Subject: BuzzFlash Question

I just finished reading your editorial "Bush's Bold Vision is Rhetoric: Bush's Utter Failure is Stunning Incompetence" and couldn't help but wish that this could be printed in all newspapers. Do you send this to national and local papers for editorial consideration? It was a well-said column. Thank you.

George Eakin
Boulder, CO

Subject: Sweat shops

Dear Buzz:

People in power need to admit there is more to the economy than Wall Street. The economy is only doing well for the elite at the expense of most of us. Creating more survival wage jobs is not a sign of a robust economy. Some American sweat shops are air conditioned. Wal-Mart comes to mind.

Dave in WV

how much did bush's armored limo cost? it is bomb-proof, even from underneath. what would it cost to send some to the real soldiers in Iraq?

gary s.

SUbject: They love me, THEY LOVE ME NOT!

In these trying times one would have thought George Bush would be sending a message of hope and renewal throughout the world. We also would have believed George Bush would have lived up to a promise of liberty and justice in our own country, especially since he has worn religion on his sleeve and touted moral values.

Bush’s actions and implementation of his one way policies prove the exact opposite. If an understatement was to be made, it would have to be George Bush is ethically confused, but given Bush-rove political machinations, a more accurate description is Bush and his NeoCon Administration has a predilection for too much power, coupled with an arrogant attitude that has lost our nation the world’s respect and cooperation.

After Bush’s Inaugural speech most headlines across the world and many in the United States believe Bush devalues life, and fosters disrespect for any person or country that does not agree with him, his policies, or with his drive for preeminence around the world. Of course there will always be the general media lapdogs whose praise reaches to the sky, about as high as the money that they contribute to Bush!

Picture this scene in your mind! George Bush walks across a meadow and stops to pick up a daisy. Slowly he pulls each petal off saying,"They love me, and they love me not!!" The last petal concludes "they love him not," so he throws it on the ground, and crushes it with his heel!

Susan Carr
Tucson, Az.

Subject: Espionage by any other name.....Bob Novak

In this article Moonie mouthpiece Tony Blankley is trying to accuse Seymour Hersh of espionage. Actually sounds as if he is REALLY describing Bob Novak. Double standards are always a bitch.

Sw

Subject: What Will They Say now

When Bill Clinton tried to do something about Osama, the right screamed "wag the dog."
When Al Gore talked about a social security lockbox, the right laughed and made fun. Lockbox? Ha ha ha.

When the left said there is no definitive intelligence of WMDs, the right called us commies.
When the left said we are going to war on lies and deceit, the right called us traitors.

What will the right say now that the hunt for WMDs has been called off? Oh, nothing as usual.

What will the right say now that there are rumblings about the U.S. and other allies pulling out of Iraq? If we actually do pull out, I can't wait to hear the spin. I just know it won't be, "geeze, the left was correct this whole time."

Bob Lambert
Northridge, CA

Subject: Novak, Kennedy and Dean

Watching Capital Gang this afternoon (Sat.), Bob Novak shows more and more he is just a hate-filled megaphone for the GOP. I love how he talks about his "friend" Teddy Kennedy being a hateful person. Talk about not being able to see the forest. Novak quoted a poll that shows only 20% of "Rank and File" Democrats want Howard Dean to lead the Democratic Party.

Hey Bob, I have news for you. The rank and file Democrats are the reason why the Democrats will never win another election. Those rank and file Democrats should be called what they are. Republicans. Until the Democrats start acting like Democrats and until they get the guts to believe the term liberal is a positive label, they will always be GOPlite.

Howard Dean speaks his mind, doesn't pull punches and calls the Republicans the liars they are. In my book, that is exactly what the Democrats need to start rebuilding a liberal, progressive party. Truth be told, I would like to see Dean, who is pretty moderate, move the party even further to the left. And to the rank and file Democrats, you just keep plodding along, let the Republicans run roughshod over you and keep losing elections. You at least have those three things perfected.

Bob Lambert
Northridge, CA

Subject: Making A Statement

How do we effect change in this country? We voted, but we see how that turned out. We write letters to the editors, read commentaries, turn our back on the president if we can get close enough etc. But the only people who notice and seem to care are ourselves. It seems as though about half of the people that voted in this country have no say whatsoever in this present administration. I have an idea.

We need to pick out a large corporate institution and boycott their services. I think we should focus on Walmart, a corporate disease that is spreading across the United States. First of all their name starts with the letter "W," which is symbolic. It pays its employees substandard wages, usually without any benefits. It has run most of the mom and pop stores out of business and when they're the only store left for the average American, they can charge whatever they want. Walmart is one of the companies that used the "dead janitors" insurance policy until it was exposed in the New York Times. This was the practice of covering their lowest paid employees with life insurance and giving the benefits to top management when the employee died.

