May 15, 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.

BuzzFlash Note: Mailbag readers might want to see What You Can Do - A BuzzFlash Perspective. We created this 7-point "action outline" in response to comments from readers anxious to help promote the pro-democracy agenda.

Subject: Is Spying on Americans Illegal?

Let's stop investigating the legality of spying on Americans. This question was answered over 200 years ago. Guilty. Sentence: To be carried out immediately.

Don't expect anything to come out of any congressional investigations of NSA spying. Arlen Specter? I doubt it. All though the news broke to "us" this week, these bastards have been aware of the extent of this illegal activity for some time. To stand up now and demonstrate outrage, and call for some more "white wash" investigations that go nowhere, allowing this administration to continue committing crimes against the constitution and this country.

Has America gone insane?. The system is broken and needs to be removed from power while there is something of this world left.

Sanders, Leahy challenge Bush domestic spying program in court (Burlington Free Press)

Tim Krause
Lisle, IL

Subject: White House Psychological Warfare

This White House is breaking the will of the American people by repeatedly violating our fourth amendment rights, and then not responding to critics. They ignore us, they ignore the polls, and keep on keepin' on. We are becoming desensitized to their criminal actions.

Bush never seems disturbed by questions about his unconstitutional activities, and the polls don't mean a damn thing to him. He just keeps riding that pony in the same direction...that of a dictatorship...and Congress is frozen; the news media is frozen; so, for all the rants about this criminal White House, nothing has changed...we just don't make a difference anymore. And, forget about the elections - they are rigged and now Jeb is stepping up to bat to continue the attack on freedom. This is all very frightening, but someone has to do something other than just rant against King George and Company.

Jody Hoelle
Redlands, CA

Subject: Outraged by White House spending $6.1 billion on Presidential Helicopter

I'm an aviation technician and aviation buff and find it completely incomprehensible that the White House is finding it necessary to spend $6.1 billion on upgrades for the Presidential Helicopter. Let's put some perspective on this spending spree. A B-2 bomber costs $2.2 billion. One week of war in Iraq costs $1 billion. Social Security is failing because it is underfunded! This is another Outrageous out of balance lack of priority spending.

Was Presidential Helicopter Deal a Pay Off for Italy's Pre-War Yellow-Cake Intel Role? (New America Media)

Sincerely,

Joseph Jeffrey Clyde
Oakland Ca

Subject: Wanted: By Plessner

And me. YES! And why isn't this topping the BuzzFlash hit parade? It's an actual, impeccable solution for once.

Vic Anderson

Subject: Renegade White House

The latest revelation about the NSA maintaining a database of phone records of Americans, leads me to believe that this Administration WANTS this information to be revealed. The reason they want us to know is that they are breaking down our constitutional rights, and with each new revelation, we,as Americans, are getting used to these violations. AND, the more we balk at these violations, the more powerful they become, since nothing and no one has been able to stop them. This leads to a feeling of hopelessness and despair. We have ceased to be surprised at anything they are doing. NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NO ONE HAS DONE ANYTHING TO MAKE THIS ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTABLE. They have created a climate of fear that has immobilized all of us, including Congress.

Jody Hoelle
Redlands, CA

Subject: The Constitution Got Nipped In The Bud Just In Time

Hi BuzzFlash Readers,

Do you remember this Document that doesn't mean a thing in today's world, under Bush's Dictatorial Rule? Looks like they once called it something like "The Constitution."

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

Sure looks like its nothing more than "a bunch of meaningless words on a rag" or "a bunch of insane thoughts on a scrap of paper." Right?

I hear that everybody in Washington DC actually "swears by it" when they take their oaths of office. Gee, why do politicians have to get so "angry" at it? Why do they have to “swear”? Can’t they keep their language clean?

I mean, look at this thing: Freedoms? Rights? Good Lord, what on earth were those nut cases thinking of back then, when they wrote and ratified this thing?

God, am I "glad" that Bush nipped this document in the bud before too many people actually started to believe in it! Phew!

We could have had a revolution or rioting in the streets, if people actually thought that this document was real and that it stood for something! That was a real close call!

Heil Bush!!

Tom Wieliczka
Windsor Locks, CT

Subject: Bad Parents!

Democrats have been behaving like absentee parents. For years they’ve turned a blind eye to Bush’s abuse of power. Now that public sentiment has changed, they now want to step up to the plate and chastise him. A good parent knows that you must establish boundaries and rules, while the child is still young.

You can't wait until the child is a teenager and try to discipline him. It just won’t work. That’s exactly what the Democrats are doing now. They’ve let Bush run wild in the White House, and now they’d like to rein him in.

I’m afraid it may just be too late. Parents must earn the respect of their children, and if the child doesn’t respect the parents, he’ll walk all over them … which is what Bush has done to the Democrats.

Kimberly D.
New York

Subject: Sludge Plug Vs. Boy Toy

Think of him as the Plug for Toxic Sludge ...

Senate Judicial Committee Chairman, Pat Roberts R-Kan, is the plug that keeps the filth afloat. Imagine a tub of hot water where administration filth is collected and kept warm, so that all the toxins could ferment, never to be flushed clean. What’s the name of the plug that is never removed? It’s Pat Roberts, of course. Why no investigation into warrantless eavesdropping; pre-war intelligence fixes; torture? Who puts the brakes on for meaningful oversight of administration use of the Patriot Act? Bush Boy Toy sounds so cuddly, so how about Sludge Plug?

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has a closet full of black hats: one for short-circuiting investigations into Bush's wiretapping program, another for slow-rolling the effort to look at how the administration might have misused intelligence to sell the public on invading Iraq, and a third for refusing to probe evidence of torture in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

White Hats vs. Black Hats (Washington Monthly)

Roberts, on the other hand--a folksy jokester who has been named "funniest senator" by Washingtonian magazine--is a loyal defender of the White House. As questions have multiplied about the intelligence on Iraq, Roberts has seemed less interested in looking for errors and abuses than in political damage control.

On the Hill: Don't Look Now (The New Republic)

Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) told reporters after the closed session that he had asked the committee "to reject confrontation in favor of accommodation" and that the new subcommittee, which he described as "an accommodation with the White House," would "conduct oversight of the terrorist surveillance program."

Senate Panel Blocks Eavesdropping Probe (Washington Post)

After a closed-door meeting with committee members, Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said the panel had "decided to adjourn without considering" a Democratic proposal to launch an investigation of the program, which is run by the National Security Agency, an intelligence agency that operates eavesdropping posts around the globe.

GOP senators bar probe of NSA program (Baltimore Sun)

So imagine Romero's bewilderment when the Justice Department, acting through Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, opted instead to expand Patriot--most dramatically by removing all judicial review from Patriot's hotly debated Section 215, which allows the FBI to secretly seek private records like medical information or library records that it considers relevant to intelligence investigations. Under the new bill, which cleared the Committee this week, FBI agents could use what are known as administrative subpoenas, taking decisions about whether such searches are legal away from judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court and putting them into the hands of their FBI colleagues.

LOOSENING OVERSIGHT OF THE FBI (The New Republic)

Shelly Gold

Subject: NSA Database

I was in law enforcement for 20 years. When I wanted to know about someone’s phone bill and who someone called I needed a subpoena or court order. There was oversight.

The people who say it is OK to have the NSA have all this information are wanting to take it on face value that the Government will only do what is right with this information. Since the Congress refuses to do its oversight, what other information are they collecting? Each person that thinks this agency should get what information they want should stop and think to what limit they should be stopped, is everything in your life an open book? Is everything in their database correct or does it have incorrect information on you?

I for one don't trust the government to always do what is right. We have had too much recent history of government abuse of power and illegal activities. Some examples of misuse being, J. Edgar Hoover’s secret files on Americans, Iran Contra, Watergate, and the FBI spying on peace activists, to name just a few. Richard Nixon’s illegal activities are why the FISA court was made.

The founding fathers created a system of checks and balances for the very reason that they didn't trust everyone to always do what is right. Until there is active oversight by Congress and the courts, I don't want the government snooping into my personal information and I resent Bellsouth for releasing my information. I take the Constitution very serious; it is something I've protected for most of my life. Once a right is gone it is very hard to get back.

Walter Purvis
Lake Worth, Florida

Subject: Verizon Has Subliminal Spy Message in Their Ad

Hi BuzzFlash,

Looks like Verizon has been trying to tell us how they really spy behind our backs all along. Got a National Journal Hotline e-mail and it has the following story they are going to cover:

"National Briefing 1 EAVESDROPPING: So Basically, That Verizon Ad With Everyone Following You On The Phone Is True?"

I wonder what other companies are doing their best to tell us, with their ads, that they are really spies for the government?

Tom Wieliczka
Windsor Locks, CT

we attended a card tournament last night and many people were asking why that general hayden refused to answer a reporter when ask if any of bush's political opponents had been or are being monitored. does anyone know why?

diane

Subject: When in the course of human events ...

To Whomever:

While not at all surprising, this NSA wiretapping business has put me deep in the slough of despond. What’s a poor powerless citizen to do?

My government tortures people with impunity. My government ignores and muzzles scientists who have important things to say about everything from human sexuality to the poisoning of millions of children. My government is still aiding and abetting global warming. My government thinks victory is just around the corner in Iraq, and that nuclear weapons may be useful in Iran. My government wraps its workings in unprecedented secrecy in the name of national security and then leaks like a sieve when it is ideologically expedient. My government trumpets the values of fiscal conservatism while it runs up truly staggering deficits. My government promotes and protects incompetent ideologues and punishes those who would act in the public interest. My government systematically corrodes our election process. And now, come to find out, my government spies on me in clear violation of federal law and our now abused and tattered Constitution. This begins to sound like the list of grievances they submitted to a different George.

How about this: a whole bunch of us just say no to tyranny.

-On some day, maybe in June, we call for and plan local protests in towns and cities across the country

-On another day, maybe in July, protests at state capitals

-On another day, maybe August (who says you don’t roll out a new product in August!), we all converge on the capital for a day or two.

The theme, on signs and in speeches and songs, would simply be “No!” “No more torture.” “No more tyranny.” “No more lies.” “No more coups.” “No more corruption.” "No more missions unaccomplished." "No more surveillance." etc. 

We draft and sign a new Declaration of Independence. We sing “We shall overcome.” We get powerful speakers and lecturers in and out of the mainstream, and we get musicians involved. We use this as an umbrella for uniting disparate groups in patriotic solidarity: environmentalists, labor, civil rights activists, the religious left, media critics, etc. We brand this movement with bumper stickers and magnetic car ribbons that simply say “No!”

This would be a nice echo of the immigration protests of last month, put real fear into the right and embolden our timid so-called representatives on the left, and force mass-media attention onto the real moral majority. And it would be extremely inconvenient for Republican wing nuts seeking reelection.

What say you all? Anybody want to run with this?

In solidarity and desperation and hope,

Norm Farwell

Subject:Leahy Stepped Up Part Way

Sen Leahy's anti-spying-on-Americans sound bite yesterday was reasonably irate, even if it ended with the rhetorical anti-climax of ironically suggesting the Senate fold its tents and silently steal away -- opening the way to smart remarks like "what tents?" and "how would we know they were gone?"  etc. As Palast notes below, the bigger issue is collusive control by government and corporations -- the traditional definition of fascism. The American version seems to be developing into a privatized police state with a sideshow of rigged elections.

THE SPIES WHO SHAG US: The Times and USA Today have Missed the Bigger Story -- Again by Greg Palast For BuzzFlash Friday, May 12, 2006

I know you're shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that George Bush is listening in on all your phone calls. Without a warrant. That's nothing. And it's not news. This is: the snooping into your phone bill is just the snout of the pig of a strange, lucrative link-up between the Administration's Homeland Security spy network and private companies operating beyond the reach of the laws meant to protect us from our government. You can call it the privatization of the FBI -- though it is better described as the creation of a private KGB.

Subject: Kerry.....and Polls

t is a little hard to believe that Kerry would have the nerve to tell anyone to 'stuff it'! He should have gotten that wind of change in 2004.

I just watched a set of polls that gave me a giggle. In every single question asked, Clinton was better than bush. He barely edged him out in the character issue...but, most folks think that Clinton's 'Monica' lapse likely was not as bad as Bush's lies about Iraq, lies about spying...lies about bin Laden...lies about wmd and a connection to 911....this is too easy...Bush has lied about everything!

Shirley ... St. Louis

Subject:  Bush Sinks Below 30%

Does it not seem very strange that the poll numbers do not seem to concern the the Bush administration. Everyone knows about the many, many lies and the long list of horrors committed by this government but no matter what the voters are saying, nothing changes. They continue as though they were hearing nothing. $70 Billion more millionaire tax cuts this week, raise the debt limit again until it the highest ever and all the other long list of items you already know about, but they don,t care what we know. NOW WHY IS THAT?

Could it be that they know something we have not wanted to recognize? The plans for war in Iran? We know they enjoy stealing elections--maybe this time they do NOT plan to permit elections to happen.

They are well along the road to establishing a fascist dictatorship in this country but what ideas they have in their evil little minds are more than I am capable of conceiving. I suppose you have to be as evil as Rove, Cheney or Rumsfeld and their buds to think up things like this. IT STILL BOTHERS ME THAT THEY SHOW NO CONCERN ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE POLLS!

Edith M. Conrad
Asheville

Subject: Clever Dems Watch Bush Implode

The Democrats have a very clever strategy going into the elections this year: let the media, the activists, and everybody else attack, expose, and undermine the Republicans while they keep mum. Then, in November, pick up control of both Houses when Republicans stay home and everyone else has no one to vote for but -- the Democrats! In the meantime, Raise Money.

Question: Why would anybody but elite Democrats and their "handlers" care if they get a majority with such a cowardly, elitist strategy?

The Undocumented People who took their courage in their hands showed the rest of their fellow residents of the US what to do. So did the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in New York for Peace on April 29.

Another example of what to do occurred recently in France, when millions hit the streets to force a withdrawal of a bill that called for "flexibility' in the labour market -- i.e. more insecurity and lower wages (just like in the US!)

Are Americans ready to take the kind of heat their undocumented fellow workers took from the media etc.? Are they ready to face up to what their country has become, and take action to make it a real, 21st century (not 18th century) democracy?

Or will they be content to shout at the TV, call their local radio shouting show, read BuzzFlash and then troop submissively to the polls to vote for "stability" again?

Lee Zasky
Toronto, Ontario

Subject: Why Spy on Americans

I do not know what reason President Bush has for collecting this information, but I do know one dictator who would have loved to of had this capability ...... Adolf Hitler. I do not understand those who say "I have done nothing wrong....this will not effect me." Are you sure? Are you very sure?

TIA (aka Topsail) unveiled: the real scope of the NSA's domestic spying program (arstechnica)

Tim Krause
Lisle IL

Subject: Late Friday 'Breaking News'

Dear BuzzFlash;

Late Friday I was listening to Randi Rhodes on airamerica.com and she said (just before signing off) that truthout.org had a piece about Rove's coming indictment.

I went over to truthout.org to confirm, and voila! there it was!

Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted By Jason Leopold [http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051206Y.shtml]

Excited, I sent the link to huffingtonpost.com and buzzflash.com. Within minutes Buzz posted a link to another site, but after an hour, huffingtonpost.com still had nothing.

And neither did yahoo.com, or cnn.com.

Instead, what I saw was stories on the National Guard deployed to the Mexican Border, killer alligators, the last Hummer-1 being made, Dick Cheney's napping habit, the GOP Rich People's Tax 'Cut' and blah, blah, blah.

A story of such importance will have to wait for the the GOP's explanation, diversion on the Sunday 'News' Shows. For me it was a story of great importance and a no-brainer for news directors to include it.

But alas.

By the time I sent this (approx. 6:55pm PST) only one site included a link about this story--Buzzflash.com.

Thank you Buzz.

As Web hums with speculation Karl Rove is busted, Democratic Underground finds that he's mysteriously canceled a speaking gig at right-wing think tank AEI 5/14

Still waiting for confirmation of rumors Karl Rove is indicted? Author of piece stands by story with clarification. 5/15

Report Not Confirmed Elsewhere, But May be True: "Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning." Again, unconfirmed. 5/14

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Now Is the Time for Real Americans To Defend Our Constitution

Dear BuzzFlash,

It is our duty as citizens to demand that OUR Constitution and its laws be enforced NOW! This is a real easy one, patriots, he's breaking Constitutional law! Most of us have pledged allegiance to this country many times. We MUST act now to defend it. It is our right and it is our destiny to do this!

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: The Bush/Clinton Haters

It never ceases to amaze me how much even Bush haters...and Bush bashers...want to harken back to how "Bill Clinton shirked his duty, therefore now we are in a mess!"...Hey...I did not think his behavior was great...but, the world was in a much better place under Clinton. I get peeved at both Clintons for sucking up to Bush....but, that does not an illegal war make, nor a 911 make....nor a jobless country...or illegal alien country...or draft dodging administration country...at lease Clinton's vice president went. I know, I know...we have to blame someone and since the Republicans of this administration are stone deaf ... we sure cannot get them to hear ... so we go back and blame the former administration. Even if it were George's father, it would not be right ... put the blame where it lies ... at the feet of the silly Democrats who crossed the aisle and voted for Bush because they hated Clinton at the time ... like 2 of my kids did ... and one of them admits she will have to live with it for the rest of her life ... and yes, she will.

This mess, is no one's fault, but the flip floppers who voted Bush into office.

Shirley .... St. Louis

Subject: Some Interesting Reading

Recently I borrowed some books from my local library. One of them was VERY interesting, 'The Party's Over' by Richard Heinberg, dealing with the subject of peak oil and its effects. Why do I mention this? Because last night, ABC's 20/20 'reporter' (read animatronic Ken doll) John Stossel ran an hour long 'Myths, lies, and stupidity' segment. Mentioned right off the bat was the so-called myth of the end of oil. Plenty of corporate sycophancy, PR spin, and support the nation, go out and spend. No actual interviews with petrogeologists, no information about how many new holes are being drilled to keep up with ballooning demand. Plenty of poo-pooing of the old 'end of oil' headlines, saying this new warning is more of the same.

If this warning is 'more of the same' then why bring up the Alberta Tar Sands (described as 'oil sands' in the report)? Why repeat several times that only the high price of oil now makes recovery of tar sands SYNTHETIC oil now so important/profitable? There was no mention of the horrific water pollution the separation process yields, and even then the process was glossed over as 'hot water oil separation'. No mention that to get the resulting product to flow like regular oil, large amounts of naphtha, a petroleum derivative, must be added. Just talk that the 'Oil Sands' had a hundred years worth of production, isn't that wonderful, go out and buy an SUV.

Given that the Bush junta has waged two wars to secure oil and pipeline routes, and is in the process to start one (or two if you look at the carrier group off Venezuela) more to secure dwindling reserves, this begs the question, should we in Canada be concerned? HELL YES!

Galen Wainwright
B.C. Canada

Subject: Fight NSA Spying - Switch to Working Assets

I went on the Working Assets web site this a.m. to get their 800 number so I could switch back to them.

www.workingassets.com

They DID NOT participate in the NSA phone number mining AND they are the only telephone company to participate in the ACLU lawsuit. (I had switched to Verizon a few months ago with the sole purpose of simplifying my bill paying. Working Assets had been excellent and I strongly recommend them.)

G.G.P.
Oldtown, MD

Subject: Letter Sent To Fascist Skunk Slaves at Verizon

My wife and I have just signed a new contract with Verizon. But now - with the revelation of your complicity in the most massive intrusion of privacy ever perpetrated by an element of our government - we regret our decision to retain Verizon deeply.

Our trust in your company is shattered completely, and we would now not put past you any venal misuse of our personal information, or betrayal of our privacy. As I write this, I wonder who you might be selling or otherwise passing this little bit of data along to?

We are currently unsure of our options in regard to negating our contract - or to exacting legal retribution - but rest assured that we will look into these matters. As soon as we can conclude an end to our relationship with your deceitful organization, we will drop Verizon in favor of Qwest - a company that has exhibited some respect for America and her laws.

Ken Duerksen
Oxford, Ohio

Subject: "There seems to be an emerging consensus among the coddled, effete Beltway media stars that it would be highly improper and uncouth for the Democrats -- should they take over one or both houses of Congress in November -- to launch investigations into the various, thus-far-uninvestigated lawbreaking and corruption scandals surrounding the Bush administration." 5/12

I'm all for consensus. If, by some miracle of overcoming Rethug election fraud in 2006, the Dems take over even one of the houses of congress, how about launching some "highly improper and uncouth" investigations into the money-corrupted 1st Amendment betrayals of those coddled, effete Beltway media stars? I'd just luv to see Brit Hume, Wolf Blitzer, Chris Matthews and Sun Myung Moon squirm before a congressional interrogation!

Will Wyche
Palm Springs, CA

Subject: Voting in the Coming Years

besides all the corruption going on with the voting machines, there should be a place on the ballot in each box saying, (NONE OF THE ABOVE), if that gets the majority of votes then new people have to run for the position. i love this country but i would rather spend a (little more time) then elect the same people (either party), going along with all the corporate and big money corruption in all governments (city to federal).

Mick Anderson
Helena, MT

Subject: Gas Prices

I just went out to put gas in my 91 Honda Civic and gas in my area (Media, Pa) is now up to $3.05 and depending on which block you live on, it is over $3.13! I am boiling over this!!! Cheney's secret energy policy has done this to us! Can't we just storm the white house and oust all of them, democrats and republicans alike? Our congress is sitting with their thumbs up their asses because every one of them is on the take. God forbid they lose their fat government pensions and their little perks along with their wonderful health insurance!

We have children and families who are hurting so badly from this president and nobody seems to want to do anything! There is no middle class anymore, we are the working poor! We cannot take two more years of this bumbling administration!!! Wake up people!

Alice Nuffer
Media, Pa.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE MAY 15, 2006 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG