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| May 24, 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: Jefferson & Bush If the Attorney General set precedent by searching Rep. Jefferson's office in the House of Representatives, then why can't members of the House search files at the White House? After all, the two branches are equal. P.W. Andersen Subject: Somebody Please Connect These Dots! The story on the government’s negligence with 26.5 million military vets' private information serves as the greatest modern example of why the government shouldn’t be allowed to collect vast amounts of information on all 300 million of its citizens. Maybe I’m jumping the gun and everyone will write about it tomorrow, but it seems that no one comprehends the opportunity presented. Someone, anyone, PLEASE shout this in the face of every American willing to give up their privacy for perceived security. Please show them their government’s incompetence on the front page of today’s papers. Read them the horror story of how their information can be compromised so readily and inform them that in the wrong hands this kind of information can destroy a person’s life. Have them imagine their lives tracked, collected and catalogued by fools in the Bush Co. and Cheney's evil gloating grin as he perused library records for Chomsky readers to send to Guantanamo. And don’t forget to remind them of how violated our proud military veterans must feel knowing that their government has failed them yet again. The creeping (incompetent) big brother machinations of the GOP should be one more weapon in the arsenal for the November elections … someone please notify the DNC! Adam Sharer Subject: Support the Bottom 99% - Vote Democratic
There is certainly no shortage of serious issues regarding the devastating policies inflicted upon this country and the world by the Bush administration. In fact, there are so many issues that the number of issues itself becomes an issue, making it nearly impossible to unite and organize around one or two issues in numbers strong enough to make a difference. I firmly believe, however, that if America is to survive this insidious, destructive, neocon assault, that is exactly what needs to happen. There is one issue that ought to be the cornerstone of any practical assault against the Republican Party neocon agenda, one issue that will resonate most intensely with the vast majority of Americans and is, therefore, the only issue capable of generating a margin wide enough to prevent future elections from being stolen via corrupt voting machines. In order to keep elections close and make it possible to continue stealing them, neocons recognize that they must keep the populace fractured, distracted, and divided. To do this, they use non-issues like abortion and gay rights, which frighten and/or enrage people enough to vote against their own real self-interests. The fact is, the only division in this country that really matters is the one that deliberately separates most Americans from the opportunities and benefits their country is supposed to offer them, the one that erases the level playing field upon which they are supposed to be able to build their dreams, the one issue that effectively insulates a self-appointed privileged class from the ever struggling masses who are being forced to work harder for less money, to live without health care, to send their children to fight the for-profit wars, and to blindly support the divine right of corporate neocons to control everything. The only real issue is the insidious, illegal, immoral, ever-widening gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots." The "haves" have all the money and power, and the "have-nots" have nothing: no job security, no benefits, no opportunity for advancement, no say about a war that's killing their children, and, in many cases, no right to vote out the criminal elite who have taken everything from them. This is the issue that cuts through all the FOX generated non-news crap, right to the heart of what really matters. This is the issue that makes people angry enough to think about how they're being used. This is the issue that fires people up enough to unite in their disdain for a privileged class made so by unfair, illegal, corrupt corporate policies and power grabs, by tax cuts for those who already have it all, and by political criminals who avoid any accountability by placing themselves above the law. The DNC has just begun to show signs of understanding the futility of simply re-acting to the endless diversionary tactics being spewn via network "news" outlets, as opposed to putting together a pro-active, aggressive, steadfast, determined, concentrated effort to focus on this "haves/have-nots" issue which has real potential to bring enough people together to turn things around. Democrats are realizing, hopefully not too late, that by chasing one Republican scandal after another, by continuing to go in a hundred different (albeit worthy) directions at once, people will just be overwhelmed and will tune them out. Like it or not, most Americans have notoriously limited attention spans and will simply not devote enough time to investigate multi simultaneous issues. Needless to say, adjusting strategy must include more that just defining a message; it must include getting that message out in extremely simple, direct, brief, 15 second sound bites, a.k.a. talking points, and hypnotically repeating those points day after day, week after week, ad nauseam. Forget detailed, reasoned, analytical discourse. It should be obvious, after the '04 election, that communication in that form is useless. Furthermore, IMO, the vehicle which must be used to deliver and hammer away at the talking points, the only medium most Americans spend any "news" time with, is TV. For that reason, it is imperative that progressives be seen and heard on TV every single day. Why is their no progressive TV network? Where is all the progressive money? Where is the progressive version of Rupert Murdoch? And what about those e-machines? Why should Democrats have to win elections by margins wide enough to offset deliberate, virtually untraceable e-voting machine manipulation? Why is there no coverage of or outcry about the fact that, when elections are rendered meaningless by repeated and prevalent voter fraud, Americans are losing their last chance at a real voice in their government? Contrary to what I had intended, I have digressed. Basically, what I have tried to say is this: it is imperative that Democrats shrink and simplify, really simplify, their message around an issue that will resonate with real Americans, the issue of corrupt, wealthy, corporate elitists vs. everyone else, and that they secure a vehicle through which they can effectively deliver this message. Anita Mabardy Subject: Mailbag 5/23 Thanks to Jude Rouslin for the video. Almost lost my lunch...but all my FAVES on one video...each one of them equally dishonest and disgusting! Background music was great, too. Diane Anderson.....I totally agree! YOU GO GUTSY DIXIE CHICKS...I HOPE IT SELLS BILLIONS! And last but not least.....a thankful AMEN to Steven Blaisdell....Hellofajob BUZZFLASH!!! Maybe the one thing to look forward to in this horribly dishonest world!! I am so sick of the face of Alberto Gonzales, he is likely the most dishonest of the bunch...nah....they are equally dishonest and disgusting! Shirley ... St. Louis Hi BuzzFlash, With Ned Lamont upping the anti by putting One Million of his own money into the campaign, Lieberman has started to get dirty. Guess Joe wants Ned to get bought off by somebody or some company. Foes Clash Over Cash - Lieberman Plays Up Lamont's Fortune (courant.com) Trouble is, Joe, the SEVEN MILLION you already have in YOUR CAMPAIGN WAR CHEST came from BIG BUSINESS to BUY YOU OFF over these past Eighteen Years!! Gee, who should I back? A person that made the money with his own sweat and thinking - OR - a person WHO HAS BEEN BOUGHT OFF for his votes in The Senate for 18 years? I'll take the Business Man who knows how to make money the old fashion way - He Earned It!! Ned Lamont for the Senate! Tom Wieliczka Subject: "If It Takes Twenty Years" The length of time Iraqis would "hold out" (meaning they'd back their government) against the economic sanctions imposed upon them after Gulf I. That's what came through loud and clear at a meeting of four westerners with about three hundred Iraqis that took place in Kirkuk in the early nineties. Of course that claim was not to be fully tested, being that economic sanctions were lifted right after the U.S. led invasion and conquest in 2003. Nevertheless, during the period that those sanctions lasted. Iraqis did "hold out," even though the sanctions took a million lives, half of them children, according to a U.N. report. Why didn't they rebel? Was it because they were afraid of what would happen to them if they rose up against the government (There'd been a post-Gulf I uprising in the south that was savagely crushed by Saddam Hussein), or were they Saddam-backers? No matter what their reason, though, it's clear that during the years of those deadly sanctions, the Iraqi people "held out" in that few people were willing to take the risk of rebelling. Which contrasts, of course, with the thousands of Iraqis who, while their country is under foreign occupation now, have been willing to put their lives on the line, Why now and not under Saddam? Bach Ho expressed it best, "There's nothing so precious as freedom and independence." It's pretty straight-forward. Troops out now and the willingness of Iraqis to die will stop. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: No Comparison to FDR Dear BuzzFlash: It's typically Republican to assert that FDR was not a great president and criticize his amazing success at creating the WMA, TVA, and other wonderful working opportunities for millions of unemployed American workers. Can't say that Bush has a stellar record in that department. He's for shipping any decent job overseas to slave shops, after all, and making college as financially impossible for students as he can. The most galling thought occurs to me: seeing any photo of the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt, reflecting on how masterfully he led our nation, especially in the Depression and Second World War, which meant outguessing every major head of state in the world to achieve the greatest success possible. He LOOKED Presidential, ACTED Presidential, and was a genuine worldwide hero. Now look at any picture of Bush. What a degrading insult it is to have to refer to him as "President." Not to mention he was never legally elected in the first place. To be totally truthful, no politician in either party for the last 40 years - hell, since FDR died - can ever dare to elevate him or herself to the level of the greatest modern-day leader the world has ever known. I believe Roosevelt would be absolutely crushed to see what his party has allowed the Republicans do to his country that he fought so hard to save. Scott Subject: The Winter Soldier "...including the young John Kerry [although his appearance is just a brief visual image]. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed him and his comrades forever..." Not quite forever it would seem - who will be the last to die in the war he voted for this time? - perhaps "brief visual image" is exactly the right metaphor for a man who failed us and his own soul when it really counted. Yours in sadness, Geoff Dewan Subject: Who, Me? One of the reasons why the Republicans hate Bill Clinton so much is because he made them pay their fair share of taxes. He didn't give any of those rich right-wingers tax cuts. He RAISED their taxes, which helped bring about that huge budget surplus. These people hate paying taxes, which begs the question: How much would they support this stupid ass Iraq war if they were forced to pay for it out of their own pockets? Why should everybody else's hard-earned tax dollars have to pay for this war? Everybody who is against the war should not have to pay for it. Only those who support it should pay for it. I have a feeling those war mongers wouldn't be so gung-ho anymore if they had to fund this ridiculous war. You know what else would make this war end really quick? If all those yellow, cowardly chickenhawks were FORCED to fight in it. They support the war, they should be dragged kicking and screaming all the way to Iraq and forced to fight. That'll end this war fast! Shirley D. Jackson Subject: Identifying Info Stolen This story just sickens me. I am one of those veterans whose information appears to have been stolen. I have spent part of today talking to the SSA about what I need to do to obtain a different SSN. It was frustrating to reach the automated attendant telling me I could use their automated features to resolve my issues or visit their web site. However, another item regarding this theft has certainly raised my eyebrows and made me wonder how out of touch our esteemed AG Gonzales is with a comment he made about it. Just check this out -- Gonzales said:
Absolutely astonishing remark for the AG to make. First of all, no one at the VA was authorized to take this information out of the building. Why did a long-time data analyst do it? Why hasn't that person been, at a minimum, suspended or fired? Secondly, there is a notice at the VA web site that any veterans from 1976 forward should contact the three major credit reporting companies. We are also told if our identities are stolen and used we should contact the FTC to file a complaint. Does Gonzales really think that our data hasn't been compromised? Or, is he just trying to make us think it hasn't been compromised? After all, it isn't as though it was illegally removed from the VA premises and then someone broke into the house of the person who took it home and then the CD or zip drive it was on was stolen during the robbery. How dumb are these idiots? That is, by the way, a rhetorical question. Dear God, please have mercy on this country and deliver us from the evil that lurks in the Bush Administration. Lisa Johnson Subject: TIA and Watergate Bacon said, knowledge is power. If you know the dirt on someone, you control them. One form of control is to force someone to reveal the dirt they know about others. Whoever knows the most dirt about the most others has the most power. This is what creates the structure of political machines. And this is as our founders foresaw. They set up the 3 branches of government so that if one or two become monopolized, the third is motivated to corrective action. We know this arrangement functioned for a long time - at least as recently as 1974. But since Nixon's clumsy wiretapping we have seen a complete information revolution. The founders could never have foreseen Total Information Awareness, which is our reality now under Bush. George Orwell, here we come (news.com) The executive has no need to bug anyone to gather knowledge today. But how does this affect the separation of powers? TIA is so grand, and information so fundamental, that's difficult to understand. It's like changing the law of gravity or the flow of time. Such fundamental things can only be analyzed by algebra. Let's try that: TIA = Total Information Awareness. TIA = Absolute Information Awareness. TIA = Absolute Knowledge. TIA = Absolute Power. TIA enables the executive branch to know all dirt on the other two, and thereby to absolutely control them. The result is the purge of dissolute Republican congresspeople that has Hastert and Frist whining about the overturn of constitutional powers. The result is the end of "By the people." The result of TIA is the complete monopolization of government powers called "tyranny." Jefferson, the successful revolutionary, wrote much about tyranny. But to begin he said, "He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Television is the industry whose purpose is the generation of falsehoods and errors. To restore US democracy, throw away your television. This will give you an average 3 hours a day free time. With that time, read Jefferson. The remedy for TIA will soon become obvious to you. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: The Fourth Reich Is Upon Us The confirmation of Hayden to head the CIA is tacit approval of spying on Americans. For what many believe is a breach of the constitution, the Senate Intelligence Committee has sold America down the "Bush river" by rewarding illegal behavior for about the twentieth time in this administration. It will not be enough to remove Bush from power, all who supported this appointment need to be tried for Treason, and failing to uphold the Constitution of the United States. This group includes Democrats, do not be deceived that they are the answer, they are merely the other side of a crooked coin. Tim Krause Subject: VOA Iraq is even too dangerous for our propagandists, apparently. The Voice of America's bureau in Baghdad has been closed for the past six months, ever since the government-funded agency withdrew its only reporter in Iraq after she was fired upon in an ambush and her security guard was later killed. All Western news organizations have struggled with the dangerous conditions in Iraq, which have led to such high-profile incidents as the kidnapping of Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll and the wounding of ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff. But for a federally funded information service to pull out of Baghdad for such a prolonged period raises questions about the Bush administration's insistence that conditions there are gradually improving. VOA's Baghdad Bureau Still Closed After Six Months (Howard Kurtz/Washington Post) A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: "Sir, No Sir" Hi: Could you all put on the various lists that I will be on Democracy Now Wed, May 23 talking about being detained and handcuffed for 2 hours at Fort McNair, Washington, DC for placing postcards of showing in DC this week of the new historical documentary, "Sir, No Sir" at various places on the base? Thanks. Ann Wright Subject: Dixie Chicks I'm not a country music fan and I'm not familiar with the music of the Dixie Chicks. I think radio stations have the right to play or not play whatever songs they choose. The music that's played on the air should be judged by the quality of the songs and what they think their listener demographics would like to hear. To ban a song because they think the politics is wrong is nothing more than censorship. The people that listen to these stations should be incensed that a political opinion should decide what they are entitled to hear. Maybe that's what "the decider" means. I will show my support against censorship and purchase the new Dixie Chicks cd. Thank you Dixie Chicks. Thank you Neil Young. Thank you for expressing your outrage. Bob Lambert Subject: Hayden Judiciary Committee Nomination It is extremely important for BuzzFlash readers and everyone else to understand the dynamic behind Democratic Party politics and why the Democratic Party must be seen as cut of the same cloth as the Republicans. They always talk about the typical values of the Democratic Party base--that is, the interests of 95% of the people. So they advertise themselves as such and threaten--there's that fear tactic again--the consequences of Republicans being in charge, so as to manipulate people to send them money and votes. But they are absolutely unreliable on every major issue, most assuredly the question of who is running the country--corporate billionaires and the military industrial energy complex, or the rest of us. Trillions missing from Pentagon expenditures and where are the hearings, where are the indictments? And that went on during the Clinton years as well. Madeleine Albright's "compassionate observation" that deaths by sanctions of 500,000 Iraqi children was worth it. Get it? So for those who think that a Democratic Party win in November will mean a defunding of the Homeland Gestapo, the rescission of Halliburton Concentration camp building contracts, and all the other frontal attacks on the Bill of Rights, not to mention the war crimes committed on a daily basis, forget it! Just Forget it! The Democrats are actually more craven than the Republicans because they enable the Republicans. An old WWII movie I once saw had a commando dropped behind Nazi lines. He was captured and the Wehrmacht captain urged him to spill the beans on Allied invasion plans; otherwise, his SS torture specialist colleague would go to work on him. The objective was the same--to get him to capitulate to the agenda. That is the role that the Democratic party plays. Sorry to say this, but BuzzFlash too often acts as a Democratic party cheerleader. The truth is, it's time for the Democratic party babies to be dumped with the Republican bath water. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Pulitzer ...
Frank Subject: Condi acknowledges Protest in Boston Here is your quote of the week: An astounding display of hypocrisy.
Too bad not one person in the Bush Administration considered doing this before they got 2455 soldiers killed, 10s of thousands injured, not counting all the collateral bloodshed and death, destroyed Iraq and sent it reeling into Civil War. She should have delved into the problems of holding an opinion passionately until you squeeze the life out of at least two and possibly more nations. As they say; "Hindsight is 20/20," but Condi, arrogance is as blind as a bat. When the Bushes are out of power, Condi should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and stuck in Guantanamo for life. We really should leave it open and I should get to torture Condi. Too bad I don't believe in physical torture, but just keeping her there in her multi-$1000 designer outfits would give me the opportunity to remind her of all the opposing opinions she didn't seek out. We could stick all of her "Amen" crowd in there with her, but Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld need to be taken to Iraq for punishment and it would be way too good for what they have done. Rice's Appearance Draws Protests in Boston (NY Times) Speak up or they assume you agree!!! ABB Karen Webb Subject: Thou Dost Protest Too Much Shakespeare had it right. The indignation that Frist and other Republicans are voicing over the FBI raid on Jefferson is a sham, pure and simple. The GOP knew that honesty would be a factor in the upcoming elections, and decided to order the FBI to take down a Democrat. Whether Jefferson is guilty or not does not really matter in this case. Not for the reasoning of the GOP. Frist and others get to appear brave by "protesting" to Bush over lost rights, appear that they are fighting for "our" rights, and the Dems get slimed. There's as much chance of Frist getting raided by the FBI as there is of Bush and Cheney coming to my town and toe dancing in tutus. Mike Curtis Subject: What would Jesus do? I have read many articles declaring Right Wing Conservative’s deep, religious, moral values. I have listened to speeches where they tout there love of Jesus and how much their faith gets them through their day. I ponder the idea that if Jesus were here today, would he be a conservative? Would he seek out acceptance in a group that is trying to make discrimination a part of the constitution? How would he feel about large tax breaks that offer little help to the poor but a huge payoff for the rich? Would he want his loyal Republican base to fight for an end to illegal immigration? We know the answers to the questions; of course Jesus would fight for all those strong conservative values. Jesus would hate monger homosexuals right off the planet. He would sing the praises of using huge amounts of money for an unstoppable war machine instead of ending poverty. He would be all for using fear tactics to help take away the freedoms of every American. The illegal aliens? He would send them all home to where they belong right after they do all the jobs most Americans don’t want to do anyway. Anybody who has ever read the bible knows just how much the son of God would be all for these things. Why would Jesus stop there, though? He wouldn’t just want us to go to war with Iraq; he would want us to go to war with anyone who opposes America’s moral values. We wouldn’t even need proof if Jesus said it was the right thing to do. Jesus could have final say in anything and no one could question it. Think of how wonderful it would be to have that kind of a decider. After Jesus made a billion dollars as CEO for a company that was devoted to taking advantage of anyone or anything that got in his way, he could run for president. He could run the country into the ground by selling it off one small piece at a time to all the big companies that have no way of earning an honest dollar. This would help pay them all back for helping him get into office. Then when his eight years were up he could leave office, write his memoirs, and sit back and wait for someone else to come along and clean up the mess. PRAISE JESUS!
Chris Mullett Subject: Congress's Reaction to Search on Capitol Hill The headlines from the article on Buzzflash's page reads: "The FBI's raid on a congressman's office is rippling through Capitol Hill with majority Republicans in the House complaining to President Bush and predicting a constitutional showdown in the Supreme Court"... Uh huh. And just WHERE were these same 'congressmen/women' these past five and a half years when this administration began its running amok? Oh, that's right. Just where they are now. Funny, how something like letting an (any) administration get away with EVERYTHING comes around to bite you really hard in the butt. Too bad. To all those 'college grads' who are sitting in the halls of congress...you people certainly didn't learn all that much for all that 'education'. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Bin Laden Tape Another one?! Good grief, Mr. President....I thought you wanted to catch this guy, 'dead or alive'.... ....er.....Oh, I forgot. When you decided to continue your sights on Saddam (since 1999), you actually said that he, bin Laden, was 'no longer a concern for you.' Being dense like you, Mr. President...most of the country didn't get that. Shame, not only did the press not 'get it' either, NO ONE EVER CALLED YOU OUT ON IT. NO ONE. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Voting Machine Editorial BuzzFlash, Excellent editorial on the voting machine issue. Danny Schechter: Why Is The Media Downplaying Our Voting Scandal? - A BuzzFlash Guest Contribution I have followed it for a few years and have read the Conyers report and Mark Miller's book. These issues should be front page news. And even the process set up by HAVA to correct problems was absurd from the start. ( Bob Ney made sure of that.) Although there are many problems with the military-industrial complex, the process for developing high security hardware/software systems is well defined. HAVA violates everything the military has learned from decades of experience. Larry Subject: Nothing To Hide Is Hiding Something And so, the phone companies are willingly, eagerly, turning over phone log records to the government so the White House doesn’t need to get a wire tap on your calls. Naturally, the White House and the National Snooping Agency go ahead and start tapping phones. And because this is America, the most common voice heard over this loss of privacy on the ‘news’ outlets is that Americans don’t really care. “I’ve got nothing to hide,” is the refrain, and this is not spoken as a dare, it is rather a willingness to have the government burst into our homes, look through our belongings and sift through our mail and garbage just for the hell of it. It is utterly mind boggling. Does anyone really believe that by sifting through millions of calls a day they’ll unearth a terrorist plot? Hell, when the FBI, CIA and NSA had suspects with legally obtained wiretaps, they still missed it. “Tomorrow’s the big day!” a hijacker said on September 10th. The conversation was translated September 12th. Apparently, gathering intel and understanding what you have are two entirely different things. Maybe next time, everyone will talk in English and spell out their plans in detail over the phone and the feds won’t be on coffee break or busy listening to teenaged girls talking about sex when the call goes through. One can’t help wondering what the “nothing to hide” crew would be saying if Clinton was behind this intrusion. How many would be demanding impeachment followed by a firing squad if Bubba instead of Dubya was spying on us? That the Bush loyalists in the media and in DC are able to hold two different sets of values is nothing new, but it does become laughable as time drags on. It remains a puzzle that so many citizens are eager to turn their lives over to a dictatorship, but their concerns are more centered on sports and American Idol and not on dull stuff like politics. The Bush team has created a domestic spy network many times larger than the Stasi of East Germany and the Soviet KGB combined. One has to wonder where this will all end. Do we really want armed soldiers on every street corner to keep the peace? This has all the earmarks of a government terrified of its people and they will stop at nothing to keep us under their thumbs. But maybe there’s another way to look at this. Although mostly unheard on the networks, many are outraged because it strikes them as highly un-American, if not treasonous, to be eavesdropping on citizens without any reason. Clearly, anyone who says the government is welcome to listen in and search all they like claiming they won’t find anything is some kind of anti-American nutcase out to kill us all. Who else but a criminal invites the police over to his house? It sounds nutty, but the criminal mind is twisted and strange. Anyone who rolls their eyes and says that they have nothing to hide is trying to avert attention from their nefarious plots. If I recall correctly, John Wayne Gacy dared the cops to search his house. Evil doers get off on believing they’re much smarter than the law-abiding masses, and like to flaunt their cleverness in the face of authority. This has been proven time and time again. Therefore, as proud citizens of this country, we have little choice but to turn in anyone who claims they have nothing to hide. It is entirely possible that the police have been compromised and that mob action will be required. Tar and feathers are time honored methods to mark traitors and fiends and liars, but it's become damn hard to find hot pitch and goose down lately so something else will have to be done, like super gluing their hands to their asses and writing FINK in big angry letters on their foreheads in permanent marker. Either that, or we could all just spy on each other, and live in constant fear, which is exactly what this government wants. Grant Schreiber Subject: FCC Says It Can't Investigate Phone Cos. (AP/Yahoo) Gee, whaddaya know. The fCC won’t do its job. Just like fEMA, and every other agency that Bush has changed the “F” to “f” in ... sure sign our government is indeed drowning in a bathtub ... with a putrid, NASTY ring around it. John L. Johnson Subject: Congressional Action Against Domestic Spying an Absolute Necessity History has taught us that absolute power corrupts absolutely. This recent revelation of NSA spying involving news journalists/whistle-blowers, curiously illustrates the sinister nature of the NSA domestic spying program involving the tracking of millions of Americans phone calls over the past several years. Clearly, phone numbers can be traced from whistle-blowers to journalists very, very easily and not to expect the government to utilize this vast, new database in this manner is to be politically naive. Those of you who seem to be in favor of such spying activity, I would like to ask if you've given any thought to the fact that hundreds of thousands of your countrymen have paid the ultimate price to keep our country free from tyranny in its many guises? And yet so many of you seem so willing to so easily and quickly surrender your constitutional rights! You should be ashamed! YOU SHOULD BE OUTRAGED WITH THIS VIOLATION OF YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS! In my view and in the view of many of my countrymen, the Bush Administration has gone too far in its efforts on the basis of fighting a war on terror. Don't you see that it is changing the face of our country in ways that are abhorrent to freedom loving people? Our system of checks and balances, which has served us well since our country's birth, includes the absolute necessity of having a free and independent press. It plays an essential role in keeping all of the players honest and our system free and open. This system seems to have gone awry in the Bush administration's quest to assimilate, consolidate and concentrate an unprecedented amount of power in the Executive branch. Of course, this accumulation of power comes at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches. (Whatever happened to the concept of three separate but equal branches?!) This is simply too high a price to pay for patriotic Americans. Why are people so willing to quickly surrender their freedoms for the sake of what essentially amounts to an infinite, unending war on terrorism? Don't you understand that you are being asked to permanently sacrifice your freedoms? I mean, haven't you asked yourself, "What are the conditions of victory? When do you determine that this war has been won? When is it over? Who makes that determination?" Wake up, America! Of course, the net result of all of this is an all-powerful, secretive, Soviet-style central government. Totalitarianism. Tyranny. Dictatorship. Is that what you Bush supporters want?! If all Americans knew exactly what was going on in the Bush White House, they would be "shocked and awed" by the blatant disregard for our Constitution and its timeless principles. I urge all of you to contact your congressmen and demand investigations into these serious violations of our Constitutional rights. All elected officials have taken a solemn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. Apparently, it is more solemn to some than to others. As loyal and patriotic Americans, it is our essential duty to ensure that these Constitutional guarantees remain in full force. For it is that document and that document alone that defines who we are as a people and a country. Without that document, and the spirit that it represents, we are nothing but a bland piece of inhabited geography. But with that document guiding our thoughts and actions, we are AMERICANS! Protect liberty. Contact your congressmen and insist that they take action against this outrageous spying program. It is an alarming and deeply disturbing assault on the essential freedoms and system of government that have served us so well since our nation's infancy when our Founding Fathers had the wisdom, intelligence and spiritual insight to codify that wonderful document into our nation's identity -- our political DNA. Mike Browne Subject: Under Every Rock Seems like every time a rock is turned over in Washington D.C. you find Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. This man should be concerned with protecting the people and the laws of this country. Instead he has repeatedly shown himself to be able to interpret laws in any way that best suits his boss, Bush. Mr. Gonzales should be made aware that after he left the White House, torture memo tucked neatly in his briefcase, he no longer worked for Bush. The Attorney General of the United States works for the people of the United States. That smug little smirk that plays across his face speaks of what we now have for the “Top Cop” in the United States. The Bush hacks have never shown themselves to be concerned about “values” like honesty and integrity so it should be no surprise that Bush's handpicked Attorney General lacks both. He spins like a dervish and still he can not keep up with all the things that are beginning to fall apart in Washington. So many scandals and only 24 hours in a day to try and contain them. He intends to go after reporters, or at least try and frighten them into thinking he will do so. He allows the FBI to search a sitting congressman’s office; something that has never been done before, while conveniently ignoring laws that might embarrass or ensnare his Bushy Buddies. He probably thought this assault on an equal part of the government would meet with the approval of the Republicans in Congress. Could they finally be waking to the fact that they are considered superfluous by their Republican President? We’ve had bad Attorney Generals before and we will have others beyond Gonzales. The country will survive this arrogant little man. It just seems that by the law of averages Bush would nominate one person, for one position, in the entire government that had some integrity. Anyone? Someone? Anywhere? Think about it and let me know if you find someone. Otherwise I will have to stop believing in the law of averages as much as I have stopped believing in an honest government from either party. Marjorie Swanson
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