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| March 14, 2006 |
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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. THIS IS PART 2 OF THE MARCH 14, 2006 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG. CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 Subject: Feingold's Censure Resolution Democratic leadership is being indecisive at precisely the wrong moment. I want to personally urge everyone who reads this to write to your Democratic leaders (or even Republicans for that matter) and demand that they stand behind Russ Feingold's resolution to censure George Bush for his warrantless wiretap program. If we don't stand up to oppose this program in every way possible then there is no opposition party in America. Democrats in Washington are afraid they are going to be called soft on terror if they stand up to Bush. We have to strengthen their resolve to be strong on constitutional democracy and stand up for principle for a change. Bush is not a popular president. We need to make our voices heard so that our leaders develop the courage of their convictions. Doug Rogers Subject: Inspiration The South Korean Prime Minister resigned because he was playing golf during a rail strike. Too bad George Bush doesn't have the class to step down for playing air guitar while New Orleans was being destroyed. S Korea PM resigns over golf game (Bangkok Post) Rosamond Subject: No one covers Sandra Day O'Connor speech Our Pravda media won't touch O'Connor's speech ... Personally having right wingers like O'Connor coming to their senses after all they enabled - and in O'Connor's case voted this regime in - is not that satisfying. Until they admit they have been duped and pledge to never vote Republican again and until they completely rid their party of theocrats, fascists and traitors, they can go pound sand for all I care. OK, it made a short blurb on NPR, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5255712 ... there was a spot on Olbermann, and this below as of 1:30 pm central googling "O'Connor" under "news". Our media is no better than Pravda. The wingnuts at Newsbusters posted that Olbermann had reported it. ...here's a comment from their post:
Mike Allen still doesn't understand we have an Americanized dictatorship enabled by a Pravda-like media:
Check out these "mainstream" news sources covering it. Former judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship Jonathan Raban Ex Supreme Court Justice O'Connor Bashes Pro-Life Advocates on ... Former Justice O'Connor: Don't 'Strong-Arm' Judiciary Olbermann Plugs Justice O'Connor's "Dictatorship" Attack on ... O'Connor attacks DeLay for targeting US judges JUSTICE O'CONNOR DEFENDS COURTS NPR's Totenberg Quotes Selected Parts of Speech by Former ... Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship Sandra Day O'Connor: US Risks Edging Toward Dictatorship Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Beyond Livid I am beyond livid. I watched the shameful behavior of Frist and Specter.....and am (again) beyond livid that no Democrat has called them on it.... .....but then, the Democrats have not got a leg to stand on either. For five years they have seethed and ground their teeth in aggravation while watching the "I'll do WHAT I want, WHEN I want, and HOW I want...and you.can't.stop.me...." administration and did NOTHING... ...to back up Senator Feingold yesterday. Oh, wait, I think Mr. "I'll make sure every vote is counted" Kerry is the ONLY one who actually backed Feingold up. WooHOOOOOOOOOOOO.... Other than suggesting to our so-called representatives and senators to just pack it up and come back to their respective states because we are tired of paying their keep in DC when they don't.do.their.job..... I certainly have no idea what to do anymore. I certainly hope somebody can come up with a viable solution...quickly. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Is Bush Above the Law? Apparently he is. I don’t understand why a person’s job, wealth, or social standing should make that person more/less convictable in a court of law. Before he became a political figure, he was just a person (ok, a rich spoiled brat), and when he is no longer a political figure he will again be just a person. He has publicly admitted breaking the law and then thumbed his nose at the judicial system as well as the American people. Why do we put up with that kind of behavior? There are a number of laws I don’t like. Would it be OK if I disregarded them? John Braswell Subject: Letter From Florida This was the first day of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the dreaded FCAT. To be in the schoolhouse today was to realize just how much Jeb Bush has transformed our public schools. They're really just testing sweatshops now. The children trapped inside labor to no useful end like guinea pigs on a treadmill. How did it come to this? Maybe the life of Gov. Bush provides some insight. Of course, Jeb Bush was born into one of the most powerful and privileged families in America. As a child he wanted for nothing and enjoyed summers in Kennebunkport. Educationally speaking, he received prestigious private schooling, the Greenwich pedigree. He spent much of his senior year in high school in Mexico on a work-study program. In Mexico he met his future wife Columba and began mastering the Spanish language, a skill that has helped make him a very effective businessman and politician. Eventually Jeb, Columba and their three children settled in Miami. They sent the children to the exclusive Gulliver Prep Academy. Gulliver Prep and Ransom-Everglades are the two most exclusive private schools in Miami-Dade County. The student-to-teacher ratio is ideal and the kids sit in small classes and look forward to learning experiences like field trips to Switzerland. The parents and their children can choose from classes like "Magic Realism" where they read the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salmon Rushdie and Toni Morrison or "The Chains That Bind Us" based on works of Tolstoy, Kafka and Camus. The chains that bind their public school counterparts, like FCAT testing, never intrude on their world. Jeb Bush ran for governor for the first time in 1994. He came very close but Lawton Chiles beat him by less than two percentage points. The fact that Bush got only 4% of the Black vote was probably the difference. Jeb realized that when asked during the campaign what a Bush Administration would do for Black Floridians it was unwise to have answered, "Probably nothing." So in his second run for Florida's top job, Jeb set out to repair his relationship with the Black community. He got together with T. Willard Fair and established the first charter school in Florida in 1996. They set their school up in Liberty City and called it Liberty Charter School. In a paper co-authored by Bush and Fair called "A New Lease On Learning: Florida's First Charter School," they promised the school "will be different from other public schools in many ways. For one, the total student body and class sizes will be small to maintain a human, loving environment. In addition, it will focus much more on character and discipline then (sic) most public schools. Our children will know the difference between right and wrong. The curriculum will reflect this with games, exercises and discussions about virtues such as honesty and integrity." Sincere or not, the Liberty Charter School proved to be an effective campaign device. In the 1998 election Jeb Bush got 17% of the Black vote and swamped Buddy McKay to become the governor of Florida. Shortly after taking office, Bush severed his ties with Liberty and appointed T. Willard Fair to the Florida Department of Education. Since he became the Governor of all of Florida's parents and their children, his attitude toward public education has been puzzling. It's as if he does not feel like the education he received was any good. It's like he feels his children were shortchanged because they were not tested incessantly. It's as if he really did not believe that it was important to keep classes small at Liberty Charter "to maintain a human, loving environment." Seems like Jeb Bush has waged a relentless war on public school children. My son is one of the Florida 10th graders taking the FCAT this week at Barbara Goleman High School. It's near to Miami Carol City High, where I have taught now for 23 years. I'm sure Patrick did his best today. But I paused to wonder what he and the children I teach have done to suffer the wrath of this powerful man. I can't think of any real difference except the Bush family is very rich and these kids' families are not. There's a lot of us who work for a living though and I'm going to talk to other parents and teachers about electing a new governor in November who will break completely with the policies of Jeb Bush. Paul A. Moore Subject: Kool-Aid McCain Just when you start to believe that John McCain is a warm and fuzzy Conservative Republican, and you're kind of in that, "Well I suppose I could live with this guy," mode, he soils his own credibility by showing his rabid, Darth Vader side. I just hope that every intelligent Republican and every single Democrat doesn't drink from the well waters of Kool-Aid McCain. As if to ignore the specifics of President Bush's problems, as if to deny the terrible judgment that went into Mr. Bush's pattern of knowing nothing, stumbling into something or bungling everything, The Kool-Aid Senator from Arizona said, "He's having trouble right now. We Republicans all know that. That's when he needs us to stand by him. He doesn't need us when his numbers are 65. He needs us now." My Fuehrer right or wrong! John McCain's blind rally to bolster the incredible shrinking president undermines his ability to be a true leader. A true leader must have clear vision and a grasp on reality. It's bad enough that Mr. McCain has the zeal to continue to prosecute this counterfeit Iraq 'War' to its bloody, victorious/disastrous conclusion - reality be damned. Now he asks for mute loyalty to a president who through bald ineptitude and mental lassitude has tainted the deaths of our American heroes and has bankrupted our generations to come, among other logic defying missteps. Without exaggeration this man has been a curse on all our heads and a plague to our country. Denial of the obvious, as Mr. McCain is capable of doing, is intellectual dishonesty. This is either Republican politics as usual, or worse, Mr. McCain is opaque to the truth and the price paid in human death, suffering and misery because of George W. Bush. Nothing could ever tarnish Mr. McCain's heroism; his contribution to our country at a time of war, in a foreign land was personal and painful. But that said, he must be understood in the light of his remarks. His stark call for support of Mr. Bush is no more or less than political posturing that floats to the level of misdirection at best, frank deception at worse. As far as Mr. Bush suffering hard times - well, that's just too bad! His broad record of consistent failures hits at the heart of his lack of leadership and his overall lack of competence. If Mr. McCain wants to tie his political fortunes with the American people to being a booster boy for Bush, then good luck. But a word of advice, you're not supposed to drink your own Kool-Aid, Senator. David M. Loucas, MD Subject: War used as an excuse to ignore other failings Aren't we all getting tired of hearing that everything this administration does is a reflection of the fact that we are "at war"? and that the American people should support Bush for that reason? Senator McCain reiterated the "at war" theme over the weekend in Tennessee continuing to cozy up to the president in hopes no doubt of pulling the party faithful into his camp in the next presidential election. Never mind that we were led to war in Iraq not only by faulty intelligence but by willful distortions, reliance on shadowy members of the Iraqi Diaspora and unforgivably poor planning by our civilian leaders. If anything defines this administration, other than its underlying corruption and unfailing corporate mindset, it is the incredible lack of competence of officials at every level and an astonishing lack of good judgment when it comes to determining where best to focus its energies. It's as if they haven't yet realized that this is "the big time," not just some giant board game. And they continue to labor under the misapprehension that happy talk can still mask a series of missteps, serious miscalculations and poorly developed programs. How can this president and his party continue to claim leadership in the "war on terror" or national security when their strategies in these areas are so inept? The Dubai flap drew attention to the fact that our ports are under-protected. Katrina showed how unprepared we are to deal with disasters, natural or terrorist-inspired. And the war in Iraq was a poorly designed, inefficiently executed plan to create a U.S. stronghold in the Middle East that has diminished our status in the world and created a hornets' nest of terrorist activity and civil disorder. Is there no-one on this staff of blunderers capable of rallying an international body to mediate factions in Iraq or to design a plan for the peaceful resolution of issues in the region instead of committing us to endless conflict? On Sunday's Meet the Press Republican presidential hopeful Senator Allen danced around the question of whether he still supported the president by saying he sure supported those tax cuts and that although conditions in Iraq were difficult, progress was being made. Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Biden, on the other hand, said our conduct of the war has been grossly incompetent adding that money budgeted for "Star Wars" could be put to other uses that would greatly enhance our national security capabilities. Finally he said we "can't want democracy for Iraq more than its own people want it." For his part, Allen had some campaign sloganeering at the ready about how we must continue to make this "the land of opportunity" for all. It remains a mystery how this is to be accomplished as more of our jobs leave the country with no legislative action to support any degree of equal employment standards when our companies do business abroad. An employee in the computer field of a large American company told me that data compiled in India, while correct, had to be re-formatted when it was returned;however, time-consuming as that process is, it was still cheaper than having to pay U.S. wages and provide health and other benefits. And finally - - a Heritage Foundation analysis in Sunday's NY Times Week in Review indicated that current military enlistees are not drawn from the ranks of poverty as sometimes alleged. The report found that "In all, the top two-income quintiles {or fifths} (comprising households with incomes starting at $41,688) produced 45% of all recruits in 2003" and concluded that "patriotism and self-esteem building" are stronger motivations than promises of education or skill development since "the enlisted ranks "lose a cost/benefit comparison with even the most humble minimum-wage job" an assertion that is hard to believe. Nevertheless, the question remains: how many $41,000ish households are able to provide offspring with college or other advanced-education opportunities? We seem to be developing into a nation of anomalies where nothing we once believed in means what it used to mean, and where layers of deceit guard the treasures of our democracy. Vigilance can be exhausting, if our only hope. Ann Davidow Dear Buzzers -- Another winner of an editorial. The comparison of the McCarthy era to what is happening now is so on target that it's eerie. (I was still a little kid during the McCarthy years, but my mother used to watch the hearings -- which I later read about in my history classes -- on TV. One day I watched for a few minutes and said, "Mommy, I don't LIKE that man. He's icky." We progressives/liberals must be born with certain intuitions and instincts!) Obviously, I haven't changed. Neither have the powers that be -- as in using the threat. Consider the analogy: McCarthy -- as I read years later -- labeled everyone he considered any sort of threat a "Communist"; now we're being accused of being "with the terrorists." Different eras, same tactics. The only GOOD news I see here is that McCarthy ended up drunk (sound familiar??) and disgraced. Of course, many careers of the people who dared to speak out against him were ruined, sometimes permanently. But eventually he was hoisted by his own petard, as Shakespeare put it. Over reachers usually DO fall, in the end, although they lay waste to lots of other people's lives before they go down. Let's fast forward to the Watergate hearings. Sam Ervin is one of my all-time heroes; I even named my first cat that wasn't a family pet "Sam" after him. I'd come back to my apartment each day (after teaching English) and turn on the hearings. I don't remember the configurations of Congress back then -- i.e., how did a Democrat get to chair the investigation? Was there a Dem majority back then? The only equivalent of Sam Ervin today, at least in my opinion, is Russ Feingold. Imagine having the guts to stand up, as a member of the minority party, and declare the ONLY vote opposing the invasion of Iraq. The Watergate hearings, obviously, succeeded, due largely to the efforts and persistence of Sam Ervin. We're up against a much more organized and larger coalition -- the CONTROL FREAKS -- today, but if enough of us back Feingold (and warn him to stay off small planes. Hmmm. Maybe he should hire a food-tester as well....) perhaps we can overthrow the gang of thugs that's already stolen much of our country but is still salivating over the prospect of stealing the rest. Barbara Lee (Barb) Blazyk Subject: A Positive Ten Point Plan For Democrats (3-13-06) To Big Dave from Queens: BRAVO! If you run for office on these points, you have my support. AL Subject: Conflict in Iraq America is not in a war in Iraq, if we ever were. It takes armies and battlefields and battles to make a war. Our soldiers are being killed by sneak attacks of terrorists who are prepared to die to kill and most of our soldiers die because of explosions along highways, streets, and towns. Most die while in small groups, not organized platoons, or battalions. Their families and companions do not even know who killed them or why they died. It certainly does not seem that they died to protect America or to defend freedom. Polls show that Americans are becoming fed up with such a feckless situation and want something different. Now we are hearing war-like talk concerning Iran. Whatever happened to mediation or diplomacy? The Bible succinctly says, "Come, let us reason together," but in today's world there seems to be no reason or rhyme. Something must change and our country restored to its former place of respect, honor, and determination to do the right thing. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Worse Than... BuzzFlash, Whenever the abuses of the Bushites come to the surface you can hear the MSM mantra, "It's not as bad as Watergate." Watergate was a third-rate burglary of a Democratic office. Such burglaries are now standard practice by Republican henchman and hardly get noticed. Iran-contra was an attempt to setup a secret government that was above the law with its own slush fund. It was much worse than Watergate, but you can't tell that from MSM. Now we have a secret government that is funded by us the tax payers and is as unaccountable as Ollie North's enterprise. The crimes are more numerous and the amount of money being stolen is unprecedented, amounting to billions of dollars. But MSM must maintain the illusion that Watergate was worse. Because otherwise, it exposes their incompetence and dereliction of duty to report real news and not just parrot the Bushite line of the day. The Soft-on-Torture Liberal Subject: Enough of the DC Dems For a country that is so proud of defeating the English tyrant, the American people have a strange fondness for "power families." Take the last 18 years: Bush 1, Clinton, Clinton, Dubya, Dubya, (Hillary?) If you throw in the Kennedys, Rockefellers, etc., you have a clear picture of the new American ruling class. Molly Ivins suggests that it's time for new democratic candidates for 2008: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0310-20.htm She suggested a few: Bill Moyers, Russ Feingold and Oprah. Even though I'm an outsider looking in, may I suggest a few more in no particular order: Molly herself, Paul Krugman, Cindy Sheehan, Barbara Boxer, George Clooney, Henry Waxman (an unrecognised hero in your midst,) Jon Stewart, and if Molly hadn't already named him, Bill Moyers would be at the top of my list. I live in a country where "liberal" or "progressive" are not dirty words, so why have the democrats allowed them become so in the US? One more thought. The whole world knows that the Bushies stole the 2000 election from Gore in Florida, but I wonder if Gore would have done better in the whole country if he had chosen a different candidate for vice-president? Do you think that Lieberman was already a republican? Patty Coombs Subject: Conservatives: Circular (logic) Jerks It seems I always have this argument with conservatives. I bet you do too: Me: Rightwing policies are catching up with republicans. Bush is down to 36% in the polls. Conservative: The only poll that matters is the one they take in November at the polls. Me: Yes, but we've seen that the machines were hacked. They can easily flip the votes making the real loser the winner. Conservative: Take off your tinfoil hat, the election couldn't have been stolen if it wasn't so close. Me: Yes, but now the polls show Americans are rejecting republican policies in favor of dems in every category that matters. Bush is down to 36% in the polls. Conservative: The only poll that matters is the one they take in November...... Kristi Warriner Subject: 2008 Presidential Election With all due respect to the Democratic Party, and both Al Gore -- whom, I know did win 2000, and if he runs again, would win 2008 -- and John Kerry... ditto - with that Ohio "thing"... he should have won 2004... and mostly, to John Edwards -- whom I believe is an honorable man and would have made a fine Veep (I will be respectfully "void" in commenting on what I have come to believe of Lieberman...), THE FACT OF THE MATTER: For the DNC to be nominating/attempting to get a "Southerner" on the ticket to sway the South into voting Democratic has been the biggest mistake made. Case(s) in point: That Tennessee did not vote for Gore in the 2000 election only shows how rigidly backwards they were/are. Even CA voted overwhelmingly for Ronnie when he ran for Prez way back then, as having a Prez from your home state is good for that state's economy. Duhhh! And in 2004, getting Edwards on the ticket as Veep didn't help sway the South either. Whomever is nominated as the 2008 Democratic Prez candidate, if it is not a solid Midwesterner, he/she needs to have a running mate that is! In 2004, had Kerry selected Gephardt as his running mate, I guarantee you that Missouri and Iowa and even probably Kansas and Kentucky would have been blue states. Regardless, just having MO vote Democratic (it was really close) would have voided the Ohio disaster! As it was, Edwards' home state went red -- it is one of those Southern ideological places in our country; and none of the other typically red southern states bit the lure either! Further - in 2000: Gore picking Lieberman was no better a choice (and Lieberman needs to change parties along with one of my Senators... Ms. DiFi whose seemingly only constituents that matter any longer are her husband's banking interests and her Stanford alumna: Condi!). The point being: I have lived on both Coasts, in Missouri, and in the South... Democrats on the Coasts are going to vote for Democrats, hands down (let's find one that doesn't sway from his constituent's beliefs for political/financial reasons... one that not only our country, but the world will respect [again] hmmm: Gore ?) -- but the purple states in the Midwest distrust "Southerners" more so than we coast side dwellers do, but WILL vote for their hometown heroes if they are on the ticket. I was aghast at Kerry's choice, whether it was his own or the DNC's, to pick Edwards given the current political climate, fueled by the current corruption of the South -- I knew it the moment it was announced: it was a losing partnership -- even Ohio, had Gephardt been the running mate, would have been so overwhelmingly Democratic that the corruption the Ohio State government officials prompted on that state's voting would have been ineffective. I know a lot of wonderful people in the South who want our government back to a representation for the people, not the Bush cronies and crooks who use us for their own gains/power. And, they will be overwhelmingly gleeful once this current regime is out of office, but I am positive they are (still) the minority in that region (go figure!). So, I implore the DNC: There are many, many fine Midwestern Democrats, one of which needs to be on the 2008 ticket -- forget the SOUTH! Go for the Midwest -- Southerners will be thankful for that decision. Use some strategy guys; it's not that difficult a concept -- you screwed up the last two times! Regards, Katherine Hovey Subject: Pithy fundy smack down
MD Dem. state senatorial candidate and law professor verbally stomped fundy Rep. state senator in testimony against an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. This is the way to go after the theocrats. Hold their beliefs up to the bright light of truth and ridicule. John Subject: In These Times Only Dead Fish Swim With the Stream! Compromise and Moderation will not work in 2006 and 2008! Sure the Republicans and weak-kneed moderate Democrats suggest it. The evidence of our own eyes and ears should have shown by now they are the only ones that benefit from it. An abuse of power has been the predominant factor in the opposition. We have witnessed cover-ups, blocked investigations, and the wrapping of a cocoon of protection around George Bush, denying accountability for the many, many blunders of the Iraq War, Domestic Spying, Katrina, and a soaring deficit, and a host of failed policies! Appeasement will not work or benefit our nation. We have been shown when the Bush/Rove/ Republican Machine can’t answer our reasons; they concentrate on knocking down those that ask for accountability. They did it with Murtha, and now opposition to Russ Feingold’s censure of Bush for blatantly breaking the law, met with monkey wrenches being thrown at him by Frist, and Specter, even before his opening statement. When Bush’s Political Machine, and the Republicans find themselves up against the wall of truth, they either block it from coming out or change the terms of the debate! They easily dismiss the fact that rational decisions can not be made without checks and tests. Let the call go out for the Murthas, the Feingolds, the Conyers, the Boxers, the Hacketts and those who ARE NOT afraid to confront the issues vital to our nation’s well-being. That’s who we should be supporting and ultimately voting for to lead the way in the much needed transformation of our government! Susan Carr Subject: Re: "What a Joke!" I have just finished reading part of your Mailbag dated 14 March 2006, and the letter from a BuzzFlasher regarding Senator Russ Feingold's action in the Senate to censure Bush caught my eye. In all fairness to Senator Feingold, I'd like to clarify a couple of points. The only federal body that can initiate articles of impeachment is the House of Representatives. Representative John Conyers has been working very hard and diligently in this regard for quite some time now. Additionally, at least 30 other Democratic Representatives have signed on to this effort. I am assuming that Senator Feingold is taking the only action he can legally take right now. One important thing to remember is that this is better than NOTHING at all being done, and is all a part of the "political" game that needs to be played. I'm not saying that this is right, but unfortunately this is the way our system of governance is set up to operate. It is difficult to be patient with this process, particularly when the Bush Cabal flouts the rule of law in our noses every single day. What we MUST do is support these very courageous members of our Congress in the actions they are taking. It's not likely, at this point, that any of these actions will get very far in either house of Congress; however, it is imperative that we let these people know we back them -- even though some of the milquetoast members of their own party refuse to do -- or don't have the gonads to do. At the very least, these actions do keep Bush's miserable performance and record in the public eye and in the media. Kudos to every one of the federal lawmakers who are stepping forward and bringing these issues to the light of day. It is a ray of hope, and hopefully, the partisan, plutocratic, and theocratic actions of the Neocons will come back to bite the Republicans and the DINOs in their very fleshy posteriors during the mid-term elections. Lisa J. Subject: The Lackluster Democrats I feel betrayed. Senator Russ Feingold proposed censure of George W. Bush on the senate floor yesterday and no one backed him up. We finally get someone who is willing to go up against this republican machine and the rest of the dems are too afraid of bad publicity to stick their necks out. Even the republicans know it's the right thing to do, but they aren't going to get themselves in trouble with the King George. I mean really--what the hell is it going to take to get this guy? I thought Harry Reid had a backbone when he called for the closed door session earlier, but evidently the president and his gang of crooks haven't caused enough damage to our country for him to do it again. If I were there, I would be in their faces every day. I would not care how much the press ridiculed me. My hat goes off to Russ Feingold. He seems to be the only democrat with a spine and a conscience, and in my estimation, he is a TRUE patriot. A BuzzFlash Reader
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