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| January 5, 2006 |
MAILBAG ARCHIVES | ||
The BuzzFlash Mailbag The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. More reader opinion is at "Contributors." You can write to Mailbag at http://www.buzzflash.com/contact/mail.html. Guidelines for submissions are at BuzzFlash FAQ #18. Subject: Disinformation in West Virginia The Hartford Courant front-page headline [Wednesday] morning: "They're Alive, Families Rejoice: News Arrived as Hope Dwindled" The Associated Press story used one attribution for this erroneous news story: "A relative at the church said a mine foreman called there, saying the miners had been found." The AP story failed to identify the "mine foreman." Of course the print media are sorely embarrassed by this. Morning newspapers throughout the U.S. delivered this false story to the American breakfast table. "Miscommunication" is the word of choice now being used by TV news stations to explain this false reporting. But, of course, the U.S. public is used to these "They're Alive" type stories. The ancestor headline for this journalistic genre was the A.P. reporting years ago: "Weapons of Mass Destruction Exist in Iraq." Bill Ryan Subject: Dangerous Salty Snack Awareness Day We are nearing the anniversary of "1-14," the day a pretzel almost ended the Bush presidency. His image as the "bring em' on," leading-from-the-rear, "Preemptive Warrior" is secure, but I hope Bush will also be remembered as the only president (perhaps the only human being) ever to have suffered a near-fatal "pretzel mishap." Let the ludicrous image of Bush face down in the carpet, being licked back into consciousness by his pooch, be the way history remembers him. Albert Clark, NY Subject: re the horrible news about the miners and safety violations I couldn't sleep, came back online and saw the terrible news about the West Virginia miners. At a time when Bush is trying to seat Alito (who thinks the government has no business protecting Americans from fraud, pollution, etc.) on the Supreme Court, BuzzFlash might highlight the MSHA violations of the Sago Mine and remind people why stopping Alito matters. We the people need to decide if we want our government to work for us and protect us or not. If not, no crying over the miners. Washington Post's "Safety Violations Have Piled Up at Coal Mine" and other articles linked below. I lost the one where a brother of one of the killed miners quit working at the Sago Mine because he felt it was unsafe and poorly run...can't find it again. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article... J. Davitt McAteer, who headed MSHA during the Clinton administration, said he was troubled by an apparent spike in accidents and violations that occurred beginning about two years ago. "The violations are not the worst I've ever seen -- and certainly not the best -- but I'm concerned about the trend and the direction they're going in. It's indication to those running the operation that you've got a problem here." Labor Department records show that 205 citations and orders were issued last year against the mine, owned by International Coal Group Inc., compared to 68 issued the previous year. Thirteen of the citations were considered serious safety violations, including seepage of gas, according to an occupational-safety expert. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13543437.htm http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/13543696.htm The federal government frequently inspects underground mines for violations, and the Sago Mine was cited for 208 safety violations last year. But while fines for such violations can range up to $60,000, nearly half Sago’s fines were for the $60 minimum, and none exceeded $900. “I don’t think that’s particularly out of the ordinary,” Bruce Watzman, vice president for safety and health at the National Mining Association, told The Associated Press. “When you have more severe violations, you’re going to see increasing monetary penalties.” R. M. Subject: CIA Leaks to Iran What is this all about? I don't believe it. CIA Leaks to Iran 01/03/06 05:22 PM Um, what? This CNN story previewing State of War: the Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, by New York Times reporter James Risen, contains this little tidbit:
Intelligence sources told CNN that the mistake did in fact happen, but that no CIA agents had been rolled up as a result:
Other CIA sources, however, apparently told Risen that several agents were "arrested and jailed" as a result. CNN says this all happened "last year," which one assumes means 2005, although if it means 2004, that's somewhat significant, since that would place the gaffe right around the time that the CIA was accusing Ahmed Chalabi of passing U.S. intelligence to contacts in Tehran. At the time, Chalabi's intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, was also accused of being a "double agent"—although the odds that he would be the CIA's "covert source" mentioned above seem virtually nil, since by 2004 the CIA had long since cut its ties with Chalabi. The two stories are probably just coincidental, though it seems like an awful lot of CIA secrets are being leaked to Iran these days… Read the MoJo Blog online for more: Coal Mines and Safety Bradford Plumer Subject: Re: Of Tyrants, Kings, Alito and Bush: A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
Interesting, considering the fact that he was rejected when he attempted to get into law school (U. of Texas). Here is a clown who unquestionably has never even READ the Constitution, which he refers to as a "goddam piece of paper," yet who is instructed on how to circumvent it at every turn. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Did Bush kill the miners? Bush put a mining lobbyist crony in charge of mining and he cut the budget for mining inspections. Mine safety (Opinion/Charleston WV Gazette) Rosamond Subject: Alito wants presidential interpretation of law to control Alito Once Made Case For Presidential Power (Washington Post) This is fascinating in the case of Bush because, as everyone knows, he was not able to get into law school (he had to rely on his fall-back, Harvard "Business School") and, therefore, he has far less understanding of the law than Congress, many of whose members are lawyers and all of whom are legislators. The federal courts have traditionally looked at Congressional intent in interpreting laws, not "executive intent," which in the case of Bush is nothing less than dictatorship. Remember, the executive is not charged with legislating but rather enforcing the laws. Executive intent is irrelevant, except in Bushworld. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Bush Wiretapping Sunk to a Debate I don't know where you get that the Democrats are not waging a sustained attack on this issue. The article you refer to states up front that the Democrats are still DEMANDING hearings on the wiretapping. What do you want them to do? You people get off on some trip, acting like there's a viable alternative, there is NOT. And I don't see you giving strong support to Democrats who do speak out and do have an agenda for success. What exactly is your solution that you are determined to turn Americans against Democrats? Again I say, what is the point of liberals attacking liberals? Do you have some viable alternative to the Democratic Party? What scares me as much as Karl Rove is that left wing bloggers are so full of themselves, they're trying to foment some independent movement that is DOOMED to failure and then we'll be faced with ANOTHER neocon regime. LIBERALS MUST UNITE BEHIND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, support Democrats who are on the right track, or all hope is lost for 2006, 2008. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Letterman Show 1/3/2006 Hope lots of you got to view the David Letterman show, Tuesday evening. He had Bill O"Reilly the liar on, and boy did he give him a bad time. Too bad our press doesn't ask these same questions of our administration. He actually told O'Reilly that 60% of his spin was just pure crap. Good for David Letterman1 A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: He's Backkkkkkkk ! Or, The Scum Also Rises Newt Gingrich wants to get rid of nasty old tom DeLay, for doing the same low life crap that got Newt thrown into the darkness. I wonder who Newt has in mind to replace him? Trent Lott is sniveling on faux news about how badly he was treated by the liberal media, and that he's really not racist vermin, just a misunderstood good old boy from Ol' Miss'. Alito is saying he didn't mean all that fascist s**t he wrote, he was just trying to get a job! (But honest folks, you can trust him now, he wouldn't lie to YOU!) Colin Powell is telling everyone that he knew he was selling snake oil to the world, but he was only following orders. Clinton didn't know getting his pole smoked was a sexual act. Nixon said he was not a crook. Roy A. Brophy Subject: Alice Fisher and the Abramoff case Sorry for the bulk email, but I thought this urgent enough that I wanted to quickly get it into as many hands as possible. I and many others are concerned that there might be ulterior motives (imagine that!) for Alice Fisher's appointment as the prosecutor of record in the Abramoff case. You might recall that there were some questions about Fisher and interrogation tactics at Guantanamo -- questions that stalled her nomination. But you might not recall that there were also questions about her connections to Tom DeLay. I'm not sure if anyone noticed that Fisher's law firm, Latham & Watkins, defended Bill Frist's family's HCA in their massive fraud suit. Granted, it's a big firm and Fisher was but one of many partners. But between the lack of prosecutorial experience and the ties to DeLay and possibly to Frist, we should be asking if Fisher is an appropriate prosecutor for this case, don't you think?
Glenn Zelniker Subject: NBC NBC-- National Bush Channel Eve Subject: Believing in What's Left of American Greatness Well, after being around for 66 years plus, doing my "put your ass on the line for democracy" for over 21 years, including two years in Vietnam, I am absolutely stunned at the reaction of the American people today for blindly accepting and acknowledging what is being served to them today, in the name of Democracy. They are blatantly and ignorantly accepting this present "dictatorship" as it exists, and they call a government. Let's face it folks, it started way back with JFK getting blown away by our own "wonderfully" democratic and protecting Government. God, what imbeciles were we, to buy into that line of crap, that a lone guy (who couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a shotgun) shot Kennedy from such a distance, and the "magic" bullet not only went in his head from behind, causing it to fly back into the direction of the bullet (against many of Einstein's theories!), but it additionally did the "magic bullet trick." Personally, I never bought any of it, from instance one, I knew it was not the way it was. Then comes 9/11, and our glorious Commander in Chief, after being told that our nation was in grave danger, and under imminent attack, sits on his ass in a schoolroom reading ..."my pet goat," emotionless, and with an expression of dumber than dumb. And just recently, the Katrina thing, and yet again, he was both unaware (probably ill or uninformed) and irrelevant to the situation, its crisis level, the security, logistical difficulties, human hardships, life-threatening conditions and the severity of life being experienced by his fellow Americans. And, for any leader in this day and age to come up later with an insignificant, and poorly offered apology for his hesitation and lack of action in such a national crisis is both insulting and appalling for any leader of any nation. People ... Wake up ... we don't have a leader in the White House, we have an extremely incapable moron. The man admittedly doesn't like to read (and probably doesn't get the gist of it anyway!), plus, when disaster strikes, we can (and have seen) he's out on his ranch, unawares and oftentimes, uncaring about the country and job we "ELECTED" him to perform. For a multitude of Americans that are aware and care, there are absolutely NO words to fit the description of George Bush as a President or Leader of this great country. If you added up and used, all of the negative, degrading, incompetent values and ratings that have been bestowed upon this person (man is too much of a compliment!!), you, or rather we, would come up short. America is dying a very slow death, thanks to both the latency and irrelevance of the American people, plus ... the absolutely vile, and pitifully incompetent money hungry and purchased journalists that fraudulently feed the citizens of the land. And, as rights go, the founding fathers had many, many things in mind when they drew up the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution for this country, but above all, they had the average American citizen and the entire population of the people who make this country in mind, not one incompetent individual to rule, run and ruin their diligent, studious, and well thought-out intentions for a true American democracy. Amen... lest we forget where we came from!!! George Bowling Subject: Bush Administration ethics You can out a CIA covert agent, but you can't out a secretive, lying through his teeth president. Speak up or they assume you agree!!! ABB Karen Webb Subject: Abramoff Hi all,
Wow, doesn't that sound familiar? The chimp didn't know Ken Lay either. What a coincidence. Remember? Ken Lay was actually Ann Richards' pal, not W's. He would probably deny knowing his own wife if he thought it would save his skin. And can someone tell me why on earth anyone would even bother bribing a Democrat? At this point, it would be like bribing Saddam Hussein. That's about how much power they have. Who is the MSM trying to fool? As if the Democrats can do anyone any favors at this point. It's ridiculous. I'm so sick of the media and I don't know why I'm still listening to them. As if I'm not pissed off enough already. Bi-partisan scandal my tush (can I say "tush" on BuzzFlash?). Barbara in NYC Subject: Bush Returning Money I heard this on the radio...1/4/06......Bush is returning $6,000.00......give it time, that is just what I heard. Where is the rest of the money??? Shirley.......St. Louis Subject: Congressional Vote Watchers Congress.org will e-mail all votes in our congress when they occur, to each individual who signs on. You will be shocked at times as to who votes with the Bushies on important issues. Lawton Watson Subject: More Danger to our Troops It is the 4th day of January already, and 'real life' comes back under the Bush administration as Christmas and New Years Day ends. It is the 5th year of this now, and all the same b.s. continues to happen and we are caught in more muck. Today's little news tidbit is that the administration plans on taking some of the troops out of Iraq but other American soldiers will be put together with other Iraqi soldiers or police trained, thus to my understanding 'blended in'. If one follows news accounts, the insurgent soldiers often target the Iraqi soldiers or police more at specific spots than our own soldiers, so this seems to be what I can gather. This makes our American soldiers vulnerable to being killed. For those of us especially who have a loved one just starting to serve in Iraq, the Bush administration puts them even more in harm's way. Is the administration prepared to have even more American soldiers' blood on their hands in the near future if they do this? Do they even care? A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Geo II wounded in the "Battle of Cedar Gulch" Like mother, like son ... " As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself -- not here at the hospital, but in combat with a Cedar. I eventually won. The Cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, the Colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, Colonel. " President Visits Troops at Brooke Army Medical Center (White House) Laurie Manis Subject: More lies from Scott McClellan
Yeah, right. Just like they investigated Massey Energy Co.’s 300 million gallon coal-slurry spill. Ask fired former MSHA inspector/whistleblower Jack Spadaro how the Bush administration supported THAT investigation. 60 Minutes did a piece on this. Go here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/01/60minutes/main609889.shtml Illustrates how blatantly the Bush Administration will lie in a time of crisis to cover up its real agenda. Do some research on Anker West Virginia Mining (former owner) and International Coal Group, which now owns the Sago mine. I bet you'll find they gave beaucoup bucks to Bush and the republicans who then looked the other way (via MSHA) or gave a slap on the wrist while Sago racked up hundreds of safety violations. Mark Subject: The Emperor Gets No Purple Heart With respect to His Majesty’s injury, how dare he compare himself in any manner with those in combat? "I have an injury here myself-not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar...I eventually won.” I believe the kitty who called "911" got him. That is as likely as anyone with any intelligence thinking that the "First Spoiled Loser," who has screwed up everything he’s ever been associated with, could be considered a soldier. Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff ... For Bush to do this he must be very, very nervous. (Wednesday Mailbag) Perhaps Bush is very, very arrogant. I’ll bet he thinks this paltry amount will convince people that he and his cronies were not into this scandal up to their eyebrows. $6000? What is $200 billion divided by $6000? His Majesty’s action here is just plain insulting to everyone. Again, he gives the whole country the finger. How can anyone know if there are really any "Red States?" The last three major elections have been travesties. The barely heard-of Ohio debacle is proof of that. If the “Red States” actually exist, that is indeed sad. Could be total nonsense. What would happen if everyone in this country had some kind of intellectual epiphany? I pray for enlightenment for all. One more thing, what was our real reason for going to Viet Nam? Was it for an opportunity for large corporations to plant themselves in that area? Who invested the US in that “conflict?” At last, the study of history pays off. It looks like the current “powers” are not doomed to repeat it, as those who protested that war and won are now asleep at the wheel. May I suggest a rereading of Orwell’s “1984.” Good for any soul one might have left. Alex McIntosh Subject: Confessions of a "bush-hater" One way a person can treat this is to hate what the president does and what he represents. As for any personal feelings towards him, what might such be since he's nothing but a puppet on a string? People stay the course with him because they've bought into the so-called American dream, even though it's only available to the privileged few, such as the president himself, with the rest of us forever waiting for that one lucky break. How to make the American dream come true for all of us? We the people change the world, that's how. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Marjorie Swanson's Research Just wanted to thank Marjorie Swanson for the various House bills that go against working people. I intend to use that info to research my Congressman's voting record (since Jerry Lewis votes the way Bush wants him to 99.9% of the time, I'm sure I already know, but unlike Rethugs, I will do the research to verify my suspicions). Then I will send a letter to the editor of area newspapers detailing what I found, as well as to the area's Democratic Headquarters (though they are as spineless as those in Congress, and so scared of Lewis they didn't even run a candidate against him in the last election) and point out that this is information they should already know, and shame on them if they don't. So, thanks Marjorie! Great job! In response to the article about Pat Robertson's proposed Jesus theme park in the Holy Land, my life partner came up with what I think is the perfect name for it -- he should call it Club Bled. It works on so many levels! Happy New Year to all of the Buzz community! Don't know what I'd do without you! Donna Wade Subject: Leave of absence Buzzors and buzzees, I have been missing in action as far as writing to BuzzFlash for a few months now. I have continued to read you every day however. Funny how nothing much has changed. Bush and his posse continue to lie and suffer no consequences; The Democrats continue to bend over and go along with the lies; The American people continue to refuse to rise up and demand their constitutionally guaranteed rights including the real truth from their leadership; the world continues to see us in the worst possible light, thanks to George W. and his band of hoodlums, and the media continues to do a great disservice to the nation by carrying the torch for the mob in the white house. We are not far from becoming a nation of neo slaves under the rule of a totally fascist regime with power over all facets of our daily lives. There are voices of protest but they are often smothered in right-wing money-driven propaganda and a continuous barrage of Republican lies and smear tactics. To all my fellow Americans...we are about lose our wonderful country and if we do....we lose everything we know and believe in. Time to get vocal......Everywhere........everyone. Richard Wagner Subject: Put Bush on Trial - 5 Reasons Dreamed up ENDS never justify unlawful MEANS. 1) It is unlawful to wiretap old ladies in Florida (and other baddies) without a court order. 2) It is unlawful to fudge intelligence given to Congress about Iraq. 3) It is traitorous to turn-out a CIA agent (and her contacts, and her twins) just because her husband was truthful & correct. 4) It is UnAmerican and Unconstitutional to suggest an Immigrant Worker Visa bill which would in-America replace American citizens with cheaper foreign labor for the benefit of American & International companies. 5) It is UnAmerican to issue an Administration executive order to ignore Geneva Conventions and to push torture instead. "Oh I was just following orders" is not a good defense. Now that Saddam is out of power (one tiny silver lining), let's walk away from these constant redefinitions of THE MISSION. Oh, yeah, and tell the Administration's friends to release their insider control of Iraqi oil. Our troops and Iraqi families are over THERE --- with target signs on their backs --- so Bush over HERE can tell their local discontents to "BRING IT ON." Iraqi families did not sign up for this intentional stirring up of fear, family loss, dislike & hatred. An unlawful & unconstitutional President is the greatest danger to America. Anthony Aragon Subject: Last Throes Dear BuzzFlash, Let's hope we are seeing the insurgency of George W. Bush in its last throes. Mines are exploding, lobbyists are imploding, and leaks are eroding his turd castle built on lies. And oh, Dave Letterman should get the Medal of Freedom for kicking that pasty-face O'Reilly's ass last night. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Gay Marriage Is American Tradition
Hmmm...looks like Gay Marriage is an American tradition that predates America, doesn't it? Mike Curtis CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE JANUARY 5, 2006 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG
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