August 12, 2004
The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag.
Subject: numbed out
Hey Buzz:
Pardon me for being skeptical, but has anyone else noticed that ever since the DNC, it's been all al Qaeda all the time? I hope I don't have to eat my words, but I get the feeling it's all just an integrated ploy to get and keep everybody scared. A while back I read an article somewhere (do you have a link?) about how fear was empirically proven to be the best motivation for *not* shaking up the government, that when fear factors into the decision, voters almost always re-elect the incumbents. I feel like we are all being play big-time.
And another thing: I am sick to death of the media saying that John Kerry voted to support the war with Iraq. Unless I'm forgetting something, I thought Congress voted to authorize the president to declare war if he saw fit; i.e., they ceded the Congressional responsibility for declaring war to Bush following 9/11. Bush is the one who decided Iraq was the right target, not Congress, not Kerry. The way the GOP and the media (!!!!!! even NPR!!!!) make it sound, it's as if Bush took his case for attacking Iraq to Congress and they actually voted on whether to go. That did not happen!
I am so tired of this roller-coaster.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Bob Scheidt
NEW CIA DIRECTOR ... Porter Goss
Tue Aug 10, 2004 23:13It was widely reported by THE NEW YORK TIMES Feb. 17, 2002, MSNBC Oct. 7, 2001 and others that Pakistani ISI Chief, General Mahmud, wire transferred $100,000 to alleged lead terror pilot Mohammed Atta the week before the terror attacks. At the exact moment of the terror attacks Mahmud was having breakfast with the chairmen of the HOUSE (Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla) and SENATE (Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla) INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES along with my senator Jon Kyl. I will have words with Kyl at the next opportunity. The $100,000 was sufficient to remove Mahmud from office but not enough for the light to go on in the brains of our top US intelligence officials!!
A BuzzFlash Reader
SUBJECT: Porter Goss Nomination
Karl Rove's hands are all over the nomination of Porter Goss. Reviled by CIA insiders, considered highly partisan by Democrats, his confirmation hearings will have the sparks flying. Karl Rove wouldn't have it any other way. It's simply the latest wedge issue. By fighting the nomination Democrats will be painted as unpatriotic and accused of putting politics before the safety of the American people.
In point of fact, Bush would have been happy to leave the Director's position open until after the election. But by nominating him now, Bush intends to use the fight over the nomination to his advantage. The Dems will have to be very careful on this one. It's a potential minefield.
SherAn
Subject: doesn't he have any pride?
jesus, doesn't mccain have any pride at all? i remember he admitted saying he thought the confederate flag should stay here and then after bush won the primary he admitted he only said that for votes. it is becoming very clear he will do anything for a few votes! maybe bush was right, maybe mccain is a mental case.
karen in sc
Subject: "Varsity Mendacity"
Varsity mendacity? With all the controversy about John Kerry 's Vietnam medals and ribbons, who'd have thought that loyal George W. Bush aide Karen Hughes would be the one to catch the President fibbing about a supposed varsity letter? In her new book, "Ten Minutes From Normal," Hughes recounts a conversation with Bush after Russian President Vladimir Putin grilled him on his Yale days.
"President Putin knew you had played rugby, but he didn't have the context. I mean, you just played for one semester in college, right?" Hughes said.
Bush corrected: "I played for a year, and it was the varsity."
Yesterday, a Yale spokeswoman confirmed that there's no such thing as varsity rugby at Yale - not when Bush was an undergrad in the 1960s and not today.
Well, gee, the straight-shooter got caught in another LIE by none other than Lloyd Grove in his column ["Low Down"]. I can't figure out who is the bigger liar, Bush or his enabler(s). And to think people actually spend money to read this tripe. I'm just LMSAO!
SherAn
Subject: Where are the aircraft maintenance records?
Just A Thought: What is most surprising is that the Defense Department has not provided the maintenance records for aircraft assigned to both the Texas and Alabama Air National Guards during the periods in question. Those records would end, once and for all, the question of whether Mr. Bush had actually flown or not flown fighter aircraft (F-102s) during 1972 and 1973.