Almost half of us who voted in this country voted against Bush and I assure you he will do nothing for us. He won't even do much for those who voted for him unless they're mega rich or are large corporations. You see Bush actually works for big business, that's how how he got to be president. So what better way is there to have your voice heard than to stop shopping at one of George Bush's employers. So come on America, wean yourself off Walmart and put pressure on "W"

Poor White Man

You guys are great. I laughed when I read about fitting things through Rice's front teeth. But it's below us. Take it down. After that, I visit BuzzFlash twice a day. Y'all are great Americans. Don't ever stop. (And I absolutely love all the other jokes in your headlines--it's just the teeth one gave me a guilty pleasure, regardless of how appropriate it may in fact be.) I still love you guys.

Phil Foster

Subject: Condoleezza Rice Confirmation

Dear Mr. King,

Thank you for your attack on Barbara Boxer!

I made a gentleman's bet with a number of my colleagues that the Bush administration had some conservative black journalist waiting in the wings ready to scream racism when the Democrats that do not think Rice has done a good job question her.

How did you do it? Well, you appear to have studied Karl Rove's brilliant bait and switch tactics and you gave it your best shot. You truncated Boxer's remarks and segued right into some caricaturist's racist drawing and a loud mouth talk show host's racist comments. Then you lumped all three together. Then you go on to claim you have problems with the administration's Iraq policy?

Ms. Rice's qualifications are being questioned by millions of intelligent Americans who have reviewed her performance and believe she has failed miserably. Are we all racists? Is Reverend Jackson a racist? Is Senator Kerry a racist?

There are many women of color that are not smiling about Condi's appointment. Most of those women don't see Condoleezza as Bush's puppet. They see her as a woman fully capable of making life and death decisions. But those decisions were driven by ideology and not fact and have resulted in untold death and destruction. For some of those women, the loss includes those they love to the war in Iraq.

So, you did a great job and when future generations look back and ask: How could Americans have been stupid enough to elect and ratify an administration bent on the destruction of our country? We will answer by pulling up your opinion piece and we will show them how a cadre of groveling black journalists screamed racism when they should have been objectively looking at the record and observing the lies and errors that mark Ms. Rice's career.

Thanks for making me a winner.

Why the Crass Remarks About Rice? (Washington Post)

Bob Weitz

I support and love BuzzFlash. However, I think this week’s hypocrite headline is not good. Condi’s brief egregious record beckons ridicule. I am disappointed that your focus was on the gap in her trap rather than what’s coming out of it. I realize it’s only the headline. I'm sure in the article you skewer her based on her record. But you led with the base and easy. I didn’t want to click for the article.

Whitney Stone

Love your work! I think that it's important to publish a list of all the Senators and Representatives from the House who voted to give Bush authorization to go into Iraq. People like Hillary Clinton need to know that there may be consequences for the way they voted. We also need to support those who had the courage and integrity to vote against it.

Cheryl Tyler

[BuzzFlash Note: Good idea! Here's the link to the vote. http://www.senate.gov/legislative...00237.]

Dear BuzzFlash,

This is my first time writing to you - I want to thank you for bringing me news I can trust. It is sad when tv's "journalists" care more about ratings and entertainment and kissing Bushie's ass than doing their jobs.

I have been a pretty rabid Bush-loather since the beginning. 2000 was the first year I was old enough to vote for a president. Of course, I voted for Gore, and watched in confusion as the mess unfolded, angry at Bush's subversion of our democratic process. Then came what I can only call hatred, when my boyfriend was sent to Iraq to fight a war he didn't believe in. In the weeks before he left, I watched him come undone, knowing just a little, after his time in Kosovo and Afghanistan, what he was heading into. I don't know if I can ever forgive the "commander and chief" for the fear I heard in his voice when my boyfriend found out he was going.

I have been saddened and distraught by the images of dead innocents and the wounds of our soldiers [thank you for the info from New England Journal of Medicine - everyone in America should see this]. But yesterday, the pain in my heart over this quagmire and my anger with the propaganda mill formerly known as the White House - yesterday these feelings reached new levels when I saw the photograph of the young Iraqi girl crying, covered in her parents' blood. That single image is the most convincing argument for ending this occupation.

This is what I have to say to anyone who voted for Bush: I hope you sleep well at night, tucked in under your lies, you warmongers, you homophobes, you false prophets, you weak-minded sheep - because the tears of anguish in that little girl's eyes, the scars on the bodies and minds of our soldiers and the Iraqi people - your blood-stained hands are responsible. You. This is what you voted for and it will be your decadent legacy.

A BuzzFlash Reader in Nebraska

all i want to do is thank you. i've been reading your site nearly daily for a year. i get your alerts email, usually makes me mad enuff to actually go to work with energy. anyway, i look at the premiums, i want to buy, but i'm dirt poor (tax cut anyone?). this site is GREAT. there's so many sites out there that twist things. you got something going here...let a republican help ya with it and learn how to profit and drive all the customers away. before the end of time i will repay my debt to you. thanks again :)

(i have recommended this site to many people, and they all come here regularly :)

jeff m.

Subject: Social Security Reform or Welfare for Wall Street?

George Bush's Social Security plan has two certain elements at this point, it will cost a bundle in borrowed money and it will produce windfall profits for Wall Street money managers.

Wall Street may have been feeling a little left out in the Bush Administration's love fest with special interests. Sure George’s policies have raised the price of oil and reduced the environmental costs for the Oil industry in a big way, resulting in their record profits lately, but what has George done for Wall Street rather than reducing their tax brackets? Sure, thousands of dollars in reduced taxes for wealthy money managers is something, but that's not enough for corporate insiders like these.

It's true the Bush Administration has done the absolute minimum it could get away with in controlling corporations after Enron and WorldCom, but that is only helping by inaction, not the kind of pro-active boost that power players like Wall Street expect from a Republican administration. But Wall Street patiently waited around and in Bush's second term they are expecting their reward. And Boy, Howdy, what a reward it might be!

Billions of dollars that were tied up in social security accounts might be freed up for all kinds of stock shenanigans under the Bush plan. Billions of dollars from many neophyte stock holders, just begging to be churned, pumped and dumped. But best of all, billions of dollars that can be milked for a yearly fee, even if the owner does nothing but hold on to some investment for the whole year.

It may be debatable how much these fees will affect the retirement yields of the average social security patron, but we can be CERTAIN it will be doing wonders to boost the early retirement crowds on Wall Street. There hasn't been this kind of sucker money put into play since the Savings and Loan debacle. Neil Bush is probably setting up his Silverado Social Security Investment firm right now...

abigtimepatriot

Subject: Rice's caraway seed gap

That's the best headline yet. Bravo and more please.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: baaaaa-humbug

Do you think the Godfather of America's Political Family Mafia meant his son's sinister rhetoric or George's hostile, preemptive, evil, aggressive, commander-in-thief, hyperpredatory leadership? This is a precious time for writers.

(God) father said Saturday: "People want to read a lot into it — that this means new aggression or newly assertive military forces," former President Bush told reporters during an informal visit to the White House briefing room. (AP)

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Dead or alive? 

I see on CNN Headline News the White House is trying to explain what Busxh meant in his inaugural speech. So why not just ask the speech writer who wrote the speech what it meant? Bush just read it. If someone had asked him after the speech what it meant, he would not have had a clue. By the way, what happened to "Bush says what he means and means what he says"? Also, didn't Bush say he would get osama dead or alive? :)

Just asking. :):)

Don
Miami

I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice that Rumsfeld's Strategic Support Branch can be shortened to the initials "SS." Probably very appropriate.

Janet G.

According to Dr. Dobson's criteria, Bush is gay! See book cover in link below. URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido...
 
James P.

Subject: social security

Dear Buzz,

These people who want to end social security are so stupid and short sighted. They feel that social security eats into the profits of the businesses that have to pay their share. They think it hinders our productivity. But have they thought about what happens when women or men drop out of the workforce to take care of elderly relatives? Have they considered what happens to a family's buying power when they have to support more people per family? And have they thought about what happens to the country when family income is stretched so far that fewer of our children go to college? All of these things will slowly erode the wealth of the nation. Right now they think we have our present standard from being a wealthy nation, but later on they will understand that social security and medicare and college loans and union wages got us here.

a really disappointed american

Dear BuzzFlash,

Why isn't it clear to everyone that the spreading of Democracy that Bush claims to be crusading for is not only hypocritical, but is indeed a monstrous lie?

I even read folks from all over the world giving Bush the benefit of the doubt. Some even call him "Ambitious." Most, however, believe that Bush can't tell the world how to run its affairs. Furthermore, the "successful disaster" that is Iraq should rather make the neo-cons think twice before endeavoring another regime change. No one gets it. Bush is not about Freedom. Bush is not for "regime change" or "spreading Democracy" at all. Bush is an Oil man. And Oil men hate democracy in countries that produce oil. It's bad for business. A democracy in the Middle-East will earn Chinese and Europeans investors and raise the possibility that 'horror! - Arab will be producing some other things than oil. An Arab nation producing cars and DVD players is Dick and Bush's worst nightmare.

This is why Dick Cheney is placing Iran on top of his troubling country list, because Iran is on the verge of becoming a democracy once again. The Islamic republic is set to hold presidential elections in June and even Iranian women will be free to stand for the presidency. Already - and this may shock some - eleven women are among the religious hardliners in their Parliament. On the other hand, how much women do we have representing us in the congress?

But that's not all, the Mullahs are old and the Iranian population is young and highly educated. Also, people who confuse the Iranian level of education with the Afghani must visit our universities to witness something strange: Most Iranian exchanged students are found in Physics labs. Iranians see themselves as "modern' nowadays. That's why they seek atomic energy and the bomb as well. Arabs consider Persians like Christians see the Jews; they are jealous of their organizational skills and know them to be fierce business people. However, despite this tradition of hate, Arabs will willingly follow the Iranian example in a hurry if this country becomes fully democratic, which is about to happen soon. Watch for a revolution all over the Muslim world, not a Muslim revolution but a democratic revolution. That is exactly what Israel and the US fear the most: How to tell a Muslim nation becoming fully democratic that they can't have the bomb?

The young Iranians want Democracy. They must be helped, but Bush won't. Dick Cheney will toss a wrench on any attempt of an Iranian Democratization. You can bet the farm on this. Attacking Iran is the only way to prevent the Middle-East to modernize, and to keep Iran as the best practical enemy we have. (Read Orwell's "1984," or Harold Bloom's "Lucifer Principle" on the need to have an enemy.) When, 'not if,' the US will attack the Persian people, the very patriotic young Iranians will rally around the Mullahs, since they claim America to be THE evil for so long, and will have their point easily proven by our attack. Then Iran will go back to his middle age, destroyed and governed by reinforced Muslim fundamentalists. And Bush and Cheney finally will sleep tight, reassured of a world that stays the way it was.

Big Fan of your work.

Sebastien Parmentier

Subject: Attn.: Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International

Dear Mr. Zakaria,

The subtitle of your recent article about the Bush inauguration was "The world’s a stage: His ideals are soaring, but now Bush must live and lead by his own code."

Where did you get the idea that Bush "must" live up to his words?

What exactly do you think this administration could not get away with? What would they have to do to be stopped - eat Christian babies on live TV in front of a "Praise Satan" banner while urinating on the flag? Would that do it?

Maybe your headline would be "Democrats Criticize Bush for Religious Appearance." Or "Controversial Picture Has Liberals Upset Again."

Consider what the administration has done so far:

• Won in problematic, error-ridden elections, which are not being seriously questioned in the national dialogue.

• Failed to make any detectable effort to defend the nation before and on 9/11, despite warnings.

• Revealed bizarrely senseless "incompetence" in management of our security and economy, without any hint of real consequence or judgment.

• Turned a record surplus into a staggering deficit.

• Destroyed opposing candidates with mere childish two-word jeers like "flip-flopper."

• Failed to make meaningful attempts to capture the mastermind of the 9/11 attack, even saying that bin Laden is not really a concern (Bush press conference, March of 2002).

• Failed to accomplish meaningful measures to defend obvious security risks like chemical plants since 9/11, even after 60 Minutes showed the nation they could stroll into a plant and walk around freely.

• Deliberately deceived the US public into supporting an irrational, unnecessary pre-emptive war.

• Reaped enormous profits for preferred corporate allies like Halliburton.

• Weakened regulation of favored industries, resulting in more mercury poisoning for citizens, and more profits for corporations.

• Rewarded corporations via additional tax cuts for moving jobs overseas instead of keeping them here.

• Violated US and international law by allowing the torture of minor prisoners, people who had not been charged, after the Red Cross found that most were detained "by mistake."

• Continued to allow torture without scrutiny after knowledge of it has been publicized.

• Killed unknown thousands of Iraqi citizens, without even bothering to count them or apologize to their families.

• Failed to defeat or even contain a small, unorganized, rag-tag insurgency despite a vastly superior force and the best military equipment in the world.

• Failed to supply water and electricity to most Iraqis after nearly two years of occupation, despite millions paid to contractors to do so.

• Motivated the Muslim world to hate us even more, inspiring more attacks and more support for them, therefore dramatically increasing the threat to Americans.

• Declared American agents exempt from war crimes prosecution. Failed to properly prosecute the war operations, with fewer troops than needed and deficient protection for combat troops. Failed to fund the VA, and allowed some returning veterans to become homeless.

That list could go on much longer. If that is not enough to remove the Bush administration from power, and not enough for the media to even allow the suggestion of doing so, what is?

Has the Bush administration been held accountable for any of that, or has anyone been fired for their part in any specific "mistakes"? No. It is very clear that the Bush administration can do whatever it wants with impunity.

Millions of Americans, however, know why and how they have done it:

Newsweek and other media sources are a large part of the reason, because you do not inform the American people accurately about what is happening. You imply that criticisms are merely matters of opinion, and such issues are subject to personal whim.

Americans do not know what Iraq is truly experiencing, nor the reality in Afghanistan, nor how our troops are treated, nor the fact that our laws have been skirted, dismissed or simply violated by the Executive Branch many times. This is because people like you choose not to tell them those things in a factual context.

The American people are also to blame - the administration has been able to accomplish horrible things because the people have allowed them to continue, despite enough publicly published evidence to warrant impeachment.

But Bush supporters simply do not care whether he does what he says, or whether his plans achieve good results, or whether he violates the Constitution or Geneva Convention, or whether failure is punished or rewarded, or whether our own troops are killed and maimed in vain. They don't care about rising poverty, about citizens detained without charge or evidence, or about seeing protesters hauled away in handcuffs or confined to fenced in "free speech zones." They don't care that they are being deceived, or what the important facts are.

Neither does Newsweek, apparently. I'm sure you feel a little guilty, but you're expecting profits from the next 9/11 type attack, I'm sure. Nothing like a massive profit windfall to compensate for the loss of America's people and its founding ideals.

So I ask you - what the hell makes you imply that Bush has to live up to anything he says? What makes you think the administration has the slightest concern about consequences for their actions? They already know there aren't any, and the media industry makes sure of it.

Thanks largely to the profitable, cowardly media industry, the President and his administration are no longer accountable to an informed public. Ten bucks says you give more coverage to Spongebob's sexual identity than you do to the plight of our soldiers over the next week. If you dare to publicly ask why the torture is still being allowed to continue, or bother to point out the fact that it is, I'll be surprised - unless it would somehow make GE more money.

Any government relies on the consent of the people - that's your gift to the Bush administration; the minds of the people, manipulated by selective reporting. As far as I'm concerned, the administration and the complicit, complacent media have committed treason against the Constitution. You must be stopped if the America of freedom and democratic ideals is to survive.

This has happened before in history, and you should consider that what the neo-cons and the media are doing is never successful. The people eventually exact an angry revenge on those who seize and abuse power. There is not enough Prozac to numb all of us to our own interests.

You in the media have rejected our most sacred principles in favor of profit (from defense contracts in GE/NBC's case), and I hope you will pay dearly for that choice, so that the lesson is preserved for the future. What is happening now is exactly how empires rise and democracies fall.

Scott McGlasson
Denver, CO

Subject: Why John Kerry Could Not Come Forward 1/23/05

No one could be more bitterly disappointed then I am about what happened during the 2004 election and its aftermath. The corruption and fraudulent result of this election are beyond the doubt of any reasonable person in possession of the facts. I, too, at first, couldn't understand why John Kerry did not come forward and fight as I thought he should. It seemed simple enough to me at the time. Like so many others, I felt betrayed. It was only after further consideration of all the information available, listening to statements made by people who knew him and were in contact with him throughout, did I realize Kerry was working fiercely behind the scenes but could not possibly come forward with the evidence at hand; then or now.

There was simply no place to appeal the factual, but mostly circumstantial and statistical, evidence we had that was not a Republican power base; the White House, the Congress, the same Supreme Court that appointed Bush, highly partisan officials and judiciary, a consolidated corporate owned media that has orchestrated the most stunning suppression of information and dissemination of propaganda ever experienced in the history of the country, a divided America; approximately half of which is represented by ardent, usually self-righteous and often delusional, Bush supporters; a solid core of whom believes he was appointed by God.

The evidence that was utterly convincing to us would never have been accepted by such an openly hostile array of power. For every expert Kerry brought forward to tell the truth, they would have brought forward ten "experts" to twist the truth into a lie. Obviously those in power are past masters at manipulating information in this way. They are utterly free of ethics or morality and have no restraints. This administration breaks state, federal and Constitutional law on a daily basis and is accountable to no one. That is why Kenneth Blackwell, among many others, felt free to be so blatantly arrogant in Ohio. They have effectively placed themselves above the law. We could not produce, and Kerry did not have, the "smoking gun" he needed to come forward and prevail in such an environment.

If he had come forward under the present circumstances, those in power would have eviscerated Kerry and the Democratic party by controlling the entire dialogue. We would have heard "loony liberals," "conspiracy nuts," "sore losers" and accusations of manipulating information. Every assertion Kerry could have made would have been rebutted by misrepresentation of the facts, further confusing the public, character assassination and much more flooding from every radio station, tv network and newspaper, in addition to a continuing suppression of factual information. Deflecting responsibility, facts and truth by accusing others of their own deeds is the order of the day for these people. The backlash to Kerry's attempt to expose the fraud would have made him, and us, look like fools and solidified not only the hard right but the moderate right to support the Bush administration even more fervently than they do now and set them against any version of election reform, appointment challenge or the protection of any programs we support.

