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| September 12, 2005 |
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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: Why would Bush waive minimum wage requirements for Katrina contractors? When President Bush signed the law allowing $52 billion in aid for Katrina rebuilding, he also suspended the Davis-Bacon law, which requires federal contractors to pay workers at least the prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted... minimum wage in most cases. Why would they DO this? At a time when local people need to work and rebuild their lives, and the $billions in federal aid is allotted to this task, why would Bush & Co allow the contractors to pay local workers below minimum wage? Bill Bucolo Subject: Where Are the Children? It appears one of the biggest screw ups of all that occurred in that hell hole created by these none caring dogs, was the fact, parents lost contact with over 1500 of their children in this mess and mass confusion in the superdome. This is a bigger mess than we thought. The bush administration's total neglect of our fellow americans, is criminal. These people were in the darkness of the superdome. After help arrived 5 days late, the people were rushed out of this darkness put onto buses. This was a mass rush, with people losing contact with their children before and during the loading of the buses. How can any human, herd people into a dark dome and leave them there for 5 days, without food and water, no toilets, no lights, excrement and urine all over the floor, rapes, murder and the smell of decaying bodies and not let them leave and not let available help in? The people, responsible should receive the maximum punishment. Starting with george bush. Richard Subject: Just a Short Question Now that I have located my daughter in Katrina's aftermath and been assured she is okay, I have two short questions. In all the giving and donating to Katrina victims I have read about in the news.... Has anyone heard about the oil companies donating anything? Or George Bush himself? Mike Curtis Subject: National Geographic Article Written a Year Ago that Describes What Happened in New Orleans Accurately...No Excuses Bushco Click on the link below and make sure and read at least the first five paragraphs, http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/ This article was written a year ago. Chris Subject: Bush Burrito I think the poll of 39% is rather generous. ... The BUSH BURRITO -- criminality: collusion: calamity: incompetence: all wrapped in a Christian motif.... Ron Subject: Laura Bush et al. I was appalled that she was in Mississippi talking about reading to displaced children. Yes, I heard her call Katrina, Corrina. Also, Brown should be fired, as well as Chertoff, he is the Department Head. I was so enraged, hearing Chertoff say that he appointed a new head of FEMA, and Brown would be doing something else. Brown is overwhelmed by all his duties was his statement. Well, a national disaster takes priority. Did anyone hear Limbaugh, I turned him on so I could hear what right wing pablum he was dishing out. He was demeaning the confiscated designer clothes that had entered the country illegally and were being given to the persons who are homeless. I swear he has Ann Coulter call, sounds like her, demeaning the homeless, complaining that Houston has thousands of these welfare dependents. Are these the religious right?? Bush is a Buffone, he thought his teflon coating would never wear off, well, I am so pleased to see the deep scratches. Time to throw him out. Sandra Ruscetta Subject: The victims continue to be victimized by this momentously incompetent bungling maladministration Simply UNBELIEVABLE! This photo op administration strikes again! They announce this 2,000 dollar debit card idea ostensibly to get immediate help to the people who have been displaced and have nothing and then suddenly and abruptly, once it has gotten media play to show that they were supposedly doing something, suddenly cut it off, without explanation. Interestingly, though, the cutoff was done only after the folks in Texas have gotten them. This is the world's biggest most massive screw up imaginable. Now those in other states who are in just as dire a condition are told they will have to go through "traditional channels" and just have to wait patiently. Say what again???!!!? Why just Texas I ask? Yet another political payoff to Bush's cronies like the no-bid contract they awarded to Halliburton for the reconstruction? Whatever the reason this level of bungling is simply breathtaking by any measure. People are once more left without help because of the inexcusable incompetent screw up cronies Bush appointed to head this agency. FEMA Says It Will End Debit Card Plan (AP/Miami Herald) Dan D. Subject: To the BuzzFlash Reader who asked: "Did Laura Bush Really Mispronounce Katrina Hurricane?" You can find the link to Princess Laura identifying the hurricane as Corrina (twice!!) at: Crooks and Liars... Here is their caption