Aircraft maintenance records are well protected documents with archives reaching back to before WWII and the days of the Army Air Corps, the air wing of the U.S. military prior to the inception of the U.S. Air Force in 1947. Military aircraft do not fly without pre and post flight documentation that is signed off on by both the aircraft commander (pilot) and the aircraft's assigned crew chief.
There could not have been more than 15 to 25 of this aircraft type assigned to any one Air National Guard location during this period.
I volunteered / Kerry volunteered -- Why didn't Baby Bush?
Mike Post
Peachtree City, GA
Subject: WHO LET THE DOGS IN
I just bought Molly Ivins' latest book. This lady knows her Bush, and she's not ashamed to expose him. No wonder we never see her at any of the Bush "press" get-togethers. Love you, Molly. Keep writing, we'll keep reading.
Marguerite B.
Subject: Tell McCain not to campaign for B*sh!
If you're nauseated by seeing McCain stump for B*sh, you're not alone:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0430/sutton.php
McCain said that he and B*sh agree on more issues than they disagree. Oh, really? I encourage all Arizona residents to contact McCain's office(s) and challenge him on that statement. Does McCain really agree with B*sh's
* war on the environment?
* war on the working class?
* war on media diversity?
* war on civil liberties?
* war on separation of church and state?
* war on constitutional checks and balances?
* war on the geneva conventions?
* policy of overwhelming corporate access and influence?
McCain's contact info:
voice: (602)-952-2410 (Phoenix); (520)-670-6334 (Tucson); (480)-897-6289 (Tempe); (202)-224-2235 (Washington, D.C.)
fax: (602)-952-8702 (Phoenix); (520)-670-6637 (Tucson); (480)-897-8389 (Tempe; (202)-228-2862 (Washington D.C.)
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: Even the Republicans hate Bush
I live in a medium-sized semi-rural community in Western Washington about an hour north of Seattle. There are probably just as many Republicans as Democrats here, and the Republicans usually tend to be more fanatic (like elsewhere across the U.S.).
On the first weekend in August each year, the community hosts the Stanwood-Camano Fair ("the best little fair in the west"). The Republicans have a food booth, usually pizza, and of course it's covered with signs for their candidates. Last year, the Bush signs (in both English and Spanish) said something like "A New Day with Bush". What surprised me this year was that there were NO Bush-Cheney signs at all! There were signs for their candidates for other offices, just not Bush!!
The Democrats also have a food booth (Caesar salad and chili...yum). Our state senator, Mary Margaret Haugen, runs this booth along with local Democrats. This year they also had an information booth. The booth was busy...Kerry-Edwards buttons and bumper stickers were going fast. They also had 2 young men (wearing Kerry-Edwards buttons) roaming through the fair (especially the carnival area where the teens and college kids hang out) with voter registration forms. My daughter's friend, who turns 18 a few days before the election, registered this way. Other communities might want to get out the vote using this idea.
Don't you just LOVE it that the Republicans won't even put up signs for their own Presidential candidate? Ha ha, I bet Bush loses this election too!
Kathy Ready
Camano Island, WA
Subject: Citizens for Honest Fighter Pilots...
Hey Buzz,
Is this true? Does Citizens for Honest Fighter Pilots actually exist? Are they accepting contributions for an ad countering the Swift Boat ad? If so, would you please publish contact and contribution information?
If the group doesn't exist yet, it needs to. A group like this could raise more money than you could shake a stick at, and if it follows recent trends, it would raise funds from a lot of small donors rather than a few partisan contributors. That's democracy in action.
In addition, the ad would not have to delve into lies and distortions like the Swift Boat ad. It could simply ask the questions. Why, out of all the documents that have been released, is there not one that proves Bush fulfilled his entire service? Why has no one come forward to stand beside him and testify that he fulfilled his entire service? Why was it acceptable for Bush to miss his physical? Why was it acceptable for him to decide that training for his particular kind of aircraft was obsolete rather than for his superiors to make the decision?
