December 27, 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.

I was so upset, once again, by CNN. I really am trying to be like Gloria but this
new OBL video was released and what can I say?

Regards,
Marlene W.

Hello:

I noticed this evening, one of the new items on your crawler is:

Enron contributes $100,000 to Democratic party the day before declaring bankruptcy.

Now, since you are supposed to give fair and balanced coverage to any news item, how about the following pertinent information for your crawler?

1. Enron executives donated almost $2 million to Bush's campaigns over the last eight years.

2. Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron, received a private meeting with VP Cheney to discuss this Administrations energy policy proposals and weighed in on key nominations to FERC.

3. Phil Gramm (R-Tex) wife Wendy sat on the board of Enron. Conflict of Interest?

4. Several top Bush Administration officials have been Enron ADVISORS or stockholders of Enron.

5. The National Republican senatorial committee recently returned a $100,000 check collected from Enron this November.

6. George Bush Senior and Junior are both very good friends of Ken Lay and have been for more than a decade. Lay flies them around on his private jet but after all, what are friends for?

Now, these are just some items I would be interested in seeing. If you happen to have more evidence of the Democrat's alliance with Enron and need more from me to balance things out, I have plenty of information, just let me know.

So many are now comparing you to Fox, which we all know is not really a NEWS station - So, you should attempt to protect your image, therefore, giving those hard working American folks, both sides of every issue without any spin whatsoever. Fair and balanced....that's all we require.

Thanks for your attention and if you need anymore help, please let me know - I'm at your service.

Sincerely,

Marlene W.

Dear Buzz,

I just received a nice letter from Vanessa Leggett thanking me and BuzzFlash for supporting her. However, she didn't say how we could help. She is obviously still in jail. This is outrageous! In fact, I call it un-American.

We need to get her out some way!

Rob Moitoza
Seattle, Wa.

Dear BuzzFlash,

I would like to hear your comments about Ann Coulter's appearance on CNN's Crossfire. Have you noticed how she cannot keep quiet when people who disagree with her have facts to rebut her foolish statements? She talks and talks and talks so the speaker (Paul Begalla, in this instance) cannot be heard. This was the same tactic used by her heroine Barbara. I have noticed this same behavior with so many of the conservatives who appear on television with people who have opposing views. Haven't they been taught any manners? Personally I think they do this because their minds are closed and they are enamored with the sounds of their own voices.

Bert
Pittsburgh

[BuzzFlash Note: Some people just don't have the mental capacity to consider more than one or two ideas. The fewer ideas one has, the more important those ideas become. If those ideas -- no matter how antiquated or obsolete -- are challenged, the owner of those ideas will fight for them with lots of yelling and arm-waving. It's not much different than the way buzzards and hyenas fight over dead animals.]

Dear BuzzFlash,

Re: "God's Man" is Sitting in the White House

> Bush himself dismisses the notion that he is part of some divine plan. "He
> does not believe he was chosen for this moment," a senior aide said. "He
> just views himself as governing on his beliefs and his promises. He doesn't
> look at himself as a leader of any particular movement."

Oh he was selected all right! Not chosen.

A BuzzFlash Reader

[BuzzFlash Note: "He doesn't look at himself as a leader . . " Hmmm. Now there's something we can ALL agree on.]

Dear Buzz,

http://www.time.com/time/poy2001/nwar.html
"...But now Tenet was urging the President to make a huge leap of faith - to combat America's new enemy by waging a new kind of war. Tenet's plan: deploy CIA officers and special-ops commandos to aid Afghan opposition forces on the ground while warplanes drop bombs from the sky; collaborate with other intelligence services around the world to bust up terrorist cells with tips from the CIA's spies; and do it all without allowing a Vietnam-style gradual escalation of U.S. military involvement. This would be a war fought by others, with the U.S. role both obvious and covert, a combination of brute force, financial muscle and behind-the-scenes finesse. It would take discipline and patience, Tenet said, but it would work.............The Pentagon brass, which wasn't keen on a CIA-led operation to start with, was skeptical of the agency's main scheme: that the U.S. could put its faith - and its people - in the hands of an opposition force that had shown little skill in fighting the Taliban in the past..................When Bush decided is a mystery even to his top aides. But the next afternoon, in his private study upstairs at the White House, Bush dictated a string of decisions to Rice."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20011219-86507266.htm
".......But today, because we don't have many of our men with guns on the ground, we are struggling to win the peace. That is, we can't get our allies to round up the remaining enemy. Indeed, we can't stop our allies from letting substantial elements of the enemy join the winning side............"

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/24/international/24WEAP.html
"More broadly, air power experts said, the Afghan campaign underscores that air power, to be effective, still requires ground forces to either flush an enemy into the open or force the opposition to congregate in a mass, where it can be attacked more easily."

http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/getasciiarchive?script/2001/12/17/p1s1.txt
"Mr. Rumsfeld has said that the two dozen or so US Special Forces are helping to block exit routes, that number of US military personnel can only be considered a token of the real figure needed to cut off all the mountain passes surrounding the mountain enclave. The number of possible passes is in the dozens, if not the hundreds."

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20011225-14149064.htm
"The biggest fear in the administration right now is that bin Laden will suddenly show up on al Jazeera - postwar dated," a senior intelligence official said.................It would represent proof that the millionaire Saudi-exile had evaded Washington's manhunt and might be able to start new terrorist attacks."

D Haskins

Dear BuzzFlash,

Reading Elaine Ramey's excellent commentary in the 12/26 mailbag, I saw quite a parallel and, gosh darn, I took the liberty of drawing it up:

Elaine's Commentary:

If anyone believes that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson even remotely represent the Christian faith, he is sadly mistaken! These wolves in sheep's clothing have been spouting Scripture as easy as water running off a duck's back! Just like a chameleon, they deftly weave in and out with just one goal in mind and it's money! They appeal to the lowest instincts of the human psyche to stir up hatred from their followers of their fellow man to arouse the self righteous. When they go too far and are 'called on the carpet,' they suddenly become so nauseatingly pious that butter would not melt in their mouth. This pattern of behavior has been going on for decades Over these decades, each of them have accumulated fortunes. I dare not dwell on what God really thinks of them.

Sincerely, Elaine N. Ramey

The Parallel:

If anyone believes that Osama bin Laden and the Taliban even remotely represent the Islamic Faith, he is sadly mistaken! These wolves in sheep's clothing have been spouting Scripture as easy as water running off a duck's back! Just like a chameleon, they deftly weave in and out with just one goal in mind and it's money! They appeal to the lowest instincts of the human psyche to stir up hatred from their followers of their fellow man to arouse the self righteous. When they go too far and are 'called on the carpet,' they suddenly become so nauseatingly pious that butter would not melt in their mouth. This pattern of behavior has been going on for decades Over these decades, each of them have accumulated fortunes. I dare not dwell on what God really thinks of them.

Seems Elaine's commentary and the parallel pretty much describes Robertson, Falwell, bin Laden and the Taliban, huh? All are religious extremists hiding behind established Faiths. Hmmm. Just amusing myself!

~ Cathy

Dear BuzzFlash,

New Subject: My Favorite Christmas Present

My favorite Christmas present came in today's mail.

The note from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, thanking me for the miniature white Stetson sent her after she obtained Democratic House leadership status, lifted my spirits.

I was especially treated with a note from Vanessa Leggett who is still held political prisoner by Attorney General Ashcroft and the Bush-Cheney Administration.

This is what she wrote:

December 16, 2001

Dear Mr. Morgan,

As I'm reminded of all the season's intangible gifts, I had to write to thank you for your support. Of the hundreds of letters and cards I've received, yours is the most beautiful -- an authentic work of art with a meaningful message ("ideas become real at the point of action."). I've treasured it and all the quotes you wrote inside, especially Jefferson's.

Thank you for taking the time to find and send the perfect card. Throughout this ordeal, letters like yours have helped me keep my head held high. Thank you and happy holidays.

Sincerely,

Vanessa Leggett

(#13371-179)
Unit 3 - East
Federal Detention Center
P.O. Box 526255
Houston, TX 77052-6255

I am grateful to BuzzFlash for her address; and, gladly share these sentiments with you.

Regards,

Ken Morgan

Dear Buzz,

FYI, Cong. Waxman is the only elected official who actually responds to mail and discusses specific questions, unlike most elected officials who send general responses. Hopefully his efforts will result in a massive investigation - but let's not hold our collective breaths.

Happy New Year!

Natalie

Dear BuzzFlash,

From BUZZFLASH interview with Congressman Henry Waxman on Enron and the Bush Administration, December 26, 2001:

Rep. Henry Waxman on how "Republican majority leader Dick Armey responded when he was asked about the Enron corporation. Armey, who is also from Texas, responded that Enron is a private corporation, so therefore what happened to Enron is their private business."

I don't recall Armey saying "Whitewater is a private corporation, so therefore what happened to Whitewater is their private business."

Sauce for the goose, Mr. Armey! If Whitewater required a massive investigation by the Senate and House, FBI, Ken Starr and others, then Enron requires at least as large a commitment to uncovering the truth!

-Mike Hersh

Dear Buzzflashers:

If you can stomach it, read Time Magazine's latest puff piece on Bush the "commander-in-chief.") Get it on-line. I would hate to think that anyone is supporting this kind of bootlicking journalism by buying the magazine
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101011231-189762,00.html)

It's called "Inside the War Room," although I doubt these two subservient reporters, James Carney and John F. Dickerson, ever got one toe inside the real inner sanctum where Bush, the former National Guardsman who was grounded and then went AWOL during the Vietnam War, is probably playing pinball while Cheney fills him in on what he and daddy Bush are cooking up.

The subtitle hints at what sort of nonsense is to follow: "Relying on instinct, and trusting his team, George W. Bush unleashed a new kind of war against a new kind of enemy--and faster than you might have guessed"

The propaganda starts to get thick in the third paragraph when the reporters spoon feed us the lies from inside the White House: "Over the summer--"when we were getting a lot of chatter in the system about potential threats," National Security Council chief Condoleezza Rice recalled--Bush had ordered the CIA and the NSC to draw up a comprehensive proposal for breaking al-Qaeda for good. "I feel like I'm swatting at flies," Bush had complained. "I want a way to take the network down." Tenet's team was working one up when al-Qaeda attacked."

Do the reporters really expect us to swallow Condi's quote which implies that Bush was motivated ON HIS OWN to finish off al-Qaeda before September 11? The last sentence further implies that Tenet, who was the CIA director under Clinton had no plan to break up the organization until Bush entered the White House. Right.

The next paragraph: "Bush trusted Tenet, even liked him. The President matches his desire for loyalty with an unshakable faith in his ability to judge people instantly--to 'look them in the eye,' as he likes to say, and size them up. Despite being a Clinton appointee, Tenet had passed those tests months before."

Despite being a Clinton appointee? Does that imply that all Clinton's other people were agents of the devil? No slant there.

Or how about this: "War has turned what many saw as Bush's liabilities--his distaste for detail, his cocky self-assurance, his sheer simplicity--into assets. Untroubled by doubt, uninterested in nuance, Bush has been relentlessly focused. He is, in a difficult time, what the nation needs in a Commander in Chief--simple in his speech, clear in his vision, confident in his ultimate success."

Note how skillfully the reporters have turned Bush's profound ignorance into a big plus. Perhaps in 2004 we should seek a president with even less knowledge of the world than Bush? Forrest Gump anyone?

How about this: "Like Bill Clinton, Bush has tremendous confidence in his ability to win people over. But Bush is a less needy politician, and he hasn't been handicapped by scandal at home when he needs to act overseas."

Less needy? What's that suppose to mean? And no mention of who the scandal-mongers were who handicapped Clinton's ability to act overseas: The Republicans.

I could go on. I could mention how in the print version black and white photos were used with the article to give it a sense of historical importance.

I have no problem with giving credit where credit is due. For instance, the same issue named Giuliani as man of the year for his real leadership during the attack. (I suspect the Bush piece was included to appease those who wanted to see Bush on the cover again.) But if the press is so willing to build up Bush with this sort of propaganda, while tearing down any Democrats who stick their heads up too high, what chance does the loyal opposition have in this country? Not a fair one. But come November 2002 we, not the radical right wing and their corporate contributors, will prevail anyway.

RA in LA

Dear Buzz,

Following is a recent "celebrity email" encounter I had with Helen Thomas. Just thought I would share it with the rest of you.

John L. Johnson
Brighton, Michigan

-----Original Message-----
From: Helen Thomas [mailto:helent@hearstdc.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2001 4:33 PM
To: John L. Johnson
Subject: Re: "Freepers"

You made my day; nice to have a friend-helen thomas

----- Original Message -----
From: John L. Johnson
To: <helent@hearstdc.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2001 10:37 AM
Subject: "Freepers"

> Helen, keep up the good and lonely fight. Don't let the bad guys get you
> down.
>
> Please throw a "tirade" for me while your sitting in front of Ari.
>
> And if you get the chance, ask him this one for me.... "Ari, what is the
> White House position on the fact that it appears to be impossible to spell
> the word 'liar' without the letters A, R or I...?"
>
> John L. Johnson

Dear BuzzFlash,

I use your site every day and have referred a number of friends and colleagues to your "thinking man's drudge."

You seem to be growing. Are you? Do you advertise with kindred publications like New Republic, etc.? How do you typically get the word out besides word of mouth?

A lot of people really like what you are doing. Some think efforts like yours during times like these are the oxygen of democracy. Pump on...

Craig in Portland
Portland, OR

[BuzzFlash Note: BuzzFlash is growing because of our readers. We don't advertise. We like being thought of as oxygen.]

Dear Buzz,

I don't know if you can use it but this is a Mike Mansfield quote I dug up after his death in October.

Jackie Corr

Link to Billings Gazette article

Mike Mansfield said in 1978, "If we didn’t spend so much on petroleum, we would have had a better balance, but we are the world’s biggest users, the world’s biggest wasters. I think we’re living in a fool’s paradise. We’re passing the problem on to our children who will be left to deal with limited resources."

Dear BuzzFlash,

RE: Economist.com Auditors

Great article guys, and did you notice...

"This year, the SEC imposed a $7m fine on Andersen for signing the accounts of Waste Management, ANOTHER TEXAS FIRM (besides Enron), knowing that the accounting methods it had used were designed to mislead investors. In the spring, Andersen paid $110m to settle an accounting-fraud lawsuit over auditing work it did for Sunbeam, A FLORIDA CONSUMER-PRODUCTS COMPANY that filed for bankruptcy..."

http://www.economist.co.uk/finance/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=917422

Must be just a coincidence that the largest and most corrupt corporations have sought out both Texas and Florida for their headquarters, eh? Having a Bush as Governor of your state seems to attract the more "unseemly" in the business elite... Bah. Probably just a coincidence.

John L. Johnson
Brighton, Michigan

Dear BuzzFlash,

Subj: howler on Bush's black support in NYT

I'm not sure if you can get Gore Vidal to do another line by line critique of a NYT article, but the recent piece shouting that blacks now support Bush is a worthy candidate for dissection. The headline speaks broadly; buried paragraphs later is a poll that shows possibly 30-40% support. This is support?

Another piece of evidence that the NYT has gone far far far off track as a respectable news source. Its editorials may convince some that it is a left-leaning newspaper, but its reporters (especially the loathsome Rick Berke) may as well write for the Fox News Channel.

Speaking of Faux news, I noticed that there were frequent repeats of Christmas at the White House. I must have missed this special in the last few years, when Fox reporters walked through the White House with Hillary Clinton, talking about the decorations.

--John Cook
San Francisco