The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag.

Subject: French?

Subject: Ill. Dems

What the Illinois Democrats ought to do is begin running 3 ads on the days Keyes is installed to run.

1. The first should highlight the newspaper article which said Keyes was called "at his home in Maryland."

2. The second should highlight that quote where he says he doesn't really know much about Illinois.

3. The last should repeat over and over what he said about Hillary.

The tag line of all 3 should be, is he really the best for Illinois?

Michael H.

Subject: President Bush FINALLY Speaks the Truth!

A new 'Bushism': We're gonna get us (Associated Press -- MSNBC)

WASHINGTON - President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog of "Bushisms" on Thursday, declaring that his administration will "never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people."

Bush misspoke as he delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a $417 billion defense spending bill.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.

In reality, Mr. Bush did NOT "misspeak," what happened is that for the first time HE TOLD THE TRUTH! Indeed, his administration has demonstrated full well that they will "never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people." Thank you, Mr. President, for setting the record straight about your administration, and for telling the world what some of us knew full well for quite a long time now.

Joe Plaud

Subject: Great Weblog by Mamie Van Doren

Just discovered that Mamie Van Doren, the movie sex kitten from the 50's and 60's, has been keeping a cool and very articulate pro-Kerry and anti-Bush web-log. Not sure how much "traffic" she gets, but might be worth it to highlight her somewhere.

http://www.mamievandoren.com/weblog/index.htm

Regards,

Ben Martin
"Redefeat Bush, 2004!"

Subject: Letter to the Editor - Bush says something Democrats Agree With!

Bush made an amusing statement today that I think many in America agree with. But what he said probably isn't what he meant. "Our enemies," says Bush, "are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Bush is more right than he thinks. Apparently his idea of winning the "war on terror" is to do more damage to this country than the terrorists are doing - and in that frame of reference he is definitely winning. Clearly no terrorist could have done the kind of damage to America that Bush has done in the four years since he stole the election. Sometimes I think the reason that the terrorists haven't attacked again is because they can just sit back and watch Bush destroy America. If I were a terrorist - I wouldn't want to do anything that would interfere with Bush's reelection.

Marc Perkel
San Francisco, CA.

Subject: Maybe the rumors about Bush's brain going south are True

Dear BuzzFlash:

I thought you might find this interesting.

The Associated Press reported today that at a ceremony where George W. Bush was signing a new $417 billion defense bill Bush said the following: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

OH MY GOD! THIS DITZ IS SO MESSED UP HE'S OFF THE CHART. BRING ON THE STRAIGHT JACKET IT'S TIME TO SEND HIM TO A PLACE WHERE HE MIGHT JUST FIT IN.

Carolyn in Tennessee
(Fighting for America in a red state)

SUBJECT: Group's Ad says Kerry lied (Yahoo--USA Today)

I'm sure the Republican party is funding this ad, but it is interesting to note that the article doesn't mention John O'Neill. If anyone wants to know who started this whole charade, look no further than Richard Nixon. And it was Richard Nixon who sabotaged Senator Kerry's congressional campaign back in the early seventies.

You can get all the interesting details in a very well-done documentary that was aired on, believe it or not, MSNBC during the Dem convention. The name of the documentary is "John Kerry: Bringing the War Home."

My concern is that the group's ads will cause problems, major problems. If anyone knows whether MSNBC or NBC plans to air this documentary again, it would be important to know, but I'm going to start a letter-writing campaign to see if we can get one of the two (hopefully, NBC) to air it again -- in prime time.

SherAn

Subject: DUMBYA SPEAKS

Hey BuzzFlash:

I have another take on this quote from George W. Bush:

George W. Bush 8/5/04: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Subject: From SECRECY NEWS published by the Federation of American Scientists:

CHENEY BLOCKED INTELLIGENCE REFORM IN 1992

Some of the most important intelligence reforms proposed by the 9-11 Commission, including the creation of a Director of National Intelligence (DNI), might have been adopted over a decade ago if
not for the opposition of the Secretary of Defense at the time, Dick Cheney.

In a March 1992 letter to Congress, Secretary Cheney defended the status quo and objected to proposed intelligence reform legislation, particularly the DNI position.

"The roles of the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence have evolved in a fashion that meets national, departmental and tactical intelligence needs," Cheney wrote.

The intelligence reform proposals "would seriously impair the effectiveness of this arrangement by assigning inappropriate authority to the proposed Director of National Intelligence (DNI),
who would become the director and manager of internal DoD activities that in the interest of efficiency and effectiveness must remain under the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Defense," he wrote.

A companion letter from the DoD General Counsel elaborated on Secretary Cheney's objections, complaining that the intelligence reform proposal would "give the DNI far more extensive authority
and responsibility for program and budget matters than is now exercised by the DCI," which is indeed the whole point.

Secretary Cheney successfully torpedoed the initiative with his warning that "I would recommend that the President veto [the measure] if [it] were presented to him in its current form."

In fairness, it was not obvious, then or now, that the DNI concept is the best or only solution to what ails U.S. intelligence. And it would be surprising if a Secretary of Defense did anything other
than protect his institutional turf.

But Cheney's unyielding opposition stifled the first initiative for post-Cold War intelligence reform. As a result, we now face many of the same problems, and the same proposed solutions, more than a
decade later.

See Secretary Cheney's March 17, 1992 letter to House Armed Services Committee chairman Les Aspin here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_cr/cheney1992.pdf

Thanks to Robert Steele of Open Source Solution (www.oss.net), which advocates establishment of an independent open source intelligence agency.

SherAn

Subject: SwiftVets.com

mmm swiftvets.com Registrant: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth P.O. Box 26184 Alexandria, Virginia 22313 United States Registered through: GoDaddy.com Domain Name: SWIFTVETS.COM Created on: 14-Apr-04 Expires on: 14-Apr-05 Last Updated on: 22-Jul-04 Administrative Contact: Symmes, Weymouth WeySymmes@aol.com Swift Boat Veterans for Truth P.O. Box 26184 Alexandria, Virginia 22313 United States 4067210875 Fax -- Technical Contact: Symmes, Weymouth WeySymmes@aol.com Swift Boat Veterans for Truth P.O. Box 26184 Alexandria, Virginia 22313 United States 4067210875 Fax -- Domain servers in listed order: NS1.HE.NET NS2.HE.NET NS3.HE.NET

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Contribution to mailbag

Below is text I submitted to major news outlets and local newspapers...thought it might be good reading on BuzzFlash.

Much has been made of the heckling taken by Teresa Heinz Kerry as well as the protesters who greeted John Edwards in Missouri. Conversely, nothing has been said of the Bush campaign's sanitization of its rallies and events. We have in one state people being forced to sign a pledge to support the GOP ticket to obtain entrance (now we know WHICH Pledge of Allegiance truly matters to the President), inquiries as to the race of a fully credentialed photographer at another, and in Springfield, Missouri known protesters having their tickets ripped up by police who said they were "just following orders" as reported at Springfield MO's News-Leader.com.

If we wish to elect a President who cares about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we must ask ourselves which candidate honors the ideals held within by allowing dissent at his functions. Why does Kerry/Edwards let the opposition say their piece while Bush/Cheney will squelch the freedom of speech entitled by the Bill of Rights of those who disagree? As we have heard recently, saying it does not make it so. This is also true for the picture presented to the media and those who view it. Not letting people speak not only "does not make it so," it makes the candidate doing so seem less credible to those of us who truly love our country.

Steven A. Severson
Madison, WI

Subject: Bush going for the Amish vote

How twisted is this: War-crazy Bush courts the vote of people totally devoted to a pacifist way of life: the Amish. What's his ploy: wedge issues. Who'd thought!

GOP courts Amish votes in swing states (Associated Press/MSNBC)

Christopher N.

Subject: Talk about your conservative search engine bias (bigtimepatriot.com)

I decided I wanted to track what John Kerry's policy announcements were so I could speak authoritatively, so I set a Google News Alert [http://www.google.com/newsalerts] with the words 'john kerry policy'.

What I get is a brief list of links with a brief summary. After a couple of weeks, what it turns out that Google pulls out is the usually 80% the Republican talking points AGAINST John Kerry policy and maybe 20% of actual John Kerry policy.

I am not at all sure whether this is some devious plot by an individual inside Google to slant the world, OR, more likely, this represents the success of the Republican Party in dominating press coverage.

Kind of creepy...signed,

A BuzzFlash Reader and Big Time Patriot

Subject: From the "horse's" mouth - LaPore's that is!

Hi Buzz--

Thought you'd want a link to this front page article in today's Palm Beach Post about absentee balloting...I know that * I * intend to get an absentee ballot...but I want to know that there will be 2 observers there when they open the mailed in ballots...one from our side and one from theirs, just in case they try to say that * we * cheated!

Rush to absentee ballots may magnify trouble (Palm Beach Post)

I urge everyone who has to deal with touch screen voting in any state, not just Florida, to request an absentee ballot to make sure that there is a paper trail!! We can't count on the legislature to get the job done! Maybe if they see such an onslaught of requests they'll get the idea that we * don't * like fraudulent voting machines! This is * our * right, they can't take it from us again!!

Ever loyal BuzzFlasher--

Deb

Subject: Bush Cheney campaign asked for race of news photographer in Arizona (AP/Arizona Republic)

Jacques Billeaud Associated Press Aug. 3, 2004 12:00 AM

The Bush-Cheney campaign asked for the race of a Tucson newspaper photographer covering Vice President Dick Cheney's weekend visit to Arizona. The Arizona Daily Star refused to provide the race of photographer Mamta Popat and asked why the question was asked, said Teri Hayt, the newspaper's managing editor. "I have never been exposed to that type of question in 25 years of credentialing people," Hayt said.

News the media corps will not report ... Outrageous!!

Lets see, for anybody to attend a bush speech, you have to do the following......

First, you had to be a Republican to attend a Bush speech. Next, you have to sign a pledge form that you will not protest during the speech. Now, in Arizona, you have to be the "The Correct Race" to attend the Bush
speech.

What is Bush going to ask for next?? Your bank statement to make sure you are a MILLIONAIRE / BILLIONAIRE in order to attend one of his lame speeches??

Tom Wieliczka

Subject: oh my

oh my, republican, democrat, independent or purple pigmy, it does not matter. all should denounce that ad with swift boat veterans for truth. bush should do the same as senator mccain has asked of him. how ugly this is getting! who paid for the ad? does anyone know where the money came from? each day bush allows to go by without denouncing that ad as the leader of our country is a great shame, not the sign of a leader!

sharon swift in memphis tn

Subject: I'm pissed (not at BuzzFlash)

Hi BuzzFlash and fellow BuzzFlashers,

As each day passes I'm finding myself more and more pissed off at this administration. Does this sound familiar? I just read the letter (or article) from the man who tried to see the pResident and basically was turned away. Since when in our history do we need to sign oaths, pledges, etc. to see the president at a public event? WE PAY HIS SALARY FOR GODSAKES!

As far as the media goes, my plan is to let the advertisers know that I'm boycotting their products and why. If enough people would do this I think we'd see a different form of media. It is ultimately advertising that pays for these shows to be on the air. People, we have the power if we would just use it.

And for my final little rant, I'm sick and tired to hearing the Bush twins referred to as young girls. They are young WOMEN! We went through this crap with Monica Lewinsky too. If a 13-year-old boy can be tried as an adult for manslaughter (in Florida I believe -- the case where he imitated a wrestling move), then a 22- or 23-year-old sticking her tongue out is an ADULT!

Hang in there friends...we only have 89 days left of George the Idiot.

Susan F.
Orangevale, CA

Subject: Helen Thomas

I was watching the "mini" news conference that Shrub gave the other day, but I couldn't hear the question that Helen Thomas was trying to ask. What I noticed was the way Shrub looked down to his notes before he called on anyone. At one point you could tell that he had never heard of the person he called on. He is given the names and questions evidently ahead of time. What I would like to see sometime is for one of the reporters he calls on to have the cajones to defer to Helen and let her ask her question. Wouldn't that be a gas!

Carolyn in Illinois

Subject: Tim Russert and Rush Limbaugh

I noted recently at the Media Matters website that Tim Russert was a guest on Limbaugh's radio program on June 10. The two men chatted amiably and generously complimented each other after Russert exclaimed how honored he was to be on the program to promote his new book. Gag! To see Russert lend even a smidgen of legitimacy to this scumbag really disappoints me and seriously diminishes Russert's journalistic professionalism, at least to my eyes. It's like seeing CBS's Dan Rather and ABC's Ted Koppel during the Iraq war reporting live, or should I say "gushing" live from Baghdad about the war and its splendid success. These are newsmen of considerable distinction, or so I thought. Are there any on-camera newsmen or women right now who haven't "drunk the Kool-aid." How depressing to see journalism in the U.S. fall to such depths! It's way past time for some Walter Cronkite-type editorials condemning this war, the people responsible for it, and the Bush administration generally.

Mike Brown
Waco, TX

Subject: Vietnam - Kerry - Swiftboat

Here is a copy of my E-Mail to WeySymmes @aol.com

(1) you don't order your own Purple Hearts; (2) you don't order your own Bronze Stars; (3) you guys don't have any "guts" - you'll support a deserter who was too chicken to go to Vietnam; (4) you are definitely hooked up with the right political camp -"Camp Liars"; this E-Mail signed by a disgusted Canadian who honours all Vietnam veterans (and yes the Canadians had a lot of them in Vietnam) and we honour all of them every Remembrance Day regardless of whether it was a just War.

Audrey

Subject: Ralph Nader

This is from the Philadelphia City Paper, the bell curve, Aug 5-12 #1003

Ralph Nader shuts down his Center City office after his signature collectors, many of them homeless, gather to protest that they haven't been paid. Attention Nader voters: Homeless guys are now officially smarter than you.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: yes, it is scary!

the reason bush sat there for seven minutes reading to those kids after being told our country was under attack is because HE WAS WAITING TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO NEXT! yes ...... it is scary!

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

Regarding the ad about John Kerry by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth...they failed to put an email on their site...to avoid confrontations most likely...

well i went to Network Solutions' WHOIS database and got the email of the site administrator...let's bombard him with criticism: WeySymmes@aol.com...as even John McCain has condemned the ad as "dishonest and dishonorable."

From a Loyal BuzzFlash Reader,

Gary M.

Subject: Dear Ms. Woodruff and media

Doesn't anyone find it strange that, clearly from the tapes, Nixon hated Kerry. Nixon was doing everything in his power (which he had) to discredit John Kerry back then when it was all in real time, fresh memories, and Nixon very much wanted to bring Kerry down. Why didn't any of the stuff those vets against Kerry are saying come out then? I suspect because it is not true! And I'm not surprised that Bush is not taking McCain's advice to denounce the ad, Bush did the same to McCain in South Carolina.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Bush retaliation

I just heard some information on a Liberal talk radio program 620 KPOJ Ed Schultz show. It is a story that needs to get some coverage as it shows length that the Bush administration will go to in order to retaliate against perceived enemies. A while back a retired military gentleman came out with information regarding Bush's military record. In retaliation the Govt. has now cut his benefits amounting to a reduction of 40% of his income. Ed Schultz is in the process of getting the details of this story and plans to have him on the show. I hope you will please consider getting that man's story told once the details are compiled.

http://www.620knews.com/listen/index.php

Thanks,

Sherri

Subject: why is no one talking about this event in pakistan?

why is it that no one- no magazine, no news organization made a big deal about pakistan granting kahn who gave nuclear secrets to our enemies a pardon? and they let him keep all the money he made from that. i think that is major news. is someone going to do a story, put it in a speech....do something with this information?? what happened to the journalist in journalism? is it too much to expect investigative journalism? we would not know about abu ghraib if it were not for the new yorker? what is happening with the press? are they all bought off?

karin dicker
los angeles. ca.

Subject: "Terror ruined my vacation"

Here's my own take on the matter...

Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say...

OR: No need to come back to Washington, as Kerry urges vacationing Congress.

"Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terror plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way." (NY Times, August 3, 2004)

So let's see... Trump John Kerry, shock the people in blue states, like New York, New Jersey and Washington DC, ensure triple the protection during the Republican Convention, scare off any potential protestors...while we go on vacation.

But what is this? John Kerry is insisting we come back and take care of the "urgency"? OK, OK! This was OLD information! Nothing urgent! Sorry a few people got the willies!

Posted by: HyperLincoln / 8/2/2004 11:07:29 PM http://anonymoses.blogspot.com/

Dave K. Beckwith
Charlotte

Subject: Ron Reagan Jr. - a surprising, modern American hero

Buzz,

Thank you for re-posting Ron Reagan's Esquire article - a must-read that should be posted on streetlamps in every town in America. It is the best compilation of the disasters perpetrated upon us by the radical right-wing cabal destroying this country. Reagan must be commended for his courage to speak truth to the power-mad. If such a bold, non-political person had headed the 9-11 Commission, we would have gotten some straight answers instead of a politically-wimped-out whitewash. Reagan must also be commended for stopping the radical right wing's melding of Duhhbya with Reagan Sr. If they dare try, they know Ron Jr. will excoriate them publicly. It is an amazing piece. And if Teresa Heinz-Kerry [or Hillary or Arianna or Helen Thomas] had written it, she would be tarred by the media and the right-wing as an "opinionated" "too outspoken" "loose cannon" loon. But a man wrote it so that won't happen. And they don't dare label Ron Reagan Jr. that way.

T Quigly

Subject: angry

I am so angry with those vets who are smearing Kerry -- sent Drudge the article back to him saying he could have his garbage back. Actually I am now sending all smearing articles back to senders especially Drudge. Told him he could take the garbage back and Cheney him. Being from Arizona was happy to see McCain stand by Kerry although the WH did not take his advice -- hope this all backfires on our current resident in the WH. They are all slime balls in the current administration -- makes me want to puke.

Nan

Subject: Swiftvets need dry docking

Let's fill their mailbox. Here's their address:

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
c/o Weymouth Symmes, Treasurer
PO Box 26184
Alexandria, VA 22313

We need to do something that impedes their lies from being disseminated.

Shelly G.

Subject: the albany terrorists

I just posted this on my website.

http://uncommonsense.20m.com/#sabre

So the day after it comes out that there was no threat, they announce the arrest of two guys in Albany as part of a plot to put a missile into the hands of a terrorist. Yahoo's front page headline is quite alarming - Alleged Missile Plot Uncovered in Albany.

Two leaders of a mosque in Albany, N.Y., were arrested on charges stemming from an alleged plot to purchase a shoulder-fired missile that would be used to assassinate the Pakistani ambassador in New York, according to court papers filed Thursday.

Whew! Thank God they caught these guys before they could do any real damage.

Only, these guys wouldn't have done any real damage even if they weren't caught. The whole thing was a sting operation. There was no terrorist - he was an agent, a felon working with the cops to reduce his sentence. What is more, they weren't trying to buy a missile for him. They are alleged to have laundered money (or agreed to launder - it never says they actually did it) for the agent. He told them he planned to use it to buy a missile to commit this specific crime.

The two men have ties to Ansar-al-Islam, who has ties to Al Qaeda, who has ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, our latest boogeyman in a long string of boogeymen.

Or so they say. They also said that lawyer in Oregon that they arrested for the Madrid bombing (finally releasing him only after Spanish police insisted the FBI had the wrong man because the right man was in custody in Spain) had ties to terrorist organizations. Those ties turned out to be flimsy and without merit - he represented a man accused of being affiliated with terrorists in a completely unrelated civil proceeding.

And it was the felon trying to reduce his sentence who approached these guys in the first place. It was the police who made up the plot to kill the Pakistani ambassador. One of them owns a pizza parlor. The other is an imam at a local mosque, whose part in this was as a witness to the agreement. But the first paragraph of that article makes it sound like they were the plotters and the plot was foiled.

There was no plot to foil. Hell, anybody can predict the ending of a book they wrote themselves.

So they still haven't actually caught any terrorists. That's what I am seeing here. What they have done is lure someone into terrorism and then arrest him.

I'm not saying that it is ok to launder money for a terrorist. What I am saying is, why can't they catch the people who really are laundering money for people who really are terrorists? Obviously, there are real money launderers and real terrorists out there. So why is it that the only ones they can catch are the ones they create themselves? How does it make us any safer to protect us from someone who might never have gotten involved in a terrorist plot in the first place, except for the opportunity provided by the police themselves? And people wonder why there are conspiracy theorists. This screams conspiracy theory.

Jeff Crook

Subject: Cold, Hard, Facts Gets the Job Done

Just wanted to let you know some positive news. I have 3 staunchly republican friends who have stood behind Bush way too long. The good news is, I have converted them to Kerry's line of thinking and of course, Bush, through his actions, hasn't done anything to impress them. These friends have stated that their vote will go to Kerry in Nov. They were tough nuts to crack, but by providing facts to them [thanks to BuzzFlash] they were convinced that Bush was not right for the country. When we get the facts out to the dubious, it's amazing how surprised they are. I am convinced now more than ever, that speaking out backed up with hard copy facts, gets the job done... one vote at a time.

Cathy

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