There is a profound psychological element involved in the way the Bush administration manipulates public opinion, particularly when appealing to the uninformed or the politically and religiously ideological. It projects their fantasies for them because they (Rove/Cheney/Bush) know what it is the public "wants" to believe; creating a delusional world of nationalism where an aggressive imperialist attack upon another country is disguised as a "war against terrorism," the use of our valiant troops, leading them to death and destruction in the service of greed and a lust for power, is defined as a "war of liberation"; reasonable protest against such despicable behavior becomes "anti-American"; filthy air becomes "Clear Skies legislation," "spreading democracy" means the establishment of torture, creating an American gulag and serious consideration of using "death squads" in Iraq; gutting social security benefits is presented as "privatization," spreading and supporting tyranny, killing more than 100,000 innocent men, women and children in Iraq becomes "freedom on the march" and on and on.

If John Kerry had come forward, the government and media would have provided these delusional people with the means to deny what they did not want to know and the judiciary would have backed them up the same way it has in Ohio. Fact and reason will not lead you into delusion nor will they bring you out of it. Bush aids have said publicly they don't have to respond to fact-based reality; they can make up their own; which is exactly what they have done. The problems that rational, informed and patriotic Americans face today go far beyond election reform. To us, two and two equals four and it is very difficult to grasp the fact that others can add two and two and somehow come up with three. They simply do not respond to what we see clearly as undeniable fact. They deny fact all the time; every day.

Even when presented with overwhelming evidence, facts, testimony and well reasoned arguments there are tens of millions, possibly hundreds of millions, of people quite capable of dismissing it all to maintain the parameters of the illusions they have created or have been created for them. These people would never have responded to what we (or John Kerry) had to say about election fraud because the Bush administration and media would have provided them with all the "reasons" they needed to maintain their illusions. They would swallow any well crafted lie that supported their point of view in order to avoid facing the reality and responsibility of it all; the necessity of reframing the structure of their beliefs. This willful ignorance is a fundamental problem we need to resolve and is actually a root cause of the successful media suppression and manipulation of information; even of the election fraud itself. Too many Americans are absent the desire or ability to see what is apparent, even obvious, to those whose world view is based upon fact and reason.

Moreover, I don't believe Bill Clinton would have supported Kerry in challenging this administration, a circumstance which would have served to further undermine Kerry's position, because he is intent upon Hillary running in 2008. He certainly knows as well as I do, leaving Bush in place now only strengthens Hillary's position later. Clinton recognizes, no matter the extent of current public illusions or the public's desire to hold them, eventually, reality will catch up. Bush and company will ultimately trip over their own hubris, which is invariably the case in such administrations, and the Clintons will be ready when they do.

I think We The People are the ones who fell asleep at the wheel when we forgot maintaining a Democracy requires vigilance and We The People are the only ones who can stand up to the array of power mobilized against us; through utter determination and unwavering resolution, using Federalism, grassroots organizations and persistent protest to ultimately prevail over an illegal and corrupt administration. I also believe John Kerry is a courageous and honorable man who did everything we asked of him. He endured the gauntlet of slander and sound bites and he won. He may not have been the perfect "candidate" but he was the right man; the one we needed; an elegant diplomat and patriot; wise, moral, responsible, compassionate and deeply intelligent with a breadth of knowledge and experience necessary to repair the devastation wrought by the neocons.

Look carefully at what happened in Ohio and try to imagine that on a national scale; without doubt producing the identical result. Consider the irrevocable damage accomplished through the swift boat slander even when the accusations were proven to be politically motivated and subsidized lies. Out of hundreds of millions of Americans, how many are there of us who actually know what happened and how great an effect do you honestly believe we would have had against the implacable right wing propaganda machine, the corrupt and highly partisan officials and judiciary who completely surround us? Recognize and remember the capacity for denial lurking within the polarized and propagandized American electorate. We ought to be able to figure this out for ourselves.

I do not see any feasible way for John Kerry to have taken things farther then he did within the context of the ghastly situation this country faces today. Under current conditions, the odds of overturning this election or even fully exposing the fraud were zip. John Kerry is a proud man and I do not believe he is going to apologize or explain his inability to do the impossible task we unwittingly set before him. Neither we nor he recognized the totality of the coup d'etat that has been accomplished in America until after this misbegotten "election." It seems pretty cheeky to me that we would project the responsibility for our failure to protect our Democracy onto John Kerry when he, in fact, did all he could, under the most egregious circumstances. We The People are the responsible entity; we allowed our Democracy to be undermined. We were not paying close enough attention; we didn't take the time to learn about and do what was necessary to preserve our freedom. We need to face our own culpability and get on with the task at hand. We have to continue to organize, learn, think and fight to take back our country. Get to know the people who control your board of elections, work to change the process. I also ask you please, anyone with computer expertise, volunteer to work at the polls.

Billie Wolf

Subject: Parade

Dear Buzz:

I am amazed at the amount of bullet proof grass and armor I saw in the tournament of Bush parade while there are still some National Guardsmen in Iraq riding in dump trucks built in 1956.

Dave in WV

Subject: Idiot Wind

Hey Buzzers,

Greetings from Smirkistan!

I was unable to watch the Chimp make his Big Speech because I spent the day listening to Air America, watching the protests on C-Span and trying to remain sane. I did however read the transcript.

I've never heard a bigger bunch of self-evident BS in my life. His bold statements against tyranny are about as bold as someone declaring, "I may be going out on a limb here, but I am absolutely opposed to drowning cute puppies and I don't care who knows it."

America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

Really, who pretends that? Maybe Tom DeLay and a few other NeoCon bullies and humiliators.

Now everybody including the Bush Sr. are trying to back pedal and say that he didn't really mean to change our global policy on tyrants (because that would really make our trade relations with China just a bit awkward, wouldn't it?). It's just like when the Chimp rolled out the Axis of Evil as a way to scare everybody and then actually had to act on it. "Oooooh, that sounds cool! That'll scare um." Just like "Bring 'em on," and "Wanted Dead or Alive," he just said it to try and sound tough. I'm surprised he didn't have a special jacket made for the inauguration that said "George W. Bush Commander-in-Chief Again."

What an idiot.

Leslie Crabtree
(now of Ashland, OR)

Subject: Hold Condi Rice Accountable

Dear Writers and Editors:

Please for a change be more skeptical and critical in your reporting on Condoleezza Rice and her nomination for Secretary of State. She does not serve the public interest, she serves only one man -- one whose scorn for diplomacy is matched only by his contempt for Congress.

From her first day as national security adviser, Rice ignored the urgent warnings of her predecessor Sandy Berger that al Qaeda should be the new administration's principal national security concern. She dismissed Richard Clarke's warnings about al Qaeda and demoted him. Then she refused for the longest time to appear before the 9/11 Commission. Far from deserving to be Secretary of State, Rice should be in court, possibly in jail.

She distorted and exaggerated the "Nuclear Saddam" threat, frightening Congress into a misguided vote in October 2002 authorizing the use of force against Iraq. Contrary to her claims, there was no connection between Iraq and al Qaeda (none between Iraq and 9/11); Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction; and it had no intention of attacking the U.S.

In Tuesday's debate before the full Senate vote, Senators should:

Even if Democrats and Senators of conscience lack the votes to block Rice, they can show the president and the public that mendacity and incompetence should not be rewarded and that Democrats won't be steam rolled. Senators' NO vote will help bolster the morale of millions of Americans disgusted with this administration's arrogance and incompetence, two qualities personified in Condoleezza Rice.

Over 1,300 American soldiers are dead, over 10,000 wounded, and over 100,000 Iraqis are dead. Courage in the news media and in Congress might have prevented this carnage. Just as the public is watching Congress, we are waiting for journalists to exhibit some integrity and independence.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely and determinedly,

Mark LaFlaur
Kew Gardens, NY

Subject: More Republican Clawing, Biting, Scratching for Votes in Seattle . . .

BuzzFlash,

And, people say they see no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. If our Democrats had reacted in Florida and in Ohio in the same way that the Republicans reacted, we may not have had to put up with another four years of insanity in the White House.

As we saw in Florida, again with the Felons lists, and if anyone thinks that the Republicans in Seattle aren't hearing a word out of the White House, then you have been absent for the last four years of the Bush administration. Bush and his administration "Rule" the Republican Party and everyone in it.

Democrats are afraid to be called "sore losers," (and I'll believe that when the Sun burns out . . . the Democrats had other interests) and Republicans will rip and tear and fight to the bitter, bloody end to get their way and they don't give good goddamn who calls them whatever . . . they are street fighters, back alley fighters, in-your-face fighters, at-your-back fighters and whatever-it-takes fighters to get their way. In Seattle, evidently, they have some honesty left in their system . . . not so in Florida or Ohio or our Supreme Court.

Somebody dropped the ball in Seattle and the fix wasn't in or it was in, but not good enough. Who wants to take odds on the next election in Washington? Anybody?

Just a thought,

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Subject: Report the News on Bush

The disapproval of Bush's war stands at almost 60%. What the Bush is leading us as Americans to believe is not true. Everyone is aware that the reason to go to war in Iraq was foremost to capture Saddam with weapons of mass destruction. We were led to believe that and now one of the women behind this sold story is being promoted, I'm speaking of Dr. Condoleezza Rice. Can you think of anyone else that has done a questionable job but has been promoted? I can.

Since the war in Iraq has gone wrong Bush is now attempting his second brainwashing/cleansing. Did you hear mention of the war on terrorism or the war in Iraq in Mr. Bush's inauguration speech? Wonder why not?

A president shouldn't make these types of mistakes. He should look over the options and choose the best option that is in the best interest for America. The war was the wrong choice and has most benefited large corporations in contracts. This isn't moral! Do you think God would have wanted this?

The Bush Administration is not looking out for the country. They are corrupt. The news isn't what the White House reports.

You wonder why your news ratings are dropping? It's because you don't cover the real story.

Alex Wisniewski
Nashville, Tennessee

Subject: Kennedy and the New Fascism

Robert Kennedy, Jr. says America is Fascist. I am more and more inclined to agree that we have a neo-fascist government. It is not truly fascist, no Brown Shirts and Black Shirts, no socialist rhetoric about bettering the lot of the working people through state power. The Bushites have skipped that phase and gone straight to corporatism, the evolved state that means Elite power with foot soldiers willing to do the dirty work of keeping society in line. This function is mostly filed by the media, educators and churchmen who present the government line without a critique, without opposition. Since they already have to [sic] mechanisms of the state, the police, government employees and military are their tools. I think though that a better description is to call them oligarchs. If they do have party goons, then they would have to be the religious right, the SA of our time, they are useful tools of the oligarchs but I seriously doubt if they would let them have real power. They can be useful in distracting the energy of certain elements of the population, focusing on Gay Marriage, Gun Control and Abortion, the domestic evil trinity.

Where does that place Bush? Is he one of the manipulated or one of the manipulators? I suggest he is somewhere between. He is identified with the religious right, but his roots are among the oligarchs. Would he be willing to sacrifice the Religious Right if they became an embarrassment? I believe he would, although he would be loathe to do so, he is too much of a political animal to let morality get in the way of real politic. His first and most important agenda is the desires of the corporate elite, that is fewer taxes, lower Social Security/medical insurance burdens, and less environmental restriction. If they can shift the entire burden upon the workers and local governments, so much the better, all in the name of profitability. The moral-social agenda is just a smoke screen to keep the foot soldiers happy and to confuse the masses over the real nature of the game being played. The issue is to redirect more of the economy into the hands of the oligarchs. This includes getting the citizenry to dump the last major government held financial resource, the Social Security Fund. If that can be redirected into the stock market, it will provide a boost to capitalist investment that should keep the system functioning for another few decades. Yet even with that, by mid century the deferral of collapse will no longer be feasible and then the real battle for survival will begin. By that time we will have regular environmental disasters, the oil will have begun to dry up and the wealth deferred from the Social Security will have been spent in efforts to retool the economy to a hydrogen/nuclear alternative that will only add to the instability. At that point an attempt to colonize Mars will seem to be a safe haven for a few of the elites. But more likely there will be a movement to corporate minipolice states. Where a few will be protected from the ravages of the environment and the many will suffer an even lower quality of life that will be masked by inflation to appear to be a higher standard of living.

What can we do about it? We need to form our own shock troops, we need to infiltrate the military and the police, we need to present clear viable ecologically sound alternatives, we need to build an alternative media infrastructure, organize a Socialist/Environmentalist/Nationalist Party, we need to constantly hammer at the lies the oligarchs spread. We need to disrupt their ability to further rape and pillage the planet. We must build strong Union-Community structures that incorporate the concept that the community has a stake in the business enterprises and we must change our interventionist international agenda to one of enlightened cooperative self interest. Legalism, class action law suits and working in the traditional political parties are no replacement for a mass based organization. But they are often the only tools we have when operating as a weakened minority. In lieu of a mass based organization, what we can do is propagandize by building alternative media networks, support resistance to corporate take over and participate in direct action that will effectively block the ability of the corporations to destroy the environment when such actions can be justified by heightening the awareness of the masses or giving moral support to others in the resistance. The tactics to be used can be found all over the planet.

Kennedy: Fascist America 
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7804.htm

Gary Rumor

Subject: Bush didn't care about Osama, but now he's worth 50 million of US taxpayer $$$

This was then: March 13, 2002 (Osama was "marginalized," his "network... destroyed"

And this is now.... oh well, ooops.... so what?

A New Osama Push: The U.S. State Department has begun a media blitz to remind Afghans of the $25 million bounty for al-Qaeda's chief (1/23/05, Time Online)

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