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| June 19, 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: Feeling Safe Yet? I have never had a Bush supporter be able to answer a question I always ask when they go on a rant about how 9/11 was Clinton's fault because Clinton didn't do enough to catch Osama Bin Laden. That question is: If Clinton didn't do what he was supposed to do, can you name ONE thing that Bush did when he took office to correct Clinton's "failure to act?" The point, of course, is that upon assuming the office of the presidency, George W. Bush could have immediately taken steps to rectify the "mistakes" Clinton was supposedly making. Of course, I would reason with my right-wing friends, those mistakes must have been pretty obvious since you criticize Clinton for not acting. I think of Bush's comment that any action he took in response to the attacks on 9/11 would not consist of "firing a ten million dollar missile at a ten dollar tent and hitting a camel in the butt." That statement was made on September 13, 2001. I can't help but to wonder why, if what Clinton did, or didn't do, was a bad thing, Bush didn't make that statement on September 10, 2001, or sooner, and then act upon it. After Bush took office he was presumably armed with the knowledge that Clinton ordered the firing of that missile at OBL (and I'm certain other specific facts known to the prior administration); the evidence that "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.," the title of the infamous August 6, 2001 (about a month before 9/11) presidential daily briefing; the FAA warnings that informed someone about an increased risk of hijackings in the months leading up to 9/11 (maybe those never even get to Bush?); and of course, that FBI agents who reported unusual activities involving Middle Eastern men learning to fly planes but not interested in learning how to land (how about that one, did that get up to Bush?). But, even armed with all of this evidence, which wove itself into a picture that something was amiss, Bush did nothing prior to 9/11 to prevent what happened on 9/11. I write about all of this to preface the latest news about what a swell job the Bush administration isn't doing to make us all safer. After all, according to many, especially those who support President Bush, it's not a matter of "if" the terrorists are going to hit us again, but instead a matter of "when." If that's true, and if, as Bush says, his first priority is to protect the American people (which is why he says he needs to do all of that wiretapping and recording of phone calls and invading countries and such), why is it that the two cities that were struck on 9/11 don't meet the federal guidelines for responding to disasters and New Orleans is not ready for another natural disaster? President Bush was in charge on the day that the United States suffered its greatest loss of civilian life at the hands of an invading force. President Bush was the President when the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States occurred. Despite the threats from terrorist attacks and hurricanes and earthquakes, President Bush has not done adequate preparation to do what he himself describes as his most important job -- protecting us. I hope I don't have to ask a Bush supporter anytime soon what Bush did to prepare us for the last catastrophe. Major cities aren't ready for catastrophes, government says (AP/Newsday) Jeff Ball
In light of the all-hell-breaking-loose discussions taking place today in the U. S. Congress, it seems the President’s remarkable 5-hour visit to the "Green Spot" may not have been so much a matter of Iraq diplomacy as it was another of those “Bring it on” moments. It now appears it was a message to the Democrats that Republicans are ready if the Iraq War finds its way to the front of 2006 election debates. However, since the vast majority of Americans are weary of, if not flatly disgusted with, Mr. Bush’s disastrous war charades, and since the man has never actual won one of his own “Bring it on” challenges, Democrats would be smart to call his bluff! Larry Norman Subject: Al-Zarqawi Republican simpletons have gone raving mad regarding the death of one man. As if killing Al-Zarqawi will really change anything in Iraq, other than MSM (that stands for the right-wing media) pronunciations. Did one man really keep 135,000 US troops at bay for three years? Really? One man killed 2500 of the bravest and best trained fighters on earth? One man maimed tens of thousands of these same brave souls? Republicans govern with the same principles learned from your older siblings at a young age ... don't go into the basement or the boogeyman will get you ... ooops ... wait ... there's a new boogeyman and he's going to GET YOU ... unless you vote for me. "Putting the CON back into conservative." Hags Subject: Broadcast Decency Law I noticed that Bush had signed bill S-193, the Broadcast Decency law, which mandates a significant increase in FCC penalties for parties engaging in the broadcast of "obscene, indecent and profane language" and, presumably, images. Such as the mostly revealed breast (and covered nipple) of a pop diva. I urge BuzzFlash readers to call the FCC complaint line - 1-888-CALL-FCC, and request that fines be immediately leveled at ANY broadcast entity that willfully broadcasts images of dead, bloated bodies of terrorists such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, or the lunatic ravings of Ann Coulter, who is decidedly obscene, profane and indecent in the language used to describe the widows of men killed in the 9.11 attacks. It's time we took back the conversation, and give these amoral, indecent right-wing extremists the medicine they deserve. They think sexuality and sexual expression are "obscene, indecent and profane"? Well, I say that putting the graphic image of a dead human, with the gloating, giddy tone displayed by the vultures at Fox News, is clearly in violation of this new Broadcast Decency law. Use their own weapon against them, call the FCC right now. David Biedny Subject: Iraq War and Our Soldiers Buzz, Today I read and looked up most of the sites that are highlighted in this article. I do not know if you have referenced this courageous piece or not, but it should be required reading and viewing by all Americans, especially those who still favor Bush and his invasion of Iraq. Not only are the pictures horrific, but just imagine the damage mentally to our soldiers who took them. Especially interesting is a suggestion by one of the respondents that the article should be sent to all of our Congressional representatives. I am not naive enough to believe that any of them would read it, but maybe their staff might just be forced to think about our necessary withdrawal from Iraq. Note: Links to Disturbing Images: Iraq's War Porn (alternet) Gail Duncan Subject: What's Wrong in Kansas? Very interesting political developments in Kansas, and it has me intrigued. Within the last few weeks or so, as I understand three GOP elected legislators have ditched the Republican Party and are allying themselves with the Democratic Party. They are also running on the ticket against their former cohorts. Very interesting. What's up with this????? Lisa Johnson Subject: Presidential I am still hanging in there for Al Gore...even though...he says adamantly, he is not running. A dream ticket would be Gore and Feingold ... I watched him with Larry King the other night and I had forgotten how it feels to listen to a man with brains. Larry asked him if he would run...saying "You already got the votes"... he will not say, but he finally got the nerve to come back out in the crowd...and he and Clinton have been together much more than I knew. Shirley ... St. Louis Subject: Ava Lowery, 15 Year-Old Video Maker These are the titles for three of 15-year-old Ava Lowery's newest peace-activist videos. In my opinion every progressive and activist blog should be featuring them, and sending support to this courageous young woman who has not only received vile e-mails, she has received death threats. If you doubt my estimation of her power, click on the URL for her home page, then click on each of the titles below and decide for yourselves. Then, if you agree, send her on to everyone you can think of, and perhaps we can take our country back. http://www.peacetakescourage.com/ [War Images in videos] YearlyKos Promo We Will Never Forget What Will You Do? Kevin O'Morrison Subject: The New Face of Terra-ism ... bushit! What about the old face of terra-ism? You remember Osama BEEN-Forgotten? Now we have a whole new boogeyman to be "afeared of." buSHit! How did they finger the new guy? They found nice little pieces of paper that didn't go up in flames in the safe house of dead-ZAK. Yep! Makes perfect sense to me. After all there was no room in that small bomb bunker for anything but dead-ZAK's head, hands and those papers linking others. With the handy little P.S. on the documents stating that the insurgents were "in their last throes." buSHit! The U.S. soldiers must have been working at warp speed to get all this new information out of that bombed out house before they bulldozed it the next day. Two 500 lb. bombs dropped on this house, and we have this lovely pristine corpse with fingers in great shape able to yield fingerprints for identification, and these documents that didn't even look like they were ever hot once, much less singed. This is like the worst soap opera I have ever seen, more plot turns and unbelievable stories than all the daytime programs put together. Things that make you go Hmmmmm! KJ Lovell Subject: "A realist, not a defeatist"? Sadly I must agree with letter writer, Lawton Watson. I too smell the "faint odor of defeat" this fall for the Democrats. They are tripping all over themselves to hand the next election to the Re'pug'licans. They are like crabs in a barrel, pulling each other down ... refusing to speak up for themselves or for other Dems. Dennis Kucinich was just on CNN fawning all over an old racist/KFC looking conservative rep who was knocking John Kerry's military service. After his Re'pug'lican debater finished trashing Dems, Kucinich shook his hand and looked like he wanted to kiss him! Bush has done his part to hand the House and/or Senate back to them and they are doing all that they can to refuse it. Also, none of the Dems seem to care that Diebold machines are not there to help them!! I am trying not to be a defeatist, but it's hard when I see how vile the neo-cons are and how many Dems seemingly want to lie down with them. Really, stick a fork in the Dems, they are quite done. Dee Turner P.S. Someone please tell Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton (whom I love), the DLC and all others representing the Democratic Party to stop wasting stamps by begging for funds from me. Until these losers get a spine and fight fire with fire, I am keeping my pennies to buy gas. Subject: My Fellow Americans (Open Letter) To my fellow Americans, On his return from Iraq, Bush said “The challenges that remain are serious, and they will require more sacrifice and patience.” Today, the U.S. military death toll has reached 2,500 but Senate Republicans rejected John Kerry’s amendment to pull out of Iraq by the end of the year while the Pentagon distributed a 74-page book of ready-made answers for all of us who criticize the war. This President and his administration want us to forget why HE bombed Iraq ; they want us to have patience while our soldiers die for a cause far from being noble. How many streets shall we walk in protest of this war? How many vigils shall we continue to hold across the country after 100, 1000, 2000, 2,500 have died? How many more shall sacrifice their lives for the lies and the challenges fabricated by those lies? How many letters shall we write that will never be published because Editors do not share our views, how many times shall we be silenced? We are being called “defeatists” by cowards who fear to lose in the November elections and who have no shame supporting the most indecent President of our time. What should we do? Wait patiently for the Elections while we count the next fatalities in Iraq? I was told that impeaching a President during war time was not a good idea. Perhaps this is true but can we afford two more years of this disastrous so-called leadership? Once upon a time there was a certain blue dress that brought shame on the White House but no tombstones were placed in cemeteries. IMPEACH THE LIAR. Monique Frugier Subject: A Few Quick Questions When did a one point increase in the polls become a "surge" and a 37% approval rating become good? Subject: Reframing the Estate Tax Debate She's calling it the 'Paris Hilton tax'!!!!! It's just too spot-on! I am not computer literate enough to know how to link to it, but I'm sure someone can! Ellen Goodman: 'Debating the spoiled-brat tax' (Smirking Chimp) Konnie Subject: Dear Mr. President Pink, AKA Alicia Moore, has a "controversial" song on her new album "I'm Not Dead." It's a tune called "Dear Mr. President." There's no "official" video as yet, but the song has spawned several unofficial ones which can be viewed at youtube.com Watch Pink singing "Dear Mr. President" live in NYC: it will give you goose bumps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDJ3cuXKV4&eurl Listen to Pink & The Indigo Girls do the recorded version of the song, with a collection of poignant images as background. It'll make you weep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FF0cS9s6Aw Pass it around. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Comeback Epithets to Apply to the Wingnuts For Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, et alia, -- hellfire junkies and brimstone sniffers For "pro-life" advocates-- cell rights extremists For the NRA-- the gun god lobby, or, possibly, God is guns lobby A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: The Raw Story I give you a lot of credit for not taking advertising on your site -- as opposed to, specifically now, The Raw Story. I am amazed that they continually accept ads from NewsMax. I wrote them to complain, to ask if they were that desperate for $ but, of course, they didn't have the balls (or courtesy) to reply. Thanks for letting me vent. - Adam Subject: Do We Americans Really Love Our Children? Oh we say we do, but if we really did we'd be doing something right now about global warming, since, due to global warming, many of our little ones may not make it to the end of this century. And for those who do live that long, what they have to look forward to is competing with one another for real estate at the North or South Pole, being that these will be the only habitable places left on earth. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Bush's Mixed Messages of Propaganda During the cold war, Soviet troops were fed propaganda that United States was a weak country. They were also told that the US was a great threat. Some soldiers naturally started to think, “How can the US be both weak and a great threat?” Faced with the growing insurgency and growing opposition in Iraq and US for permanent occupation, “President” Bush feeds us similar mixed messages. We are continually told that good progress is being made in Iraq. We are also told that our troops cannot come home because the Iraqi government will crumble. Well--which is it George? John Kerry has proposed a plan to bring troops out of Iraq by the year's end. By year end, we will have occupied Iraq for 3 ¾ years. If we have not stabilized the country by then we never will. The fact that Bush is building permanent US bases in Iraq shows that he NEVER plans on leaving Iraq. That is why he is adamant about not talking about timetables. In a similar vein, “President” Bush called Zarqawi, "the operational commander" of the terrorist movement in Iraq and that his death was “a severe blow to al-Qaeda.” But in the same speech he said that “we can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him.” Well--which is it George? According to John Murtha, only about 7% of the Iraqi insurgency is foreign. Therefore less than 7% of the insurgency is al-Qaeda. Apparently George thinks that fighting Iraqi Baathists is more important than fighting al-Qaeda -- the people who attacked us on 9/11. As the failure of Bush’s extremist policies becomes more evident, I have no doubt that we will see more and more mixed messages from a desperate, failed leader. Coming up in the next few months is, "the economy is going great, but unless we pass more tax cuts for the rich, the fragile economy will collapse," and “Iran is an imminent threat to the world requiring air strikes, but we are the only country in the world that sees this terrible threat.” A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: What a Whiny Fat-Head Dear BuzzFlash, So according to Rove the proud treasonist and thief:
Let's rework that a bit:
What's with all the whining, Karl? Is it because your huge corporate media machine isn't fooling a majority of the American people anymore? Or is it that the "very far Left-wing ideology" you fear so much includes most of the American people? A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Karl Rove & Fitzgerald Well, it looks as though I was right, as much as I had hoped to be wrong. When Fitzgerald began his investigations a great many people said that he was a different kind of republican; that he would get to the bottom of the DC lobby scandals and the Plame issue and heads would roll. Hopes and excitement were running high that Rove would be finally held accountable for his participation in the Plame fiasco, NOT. He turned out to be just what I said he would be. An anti-constitution cover for Bush and his despotic administration. So much for hope and hello to reality. Wynn Spell Subject: Iraq Oil Every day for almost 4 years we have been told how much oil is under the Iraq sand; that it is the 2nd biggest oil producer in the world. What we haven't been told is where is all that oil going? Who has been buying it? How much money has been paid and to whom? How much of that oil is going to or controlled by the United States or American oil companies? Does any of Iraq's oil go to Israel and if so how does it get there? Let's see a thorough explanation of Iraqi oil; its disbursement, its costs and who is really controlling it. Platocarpadakis |
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