March 7, 2006

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: Impeachment of George W. Bush

Dear BuzzFlash:

The article below can be found at the link provided. This just shows that there are still many citizens who make it their daily duty to try and change the wrong in this government. We, who care, can be proud. This is including being proud of BuzzFlash.

In fact, the case for the impeachment of President Bush is arguably the strongest in American history. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) makes this amply clear in its recent book, a concise indictment of President Bush that lays out four clear legal arguments that point to impeachment as a necessary remedy for the gross violation of our Constitution. The Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush covers illegal wiretapping, torture, rendition, detention and the Iraq war. An appendix compares the impeachment proceedings of Andrew Johnson, Nixon and Clinton to the comparatively more powerful case against Bush.

Lawyers at the CCR, indeed lawyers throughout the world, have been embroiled in litigation with the administration for years. But the administration has consistently demonstrated disdain for the law, with the president effectively thumbing his nose at the Supreme Court, Congress, and the American people. It is this reality that led Michael Ratner and his fellow lawyers at the CCR to provide a clear argument for impeachment to the American people and Congress.

The piecemeal battles that journalists, lawyers and activists fight every day are a testament to the respect many Americans still have for the rule of law. But arguments against the president’s violation of the Constitution have not resulted in any reform or change in behavior. Public shaming and the threat of legal action often work to keep politicians in line. But President Bush is vocally disinterested in the public’s approval of his agenda. Furthermore, he views the law, as evidenced by torture and detainee litigation, as mutable suggestion. For such a president, legal recourse is largely ineffectual -- unless Americans and Congress reclaim the power of the law to remove the offending parties.

Impeaching George W. Bush (alternet)

Thank you.

Dolores M. Dryden
Harrison, Ohio

Subject: Bush's 29% Favorability Rating

WHAT COULD IT BE?

The latest CBS poll found that less than 30% of Americans view Bush favorably. http://pollingreport.com/BushFav.htm

Maybe it’s because Iraq verges on civil war after having expended thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars and our involvement was based on lies?

Or, maybe it’s because the federal deficit is at a record high?

Or, maybe it was the shameful response to Katrina?

Maybe it’s because administration policy has resulted in him being greeted with protests all over the world and America has lost its good name?

Maybe Americans don’t appreciate the loss of good jobs, stagnation in wages, or the growing gap between rich and poor?

Maybe the endless reports of the state-sponsored torture of illegally held suspects in the “War against Terror” has gotten people a bit nervous?

Maybe we’re just embarrassed that the man we elected to our highest office can hardly put together an intelligent sentence?

It could it be that the Congressional malfeasance within the party he leads reflects badly on him?

Maybe it’s because the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit he backed is a disaster that will cost us hundreds of billions of dollars?

Or maybe it’s because no one can think of a single positive thing that his presidency is associated with.

I vote for all of the above!

Shelly Gold
Bernalillo, NM

Subject: Bill Napoli Quote 

This is a casual quote from State Senator (of South Dakota) Bill Napoli describing when abortion is “okay.”

A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june06/abortion_3-03.html

I wonder if he was ever raped.

Patty

Subject: How About a Chat Room...

How about adding a chat room to your website so we can all communicate better.

If not then just post the comments directly to the mailbag instead of reviewing them and just posting the ones you want to post.

That, to me, seems like censorship.

Steven
Huntsville, Texas (only liberal in the county)

Subject: Using Nuclear Weapons in Iran

On August 1, 2005 I came across this on a website called American Conservative:

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_08_01/article3.html "Deep Background"

It states that Strangelove Cheney has instructed the military to draw up plans for an attack on Iran using nuclear weapons. "The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons."

I sent this information to my Congressman and Senators and to Howard Dean and not one of them has responded. Surprise Surprise. They are all Democrats.

What useless pieces of nothing the Democratic Party has become.

Subsequently, I left the Democratic Party because they have become nothing. They are worse than useless because they fight for only one thing: to leave you with the impression that they actually stand for something and mean something.

I can't imagine ever voting for them again - of course, not that the vote means anything anymore - not in this country. We have become a Fascist dictatorship and the only direction now open to us is DOWN.

A BuzzFlash Reader

[BuzzFlash Note: The article is indeed disturbing, but note: (1) No source for this allegation is given. (2) It is dated August 1, 2005. We don't know who wrote it or for what purpose; and we can't evaluate it. Nor can the democrats you sent it to, although investigative reporters could pursue the story. The web publication is affiliated with Pat Buchanan. Their mission statement says: "We believe that true conservatism has a predisposition for the institutions and mores that exist. So much of what passes for contemporary conservatism is wedded to a kind of radicalism—fantasies of global hegemony, the hubristic notion of America as a universal nation for all the world’s peoples, a hyperglobal economy. In combination with an increasingly unveiled contempt for America’s long-standing allies, this is more a recipe for disaster."]

Subject: Bush? Best Actor?

Come on, now. Adam Sandler is a better actor than George W. Bush. Of course, if Karl Rove ever got his hands on Mr. Sandler, he could very well be the 44th President of the United States, with the added advantage of believability. It is the general stupidity of the citizenry coupled with the willingness of many of them to suspend disbelief (and a steady decade and a half long diet of Rush Limbaugh) that makes Mr. Bush's acting style, if you dare call it that, effective in any measurable way.

And the Winner for Best Actor is...George W. Bush -- A BuzzFlash Editorial

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Impeachment

Over and again the Bush oligarchs have advertised themselves as victims of intelligence. “Who would have thought” is one of their favorite apologies to us and the world, the real victims. They have cited it for 9/11, the Katrina disaster, no WMD in Iraq, the current civil war and chaos in Iraq. They will cry it when it suits them in re global warming, when an attack by US or Israeli forces on Iran erupts into a nuclear shooting war. They will shout it when the privatization of our social services bankrupts their functionality. They will demand it when our monetary system goes into chaos from the chronic debt this administration is incurring.

In its excuses for its abject failure to do their jobs as leaders of our nation and the world, this administration has even failed. For example, it wasn’t DeNile that caused the tragedy in New Orleans, it was the DeMississippi. Or could it be the vacuous Gulf between the ears of our nation that allows this administration to get away with capital crimes?

It is our responsibility to impeach this administration.

Steve Hunt
Gualala, CA

Subject: Why Georgie Went to War 

hey buzz...maybe it's time to get george to 'splain to us again about why he started that war in Iraq?....i don't remember him saying that we had to go over there and build up the Iraqi army....i don't even remember him saying that we had to go over there to make sure the Iraqis could get to vote in one of those Iranian shiite kind of democracies....i seem to remember him saying we better get over there because that saddam guy had some real bad weapons and poison and stuff....i must have misheard him, because he keeps saying he ain't gonna leave 'til those Iraqis have a great big army....

tom coombs
kaslo bc canada

Subject: Condoleezza, Empress of India

Hi, Buzz,

Regarding Delores Dryden's observation that bush was leering at the silkily begowned secretary Condi, the NYT's had the photo on page one last week. His little beady eyes were indeed leering. Pretty funny, to tell you the truth.

Liz Walker
Hollywood, Ca.

Subject: Hunger for Justice - Day 6

Just FYI... my letter to my representatives, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and John Doolittle: 

On this first Sunday of Lent I write to implore you to end the injustice of holding detainees in GITMO and elsewhere without justice, and to end the war in Iraq as soon as we can safely withdraw the troops.

I am now on day 5 of a "Hunger for Justice" fast - started on Ash Wednesday. I am fasting in solidarity for the detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere who have been denied justice, many or most of whom may be innocent, many of whom have been tortured, as many as 84 of whom also were on a hunger fast at one time. America should be better than this. As Christians we should be better than this. Yet the Bush administration is arguing that the recent McCain anti-torture bill doesn't apply to GITMO and detainees there shouldn't have access to our court system.

Our treatment of detainees - not only in GITMO, but those in SECRET prisons as a result of "extreme rendition" gives lie to the last excuse for the Iraq war - that we are spreading democracy throughout the Middle East since two of the core principals of our democracy are "innocent until proven guilty" and "the right to a trial by a jury of your peers". We already know that the first reasons - a connection between Saddam and 9/11, and a stockpile of WMD were lies. Yet a recent poll of soldiers in Iraq showed that almost 90% think they are there because of retaliation for Saddam's role in 9/11.

We hear of a "volunteer" military. But "volunteer" implies informed consent and the ability to quit. We don't have a "volunteer" army if those fighting were fed lies, or convinced to join for "job training" or college funding...and if they cannot quit when they find out the truth. What we have is a COERCED or hoodwinked army.

Killing people SEARS THE SOUL...or even preparation for killing people. What will it do to the souls of the people returning from Iraq when they learn the truth - that they were fighting for a lie. And they WILL learn it, just as the soldiers fighting in Vietnam found out that THAT war was begun on a lie. The soul of this country is being seared by this war and by the torture of detainees and the eroding of the rule of law.

In this season of Lent, I urge you - as Christians and as representatives sworn to defend our Constitutional rights - to end this war and end the injustice of detainees held indefinitely without charges and without trial.

My "Hunger for Justice" strike continues - until there is justice for the detainees, or until the end of Lent. [As long as I can.]

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers! For they shall be called the sons of God

Matthew 5:21 Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

Matthew 5:43-48 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven ... 

Romans 13:9 ... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Isaih 58: 6-11 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ...

Linda Wymore
Quincy, CA

Subject: MoveOn can say: "IT TRIED."

Beautifully articulated and incisive post sent to me by a friend (FBP):

The conclusion is unavoidable: the people who formulate the action campaigns and strategies at MoveOn are C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S

A couple days ago they email us saying "tell five of your friends about the shocking video expose revealing Bush lied about Katrina" - Sorry, all my friends already KNEW that - Big News, guys...

Then the following day, we're called upon to email our 'elected' 'representatives' telling them about the scathing video, so they can tell the world about it, and maybe get mentioned in the mainstream news media - Boy oh boy, once we get the word out about how awful a President Bush is, and tell 'em about just this one more crime of negligence and betrayal, then surely everyone will wake up, and then... well, then, uh, I guess, GWB & Co. will just have to pack up and leave Washington, right? or what...?

It doesn't matter how many people know or don't know about the apparently endless crimes of negligence, lies & deception, greed, abuse, and underhanded duplicity, because clearly, at this stage of the game, they are UNTOUCHABLE - Or are they...?

What if...? no, never mind, it's unthinkable, oh... Well, okay, let's just say, HYPOTHETICALLY, like, uhh, bear with me here, suppose we let our imagination RUN WILD for a moment...

What if MoveOn were to identify those corporations that benefit the most from this corrupt administration (I don't know offhand who they all are, but someone could do some research, I guess), and figure out then, of these companies, like, which ones derive a significant percentage of their profits from goods and services purchased by the general populace (as opposed to the businesses who make all their money from military & government contracts), and then, like, LAUNCH A NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT of their products or services?... OR, supposing if, like, a lot of these totally reprehensible corporations, maybe get their money through other channels than purchases made by us general consumers, BUT they depend for their daily functioning on the LABOR of the American work force, and what if, MoveOn (I know, this is extremely unlikely, I'm just fantasizing here at this point) decided to mobilize a nationwide GENERAL STRIKE, where workers in specific companies or industries, like weapons manufacturers & banks... or even workers from all sectors (except maybe medical workers & fire dept, etc) were called upon to simply NOT GO TO WORK, for a week or two or longer (we could have a 'rolling' general strike, where maybe, workers in certain states would stay home for one week and return to their jobs on the following week, when workers from other states would stay home, etc) - I mean, if it came to doing something like this, a concrete plan could be devised...

THEN, do you think we'd see some of these 'untouchable' executives in government and industry shaking in their boots? Huh? I say we could bring the f**kers to their knees in less than a month - Dontcha think?

But of course, it's pure fancy to talk about things like 'boycotts' or 'strikes'... I mean, that would require most of us to sacrifice certain of our consumer comforts, and place our occupational security in jeopardy, like, if we stopped buyin' s**t and didn't show up for work - Nah, we're not ready to do anything like that -

Not with MoveOn leading the movement for change, at any rate

So - Let's just keep chipping away at the status quo, with our little petitions, our whining and fist-shaking, etc... and ten years down the road, when the environment is in ruins, we've all got computer chips implanted in our flesh and many of us are wasting away in Halliburton's detention camps, we can say:

"WE TRIED."

Michael G.

Subject: Fact or Rumor

Has anyone checked the Bush budget for privatization of Social Security? Is it to start in 2008, with benefit cuts to current recipients? If true, where is the publicity? Where is the outrage?

A BuzzFlash Reader

[BuzzFlash Note: Here's Newsweek's discussion: Sleight of Hand (2/8/06); it looks like 2010 is the proposed start date.]

Subject: A Reminder

Recently in Arizona, a solder was discharged from service at his own request. Why, because he is gay. He was assaulted, injured by members of his own group. It seems that those who are not gay, have forgotten, as soldiers, they are supposed to be upholding the Constitution which provides rights to all citizens regardless of sexuality. Maybe there should be indoctrination classes about citizens' rights and of those who join the service.

Gay Soldier Assaulted at Arizona Army Base; SLDN Renews Calls for Pentagon to Implement Anti-Harassment Plan (12/19/05, US Newswire)

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Boycott the American Taliban States

Regarding South Dakota's recent abortion bill, Missouri's bill for Christianity to be the state's religion and was it Michigan? that passed the bill against nudity on cable tv? I have vacationed many times in S.D. A bit in Missouri never in Michigan. I will never spend another dime in these backasswards states and I hope all of BuzzFlash readers do the same! Tourism is a main income for S.D. and Missouri, I am not sure of Michigan, I urge everyone to not vacation or travel thru these states! Let them pay for their taliban ways!

Wayne Gilmore
Perry, Iowa

Subject: Attack Politics Everywhere

One of the things I have always loved about BuzzFlash was that you could write what you thought without having to tolerate a spate of personal attacks. Evidently that has changed. Pity.

If Ms. Miller thought my letter was wrong, all she had to do was say so. Make your point. A Rovian woodie? That’s a very cogent argument. A Nader mini-me? Again you presume to know something you know nothing about. Like most good little liberals I voted for Kerry. Held my nose doing so but the alternative was too disgusting to contemplate.

My point, which seems to have been missed entirely, in the rush to rant, was that Democrats need to stop pissing off the base. Democrats need to stop being Republican Lite.

It is becoming clear that the Republicans with their arrogance and corruption are turning many decent voters off. Some hate liberals too much to vote for them so they will stay home. I don’t want to see that happen to the Democrats, as I fear it will, if they anger too many voters.

I am a registered Independent who has voted in every election since I became old enough to vote. I want to vote for someone, not always against.

Marjorie L. Swanson
Kenosha, WI

Subject: Re: Just call This administration "Bush Incompetence Inc." 

Just Call This Administration "Bushevik Incompetence Inc." Even Bush's Ambassador to Iraq Says "that the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime had opened a 'Pandora's box' of volatile ethnic and sectarian tensions. So now we have a NEW "Mission Unaccomplished" there: to prevent a civil war that is already underway. Madness!

Yes, I feel another rant coming on.

First, did anyone ever DOUBT that this assministration wasn't spying more intensively on ALL of us (progressives, liberals, and quite possibly even middle-of-the-road Democrats. I guess that leaves Joe Lieberman fairly safe) than even the leaks have revealed?

Second, providing nuclear weapons to India (who's raking in the profits HERE -- Halliburton again?) What the BLEEP are they THINKING? (Oh, my error: I forgot -- these thugs in power operate from a script; they DON'T think. They just make excuses when they're caught with blood on their hands. Then they go into "media control," "damage control," and...of course...another barrage of lies and excuses.)

Third, "Torture Boy" Gonzales is pulling the smoke and mirrors game -- as in, "We don't REALLY use torture, when 'torture' is defined according to our specifications," and "Torture's OK if it's needed to extract vital information and protect our national security." Earth to Gonzales: This administration has done much more to weaken, if not destroy, our national security than any foreign terrorist has accomplished. (If I were a member of this gang of thugs, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. If, inevitably, I DID fall asleep, I'd have nightmares. Yet all these thugs do is pour more money into -- and create more pressure on -- anyone they consider potential dissenters. (I'm sure you all noticed that Cindy Sheehan was arrested -- again -- yesterday. For blocking a door. Let's see: Dubya, Dick (Sharpshooter) Cheney, Condi Rice, et al., have, in their railroading of the Iraq war against all plausible evidence, killed not only nearly 2,500 of our own troops but probably hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, including women and children who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when we were "strategically" bombing their homes or shooting them in their cars.)

Are THEY on trial?? Obviously not. Instead, the person who didn't kill ANYONE -- Zacarias Moussaoui  -- is on trial for not revealing the facts before 9/11. Hmmm...let's look at the broader picture here -- as in what about the people who DELIBERATELY lied us into a senseless, bankrupting, murderous war that's killed hundreds of thousands, left a country in even worse shape than it was under Saddam Hussein (no, I'm not defending HIM, but conditions in Iraq couldn't have been much worse than they are right now, thanks to our "pre-emptive" war). If the death penalty is meted out to someone who didn't participate and simply didn't reveal information, why shouldn't it be equally applied to the people who DID know (consider all those ignored/ suppressed intelligence reports), the neocon memos and other documents that clearly reveal the pre-9/11 plans to invade Iraq, and Condi's disclaimer: "We had no way of knowing that they were planning to fly planes into buildings." If Moussaoui is guilty for keeping silent -- and if the courts sentence him to death -- I think there are a lot of other people, all of them, unfortunately, in power, which they intend to make perpetual, who deserve it even more than Moussaoui does.

Disclaimer here: I don't support the death penalty for ANYONE (although seeing this gang of thugs in prison for life has a certain appeal). But seeing it applied inequitably appalls me.

Barbara Lee (Barb) Blazyk
Athens, GA (yep, still trying to escape)

Subject: Iraq Civil War

My bet is that Robert Fisk and Michael Ruppert have the 'Civil War' figured correctly. US sponsored Iraq Interior Ministry-sponsored death squads fomenting the appearance of civil war between Sunni and Shia..... remember Negroponte....?? The murder expert? Death Squad entrepreneur?

The US needs to maintain chaos to continue justification to stay and inhabit the permanent bases we've built. If the real Iraqis ever got a govt. in place, they would boot our asses out so fast ... then how would we control the oil?

So I say, screw the US government. Death to the Empire. Long live the Republic.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: It's not the haves and the have nots 

Dear BuzzFlash,

I enjoyed Anita Mabardy’s article. And it was a good choice for a front page article. The issue doesn’t resonate, though. That’s because so many of the “have nots” don’t recognize their circumstances, believe that they will become “haves,” think they brought it on themselves, or think that God will provide. And the “haves” don’t recognize the circumstances of the “have nots” (i.e. the poor in New Orleans surprised a few), believe that anyone who tries can become “haves,” think the “have nots” brought it on themselves, want to control the “have nots,” or don’t care. It didn’t really resonate when Edwards said it over and over in 2004 and it won’t now. It is an issue, but it’s just one, and it’s not immediately threatening to any given voter. It won’t be in anyone’s mind on Election Day as a reason to go vote and boot out the Republicans.

Thanks, BuzzFlash, and Anita, for keeping on.

Margaret
Medicine Park, OK

Subject: There's still time ...

Hi Buzzers,

March 8 the House of Representatives will vote on a controversial "national food uniformity" labeling law that will take away local government and states' power to require food safety food labels, such as those required in California and other states on foods or beverages that are likely to cause cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions, or mercury poisoning. This bill would also prevent citizens in local municipalities and states from passing laws requiring that genetically engineered foods and ingredients such as Monsanto's recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) be labeled. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/...

This bill is yet another attempt to get rid of state laws and make everyone adhere to what the White House considers safe.

Tell your Congressman/Congresswoman to vote "NO!" on H.R. 4167 on Wednesday (tomorrow). Please... make your concerns known.

Thanks Buzz.

A Reader

Subject: Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Blog Whores? Are you truly surprised? Hey, the Bushites have made it the right thing to do, ya know, fake info, just like Iraq and god knows where else. I am so thankful for BuzzFlash, where I know my news will not be bought and paid for. Yeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah BuzzFlash!!!

The right-wingers are such fakers from the astroturf on up. Their whole movement is fake, corporate funded BS. This article on bloggers who took PR money from Wal-Mart proves that. 3/7

Cindy
Northern NY State

Subject: Voting Machines - Vote Integrity

As someone who has been engaged at a local level with the struggle against electronic voting machines I would like your site to give a lot more attention to this issue. There are thousands of people engaged in hundreds (thousands?) of local struggles across the country. We are trying to augment the integrity of coming elections through the use of paper ballots. In our area, vote integrity has been a massively popular issue. This is real grassroots politics.

Thanks

Nick
Chatham County, NC

[BuzzFlash Note: We appreciate your activism. Keep sending us news tips, Mailbag items and contributor submissions, or just write to buzzflash@buzzflash.com]

Subject: Write to South Dakota Governor and Legislature 

Dear BuzzFlash,

I just emailed the Governor of South Dakota and some of the legislators in regard to their recently enacted anti-abortion law. I intend to email their US Congress people too. I let them know that I will not step foot in their state until the law is declared unconstitutional or they remove it. I let them know that I like to visit Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills and the Badlands, but I will not do that. Their law makes abortions illegal except in the case of the risk of health of the mother. But, no abortions if you have been raped or a victim of incest. I guess they don't like women/girls in South Dakota. Here is the website address for the governor of South Dakota:

http://www.state.sd.us/governor

There is also a link at the page for the state legislators.

Thanks,

Irma S.
Nebraska

Subject: Badlands

Dear BuzzFlash,

Let's show South Dakota what we think of their new abortion laws. Boycott the state for tourism and don't buy anything that is produced or grown there. Oh, and ladies of the Badlands, you might take a page from "Lysistrata" and consider withholding sex from your men until your reproductive rights are restored. (And keep a close eye on your farm animals in the meantime).

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Chris Matthews (To: The Editor-in-Chief of MSNBC News)

Sir or Madam,

I was watching Hardball last evening (something I intend to stop doing) and found myself shocked beyond belief that Mr. Matthews said to the audience (referring to Rep. Boehner), “You can see this man’s greatness!” I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised; Mr. Matthews, Tim Russert, and Nora O’Donnell are frequently and incredibly pro-republican, anti-democrat, anti-liberal, and anti-Clinton.

Except for Mr. Russert’s late-arriving skepticism about the justification for the Iraq invasion, these so-called reporters/hosts can almost always be counted on to throw misleading questions and false dichotomies at democrats while spinning like crazy with the republican talking points of the day. It is really tiresome.

If you can’t get these folks to be more “fair and balanced” can you at least get the republicans to pay you more for their services so I can get a better dividend from my GE stock?

Dick Smith
Alexandria, VA