along with an accompanying photo of our princess: I know it's hard to believe, but we have all been calling the Hurricane by the wrong name. Laura Bush sets us straight. Video-WMP so far Leslie Subject: Bush, Naturally To my way of seeing it, Steve D has a very good thought. Recall bush. We all talk about impeaching bush, but with the GOP 'owning' virtually everything in Washington, D.C., the likelihood of getting even one republican to join the Democrats in impeaching dimbulb is very remote. We all know that if Clinton did one eighth of what bush has done, he would have been out on his ear long ago. But, the republicans are 'in power.' So, the only way, maybe, to get this guy is through recall. I am not in the know about recalls, but certainly you California folks have had first hand experience with that subject. I am willing to bet that you would have to have petitions circulated. I certainly would sign up to do that. Stephanie [BuzzFlash Note: The problem lies in the differences between federal and California election laws.] Subject: 5 Step Program This should never happen in the richest and most powerful nation on Earth. It is pretty obvious that political mistakes were made which caused the incredibly inept and lethal federal response to Hurricane Katrina. This definitely should not be an in-house white-wash by the White House -- this should be a full fledged independent investigation to find cause and fault and to get rid of those not equal to their tasks. This administration made a huge mistake by downsizing FEMA, removing it from its near cabinet position, and folding it into the monstrous and unmanageable Department of Homeland Security with its 130,000 employees. And a truly disgusting mistake was made by Bush in awarding the leadership of this vital disaster organization to a political crony. FEMA director Michael Brown possessed absolutely no disaster experience -- his chief claim to fame was being fired from his last job with a horse association. Disaster pros in FEMA were not dispatched in advance of this Cat 5 storm even though the White House, FEMA and Homeland Security had plenty of advanced warning it was heading right for the very vulnerable New Orleans. When FEMA workers were belatedly dispatched, their arrival was tied up with paperwork and by staging workers outside the disaster area. Budgets were stripped of funds to repair and strengthen the dikes and levees. The wetlands to the south were compromised so there was no buffer to protect New Orleans' vulnerable southern flank. The government did not dispatch enough helicopters, buses, trucks, generators, national guardsmen, food, water, medical personnel and all the normal life-saving materials and manpower needed in a disaster of this magnitude. Those federal, state and city employees that failed to do their jobs should be fired and replaced immediately. The National Guard members and their equipment in Iraq should be returned to our soil immediately to be ready for the next hurricane that is sure to come with global warming. In short, the federal response was a total deadly failure. There MUST BE an independent investigation to find the causes and fix them before the next major disaster. A White House white wash will not do. Five Immediate steps to be taken: Fire the worthless Michael Brown and the other incompetent FEMA officials, and bring former FEMA Director Witt, with all his disaster experience back to act as interim FEMA director Pull FEMA out of Homeland Security and give it the independence it needs to move fast in responding to disasters Bring the National Guard and their equipment back to our shore where they belong Give the FEMA director cabinet status Assign an independent investigator with full budget, staff and subpoena powers and do it immediately, not later, before another disaster hits our nation. Miguel Lanigan now we want to be sure we have this right. brownie screwed up Katrina so much they had to bring him back to dc so he can concentrate on future disasters to screw up, right? how comforting to know he is in charge if we get a terrorist attack! Randi, Renee and Liz Subject: Neo Clown Jokes [selected] I have gotten to the point where the lies are so OBVIOUS and so ludicrous that I started writing one liners about this super defective group. I am sending some along and I want to encourage other people to start adding to them. I will tell you one thing, once I started telling one liners about not just the Shrubbish and his twigs, but about the stuff being posted on some of the various forums, it was AMAZING how fast the freepers and dittoheads fled the scene. HERE ARE THE JOKES...SOME ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS: What do you call a person who has three jobs including one for Walmart, doesn't make enough money to own a car, needs food stamps to survive and was left dog paddling by FEMA? Most people call them: Evacuees What does Rush Limbaugh call a person who has three jobs including one for Walmart, doesn't make enough money to own a car, needs food stamps to survive and was