 |
|||
| September 16, 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: Rebuilding of... the President? Why does the media keep trying to prop this President up as something he's not? In your interviews with Howard Fineman and David Gregory you imply that what he does from this point on will instruct his final judgment by the American people - as though another speech can rectify all the years of evidence that his portrayed compassionate character is quite the contrary. No matter how the major media outlets in this country, whose owners and thus their employees, have benefited mightily from this administration, try to rebuild his character, it's too late. What (finally) became painfully obvious to millions of his supporters, but known to half this country, was the fact that this is a man who was brought up in a much different world than most Americans, how else to explain the incredulous detachment at what was obviously becoming his domestic Waterloo two weeks ago? (no pun intended) Maybe a little insight into the origin of his true character could be illustrated by those who formed it, the aristocratic comments his mother made in Houston, and the clannish defense mechanism his father made the same day in regards to any criticism of their son. This is a man whose "folksy" style can no longer cover his immense lack of substance. What we had in his initial reaction to Katrina was no more than an extended version of his initial reaction to 9/11. A man who seemingly cannot grasp the implications of anything. Without the aid of his political advisors, he doesn't have a director to supply him the motivation for anything he subsequently does in his portrayal of a President who cares. He obviously lacks even the basic emphatic skills of a method actor to pull it off himself. This might explain his obvious pained struggle with expressing any words of personal responsibility for any mistakes he's "never" made. He doesn't believe he has, and it's obvious, but his advisors have calculated, and it has always worked for him, that no matter if he means what he says, his performance will appear genuine and that of a common man, one as portrayed by the sycophantic media as the guy we would rather have a beer with. One need only look at the follow-up deeds of the man with the bullhorn, the betrayal of the promises made to NYC in the form of the distribution of Homeland Security funds, the obvious meaningless of the countless cowboy catch phrases "dead or alive,""bring 'em on" ad nauseum, in what has become the phony pursuit of the man he "no longer thinks that much about," who continues to perpetrate terrorism around the world, the man who didn't hesitate to come to the grotesque defense of a brain dead woman to placate his base who represent our own form of religious radicalism here in the U.S., the man who didn't hesitate to find humor for the inner-belt-crowd in his presentation of a slide show on the hunt for WMD, the man who made a joke of his longing for a dictatorship in our country, "as long as he's the dictator," and most recently the man who "told" the press, when it began to wake from a long sleep, in the universal gesture of a single digit, "f**k you" as he strode through the Capitol... I could go on and on and on... What we have here, finally, is the cumulative effect of the portrayal of a "leader," buoyed by a lazy, complicit press corps, who continue to find a perverse humor in his show (with the exception of a week of incredulous, obviously effective questioning) that doesn't bode well for our future (or the present, for that matter). In only the last few days there's been no substantial change in this President or his party. The rescinding of the Davis-Bacon Act, the no-bid contract awards to his cronies whose eventual profits continue to line the pockets of his Vice-President, the vote to kill any bipartisan investigation (shades of the 9/11 commission) by the Senate yesterday...it's all the same dog and pony show, with the same divisive results. He doesn't get it, his Party doesn't get it, and they never will, the receptors are dulled. All we can do is hope that the press can see beyond the source of their paychecks with their dubious involvement in all of this, and refuse them the benefit of the doubt for once and for all. I, for one, have little hope they will, but who knows, maybe the continuing, off the page for now, tragedy that is Iraq will return to the forefront where it belongs and continue to illustrate their incompetence - for this was their man-made disaster, one where culpability is more readily assigned and it's apparent the American public is seeing it for what it is...finally. While we can blame God for Katrina, and they already have the usual culprits to blame for his "wrath," Iraq is theirs - and, in some ways, like their take on the victims of Katrina at their moment of reckoning ... only God can save them now. Sincerely, Jeff Chandler Subject: Deep Denial Dear BuzzFlash, We've been seeing a lot of commentary on the order of "At last everyone is seeing how inept this administration is. Bush's days are numbered." I want to think this is so. However, I have a sinking feeling the spin machine will, incredibly, once again make everything right for our fearless leaders. If this is permissible may I quote a letter-to-the-editor that appeared in my daily paper this morning? "Why are you so intent on demeaning the federal government? The response to Hurricane Katrina was proper and appropriate. The shame is yours, not the president's." This is an articulate person, yet he cannot see the obvious. We are a nation of weakened, fearful sheep. I am truly losing hope. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Sent to Brian Williams (nightly@nbc.com) Your much touted claim that the media has taken its gloves off baffles me. You see, I feel the gloves have been off for a long time as far as reporting on just about anything or anybody that dared to disagree with the Bush administration. They were certainly off for Bill Clinton (in a way unsurpassed in our history), not to mention a slew of other people, such as anyone who criticized George Bush's agenda. They were certainly off when the anti-war protests were going on - I mean God help anyone who argued against the war. And Al Gore? Let's not even go there. You know what I'm talking about. I can list so many times the gloves were off it would take up all of the memory on my computer. Before the media starts patting themselves on the back about how well they're reporting on the Katrina situation, maybe you all should ask yourself why the gloves have been on (but only for Bush and his cronies) for so long. And maybe make up your mind about what to do with the gloves once and for all - on or off? You are really not courageous. You're merely doing your job now. I'm curious to see how long that will last. BuzzFlash, you don't wear gloves and thank goodness for that. Barbara in NYC Subject: Kings and fools speak freely!
The Dutch say that Kings and fools speak freely. George W. Bush qualifies for both areas. King George, acting with the media who is mostly in servitude towards him, says, “Speak freely as long as you agree with my orders and the opinions in my Court. {Excuse me, my Administration ...} There will be some topics we won’t be able to ignore and those we will downplay, and some we will refuse to talk about and let run out of steam." Americans who are politically alert know the latter by heart. Only fools use the same political ploys over and over again, even after evidence and time disproves the rhetoric. Mr. Bush in order to stop the hemorrhage of his popularity and job approval reaching extreme danger has put his TOE in the pool of fallibility, TEMPORARILY. He has been practicing tonight’s message discipline all day {so say his political advisors} with the idea the media, the military, and his spin doctors will continuously parrot his words for the next few days. George’s accountability can not stop with weak excuses, he has made choices and appointments in his term of office more times then he will ever admit that have been and still are detrimental to our nation! Dollars to doughnuts he will put blame on others for politicizing the disaster of Katrina, and departments not talking to each other AGAIN. This has been the repetitive argument of this Administration, which refuses to take responsibility for their actions! It is Georgie and cohorts who are famous for their “blame game.” Ask Clarke, O’Neill, Kerry, Valerie Plame, and so many others about being at the receiving end of their barbs or revenge. It is Georgie and his Cabinet who have been at fault, while rank and file, or the appointed scapegoats, have been punished. WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT PLAMEGATE AND THOSE IN YOUR ADMINISTRATION WHO KNEW, INCLUDING YOU, GEORGE, AND YOUR FAVORED CRONIES! WE DEMAND ACTION!
From a true American hero, John Conyers, the Resolution excerpt states: {please read the whole Resolution at link}
The last few days in Iraq, violence has hit new levels, and despite the military’s fancy- named Operations, the insurgency is alive and not in its lasts throes. Money that would have helped our nation is still poured into Bush’s failure of this unwarranted war, and Bush can not escape blame for that, or for the 2000 soldier deaths, or 14000 plus injuries DOD has accounted for in Iraq. Afghanistan is experiencing the same thing with more deaths this year than in previous years. Time after time we hear a “committee” usually under Republican and Bush control will be suggested. What do Bush Committees look like? Sir Barnett Cocks had the perfect description when he said, “[Committee:] a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled!” In the words of Richard Roeper, the situation of the Bush Administration's blunders are correctly stated: Say that again? 'Things are going relatively well'
Well it better be, that is if Americans wake up and take control from the Republicans! Unlike in Nature, where lightning hits the highest, blame always strikes lowest in this Bush Administration, and no mealy-mouthed words from our so-called leader tonight will change that one iota! Susan Carr Subject: Well, since he's finally admitted "responsibility" for SOMETHING, why stop?? The Chimp in Chief -- spurred (and I'd bet my life and my cats' lives on this one) by poll numbers at the bottom of the toilet rather than any crisis of personal conscience (Hell, he doesn't even HAVE a conscience!) -- FINALLY accepted a formal, DISTANCED "responsibility" -- ha! He's never even accepted the "R" word for his DUIs! Or for going AWOL from the National Guard!) This "wink, nod" version of "I, as Chimp...oops! President of this great country of ours must take on the burden of responsibility for everyone else's screw-ups. Of course, I'm not PERSONALLY responsible; after all, "Brownie" and the state/local authorities were REALLY responsible, but I, as your God-appointed leader, will step forth stoically and assume my share of the blame." Yeah, right. As if he really THINKS he's responsible. My only comfort -- and it's probably a SMALL comfort for the poor who've now been displaced into other states where their initial welcome may soon wear thin. I mean, THINK about it: how will they find homes (beyond shelters)? How will they get jobs? How will they even locate family members relocated to OTHER states and shelters? Yes, I'm sure there were screw-ups on the state and local levels as well. But FEMA had several days' warning of Katrina's course and potential force. Where WERE they? Even more critical, where the hell will Homeland Security (an Orwellian term if I ever heard one) be if a terrorist attack -- like the one we were warned of long before 9/11 -- occurs, as it almost certainly will, again? Think about it: we had weather maps and forecasts predicting, quite accurately, as it turned out, the path of Katrina. Our network of protection totally blew it despite several days' advance warning. I realize, of course, that -- just as 9/11 was ALLOWED to happen: what better justification for the elimination of civil rights, the institution of the "PATRIOT" act, the traffic-light signals issued