December 13, 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.

My guess is that you could find an English translation of something written by Osama bin Laden or one of the other fundamentalist Islamists which criticizes Turkey or Egypt or America using about the same language as Paul Weyrich and his free Congress Foundation criticizes current American culture. Then just print the two pieces side-by-side with the sources. You don't even need to editorialize; the message will speak for itself.

I don't mean to defend a lot of what I also consider corrupt and vapid American culture--I often agree with the far right about the problems--but I also usually disagree with the far right about the solutions, as I do here. I don't want to put in an American Taliban to deal with the decadence of so much of current American culture and so much inhumaneness in much of what the U.S. government does abroad.

J. W. Oman
San Francisco, CA

Dear Buzz,

Thanks for the "news I need to know!" While seeing the merit in "moving on" from the sins of the past, I will be sending each of the Supreme Court 5 a postcard. Unlike Steven Day, I didn't give feedback to the Supreme Court about the Dec. 12 decision at the time. So I've found a use for some Florida postcards left over from past vacations. My message:

Dear Sir/Madam:

I remember the sorrow of Dec. 12, 2000. Jeffrey Toobin sums it up in "Too Close to Call":
"But the fact remains: The wrong man was inaugurated on January 20, 2001, and this is no small thing in our nation's history. The bell of this election can never be unrung, and the sound will haunt us for some time."

A voter,

(my name)

The post cards won't have to be screened for anthrax; they can be read along the way by postal workers; and the Florida scenes can serve as another reminder.

A faithful reader,
Jean

Dear BuzzFlash,

According to OPENSECRETS.ORG Ashcroft received money from ENRON via something
called - "Ashcroft Victory Cmte Non-Federal"

Link to Open Secrets article

"11/1/2000 $10,000 Ashcroft Victory Cmte Nonfederal"

Common Cause brought this exact issue up during the Ashcroft Nomination in which Common Cause expressed the illegality of this same "Ashcroft Victory Committee"

http://www.commoncause.org/publications/jan01/011601l.htm

Excerpts -

His record also shows that he engaged in a major evasion of federal campaign finance laws in his Senate race last year by directly raising in his own name soft money contributions that were then channeled through national and state political party committees and spent to help his Senate campaign. This evasion resulted in the solicitation and receipt of soft money contributions from corporate interests and others with important case-specific matters pending in the Justice Department.

.....Ashcroft established for his last campaign the Ashcroft Victory Committee, a so-called joint fundraising committee with his party which was designed to raise and funnel federally illegal soft money into his 2000 Senate campaign.

The Committee raised money from sources that cannot legally support federal candidates, such as corporations, and in amounts in excess of the federal contribution limits. ......

D. Mullaley

Hey BuzzFlash--

Kudos on the great website--I'm an avid reader and I really appreciate the job you do.

Thought you might be interested in this little story from the Cleveland Free Times. Read what happened to 11 innocent Israeli citizens rounded up and held without explanation--all courtesy of our wonderful new post-September 11th Attorney General's decrees. I have a feeling there are a lot more stories like this one out there waiting to be told.....

http://www.freetimes.com/issues/1013/features-coverstory.php3

http://www.freetimes.com/

Keep up the good work!!

Vic

Dear BuzzFlash,

You buzzers will get a thump out of this one. A couple of nights ago I was channel surfing, and there he was in all his glory, nearly in tears with a "deer in the headlights" look - O'Reilly. His guests included a reporter with Forbes magazine and a lawyer who was in the process of suing Enron. O'Reilly started the interviews with a sentence or two about "the poor employees at Enron" and then immediately jumped to how much money he had lost and how upset he was with his financial advisor. In fact, he stated that even up to a month ago his financial people were telling him what a good deal Enron was. It did my soul good to see that twit spinning in the wind. Would love to know just how much he lost.

Linda Ward
Pocatello, Idaho

Dear BuzzFlash,

ABCNews story re: things they are finding in the caves in Tora Bora:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/STRIKE_MAIN.html

"Some of the discoveries have been surprising, such as a number of paper rifle-range targets printed by the National Rifle Association that were used by the Taliban to train their marksmanship. The targets bore names written in Arabic and the gunman's score."

Not only does the NRA defend terrorists rights to have their gun records private, it provides targets for them to practice killing Americans!

John D. Burns
Raleigh, NC

Hi Buzz:

This just rings of Bob Livingston - Cheney last week was raising money in Texas for Armey's re-election. Something is really fishy.

Could old Larry Flynt somehow have gotten some real dirt? Remember, Livingston's wife appealed to Flynt and Flynt agreed not release all the dirty details, however Livingston was forced to resign....Enron, maybe.....hopefully in time, we will know why this unethical creep will be out of power. Of course, when Livingston was outed, there actually was "some" freedom of the press. Now all is simply covered up so we may never know what really happened but I can't imagine for a minute he wanted to quit - the timing is too wrong, he's at the top of his game - something really "big" caused this.

Jeesh - I'm becoming an old gossip monger....but this is just so interesting.

Marlene Wagner

Dear Buzz,

I just read your Washington Post article about how Rove, while speaking to a conservative organization, described Bush as walking into a room, seeing the first plane hit the WTC building and saying "We're at war. Get my the vice president. Get me the director of the FBI." Yet wasn't it just last week where I read a quote from GWB saying that when he saw the first plane hit he thought that guy is some bad pilot. So who is lying?

Jane Ammeson

Dear BuzzFlash,

Hooray ARMEY TO RETIRE!!!! I hope they all go back to Texas. These guys are a poor representation of democracy and have no business in government. Take the so-called contract with America and fade away. This is a fine day for all Americans. Now for DeLay, Dub, Dick, Ari, Karen, and Karl. We can only hope they will all return, of course it would be even better if Jebbie went too. He's a transplant and Fl. would be far better off if he was in Texas. I only regret that the citizens of Texas will have to put up with these guys in their midst.

Barbara (Atlanta)

[BuzzFlash Note: That GOP Agenda always seemed more like a "Contract ON America"]

Hello,

It's 11am EST right now. In 2 hours, the protest will begin in front of the Supreme Court, regarding last year's election.

Does anybody else think that the release of this Bin Laden tape is accidentally being released "very shortly", according to CNN???

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