Subject: Hooray For Gov. Dean!

Before the right-wing nut cases begin foaming at the mouth over Howard Dean's comments on "Meet the Press," every Democrat should read the transcript and 'high five' the DNC Chair. Dean made just the right point - we aren't going to be bullied any more! We've been lectured enough by the fundie, Republican loonies. It's time to tell them exactly what they can do with their 'moral outrage' - STICK IT!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7924139/

James E. McClurg
Machesney Park, IL

Subject: Contracting rush for security led to waste, abuse

Waste, corruption, fraud and abuse of power are the result of Republicans' attempts to privatize, provide corporate pork and fulfill every demand of their wealthy supporters. To call them conservatives is the worst misnomer in history. They will spend this country into bankruptcy.

RB

Subject: Downing Street Memo (London Times Online)

Dear Rep. Conyers,

Thank you for your recent letter to President Bush, signed by 88 other House members, calling for an explanation as to why intelligence was "fixed" to justify our invasion of Iraq. According to spokesman Scott McClellan, the president does not believe this letter requires a response.

I believe it is reprehensible that George W. Bush thinks he can ignore a legitimate inquiry signed by one-fifth of the House. He acts as if he does not have to answer to anyone for his actions. Due to the gravity of this matter, I propose that if Bush fails to respond soon, he should be compelled to testify under oath before Congress. If he refuses, he should be cited for contempt.

As a member of the Judiciary Committee, perhaps you may wish to determine if there are grounds to draft articles of impeachment.

Thank you for your attention to the above and keep up the good work.

Marc R. D'Ambrosio
Thornwood, NY

Subject: Arizona college who supports Republican Congressman loses bond election

I say this college deserves what it got from the voters. If anyone had seen that graduation a few days before the bond election, where they actually showed a film, and gave a plaque to Republican Congressman, Rick Renzi, through his aide, and made a big deal out of a tribute to him, they most assuredly would have been sick to their stomach at how graduation was used as a political Republican campaign platform.

Voters strike down Central Arizona College expansion bond (Arizona Daily Star)

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Out of sight, out of mind

Great example of self-censorship by the corporate media.

MCM

Subject: Cheney Closes Airport

I am the owner of ... a listserv for pilots in the Washington area. This was posted by a member on Saturday. A "'TFR" is a "Temporary Flight Restriction" that follows the president around and is essentially a 30-mile no fly zone. Hey Joe terrorist, want to know where the president is on a given day, check with the FAA!

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: i have never been so afraid for America in my life

i am 57. barbara boxer is my senator. i have never been so afraid for America in my life. You have got to have bush and rumsfeld and cheney and all the rest, rice, bolton, etc. arrested for war crimes. I am not a nut saying this. But, I tell you, if they are not arrested and taken out of commission, they will go to war with Iran (air strikes) on an executive order, completely bypassing the senate and house. You need a law that says that if the pentagon or administration wants to do any strike on any country for whatever reason, and they do not get permission from the house and senate, then they will be forced to step down and criminal charges will be pursued. These people are truly insane. They want war more than they want truth. Mark my words ... please lobby the house to somehow get articles of impeachment started, even if it takes a special vote of the public. the population. the people. this is way too dangerous for me. way.

karin dicker

Subject: Religious Right - Dominion Theology - Reconstructionist theology - Kingdom Now Theology + Neo Cons All Together

Please, someone do a web search for: dominion theology; reconstructionist theology; kingdom now theology;

How they tie in with the neo-cons ... what Bush and his buddies are really up to in taking over the whole world. This stuff is important and should not be overlooked and ignored by just calling them the religious right. It is more sinister than that!

Alison Agins
Corona, CA

Subject: "One" TV Ads

I keep seeing these ads on TV about the One organization that wants to help wipe out poverty and Aids, etc. I get half-way thru the ad and then good ol' Pat Robertson pops up. Do these people honestly think that I am going to support their cause when it features a homophobic right-wing nut? And I know I am not the only one turned off by his appearance in the ad. How about some feedback on this?

Celebrities unite to aid poor nations (Charlotte Observer)

The ONE (Progressive) Campaign Pat Likes (thinkprogress.org)

Dominic
Springville, Tennessee

Subject: A "Nuclear Option" Solution?

Few should doubt the vehemence and the resolve of the Religious Right's goal of removing the filibuster as the final weapon that Democrats have at their disposal to curb the absolute one-party control of our government.

Randall Terry, former head of Operation Rescue, punctuated the case that the militant, religious extremists and zealots are determined to establish a theocratic government and a one-party rule which is hell-bent on legislating and imposing their brand of Christian morality on all American citizens.

Randall Terry stated, "I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good ... if a Christian voted for Clinton, he sinned against God. It's that simple. Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country ..." Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, joined in the incendiary invective on the U. S. Senate floor accusing Democrats of using filibusters "to kill, to defeat, to assassinate" Bush's judicial nominees. Republican Senator Rick Santorum, in another inflammatory diatribe against the Democrats' attempts to preserve the filibuster fumed, Democratic protests over Republican efforts to ensure confirmation votes would be like the Nazi dictator seizing Paris and then saying, "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city. It's mine."

There is no hidden meaning here nor is there anything cryptic in the interpretation and intent of these words spoken by Randall Terry, Bill Frist and Rick Santorum. The New GOP is infused with enough like-minded ideologues who also wormed their way into the U. S. Congress in November 2004 who believe that part of their manifest destiny is to rewrite our laws by installing judges who will do their bidding, even at the risk and peril of destroying the freedoms and liberties now guaranteed in our U. S. Constitution. Buoyed by G. W. Bush's victory in November, these religious zealots see the golden opportunity that they have been craving for decades. They are demanding to cash in their chips which they believe gave G. W. Bush the 2.5% margin of votes to return him to the White House.

Their idea of victory, however, is "Winner take all and minority rights be damned." Not exactly what the founding fathers (whom these religious zealots are fond of quoting) who wrote our Constitution and the Bill of Rights intended.

As part of their early payback, staying true to the Right Wing dogmatists' demands, Bush has declared that he will veto legislation that would loosen restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and expressed deep concern about human cloning research in South Korea. Bush, according to an Associated Press story, "also threatened a veto of legislation that would clear the way for taxpayer money to be spent on embryonic stem cell research."

A measure by Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would lift Bush's 2001 ban on the use of federal dollars for research using any new embryonic stem cell lines.

Now, ramping up the incendiary rhetoric and bombast, Republicans are pulling out all the stops to clear the way for these Right Wing ideologues to eliminate the last and final barrier for G. W. Bush to appoint only judges who meet the Religious Right's litmus tests for the highest court in the land, the United States Supreme Court, where there could be as many as three vacancies by the end of this year.

Going even further, Senate majority leader Bill Frist in pulling out the race card, trotted out Bishop Harry Jackson, chairman of a group of black pastors at a news conference outside the Capitol. Jackson said "Why are they afraid to put a black woman on the court?" Jackson was referring to Janice Rogers Brown whom many believe is farther to the right than any of Bush's nominees.

According to People For the American Way, "Her dissents as a justice on the California Supreme Court, often not joined by a single other justice, make clear that she would use the power of an appeals court seat to try to erect significant barriers for victims of discrimination to seek justice in the courts, and to push an agenda that would undermine privacy, equal protection under the law, environmental protection, and more."

Much to the delight of the Dixiecrats in the Bible Belt South, the same "moral values" contingency whom the mainstream media credited with putting Bush back in the White House for another four more years, Janice Rogers Brown, according to People for the American Way, "suggested that racially discriminatory speech in the workplace, even when it rises to the level of illegal racial harassment on the job is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be limited. In coming to this conclusion, Brown downplayed the fact that several U.S. Supreme Court opinions have found exactly the opposite –– the Court has made clear that speech can and does constitute illegal race discrimination in some cases. Brown also argued that even if such speech is racial discrimination, it cannot be limited by an injunction aimed at preventing recurrence of the discrimination."

All the bluster and stentorian speeches now being spouted in Congress are but dress rehearsals for the coming battles for Bush's U. S. Supreme Court nominees. If Republicans prevail, it would take only 50 votes, even with five Republican defectors, to confirm any judicial nominee with Dick Cheney providing the 51st vote majority.

But, I have a suggestion, imperfect though it may be: Democrats should acquiesce and simply allow all seven of the initially filibustered Bush nominees to go through the Senate with no opposition whatsoever. The way I see it, Bush has had 208 nominees appointed in his first four years and only ten rejected. Three of the ten rejected judges have since either withdrawn their names or retired. According to the most recent reports, Democrats are opposing only five of the seven remaining whom G. W. Bush renominated.

