July 11, 2002
Important Note: Because we can't always determine your intentions, we need to ask a favor of you when you send us email. If you DO NOT WANT YOUR EMAIL PUBLISHED in the Mailbag or in the Contributors section, please write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the Subject line or at the top of your email. That way we'll know it's just a comment to BuzzFlash. Additionally, if you submit a mailbag item and DO NOT WANT YOUR NAME associated with your submission, sign your email, "A BuzzFlash Reader." If you send email unsigned, we will post your name with your submission, or, if that's not available, your email name (not the full address, just what's on the left side of the email address). Thank you.
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. The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are the not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Thanks again for your email and your patience.
Dear BuzzFlash,
Well, it was interesting to see W up there on Tuesday giving his long awaited talk on corporate malfeance. Problem is, he kept hiking up his skirts and winking at his corporate campaign donors while trying to pretend to the people that he was getting tough on his friends.
A Loyal BuzzFlash Reader
A BuzzFlash Reader Letter to CBS:
Sir:
I would like to comment on an item that was aired on last night's (7/9/02) broadcast. The item in question was presented by a reporter named Wyatt Andrews or Andrew Wyeth or something like that. Anyway the item dealt with G. W. Bush's financial dealings and potential insider trading deal while at Harken Energy. He failed, just as Cokie Roberts had Sunday, to report the most important fact relating to this story, and misreported another.
The most important fact relating to the story should have been the potential for real conflict of interest involving Bush and those that investigated his transactions. No mention was made of the fact that the head of the SEC at that time was an appointee of and former counsel to Bush's father. Even more potentially damaging is the fact, as reported at worldnetdaily.com (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16298), that the chief counsel of the investigation was one James R. Doty, Bush's former personal lawyer who had arranged his purchase of the Texas Rangers.
The fact that the reporter misreported was when he stated, at least twice and most definitively, that Bush was exonerated by the SEC report. A Washington Post report from July 2, 2002 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15500-2002Jul2.html), stated explicitly that "The Dallas Morning News has quoted a 1993 letter from the SEC to Bush's lawyer emphasizing that its decision "must in no way be construed as indicating that (Bush) has been exonerated." " It frankly gets no clearer than that.
I have always been a fan of CBS News. Even in these days when it is obvious that megacorporations such as General Electric and Disney are calling the shots at many of the network news desks, I have always felt that the reporting at CBS was maybe above all that. To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement.
Duncan
Rae
Midland
Mi
Dear BuzzFlash,
Thankfully those crackerjack FOX reporters have sorted out the George W. Bush insider trading mess. Due to their diligence, they have not only exonerated Bush from any wrongdoing (crime), they are dismayed that he actually suffered losses due to the transaction.
We all know that Bush the Director was involved in setting up a dummy (how appropriate) inside front to hide millions of dollars in Harken's losses. When nailed by the SEC, they had to restate these earnings as losses. Before this was made public, Bush cashed out at $4 a share, doing this based on his foreknowledge of the restatement. The stock price tumbled to $1.25 shortly thereafter, meaning Bush gained more than triple what he would have if he were an uninformed investor. Not only is that illegal, but he didn't report it for 8 months, another fiduciary violation.
Back to FOX, they omit all of the facts except that he cashed out at $840,000 (rounding down of course), took just a little longer than required to make a disclosure (big deal), but most importantly - he would have realized twice as much profit if only he waited for a year when the stock price went up to $8 per share (after Bush left the board of course).
Using the FOX logic, if Bush were a bank robber, and he held up the local branch and got away with nearly a million dollar heist, he would not be a criminal because he could have got away with twice that if only he waited for a better day to execute his scheme.
Those FOX analysts, you have to admire their ability to stir up sympathy for a compassionate conservative crook.
YT cai
Dear BuzzFlash,
I think that the Motto of the Bush Administration should be "Talk tough and carry a wet noodle." Even Wall Street is laughing!!!!!
GA reader
Hi,
I heard Dubya on the radio, I think Tuesday morning, say something like "People need to understand corporate accounting is not black and white, but shades of gray". Now, I was listening to one of the public broadcasting stations in Oregon (either KLCC, JeffNet, or 1280 out of Corvallis) and it was the Dubya voice, so I don't believe it was a spoof.
However, I can't find that quote documented any where. Have you any idea? I want to verify I wasn't just hallucinating.
Thanks,
lauradel
[BuzzFlash
Note: Bush said, "Sometimes things aren't exactly black and white
when it comes to accounting procedures." You can find the quote here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&
u=/ap/20020708/ap_to_po/bush_business_scandals_5.]
Buzz,
The stock market is down close to 3000 points since George Bush took office. Investors are losing their life's savings. Where is the money going? Is the money going to the upper 1%? Is this part of Bush's grand plan to eliminate the middle class? Bush would like nothing better. He and his rich friends would then rule the world and the peons (us) would be squashed. This is an evil, greedy, ruthless and diabolical group of thieves squatting in The White House right now. When you plot and successfully steal the presidency, nothing is beyond the realm of unscrupulous schemes for you. Karl Rove wrote the book on it.
Gigi
Dear BuzzFlash,
I like that you are using the term Dim Son a lot. I also like seeing people write Greedy Old Party (GOP) so that people make that connection. I think it will work wonders to wipe them out.
Martisa
Hi, Buzz:
Every day brings a new scandal regarding the bush administration. Does this surprise any of us? Not hardly! We have been wise to bush and his cohorts PRIOR to Selection 2000.
As a matter of fact, immediately after the Supremely Stupid Court decision that awarded the boy king the White House, I turned to my friend and said: "With a bush and a dick in the White House, someone is bound to get screwed."
Liz
Taylor
Houston,
TX
A BuzzFlash Reader Letter to The Washington Post:
To the Editor--
Has the Washington Post chosen the year of the 30th anniversary of Watergate to quietly drop its claim to being an aggressive source of investigative reporting? I could understand this move if, in retrospect, you decided you and certain of your "newspeople" had gone overboard in unfairly hyping the admitted lapses of the Clinton years and of the purely partisan Watergate investigation which you, wittingly or dimwittedly, aided and abetted. If that is the case, please announce your decision to the world and apologize to the Clintons, and I will say no more. If, however, you still claim the role of investigative watchdog, please unleash the "dogs," and your vaunted attack-mode editorial staff, and point them toward the Bush Administration. God knows they (Bush himself, Cheney, Pitt, White etc, etc) have given you enough material to fill your pages for years to come. "Where is the outrage?" to coin a phrase. I follow the Post closely, and I still have hope, but your performance over the past 8 to 10 years falls far short of the proud tradition of excellence I remember so well. Thank you for your consideration.
Michael Baxter, Dover, Ohio
Dear BuzzFlash,
Jeb just appointed the first Hispanic to the FL SC, Raoul Contero. He and Jeb are the ones who got amnesty for Orlando Bosch, the Cuban terrorist. According to the local Fox affiliate he was born in Spain, but is the grandson, as they put it, of a former Cuban dictator. I would assume Batista. Nice!
Bosch was once arrested for towing a torpedo behind his car. Originally when paroled to Miami he was supposed to be house confined. But he soon was selling oranges and limes on a street corner, which created a great deal of sympathy. Mostly the restrictions on him were not enforced. His partner in the airliner bombing escaped and worked for the Contras, and most recently was arrested for plotting to kill Castro in, I believe, Costa Rica.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, although there has been a fair amount of coverage on Contero, usually explaining he was just acting as a lawyer for Bosch, this is the first I've heard of the family history.
So the brother of a dictator appoints the grandson of a dictator. Can the US Supreme Court be far behind?
Robert Reynolds
BuzzFlash--
I have been a reader of yours for quite some time, and appreciative mightily the work you do in exposing the corruption of both Democratic and Republican parties for all to see. You are number one on my daily news watch list.
Just wanted to drop a short note: Yesterday morning, while surfing BuzzFlash, I had CNN playing in the background, just listening with half an ear. (This was soon after the President's speech on Corporate Responsibility.) The newsanchor said at least twice and possibly as many as four times (my memory is hazy, again, I was only listening with half an ear) that Bush had been "cleared" of all SEC charges. In fact, at one point she even interrupted a professor of corporate ethics to reiterate this "fact".
I emailed CNN, giving them the correct information and even linking them to a website I got from your archives from which they can verify the truth. (Ironically, I forgot that even the Washington Post carried the truth in this matter.)
Just wanted to let you know that your hard work is appreciated. Keep it up!
--Daniel Harper
Dear BuzzFlash,
Quote of the Day:
B.S.
has come to mean BUSH SCANDALS.
He talks the populist talk, while walking the elitist walk.
Chewgababy
Dear BuzzFlash,
Mr. Bush wagging his finger in New York over "corporate responsibility" is as ironic as Mr. Clinton pontificating about abstinence...(and something he would have the good sense not to do!) However while the latter issue was a misjudgment regarding normal human sexuality (and a private, personal matter), the former one is bringing our economy to a grinding halt. Give me the ridiculous trumped-up circus around Troopergate and Monica any day. At least I had a job then, and I saw the ridiculousness for what it was! Lately I feel like I'm in a Salvador Dali landscape...
J Vodvarka
Dear BuzzFlash,
Subj: Winning Congressional Seats Fall 2002
The only question Democratic candidates need to ask voters is, "Is your 401k any better off now than it was 2 years ago?"
John Kirtley
BuzzFlash,
I love your site and check it several times a day. Keeping playing up the corporate scandals. I refer to this whole mess as the Bush-Cheney-GOP Axis of Greed. These stories hit the American people where they live.
Sincerely,
Glenn Anderson
Dear BuzzFlash,
Yep! The head of the VA GOP was indicted on multiple felonies, he of course resigned and then...
Gets new job with the GOP in South Carolina!
Amazing but True?
Maybe not amazing anymore considering the GOP, but it certainly is True!
Check the full story here: Spin Resistance http://kelleykramer.blogspot.com/
Kelley Kramer
Dear BuzzFlash,
Boy george's closest relative's remains discovered...
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hskin1011.story
Ancient Human Ancestor 7 million years old, an African skull astounds scientists
By Robert Cooke Staff WriterJuly 11, 2002
A nearly complete cranium and three teeth found in the dust of an African desert now take the human line back almost 7 million years, the oldest human-like remains ever found, an international research team announced.
The discovery, in a searingly hot region of Chad, offers an exciting view of human evolution close to the time when humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor, the team of French and Chadian scientists report in the journal Nature today.
Liz Taylor
Dear BuzzFlash,
Since Mr. Bush reported his stock sale 34 weeks late to the SEC, it brings up a question: What year did he report the sale on his taxes? 1990 or 1991?
Thanks for listening,
GC
THANK YOU for BuzzFlash!
Found it through the link on MWO and am extremely grateful for all your hard work that goes into it. It's a GREAT counter for me to harass that idiot Drudge when he doesn't headline Cheney being sued, for instance.
Republicans/cons never pass the "shoe on the other foot" test do they?
Keep up the great work.
- Zaine Ridling
Dear BuzzFlash,
Re: CHENEY PROMOTED ANDERSEN ACCOUNTING IN VIDEO
I was overcome with joy this morning when I was listening to DC's Z104 during my morning commute. Before they changed the station's format, the morning drive-time DJ used to be Billy Bush, a nephew or something of Res. Smirk. You can imagine the shameless Bush promotion that went on with Billy Bush. So here I was this morning, amazed to hear the DJ's report wearily that "the White House is under fire yet again; this time Cheney's been sued for accounting practices an oil services company he headed five years ago." Five years AGO?? Major material misstatement of the facts -- he headed the company FOR five years, resigning only to run for Vice Resident. This is NOT old news, people. At any rate, I was delighted to hear them play snippets from the Cheney Andersen promotional tape and to ask rhetorically before launching into the next song, "The 'books,' Dick? WHICH SET of 'books'?"
We're making progress . . .
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
Coincidence or not? Cheney served on EDS Board. Then Cheney became vice-president and very shortly thereafter EDS is awarded billion dollar contract for armed forces system management! Could be an interesting investigation.
Rufus Swain
Dear BuzzFlash,
Subj: The grandson of a dictator was chosen to be on the Florida Supreme Court
This is being done by Jeb Bush who's brother won, by an undemocratic vote purge, of people who were falsely accused of being felons. Not only is this man Raoul Cantero III a son of Batista, but he thinks of his family as being victims.
He said: "As an American whose family escaped a totalitarian (Castro) regime, I have learned to appreciate and defend democratic values and the rule of law," Cantero wrote. "I know the price a society pays when it lacks freedom to speak, freedom to worship, freedom to dissent."
Cubans didn't have these rights under Batista either, except for maybe freedom to worship.
BTW, it will be a great day when the present dictator of cuba finally gives up the throne, but that his existence in no way justifies the existence of Batista, or excuses what Batista did, and I don't feel sorry for his family members, particularly those who don't want to disown him, and I don't think they are victims of anything.
Oh well, I guess democracy is over-rated, and we should support nazis, fascists, and monarchs, just because commies hate them, and they hate commies. Those founding fathers were such commies, because they opposed King George just like the reds opposed Czar Nicholis, only a commie would oppose the King right? We will be so much more better off when we just except that Pinochet is the wave of the future, and the investor pages will all think this is just great.
=====
Jenn
Dear BuzzFlash,
Today's Atlanta Journal/Constitution contains a great column written by Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) decrying corporate greed and pResident Bush's failure to adequately respond. This was my response to the piece.
Dee in Atlanta
The Editor:
Thank God for Congressman John Lewis! His insightful message on corporate greed cuts right to the core. Unfortunately he will probably be chastised and condemned (much like Cynthia McKinney) for detailing views that run counter to those of far right conservatives and those who believe everything that the Bush administration sprouts. There is no denying Bush and Cheney's ties to the corporate world or that our once strong economy has tanked and the stock market is floundering. But the fact that corporate greed has cost thousands of Americans their jobs and retirement funds is no reflection of this administration. Bush's relaxation of environmental policies that are contributing to many of our physical woes can't be attributed to him either. Indeed, the fact that Bush, Cheney, and Condoleeza Rice covered the knowledge that they knew for several months prior to 9-11 that there was at least a threat of airline hijackings (but never warned the public to be on alert) cannot be their fault. The buck never stops at the top of this administration or even his father's ....Bush the first. No! When all else fails, when they can't admit to their shortcomings: BLAME BILL CLINTON!! Wake up America. This is George Bush's watch. Hold him accountable.
Dee Turner
Atlanta
Hi BuzzFlash,
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER front page:
"Panel: No 9/11 'smoking gun' seen"
Did we expect this newspaper to bury this lie in the back pages?????
Also in Philly we have a basketball player who is in trouble with the law, and headlines are saying, Do you want your children to look up to this person??? Of course not, should be the answer.
Has anyone asked this question, about Boy george? Do you want your children to look up to this person, GWB??? We should hear a resounding NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW we only get this Philly paper for the T.V. guide (on Sunday). They sure had enough front page coverage lies to defame President Clinton.
We ALWAYS get our news from BuzzFlash, and are waiting for our membership pack, to show everyone we get honest news, and don't accept lies from the bias media.
BuzzFlash Readers