left dog paddling by FEMA? Most people call them Crackheads What does Rush Limbaugh call someone who makes a living off dirt and selling Oxycontin? His maid What do you call the money that somebody takes for NOT DOING THEIR JOB? A FEMA DIRECTOR'S SALARY What do you call the guy that shovels horse doody out of a stable to keep it clean? A stable hand What do you call the guy that shovels horse doody into microphones and over television? the President and Vice President What do you call somebody who gift wraps horse doody for a living? Karl Rove What do you call someone who describes horse doody as organic brownies? A Republican speech writer (or Frank Luntz for those in the know) What do you call someone that thinks the Astrodome is a housing development? The President's Mother What do liberals/progressives call someone who advocates destroying A Priceless American HEIRLOOM with bulldozers to make hundreds of thousands of Americans homeless or dead? Dennis Hastert and George Bush What do Republicans call it when Democrats want to employ Americans? Unpatriotic and a defeat of Free Trade What do Republicans call it when they start a war for profit? Patriotism What do Republicans call it when money is spent to encourage upward mobility? Welfare What do Republicans call it when minority students make better grades than their children and get into better colleges? Unlawful racial preferences What do Republicans call it when minority students can't afford to go to college? The law of natural selection What do Republicans call it when their children get stock tips before the market? psychic ability What do Republicans call it when they have programs written that change scanned in votes from Democrat to Republican? interpreting the will of the people What do Republicans call it when Democrats refuse to budge on a matter of principle? Blind What do Republicans call it when George W. Bush refuse to admit to actual facts pointed out to him such as: "we are getting creamed in Iraq." Being RESOLUTE Gina de Miranda Subject: "Brownie" Look guys-let's all beat up on "Brownie" and Lord knows he deserves it....but I really don't want to hear from suddenly conscious-stricken members of Congress who are now "shocked" to hear that he lied on his resume. THEY DID NOT DO "DUE DILIGENCE" ON HIS APPOINTMENT. So, let's play the "blame game," OK? Bush is to blame, Brownie is to blame, Congress is to blame. THEY ALL SHOULD GO NOW! JUST LIKE Dr. Seuss' Marvin K. Mooney. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Oklahoma Delegation Ernest Istook has 5 children. None of them are in the military. My Rep. Tom Cole has a son who isn't in the military and won't be. Rep. Frank Lucas has 3 children and none are in the military. Rep. Boren has no children and may not be married. Rep. Sullivan has 4 beautiful children according to his bio. Sen. Coburn has 3 children and 4 grandchildren. The grandchildren are probably too young. Sen. Inhofe has 4 children and 12 grandchildren. There is a picture on his website of the whole bunch and some look old enough to die for their country. Karen Webb Subject: Michael Moore I am a very strong Democrat, and I was thoroughly disgusted with Michael Moore and feel he lost votes during the last election. He was vulgar, and unkempt. Looking and acting the way he did certainly was not convincing. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: A Suggestion for an Illustrated Article I Would Like To See I would like to suggest that you assemble into a single article the quotes of 'compassionate republicans' that I have seen in various articles on your web site. Your articles have included at least 7 outrageous quotes by senior republican officials that I think should be placed in a timeline and ideally placed in a timeline "tree" along with what was actually going on at the time... Things ranging from the idiotic, like Laura Bush not even knowing the hurricane name, which I think corresponded closely in time to things like Broussard's tearful statement on the local emergency director's mother waiting 5 days to finally drown. I think a nice timeline tree that included three elements would be very effective...on the main tree stem a brief timeline of the unfolding disaster, and describing specific incidents like maybe the estimated time of when the 30 people in the old folks home died, or FEMA turning away water or cutting phone lines, and on one side the branches allow pop-ups of statements of people in the city and what was happening to them like the doctors having to decide who died because they did not have enough water, etc. and on the other side the branches show pop-ups of well-known republicans and their statements at that time. ... I think it would be a wonderful "truth tree." Thank you, A BuzzFlash Reader [BuzzFlash Note: Nice idea, if someone else has the time to put into it. The stupid, uncaring quotes have been gathered here: http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/...] Subject: I Just Love the New Spin on Bush's Anger I just love this new one - the drama.
