flip of the bird from the Times to all its readers. I can't even bring myself about to go to the website to read the article, proving that I can indeed walk past a train wreck without looking. Give up on this paper, folks. Line your birdcages with the ones you have left. Cancel your subscriptions, making sure to let them know exactly why. It's one thing for this administration to not understand the meaning of the word "accountability," but when you're the nation's paper of record, part of whose job is to hold elected officials accountable, you're failing all over the place when you can't even hold your own incompetent reporters accountable. And, in fact, continue to use their questionable services.
Here's the E&P link: www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000523774
Sue
Sent to jabramson@nytimes.com:
Subject: Letter to NY Times
Madam:
My wife and I had briefly considered a subscription to the NYT. Our local newspaper could well change it's name to The Arizona Republican were it to make known it's partisanship. We wanted something a little more balanced. But after sampling only two issues of the NYT a little less than a year ago, we vetoed this idea. It was quite obvious that the NYT could well be named the NY Republican; this publication is quite useless to us. We prefer news to entertainment and partisanship.
Forty years of morning reading habits came to an end last year. We now use the internet for all of our news. I suspect that the mainstream press corporations will do all that they can to lobby the government to restrict the internet in some manner. I seriously doubt that these corporations will modify their output merely to satisfy the average reader.
Make no mistake, the partisan pandering of your once respected journal bears the responsibility for the death and injury of tens of thousands of people - men, women and children. I wouldn't expect that this will cause the loss of a moment's sleep to the loyal neoconservative hacks at the NYT; it may, however, lend some scope with understanding the antipathy and suspicion most honest people have for the mainstream corporate media at this time.
Yours Truly,
Michael
J. Fowler
Mesa, AZ
this morning we heard jack cafferty say he got an e-mail saying the only way you could compare ww2 to bush's war in iraq is if after pearl harbor we attacked norway. :):)
i thought my husband would have a stroke he laughed so hard! :):)
da
[BuzzFlash Note: Michael Moore has been saying that attacking Iraq in the War on Terrorism is like attacking Mexico because of 9/11.]
Subject: Reality Check and Moronomics
Iraq invasion planned months before 9/11, not our last choice, not about terrorists, and that demands an answer to the question , "where have you been getting your news?" Many people already knew all this. Were you one of them? If not, now you know what the inventor of moronomics means when he says, "you can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you have to concentrate on" (George W. Bush). His press releases were parroted by a lazy, corrupt press as if it was God's truth. That makes the press that cooperated as guilty as the moron. They misled us and it seems like it should be illegal. Change the channel.
Moronomics is hundreds of billions of dollars wasted damaging USA security, integrity, credibility and future economic stability to steal some oil. Lots of oil, sure, but there is no justification. Once again, we prove that war is good for business and the Corporatists join in a lockstep procession to maintain continuity of good business, and that means to keep the war/s coming. Make the citizens inside the USA think Saddam is going to Nuke 'em when they're nappin', or gas them at their picnic, just to do some oil business, and then sell them all kinds of crap to protect them from this manufactured terror. How far would they actually go in manufacturing terror? That question should be addressed. Change the channel, change the administration, and then prosecute.
ol' quid pro quo
DaveFagan
http://reading.isdangerous.com
Subject: How Amazing?
Re: Amazing! Bush Pulls a "Hastert" and Pretends Not to Know Chalabi! -- A BuzzFlash Reader Contribution
Remember what Bush said when he was queried about his ties to Kenny Boy after Enron collapsed?
"First of all, Ken Lay is a supporter, and I got to know Ken Lay when he was a head of the -- what they call the Governor's Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards (former Texas governor) in my run against her in 1994, and she named him head of the Governor's Business Council and I decided to leave him in place, for the sake of continuity. And that's when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken, and he supported my candidacy . . . "
*snicker* What a load!
He went back lots farther with Kenny Boy. http://www.schlatter.org/Dad/Bush%20lies/ken_lay.htm
Rosamond
Subject: You missed the best line
I send my blessings to George and his family and look forward to working with him until he leaves the agency," Bush said.
Bishop Bush is now giving Blessing {selling them no doubt}
Joseph B.
Hi Buzzers,
Here's a few choice quotes from the right wing nut jobs (article from Salon, 6/2) about Al Gore's speech --- oh, and his "insanity." It kind of makes you want to cry. I can't think of anyone more undeserving of this crap. Yet not one of these imbeciles can refute anything Gore said. They're going crazy. Who's going to tell me that they're not worried about him - no, not because he's "insane", but because he's right and they know it. If they think he's so irrelevant, how come they can't stop obsessing over him -- just like Clinton. Gore should sue them for slander, but he's too nice. John Podhoretz especially needs a swift kick in the ass. And sure Rush, you speak for America.
----------------------------------------------------------
"It looks as if Al Gore has gone off his lithium again." -- Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer
"Maybe a National Psychological Council would be a good idea after all ... [Gore] ought to seek out for his own good a cool and quiet darkened room." -- National Review contributing editor and former Bush speech writer David Frum
"It is now clear that Al Gore is insane. I don't mean that his policy ideas are insane, though many of them are ... there is every reason to believe that Albert Gore Jr., desperately needs help. I think he needs medication, and I think that if he is already on medication, his doctors need to adjust it or change it entirely... Gore's speech is the single craziest political performance of my lifetime ... A man who was very, very nearly president of the United States has been reduced to sounding like one of those people in Times Square with a megaphone screaming about God's justice." -- New York Post columnist John Podhoretz
"Somebody needs to check this guy's medication. This guy has got a problem." -- syndicated columnist and retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes"
"He's really nuts." -- Fox News host Sean Hannity, responding to comments by guest Oliver North.
"Half the country thinks he's a mental patient ... They think he should go back to the dayroom he came out of." -- radio talk-show host Mark R. Levin, on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes"
"At one point I respected Al Gore, but I think he's lost his mind... I think he's gone daft because he's a sad little man now." -- CNBC host Dennis Miller
Radio host had his own take on Al Gore's invective against the Bush administration last Wednesday.
" I guess those naked pyramids are just not in the national interest to Algore. [sic] [Laughing and laughing.] Okay. Well, you know, here's the thing, folks. Algore, this whole speech, he went nuts. He's flailing around wildly there ... I mean, it says a lot about Gore. It says he's perverse ... I don't think anything of this kind has ever been done by a former vice president during a war, but our adversaries and our enemies would be badly mistaken if they actually believe that Gore speaks for this nation, because he doesn't. I speak for more of this nation than Al Gore does, and I will say it on this program."
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They are a sorry lot, aren't they?
Happy 50th Shirley - a great milestone.
Buzz and Buzzers - you're wonderful!
Barbara in NYC - FAHRENHEIT 9/11 - COMING SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU!! EEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!