every time the Chimp's support looked shaky or people like us started asking too many questions? -- another terrorist attack can be allowed to happen if the situation (from the Chimp's viewpoint) gets REALLY desperate. As I've mentioned in previous mailings, New Jersey's (I had relatives there; we'd drive in from NY; I know what the unsecured ports are like) and other states' vulnerable areas are ripe for the picking. Or bombing. Meanwhile, the Democrats (I wish we had an alternative, and I don't mean Ralph Nader!!) are fawning all over John Roberts. I was just listening to NPR and got the sound bite: he named two films that he actually LIKED -- and was let off the hook. Meanwhile, New Orleans (and the rest of the affected Gulf area) seems to be up for grabs among people who want to abandon it and let it rot -- and the Halliburton-like sharks who want to rebuild it into (a) a grand-scale version of Disney World or (b) a chain of gated communities for the Chimp's constituency: "the haves and have mores." Thank the universe (and Buzz) for a chance to vent to a like-minded community. Creating this website was/is no small accomplishment! Barb in Athens, GA Subject: Geekin' at the UN A few mailbag contributors have pointed out the coke jaw motions the president sometimes makes. I was watching him with my mom once and told her what those strange tics were. She said she hopes that one day he gets a nosebleed right on camera. I noticed in his remarks before the Security Council yesterday that he had those special geekin tics again. Then came the photo of the note. If you notice in his little note to Condi, he says he needs a bathroom break. Doesn't mention functions #1 or #2 (not that I'd expect him to write 'must...pinch...loaf...'). So here's my question - since he is a federal employee, who can insist he take a drug test? Although right wing world would go crazy with treatment of this president that was any less than worshipful demagoguery, I don't think having the president submit to a blood or urine test is any worse than asking President Clinton to drop trou so that Paula Jones could identify his offending member (and I don't mean Dick Morris). I too wish we could recall him and know that Congress will never impeach him. We need a third way. I believe a drug bust is just the thing. Jess Wundrun Subject: Delta and Northwest Bankruptcies I question the caption, Why do Delta and Northwest Get Full Bushevik Compassion in Filing for Bankruptcy, but a Victim of Hurricane Katrina Doesn't? 9/15 To begin with, I read the article you were linking, and found it to be factual, but pretty much unsympathetic. Perhaps, you just don't like anything which smells of a large corporation, even if the ones bearing the brunt are the middle class employees, very much like most of your readers. Since I am a retired Delta employee, I am somewhat sensitive to losing my pension and benefits, having given the company 30 years of my life. I would suggest that BuzzFlash might link this article ... The High Price of Airline Deregulation (alternet) ... to get some history of airline deregulation. When I think back to drug testing, and two-tiered wage scales, combined with deregulation, I think that, just maybe, the airlines might be the canary in the coal mine which will one day affect a good many more people than merely airline employees. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: The Media and George Bush Dear Buzz, The Wheels will come off the Media Bandwagon. Maureen Dowd published a nice column on September 7 (“Haunted by Hesitation”), in which she attacks the Bush administration for their many disastrous failures. It appears she’s mad as heck and isn’t going to take it any more. That’s nice, but as far as I’m concerned she has no credibility left. Maybe she’s loved by those in the Beltway in-crowd whose conventional wisdom she has channeled so well for so long. The list of her sins of omission and commission over the years is so long and tedious that I can bring myself to touch upon only the worst examples: The Clinton “scandals,” from Whitewater itself through the alleged trashing of the West Wing by departing Clinton staffers, to “Filegate,” the Rose law firm’s “lost” billing records, and all the way to the lie that the Clintons backed a U-Haul up to the White House to loot the place as they left. (Dowd was writing figuratively. She spread all these and other uncorroborated stories even though she should have known (and I imagine she did) there was never more than an ounce of truth – or less – in them. The kindest thing that can be said of her past performances is that she seems to have intentionally disabled the built-in bullshit detector that every good writer is supposed to have. She and others in the media got on the anti-Clinton bandwagon and never would climb down, no matter how often reality-based observers pointed out that there never was anything to these smears. The anti-Clinton partisans spent some $70 million investigating the president, and all they could come up with was that he did naughty things with an intern and tried to keep his wife from finding out. Jimmy Breslin, in his Watergate book “How the Good Guys Finally Won: noted that “. . . there is no such thing as an audit being done and nothing being found. If the IRS auditor doesn’t find something amiss, his pencils are taken away from him and he has to write all reports with a buffalo nickel.” The same thing holds true for Congressional committees and impeachment trials, and so we can conclude that Bill Clinton was probably the least fraudulent man in Washington. I imagine that if anyone spent $70 million investigating Dowd and her colleagues at the Times pretty much all of them would be in Leavenworth wishing they had it as good as Judith Miller. Here’s the money quote from her September 7 column: “The water that breached the New Orleans levees and left a million people homeless and jobless has also breached the White House defenses. Reality has come flooding in. Since 9/11, the Bush administration had been remarkably successful at blowing off ‘the reality-based community,’ as it derisively calls the press. “But now, when W., Mr. Cheney, Laura, Rummy, Gen. Richard Myers, Michael Chertoff and the rest of the gang tell us everything’s under control, our cities are safe, stay the course – who believes them? “This time we can actually see the bodies.” Some quote, huh? Now first of all, this is the first time I’ve even entertained the idea that the phrase “reality-based community” could ever apply to the mainstream media. I can understand that the folks who had carried Republican water for so many years would rush to wrap themselves in the mantle of those who never drank the Bush administration Kool-Aid. But Dowd drank deep, and if she had any shame she would never make the comparison. Second of all, why did Dowd et al. ever believe “W., Mr. Cheney, Laura . . . and the rest of the gang”? The bodies have been visible for a very long time, even if Dowd and her buddies have kept telling us to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain – nor to the bodies piled up in Baghdad, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Arlington National Cemetery. Third of all, though I have no idea why they did all this, I have even less interest in finding out whatever they might claim their motives to have been. They have been so duplicitous for so long, I have no reason or desire, to talk to them about anything. Some of them are climbing on the anti-Bush bandwagon, which is kind of nice, but no more than that. Dowd’s colleague at the Times, David Brooks, on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer on September 2, said Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath might herald a sea change in our political culture. This sentiment is at best premature, if not downright fanciful. Thomas Friedman noted in his Times column, also published September 7, that if “Mr. Bush learns the lessons of Katrina, he has a chance to replace his 9/11 mandate with something new and relevant. If that happens, Katrina will have destroyed New Orleans, but helped to restore America. If Mr. Bush goes back to his politics as usual, he’ll be thwarted at every turn. Katrina will have destroyed a city and a presidency.” That, of course, depends on whether the media embrace President Bush’s policies or his PR. For some reason many, if not most, of those in the media saw fit even in the teeth of the evidence to support President Bush and all his pomps and works. The only thing that has changed because of Hurricane Katrina is that writers and pundits throughout the land have realized that the arrogance and incompetence of the Bush administration might endanger even them. Though the administration had five days to prepare for Katrina they did nothing, and people like Brooks, Friedman, and Dowd now are forced to ask what would happen if terrorists were to strike without giving any warning, as they tend to do. Some of us recall that media people reacted the same way to the Rodney King riots in 1992. For about a week they were afraid that the police would be unable to protect them. Then they were afraid that the National Guard could not protect them. But after about a week they realized that they could rely on the regular Army, and they weren’t afraid any more. After Katrina there seemed to be no similar comfort available to Brooks and Friedman and Dowd. They now may be less inclined to forgive, cover up, and forget the malfeasance of President Bush and his administration. But this will last only until they begin to believe that in case of a disaster they would be able to scramble aboard a helicopter and fly away. Once this happens, Mr. Bush can go back to his politics as usual, and Dowd can go back to channeling the Washington insiders I wish I could believe that the newfound media concern over the Bush gang’s incompetence in everything but corruption and cronyism will last beyond their immediate fears, but I think we all know it won’t. The corporate agenda will reassert itself, reporters will file upbeat stories of the recovery of New Orleans, and once more we’ll be told that George Bush, our Courageous and Glorious Emperor, has a really nifty suit of clothes It would be nice if public radio and television could have become what it was meant to be, a source of information not dependent on any commercial largesse. But the media remain corrupted and the Bigfoots eventually will find their complacency again. Though it's nice to have some of them for once on the side of truth and justice, we can safely assume the situation won't last. If we mean to save our Republic, it wouldn't hurt us to recall the Roman orator Cato the Elder, who ended every speech with the catchphrase “And Carthage must be destroyed.” We can adapt this for our own times: Et delenda est Arbuscula. Pass it on. Glenn Edwards Subject: Supreme Snub? One thing I haven't seen brought up in all that I've read and heard about the John Roberts Chief Justice deal is what the other justices think. Oh, sure, we know Rehnquist was fond of him, but would even he have approved making the kid Chief? Scalia must be wearing a 24/7 Red Ass over this. I mean, hasn't he been the image of that court for years now, despite Rehnquist being the titular head? He surely had aspirations to succeed him on the top chair, given his outsized ego and being such a close pal of Dick Cheney, his ol' duck-hunting buddy. I can understand why Bush didn't go for him when Rehnquist bit the Big One, as he (or someone smarter, like Barney) knew a shitstorm would ensue had he even dared think aloud about upgrading Fat Tony to Capo-di-tutti-capo. But how does it sit with Scalia that Roberts, not even voted in yet as an associate, quickly gets star billing? To a lesser extent, the other justices have to be a bit miffed as well, even though the more liberal ones know they had as much chance at being chosen as Jacques Chirac. Which begs the question that any harmony on the court may be stifled by jealousy and resentment. It'll be fun watching Roberts try to lead without being seen as some uppity wet-behind-ears squirt who needs to be spanked on a regular basis. Frank Calandra Subject: Thank you Dear BuzzFlash, Thank you very much for this article and the links. I e-mailed ALL 54 senators, asking them why they voted not to investigate the Hurricane Katrina problems, wondering why they don't care about American lives and those who suffered and died because of the government. This made it much easier for me to find their e-mail addresses. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Judy Bauer Subject: Don't Be on our Side Where the Hell were you last November? Oh my, many of those who voted for this corrupt, inept and delusional administration are seeing the error of their ways. Too bad! Where the hell were you last November when 48 million of us all ready knew what was what? You were all hiding under the bed begging Bush, the war president who never went to war, to protect your sorry butts. When did this country become a nation of cowards? After 9/11 all those timid soccer moms and brainless NASCAR dads only wanted their hero the great warrior G. Bush to protect them. So nearly 2000 more Americans are dead in a war with a country that never threatened us in any way. Now you’re starting to get it? Too damn late. Culture of life? Who do you think you’re kidding? You were all out there worrying about gay marriage, which is none of your damn business, and abortion. Don’t like abortion? Don’t get one. Don’t like the morning after pill? Don’t take them. But mind your own damn business and let the rest of us do what we think is right. You were all up in arms and so sure that Bush was the man to keep you safe. We will fight them over there so that we don’t have to fight them over here. Let’s see, just under 3000 people died in the towers and just under 2000 have died in Iraq. How in the hell are we safer now? Does it really matter where someone dies? They are just as dead because we sent them to Iraq as those who died on 9/11. And what about the terrorists? We’ve helped recruitment enormously. Don’t you feel proud? People are all excited because more and more people seem to be seeing the light about Bush and his merry band of buffoons. Not me. I don’t want to stand beside, talk to, or even know anyone driving around with a Bush Cheney sticker on their SUVs. You are responsible for the death and destruction that this administration has wrought. Don’t be on my side. I don’t want you there. If you start to think the way I do then I can’t be thinking intelligently anymore. Go away. You aren’t worthy to have an opinion. Marjorie L. Swanson Subject: I Have to Go to the Bathroom I may be just an old hippie but the first thing that came to me while reading DER BUSHER's note to Honey Rice was that it was code for "I need another Shot (or pill or smoke), The last one is wearing off. Remember that we are talking about an addict. Jim Subject: Force the Republicans to Accept an Independent Commission on Katrina According to public opinion polls the vast majority of Americans support the creation of an independent commission, yet a motion to create just such a commission was just voted down in the Senate along strict party lines. This is not surprising as even a superficial examination of the events leading up to the Katrina disaster points to criminal negligence on the part of the current congressional leadership. Though responsibility for failures of execution rightly lies with the executive branch it was the actions and inactions of the legislative branch that set the table for those failures. It was congress that passed the budgets that chronically under funded the Army Corps of Engineers levee projects in New Orleans. It was congress that passed the homeland security bill that deconstructed FEMA and placed it within the DHS bureaucracy. And finally it was congress that approved the incompetent appointees President Bush nominated to head those agencies. The majority, therefore, has no interest in an objective review of the mistakes that lead to the deaths of thousands of American citizens, but such a review is indisputably a vital necessity. Following the tragic events of 9/11 there was a similar demand for investigation and accountability from the public, and a similar effort on the part of congressional Republicans to whitewash the political and institutional failures that preceded those events. That effort to avoid accountability ultimately failed, but it took a year of campaigning by the families of the victims of 9/11 to eventually force the Republican leadership to do their duty. It then took another year for the commission to complete its exhaustive work. Their recommendations were then passed on to the congress, which, under the leadership of the Republican majority, chose instead to enact tax cuts and bankruptcy reform. Now, thanks to Katrina, the cost of those delays due to Republican obstructionism can be measured in thousands of lives. The simple, undeniable truth is that another such catastrophe could occur at any time and would likely strike without warning. The hurricane season is not over, and tsunami, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks could hit our nation at any moment. Can we reasonably expect the people and institutions that failed us so abysmally in the face of Katrina, a disaster they saw coming three days in advance, to protect us from those dangers which would come upon us unawares? Clearly we cannot, and yet we must, for until those people are replaced and institutions reformed we have nothing else. Time, clearly, is critical. Even as you read these words thousands of lives hang in the balance and the obstructionism of the Republican leadership cannot be allowed to continue to put our lives at risk. This moral failure on the part of the majority makes it vital that the minority step forward and do all they can to force the congressional leadership to do their duty. In our democracy a minority has few real options to confront those in power. It seems at times that all they have is vocal dissent, yet, thanks to the structure of our republic and the rules of the Senate, vocal dissent can at times be enough. To put it plainly, what our nation needs is an old fashioned filibuster. Until the current leaders of our government are willing to perform the most fundamental task of government and act to protect the lives of our citizens, they should not be permitted to advance any portion of their political agenda. The minority must prevent the passage of any and all legislation that is not strictly necessary for the security and well being of the American people and block all nominations, even those to the Supreme Court. This may seem like an extreme measure, but the situation we face is itself extreme. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, have already died due to the unwillingness of the Republican leadership to do its duty to the American people. And thousands more stand to die if they cannot be compelled to finally act in the national interest instead of pursuing a narrow partisan agenda. Those moderates and centrists in the Democratic party who would normally counsel compromise must be made to understand that to allow the leadership any opportunity to evade responsibility for their role in these tragic events would be a betrayal of the American people. Now more than ever this nation needs real leadership and the refusal of the Republican majority to show that leadership has made it essential that the Democratic minority step forward to fill the void. Theo McCarthy Subject: To All Those Who Are Just Now Questioning Bush For years I have been doing what I could to show you what a criminal the man and his gang are. I pointed out that you were being cheated, your sons sent to die for his own gains, and how he care not at all for anyone but himself. I am glad that you are now seeing the light that the self appointed "leader" of our nation is a sociopath. But I lived in New Orleans for many years. Dear God, why did my friends have to die for you to see it? Mike Curtis Subject: Thanks For Being Here For Us BuzzFlash Greetings BuzzFlash and fellow Buzzers. Boy oh Boy, BuzzFlash, you guys really know how to rise to an occasion. Some of the letters in your mailbag today took my breath away. Major thanks to Remi Kanazi, Larry K James, Dan, and Sage Garland of Philadelphia PA., and the others as well, too many to mention. The eloquence and excellently written expressions describing our present situation today and your thoughts and feelings on it were truly amazing. I've noticed the headlines and articles of late have been exceptional as well. All of this goes to help save my sanity when I'm struggling with near-overwhelming despair. I am proud and honored to call you my fellow americans. Shirley of St. Louis is right about the documentaries that expose the lies, spin, and out and out manipulations of the truth. When I read letters like I've been reading in the BuzzFlash lately, I start to feel like, together, we can SOMEHOW put those guilty of High crimes and treason, as well as mass-murder and ultimate betrayals, out of office and out of business for good. Bush pushed through the Patriot Act, stripping us of many precious freedoms, then kept repeating "they hate us because of our freedoms." Bush claimed "Mission accomplished" and then makes speeches about "staying the course and finishing the mission" as one of your previous readers pointed out. Bush/Cheney criminal inc. have looted our treasury, savagely gutted our safety net, completely abandoned our most vulnerable and helpless in society, ALL in the name of "conservative Christian" and "family" values as over a million slipped into serious poverty last year alone and over three million have lost their jobs....and counting. Yet, like VULTURES, they circle over desperately wounded New Orleans looking to make a PROFIT ONCE AGAIN. I am beyond NAUSEATED. I am beyond OUTRAGED! I am ready and willing to work with deeply concerned Americans, liberal AND conservative, genuinely human and horrified Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, Libertarians, Christians, atheists, Muslims, agnostics and ANYONE else you can think of to put these NEO-CONS OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD.....before one more mother (American, Iraqi or Afghanistani)......buries her child! Dominie K. Robinson Subject: Living with Fear Fear, when it is examined, is seen to be rooted in either memories of the past or anticipation of the future. It has nothing to do with the present. In fact, it's not real at all. With recent events, our hearts have been opened by grief. Compassion has flowed out and we are remembering who we are. This compassion IS THE REALITY OF WHO WE ARE. Compassion will overcome fear every time because it's aligned with the truth of our higher nature. So don't pay any attention to the fear mongers in our midst. They're just selling a lie... A BuzzFlash Reader george bush was talking about how they are providing health care for all the victims of katrina. but earlier today i saw on the news that the government was no longer providing health care and that people are now being told to go to their local hospitals. what is that about? shorty Subject: a little terrorist attack :) so george is blaming the katrina catastrophe on the size of the hurricane, :):) um, for the last four years did bush think if we had another terrorist attack it would only be a little one? :):) i know it's not funny, but jesus christ, this man is our president! :):):) kate cripes! please tell us we did not see gw bush out in front of the chevron company shaking hands and posing for pictures today!!!!! is he just brain dead? http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2005/2005-09-16-03.asp liz, renee and randi [BuzzFlash Note: Actions speak louder than words. Funny, but in his speech on Katrina, Bush didn't once mention oil. ] Howard Dean has asked us to write to the media that Roberts should be rejected. Please go to Dem Party web site and notify your readers to go to web site and write. http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/09/dean_what_i_thi.php ... The Dem Senators agreed only to filibuster nominees that are not in the "mainstream." Roberts is in the "far right stream." He is a replication of Rehnquist, and we cannot suffer another Rehnquist for 30 plus years, Thomas and Scalia are enough! George Magit Subject: We're on to him! Can't we do something???!!!! Dear Buzz, I was so impressed by the letter from a BuzzFlash Reader (below) that I sent it to my friends and family who are languishing under the Despot Bush. I loved the response from my sister. (See "Sister Rose" below)
SISTER ROSE The right wing will always push for smaller government and privatizing, even now in the face of incontrovertible proof that government is needed to protect the citizenry. I read that the mercenaries from the Blackwater company are on the ground in our Gulf region, so part of the military effort there is private. I'm afraid his polls can only go in one direction now, up. The limited mea culpa is step one of his rehabilitation. And the untimely California State Supreme Court ruling about the unconstitutionality of "under God" in the pledge will give the red meat to those in his base wavering under the terrible truth of his incompetence in the face of the Katrina disaster. Coming right up - one wedge issue to the rescue! - Rose Susan L. Subject: Whatever happened to the New Orleans mercy-killing story? When I recounted the news report of the "putting-down" of the sick and infirm of New Orleans as medical personnel were being evacuated, I added that "there is a good chance the media will ignore this story." If you think they kept the Downing Street Memos under wraps, you ain't seen nothing yet. I'm curious what their justification is. They can hardly claim that it's old news. Yesterday I tried to track the progress of this story, which was quite easy since there was so little progress. I thought I'd review what's out there as of this morning.
Doug B. Subject: Remember Junior and his buddies tell us "Don't worry there's no such thing as global warming" As the North Polar ice formed over eons melts into oblivion... Though largely ignored by the mainstream media in favor of coverage of shark attacks and regurgitation of Bush administration propaganda reports, the Pentagon last year said global warming is the most serious threat we will face within the next five years, and insurers predicted that within twenty years, payouts from global warming-related weather catastrophes would exceed the current world GNP. We are in the midst of a record hurricane season and Hurricane Katrina portends to be the norm not the exception. Bush, of course, says and does nothing about it and blocks efforts by the rest of the world to take steps to combat it as he is thoroughly beholden to his corporate masters at Exxon who compel his silence. Once more his deliberate ignorance and aversion to all things scientific threatens us all. Global warming 'past the point of no return' (The Independent) Dan D. Subject: Box 'em Up and Ship 'em Out? Oh, goody goody! Can these maladroits get any more bizarre? From the "stupidest damned idea I ever heard" department, the Washington Post reports that in addition to FEMA putting mobile home manufacturers on overtime cranking out housing for evacuees, they're considering turning the nation's old steel shipping containers into domiciles for the homeless! So, not only will they have their own trailer parks (and tornado magnets, as anyone who ever lived in tornado country knows) to call home. If you're not lucky enough to get one of those deeeluxe double-wides, we'll just shove you in a big steel box...out of sight, out of mind, I suppose...anything to keep from distributing housing vouchers (a helpful, sensible idea) because that is anathema to their base...guess George misunderstood when told he needed to think "outside the box"...being the lazy sort, but a "problem solver" nonetheless, he probably just heard "steel box" and deemed it the perfect (and probably final) solution to the dilemma. Can these people (and I use the term very loosely, because of the frequency of their blatant inhumanity) not see how insulting it is to even suggest forcing African American families to live in big shipping containers like cargo? Have they no sense of the painful historical imagery? The short answer is "nope," because they are demonstrably clueless, and either willfully callous or are driven by malignant hearts. My money's on the latter. What's next? Will Dumbo allow them to be extraordinarily renditioned and see to it that those closed shipping containers "accidentally-on-purpose" find themselves on a big rig or a slow boat to nowhere? Just when I think they couldn't possibly do any more damage with their blundering, they come up with another scathingly asinine idea. I seriously doubt that returning to Jim Crow sentiments and "strategeries" during this national calamity is what New Orleans natives had in mind when they put up their home-made signs proclaiming that "the South will rise again." How convinced can we be that that's NOT what Dumbo and his minions have in mind? The malevolent idiot already signed the executive order suspending the Davis-Bacon Act for construction workers, and now they've got the same scheme for service workers. How in God's name can this man think the working poor can put their lives back together making even less money than they did pre-Katrina? Silly me, I forgot...they're not supposed to create lives that were better than before...gotta "keep dem darkies down fo da massa"... If they didn't hold the highest political offices in our land, I might be able to laugh it off, and, as the saying goes, "refuse to engage in a battle of wits with the unarmed." But we're talking life and death here...that's as serious as it gets...and it's in the hands of a total incompetent. Oh, and as for casting blame on Louisiana's governor and the NO Mayor, Bush should've fact-checked with his spiritual advisor, the always entertaining Pat Robertson, who proclaimed on his 700 Club tv show that Katrina is God's retribution for the selection of Ellen DeGeneres as host of the Emmys.... "Those people" (and all the derogatory things that implies) really, really piss me off... I've got a couple of suggestions on how to best use those shipping containers, especially if they're of the air-tight variety, but I suspect the Rethugs wouldn't much cotton to them... Donna J. Wade CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG
|
|||
| back to top | |||