This is so well crafted. Being a screamer would make him like the left (e.g., Howard Dean). Being angry makes him a strong moral man. In other words, let's get to the bottom of this. Clinton, for all his skills, never managed to have the repertoire that they used with Reagan. They used to put his moods out in brilliant PR statements all the time. Although genial, he could be roused to a certain anger by a certain kind of wrong being committed. You really have to be good to get just the right calculation in this, and you have to know your audience so well. Again and again, hats off to Carl Rove. A BuzzFlash Reader President Bush says he no longer wants to play The Blame Game. Okay--What games does our beloved president like to play? How about: Divine rights of the Rich Lying About Most Anything Cronyism My Pet Goat I'm a Hero Give Me My Way or Else! Frat Boys in New Orleans Soak the Poor Vacations Down on the Pig Farm Cowboys and Fascism Can you add to the list? Edith Conrad Subject: Stop Blaming Them CAUTION…here comes a Price News Service rant: Stop it. Stop blaming Them. It was Us. It was you and I who sold out. It was we who diddled with our video remotes and booming stereos and horsepower-choked cars while they embezzled our freedoms. It was we who tolerated a lazy, corrupt national media, we who ignored rampant greed, we who so eagerly swallowed flagrant lies, we who were too full of our false prosperity and fast answers and easy shortcuts to bother seeking even a shred of truth. It was we who sucked up the Kool-Aid. We couldn’t get enough of it. So stop blaming Them. It was Us. We, and we alone, committed this national suicide. Did we resist when a gang of corporate-funded bullies handed our most precious office to a smug, semi-literate, pampered drunk? Did we question, or even notice, when Halliburton pimp Dick Cheney selected himself, selected himself, the vice president of the United States? Did we reject the contemptuous machinations of a sleazy little pseudo-Christian opportunist when oinker Karl Rove repeatedly and openly manipulated his puppet of a candidate? Did we boycott the sponsors of barefaced liars like Rush Limbaugh, or sexual predator Bill O’Reilly, or silly, self-obsessed charlatans like Michael Wiener (call me "Savage,"), or that most sickening, fawning, deceptive, bottom-feeding, phoniest entity of them all, Fox News? Did we eject two-bit hustlers like Tom DeLay from the halls of Congress? Did we ridicule the venomous ramblings of Ann Coulter? Did we dismiss the self-serving sanctimony or Joe Scarborough or Monica Crowley or Sean Hannity or Nancy Grace, or pick your own most disgusting video-phoney? Did we…ah, hell, we didn’t do a damned thing but roll over and gurgle like babies and pretend we still controlled our own futures, that we still owned our own country. We were a nation of downright apathetic, lazy-minded wussies. Are we still? If so, then stop it. Stop blaming Them. And if not, then do something. March. Vote. Demonstrate. Cause trouble. Whatever you think’ll help us through the pain. I look around. This ain't New Orleans. I live in a community protected by the massive strength of the Sierra, with mountains and miles shielding me from any reasonable expectation of danger. I sit here in the cool safety of my peaceful apartment, and find I’m crying. Not because of fear. Because of shame. Mike Price Subject: Bush Trips to Iraq and Afghan All time Photo-Ops. None match these two. Bush traveled 12,000 Miles in the Dark. He landed in Iraq at 5:30 A.M. He was back on the plane ay 8:00 A.M. He had a Thanksgiving "Dinner" with 60 members of the military. Plastic Turkey at 7 AM. Laura flew 12,000 Miles and spent 6 hours on the ground. 24,000 Miles and 8.5 Hours on the Ground. Where is the criticism by the press? Bush flew over Iraq on flight from Africa. Tony Blair landed and spent a full day with his troops. Clarence Swinney Subject: No agenda, just common sense Mark Williams (of "You don't speak for me, Cindy" [Cindy Sheehan] fame) has reached a new low. The self confessed "Jerry Springer Ringer" railed against the victims of Hurricane Katrina on CNN's "ShowBiz Tonight" on Thursday, 8 September. This is the guy whose website is titled: "No Agenda, Just common sense." (If you think this mail is an exaggeration, you can watch the video clip for yourself at http://www.crooksandliars.com/) Some choice quotes: Williams: "They didn't have the necessary brains and common sense to get out of the way of a Cat 5 Hurricane and then when it hit them stood on the side of the convention center expiring while reporters were coming and going. Some in taxi cabs." Morris Reid, a Democratic strategist who was on the show, sat for a moment in disgust and then replied: Reid: "That's just sickening, that is atrocious what you are saying." The subject of Kanye West came up. Williams called him "an Idiot," then pronounced him "a racist." The exchange became heated for a moment and Reid just sat there while Williams blathered. Williams: "The only role race plays in this is that the American black population has been the prototype for an entire race of people being, being turned into a group of dependents of the government, trapped there, I'm using that word very loosely, are screaming we want help, we want help. Blacks are too stupid to get out of the way of