That is far fewer than the 69 whom Bill Clinton nominated during his tenure when Republicans controlled all the committees and simply didn't allow the 69 nominations to reach the Senate floor for a vote. Since 95% of all of Bush's nominees sailed through their confirmation during Bush's first term, what's seven more? In spite of the fact that Democrats have disagreed with the ideology of many of Bush's lower U. S. District Courts and U. S. Courts of Appeals nominees, approving the final 3% is a small concession if it means keeping the filibuster which will be needed when Bush nominates the first of possible three nominations to the U. S. Supreme Court.

The reason I believe that this is a reasonable solution, at least in the short term, is that it would infuriate the Religious Right and remove their extremist goal of eliminating the filibuster before a vacancy occurs on the U. S. Supreme Court. This current battle and confrontation over the filibuster occurring now is exactly what the Religious Right want and crave. The last thing they want is to see this opportunity fizzle before they can launch their blitzkrieg and impose their religious and moral litmus tests for G. W. Bush's future Supreme Court nominations.

While time is of the essence for Republicans and while they hurry up to steamroller legislation by rewriting and changing the rules on filibusters, stopping and slowing down this assault are of paramount importance if Democrats are to prepare for the larger U. S. Supreme Court battles which are coming.

This solution would help give the Democrats enough time to take their argument to the nation and explain to the people of our country that the filibuster, as John Kerry stated on the floor of the U. S. Senate recently, is the last check on the Republican majority and their corrupt benefactors, the corporate elite and far right religious extremists, who are positioning themselves to gain absolute, unbridled control over our government and decimate our 219-year old democracy.

None of these seven judges who will sit on the lower federal courts are in a position to overturn settled law, whether it be abortion and privacy rights, loss of civil rights such as freedom of speech (think USA Patriot Act) or worker safety and environmental laws now recognized as the law of the land. Only the U. S. Supreme Court is in a position to make these rulings. But if the filibuster is overturned now and the rules are changed by the Republican-controlled congress it will render moot any opposition when G. W. Bush's Supreme Court nominations come up for appointment.

In effect, the minority party Democrats "advise and consent" defined in Article II, Section 2 of the U. S. Constitution will be rendered meaningless.

Former Republican U. S. Senator and Episcopal minister John C. Danforth, stated his thoughts on the direction in which our country is headed if this dangerous alliance between the absolutist tolerance-for-none religionists and corporate power brokers gain the total dominance which they are a hair's breadth away from attaining: "The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement." Senator Danforth further stated, "... even in the absence of constitutional issues, a political party should resist identification with a religious movement. While religions are free to advocate for their own sectarian causes, the work of government and those who engage in it is to hold together as one people a very diverse country. At its best, religion can be a uniting influence, but in practice, nothing is more divisive."

G. W. Bush and his lockstep, stay-on-script Republican acolytes and loyalists have tapped into, politicized and exploited religion in exchange for a Faustian pact with the evangelical Christocrats whose stated goal is to eviscerate our freedoms and liberties and replace them with their twisted, divisive and Machiavellian theocracy.

Now, it appears that G. W. Bush, in his self-aggrandizement and zeal to leave a lasting legacy must choose either between the narrow, dogmatic interests of a powerful minority of anti-U. S. Constitution religionists or the inclusive, diverse, multiracial, multifaceted population which has made a free America an embodiment and beacon of strength for other countries of the world. Unfortunately, and judging by the latest invective, Bush has sided with the former.

It may well be that Bush and his majority Republicans will prevail over the filibuster rule in the U. S. Senate. But it will be a Pyrrhic victory at best for G. W. Bush and his Republican loyalists and a devastating defeat for democracy. The voters, in spite of Karl Rove's guileful claim that Bush has a mandate to do as he wishes, will still have a say in 2006.

Richard A. Stitt
San Diego, CA

Subject: The President Lies to Students ... and the Media Let Him

I was watching "60 Minutes" tonight (Sunday) and once again, I found myself screaming at the TV at the dishonesty and hypocrisy of this president. The piece in question was about the Silver Ring Thing (that Christian evangelical ministry masquerading as Sex Education-- the one the ACLU has brought a lawsuit against) and about the teaching of abstinence only. Okay fine, I train journalists, so this story was something I knew about, but seeing the leader of the ministry that runs Silver Ring Thing saying he would advise his own kids *never* to use condoms because they don't prevent disease, and then seeing teachers forced to *lie* to students about the alleged unreliability of condom use and state that there is no such thing as safe sex just horrified me all over again.

Is there nothing this president won't do to pander to the Christian right? He is putting the lives and health of our kids in jeopardy by denying them HONEST information about birth control. His hatred of science and the substitution of evangelical Christian ideology in PUBLIC SCHOOLS is frightening, but worse than that, it is dangerous. He says he cares about our kids, he says he is pro-life, yet he would prefer to have children given false information (to please his conservative base), rather than admit that condoms prevent both the spread of disease and unwanted pregnancy.

The mainstream media go on endlessly about runaway brides (umm, runaway white brides, that is) and cover every nuance of Michael Jackson's latest trial. Meanwhile, my tax dollars are going to the dissemination of conservative theology rather than science even in HEALTH classes, but the right-wing takeover of public education is not considered a news story.

So, where are the politicians who will demand that this sort of "education" be stopped? I find it scary that we are telling kids that AIDS and unwanted pregnancy are their punishment for not being abstinent. But worst of all, I am appalled that educators are forbidden to give both sides of the story about condom use or safe sex or they will lose their federal grants.

Do the mainstream media really fear the president so much that even when he encourages teachers to lie to their students, reporters are hesitant to speak out about it? "60 Minutes" was one of the few that has reported on this, and I just don't understand why it has gotten so little scrutiny. It seems to me we are playing politics with kids' lives by denying them information that could save them from unwanted pregnancy or keep them from getting AIDS. How shameful.

Donna L. Halper
Boston MA

Subject: Truly Inside “... And Fear of the Unknown” (Michael Kinsley/Washington Post)

I am so glad Michael Kinsley posed this question, as the title for his extremely thought provoking article on this topic. If I may, I would like the chance to answer that question, not so definitively, but more reflectively of the feelings one has, at least I did, while actually living this question for over twenty years. It all began at the end of 1984, with persistent bronchitis, and an AIDS test.

I thought my partner, and I would be “safe from AIDS,” since we had already been together for a few years, and didn’t live a particularly wild life style. In fact my partner remains negative today, a true testament to safe sex, and the effectiveness of condoms. It would take forever to write out all the details, so I’ll try a put this briefly. The day started out normally enough.

I had just started a new job at a new dialysis unit in Center City Philadelphia, and came down with a persistent case of acute bronchitis, which my Physician spouse had me visit his ex roommate, and also an HIV doctor to get checked, just to be on the safe side. A call came to my unit from this doctor, and I knew the results of that test immediately, without his saying a word.

My nursing director took me aside, and gave me a two week leave of absence so that I could try to absorb the gravity of this news, then she lovingly scheduled me to work with a friend of hers, who was also working in dialysis, and also HIV infected for a year, or so. Despite the best support system one could have ever prayed for, I was simply too overcome with fear, sorrow, grief, and guilt to continue my normal life.

I threw myself into volunteering at Action Aids in Philadelphia, and an emerging support group caught my interest. They were named “We The People,” and were remarkably different then the mainstream AIDS services, in that the goal was to reach those, who otherwise might fall through the cracks of our system. Years went by, and almost everyone I knew there had died, so I moved on to keep my sanity.

My partner Michael never wavered in his support for me, even for a moment, and I feel that although I have lived my entire adult life with HIV, and the uncertainty of is this the last year, etc., One thing I have achieved in my short lifetime so far, was that I had indeed found love, which has only grown over the following two decades, and continues today.

Having said that, I would like to offer an answer to the opening question of his article. Angry doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of how I feel over the dereliction of responsibility our nation has taken up in the face our many current challenges. Repulsion at the arrogance shown by those who feel above life’s fray, while they brazenly dismiss those like me, who cannot escape it.

I wish I could say with a true degree of honesty that I would feel the same way if HIV hadn’t changed my life circumstances, but I really can’t. I had so many advantages, and such a strong naivete as a person in general. It is embarrassing, but painfully true. I had been pretty clueless, and might have chosen to remain so, but life stepped in, and made that option cease to exist.

I understand the appeal of not noticing the elephant in the living room, and as a WASP male, I know firsthand that is after all the traditional response to crises, however this can’t be ignored. I am happy, and excited for those countries like Korea that have not abandoned the true spirit of medical ethics. Their efforts provide hope for persons such as myself, who feel pushed aside enough, already.