If this new group does not exist, it needs to be formed pronto. The minute such a group is formed, it will gain the attention that this issue has to date been lacking. The Swift Boat ad, as well as Bush's refusal to condemn it, has opened up the door for this. Let's get this ball rolling!
Tom Garner
Pensacola, Florida
[BuzzFlash Note: We've asked Evelyn. We'll let you know. In the meantime, you can read her latest here.]
Subject: Another Enron?
Halliburton Co., intentionally engaged in "serial accounting fraud" from 1998 to 2001, including when it was led by Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a new filing in a shareholder class-action lawsuit against the company.
Now, once again Halliburton is under the gun by the Pentagon for over improper accounting...
Halliburton Accused of Accounting Fraud (Reuters)
and...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pentagon auditors have concluded that Halliburton Co. failed to adequately account for more than $1.8 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday, citing a Pentagon report.
The amount represents 43 percent of the $4.18 billion that Houston-based Halliburton's Kellogg Brown &Root unit has billed the Pentagon to feed and house troops in the region, the newspaper said....
Halliburton Questioned on $1.8 Billion Iraq Work - WSJ (reuters.com)
R. Brown
Subject: Brave New World Revisited
On Tuesday night I managed to catch an hour or so of the Mike Malloy show on Air America Radio. Mike and his wife recently became the proud parents of a new baby girl, which probably explains why he was more than alarmed over the Bush administration's plan to evaluate the mental health status of every American, beginning with school children and school personnel. Of course, Bush's plan was concocted with the drug industry, and you can be sure they'll profit handsomely from this heinous scheme. Mr. Malloy is rightfully alarmed because he interprets this to mean that the government will do the testing, and then they'll also be the deciding body over exactly who needs to be medicated.
It sounds to me like the government's ultimate goal is to get us all on mind controlling drugs. That way, each and every one of us will be a perfect little Stepford citizen. And just like good little sheeple, in our spacey little drug induced world where everything is oh so swell, we'll just sort of glide into the voting booth and vote only for fascist republicans. What a plan! The entire nation will be drinking the Kool-aid. God, it's so damn creepy. I think it's time for all of us to reread Brave New World , and then bow in adoration to the wisdom of Aldous Huxley.
Every logical aspect of my being refuses to believe that Bush will be able to sell this insanity to the nation. I mean are the American people so stupid that they'll actually embrace this fascist plan? Will they see it for what it is and finally revolt? Will they stand up for liberty and freedom and shout from every corner of this nation, "NO, NO, NO"? I'm hopeful that they will. But then I look at how easily he sold the country on an illegal and immoral war in Iraq, and how he conned people into believing his tax cuts "by far" benefited the Americans on the lower end of the economical scale. That's when I lose hope. In fact, it scares the bushit out of me and leaves me with this sinking feeling that George W. Bush is a hemorrhoid on democracy. And we absolutely must get rid of him and save ourselves.
Judy Maclean
Colorado
P.S. Randi Rhodes has addressed this subject in the past and I've been told that BuzzFlash carried an article on it as well. I'd sure appreciate a link to the article. Thank you Buzz.
[BuzzFlash Note: Check here: http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modul...]
Subject: Get up off of that thing
Hello BuzzFlash:
Early this morning I emailed a local talk radio show and dueled with a Republican strategist who was spreading the neo-con party line concerning the veracity of the "Swift Boat Liars."
Later in the morning I zipped off a Letter to the Editor (USA Today) again challenging the "Swift Boat Liars for Bush." When I finished with that I bombarded a local Neo-Con talk DJ (who is by the way full of SH&#) with the data from this website www.factcheck.org (a non-partisan website that is debunking the Swift Boat LIE! ) Then I went to lunch.
Now I'm reading BuzzFlash (THE BEST SITE ON THE WEB) and I'm wondering what else I can do today to help JOHN F. KERRY GET ELECTED.
