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| April 27, 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. Subject: On BuzzFlash Note: It Is Time To Stop Being Consumers, It Is Time To Be Citizens BuzzFlash, Let me start by saying I am grateful to you for publishing my musings. I read your note, and thought about it. I think you hit the key. Let me explain. As you correctly mentioned, it gas prices that cause the camel to start bitching at the very least. The question then is, why gas prices? The answer perhaps lies in the culture. For too long, we have been consumers, and not citizens. Consumers care about prices, consumers care about their individual needs, consumers can be stupid, apathetic, but not citizens. Citizens are willing to make sacrifices for their country, but not for issues that undermine freedom, liberty and justice. Where was the anger over the NSA wire tapping, the explosion over an illegal war, the rage over the Patriot Act? Look at the habits we inculcate, look at the issues we care about, they smack of consumerism, as opposed to patriotism. At a time of peril like this, it is time to stop being a consumer, it is time to be a citizen. Citizens stand up and speak for democracy, consumers run to Wal-Mart to buy tape. There is an essential difference in the thinking and approach to issues between the two. Citizens can be intelligent consumers, but consumers cannot be intelligent citizens. The question now remains, and that is: What choice will Americans make? Akhil Bhardwaj Subject: Snow as White House Press Secretary Hey, Buzz: I don't know if you remember five years ago my joust with the White House's new Press Secretary over Vandalism-gate, which I think you published in your June 3, 2001 Mailbag. As you recall, the new White House Press Secretary had then published that, "The White House ‘was a wreck.’ Air Force One ‘looked as if it had been stripped by a skilled band of thieves -- or perhaps wrecked by a trailer park twister.’" Snow's published assertions were proved later to be completely untrue and without foundation. Now that Snow's been "elevated" to the position of White House Press Secretary (LOL), it's worth reviewing in order to demonstrate how immorally dishonest this individual is with the truth while he seeks to bring, among other things, "religion to the political table." Back in June, 2001, I wrote to you folks at BuzzFlash: My June 3 (2001) e-mail re The White House Lists Alleged Vandalism-Report that was published in your Monday Mailbag elicited the following response from none other than Pundit/Mediawhore Tony Snow. Mr. Snow's response is followed by my reply, and my reply which references my May 20th e-mail to Mr. Snow is followed by the main body of that May 20th e-mail without it's attachment. So much for Mr. Snow taking the sound advice of a "profound apology" suggested by his fellow Columnist and Pundit Mark Shields at their mutual employer, Creators Syndicate. By the way, my full name and locale was clearly listed at the end of my June 3 e-mail that Mr. Snow is referring to.
Dear Mr. Snow: You certainly live up to your last name. Trust, let alone research, is obviously whatever you wanted to hear. In that sense, you truly sound like a Moonie. So who were your sources--the Clinton ones particularly? Confidential? Can't reveal them? Do you expect us to believe you? Sorry, but it doesn't work that way any more because the public does not deserve patent propagandistic irresponsibility that masks itself as journalism. I'm sure you think you're done with it because you have no moral character! (Oh, where have we heard that one!) Well, I'm not done with it because you're a willful prevaricator (for one thing, you know you didn't enjoy my letter) and the public needs protection from so many of your ilk that the Moons, Murdochs and Scaifes of this world have now infected our culture with. I also know you're answering your e-mail from the latest on down. When you get to May 20, then you can e-mail me your enjoyment and enlighten me with a new definition of "windmill." And, by the way, Sancho, my name isn't Paul. Or did you trust your sources on that one, too, instead of bothering to look at the signature? Will Wyche Subject: Bush Theme Song With the ushering in of Tony Snow as the new Press Secretary for the Bush Cabal, I respectfully submit the following for a theme song to replace "Hail to the Chief". Well, they'll snow ya when you're trying to be so good, Well, they'll snow ya when you're walkin' 'long the street. They'll snow ya when you're at the breakfast table. Well, they'll snow you and say that it's the end. Well, they'll snow you when you walk all alone. Copyright © 1966; renewed 1994 Dwarf Music FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=Columbia Records" With deepest respect and apologies to Bob Dylan for "stealing" his lyrics to "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" -- Bush made me do it. Lisa Johnson Subject: Osama/Bush/Gas Prices I love your Mailbag and agree with thoughts of many who write. Also get a chuckle like the reader who wrote about the SNOW JOB we will get from Tony. haha We are not addicted to OIL AND GAS! Crazy as- bush decider doesn't know his a-- from a hole in the ground. Addictions aren't good for us. Like alcohol, cigarettes, sweets. Imagine if we gave up our addiction to oil and gas. First things to give up would be our cars and heating our homes. If everyone gave up this addiction for one day, who would go to work? In 1999 when he lied about our BAD ECONOMY, I knew we would be in trouble if he got the White House. I predicted 3 things to my friends and family who thought I was crazy. One we would go to war, two he would make Clinton look good, and three, hold on to your pocketbooks. He said God told him to run for president and I said I talked to God and God told me he didn't tell him that. There have been some strained relationships in the last 6 years because of politics. Never happened before in my 60+ years. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: So what's new about Junior hiring staff that already worked for daddy? Snow has been the host of the "Tony Snow Show" on Fox News Radio and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on the Fox News Channel. He served in the first Bush administration as speech writing director and later as a deputy assistant to the president for media affairs. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Geedubya ... Why He Runs One of the reasons Geedubya spends so much time in the air ... and using gas ... is that he cannot go back to Crawford any more ... Camp Casey One and Two are set up there ... most of the time, and just waiting ... so he does not want to ruin his beautiful mind with that nonsense. And to Dee Turner ... I also will not work for Kerry again. I know Sen. Kennedy is touting him for president ... but he backed off way too fast. I have heard the rumor that someone threatened the life of his wife ... but, whatever ... some of us who worked like we did ... so hard ... should have gotten an answer ... at least Gore held on until December. I will work for Gore ... but not Kerry! Shirley ... St. Louis Subject: Canada Is Screwed They all laughed at me when I said that Canada's new Prime Minister, TRH (The Right Honourable) Stephen Harper, would destroy the Canadian Mosaic. It has begun. Yesterday, he disallowed any reporters from attending the off loading of the caskets of our Canadian servicemen killed in Afghanistan. Shades of Bush. It sickens me to know that this man has no clue about the foundation on which Canada is built. Contrary to popular belief, we are not as people all that enamoured with The Great American Dream. American life as your president sees it doesn't appeal to Canadians on a large scale. Sorry, America, but most of us think that your government, your way of life and your lack of empathy stink. It's not an attack, it's just a fact. BuzzFlash needs to start carrying articles about the New Canadian Order. The Prime Minister has cut off the press from Parliament Hill (a la Bush.) Harper is starting a fight with the Senate, and better yet he has guaranteed the country that he intends to spend us into a 23 billion dollar deficit. What gives? Canadians and Americans need to understand that we are a nation built not on the relationship between Canadian and American but on the relationship between British and French. We, unlike the Americans, see our nation and our differences as a good thing; differences that we are willing to accept and live with; differences that make Canada what it is. Canada is not American. That's all that need be said. The French complain and we listen. The west complains and we listen. Nothing ever gets resolved, but does it really have to? Must there always be a black and white answer as in America? What happened to live and let live? I like Canada. I like our differences. It's what makes us unique, diverse and well respected. Stephen Harper is about to change that. The liberal lobby needs to begin now. STOP HARPER NOW! Brian J. Subject: Give Me 600 Million and See What I Can Do In his speech yesterday, Bush claimed that our dire oil situation is caused, in part, by our limited refining capacities. It seems regulations and paperwork are so daunting that new refineries are being kept from coming on-line. Hey, give me 600 million dollars. I will damn well figure out how to apply for the necessary permits and comply with the heinous regulations. If not, I could probably hire an analyst or two for maybe 50k each and I could keep the rest for myself (I'll spot BuzzFlash a buck or two mill). Amazing, isn't it, how over in the world of coal they have figured out how to blow the tops off of whole entire mountains and to fill up the streams with the leftover debris without any regulatory problems stepping them up, but the oil guys are stuck. All I know is, those regulations must be something. In the last 35 years only one permit has been applied for. Like I said, give me 600 mil and I'll find a way. Kristi Warriner Subject: Rude Pundit Buzz - I'm hardly a prude, but reprinting venom from The Rude Pundit hardly helps the Progressive cause. Any marginally literate high school freshman can string together scatological comments and endless synonyms for body parts and bodily functions. Juvenile nonsense like this only gives credence to right-wing vitriol that "The Left" is made up of crackpots and perverts. I'm all for free speech ... the Pundit is free to publish his or her blog without infringement. But to post such gibberish, particularly when there are far more worthy bloggers out there, is not particularly bright of a website with the readership - and integrity - of Buzzflash. Andrew Mancini Subject: A love letter from Dubya My husband is still registered Republican, so we get all the stuff, and today we received a lovely letter asking for donations. I will scan it tomorrow, but it had a different flavor than elections before. I was reading it on the return trip from picking Gary up. I asked him when was the last time he voted Republican and he couldn't remember, but said he would vote for a Republican again as soon as he found one that isn't crazy. He is a fiscal republican and a social democrat. Abortion, gay rights, immigration and God were not mentioned. There was not even a God willing or God Bless You. It is signed by Dubya, supposedly, and it makes sure to mention you need to send all contributions to the RNC because they are the only ones advocating everyone get elected. I guess some committees won't support some Repubs. There are Dems I refuse to support as well. Just a couple of quotes: "Keeping America competitive begins with keeping our economy growing. And our economy grows when Americans have more of their own money to spend, save and invest. In the last five years, the tax relief I proposed and Congress enacted has left $880 billion dollars in the hands of American workers, investors, small businesses and families and it has helped produce more than four years of uninterrupted economic growth. Yet the tax relief is set to expire in the next few years. If we do nothing, American families will face a massive tax increase they do not expect and will not welcome." Since I didn't get a massive tax cut, I don't expect to have a massive tax increase, unless he starts another war. What would be good is a little debt relief. We supposedly got $880 billion in tax relief, but we also have a $412.5 billion budget deficit, we have a national debt that is nearly $8 1/2 trillion which has increased at an average of $2.06 billion a day since September 30, 2005, and in fiscal 2005 we shelled out $352 billion in interest on our National Debt. I don't mean to be pissy about this, but before you start giving money back shouldn't you pay your bills? Keep in mind there is nothing in his budget for the war or Katrina relief. "It also requires affordable energy. Here we have a serious problem": (Frivolous problems like health care, the national debt, Katrina relief and the death and destruction of the war pale in comparison.) "The Republican Party looks to lead in this period of consequence." I was a little puzzled by "period of consequence," but I think he says we are suffering from the consequences of those who have brought us to this time of unparalleled greed and insanity. I am certain he doesn't think he created any of the bad consequences. Now here he marches out of reality into pure fantasy and would like for my husband to help raise the mendacity level to infinity and beyond. "The Republican National Committee needs your support today to help take our hopeful, optimistic message directly to the people. To be successful in the upcoming midterm elections, we must explain clearly how our policies will keep our country safe and our economy growing." Convincing my husband that there is anything hopeful or optimistic to put in a message will take more schmoozing than Dubya has. You can't keep something safe or growing if it isn't safe and growing already. What they are asking is to pay them to lie. Send us money to help us bamboozle the populace again. Speak up or they assume you agree!!! ABB Karen Webb Subject: Bush the Oil Man (or, Iraq Is No Different) It just occurred to me that Bush has always been a failure in the oil business. Smike Subject: Unprepared for a Major Disaster Why would the powers that be prepare? They've got everything to lose, nothing to gain. After all, they depend upon fear and terror. Not only depend upon it, but welcome it. Sometimes they even manufacture it themselves. Without it where would they be? And they score big should another disaster hit us and we're not prepared. Let's see, 9/11 was used by them to take us to war and to tear up the Constitution. And Katrina "cleaned-up" New Orleans for them. One more hit and, goodbye, what else? How to prevent another hit? We the people change the world, that's how. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Air Express Carrier Suddenly Suspends Shipments into Iran Yesterday, as an employee of the world’s largest international air express carrier (not the one you think it is), I received the following alert in my daily updates:
Until yesterday, my company was the only air express carrier into Iran, and was limited to shipping documents only - at least for shipments with a US origin. I am still trying to ascertain whether or not this suspension of service applies to shipments originating from other countries. It is interesting to note that during the NATO campaign in the Balkans, this same company was still shipping into Sarajevo, as well as moving DoD shipments in support of US forces. So, given its corporate history, it is unlikely that this service suspension was the result of the company’s desire to support the Administration’s attempts to further isolate Iran. Is it because corporate HQ is in the know that soon Iranian airspace will be a very dangerous place to be? Just wondering. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Contributor's Submission: "Reagan in His Own Words" Those of you who have read The Indy Voice for any length of time are probably aware that Ronald Reagan wasn't my favorite President. So when I received an email from someone in his fan club I couldn't resist the opportunity to retort. I was compelled to publicly respond when the last line of the email read exactly (bolding and capitalization included) like this, "IF YOU AGREE, PLEASE FORWARD.....IF NOT JUST DELETE." So, here goes, Reagan: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Indy: He's right, I was terrified when he said it. Reagan: "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so." Indy: Oh yeah and the facts haven't been strange bedfellows in conservative administrations. Does Nixon's resignation and Iran-Contra refresh any memories? This from a guy who didn't remember authorizing the sale of missiles to a "terrorist state" so that he could subsidize the "murder, rape, torture, maiming of children, cutting off arms, cutting out tongues, gouging out eyes, castration, bayoneting pregnant women in the stomach, and amputating genitals" of a so-called "freedom fighting" force. Reagan: "I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress." Indy: A Christian would say that the Commandments came from God not Moses but hey "there I go again" with that liberal ignorance. Either way I don't think Reagan was aware that the U.S. Congress didn't exist when Moses presented the tablets. Reagan: "The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination." Indy: You constantly have to remind these guys that taxpayers don't take the civil service exam because they're the boss. Reagan: "Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other." Indy: Kind of sounds like the political philosophy of the modern conservative movement. Don't they go around eating up all the things that make this country great and when it's their turn to return the favor all we're left with is a whiner and a stinking diaper. Reagan: "If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." Indy: I'm all for it except my God is evil. Can we be a nation under my God? Reagan: "The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." Indy: ... and glib comments by bad actors. Reagan: "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Indy: His view could be summed up in a few short phrases: if it makes something blow up, secretively spend massive amounts of taxpayer dollars for it. If it keeps moving after you've tried to blow it up, deny that you blew it up and secretly spend even more money towards blowing it up. If it stops moving there's nothing saying you can't try blowing it up again. Reagan: "No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women." Indy: So when do we stop raising taxes to build bombs? Reagan: "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book." Indy: We're still waiting on that book. Reagan: "It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first." Indy: Spoken like a true pimp daddy! The Indy Voice Subject: Letter to WaPo Re: Kaplan's Scurrilous Slam of Chavez and Morales The incessant attacks in the media regarding the leftist leaders gaining influence in Latin America have one striking similarity: they are all very weak on details - if not full of outright lies. Robert Kaplan’s recent article (Old States, New Threats, Washington Post, April 23 2006, page B01) is a pristine example.
Firstly, “Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela,” if it can appropriately be called that, is in fact built not on anger or resentment but on two internationally monitored elections - elections that suffered from far fewer documented irregularities, by the way, than have our own presidential contests in the past half-decade. While Chavez has certainly gained the overwhelming support of the lower class indigenous majority of his country by rolling back the extortive and disastrous “golden straightjacket” of corporatist globalization measures imposed by northern powers on much of Latin America - support that has carried him unscathed through one US-backed military coup (in 2002) and a subsequent (and similarly US-backed) special election recall effort - to cast this success of democracy as an overt threat to the United States is nothing but scurrilous and cowardly hyperbole. But Kaplan is not shy. He presents a spurious case that Venezuela is a likely source for future terrorism against the West “given (Chavez’s) oil wealth and the elusive links between South American narco-terrorists and Arab gangs working out of Venezuelan ports”. Oil wealth he certainly has - the vast Venezuelan heavy crude deposits have just become viable sources of petroleum and revenue due to rising oil prices (Uncle Sam licks his chops). But the “elusive links” are elusive indeed; apparently existing only in the minds of excitable columnists who just can’t seem to tolerate self-determination by a brown-skinned populace - and who can’t seem to bring themselves to worry about legitimate sourcing for their stories. At this point I should say that I believe war between Venezuela and the United States is almost inevitable in the near future. But I am similarly convinced that it will be we who play the part of the predatory aggressors in any such conflict. Petulant bluster from Washington and the constant stream of vague, inflammatory innuendo in the press is a sad, ominous harbinger of this eventuality. In response to these signals and others, Chavez has recently subjected his conventional military to essential disbandment, in favor of training local militias in the defensive art of asymmetrical guerrilla warfare. This does not sound to me like a crazed leader bent on international aggression; but it sure sounds like a cagey tactician anticipating a violent incursion from the United States - and one who knows how to beat us should that occur. Kaplan reveals his true objections to the growing trend of self-reliance and Latin American international cooperation most succinctly in his brief analysis of new Bolivian President Evo Morales:
Let’s remember: as the nations under consideration possess significant deposits of oil and natural gas, the “American interests” on whose behalf Kaplan wrings his hands are represented by individuals in the mold of former Enron Ponzi choreographer Ken Lay and recently retired Exxon/Mobil Chairman Lee Raymond, the four-hundred-million-dollar man. Who is it that are the real enemies of America? Ken Duerksen Subject: Did Bush Mislead Nation To Go To War? - Politics - msnbc.com A nice way of calling the President what he has always been: LIAR.
Without exception, George W. Bush has turned out to be the greatest mis-leader of our times. This HAS to be impeachable if lying about sex is. John L. Johnson Subject: Angry Kansan - Sen. Pat (Lapdog) Roberts Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is now saying he wants to further slow down investigations into whether President Bush lied to Congress and the American people about pre-war intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. This inquiry had dragged on so slowly (for more than two years) that last November, Democrats forced the Senate into an extraordinary closed-door session. Roberts promised to speed up the probe, but now seems to want to wait till after the critical Congressional elections in November. Before the 2004 Presidential elections, Roberts impeded investigations into pre-war intelligence till (supposedly) afterwards. With President Bush’s approval ratings now at 32%, and Republicans in danger of losing the House and Senate, Sen. Roberts seems to be coming to the rescue again. Remember, the Downing Street Minutes and many other reputable sources (high government officials and high ranking officers of the Armed Services and Intelligence Departments) are on record as stating that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that Iraq posed no threat to our national interest. Iraq DOES happen to have lots of oil. What is Bush so afraid of? What will come out if there is a true investigation of pre-war intelligence? If anyone has taken my country into an unnecessary war, in my name, am I alone in wanting to know about it? Senator Roberts, your oath is to the United States Constitution, not to a political party (or a presidential administration). Senator Roberts, do your job, do it honestly, do it now, or resign! Daniel Patrick Schamle Subject: How our police are acting now I am a guidance counselor of non English speakers. Apparently, one of my seventeen-year- old boys from Iran was kicked by a police officer until his back bled. I am sure that this is the new wrinkle unChristian push from the twisted power brokers in the Bush administration. Here is a verse that the Bush Christians may want to familiarize themselves with in the bible. "And you shall not wrong a foreigner nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the Land of Egypt" Exodus 2:21 This boy was refused medical help until another officer said that they could not take him to jail because of his bleeding back. They had to take him to the hospital. These were two huge cops ganged up on a skinny seventeen-year-old HOMELESS child. I mean, we had to take FOOD BOXES to the shelter he stays in. His parents are in Iran, while they are still alive, that is, before Bush kills them in his next mid-term election war. Would the cops have ganged up on the rich white children of a GOP politician? Just asking. I wrote to all of the teachers to get a note about his behavior. EVERY one of them commented on how he is never a problem and is always polite and respectful. Sorry, but we are not getting a lot of disruptive behavior from our Iranian kids. We are getting a lot of it from the kids of GOPs. I believe my student that the cop turned the story around on him, and if it costs me my last dime, I am going to make sure that cop is sued for every dime he has. Nobody puts their hands on my kids. I am going to make this my mission and when I get on a mission, that's it. mev Subject: Orwell ...
Frank Subject: Of hurricanes and dust bowls I may be literally beating (or eating) a dead horse, but the drought and hurricane news down here is giving even the most ardent weather enthusiasts a thousand yard stare........One glimpse at the current US Drought Monitor map gives a clear picture of how sneaky and dangerous droughts are in this part of the country to begin with. For example, you are aware of the ominous weather news from Arizona, but it is grossly understated on the drought map. Closer to home (my home) the map indicates the West Texas area which includes Lubbock (a global agricultural hub) is in a Stage 2 drought. In fact, Lubbock recently broke an all-time record for consecutive days without rain. On the other side of the state in Northeast Texas, the city of Paris (a major ranching and farming hub) is officially listed in a Stage 3 drought zone. In fact, longtime residents there tell me the current drought is worse than the 1930's. The drought map also doesn't reflect the desperate condition of the huge aquifers serving the Lubbock and Paris areas. Irrigation has bailed out agriculture in past droughts, but these two aquifers are just about tapped out. Judging from the latest La Nina reports, relief is not in sight through the growing season. Some relief might come from hurricanes but it is often isolated and always an iffy proposition. I believe the all-time U.S. rainfall records for 24 and 48 hours are still held by Texas communities hit with drought-breaking remnants of tropical cyclones. There is nothing anyone can do down here except prepare for water shortages and more problems in the food supply. In recent months the large supermarket chains have been caught repeatedly re-labeling expired products and putting them back on the shelf. In the meantime, we are witnessing a huge, population shift away from coastal Texas. If the 2006 hurricane season goes as predicted, then we could see a crippling blow to the energy industry in the Houston area. Only a hundred miles to the east, Port Arthur and Beaumont are still in ruins from Rita. The status of Gulf oil rigs and platforms is still uncertain. Like Houston, the cities of Galveston and Corpus Christi believe they are wearing a bull's eye. Engineers in Galveston are very worried about the Seawall (built after the 1900 hurricane) because of damage from Hurricane Alicia in 1983. With sea levels rising so quickly, a Cat 3 hurricane could destroy the wall and wash over Galveston. A Rita type hurricane at Corpus Christi could virtually turn it into a ghost town. And don't forget New Orleans. In a cycle like this, a Cat 3 hurricane just might convince New Orleans to move north or become a ghost town. And then there are the already-forgotten woes in Florida, where debris in numerous communities has yet to be cleared away. A Cat 3 or 4 storm could create several new ghost towns. As native Texans all know too well, hand wringing gets us nothing, but plans for action are few and lean. We'll see. Best, Dean [BuzzFlash Note: We overlooked this letter when it first came to our inbox ... but we think it is still interesting.] Subject: One Word You recently came up with a one word description for the Republicans. How about a one word description for the Democrats? I am more disgusted with them than I am with the Republicans. After all, you can't blame a pig for being a pig. The Democrats are so useless (with a few exceptions) that I believe I will vote Green, or Peace and Justice or anything that has something to recommend it. Melissa Subject: Hatch Act I am a retired federal government employee, who was employed in the Department of Veterans Affairs for eleven years. I have a concern that no reporter to date has written about and thought about you. The subject of this email is Karl Rove being reassigned to work on this fall's political elections. Being a former employee, I am well aware of the Hatch Act and am aware this Act was updated in 1993. However, the only Presidential appointees are those approved by congress; Mr. Rove was not, as you are aware. I have enclosed some articles I have researched and have enclosed these in my email. This is not the first time there have been questions regarding this administration having violated the Hatch Act. When this happened in the Clinton years, the Republicans were outraged and wanted a special prosecutor appointed to do an investigation. It is clear, Rove is not a Secretary level employee, therefore he has to adhere to the law set forth in the Hatch Act. http://www.osc.gov/documents/hatchact/federal/fha-24.htm Congress needs to do an investigation into whether or not Karl Rove had to reimburse the US treasury for the time, expenses, travel, meetings etc. he is going to be spending while working on the fall campaigns for the Republicans. This is not the first time this White House has been questioned regarding this issue, please read these articles http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6892-2004Oct4.html http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/hatchbadboys.htm This Administration continues to violate federal laws, and now that Rove is reassigned to work out of the people's house, "The White House"' to work on the Republican's campaigns to ensure Bush's agenda is carried out for the next two and one half years, it is in fact unethical if not illegal. The Attorney General has advised this White House regarding this matter in the past. http://72.14.203.104/search... Thank you for your time and consideration. As a former government employee and concerned citizen, the continued violations of rules, regulations and laws make me very angry. A BuzzFlash Reader [BuzzFlash Note: We don't know he law's details ... but here is the Special Counsel's web page on Hatch Act guidelines.] Subject: Why the Busheviks May Believe They are Winning the Iraq War -- A BuzzFlash News Analysis I have recently been strategizing how the neocon antichrist cabal will try to solve this issue, and watching the news in the last 6 weeks, it appears that the scenario may be playing out. This is just horrific, and people will think I'm nuts. But, every time I have projected any morality or common sense on these guys, they have exceeded my expectations with their evil, sick and demented actions. The "problem' in Iraq is the existence of the 20% Sunni population. If I were an amoral pragmatic evil-doer like John Negroponte and his friends, I could quickly figure out a solution. The Sunnis have no oil, they are the educated Baghdad bureaucrats, they want our western lifestyle in opposition to the fundamentalist Shia, and stand to lose the most by fractioning the country. They aren't going to ever be happy and settled with the new order, whatever that may turn out to be. I can't put any rationale to the mass kidnappings and murders of middle class Sunni other than an attempt at the G-word, genocide. Now I read of voluntary migration and redistribution of the population according to religions and ethnic lines. And they are leaving the country as fast as they can get out. It is playing out. The middle-of-the night abductions by guys with big black BMWs can only happen with our knowledge and concurrence, or at least tolerance. Who is buying all those big cars??? There's lots and lots of money behind this. Maybe even a Chalabi or two - he has a lot of relatives. It is sick, sick, sick. But think of this: is it possible that we have cut a deal with the fringe Shia to come into the tent, get rid of the Sunnis altogether, take their goodies, and cut the nation in HALF? The myth here in the US is that the Shia are secretly working with Iran to undercut our intentions in Iraq. It may be true when it's beneficial to the Shia, but it's more complicated that that. The Iraqis fought a war as bloody as WWI with Iran, and millions were brutally killed. These guys are not friends, even if they do share a religion. Iraqis are Arabs, Iranians are Persians. We have done some horse trading with these guys, not sure what it is, but it includes Iran. Help me out here??? A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Senate Panel Recommends Abolishing FEMA - AP/Yahoo! News Might I direct you back to the Republican mantra of big government....per Grover Norquist: It should be “... small enough to drown in a bathtub” (thenation). Apparently the “bathtub” Mr. Norquist was talking about was New Orleans. Wake up, folks, before it’s too late. 1. Starve government agency for money and resources. 2. Stand around and watch it fail. 3. Point out the egregious failure as a reason to abolish it. 4. Go to step 1. Pretty simple to do when you hold all the cards. We need to topple this house (and senate) of cards real quick, or we all fall. John L. Johnson |
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