December 10, 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.

Just a small note to FREEDOM LOVING AMERICANS. On Wednesday 12/12/00 democracy died in America. To honor our dear departed, I urge all Americans that loved democracy to wear black armbands to show respect for our great loss.

Thank You,
Al Hartkorn

Dear Buzz,

Excuse me but does anyone remember Jim Jones, David Koresh, or that Japanese cult? This manifesto from the "Free Congress Foundation" is a road map for a cult. This is a precise basis for the formation of a cult. Very easy for the vulnerable to get caught in and very difficult to get out. Anyone who needs to identify with this kind of drivel needs professional help. Anyone who starts an organization like this is a power hungry despot. Beware of this foolishness. Independent thinking is discouraged and only the "leaders" can dictate for the collective. Typical thinking for the right wing.

Barbara (Atlanta)

Dear Mr. Cheney,

I watched you as long as I could while you were talking to the talking head of Tim Russet. First of all Mr. Cheney, why do the Republicans start every conversation regarding Congress with "they have to do this now before it is too late?" Too late for what Mr. Cheney? And did you have that conversation with Mr. Lay, as in "Enron better clean up it's act before it's too late." Guess not, because it is now too late.

Another thing, the word the GOP keeps throwing around regarding the opposition is "obstructionist," an obstructionist is someone who stands in the way of what I want. They put obstacles in the path of, let's say steam rollers. In fact Mr. Cheney "steam rolling" seems to be the GOP way, well it's worked for you before several times, why not now. Except Mr. Cheney, you may find the American people (when we come out of our shock) don't like steam rolling. The GOP should maybe go back to their dictionaries for newer words. Crusades didn't fly, evildoers became a joke, Mr. Ashcroft's choice of words are getting him in a lot of trouble, and obstructionist sounds so much like a group of men having a temper tantrum when they can't get their way, it seems to be used by the GOP in polite company instead of "those SOB's."

Three more years Mr. Cheney is a very long time and as time goes on "obstruction" will be something you will have to learn to live with and "get over."

Sally McDonald

Sent to BuzzFlash from the Arkansas Times (7 Dec edition):

"SMART TALK"

Our Hero

Gene Lyons is no hero to the right-wingers who dominate the letters page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Nor would it seem, based on the occasional wisecrack, that D-G editorial and op-ed page colleagues have much truck with Lyons' once-a-week breath of fresh air.

But his national fan club grows. A few days ago, the Internet site, BuzzFlash, a Democrat-friendly version of the Drudge report, posted an interview with Lyons, described as "one of our journalist heroes." BuzzFlash frequently posts excerpts from Lyons' columns.

The introduction described Lyons' role at the DG as "the token dissenter in a generally Republican booster club." What follows is an extensive interview with Lyons on the Clinton witch hunts, the foibles of the Washington press corps and commentary on the current president. Read it at www.buzzflash.com/Buzzscripts/Buzz.dll/Content."

If you wish to take exception to being included in the same sentence as that slimy opportunist Drudge, send an e-mail to Max Brantley at arktimes@arktimes.com. In fact, he could be someone you might want to consider for an interview; he's intelligent, articulate, and is still trying to find out who my sister is since she occasionally sends him a nasty gram when he says something semi-nice about our Governor Goober.

Dear BuzzFlash,

Every day I have to consult BuzzFlash to find real news. I have my BuzzFlash T-shirt. I am from Missouri and had the good fortune of meeting Mel Carnahan.

I always get upset when I see him referred to him as "a dead guy."

Mel Carnahan was a true public servant and I feel he is being demeaned when referred to as "a dead guy."

Bob Yates
Warrensburg, Missouri

Dear BuzzFlash,

This is to complain about Darrell HAMMOND's and the SNL writers' depiction of Al GORE on the 12-08-01 episode. The portrayal was of GORE as being PATHETIC, WHINEY, MANIPULATIVE, and CHILDISH. This was VICIOUS, MALICIOUS, GRATUITOUS. I have many fond memories with SNL dating back to the beginning, I understand satire and parody, and am a fierce defender of free expression. However, as a political junkie I have been appalled, especially over the past three years, how the media (including you entertainment
people) have consistently given a free ride to Shrub while slamming GORE and the CLINTONS before that. Beginning with the White House Correspondents' Dinner in early 2001, Darrell HAMMOND has particularly disappointed. After we had gone through two years of the slamming of CLINTON and a year of the slamming of GORE, HAMMOND chose to ignore the tradition of lampooning the CURRENT occupant of the presidency and devoted his entire routine to continue to slam the CLINTONS and GORE. I have criticized this in Democratic website message boards, and, while many have agreed with me,
there have always been several who defend HAMMOND, saying that he has "explained" the pressure he was under. I myself have seen him on talk shows appearing un-understanding of the criticism and responding plaintively, "We're JUST comedians." Perhaps it is a cause of some of the dilemmas our country is in that surveys show that significant numbers of people actually base their political opinions on late night entertainment portrayals more than on hard news programs. That is why it is such a big deal to me and why HAMMOND needs to understand. I'm not one to threaten never to watch the show anymore. Perhaps your evaluators would be interested to know that, for years, really the interesting parts are reduced mainly to the intro and the Weekend Update, with almost all of the rest
being tuned out. Several of the message boarders have reported that their complaining e-mails have "bounced" at this e-address. If this one does, I'll keep trying at any NBC and GE address I can find until it gets through somewhere.

POSTSCRIPT: Looking up the NBC website because posters at message boards had said that the SNL e-addy was bouncing their complaint e-mails about the Prez GORE portrayal on 12-8, there on the SNL HAMMOND's bio page was a list of his many characterizations. When it got to Tweezer, it listed him as "Chris WILLIAMS of Hardball"!!!!! So much for the "icon" status Tweezer has so humbly claimed to have achieved by being portrayed on SNL. BWA-HAH HAH HAH. I'm sending this to him as you see this.

John Garza

Dear Buzz,

Just want to thank you for being the voice of truth amidst the Bush-shit! I do have to say, though, that even this tough broad is getting awfully scared of just how far the American people are letting the Bush administration go with the raping and pillaging of our
Constitution. The Bush admin.'s hypocrisy defies explanation, yet so many of my friends and family don't seem to care that we have been "numbed and dumbed" into taking whatever they say as truth, even when we know better. Why have so many Democrats and Independent leaders been so silenced? And why have so many wimped out in the face of the Bush monster? I tell ya, this is the first time in my entire life that I have
been ashamed of Democratic leadership.

Do you see this turning of the tide as perhaps a good thing when all is said and done? I mean, maybe we the people got so complacent about our rights, that we need this right wing wake-up call to shake us back into fighter mode... I can only hope so, because I am getting discouraged...

Love you guys and gals, keep up the good fight.

MARIE JONES
SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA

Dear BuzzFlash,

Republican spin for why Bush is smiling and smirking and joking and not working even 8 hours - and still taking more time off than any other President. It actually quotes Carl Rove as a credible source about how Bush is taking this war seriously.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/politics/09BUSH.html

Also, since when is the Patient's Bill of Rights not a life-or-death issue?

"It's a little more somber when you're dealing with life-and-death issues instead of the patients' bill of rights," said Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's chief political adviser. "I don't think the genuine warmth and charisma are gone. But being a wartime president means you're dealing with war. There's a clear command presence. When those admirals and generals leave the Oval Office, you can see they've been with the commander in chief."

Dave Johnson

Dear BuzzFlash,

Subj: Mary Frances Berry no saint

Before canonizing MFB, you might look into the mess she made at Pacifica: $millions wasted to keep her from dismantling the only radio network in America that dares speak truth to power. And the war is far from over.

One appreciates her feistiness in resisting Bush in this largely meaningless and ceremonial battle, but trying to sell KPFA and WBAI to the highest bidder, well....

http://pacificacampaign.org

Richard Roth

Dear Buzz,

RE: A copy of the letter I sent to Senator Bayh this morning

Dear Senator Bayh, I am absolutely furious with the 'mousey' way our Democratic senators handled the hearings with Attorney General Ashcroft. It is not unpatriotic to stand up and fight for our civil liberties. I could not believe how Mr. Ashcroft was able to intimidate the democratic representatives with his rhetoric about 'playing into the hands of the terrorists, by questioning his actions'. We play into the hands of the terrorists when we allow our civil rights to be diminished while standing on the sidelines wringing our hands, not wanting to appear "unpatriotic". If our forefathers had has as much gumption as the current democrats in Washington, we would still be a colony. It is time for a 'leader' to stand up and take on the right wing destruction of our freedoms. We registered Democrats who felt that a Democratic President was elected, are still waiting for someone to take the lead, and demonstrate that they have the courage and determination to represent us. I think , hope, and pray that you are the one who will do so, and will go on to be our nominee in 2004.

Sincerely, a concerned 'democratic' citizen,

Mrs. Marcia Booker

The REAL Death of Outrage

by Chris Andersen

During the Lewinsky mess that paragon of morality William Bennett penned a book titled "The Death of Outrage" in which he took the American people to task for not being more upset about Clinton's behavior. Bennett scolded the citizenry for looking past immorality because things were going so well. Prosperity, it seemed to him, led to an acceptance of perversion.

Most of the rest of us, upon reading Bennett's comments, saw him as nothing more then a prude. Yet he may have had a point about how our prosperity (now gone) has made us soft in the outrage department.

It's just that Bennett was too focused on sex to see the REAL death of outrage.

Take, for example, the recent comments of Attorney General John Ashcroft before the Senate Judiciary committee. He was called to testify in response to criticisms that have been leveled against him and the Bush administration with respect to their abrogation of certain civil rights as part of the war on terrorism. Rather then just answer the critics with reasoned responses Mr. Ashcroft chose instead to scold his critics. He claimed that those critics "only aid terrorists" because they "give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends."

In other words, if you criticize the Bush administrations policies you are providing aid and comfort to the enemy.

There's another word for this. It's called treason.

So here we had the Attorney General of the United States, in open session before congress, accusing anyone who criticizes him of being friends to the terrorists and nascent traitors.

Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but if someone were to accuse me of being a traitor when I was simply expressing my constitutional right, nay duty, to question the actions of our leaders then I would quickly pull out a can of whoop-ass on them. I would be outraged. Here is this little pissant tin-cop who can't even stand the heat of MILD criticism without turning around and accusing his critics of being in cahoots with America's enemies.

If I had been a Senator on the panel receiving Ashcroft's testimony or an editor at the Washington Post or New York Times I would DEMAND an immediate apology from Mr. Ashcroft for even daring to call into question my patriotism. Talk like that does NOTHING to assuage concerns and instead only adds to the poisonous atmosphere of our political dialogue. It is, quite frankly, unforgivable.

Yet did any of the Senators on that panel, Democrat or Republican (and Republicans have been critical of Mr. Ashcroft), take visible offense at his comment?

Did the New York Times take similar offense?

Of course not.

They may not have liked Ashcroft's comment. But they didn't want to be unpleasant in their responses. They tried to be reasonable. They tried to explain to the man why they were justified in their criticism. They let Mr. Ashcroft's insult slide with very little comment.

I ask you, where is the outrage? Why would anyone allow themselves to be publicly labeled a friend to terrorists without getting publicly upset? The emasculation of the political and media elite is complete. Ashcroft wins when he is not taken to the woodshed for his comments.

And the rest of us lose.

Buzz: I demand an investigation...of the Bush connections to Enron.

I read in the NY TImes this a.m. that Enron executives and directors took out more than $1billion from the company, by selling off stock, while leaving shareholders (not to mention their employees) high and dry.

Imagine if this were a Clinton friend, what investigations we would have had.

Jill Hanson

Dear Buzz,

I agree with you and I happen to think Frank Rich of the New York Times ought to run for office since we apparently don't have any Democratic Senators with any backbone. They keep kissing up to Bushcroft Inc.

Mimi

Buzz,

As we approach the anniversary of Bush v. Gore, I thought, in tribute to the eloquence and greatness of spirit of the victor of that contest, that BuzzFlash readers might appreciate this excerpt from Jeffrey Toobin's superb account Too Close To Call:

A few days after Joe Allbaugh arrived in Tallahassee, he received a call on his cell phone from George W. Bush. "You know what we ought to do, Joe?" Bush asked.

"What's that, Governor?"

"We ought to count all the votes," Bush said. "Come on. You call Gore up and work it out. Let's count all the votes."

By this point, the Bush campaign had already committed itself to fighting recounts. "Uh, Governor," Allbaugh said."That's not really how we're proceeding here."

"I know," Bush said. "But let's count all the votes."

"Governor, you know you're on a cell phone."

"I don't care. C'mon. Let's count all the votes. Count all the votes."

After a couple minutes more, Allbaugh figured out that Bush was kidding him. He was making fun of Gore's obsessive use of that phrase. Bush did this kind of thing often."

S Klebs

Hey, Buzz

Take a look at

http://www.postgazette.com/businessnews/20011208irs1208P4.asp

Seems the IRS contracted some of its tax return processing to Mellon Bank in
Pittsburgh.

Looks like some Mellon Bank employees "misplaced" a lot of tax returns. Gee, another great example of conservative BS.

I will send you more $$ very soon. Please forgive the delay, I'm just one of those stiffs who have to live from paycheck to paycheck.

Keep printing "ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S FIT TO PRINT"!

JOE B

Dear BuzzFlash Readers,

I am writing this letter to all our U.S. Postal workers. They are the ones who were forgotten by Bush when two of our carriers were killed in the line of duty by anthrax. I guess Bush doesn't think they, like the military, deserve any recognition for dying in the line of duty. Then again, I guess Bush doesn't like anyone who belongs to a union. Maybe that's why he ignored them. I hope many readers will publish a greeting on line here though BuzzFlash, saying:

Nice Job, Postal Workers
Happy Holidays
Bless you for carrying our holiday mail.

We mourn the loss of our heroes who died in the line of duty while they tried to deliver mail.

PM

Dear BuzzFlash,

FWD: Joke for the Day

An Israeli doctor says "Medicine in my country is so advanced we can take a kidney out of one man put it in another and have him looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor says, "That's nothing, we can take a lung out of one person put it in another and have him looking for work in four weeks."

A Russian doctor says, "In my country medicine is so advanced we can take half a heart out of one person put it in another and have them both looking for work in two weeks."

The American doctor, not to be outdone, says, "You guys are way behind, we just took a man with no brain out of Texas, put him in the White House, and now half the country is looking for work."

- Gibson

Buzz,

Suspected terrorists may not have the right to a fair trial, but they sure as hell have the right to bear arms. Call it the Ashcroft Doctrine. Some things are... well... sacred.

Dave Paquette

Dear Buzz,

So Wendy Gramm gets a piece of the Enron pie. It would be interesting to know how much money she made before the stock and the company went down the toilet.

I guess being Phil's wife has some perks. The last I knew she was also on the IBP board also, I wonder how many boards she is on around the country.

Also nice job to sneak through a pay raise in the middle of the night. [BF Note: See second article below.]

Karen

Friday December 7 7:24 PM ET
Enron Execs Given Week to Respond
By KRISTEN HAYS, Associated Press Writer

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011207/bs/enron_64.html

HOUSTON (AP) - A federal judge heard but did not rule Friday on a request by a New York bank to freeze more than $1 billion allegedly gained by top Enron Corp. officials who sold millions of shares before the former energy giant collapsed.

US District Judge Lee Rosenthal gave lawyers for the defendants a week to respond.

Amalgamated Bank has sued 29 current and former Enron executives and board members, including Chairman Ken Lay and Texas Sen. Phil Gramm's wife, Wendy Gramm, an Enron board member. Gramm is also the former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that oversees commodity and options trading to protect markets from fraud and manipulation.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Houston on behalf of people who bought Enron securities from October 1998 through November this year, alleges that the named executives and board members engaged in a three-year pattern of fraud and deception that caused Enron share prices to fall from a high of about $90 a year ago to less than a dollar.

The suit claims that during that time, the defendants sold $1.1 billion in stock, all the while hiding the company's true financial condition.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday December 8 12:42 AM ET
Senate Approves Congress Pay Raise
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/AP/20011208/pl/congress_pay_raise_2.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted Friday night to give members of Congress
a $4,900 pay raise in January as members of both parties banded together to
thwart an attempt to block it.

With a 65-33 roll call, senators used a procedural vote to block an effort
by Sens. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., to
keep the pay raise from taking place. Under a 1989 law, lawmakers get
automatic salary increases every January unless Congress votes to block it.

Hey Buzz,

Maria Cantwell rocks! Did you see her exchange with Ass-croft? Another powerful woman in a house full of wimpy men!

Rob Moitoza

Dear BuzzFlash,

Gene Lyons should be interested in reading the article which will appear in the Tribune Review (Scaife's paper) this coming Sunday.

A column entitled Dateline D.C. written by an unrevealed "noted British journalist and political observer" is being advertised thusly:

"Inquiries may focus on lack of federal oversight into Enron during the eight years of Bill Clinton and Al Gore and on favoritism in overseas energy contracts."

Can you believe it ? This anonymous writer who has spewed hatred for Bill Clinton every Sunday for the past eight years is still at it. Now he is going to blame President Clinton for Enron's dirty dealings!

Bert

Dear BuzzFlash,

Anyone else notice that in Orlando town hall meeting, Bush is now referring to the economic stimulus bill as an economic "security" bill???

Shannon Cutler
Marietta, GA

Hey Buzz,

Does anyone else have trouble keeping up with our new national language courtesy of the Bush, Rove, Hughes, Spin machine?

I was just getting used to Corporate Republican policies re-named, "compassionate Conservative". Right wing Religious initiatives labeled "faith based". Republican sexual affairs are now "Youthful indiscretions".

The estate tax is now a death tax. On and on and on...

Now I see Video from Afghanistan of a crumpled helicopter completely engulfed in flames.
I remember when that used to be called a crash. But CNN reports our new name for it. It is now called a "hard landing".

Well DUH!

Thankfully none of the crew were seriously hurt. At least as far as we are told.

The way these people talk. Loss of a major appendage would merely be a "flesh wound".

It is getting so I can't comprehend the English language anymore. Or should I say "Bush Speak".

"WAR IS PEACE," "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH," and "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," Orwell.

Doug Marshall
Dallas, Texas

Dear BuzzFlash,

Please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed that a terrorist is caught outside the White House on the very day Ashcroft went to be grilled by senators about his recent activities - how convenient!

Of course, I use, of course, the term *grilled* loosely - lightly braised in butter and then dipped in sweet honey would be more accurate, but is much longer to type in the middle of a sentence. But then, perhaps that was the Dem's strategy, to lure him into a feeling of comfort - then kiss his rump.

How else do you explain them sitting there being schooled on aiding and abetting terrorism? Not one of them had the cojones to say, flatly - "You are not here to lecture me on my patriotism, Sir. You are here to be probed on your lack of trust in the American Constitution, and no amount of spin is going to turn you into the patriot for denying constitutional rights while I'm depicted as unpatriotic for expressing my opinion, something - as you should know - the Constitution expressly allows."

Mike Clark

Dear Buzz,

Last month we kept hearing about all the doubles Bin Laden had, ten I think was the figure. It's odd that with all the reported success coming from Afghanistan that not one of them seems to have been caught. This "war" gets stranger and stranger.

Sally McDonald

Dear BuzzFlash,

After reading the new account of Bush's reaction to 9/11, I am puzzled. He said he grew up at a time that America being under attack never entered his mind. Now he is a few years older than me, but as a fellow boomer I remember being a terrifed 10 year old watching JFK talk about the Cuban missile crisis. The fact that we could be attacked was certainly top of mind.

And where was this guy during the 50s and 60s while many Americans built bomb shelters and most (if not all) of us took part in air raid drills in elementary and jr. high school? What exactly were we preparing for if not attack?

RL
Irvine, California