April 22, 2002

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Subj: Another one for your gun-nut file

Lessard is one of the Minnesota legislators (and the only other member of Ventura's "Independence Party" in Minnesota government) fighting to get a conceal-carry law passed in Minnesota. Now his kid shot someone with a 10mm Glock pistol in an "accident" while being photographed trying to look "dramatic."

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minn.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/2241172.html
http://www.kmsp.tv/news/local/story.asp?content_id=1110744
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/3093591.htm

Dear Buzz,

Did you see this quote:

Asked whether the administration now recognizes Mr. Chávez as Venezuela's legitimate president, one administration official replied, "He was democratically elected," then added, "Legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority of the voters, however."

It's from a NY Times article from April 15 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/international/americas/16DIPL.html

Regards,

Bob

Dear BuzzFlash,

Oh gosh, thank goodness you exist. I had found myself logging on to Drudge simply because he provided some links to progressive and liberal writers whose musings I appreciated. And I found myself angered over badly misrepresented liberal thought- so finally I went to google and typed in "Anti Drudge Report." BuzzFlash came up.

This is a real breath of fresh air. I am happy to see a site with some spine and a willingness to take on the most repressive government we have seen in decades.

Keep it up!

Dana Lawrence

PS. Do you think conservatives will ever hate David Horowitz, a liberal who became an arch conservative, as much as they hate David Brock, a conservative who became an arch liberal? Me neither!

Hello,

I've been thinking a lot about the Republicans are continually pushing for ever-more tax cuts for the wealthy. The reason: the funding of political campaigns. Those with the money can donate to political campaigns; broke folks can't afford the luxury.

In the last election, the only reason that you saw Nader ads was because the Repubs paid for ads for the "spoiler" candidate. Any economic argument about trickle-down economics is patently false and insincere. The trend for the American corporate executive is not to invest in America, but to divest in America, exporting jobs to countries where labor is cheap.

The meta-issue here is power, and how the Republicans can maintain their current franchise on it. We must see the push for more tax cuts for what it is: an effort to prevent middle income and poor people from having enough money to make a difference in the financing of political campaigns. If only the Republicans can afford to pay for a campaign, then it only their message that the public will hear. Tax breaks for the wealthy only help this cause.

Howard Salmon

Dear BuzzFlash:

Thank you for giving coverage to the deplorable way in which the Pretzeldent of the USA, has shown his indifference to the loss of 4 Canadians, in the manner it occurred.

Of course, lets be fair, it took him two days to finally say something this afternoon. Be gentle on him. The first day he used to learned the first name of our Prime Minister as Jean, the second day of course he used to learn to say, "Chretien". The third day.......well lets be honest. The guy can't count past 3.

A Proud Canadian, Eh!
Ev Voykin,
British Columbia, Canada

Hi, Buzz:

Interesting: 'friendly fire' kills Canadian troops, junior--exhibiting his usual disdain for Canada--offers a belated, glib apology. On top of that, the polls are falling to 'normal' levels. The media reports are increasingly negative. What's a fraudulent administration to do?

First, show part of a tape of a terrorist swearing undying loathing of the U.S. Then, when that does not sufficiently distract both the American media and public, issue a nonspecific threat warning. We don't know when, we don't know how; watch your back; if someone is behaving in a suspicious manner at a bank (that could be me, by the way, looking for a pen or expressing my depression over my account balance), call for help, etc. etc. etc.

Apparently, this threat may not be too bad. ABC Evening News reported tonight that most banks found out about this latest warning through the media, not government notification.

Do you think the "yellow" threat is really the cowardice of this administration and its lackeys to own up to their many failings and mistakes?

Liz Taylor
Houston

Dear Buzz,

What to do when in the span of a weeks time the Resident ignores Canadian citizens grief, loses his bid for ANWR drilling, is a huge failure in the Middle East, and his attempt to meddle with a President who was actually elected by the people explodes in his face?

I'll tell you what. The ultimate diversion. The Code Red Alert/Blue Dress. Just as predicted, when in need of a double whammy to divert the attention of American sheep, out comes the latest FBI unsubstantiated terrorist threat, and lo and behold, the latest on the Clinton White House trashing nonsense. Can these idiots be any more predictable?

Also, any President with an ounce of humanity would have apologized to the Canadian people at the first opportunity without being shamed into it by the Canadian press. What a disgrace!

~Antonia

Dear BuzzLightningFlash,

Coming home through a horrendous darkness-at-noon thunderstorm, it was a tremendous thrill to open my e-mailbox and find "Fortunate Son" staring back at me from my BuzzFlash e-mail. I got a special charge from it because Jim Hatfield was so present in my mind as I came home that I had planned to go right to the computer and write about him. On the long bus ride through the storm-jammed rush hour traffic I was reading Michael Moore's book (laughing out loud on the bus) and I was wishing Jim could be here now to see "Stupid White Men" topping the charts worldwide when a couple of months ago it was inches from being burned, just like "Fortunate Son."

Despite Jim's very unfunny death, he had a great sense of humor and would have gotten a giant belly laugh out of Moore's book and the way it is making the all-powerful Bush league and its worshippers in the media cartel look like fools, defying them with its runaway success and not compromising one inch with the lie of the Bush "presidency" or the absurd "approval ratings" they try to sell us. What a rush! A global tide of awareness is turning. Thanks for your part in that movement.

Everyone who reads BuzzFlash around the world can now begin to get a tangible sense of what democracy really is: not an established fact as we were taught in school, and not a privilege of participation granted to us commoners by the wise and powerful, but the raw force of millions of people each doing the little things that they do with a new awareness and a new vision, and collectively changing the world.

Right on Buzz, keep Buzzin!

David Cogswell

Dear BuzzFlash,

I just want to express my appreciation for your coverage of the tragic accident that killed and wounded Canadian soldiers. I have checked the many US mainstream papers and if there was anything at all, it was buried on 'the back page", sadly. You have a great site that I make a point of checking every day, at least once. Please keep it up, we all need you!

Thank you again
Bev in Canada

Dear Buzz,

Now that is scary

"Speaking to about 300 people at the First Baptist Church of Pearland, Tex., on April 12, DeLay said that God is using him to promote "a biblical worldview" in American politics, and that he pursued Bill Clinton's impeachment in part because the Democratic president held "the wrong worldview."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18077-2002Apr19.html

John Nelson

Dear BuzzFlash,

I went to my draft induction physical with Ted Nugent.

On the bus ride back from Detroit, he bragged about bamboozling the military doctors with the dead mouse he had stuck up his butt.

True story.

- Bill Stanley

Dear Buzz,

The dramatic escalation in the Middle East crisis can be attributed to the Bush Administration's:

1 Anything But Clinton approach to foreign policy

2 Bush's disengagement (There is no way that the President can say that he doesn't deal in nuances in regards to the Middle East )

3 Bush's dramatic flip flops in statements regarding Arafat and Sharon

4 Bush's pushing his Secretary of State onto the high wire and saying that Mr. Powell is acting with complete autonomy

5 Bush's ridiculous concept of the U.S. being involved in an everlasting fight against world wide terrorism but perversely not allowing Israel to fight its own terrorist problem as destructively as the U.S. did in Afghanistan

6 Bush's defying of a long time precept of not negotiating with terrorists

All of these make Bush come off as a bumbling fool and weakens his overall goal of an everlasting fight against worldwide terrorism, including an imminent invasion of Iraq. If he doesn't let his handlers cut off his microphone when he is making ignorant misstatements then his moderate group of advisors, headed by Powell, will not be able to counteract Bush's incompetence. He is better off mumbling wrong statements such as "Get him dead or alive," which had to be retracted anyway, in private, without a worldwide audience. If he truly believes the President's job, as he said, not to "deal in nuances," then he should keep his mouth shut.

Claire Connors

Dear BuzzFlash,

Subj: Bush Offers Regrets to Canadians

The "Chimp" obviously overlooks Canada and treats it as if it were just another U.S. state...

Reiko Anderson

Dear Buzz,

Democrats Question Bush Policies on Workplace Injuries/ NY Times

Reading this article BuzzFlash linked us to, Sat. Apr. 20, left me with some opinions of my own.

First, Bush and the republicans want industry to [voluntarily] work with labor on workplace related injuries. ABC (anything but Clinton) blossoms again! If industry had [voluntarily] worked with labor in the past on workplace injuries, there would not have been mandatory guidelines in the first place. Notoriously, Industry does not do anything voluntarily. Check back in history to sweatshops, child labor, etc.

Second, Chao, Scalia and many republicans have probably never lifted anything heavier than a fork to their mouths. Yet they know all about hard work, huh?

Third, we all know where industry's interests are... high production and profits above all else. Many industries take better care of their heavy equipment than their employees when left to volunteerism. With broken down equipment, they either order expensive repairs or total replacements. That's no problem for them. But when an employee is injured, they'd rather use the volunteerism approach, resulting in the replacement of a human worker because it's cheaper. Broken down employee? Throw them in the junk heap and get another one, cheap!

Democrats had better come out ahead on this one.

~ Cathy

Buzz:

To our Dear Canadian Friends:

I would like to take a moment to apologize for the behavior of the incompetent fool that we have for a president here in the US. I'm sure that he would have offered his condolences to the Canadian people immediately if your lost sons had been related to oil company executives.

Randy

Dear Buzz:

The low-energy sonar described below does more than harass marine mammals. It has been proven scientifically to be the cause of whales beaching themselves by the dozens in the Bahamas and along the East Coast of the U.S. The sonar physically shatters that part of the whale that allows it to navigate, permanently disorienting it. So the "easing" of the rules because "The military's goals, DuBois said, are to avoid lawsuits for merely 'annoying' a marine mammal and to prevent the need to get permits every time an aircraft carrier changes position" is pure unadulterated BULL. I really hate this administration!

Please post.

Sincerely,

Sharon Andrews

Pentagon Asks Easing of Rules

Environment: The White House wants to restrict protections for marine mammals. Changes are being sought to six laws.

By ELIZABETH SHOGREN, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is seeking to restrict protections for marine mammals as part of a sweeping proposal to exempt the military from key provisions of environmental legislation.

http://latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la--42002enviro.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dtodays%2Dtimes

Dear BuzzFlash,

Firstly may I express my sympathies to the Canadian families effected by the tragic mistake
in Afghanistan. In March 2001 a practice bombing run in Kuwait went horribly wrong when a US serviceman sent incorrect location coordinates to a pilot. A 500lb bomb, upon
landing, killed six US soldiers, and a New Zealand soldier. The silence in New Zealand from American officialdom was deafening.

Make no mistake, the rest of the world sees Bush's 'War Against Terrorism' as really a war against America's enemies.

It is about time Bush got his act together and started treating his coalition partners with the respect they deserve.

Bush's natural tendency towards isolationism is proving difficult to overcome, and the last thing the American people need at this time.

D.M.Reid (NZ)

Dear Buzz,

"Thousands protest peacefully in D.C."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/741397.asp

Towards the end of the story:

"About 100 people gathered on the National Mall to show their support of U.S. policies. Some carried signs that said Peace through superior fire power. Bill Bonach of Harrisburg, Pa., said he was sorry that the crowd was not bigger for the Patriots Rally. What amazes me is how they are able to gather such large crowds, Bonach said, pointing to thousands nearby demonstrating against American policies."

Keep up the good work.

W

Dear BuzzFlash,

The reason the Washington Times and the GOP continue with their rehashing of things such as the trashing of the White House, and new charges such as the Democrats being anti-Hispanic and Clinton responsible for the middle east violence is that they have nothing to
fear. There is no retaliation. Who speaks out?

The one thing the American people admire is a fighter. Look at how Truman was regarded. But people aren't too high on wimps. If that's how the Democrats want to be perceived they are being very successful in being seen that way.

When McKinney speaks out, Gephardt immediately undermines her. The rest are so busy being statesman like that they have no time for "partisanship."

What we need are some unrestrained, mad dog, assholes like DeLay, Gingrich, Lott, and Limbaugh. Surely we can find them in the Democratic party.

Robert Reynolds

Dear Buzz,

Vandalism? White House administrator said he went through White House and Executive Building day of inauguration of Bush and saw nothing unusual. Yes! A mess. Many workers in the buildings. Moving desks. Replacing carpet. Changing phones. Cleaning windows and walls.

clarence swinney
burlington nc

Dear BuzzFlash,

It's like fat chickens trying to swim out of an alligator pool. The press, especially the TV media, was quick to let us know that Robert Blake's arrest was the start of a new media frenzy.

Now give me a frickin break. Helicopters from three major news sources following the police car to the police station containing Blake was news? You would think that the hyperbole that the media produced on Thursday evening was a major earth shattering event.

During the Simpson-like (not Homer, the other one) car scoot down the highway I switched back and forth between CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. I was stunned and amazed at what I was seeing on Fox. Greta Van Susteren and Geraldo Rebaldo were both stumbling all over themselves. Although it was Greta's show that had been interrupted another Fox news dork kept interrupting her and talking over her like he had fast breaking news that was so important he had to be heard NOW. Hey you guys it isn't a major news event. Interesting but not major. Both Greta and Geraldo were a major embarrassment for anybody with any kind of news background. It was obvious that Geraldo had no idea where he was going with the subject matter as he tried to adlib around the story. Greta had lost control of her own show and the so called news content was just the same thing over and over. Duhhh.

Greta had cosmetic eye surgery during her switch from CNN to Fox News. That helped her appearance but she should have had mouth surgery so she would at least look like she wasn't talking out of the corner of her mouth. You can tell the Fox 'Right'eous brothers have her on a leash.

Back to CNN. It was in the middle of Larry King Live when the arrest took place. King handled it like a pro and had Blake's lawyer on the phone as the lawyer headed for the police station in his car. Still it was a news story that was much ado about nothing. Can you believe that over an hour was spent on this story and all the network news had to offer was a helicopter shot of Blake's car on the way to the police station.

With non news stories like this popping up daily I think it's proper to offer our dear Canadian friends an apology. The mistaken bombing of Canadian troops in Afghanistan was unfortunate but our reaction to the event is appalling. The news story was out there but where was our government's reaction? Most of the news during this time was around U.S. Marines returning from Afghanistan. That's well and good and a news story but do you realize that during this time there was no mention on any tv news networks about the Canadian troop disaster? A reporter asked Bush during a news conference about him not saying anything about it and Bush said, "Oh I called the Canadian Prime Minister and told him we were sorry." Reminds you of Bush's reaction to the Israeli intrusion into Palestinian territory doesn't it...That's when he said that he had been on the phone with the leaders in that area.

Even President Ford had more substance to his statements that Shrub. Bush's sophomoric attitude should be an embarrassment to all Americans whether they are politically on the right or the left. The reality is that he is a pompous dunce. He tries to explain things in such a simplistic way that it makes you wonder if he can tie his own shoe laces. No matter how hard they try both Bush and Cheney have a hard time holding back their arrogant sneers when that get cornered about something when they don't have a good answer.

Canada is a beautiful country. Canadians are great people and have a better take on what's happening in America than many of the Limbaugh brainwashed ditto heads who blindly follow the King of the Hypocrites. I don't blame many Canadians for being pissed off about this "Friendly Fire." What an oxymoron that is huh?

It's amazing isn't it how a multitude of TV commercials during an election can sway voters into believing that a candidate is qualified for the position? Our appointed president is typical of the little rich boy who never did that good in school; one who has the audacity to tell a group of students, "Even a "C" average student like me can become president"...

We have a president who has no idea what he's doing and in charge of the most powerful country in the world. A president who is being told what to do by big business interests. They are now the ones who are running our country. As much as big business wants to believe that they have a handle on things just wait until the economy takes another dip before we are anywhere close to coming out of this recession. Compassionate Conservative; there's another oxymoron.

Gee the Republicans are very quiet aren't they?

Lan Roberts

Visit the Unofficial LAN Roberts website at
http://www.texoma.net/~lanbo
Lan's daily editorial:
http://www.texoma.net/~lanbo/laned1.htm

Dear BuzzFlash,

There is a very very interesting tragedy being reported in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that you might want to post and follow.

See startribune.com and the headline story about the son of state Senator Bob Lessard.

This long term State Senator is a very close friend of NRA Heston, and takes more PAC money from the NRA than any other Minnesota Pol. His political advertising usually consists of pictures of himself with Heston, and pictures of rifles -- and he is the only state elected pol to have joined Jesse Ventura's party of one since Ventura's election in 1998. The issue they agree on seems to be the goodness of all guns -- and in particular, the idea of letting teachers pack guns as a way of dealing with school violence. Lessard was a DFL'er (Democrat in Minnesota speak) until he lost the endorsement to a progressive a few years back, but then kept his seat by running as an Independent on all NRA money.

Anyhow this story needs national circulation.

This story is a tragedy -- but at the same time it might be useful to make Lessard's son something of a poster-child for opposition to the NRA.

Sally Todd, Minneapolis

Dear Buzz,

I think that you should publicize the fact that the freeper counter rally only drew a pathetic 100 people. It is in the yahoo story linked on BuzzFlash "Up to 50,000 Protest in D.C." (paragraph 15)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&ncid=
718&e=3&u=/ap/20020420/ap_on_re_us/capital_protests_16

EXPOSE THEM FOR THE PATHETIC OUT OF TOUCH RIGHT WING NUT MINORITY THEY ARE!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
A HUGE FAN

stevie gardiner
somerdale, nj

Dear BuzzFlash,

Tom, the Exterminator, aka Dancing Bug, Delay, was kicked out of school!
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/apwire/story.
cfm?xla=apwire&xlb=1&xlc=676164&xld=1

Associated Press : Texas Wire
DeLay was expelled from Baylor, aide confirms

The Associated Press
Web Posted: 04/19/2002 3:36 AM

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, has apologized for the "misunderstandings" he caused by advising a group of Christian conservatives not to send their children to Baylor or Texas A&M.

Dear Buzz,

You figure this one out - its beyond my simple power of comprehension.

"I go back to the timber people," Martz responded. "Same thing. When they spike trees, it's to scare the whole industry. So I agree with you; it is perpetrated to scare the whole group, but there are groups out there that get scared ... and it's not right in any case. I don't care what the case is. It is not right."

BILLINGS GAZETTE
Martz to gays: no special support
BY ERICKA SCHENCK SMITH

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=
1&display=rednews/2002/04/19/build/local/72-martz.inc

Jackie Corr

Dear BuzzFlash,

great Link! << Good grief, what is it with the Bush family? Is there some sort of genetic predisposition not to count people? >>

Of course! The GOP agenda, in a word, is concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the elite. That, in a democracy, requires getting millions of voters to vote against their own best interests. (Although there is a grain of truth to the conservative cry about "ruthless government bureaucrats and rules crushing small businesses" which sentiment was skillfully played to in the 1994 campaign for "term limits".) To get people to vote against their own best interest requires deception, attack ads... and not counting votes! Here in Florida, Jeb tries to repeat W's presidential campaign masterpiece, wherein Texas Gov. Bush claimed to be "the Education Governor" EVEN as Texas high-school dropout rates climbed!! Nothing so clearly demonstrates the American media's myopic pro-bush, anti-gore bias as this one statistic.

<< According to an Orlando Sentinel story during the weekend, those impressive improvements were the result of not counting more than 18,000 minority test scores, which if they had been included would have indicated a continuing downward slide in black and Hispanic reading skills. Good grief, what is it with the Bush family? Is there some sort of genetic predisposition not to count people? >>

LJBK

BuzzFlash,

I am sitting here going over BuzzFlash articles and I begin to wonder is there anyone out there Who Loves Us. Not as people, but as a country represented by you know who - your President (sorry I will not claim him). So I took a few minutes and instead of going country by country to determine where there is Love, I used a regional approach and below is what I perceived (remember my opinions are based on printed news from around the world and not cable news)

Let us start close to home with our closest ally, who often is treated as an extension of the US rather than a country.

Canada is there any love - Not just no, but a big, fat ugly HELL NO. I guess "friendly fire" and lack of the basic human response regarding death and loss has soured the relationship

Moving south maybe from a warmer climate, we will find love: Mexico - maybe there is love, but it is contingent on $$$ flow and the investment of US corporations Central America - maybe, but not likely South America - NO except for Columbia where huge $$$ will flow into the country as bushies protect the oil pipeline

Let's go across the big pond looking for love: Europe - No except for England and Tony Blair, however there are cracks as government officials begin to see the bushie isolationism relies on a US first, everyone else take care of yourself mentality Middle East - No, No, No not even our "allies" Africa - NO - Sorry you all don't have any oil, so no big $$$. Yet, bushies ignore your AIDS epidemic since it only affects homos, druggies, and folks of color Asia - even with the big oil $$$ waiting in the wings NO, NO, NO. Besides the names of your countries and leaders are to hard to pronounce and remember Australia - maybe Antarctica - who cares their continent is melting due to dare I say GLOBAL WARMING, but bushies counter with "there is not enough scientific evidence to prove this is occurring". Besides no where in the bible is "global warming" mentioned, therefore it is not real - bushie logic

Well after my little journey around the world I find there is very little LOVE out there. However less than 2 years ago, there was much love and respect for our country and its leadership. So what changed?

Not 9/11, but rather 5 to 4.

Dennis

Dear Sir:

I think your attempts to blame recent ethical lapses by Post staffers as reasonable responses to rude e-mails is wrong, to say the least, and totally incompatible with the job description "readers' advocate." Thin-skinned journalists should be weeded out, not coddled.

I do congratulate you, by the way, for having the courage to address the issue at all. But no one should know better than the Post that when you try to cover something up, the smell gets worse and worse . . .

Yours very truly,

/s/

Stuart E. Thiel
Chicago, Illinois USA

PS. Under my nom de guerre, I posted the following at the Media Whores Online message board. You may wish to call it to the attention of the Post's legal counsel.

* * *

If you suffer any career consequences from Steno Sue's vindictive retaliation, be sure your lawyer sees the "Privacy Policy" page from the Post's web site, which includes the following:

"Except as stated in this privacy policy or at the time of collection, a user's personally identifiable information will not be transferred to a party outside The Washington Post Company, its divisions or affiliates, or its service vendors unless notice is given at the time of collection or prior to transfer."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin/registration/register&destination=membersAgreement#privacy

Could be worth BIG $$$$$. Don't forget a donation to the DSCC.

Dear Buzz,

The NY Times is reporting that new rules are being developed to try prisoners held at Gitmo that they have been unable to find evidence on.

Rumsfeld has already stated that some may never be tried, but not released either. He also has used the argument that no one will be released while the war continues regardless of being found not guilty. A "war" that he, Bush, and Cheney have described as endless.

This new approach seems to be to satisfy the claims that those transferred to Gitmo were the worst of the worst. Apparently they have little or nothing to go on to bring these prisoners to trail. To save embarrassment to the administration they are apparently prepared to go even further and just try them on a vague charge requiring no proof.

They are making a laughingstock of the US justice system and further undermining our constitution.

It should be remembered that Michael Chertoff, Asst. Atty. Genl, in an interview with NPR asserted that the Bush administration chose to apply these Tribunals to non-citizens but thought they could be applied to citizens as well.

We should not sit idly by while this administration makes a mockery of our system of justice. Remember the line " First they came for.... but I wasn't......."

rereynolds, orangeparkfl

Dear Buzz,

"A more timely public expression of sorrow from U.S. President George W. Bush would have been appreciated by the families of Canada's dead soldiers, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said Friday." And Now Bush Alienates Our Closest Ally to Boot. 4/20

You know, it's just occurred to me that this is the same mistake Bush made early in his presidency when the Chinese pilot (Mr. Wong Wei?) crashed into an American spy plane. China was angry that Bush didn't care one wit that they lost a pilot; now Canada is angry that Bush doesn't seem to care one bit that they lost four soldiers. Does this fool ever learn?

Jeff Schwarz

Dear BuzzFlash,

There was an interesting article in the S.F. Chronicle (Sat., April 20th) about Nancy Pelosi's daughter's documentary "Journeys with George" by Edward Guthman..It's a perfect example how twisted the press corp is in making decisions on covering Bush..She admits to making sure that she left out any embarrassing incidents for Bush and secretly wanted him to win for her career..She sees that the most important thing to come out of her experience is the "symbiotic relationship "of political press reporting..Anyways it's worth reading and weeping how the daughter of the first female whip in congress, offered this puff piece that will only help Bush.

Thanks,

Sheila Cohen

Uncivil Wars (washingtonpost.com)

Dear Mr. Getler:

I'm truly disappointed by your only public response to date, of charges of political bias and unprofessional conduct by your paper and some of your reporters and editors.

Your response is to talk about "rudeness?" You barely mentioned the validity of the charges, or what the charges were, and instead chose to dismiss the entire episode by attacking a few of the emails that you received as "vulgar, threatening, and hateful." While I imagine there might have been a few letters in bad taste, I seriously doubt there were many, unless they were written by someone with the clear intention of giving you an excuse to discredit the many thoughtful, polite, and valid criticisms you must have received.

I was one of the critical emailers and I assure you I am not vulgar, threatening, or hateful! Does it occur to you that only people who care deeply about our democracy and the ever deteriorating news coverage in this country would bother to protest (or criticize) your journalistic integrity? In my opinion, this column of yours -- attacking the concerned readers of your newspaper, rather than discussing their criticism is woefully inadequate!

Sincerely,
S. Sanchez

Dear BuzzFlash,

The following paragraph floored me like no-other:

DeLay said Christians sometimes are criticized if they express their faith openly in public life. Believers "are told, 'You can go in the church . . . and stay in it, but if you stick your head out and you say anything that reflects your worldview, we're gonna knock your head off,' " he said. "And they do. And they come after me like you wouldn't believe. I'm the most investigated man in America. Especially when we impeached Bill Clinton. It was incredible. . . . If I wasn't walking with the Lord, I would have been destroyed."

After admitting that they impeached Clinton because he had a different 'worldview', he has the gall to complain about the lack of tolerance for his own worldview! Then he complains that HE is the most investigated man in America. HELLO! Wasn't he paying attention to anything but his own navel for the entire 8 years of the Clinton presidency? What gall! What hypocrisy! What a loser!

Phil Appleton
Madison, WI

Dear Buzz,

I find Barbara's comments on friendly fire quite offensive as a member of the US Army. Clearly she doesn't understand the circumstances behind this and other "friendly fire" incidents. (As an aside, the correct term isn't friendly fire, it is Fratricide. I take annual classes on prevention of fratricide, even though I am not even in the combat arms of the Army) Comparing the actions of a pilot who clearly made a mistake to those of a medical professional is ludicrous. A doctor or nurse may make life and death decisions on a daily basis, but he or she isn't being shot at by the enemy at the same time. Pilots are always given the right to return fire when they think they are being fired upon. If you think fratricide is bad now, look at the statistics accidental deaths due to misdirected artillery fire during World War I & II. "Zero Tolerance" of errors has long been the enemy of a successful armed force. One must make serious decisions in adverse circumstances and expect that the decision will be supported, unless gross negligence in the decision making process, not the result, occur. Junior officers in the USSR's military had less power than NCOs in the US Army due to their "Zero Tolerance" of errors. I don't think this is the model to follow.

-Zach Buettner

Dear BuzzFlash,

It's ironic that I am not a constituent of Rep. Cynthia McKinney and I rarely agree with her, but the recent attacks on her have really ticked me off! My home newspaper recently took a poll of her views about 9-11 and since the results were not to their liking, the paper took the poll down because of "mechanical problems"!!! Then there was a follow-up article suggesting that the poll results were bogus.

The following letter was in response to this.

Note: forwarded message attached.

Mike King (Inside The Atlanta Journal/Constitution)

Sir:

Regarding your column " Public Opinion 101: What does a poll really say?"

I was out of Georgia last weekend when apparently the AJC asked online readers to respond to a poll regarding Rep. Cynthia McKinney's request for an investigation into the events surrounding 9-11. I did not see the paper, nor did I have access to a computer. Had I been aware of the poll, I would certainly have responded and I would have voted "yes" to the suggestion of an investigation. I would have gladly done so without the urging from outside forces and you would have assumed (unjustifiably) that I was part of the "group and individuals who believe there is evidence of a conspiracy." While I don't necessarily subscribe to the belief that there was a conspiracy, I am one who believes that if we can spend millions of taxpayer money to investigate Bill Clinton (Whitewater, his sex life, or whether he is a liar like most politicians) then why can't we investigate the circumstances surrounding one of the most horrific attacks that our country has ever sustained?

Conservative right-wingers (Freepers) consistently make their voices heard as a group almost on a daily basis. At the urging of Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz (locally), Sean Hannity, and the entire Fox network, etc., e-mails, newspaper letters to editors, responses to polls, and calls to congressional representatives are done enmasse.....surely you have heard of the "ditto heads"!

So why is it now that you have declared such polls: virtually meaningless? Are the polls suggesting that G. W. Bush's approval ratings are currently astronomical "meaningless"? As for as I am concerned they well may be, since no one has ever asked me, my friends, neighbors, coworkers or anyone that I know to take such a poll. What is ironic and disturbing to me is that the AJC was never before concerned with overwhelming poll results when they favored conservatives or the current administration. Regarding such polls, does this mean that I should conclude like you did that " the results often " bear no resemblance to actual public opinion"?

Respectfully,
Dee Turner
Atlanta

Dear Buzz,

http://www.time.com/time/sampler/article/0,8599,232440,00.html

"So where does [George] Lucas stand in this political polemic? "I'm more on the liberal side of things," he says. "I grew up in San Francisco in the '60s, and my positions are sort of shaped by that ... If you look back 30 years ago, there were certain issues with the Kennedys, with Richard Nixon, that focused my interest." Lucas' own geopolitics can sound pretty bleak: "All democracies turn into dictatorships‹but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea ... What kinds of things push people and institutions into this direction?"

In [Attack of the] Clones, Lucas goes a way toward answering that question. "That's the issue that I've been exploring: How did the Republic turn into the Empire? That's paralleled with: How did Anakin turn into Darth Vader? How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship? It isn't that the Empire conquered the Republic, it's that the Empire is the Republic." Lucas' comments clarify the connection between the Anakin trilogy and the Luke trilogy: that the Empire was created out of the corruption of the Republic, and that somebody had to fight it. "One day Princess Leia and her friends woke up and said, 'This isn't the Republic anymore, it's the Empire. We are the bad guys. Well, we don't agree with this. This democracy is a sham, it's all wrong.'"

--Hesiod

Hi Buzz!

One of the first things my mom taught me was to clean up after myself. The leader of our country obviously doesn't believe in this basic "family value" preferring to let giant corporations off the hook and pass the burden of toxic cleanup on to the American taxpayers! Isn't there a way we can organize a national income tax strike? I don't want my money going to this!! We gotta get this guy out of there before he completely destroys the planet!!!

Rob Moitoza
Seattle, Wa.

P.S. Our city, Seattle, was just voted #5 in the country for air pollution, and schools are being evacuated because kids are getting sick from "unknown toxins or molds". FOLKS.... THIS IS GETTING SERIOUS!!!

Dear BuzzFlash,

A CANADIAN VENTS:

My anger at you pathetic President. Maybe Nurse Ratched (Karen Hughes) can teach that immature frat boy some manners. A public statement acknowledging our loss of 4 soldiers, at the hands of the American Army, is the least he could do.

When I saw the headlines in Friday's paper about Bush ignoring the tragedy, I just thought, it was our politicians blowing things out of proportion. But, when I read further, that Little King Georgie II made four appearances without even mentioning it, I had to vent. If the "Leader of the Free World"(?) isn't cognitive enough to recognize something as simple as our mourning, then how's he handling the really complex issues?

And another thing, we lost 4 lives and 2 days later we are organizing an inquiry. Why hasn't Bush, in 7 months, with the loss of more than 3,000 lives, decided to investigate the FBI's bungling? What does he have to hide? And how come Bin Laden "is not that important" anymore? A madman can commit mass murder on the American people and as long as "he has been minimized," he can get away with it. Us Canadians wouldn't let Bin Laden get away with murder, just like we didn't let Bush get away with his rudeness.

Canadians are very polite and we don't expect others live up to our standards of politeness but simple considerations would be nice. I suppose he also chews with his mouth open and drinks out of the finger bowls.

Peace,
L E