Every waking second of every day between now and November 2, 2004, we must approach this election with the mindset "WHAT CAN I DO TODAY TO HELP JOHN KERRY GET ELECTED?"
I suppose I shouldn't be preaching to the choir, but I'd like to remind all BuzzFlash readers that a team effort always begins with the individual so we must not allow ourselves to become complacent, NOT even for a day.
So tomorrow I will challenge another conservative DJ, I will write another letter to the Editor and I will email whatever material I can find on the web to whoever I believe needs a good dose of the truth in support of John Kerry.
By the way I'm doing this while working a full time job and raising a grandchild, so I know that if I can do it so can most of my fellow BuzzFlashers.
SO GET UP OFF OF THAT THING AND GET TO WORK FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, JOHN F. KERRY.
Carolyn in Tennessee (Fighting for America and John Kerry in a red state)
Subject: Who will bail out W this week?
Amazing how Bush has surrounded himself with all these "good soldiers" willing to fall on their swords for him.
Powell (continuously), Tenet most recently, now Franks coming out with this BS about how "Mission Accomplished" was all him.
Give us a break W.... does the buck EVER stop with George Bush?!? I guess after an entire life of being bailed out and failing upward, why should he change now?
Rarely has there been a time like now in our history. We need a real man with real character as President more than ever. When will he show up?
Bush's time is past. Let's move on.
jj
Subject: Maybe Bush doesn't WANT to win the war on terror?
There has been a lot of talk lately that the US made a mistake in revealing a Pakistani source of intelligence against Al Qaeda to justify the latest "terror alert."
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040810_725.html
Here is a bit from 'Bush Team on Defensive Over al-Qaeda Leak' (Inter Press News Agency) by Jim Lobe: "At the time, former CIA officer Robert Baer said the announcement made ''no sense.' 'To keep these guys off-balance, a lot of this stuff should be kept in secret. You get no benefit from announcing an arrest like this.'"
"'By exposing the only deep mole we've ever had within al-Qaeda, it ruined the chance to capture dozens if not hundreds more,' a former Justice Department prosecutor, John Loftus, told Fox News on Saturday." http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0810-01.htm
But of course these people are working under the idea that the Bush administration wants to WIN the war against terror. Winning the war against terror might be good for Bush in the short term (It would address that 'competent leadership' issue that Bush has), but NOT winning the war on terror can be a crutch for Republicans to prop up their sorry-ass platform for years to come. Don't think that people in this administration haven't caught on to that fact. And don't think (remember the Plame incident) that this administration isn't willing to put the needs of their party well above the needs of the nation.
So blowing a source of information makes sense if you think MORE terrorist attacks will HELP keep your administration in power.
A BuzzFlash Reader and Big Time Patriot
Subject: Cheat More on Your Taxes
BuzzFlash,
Bush said high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy because "the really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway."
So all we in the middle class have to do to get our taxes lowered is to cheat more! Thank goodness for Bush tax policy. Imagine if instead, as Commander in Chief, Bush decided to promote more funding to the IRS to catch cheats.
Bush campaign holds rally in Va.; Dems sense weakness (dailypress.com)
Larry
Maryland
Kenneth Baer, former speechwriter for Al Gore, is up on The New Republic Online urging Kerry to sue the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT). He makes an excellent point when he states,
That is why if Bush should lose this November, there won't be any honeymoon for Kerry His first few months in office will look like the last years of the Clinton presidency: congressional inquiries, constant talk radio trash-talking, and book deals for anyone with a charge to make. Simply, Kerry can't afford to let the SBVT charges go unanswered if he wants to govern effectively.
That is so true. If Kerry is fortunate enough to withstand the Bush/Cheney/Rove scum attack and win in November, he won't be allowed time to catch his breath before he will be forced to fend off more attacks from the lunatic right.
I don't believe the way in which Republicans mistreated and hated Clinton was so much due to specifically to their hatred towards the Clintons themselves as much as it was a fundamental change in the Republican Party itself. Gingrich, DeLay, and the rest of that regime introduced a new kind of power-hungry, win-at-all-cost type of Republican where moderation was regarded as a sign of weakness. Until a thorough overhauling of the party occurs, the GOP will continue to be a despicable group.
They will work night & day to make a Kerry presidency a living hell -- perhaps even more so than they did to Clinton. As I've mentioned before, it's easy to imagine them doing everything in their power to have the Iraq situation erode and get much worse on Kerry's watch, therefore helping to clear Bush/Cheney from blame and have the public simply persecute Kerry for the sins of the prior administration.
For these reasons and many more, Kerry may understand that being president for the next four years will require as much courage, determination, and sheer willpower as that which he displayed while serving in Vietnam.
The Angry
Liberal
http://theangryliberal.blogspot.com/
Subject: Democrats Give Republicans a Fight for the Elderly (NY Times)
When President Bush signed a Medicare bill into law in December, Republicans thought it would allow them to make sharp inroads into elderly voters.
But Democrats say the elderly are proving an unexpectedly fertile voting bloc for their party this year because of dissatisfaction with the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, disproportionate opposition to the war in Iraq, worries about mounting deficits and wariness over talk of altering Social Security.
The elderly have to remember that Democrats brought Social Security and Medicare to this country, which has been the difference between an adequate retirement and poverty for many millions of Americans. Republicans would never vote for social programs. It has been and will be their main targets to destroy. Their prescription plan was nothing but a payout to pharmaceutical companies, just as their energy plan was designed by energy companies, and both will wind up costing the American people more, not less.
RB
Subject: Mail Bag Item - Letter sent to MSNBC
To Whom it May Concern: I am writing in regards to allowing Joe Scarborough to have an hour show on your "NEWS" channel, while Mr. Scarborough attends political rallies for George W. Bush and is campaigning for Mr. Bush as well.
In a society where the news media shapes the minds of Americans, as it is our only source to what is happening in our country, I feel it is unfair and unbalanced for anyone to be given an hour long pulpit to spew their opinions and present it as news. We rely on you for telling us the truth and for showing us our country as it really is; not as it is in the mind of either a Republican Bush-backer or a Democratic Kerry-supporter.We need more journalists and less pundits as both sides of every story are not even close to be equally presented.
Since you have allowed something of this magnitude to occur, I now view your "news" channel as completely unprofessional and unreliable, and therefore will no longer be viewing your station.
Regards
Janie Cohen
Subject: RE: Killian's grounding of Bush
A reader quoted Linda Starr, who said that Bush "was actually grounded in a two page disciplinary report signed by LTC Jerry Killian, his commanding officer" and says that "there are copies of this very report floating around on the Internet." I haven't been able to find one. I would appreciate it if you could ask anyone who knows where one is to send in the link.
This would explain a lot. Normally when a pilot is grounded, a Flight Review Board reviews the grounding. Of course there was no Flight Review Board report among the papers Bush released. There was, however, another means through which a Vietnam-era pilot could be grounded. This was under the "Human Reliability Program," which allowed for the grounding of pilots with drug, alcohol or other problems who were or could be involved with the use of nuclear weapons (while Bush's squadron did not carry nukes, they flew a plane which could carry them). The specific use of the word "unreliable" in the writer's statement indicates that this document, if it exists, would be proof of a grounding under the Human Reliability Program. See the March 14, 2004 issue of the Spokane Spokesman-Review for an article by Bill Morlin and Karen Dorn Steele about the Human Reliability Program and the possibility that Bush was grounded under that program.
Thanks.
Mike Lauderdale
Albany, NY
[BuzzFlash Note: Starr's at: http://www.lindastarr.us/blog/_archives/2004/7/30/114802.html, with links to "The Awol Project."]
Subject: Roger Moore Catches Goss On Tape
Buzz,
What a laugh! Moore does it again! Catches Goss on tape saying he's not qualified for any job at the CIA - let alone be its director!
That the "White House dismissed the Moore interview transcript as "ridiculous hearsay" is also laughable - "hearsay" is 'he-said-that-she-said...' - hearsay is not what the person himself said. Do these jerks know nothing?
And Moore is right - Goss "granted an interview to two of his producers without first checking to see who they worked for. 'You'd think the person who was the head of the intelligence committee would ask a few more questions.'"
These guys don't follow the Peter Principle of being promoted until you hit a job you're not qualified to handle - they're not qualified for the lowest-rung jobs!
T Quigly
Subject: Letter to the Editor
World War 2 ended 60 years ago, and the US still has thousands of troops stationed in Japan and Germany. The Korean War ended 50 years ago, and we still have thousands of troops stationed in Korea. Had we won the Vietnam War 30 years ago (whatever that may have meant), no doubt we would still have thousands of troops stationed in Vietnam today. Now think: for how many decades will we have to keep our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? At what cost, in money and in lives?
B Pascal
Overland Park, KS
Subject: Can You Help Send Tom Ridge's Kids to College?
Tom Ridge needs help. He makes $175,000 a year, has a great health plan, extraordinary job perks, unlimited connections and stellar employment prospects, but he says he has to leave his job at Homeland Security in order to afford college for his two kids! And he's dumb enough to say this to us?! The average middle class family in America makes under $50,000 and is underinsured or uninsured and is sweating bullets for college for their kids.
Oh---now I get it---the children of the real working and middle class don't need higher education in the Bush plan for jobs. Our kids will all be working at Wal-mart or have to join the army after high school.
Send an email to Bush and tell him to insure a $175,000 a year income to all middle class families--we'll teach Tom how to do it. Meantime, send your spare change to Tom, c/o of Homeland Security, to help him out of his financial dilemma.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: gwb prodding Kerry about his Pre-war 'Authorizing' vote
Hi Buzz,
It seems to me that gwb goading Kerry about his prewar vote to give authorizing war power to the pResident was the same as gwb giving Kerry a bat and saying clobber me with it.
Kerry should have bopped gwb up one side then the other---
Question "Knowing what you know now would you have voted to authorize war power to the pResident ?"
Answer: Let's see, what do we know now that we did not know before the vote for war?
List:
You Mr. pRes would take us to war based on lies, distortions, reliance on unproved intelligence, forged documents (known to all), and on and on.
You Mr.pRes took us to war with no plan to secure the peace.
You Mr. pRes took us to war with well formed plans to protect the Oil but nothing else
You Mr. pRes took us to war based on WMD which you did not find and which intelligence did not verify.
You Mr. pRes took us to war even tho on site inspectors could not find any WMD.
You Mr. pRes took us to war against the advice of friends worldwide and opposed by the UN.
You Mr. pRes took us to war in which many died (Iraqi and our Troops), suffered grievous wounds (physical and mental.
You Mr. pRes took us to war without a Declaration of War by Congress.
You Mr. pRes took us to war and brought our dead troops back home under the cloak of secrecy, like they did something wrong to die in your illegal war (you floated the idea of burning their bodies and covering their ashes in the sands of Iraq).
You Mr.pRes took us to war and ignore the tragically wounded.
You Mr. pRes took us to war and so your favorite friends and corporations could richly prosper.
This is just a short list, could go on and on--and I will supply a full list when the day comes that you, Mr.pRes can look the families, who lost someone or have someone injured,
in the eyes and say "I, as pRes, took this nation to war because Saddam is a bad man."
Why could Kerry not simply say that the pRes lied to him, to Congress, to the American
people and to the world and Iraq is now such a mess--who in their right mind would give an incompetent such power, now that we know all that?
Best,
Cole
Subject: Kenneth Lay
Why does Kenneth Lay suddenly want a speedy non-jury trial? Could it be that he thinks GW will not be re-elected and he wants to be in position for a presidential pardon?
Just asking.
A BuzzFlash Reader
CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE AUGUST 12, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG.