Subject: I need answers to these questions (also sent to Paul Krugman)

Questions to ask:

1. What is happening in the Valerie Plame case?

2. What is happening with the anthrax mail case?

3. Where is Osama bin Laden?

4. Where is the report showing that the FAA was warned 52 times in the months before 9/11 about al Qaeda?

5. Why is Dick Cheney still keeping his energy meeting notes secret?

6. Where is the report that Goss is holding back about the intel leading us into Iraq?

Why is Congress calling in baseball players and oil for food people and trying to save a brain-damaged woman who will never get better, while we have huge deficits? What the hell is going on?

karin dicker
los angeles

Subject: 2nd anniversary and Katie Couric finally gets it right

The Today Show capsule for the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq said, "We bombed Baghdad and Iraq trying to kill Saddam Hussein."

Truer words were never spoken because we sure as hell weren't trying to prevent an imminent attack.

We have killed over 1500 men for oil and to get Saddam for threatening Poppy Bush, and the congress is investigation drug abuse in sports because of the impact on hero worshipping kids. Hell's bells most of the little leaguers today will be going to Iraq and many will come back hooked to worse than steroids. Pain killers or hard drugs.

And they are trying to keep one woman alive whose parents want to work for the rest of their lives to pay bookoos out to keep her a vegetable.

Go figure, keep one woman alive and forget the 1000s of our kids dead from Iraq and hundreds of thousands dead and injured Iraqis.

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok.

Subject: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS DUBYA

You can tell the President is having some fun now, can't you? I mean, who wouldn't be having fun? First, potential scandals never stick to him. Now, he's been going around the country where every little town is like being in the Cheers Tavern where "everybody knows your name," and where the crowd thinks every sentence he utters is a pearl of wisdom, even when they can't decipher what the hell he is talking about.

Dubya says he enjoys going around the country and having meaningful one-sided conversations about the issues with the people who worship him. You can tell he enjoys it. Why wouldn't he? How hard is that part of his job?

You know Dubya is having fun at these "town hall" meetings because every time he says something extraordinarily profound, like, "People have got to understand that there's a real problem with social security," he finishes with a snicker.

"The time is now (snicker). We can't wait until 2052 or even 2042 (snicker). I hear the complaint that people who are about to retire (snicker), are worried that it will affect them (snicker). I'm telling you, if you are 55 or over (snicker), you won't be affected by these personal accounts" (guffaw. Ooops, that's me).

And what's waiting for Dubya when he returns to the White House? A potential scandal regarding "fake" news! And that darn General Accounting Office was blathering on about it crossing the line into "unethical and illegal." Dubya probably snickered the whole time he was dialing Attorney General "Yes-man" Gonzales at the Justice Department.

"Hey, Al (snicker). Remember when you wrote that great memo about the Geneva Convention being obsolete, and we got to torture a handful of prisoners (snicker)? O.K., more than a handful. You did a good job. Anyway, what can you do about this gosh-darned GAO thing (snicker)? Really? That's great, Gonzo! While you do that, I'll get Congress to have some hearings on, oh I don't know, maybe the use of steroids in baseball. You give me the ability to keep putting out those fake news reports, and I'll take care of the public's attention span, O.K.? (snicker, snicker). I'll call Karl."

The President was probably still having fun when he called Karl "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" Rove.

"Hey, Karl (snicker). On the fake news thing. Yeah, I know we can't pass the buck by yelling, 'Clinton did it' again. They're catching on to that (snicker). No, Gonzo's going to get us a pass on this thing. He'll have his staff write some legal mumbo-jumbo.... ooof!!! No, I was just putting my feet up on my desk - housekeeping is sweeping a bunch of stuff under the rug in here. Later, Karl (snicker, giggle, cackle, hideous evil laugh)."

Dubya is having the time of his life.

Patricia A. Weller
Emmitsburg, MD

Subject: 80% of GOP convention protest arrests have been dismissed

Actress's Case Is Dismissed in G.O.P. Protests (NY Times)

... Including the idiotic arrest of actress Rosario Dawson who was using the protest as an authentic backdrop for a scene she was shooting for a movie.

Hesiod

Subject: Taking Dictation from a Dictator ...

BuzzFlash,

Re this article from Truthout - David Swanson - Democratic Senators Denounce Bush Grab for "Dictatorship."

I doubt that Bush is too worried about how the Democratic Senate feels. He has been getting everything he wants from some of these Senators just this week. If they really wanted to send a message to Bush ... they could have been doing it for many years now. But, we don't see that. Fourteen votes let the bankruptcy bill come to the floor. Then nineteen of these Senators voted to pass it. This is just the past couple of weeks. Everything Bush wants, Bush gets. Why Democrats think that this Bush Republican Administration gives a tinker's damn about what is right, fair, or lawful after all they have done in just four years? Why do they allow him the leverage to do as he pleases? Giving in to a dictator ... makes him a successful dictator.

Under the Bush government in DC ... Americans are being abused and members of the Democratic Party in Congress are being used.

Isn't it time to take a solid stand ... before we all get shipped off to concentration camps? Before our professors are banned from our colleges. Before books are being burned. Before papers are being denied publishing. Before having a certain name gets one arrested (that is happening now). Before wearing certain clothes gets one arrested (that is happening now). Before one gets arrested for listening to certain TV or radio shows (of course, the news is canned). Before people start disappearing off the streets (that is happening now). Before many more Americans and Iraqis are killed (that is happening now). When people finally take a stand against a dictator ... it's usually too damn late.

I really don't know if these statements are supposed to impress Americans that we are going to see a real fight, one can only hope, but ... after four years and 200,000 dead Iraqis, Afghanistan still the same, Osama still free, Anthrax killer alive and well, a National debt so high that we cannot see over it or through it, slashed programs without any concern for the unemployed or children, oil prices constantly rising, environment gone to hell, lies by the Bushes still go unchallenged ... and we are supposed to believe that these Democrats are going to appeal to the good nature of Republicans not to control our Courts just because they can. Is this a joke? The Republicans will do it precisely because they can. Everything else they have had to lie to get their way. Now, they have the muscle without using force. Who is sitting in the World Bank without any experience except maybe how to bankrupt it or at least help to keep its questionable reputation.

Well, readying this article has taken off some years ... almost like I was born yesterday. Why is it that Americans (Democrats) have no trouble understanding the Bush regime and yet, we are to believe that our Democratic Congress does not?

Those Democrats who have voted against Bush's attacks on this government, have had to stand alone ... taking the chagrin from the Bushes, no doubt ... but, they are winners in my book ... we, the people, need to impeach Bush or do we have to ask the French to do it for us ... il a les defauts de ses qualites (with his (Bush) qualities, he has concomitant defects; his faults spring from his very qualities).

Just a thought,

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Subject: There's No Excuse!

Good morning.

Y'know what? I'm getting pretty sick and tired of overly religiously conservative communities who insist on being pigheaded regarding gay and lesbian teenagers. I'm sick and tired of the overused excuse "it's wrong" as a reason to harass gay teens (as well as gay adults). I'm sick and tired of the phrase "family values." I get angrier over straight people who make ALL of us heterosexuals look like ignorant, hateful fools.

I'm shocked that the gay community really doesn't do a number on us; I wouldn't be surprised if they did. But, they want to bridge gaps, and, the ignorant heteros that make fools of all the rest of us just won't have it and take a "My way or the highway" attitude and use the Bible as a rationalization for their bigotry.

There is NO EXCUSE for bigotry. NONE. And, this straight woman is fed up with it.

Thanks for allowing me the privilege to vent.

Lisa
Everett, Massachusetts

Subject: George Will

There doesn't seem to be much being said about George Will being awarded $250,000 by the very conservative Bradley foundation.

Is George Will's $250,000 Prize Yet More Payola? (Editor & Publisher)

Don Baralt
Blue Bell, PA

Subject: Paul Wolfowitz: SUPER GENIUS! (Iraq Quotes)

Forwarded by a BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Script For Dubya

Dubya likes to follow a script. It helps him stay on message. Nobody even has to write one of these scripts, though. Like turning in someone else's term paper (please, there is no attempt to imply anything about W's frat or his academics), he can just re-use one that is already available.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Is It Progress If A Cannibal Uses Knife And Fork? -- Stanislaw J. Lec

One of George W. Bush’s favorite statements is, “We are making progress!” He uses it in reference to everything from Iraq to Social Security. The efficacy of this statement is diluted when a system of checks and balances is excluded, or when the Bush Administration pays pundits to promote their propaganda, and releases videos controlled by the Administration made to look like real news reports!

It is a given, progress sometimes takes time, BUT if dissenting opinions are omitted, if there is a Bush-bending of the facts, and when the bottom line of an investigation is covered up and information is withheld or “lost,” Americans can not make an intelligent decision on tainted or absent evidence!

Just this week Republicans voted down an investigation on the much publicized Jeff Gannon/Guckert debacle!

