December 6, 2001

Note: The BuzzFlash Mailbag is updated on an ongoing basis, with the newest material and comments on top. Again, we can only post a small percentage of what is sent to us. Thanks again for your email and your patience.

Where is the outrage? That was the tagline of the Republicans during Bill Clinton's presidency. He had the audacity to have sex with an adult who was not his wife and the media and Republicans were outraged. When the American people chose to keep him in power despite this act of high outrage they shouted from the hilltops "Where is the outrage?"

Now it's my turn. When George Bush has his spokesmen lie about low level Clinton staffers where is the outrage? When George Bush disappears from sight on the day of the attack and lies about it where is the outrage? When Bush and the Republicans bail out the airlines but not the employees where is the outrage? When Bush and the House hold our safety hostage for weeks to the benefit of their campaign contributors where is the outrage? When Bush and the House in the guise of stimulating the economy pass the biggest amount of corporate welfare in the history of the universe where is the outrage? When Bush and Ashcroft take away the rights of non citizens to fair trials where is the outrage? When the lover of a woman who died in the Pentagon attack is going to lose her home because Virginia thinks they were only friends where is the outrage? And finally, when a Republican who is too cowardly for us to even know who it is single-handedly holds up a bill
giving money to homeless vets where is the outrage?

Well Bill Bennet where? Henry Hyde where? The Hutchinson brothers where? Chris Matthews where? Tim Russert where? Where oh where is the outrage?

Dave Conroy
Ashtabula OH

Dear BuzzFlash,

SUBJ: More From Liberated Laura

Wearing a red suit and in a cheerful mood, the First Lady confessed that neither she nor the President decorated their own private tree in the second floor’s yellow oval room this year. "That’s why the President ran [for election],’’ she joked.

When a foreign reporter asked if she thinks it’s true that behind every great man is a great woman, she said without missing a beat, "I’d say that’s absolutely right.’’ And in Laura's case, that's three paces behind.

~Tonia

Dear Buzz,

Pat said upon resigning:

"We are seeing an outpouring of revival power in the United States that exceeds anything that I have known in my lifetime," he said in the letter. "With the few years left to me of active service, I must focus on those things that will bring forth the greatest spiritual benefit."

Like diamonds and gold?

The Rev.

Dear Buzz,

Why do I get the feeling that John Ashcroft's soon to be grilling before the Senate, has everything to do with the Bush Administration trotting out the old "we are on the highest state of alert" once again? Haven't we been on the highest state of alert since 911? Seems to me Bush and his lapdog Ashcroft, aided and abetted by Tom Ridge, are intentionally trying to push the public's panic button, in order to gain the strongest public
support possible for their latest power grab, which in turn will have the wimps in Congress backing off for fear of angering their constituents. Let's hope Congress remembers
to bring their spines along for this hearing.

~Antonia

Dear BuzzFlash,

This isn't a tip to a news story but just a question. What happened to the investigation and stories surrounding the plane crash in the Bronx? It has been one month since the "accident" and I have not seen a single story about the investigation, rebuilding of the area, or even a theory that is contrary to the turbulence explanation. I seem to remember the theories and investigations surrounding flight 800 took almost a year and back then there were numerous stories in the media about a possible missile attack on the plane but now the media has effectively erased the event from the American psyche and in record time. Has the media always been a government lackey during a national cover up? I would expect this type of complicity from Xinhua or some other state run media organization and maybe this is a new norm for the American media as major media companies continue to merge into one main news organization. Just a thought.

Regards,

Greg

Dear Buzz,

In today's Arkansas Democrat is a cartoon by John Deering that is pretty much a classic. There are three kids outside singing a Christmas carol to the tune of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". Here are the words:

You better watch out,
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm tellin' you why,
John Ashcroft is coming to town.

He's making a list
Checkin' it twice
Gonna find out who's
Naughty and nice,
John Ashcroft is coming to town.

He see's you when you're sleeping,
The camera's down the hall,
He knows if you've been bad or good,
Cause the mike is in the wall!

He's tapping your phone,
Reading your mail,
He's gonna put your heinie in jail,
John Ashcroft is coming to town!

Hope you liked it!

"A Loyal BuzzFlash Fan"

Dear BuzzFlash,

I saw an interview on CNN this morning with Bernard Goldberg who has written a book about liberal bias in the media. When asked for examples of liberal bias, he gave two-- both of them apparently from the term of President Reagan. He said CBS had given lots of air time to stories about the homeless, depicting them as poor victims of something. "Everybody knows that homeless people are all either drunks or schizophrenics. But the stories misrepresented them because the friends of the CBS executives wanted the homeless stories to get lots of play." He also claimed that stories about AIDS were overblown. "The newscasts made people believe that AIDS was a threat to straight people and that is just not so. The Gay Lobby pushed the news media to hype the threat." I am
concerned because giving this man air time seems to validate the idea that there is liberal bias in the media. I hope we see someone debate him but I am not counting on it because that would not help sales of his book.

JA in LA

BuzzFlash Note: Who wants to bet the Goldberg book is published by the same people who own CNN?

Dear BuzzFlash,

I honestly believe all the pauses in Bush’s speeches rehearsed or otherwise are because he has a bug in his ear and whoever is on the other end has not responded to the questions posed, thus he is waiting to hear what to say. Whoever is prompting him is about as alert and intelligent as he is, if we are to judge by the answers he gives. I find it disconcerting to say the least, that his current swagger suggests that he is beginning to believe that he is intelligent. Kinda scary!

Barbara (Atlanta)

Dear Buzz:

Your web site is the best! Thanks so much.

Your readers may like to know why Linda Tripp isn't likely to get a government job anytime soon after reading NY Times story today, Tripp May Lose Home to Foreclosure.

This was posted at a winger site:

Why The Bushes Will Never Hire Linda Tripp
John LeBoutillier
Monday, Feb. 12, 2001

If you’re hoping that President George W. Bush will hire Linda Tripp and bring her back to the White House, don’t hold your breath. You do not understand the fundamental nature of the Bushes.

Nor do you – or Matt Drudge, Tripp’s biggest booster in the media – want to recall the first time Tripp, the now-infamous whistle-blower, burst on the national scene.

Back in the first Bush presidency Linda Tripp was stationed down the hall from the Oval Office. She somehow caught wind on a long known but well-kept
Washington secret: President George Bush had a "special" relationship with a
staffer named Jennifer Fitzgerald.

In fact, Bush had been "very close" to this Jennifer beginning in Peking back in the days when Bush was our delegate to Red China. So close, in fact, that Barbara Bush had come home to D.C. in a state of "depression."

Years later, during Bush's vice presidency, Jennifer Fitzgerald held a key staff post – and this caused a virtual revolt among his other loyal staffers. They hated the haughty, pushy and arrogant woman who clearly had more "access" to Bush than they did.

Vice President Bush went to Geneva in 1984 during the arms talks and arranged
through our negotiators to stay in a government guest house – with Jennifer
Fitzgerald. Our ambassador was aghast!

When Bush became president, Jennifer Fitzgerald was moved over to the protocol office inside the State Department. But she was still visible at public functions and occasionally traveled with the presidential party.

Those "in the know" inside Washington knew about this relationship. A Washington Post story at the time had carefully danced around the topic, even speculating about the "positions" Fitzgerald had taken with Bush.

Linda Tripp learned of it and saw it from her desk down the hall from the Oval Office. She thought it inappropriate. And she told people about it.

This was no different from what she would later do in the Clinton White House
when she again saw examples of presidential philandering – remember Kathleen
Willey emerging disheveled with smeared lipstick from the Oval Office?

Things came to a head one summer up in Kennebunkport when CNN’s Mary Tillotson asked President Bush if he was having an ‘adulterous’ affair?

Bush went ballistic and decried the question even being asked. He attacked the reporter for "what you are doing."

But he never answered the question.

Instead he later sent out a spokesman to say, "The answer to the ‘A’ question is a big NO."

The spokesman?

His oldest son, George W. Bush.

The Bushes have long memories. They know full well it was Linda Tripp who, among others, ratted out the Bush-Jennifer Fitzgerald relationship during the
first Bush administration.

And there is no way that they are going to ‘reward’ her by giving her a new
White House job.

To many of us Linda Tripp is a true American hero for taking on Bill Clinton.
And she suffered for her courage.

But to the Bushes she is the one who exposed their own scandalous behavior
and subsequent cover-up.

J.S.

Dear BuzzFlash:

I've noticed a thread of despair among those who send you their thoughts and observations of all that has happened since 12/12/00. I believe the antidote to despair is this observation: What we are witnessing are the death throes of a failed, dying system. The Republicans had to steal the election because they knew they had not won the hearts and minds of America. They have had to spin facts because they know the truth will bury them. Deception, war, and fear are all that are keeping them in their place of power. These are all signs of core rottenness and weakness, and instead of being afraid, we should rejoice at the evidence of failure. At the same time, I hope everyone will nurture their own vision of a future for this country and the world of justice, freedom, and economic equality. There will come a time for rebuilding our government and our economy. Those who have kept the dream alive and have stood with Truth will be the architects.

Rita W.
Seattle

Dear BuzzFlash,

Re: What Goes Round, Comes Round, Linda Tripp

What is Julie Hyatt Steele thinking right about now?????

I would love to hear her take on this Trippster tragedy......!

Thanks for the good news......

luv you guys...

Mimi Adams
Albq NM

A BuzzFlash Reader responds to the CS Monitor:

Editor:

RE: http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1205/p1s2-uspo.html

Your writers' use of the term "whining" to describe Senator Leahy is an obvious exposure of your "tilt". I have observed our overzealous Attorney General "WHINE" about being questioned. In my opinion, that's where their "WHINING" should be heard.

How dare you and your paper label the proper questioning of the obvious infractions of this DOJ as "whining"?

Since when did the Attorney General's jurisdiction trump the legislative authority of Congress?

You assume that all civil liberties that were fought for by our nation's founders are trash and the public should give them up willingly. You must live in some Orwellian hell in your mind where war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.

You need to learn the meaning of true patriotism without assuming that those who question the current administration's goals are "whining". You need to remind yourself that our country is one that relies upon the rule of law, not the "sincerity" of men.

Sincerely,

Bridget Gibson
Worth, Missouri

Dear Buzz,

Clooney slams O'Riling--it's a small part of the article, but great to see someone calling O'Riling for what he is:

"...he exchanged snipes with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly over charity payouts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

O'Reilly broadcast a story that Clooney would not appear on The O'Reilly Factor to account for the millions of dollars the actor had raised for the families of the victims through a celebrity telethon. Clooney responded through other outlets that the money was going to the right people and that O'Reilly used the accusations to boost his viewership. A decreasing death toll demanded patience in distributing the fund, Clooney said, because the organization would have written 1,300 checks to supposedly deserving recipients who didn't exist.

O'Reilly "is the only person I know who has profited from the Sept. 11 tragedy," Clooney said, adding that O'Reilly's story was "criminally irresponsible"..."

====================
Dec. 4, 2001, 5:00PM
Clooney unapologetically out to have a good time
By RON DICKER
Special to The Hartford Courant
HOLLYWOOD -- George Clooney sighed and sat back with his boots up on the table near the end of a long day of interviews. "Clark Gable wasn't doing 150 media outlets," he said.

George Clooney says stars don't get in trouble having fun, they get in trouble hiding it. He's not afraid to have fun or to talk about it after. "I haven't made changes," he said. "I'm just going about my life."

The full article is here:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/headline/entertainment/1158235

Liz

Dear Buzz,

SUBJ: Ted Olson's behind the Military Tribunals idea...

And probably a whole lot of the other questionable "anti-terrorism" measures being taken by the Justice Department.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0112.whoswho.html

"Those who have lost family members to terrorism often speak of the frustration and powerlessness they feel at not being able to do anything personally to help bring the guilty to justice. This is one emotion that perhaps Solicitor General Theodore Olson has been
spared. Ever since his wife, conservative commentator Barbara Olson, was killed in the jet that crashed into the Pentagon Sept. 11, Olson, the Bush administration's top lawyer, has been one of the driving forces behind tougher anti-terrorism laws, including the new executive order requiring military trials for suspected terrorists."

Even on NYPD Blue, they didn't allow Andy Sipowicz investigate his son's murder. He had to recuse himself, and let Bobby do it for him.

So why is Ted Olson the driving force behind the anti-terrorism campaign? Isn't he personally, emotionally involved? Shouldn't he recuse himself, lest his emotions wind up shredding people's constitutional freedoms?

--Hesiod--

Dear BuzzFlash,

Drag 'em in here and string 'em up!

I have decided to quit fighting for human decency, for remembering we have Constitutional rights, and for obeying legal precedent. I have decided to join the Forces On The Dark Side.

I think it is time to reinstate the days when the Common Folk could witness torture and executions in the village square. I think we should watch while our military tortures their prisoners. I think we should see people screaming in pain and anguish as torturers torture In Our Name and For Our American Way of Life, in order to Secure A Safe Future For Us.

I think we should watch, in the town square of modern life -- that would be on our TV screens -- as the Evil Ones are put to death, preferably in agonizing ways, just like in the old days.

I think we should let George W. Bush sit on a little throne -- as in the days of the Roman Emperors -- and give a thumbs up or a thumbs down as he, and he alone, gets to decide who is a "terrorist" and who should be tried in the New Design Bush Military Tribunals. Yes, let's name those tribunals after the Great Man who thought them up. He deserves that honor. Doesn't he? Right.

In addition to watching this Torture In Our Name on TV, we could hold these Events in stadiums all across America, so the Local Folk could get the real feel and flavor of the Rites Of Old.

Who says we are not bloodthirsty enough? We are. We will not shrink from rooting "terrorists" out of their caves and nests and homes, and then torturing and killing them. We will not flinch. Will we? No. We are strong, patriotic Americans.

We CAN watch torture and death as long as it is for a Good Cause. As long as it is used to Preserve Our American Way of Life. We love our American Way of Life. We love democracy and the people's right to a fair and open trial by our peers. Oops, no we don't. Not when it comes to Evildoers. We want them dead. We want them out of our lives and off the face of the earth. And if a few thousand innocents have to die in the process of Preserving Our American Dream, so be it. They would just have grown up to be "terrorists" anyway. Wouldn't they? Right.

I say, "On with the show." Let's get those Evildoers and "terrorists" out there on to our nightly TV news shows. News is show business these days anyway (when it is not just re-typing Pentagon press handouts). This would get fantastic ratings for the various TV news shows. And ratings are what "they" are after. Right? Right.

So drag the "terrorists" out in front of the cameras or out onto the stadium fields across this beautiful land. What is done in Our Name and For Our Way Of Life is a Good Thing and should not be done out of our sight, un-noticed and un-rewarded. Let us cheer for our torturers, Bush's Military Tribunal judges and Bush's executioners.

We who have gone over to the Dark Side want a good show.

signed,
Cleo Nero

Hey Buzz!

RE: UNACCEPTABLE: BUSH'S FIRST REACTION TO SEPTEMBER 11th ATTACK: "I used to fly myself, and I said, 'Well, there's one terrible pilot.'" 12/5

Are you surprised? Don't you remember his first reaction to the Anthrax scare? "Well, I don't have Anthrax."

Erskine Harris