a hurricane." The talking hairdo supposedly moderating the discussion did little to control the situation. She basically allowed Williams to hijack the segment. But Reid did manage to get a few words in: Reid: "I'm afraid you shouldn't be an American." I suppose Mr. Williams has now graduated from the depths of "Springer Ringer" to "Full Fledged GOP Attack Dog." I'm sure the pay is much better. You know, if someone could have summoned up the gumption to say "BULL**IT" on the air it would be bleeped, or it would have been subject to an FCC fine. Have you ever seen anything more obscene? (Oh, and on Friday (9 Sept), Jerry Springer played a clip of one of Rush Limbaugh's callers saying that the victims "hit the jackpot" with the $2000 debit cards. Rush egged the caller on, saying that millions in overquota seized designer clothes was being distributed to them. The caller's response: "How much of that will be used to buy crack?") Perhaps CNN ought to give David Duke his own show now: "America: Infected by the N**** and the Jews." Welcome to America 2005, folks. I weep. Donald L Feinberg Subject: What to do about Court OK of detaining US Citizens INDEFINITELY WITHOUT CHARGES Why do we have ANY soldiers ANYWHERE supposedly protecting our rights and freedoms when the courts have taken all the rights away? This thing about the appeals court saying its OKAY to lock up US citizens without charges and throw away the key has my panties in a bunch shall we say. U.S. Can Confine Citizens Without Charges, Court Rules (Washington Post) Wheels a turning... what to do, what to do. What we need is a peaceful act of non-cooperation. Big time! What if at the 9/24 massive peace march's masses of people turned themselves in as enemy combatants? Kinda a JFK-esque"Ich bin ein Berliner!" movement. "Today I am an Enemy Combatant." ???? If the only thing keeping us from being in Jose Padilla's shoes is a declaration by Bush, Ashcroft or now Gonzales that we are enemy combatants, then we are all POTENTIAL enemy combatants. And once you are, you can't do nuttin' 'bout it. And if none of us has the RIGHT to be presumed innocent, and none of us has the RIGHT to a lawyer, and none of us has the RIGHT to a trial by a jury of our peers, then guess what? We no longer have ANY RIGHTS! We walk the streets only on the whim of, or at the pleasure of, those in power. What if masses of people said, okay,"I am an enemy combatant"? [of course it only works as a mass action] They now have a policy of "hold until clear." Force them to hold mass numbers of people until they can prove we are NOT "enemy combatants." What IS an enemy combatant anyway? Jose Padilla didn't blow anything up. He wasn't a member of Al Qaeda. Well, lots of us haven't blown anything up and aren't members of al Qaeda, so what's the difference? So we are ALL enemy combatants. All that separates us is the "declaration." So let's declare it OURSELVES! Pass the word. Linda Wymore Subject: Hastert May Be Correct BuzzFlash, Although I rarely disagree with your excellent editorials, in the case of rebuilding New Orleans, Dennis Hastert may be correct. The extent of the environmental damage done by the break in the levees has hardly been touched upon because of more immediate needs. But the degradation goes far beyond mere flooding. Even if New Orleans is never flooded again, the toxins released by the flooding could make large areas uninhabitable for decades. For a first assessment see the link from Democracy Now. Toxic Soup: The Deadly Floodwaters of New Orleans (Democracy Now) Larry, Subject: brown and fema redux hey buzz... morning...bush and the boys are going to use brown as a scapegoat...i.e. he lied on his resume...we dumped him...we've got a real navy guy running things now..everything is cool...let's get on with it...quit pointing fingers... turn this thing around on them...let's concentrate on their bungling background checks...we can use this bungling as justification for questioning the integrity of all bush nominees, including his judges. bring up kerik to show how close they came to putting him in charge of homeland security...i'm sure you guys have long lists of incompetents haphazardly placed or appointed to high posts by these chickenhawks. let's face it, the arguments we use to question potential judges alienate 51% of the electorate...they don't care about women's rights or constitutional rights...but they may be swayed by proof of incompetence or bungling...the average working joe hates nepotism or cronyism...they may use other words for these concepts...but they simply don't want some know-nothing telling them how to run things. you have to reach out to these people...carpenters hate architects...miners and road construction guys hate engineers...if they find out these guys who are supposed to know what is going on are incompetents rewarded by cronyism they flip. show these guys that all the people in charge are bush-like screw-ups...they've never held a real job...they've had everything handed to them all their lives...bush ain't from texas he's from the ivy league....bush doesn't own or run a ranch he's all hat and no cattle living in a big house that happens to be in texas. if we really want to get the real working classes back on our side we have to concentrate on this approach...don't lose these people with high falutin' rhetoric...reach out with real commentary exposing the neo-cons' bungling and deception...maybe we'll get somewhere. tom coombs Subject: Attention Congressional Democrats Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld should be impeached and then arrested. We know you know in your heart that what Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have done with Iraq far exceeds the moral AND legal test for impeachment. So…. why won't you stand up and say so? Why won't you and your fellow Dems stand up and say what we all know to be true? You have a duty to the American people, yourself and humanity to GO TO THE MAT on this and to do it now. Shut down the government's business if that's what you have to do to move this forward and pound it into the American mind. Use whatever guerilla parliamentary procedure is available to you. Say and do nothing else until the GOP agrees to investigate what any sane and just mind considers horrific crimes. No legislation, no issue, nothing you can personally gain or lose is more important OR POTENTIALLY MORE EFFECTIVE POLITICALLY than this. Certainly from a practical and moral standpoint nothing is more important than cutting this cancer from our government. Our safety, perhaps even our very survival depends on it. Mountains of evidence make clear these people have behaved in ways that make them war criminals and traitors. You must stop them before they take us to war again, before they sell out our national security again. It is your right and your duty to stop them. Only you and your fellow elected congressional Democrats can get this done. This is why the people elected you. Stand shoulder to shoulder, stand tall, get with your fellow elected Democrats down the hall and start saying what you believe. Say it loud, say it together and say it all the time and you will drag the media and the American mind along. Say they have committed impeachable offences, they are destroying our national security and our good name, and they must be held to account. I promise you, in the end, not only will you know you've done the right thing, but politically you'll come out on top. The American people will come to know traitors and criminals in their midst if you show them often enough what they look like. And in the end they will be grateful. Senator Rockefeller, if you let Pat Roberts go back on his word to investigate the administration's use of intelligence, history will never forgive you. History will hunt you down and punish you to the very same degree as those who have committed these despicable acts. Where are you? What could be more important than ensuring our leaders don’t twist intelligence to make fraudulent cases for war? As a member of the United States Senate you have the power to make sure this goes forward. You will have to put it on the line to be sure, but this is the right thing to do. Senator, we beg you, live up to your name. Stand tall in important ways. Congressman Rangel, that was a very nice press release regarding all the killing in Iraq and when will it stop. Thank you for your words. Since you penned them, 60 more young, impressionable (presumably disadvantaged) Americans have died in Iraq. Words are no longer enough. Our country needs action. Congressman Waxman, thank you for all your letters to the administration and the GOP leadership. You have shown you know right from wrong. But you have done little else. They are not listening. They don’t care. They have nothing but contempt not only for you, and for much of what America is supposed to be about. Your letters have proven to be entirely inadequate. And Congressman Conyers ... along with Congressman Waxman you have said, written, and requested much from and about this administration. You have said a lot of words that needed to be said. But now it is clear we need different words now. We need words like IMPEACHEMENT and ARREST. Words like TREASON and HIGH CRIMES. We the American people need to hear words like SOLD OUT THE SECURITY OF OUR COUNTRY, OF OUR CHILDREN AND OUR LOVED ONES in order to try and COVER UP THEIR FRAUDLENT CASE FOR WAR. And we need to hear it from you and all your fellow congressional Democrats EVERY DAY. These are simple concepts. And once you push these words and ideas into the American mind the game will be over. Congressional Republicans will then truly fear for their own jobs. And with good reason. YOU WILL COME OUT ON TOP POLITICALLY. In fact, you have the chance to crush the Republican Party. With this war and the way in which we were driven to it you have the great weight of the truth. That truth has the potential to crush the conservative movement. You all owe your constituents a course of action that is effective. At this point it is clear the intransigence of this administration and the GOP leadership knows no bounds. And thus it is clear that NOTHING you will do will have any effect at all, short of standing with your fellow Democrats and doing whatever possible to shut-it-all-down until open, good faith, adequately funded and staffed congressional investigations are underway and these ideas are front and center in our media culture. America deserves nothing less. America as we know it depends on your actions in the next weeks and months. You can do it. You must do it. God speed… Domingo Chavez Subject: Aristotle....
A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: We, the People Are we, the people, with the same apathy and lack of demand of accountability, going to take the crimes committed in Louisiana as we have taken the rest of the Bu$h Crime Co. against humanity? When did America stop being the land of the free and the home of the brave to become the land of the contemporary slaves and the home of the cowards? Although billions and billions have been spent for "homeland security" and there was enough time to prepare for the consequences of a hurricane, can you imagine what would have happened if the catastrophe would have been caused by a terrorist attack? How come it took five days for the Liar in Chief to start paying attention to the disaster, nevertheless, he cut his vacation short in the Schiavo matter? Isn't it the duty of we, the people, to take our country back when the crimes, corruption and ineptitude has been proven? ....just asking. Jocelyn Subject: Re: Battling Perceptions It appears that the Bush administration has taken cynicism to a new level. Recall that casualties from Hurricane Katrina were estimated possibly as high as 10,000 just in the city of New Orleans by its mayor. Gearing up for ultimate damage control, midweek Karl Rove and his minions leaked forecasts to susceptible media personnel (who should have seen the bald-faced lie for what it was) that 25,000 body bags had been ordered -- in Memphis, Tennessee, the count was put at 40,000 -- and in each report was duly noted the admonition that the "leakers" were prohibited by government officials (meaning federal) from giving more specific information. Why not estimate high while public sentiment is running strongly against the administration and its mismanagement of this country's gravest natural disaster? The damage was done; it was time to throw out some smoke bombs to cover for their craven indifference. After all, with plummeting poll ratings more could be gained over the long term than lost, right? The classic Rovian strategy (manipulating perception, manufacturing reality) proved correct, yet again. Now in media reports far and wide there are collective sighs of relief that only thousands perished, but most certainly not as many as predicted. Whew! To wit:
And the sighs of "relief" are duly heard around the world: It could have been worse. It could have been worse. Now go tell that to the victims who lost their loved ones and their homes and their livelihoods and don't have two cents to rub together. It could have been worse. Wheew! There are literally dozens of similar reports surfacing. Oh, that's not soooo bad! Gee, the Bush administration has only "eliminated" thousands of innocent lives, not tens of thousands. Oh, that's not nearly soooooo bad. Frankly, the back of my neck is beet red from rank indignation. How dare they minimize this tragedy? How dare they? And then there's this matter of the official death toll where the numbers have no meaning. Reports reflect that 100 perished in a warehouse, but it's not reflected in the toll. Reports reflect that 12 perished at the Convention Center, but it's not reflected in the toll. Where is the official number for the Superdome? Has that been lost amid the distraction of the latest photo-op? A doctor who worked in triage at Louis Armstrong International Airport (a professional with decades of disaster experience, who stated without equivocation that this experience is the very worst of the worst he has ever seen) is devastated that hundreds -- hundreds -- died there because they could not be properly cared for, and he attributed their deaths to a lack of adequate medicines and supplies and countless delays, but those numbers are not reflected in the official toll. Reports reflect that 32 perished at an outlying nursing home, but those fatalities are not reflected in the official count -- yet. As of yesterday, the 9th, the official toll for the entire state of Louisiana was 62. 62! Reports also surfaced that five -- count them -- five tractor-trailer loads of corpses were dispatched to the emergency morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Those figures are not included in the death toll. One mortician from Chicago was interviewed about her work in identifying the dead, and one comment she made struck me as particularly salient; that is, she will be prosecuted by FEMA if she discusses the numbers of victims that are being "processed" with the media. Will a whistleblower come forward in the future to whisper to some reporter that the official count is incredibly low by thousands, that the official numbers are a lie? A few reports are already surfacing that Mexican illegals are too afraid to approach FEMA or the Red Cross for assistance for fear of deportation (and remember ICE is on the job in New Orleans), which serves to explain why Vicente Fox dispatched a Mexico-flagged hospital ship to the Gulf Coast region and also directed his Consulate personnel in the U.S. to get the word out that the Mexican victims of Katrina can apply for cash and other aid directly at any Mexican Consulate in the meantime. Would those Mexican families leave their dead behind in New Orleans (to be bagged and tagged and counted)? Not on your life. Mexicans revere their families, much more so than Americans (their families are their very center) and doing such a thing would strike at everything in which they believe. Vietnamese, as reported in The Houston Chronicle, are refusing to turn to "refuge centers" for help, placing a tremendous burden on the Vietnamese community in the Gulf region, especially Texas. And there were countless other nationalities (both legally and illegally living in the disaster area) placed at risk when Katrina came ashore. Will the fatalities among all those groups be counted in the official death toll? On Saturday there were reports that military personnel ARE picking up bodies even while other reports insist they are not; so who can we believe after CNN had to take FEMA to court on Friday over the right to document and film the collection of the deceased who were left to rot and feed rodents for almost two weeks on the sidewalks and roadways and in the floodwaters of New Orleans? Ask yourself this question, would this corrupt administration do everything in its considerable power to mitigate the damage to its prestige and reputation by corrupting the count? In the future will we read and hear that an untold number of persons cannot be accounted for, that perhaps they wandered off or relocated and simply failed to inform their relatives and friends for any number of unknown reasons but that, indeed, they were not a casualty of this administration's bungling and ineptitude? What will the official fatality count be and how many will be characterized as merely "missing"? But, hey, Karl's got his mojo back. "Numbers so far are relatively minor." Sharon Andrews Subject: Excuses and Cover-ups for Dummies! Oil for every excuse wheel and enough grease to go around to cover their mistakes! This must stop! If there is one thing I give the BUSH/ROVE/REPUBLICANS credit for, it is that they are good at burying their old bones. Some are buried so deep we will have a hard time finding them, some they forgot where they even buried them, and many more will continue to be hidden from the American public. From military records, records of their nominees, dissenting opinions about Iraq war, dead body counts in Iraq and New Orleans, criminal acts of outing a CIA agent for revenge, Downing Street Memos, UK Briefings, and government agencies altered or changed data, Poppy’s big time cover-ups, it's going to take some heavy machinery to dig up the truth about BLUNDERS, SECRECY, BAD APPOINTMENTS, NO PLANNING, EXCUSES, COVER-UPS! Torture, Abuse, Rendition, are three big meaty bones that the government and the media will never totally reveal. Abu Ghraib heads the list.
It’s the same old tired excuse: Yesterday, Bush vowed to press forward in the fight against terrorism, saying, "The world’s civilized nations face a common enemy, an enemy that hates us, because of the values we hold in common. The terrorists have a strategy: They want to force those of us who love freedom to retreat, to pull back so they can topple governments in the Middle East and turn that region into a safe haven for terrorism." BUT Few adults in the United States are satisfied with how George W. Bush is dealing with the coalition effort, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates for the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 34 per cent of respondents approve of the way the U.S. president is handling the situation in Iraq, down three points since May. More Americans Decry Bush’s Handling of Iraq (angus-reid.com/polls) The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein’s regime was launched in March 2003. At least 1,895 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 14,300 troops have been injured. Now, about Katrina we have heard Bush, Cheney, Barbara Bush, the military under thumb of Bush, the media and most Republicans and their pundits all trying to defray the damage, an old Rovian ploy! Daniel Kurtzman’s article is called: 25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath. ... More Ineptness when Mr. Bush uses the recess to appoint, or in his weakness SNEAK, the unqualified Bolton, as Ambassador to the UN which Bolton has always devalued! Now our British Allies are complaining!
It seems George W. Bush, his Administration, and the Republicans have enough grease to spread around to cover their mistakes, and oil for every wheel or blunder. It’s time we see the wheels are clearly falling off and IMPEACH George and get rid of his excuse makers and supporters in Congress! Susan Carr Subject: Spinning the Death Toll? Does anyone else think it's suspicious that after strong predictions of 10,000-40,000 people possibly lost to Katrina that now all of a sudden on EVERY media outlet they are spinning the same story that the death toll may not be as high? Of course it's a sensitive issue and it would be great news if it were lower in reality, but the sudden change sounds fishy (or Rovian). Why have the media been barred from covering the count and why are officials not allowed to comment? Obviously the higher the count the worse it gets for those who failed in their job to protect disaster victims. How will we know if they're telling us the truth? A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Canadian and German Offers Yes, the Canadian Government did offer to help. The German government wanted to send over a water purification machine. According to the German Government, the U.S. never responded. Also, I am tired of hearing the death toll may not be as high. I recall someone on one of the networks stating that alligators were swimming in the flooded waters. I am attempting to be delicate and sensitive to the deceased. OH, God, what has become of our Country????? Also, why is Chertoff still around?? Is it that no one wants to serve under Bush???? Sandi Ruscetta CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG |
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