Judiciary Committee quashes Democrats’ effort to demand credentialing info on ‘Gannon’ (rawstory.com)

Afghanistan is held up as a Bush success story BUT: Afghanistan had an election where voters, thanks to disappearing ink, were able to vote as many as ten times, one voter related with a laugh! The election was dubbed fair and just! Opponents were quickly silenced {bribed?}. Mr. Karzai is safe only in Kabul {sometimes not even there}. The increasing problem of the burgeoning poppy fields seldom makes the news! The parliamentary elections were put off until September citing “LOGISTICS”?

The NYT reports:

Under George Bush who is known as the worst environmental President, his policies have misleading names like, “Clean Air” and “Healthy Forests," as Mr. Bush puts corporate foxes in charge of regulations to the detriment of our environment! Yesterday the Senate {Republican controlled plus three misguided Democrats} voted to drill in ANWR! This was one of the last places on earth where expansive Arctic lands are intact! Drilling there can’t make a dent in America’s energy problem! Read the article “NO REFUGE FROM GREED!” (americanprogressaction.org). It is one among many articles that conclude this destruction of wildlife is an irreplaceable National Treasure, and certainly RUINING IT IS NOT PROGRESS. How can anyone call it progress when the Bush Administration sells off natural resources to powerful special interest groups?

Senator Harry Reid stated in a letter sent out to Democrats saying free speech is not a partisan issue but an American issue. He also showed us the other side of the coin George Bush uses. You know the one that has two heads, both which are his! Reid declared that:

The filibuster must be protected! It is not progress when all voices including those of the minority are not heard! Republicans have used the SNEAKY move of adding an unpopular bill on to another bill to avoid a filibuster. It is not progress to dismantle Social Security and try to disguise the first baby steps to get rid of it. It is not in crisis! When and if it does need fixing, Mr. Bush, who gets an “F” in financial matters, and his cronies should be the last ones trusted to handle it! Huge deficits and tax cuts that benefit mostly corporations and the rich could not be called progress for middle and lower income families. They do not have adequate health care, are paying higher prices for everything {especially gas} and see services go out the window, but money being thrown at Iraq!

Future generations will pay for Bush’s wayward ways. Are the American people even aware of the huge amount of borrowed money that must be paid back to China, Japan and others with interest? Does the huge trade deficit bother clear-thinking Americans? So-called progress comes at a tremendous price for our children, grandchildren, and at this rate, great-great grandchildren! The old Bush line, “If we fight them there, we won’t have to fight them at home,” is disputed by a usual Bush supporter in an article entitled, “Homeland Insecurity” by Thomas Friedman.

Iraq, the frontier for the “War on Terror,” had an election. So far, so good, but isn’t it a bit premature to call it a success? There are 1519 of our soldiers dead now, with over 11,000 seriously injured. The Iraqi deaths are in at least the tens of thousands, but no one knows, because our government doesn’t count! The Iraqi government is meeting and rah-rah propaganda is put out, but the people are not displaying their purple fingers as they did before. Progress in Iraq is elusive as violence continues and situations change daily! One New York Times article informs us that, “Many Iraqis are losing hope that politics will yield real change!"

Telling the WHOLE truth would be progress, but George Bush’s Ego, Power, and Legacy are at stake, and telling the whole truth has been proven NOT to be a part of the Bush Administration’s “moral values!"

Susan Carr
Tucson, AZ

Subject: State Of The Union

Pack the courts, Social Security, ANWR - all in a day's work for the right-wing extremists ("fascists" - I'm politically incorrect). This is typical of the Rove genius - a frenetic blitzkrieg to keep the enemy scurrying around. All this leads to constant last-minute defense & reaction by the "enemy" (everybody other than them & their corporate benefactors).

Recommendation - think of this as a malignant cancer ravaging the body; all current actions are fine and necessary, but the cancer has to be arrested before it's too late. How about a big push on publicizing the Gannon-Guckert scandal as a start (even if it involves the National Enquirer and immunity). This leads to voter fraud, Valerie Plame, Daschle's defeat and the Gay Mafia running things (Mehlman and probably Reed and Rove himself), while they use the gay community as the bogeyman.

Rove reminds me of J. Edgar Hoover, a closet gay who terrorized everybody he came into contact with. Publicizing Tom DeLay's transgressions and others, even more than done now, should also be enacted. Information must be disseminated and a sense of outrage must be created to a much larger extent, despite the corporate media's complicity.

CEO compensation has proliferated from approximately 40X average salary to approximately 500X within the last 30 years (the fascists are propagating class warfare, not the Democrats). Emergency surgery needs to be performed before the patient (US democracy) dies, no matter how much pain it involves.

A BuzzFlash Reader