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The BuzzFlash Mailbag
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THIS IS
PART 2 OF THE NOVEMBER 4, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG. CLICK
HERE FOR PART 1
It's my country, my mountains, my prairies, my goddamned oceans.
I am an American and I hate George W. Bush. This is MY country, I am
not running away to Canada, I am staying right goddamned here. I am
a progressive which, as it turns out, requires more courage now than
I could have imagined. My enemy? Ignorance. 51%.
John M.
Subject: Vote by mail
It's time for other states to take a look at the way we vote in Oregon.
I got my ballot in the mail two weeks before the election. Had I not
received it, I could have called the county elections office and straightened
out the problem with plenty of time to spare. I voted at my leisure
in my home, using an easy-to-read ballot which would be optically scanned
and saved for any recount. All ballots must be received by 8:00 p.m.
on election day, so it was up to me to either mail it in time (by the
Friday before), or drop it off at one of many handy drive-up collection
boxes, which I could do right up to the last minute.
There is virtually no need for absentee ballots, which, in other states,
are often requested as a matter of convenience rather than absence from
the county, and counted later, delaying the results. All ballots are
counted beginning when the polls close, and the process goes quickly
because the received ballots are prepared for counting as they arrive.
The Oregon presidential election was called by most networks by 10:00
p.m. PST (for Kerry), and even the closest race (a ballot measure which
failed by less than 1%) was resolved by Wednesday afternoon, by which
time all ballots had been counted statewide.
There were no lines, no intimidation, no missed work. And, since I
voted early, a record of the fact that my ballot was received was available
to the campaigns, which then quit calling my house (I also put it on
my answering machine, just in case.). When this plan was adopted a few
years ago, voter participation increased (it was expected to be around
85% this election), and people weren't excluded because of old age,
illness, or disability.
There are party-affiliated watchers present during all ballot-handling,
so there is confidence in the process. Like most states, Oregon had
a huge increase in voter registration, but the election came off with
few problems. It sure beats long waits for overburdened voting machines
which give questionable results. While I truly respect the resolve shown
by voters in other states, voting just shouldn't be that difficult.
One more point: I couldn't have survived the last few years without
BuzzFlash! We need you now more than ever. Thanks.
A BuzzFlash Reader
It's my country, my mountains, my prairies, my goddamned oceans.
I am an American and I hate George W. Bush. This is MY country, I am
not running away to Canada, I am staying right goddamned here. I am
a progressive which, as it turns out, requires more courage now than
I could have imagined. My enemy? Ignorance. 51%.
John M.
Subject: Day of mourning
Dear Buzz,
I want to declare for all America, that today Nov 3, 2004 is a national
day of mourning! I could not believe what I was seeing!
On April 1st, I will be moving out of my apt, and going to live in
my car to save up money, as I'm on social security and my checks are
piddly, and hopefully in 7 months I will have saved enough to move to
Canada. I cannot fathom living here in America any longer with the Bush
mafia in the White House and any hope I had left has now died as I can
see how this country is already turning into a fascist state with a
num-nutz retarded smirk face dictator at the helm. I'm only 53 yrs old,
but I feel like 70! This country has completely gone crazy with all
the Repug spin, and I want to go, as it's making me dizzy!
How wonderful to hear Pres. Kerry make his speech today, listening
to someone who knows how to speak to a nation, and has vast knowledge
of how the world works. How gracious he was, and how I cried.....I'm
still crying. You can't tell me President Kerry didn't win, it was the
work of the mafia thieves once again!
I haven't gotten any phone calls today from my Repug friends, as I'm
sure they know I'm in mourning today.
God Bless you BuzzFlash, and also to Michael Moore and the thousands
of volunteers who worked their hearts out for the Kerry campaign. My
heart goes out to you, and the millions of others who have also had
their hearts broken.
With much love........
A Loyal Buzz Fan Forever!
Sharon Carlton
Bellevue, Nebraska
Subject: Remember, Nixon won by a landslide...
...and he was gone by '74.
Vietnam drove LBJ from office, for one reason: People marched in the
streets, and we shed blood in America.
Nixon would have been impeached and convicted if he had not resigned,
and his first administration was a group of choir boys compared to these
guys.
What we have to do:
Work with international organizations to have Bush and Cheney tried
as war criminals. Even the Pope said the action violated international
law.