The fact that these countries haven’t just swept their problems under the carpet, and have stayed loyal to the universal goal of trying to help each one of those who need help to get it, shows the dramatic departure of word, and deed in today’s American reality. Dare I say that the “Compassionately Conservative Christian values,” have drowned the GOP’s blue dress here, and forever transformed the appearance of greed, in all its glory?

I would have to wrap the feelings up this way, if I ever felt more challenged spiritually, physically, or emotionally before, all at the same time, I can’t recall it. My faith has been rocked to its core, and I am struggling as hard as I can just to hold on, and to not lose my spirit in this cesspool of dirty politics, and the golden calf Christianity the far right attempts to pass off as decent or moral.

It is hard enough to have hope while watching America erode under this minority party’s excessive fanaticism, and unrelenting self indulgence, but just knowing that I will most probably perish long before an American would even bother to consider putting their personal politics aside, and help, is hard to acknowledge, much less accept. I do however know that I just refuse to become bitter.

I have worked hard myself, in order to ease this situation for others before me, and I have great comfort in knowing my partner and family love me. This may sound naive, and perhaps it is, but I actually do not feel as sorry for me, as I do for those who are lost in this destructive mindset. In the end I think what I found is much more valuable than anything they will ever know.

I wish I could understand what makes a person adopt such harsh, self-serving beliefs, but I truly can’t. It is so much bigger than I am. The best advice I think I can offer here is to simply not lose hope. In nursing I learned that real miracles occur all the time. Why should today be any different? Ask a nurse to explain that, they will know what I mean.

It would take entirely too long, given my limited writing skills, to attempt to explain that myself. Perhaps if I were a gay hooker, I would attempt to plagiarize something pithy here, but I’ll leave that one up to Dubya’s loose Gannon. A campy villainess in the television mini-series “V,” put it best when she said, “You need an attitude adjustment, my dear.” We should put that on a billboard, and post it on the white house lawn. If we put it close enough to the baby ducks there, perhaps the press will notice it too.

David R. Anselm, Jr.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Subject: Peak Oil

Please look in the Congressional record under "peak oil" and you will find a statement from Congressman Bartlett that is addressing a little talked about issue regarding global oil depletion that may effect the future of us all. He is a Republican but seems to want to be on the record. Peak oil is a much debated subject though not in the mainstream media.

Peak Oil Presentation in the US Congress (energybulletin.net)

Stephen P.

Subject: Reptile Alert

As one of the world's leading students of reptiles, I suggest ... If your goal was to maintain a TIGHT grip on power at all costs, lest you end up somewhere like at the center of a War Crimes trial ... Who is your ideal candidate to take on the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton?

It ain't Jeb. It's not that sour-puss, Dick Cheney. It's certainly no grubby, aspiring reptilian elected official. And let's face it, forget about Hell freezing over. Hell would have to burn down before the reptiles nominated a lightweight, pro-choice black lady. Sorry, Condi, but you're all used up, baby. You didn't play very well. That's because, to your credit, you don't have enough skill to be a successful liar. Although, we know you've been working at it. But you're just not a natural like Dubya.

It cannot be overemphasized that the Bush regime can't turn this friggin' lawless mess over to somebody who's not already among the trusted inner circle. That's why these douche bags are flying Laura Bush's ass all over the globe. SHE'S THE CANDIDATE!!!

Woman vs. Woman. First Lady vs. First Lady. Bush vs. Clinton. Family Values vs. The Disgrace of Impeachment. This cute scheme is still in its infancy. We're nowhere near the trial balloon phase yet. But it's underway, nevertheless. I can smell it. Dubya will need an approval rating of about 43% for this plan to get the final go-ahead. Unless, that is, things get totally out of control and they use it as a Hail Mary pass. Then (as we already know) at election time, Laura Bush will only need a few polls (FOX and a couple of reptilian front groups) suggesting that she can win, then actually get 46-47% of the vote. Thus placing the reptiles in position to steal yet ANOTHER "close" election.

I think the only question is whether Cheney will hang around for a third term. And I'd say, Yes. She'll "need his experience." You heard it here first.

Brent Mack

P.S. The Laura Bush campaign likely will appear as a spontaneous grass-roots movement that originated in fundamentalist churches. When, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Prepare to gag. We'll be seeing campaign posters featuring side-by-side pictures of Laura Bush and Mother Theresa. And the sick part is - I'm not kidding!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE MAY 24, 2005 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG