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| July 7, 2005 |
MAILBAG ARCHIVES | ||
The BuzzFlash Mailbag The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag. Subject: Thank You! Whenever I'm bummed about the state of our nation, I go to BuzzFlash and realize I'm not alone. Thanks! Dan C. Subject: Contact US Attorney Fitzgerald I hope you post Fitzgerald's office phone number for BuzzFlash readers. I believe if enough people demand justice, and that we will not tolerate treason and jeopardizing national security for partisan politics, Fitzgerald might show some integrity. I hope. Fitzgerald's Office p# 312-353-5300 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/ Brian Michels Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. -- President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953 A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Judith Miller imprisonment Hello. I see in a NYT news article that Ms. Miller is being jailed for refusal to testify in the matter of sources critical to pursuit of criminal disclosure of Ms. Plame's identity, a felony under USC, and in time of war perhaps treason. New York Times Reporter Is Jailed for Keeping Source Secret (NY Times) Although I understand the concept of whistleblower protection, disclosure of this type of information is not whistle blowing in any way shape or form. It is not tantamount to obstruction of justice -- it is obstruction of justice. Criminal charges against Ms. Miller for obstruction of justice should be made as a follow-up for her contempt imprisonment. Perhaps this might get her attention. The NYT, as Ms. Miller's employer, should follow the example of other publishers and turn over all information it possesses to the Grand July in the Plame matter. Obstruction of justice changes might appropriately be contemplated against responsible parties at the NYT, should their posture on protection of criminals continue. Regards, John F. Williford Subject: Valerie Plame Case The point being missed here is the fact that the reporters who published Valerie Plame's name were actually complicit in carrying out the crime. I can't understand how being a reporter allows one to provide the means (the press) of committing a crime and not be deemed as guilty as the originator. By providing the avenue that allowed the violation to be completed, the reporters were guilty of aiding and abetting in a criminal enterprise. Of course, if the reporter did not print the story, then they should not be held accountable. I think it's all just a diversion to take the heat off the real perpetrator. Lawton Watson [BuzzFlash Note: Judith Miller and the NY Times did not print Plame's name.] Subject: Light Reading Hi, Anybody remember a book called "The Limits Of Intervention" by Townsend Hoopes? Interesting reading! A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Corporate news media claimed today ... ... they were were protectors of America and its citizens from corrupt government and they will be stifled and literally gagged now that a reporter went to jail for refusing to reveal her sources. What a bunch of hypocritical tripe. The media of today and the last five years have betrayed America and supported the most corrupt, criminal administration and Congress ever to hold elected office. How shamelessly low will these liars go to keep their heroes in office and out of jail? If I hear about Cooper kissing his son goodbye one more time I will puke! Apparently, the media know many Americans are simpletons and exactly how to manipulate their weak minds. Lawton Watson Subject: Uh oh, I think I smell a Rovian rat I've been thinking about this all day, and the situation is becoming (at least from my point of view) more and more suspicious. Possible scenario: Bush really, REALLY wants torturer defender/redefiner Alberto Gonzales as his Supreme Court nominee. How better to achieve that end than to sic (aka "use") the Christian right as a means of painting good ol' Dubya buddy Al as (GASP!) too-left-to-be-appointed? Dubya comes out looking like a loyal supporter of an old friend. Meanwhile, back at the ranch (where all the brush must have been cleared long before now) the Rovian Blackberries are plotting away: i.e., in order to get Gonzales (NOT, in my not so humble opinion, to be trusted at all) nominated, the Rovians are (a) painting him as a "moderate" -- too moderate for the religious right -- and (b) thus paving the way to prevent blocking his nomination via filibuster. (Meanwhile, again, back at the ranch, Rove & Co. are reassuring the Christian right that the NEXT nominee -- the one who replaces Rehnquist -- will be more to their liking, so they should shut up for the moment and let Gonzales go through the confirmation process.) That way, EVERYBODY gets what they want. Except, of course, the liberal/progressive remnant of the American people, aka Buzz readers/contributors. Barb in Athens, GA Subject: The Press Awakens After Judith Miller Jailed Hi BuzzFlash, How ironic that The Free Press came to an end of using "Sources" today. After all, Joe Wilson wrote his Op-Ed exactly two years ago today. Former FBI Director L. Patrick Gray during The Nixon Administration died today and Bob Woodward's book about "Deep Throat" came out today - July 6, 2005. Isn't it amazing how The Media has been giving us the same, lame, "One-Story" 24/7 News recently? Most of it has not been about important Washington, DC, news, which impacts every one of us. Americans have to go to foreign newspaper web sites to read The Downing Street Memo material. But suddenly, we have Judith Miller carted off to jail for not revealing her sources in the Bob Novak fiasco and the media FINALLY starts to cover this White House Corruption story. It took something and someone, "In Their Own Line Of Work," to raise reporter and anchor's eyebrows and get them to start covering what they should have been doing for a long time. Bush has been trying to whittle away at the Constitution, one Amendment at a time. He has always wanted secrecy and he is going to get more of it now with No Free Press. I wonder. Are the Internet and Blogs Bush's next targets? Let's face it; Bush could have dictated a memo addressed to All White House Employees and sent it out to every one of them after the Novak leak. He could have demanded that "The Two High-Level White House Sources who revealed Valerie Plame's name and Job Title to Robert Novak will have their resignation on my desk by Noon Today." How long do those words in quotes take to dictate to his secretary and then get sent out by his secretary? That would have saved every one of us taxpayers from an investigation, and the Attorney General could have sent the persons to trial for revealing a covert CIA agent's name, which is illegal. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/50/chapters/15... The media has been cowed for such a long time into NOT covering this Bush Administration, with the same aggressiveness they had against Bill Clinton, that they never saw the jail time and First Amendment trashing coming their way. Let's hope investigative reporters wake-up tomorrow, slap some cold water on their faces, smell the coffee and start doing their jobs. And, hopefully, they will not take another quick nap when they get to their reporting desk. Tom Wieliczka Subject: Hmmm ... "band aid" So, Bush falls off yet another bike. And they trot out that old excuse that it was "lightly raining." The real reason? Maybe they had to up his meds now that Rove is going down .... A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: O'Connor voting record The Newsweek edition of July 11, 2005, has all the O'Connor verdicts. It states that when CBS called Florida for Gore ... she stated, "This is terrible" (I heard a slightly different remark) and 5 weeks later ... she voted to stop the recount along party lines. Yes, she did give the deciding vote to Bush! Anyone who wants to read it ... the entire "O'Connor verdicts" are in this one ... and while she was considered a Moderate ... she did vote with the republicans on what might be considered, at least by this democrat, as the most telling vote of her career. Not one total recount had been done at this point! Shirley.........St. Louis Subject: Schwarzenegger Misuses CA Law Enforcement/Military in Attempt to Intimidate Critics Will he ever learn? In February Schwarzenegger used the California Highway Patrol to interrogate for over an hour, Kelly Di Giacomo, a nurse in uniform who attended a film screening in Sacramento also attended by the Gov. during the height of his unsuccessful fight against the California Nurses Assn. The Los Angeles Times reported: The nurses association said Schwarzenegger was using the CHP as his "personal political police force" at the "Be Cool" screening. Prompted by a story first reported by the San Jose Mercury News, now there is an investigation into a California National Guard intelligence program that according to an e-mail chain originating in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's press office led to the monitoring of a Mother's Day anti-war demonstration at the state Capitol that was organized by several women's peace groups, including the Gold Star Families for Peace, Raging Grannies and CodePink. The protest included a call to bring the California Guard Home from Iraq. As governor, Schwarzenegger is the Commander in Chief of the California National Guard. Today, CodePink joined by local peace groups, plans to protest outside the Guard's Sacramento headquarters. CodePink are the organizers of the very first statewide protests against Schwarzenegger dating back to the day he opened his campaign headquarters for governor, citing his history of alleged sexual battery committed against well over a dozen women. Since his inauguration, CodePink has participated in dozens of protests across the state critical of the Governor. After promising to champion women, since Schwarzenegger took office he has waged a high-profile losing battle against nurses and teachers--both professions dominated by women--and now women's peace groups. Schwarzenegger's attempt to intimidate his most vocal critics by the misuse of the California Highway Patrol and National Guard paid for by California tax-dollars will no doubt backfire and may lead to his further drop in the polls. Be On Guard for Raging Grannies (Patt Morrison/LA Times) A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Miller made a "principled choice?"---oh, how we wish this was true To Bill Keller of the NYTimes, after his statements about the Judith Miller case: Mr. Keller, 7/6/05 You talked today about a chill running up your spine with Miller's "principled choice" to "honor her promise of confidentiality." All this sounds very good until we remember that we are talking about Judith Miller, the NYTimes reporter who is more responsible than any other American journalist for spreading the Bush administration's lies about Iraq (WMD & "links to 9/11") in 2002 and 2003. Before we shed a tear for Miller in a cell, we need to review her record. On Sept. 8, 2002, she wrote a forceful article stating that Iraq might have a nuclear bomb. That was the exact day that Bush administration officials hit the Sunday talk shows with the same ominous, but absolutely wrong "information." This was the first of many articles by Miller, in collaboration with Ahmad Chalabi, that helped fan the war frenzy--based on lies, misinformation, and innuendo. To date, Miller has not taken responsibility for her actions. As you know, the Downing Street Memos give us insight into Bush's 2002 decisions to invade Iraq based on "fixed" intel. Bush's rush to war and the Plame Leak are interconnected. Miller is involved in both scandals. It may take some time, but we Americans will get to the bottom of this mess. When we go through all Miller's articles, we will find her complicit in the Bush administration's crime of deceiving the Congress and the American people to start an illegal war. Mr. Keller dramatically asked, "What crime was committed?" Your Judith Miller belongs in jail for her links to Chalabi and for printing his lies in the once-proud NYTimes. It is a sad day for the American media, but you are responsible. What NYT editor failed to challenge Miller in 2002? Who allowed her to print article after article of dangerous propaganda? For that, I feel a chill up my spine every day of Bush's War. Judy Munro-Leighton (16-year subscriber of The NYTimes--I cancelled my subscription because The Times refused to fire Miller.) Subject: Judith Miller Hmmmm. Do you suppose Ms. Miller's incarceration just might be the beginning of a domino effect? Zogby is reporting that 25 percent of Republicans favor impeaching Bush if (when) it's proven he lied about his reasons for invading Iraq. Are the rats beginning to desert the sinking ship? There are signs, BuzzFlashers, and they are everywhere, that our fatuous (complacently stupid) boy king is going down. Yes!! Steve Moore Subject: GOP Stem Cell Rift What a dilemma. Richard Mahoney, the former Monsanto CEO, is both a Republican and a supporter of stem cell/cloning research and development. Such research is bad enough but development, providing cures for the incurable and better and longer lives for millions of Americans; that's unthinkable, inexcusable and heaven forbids it according to some of his fellow republicans. On the other hand there's the free enterprise system and it's now payola time. How big? BIG, that's how big, but with the free enterprise system that'll be no problem according to Mahoney. Credit him for sticking to his principles and taking on the heaven firsters in the republican party. They'll be mad as hell at him and nastiness is no stranger to them - until the day when - "Yes up to now it's true that I've opposed the scientific use of stem cells but since this here kidney's being custom-built just for me; by God, I'll take it." And if there remain some who still turn down such an offer out of a belief that a clump of cells in a petri dish is a living, soulful being, and not just a thing, they have nothing to fear. It'll be up to each person, nobody's going to be forced to live forever. What's going to bring about these stem cell based miracles? While Mahoney insists that the free enterprise system is up to the task, and for the present it'll have to suffice, once the public finds out that breakthrough stem cell therapy is available only to those who can afford it, what then? Changing the world, that's what. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: What I did after 9-11 I don’t know all the things that Karl Rove claimed "liberals" and "conservatives" did or didn't do after the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center, but I can tell you a few things THIS liberal did and didn’t do. 1. I did try to analyze who did it and why. 2. I did not attack anyone that had nothing to do with the attacks; like say Saddam Hussein. 3. I did write a check to the Red Cross because it was one way I could support the victims of 9-11. 4. I did not read "My Pet Goat." Shunk Wugga On the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, in the interview section about Judith Miller's incarceration, it was revealed that Judy Miller has had a written release from her "source" all along, but she won't talk until she receives a release that she believes is freely given. She apparently feels the signed release she has was coerced by someone. To me, this article suggests that Judy Miller is possibly a drama queen and professional victim. If she has a signed release in hand, I have a hard time figuring out what all the hoopla is about. Suspect a lot of other folks may wonder the same thing. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: KBR food service serves expired food to our troops and garbage to our allies Rory Mayberry, a former manager of Halliburton's mess halls in Iraq, testified that KBR fed U.S. troops expired food on a daily basis, and fed Turkish and Filipino workers "leftover food in boxes and garbage bags after the troops ate," while using beef, chicken, salads and sodas intended for the troops to cater parties and barbeques for KBR management and employees. He also said he was informed that "if we talked, we would be rotated out to other camps that were under fire." Here is his testimony... http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/hearings/hearing22/mayberry.pdf Tony Romano Subject: A Journalist Jailed (Washington Post) "THE JAILING of New York Times reporter Judith Miller yesterday in an attempt to force her to testify about a source is a damaging blow to the press's ability to do its job." I would agree IF THE PRESS WAS DOING ITS JOB. What Judith Miller did was NOT the work of a free press, what Judith Miller did was act as a propagandist for this new Nazi wing of the Republican Party so that they could have their illegal war. The job of a free press is to report FACTS so that the people can make informed decisions. All the FACTS said the administration was lying about WMD, about Iraq being a threat to America, about Iraq having the ability to launch biological weapons, about a connection between Iraq and the attack on 9-11, about inspectors not being allowed into Iraq. But the "free press" chose to not only ignore the FACTS, the "free press" actively and knowingly suppressed the publication of THE FACTS. If the "free press" wants to take a stand on principle, they’ve picked the wrong case, principle would force them to write editorials on Judith Miller’s collaboration in war crimes. Cary Subject: London Attacks Let's review, Rove is in big trouble. 42% of the US is ready to "I" W. Britain is withdrawing troops from Iraq over the next 18 months and redeploying them in Afghanistan, where they might (oh my) capture/kill bin Laden. Sounds like the time for a headline-grabbing celebrity trial (Saddam) or a terrorist attack. Just saying. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Saddam ... or Rove? While reading the articles on this web site regarding these two ... Saddam's trial will be covered so nothing can come out about Bush ...So we can forget anything coming to light there. They will have that covered ... with James Baker defending him? ... let's get real! So far as Karl Rove ... same principle applies ... it will be covered up, too. And, even if it weren't ... we have lived though the knowledge that they lied about the war ... what else can we hope for? If that is not treason ... nothing is. Bush is teflon -- nothing will happen to him! In my lifetime ... nothing I have ever seen has equaled this administration for getting away with murder ... and Shirley Smith is right ... maybe Judith Miller is more afraid of Karl than jail! If it involved the Bush administration, I certainly would be! Shirley..........St. Louis CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE JULY 7, 2005 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG |
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