Travel to D.C. for a peaceful demonstration on Jan. 20, clogging up
their airports, train terminals, subways, beltway, just demonstrating
for peace and justice in this country
Find the swift boat vets wherever they may be, peacefully disrupting
their lives, jobs, families. Why were they so upset with John Kerry's
words when he returned from Nam? Probably because they were part of
the group that he was talking about committing atrocities.
Personally, I am leaving the Catholic Church that I belonged to for
57 years because of their duplicity in voting for a pro-life president
who illegally took the lives of more than 100,000 people. I still believe
myself to be a spiritual person, but cannot find solace in such an organization.
A church that coddles pedophiles is not exactly a source of comfort
for anyone.
We are now angry, but only if we keep the faith and pursue these criminals
are they going to be brought to justice.
We must take over Congress and the Senate in 2006!
Hugh Conrad
Subject: Congratulations, America!
Well done, my friends!
Conspiracy theories and vote fraud aside, the popular vote confirms
all the worst that the rest of the world thinks of us. We want to be
a xenophobic, homophobic, mysogynistic theocracy.
Farewell, Arctic Ice Cap. You had a good long run. So long, polar bears.
We'll miss you but we'll always have pictures and zoo specimens.
Sayanara, Kyoto. Our economy vs. the health of the planet? Come on
now, which do
you think is more important? We can't be bothered with a 'global' treaty.
Welcome, global warming. Come on in and make yourself at home. We think
you'll find everything to your liking and, if we missed anything you'd
like, we'll get it to you in a jif.
Pristine wilderness areas? Who needs 'em? We got pics. Pure air? Pure
water? Why bother? Corporations need our help.
Congratulations, America! We've fed our children and grandchildren into
the maw of a monster. So long, education. Welcome, draft. War without
end. Death. Destruction. Disease. Bring it on!
So long, economy. Welcome, soup kitchen. Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Congratulations, America! Those of us who are equal (white born-again
Christian men) have equal rights. Let the coloreds and the deviants
and the women submit to the one right way. The Constitution and Bill
of Rights are safe.
See? There they are. Protected in their glass case.
The world weeps. I weep. "Forgive them, Lord. They know not what
they do."
Kathy Gustafson
Brookings, SD
Subject: RE: NYTimes, Maureen Dowd, The
Red Zone
Strange but true, Bush claimed victory in places where exit polls clearly
showed Kerry way out ahead. Most people with whom I spoke yesterday
regarded the election as a fraud, which makes Kerry's concession speech
a doubly bitter pill to swallow. Did I complain about there not being
any talk of Plan B/Resistance if the election were stolen?
Well, it was stolen, and there still isn't any talk of resistance.
The Democrats, when all is
said and done, have NO backbone. As Dowd said in the article... they
are even now currying favor with the Right.
Bush will now go on to appoint several Supreme Court justices which...
are lifetime appointments whose job it is to interpret (spin) the Constitution.
With those Supreme Court appointments, freedom of the press, the environment
and the separation between church and state will be dead. It isn't a
stretch to say that dissenters will be "disappeared" and Abu
Ghraib will be the law of the land--not just for the tenure of his presidency,
but for the next 30-40 years, no matter who the next president is.
We saw the death of anything that was ever great about America with
this election--it ended not with a bang, but with a whimper--and we
now have an empty shell.
I will not grieve when that shell is totally destroyed--by whatever
agency the God of History selects--and something tells me that we will
not need to wait long.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: The Sanctity of Marriage Actions
It's just two days after the victory of George W. Bush over common sense
and reason. The Democratic pundits all have their hair shirts on, wondering
were they went wrong, pondering whether they had better try to move
their party farther to the right in order to accommodate the prejudices
of the American people.
Of course it is a good time to reevaluate the Democratic Party and their
tactics, but making them more like the Republicans is not the answer.
Instead of becoming Republican-light the Democrats need to start addressing
those core value issues that the Republicans use to beat them over the
head and turn them on themselves.
For example, I recommend that we, the left, begin with the anti-gay
marriage sentiment in this country. Why it should surprise anyone that
the American public is touchy on this subject is beyond me. We are dealing
with issues that affect a minority of the American people, and the uninformed
can always be counted on to turn against anyone who is different than
them.
So my suggestion is this, our opponents want to protect the sanctity
of a marriage between a man and a woman? Fine, if they want to pass
laws that sanctify this relationship, then they must be forced to live
with the consequences.
Can anyone doubt that a marriage sanctified by God in heaven, could
be anything less than permanent? Therefore, any time the issue of protecting
heterosexual marriage comes up, they must be confronted with the issue
of divorce. These holy unions deserve the protection of the laws they
have created, but what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.
Outlawing Gay Marriage must equal outlawing divorce.
I am tired of kowtowing to these people and the sooner they are held
up to the light of the sun as the hypocrites they are, the better.
A BuzzFlash Reader
It's now been about 24 hours since it began to seep into my consciousness
that bush wasn't going to get his well deserved ass kicking.
Today, I've visited BuzzFlash, Dkos, Juan Cole, Hoffmania and some
other spots where I usually go to seek some humour, optimism, inspiration
and general relief from the realities of the neocon plague. And as a
Canadian, my heart truly goes out to America in these dark hours.
Of all the sordid, stinking, reality that's starting to sink in, though,
the saddest for me so far was Michael Moore's site- a black background,
with bush's picture, composed with the faces of dead soldiers. Mourning
in America. No other page. Just an email site if you want to be on a
mailing list. My heart kind of sank at that. I hope Mike, et al. are
just blowing it out with a well deserved holiday.
BuzzFlash, and the rest of you blogs- If I was George Soros, I'd spend
a fortune to send you all on the vacation of your lives. You all deserve
it far beyond words.
Jon Stewart popped into my mind a while ago, and it occurred to me that
the next 4 years should be spent kicking the media's collective asses
so hard, that, come next election year, it could [be] back the way your
Founding Fathers intended it to be.
50 million people tried, and probably actually did, vote bush out. A
method needs to be developed to put the media's credibility/feet to
the fire - and force them to stop "hurting America." How?
Money, I'd think. 50 million Americans of all income groups have an
amazing amount of financial snot.
Maybe a kind of ethical funds based logic applied to the mercantile
world. An internet-based boycott for advertisers in or on the yellow
journalists networks. An awareness program for the disenfranchised of
America to be able to deny the treasonous bastard every penny they can.
Hey, it might even have some stress-reducing healthy side effects as
a bonus!
Anyway, whatever you do, Buzz, and the rest of you--don't quit now.
The world needs you more than ever.
Ardyjay
[BuzzFlash Note: We're still working hard, but if you can send George
S. your lovely suggestion...we'll hit the road!]
Subject: thank you
Dear BuzzFlash -
You guys are my favorite site. Been reading you guys since the summer
and just wanted to thank you for all the wonderful articles. Like you
all, I am very upset, angry and depressed at the moment. But, life must
go on. Thanks again for everything and if I ever win the lotto, you
guys will be the first to hear about it.
Sincerely,
Jack
[BuzzFlash Note: Hope you do win!]
Subject: long time BuzzFlash visitor
Just wanted to say thanks for doing what you do -- Please keep it up!
Thanks,
John Cromer
Subject: Some thoughts on the future....
Dearest BuzzFlash,
I know that your hearts are as heavy as mine. I have not been so utterly
saddened in a long time. We just need to stick together and know that
55 million of us did not vote for this ... (I can't think of an appropriate
word to fit here, so I'll let you fill it in with one of your favorite
expletives).
I received the quote below from my mother-in-law. My husband looked
it up for confirmation, and it is indeed accurate. It is from a letter
to John Taylor, dated June 4th, 1798, and referred to the disagreements
going on at the time between the Federalists (such as John Adams and
Alexander Hamilton) and the Democratic-Republicans (such as Jefferson)
after the passage of the Sedition Act:
A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over,
their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight,
restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in
the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the
horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt......If
the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till
luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back
the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are
at stake.
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/brf/jefl122.htm
I was struck by how much this fit with what is going on now with the
current Bush administration and this election. Jefferson could have
written this letter today. We, democrats, will regroup and we will come
back fighting to get our country back. I know we can do it. We have
to.
Love to all my fellow democrats (and haters of Bush),
Kelisa Kehne-Cliff
Alexandria, Va.
Subject: The President Elect
Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country.
Tis not a call to arms, but a call to the TRUE SPIRIT of the 55 million
citizens of our nation that voted for change. Our True Spirit IS one
of change and evolution. We are about the business of evolving right
NOW. Thank you for being there, it's exciting. Remember that 2 years
from now, election time rolls around again...just 2 short years.
Tom G.
P.S. have you ever tried "lame duck"? I hear it's delicious
when properly prepared. Peace.
Subject: A day without BuzzFlash?
Thanks BuzzFlash for keeping us intelligently informed. Hopefully, you
will continue to keep us that way. We all need to realize that BuzzFlash
cannot function on thin air. To keep the best political information
center on the internet, we patrons need to buy premiums and donate $$
to keep Buzz afloat and ourselves informed. We cannot afford to lose
the best information source on the net for lack of funds. Please think
back about the many times you brought BuzzFlash up on your screens,
desperately searching for the truth, and you got it.
As a patron, I am requesting that Buzzers send what they can to this
site. Just because the election is over does not mean that donations
to BuzzFlash are not needed. Funding is needed now, more than ever.
When it comes to donating, remember that every dollar counts... large
and small.
I salute you BuzzFlash for a job well done!
Cathy
Subject: Reader Editorial
One hundred thousand - a really big number. The war in Iraq has killed
one hundred thousand innocent Iraqi civilians. This is the figure concluded
by a scientific study recently presented by Johns Hopkins in its peer-reviewed
professional publication "The Lancet." The study goes on to
estimate that fully 80% of this figure represents civilian victims of
US air assaults, and that the majority of these victims were women and
children. This figure reflects monthly death rates during the war ranging
from three to five times the pre-war averages in Iraq.
The administration and the Pentagon, of course, dispute this figure,
saying that civilian deaths attributable to the conflict number around
fifteen thousand - implying that this is an acceptably insignificant
sum. Gosh, who do we believe? American authorities have since the war's
start explicitly stated that their policy is to carefully assess American
casualties, but to actively resist the compilation of any counts or
estimates for those suffered by the insurgents or the Iraqi population.
In other words, this official government estimate was generated without
the benefit of data or methodology.
On the other hand, Johns Hopkins - perhaps the most revered institution
of medical science in the world, which has for decades represented the
standard for public health and epidemiological study - offers clear
methodological support for their results. When disproportionate levels
of death or illness afflict a population, these people know very well
how to get to the bottom of the matter. Through explicit and valid methodologies
they identify the sources of the affliction, and accurately assess the
scope of the problem. Their publications and the data from which they
derive are rigorously vetted by top experts in the medical field prior
to their publication, and open to comment and criticism from the general
professional community afterward.
Conversely, the counter-argument by nameless administration/Pentagon
officials consists of three words: "Nope; fifteen thousand."
Presumably, "they know it in their gut." Once again, who do
you believe?
The John's Hopkins study was in the news nearly two weeks before the
election, ample time for our nation to receive and digest this disturbing
information, and to form a mental image of one hundred thousand torn
and incinerated civilian corpses. What is really interesting is that
these children, women, and men were the citizens of a sovereign nation
that had never attacked America in any way and which represented no
threat at all to our security - facts asserted explicitly by other rigorous
and well-publicized studies (the 9/11 Commission Report and the Duelfer
Report).
Yet on November 2nd our electorate decided to retain in power a small
group of ideologues who have demonstrably lied again and again in regard
to these matters in their concerted efforts to create a war between
the United States and Iraq - a war which most independent experts and
analysts consider to be an ill-advised, unwinnable, and growing disaster.
Why did we do this? There must be a profound reason for these counter-intuitive
election results.
Since the election I have seen on television and heard on the radio
dozens of voters stating their primary reason for voting for George
W. Bush: "He has good morals," they cheerfully assert. I assume
that these opinions are primarily based on the president's fears regarding
homosexuals and lesbians and his habit of conferring with a giant invisible
man who lives in the sky, but I personally find it hard to parse the
subject of morality from issues of random mechanized violence and mass
death. These statements make me despair for our nation; suggesting as
they do that the American people are either a vile and bloodthirsty
horde of death-voyeurs, or a population of superstitious peasants incapable
of contradicting their warehouse-chapel priesthood. Perhaps it is both.
Whatever the case, we have as a democracy just validated and encouraged
the policies that have killed and continue to kill, for rationales that
have shifted like the wind, thousands upon thousands of innocent people.
God help our "moral" nation.
Ken Duerksen
Oxford, Ohio
Subject: Rove's October Surprise ..... Nov 2nd
Nov 2nd 2004,
Two TV's going on in the background in the same room, I'm on the computer
watching intently the exit polls in Ohio and Florida, imparticularly
[sic] .... when it happened. I somehow knew 'it' would happen deep down
at some point today but tried to keep it in denial .....
All day long the news reports had Kerry pulling ahead in the exit polls,
extremely long lines were being shown from coast to coast, unprecedented
turnout, records falling across the nation, the newscasters started
interviewing possible cabinet members for President Elect John Kerry
...... and even the right wing pundit reporters seemed to be accepting
the
inevitable......
Then there was a report of Karl Rove beginning to wander to and from
the white house, and a 'war room' cell phone put to his ear ..... and
at that moment 'it' happened ........ my stomach sank. I looked away
from the computer where John Kerry was leading in the exit polls of
Ohio and Florida by 2% in each and 'trending' further ahead. Zogby had
actually called the Presidency for John Kerry about a half an hour earlier
.... online.
Rudy Giuliani immediately appeared on MSNBC, as the head of the Bush
re-election committee also came on CNN ...... along with I can't remember
who it was on Fox ...... but the smoke screen for Rove's next move was
in place. The disinformation being presented by these three at the same
moment in time seemed so scripted .... "exit polls are undercounting
Republicans in Florida and Ohio by 3%" they said ..... and any
attempt to refute their statements by the evidence at hand of what was
actually going on in the real world out there was met by a rather too
cocky 'we will win Ohio and Florida.'
'It' all made me queasy ..... this was the moment .... I knew all the
good feelings, all the hard work, all the beliefs of getting our country
back had just vanished. I especially felt bad for the poor and the elderly
who were staunchly and patiently waiting to cast their vote for hours
on end. It's the one thing they know they have, they own, it's theirs,
and have always been promised by America that no one will ever take
it away from them. I also noticed MTV earlier announcing the 'Young'
voter turnout at 17% ..... up from the 10% ..... in 2000 .....
I looked back at the numbers on my computer screen ..... President
Bush had taken the lead in both states. From there the figures maintained
like a computer program, as Kerry never regained the momentum in either
state. Chasing, chasing, within 120,000 in Ohio ..... now 160,000 ...
and somewhere in-between these two numbers as the counts came in. Incompetent
reporters on TV had no idea what counties had been counted from those
remaining to be counted.
But the Republicans knew .... and they stated as such........
Then there was a white house video released of Bush sitting on a sofa,
laughing, grinning with that Bush smugness ..... the polls were far
form being closed ..... but he already knew. The fix was in, and he
was laughing about it, as if to say hey we're gonna get away with this
thing after all.....
His look earlier in the day was explained as 'nervousness' or concern
about being behind as the numbers came in .... but I believe his nervousness
was caused from what Rove was about to pull off.... In one word 'Blackboxvoting.'
It was his sinister 'October Surprise' pre-scripted, and performed perfectly
on Nov 2nd.
A 30 second announcement from (not the news media) but the Republican
Party's Podium stated the victory of Ohio for the Bushites a bit later
that evening, as if to say ... the party is in 'control' of this election
and always has been, Get over it .....
The next morning ....... the original exit polling numbers were conveniently
changed to fit the election result, and fed to the masses. Even the
young vote was a mere 10% as in 2000 they said.
Just another Orwell moment, in rewriting the history of 24 hours earlier.
The Democratic party was chastised, criticized as to needing changes
within to somehow become competitive with the Republicans again someday.
The theft of the Presidency of the United States 2004 was complete,
and the ending script was of course to blame the opposition for what
happened.
Now the Republican party controls all branches of the Government. With
a sheep like obedient base, unquestioning, and reveling today in the
death of Democracy. Proud of the job they did.
And I, though skeptically, but like the rest of America, naively believed
in the process just 24 hours earlier, had to get outside today to get
some air, think things over, as the desensitizing process of our country
continues until the day we learn the Constitution itself ....... never
existed......
MB, San Diego Ca.
formerly ElectKerry004@aol.com
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