July 12, 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,
Post 9.11.01, bin Laden & company threatened to further bring down the US economy, yet after reading about the latest inquiry regarding corporate gluttony, (Qwest, Bristol/Myers), corporate America is making their goal much easier.
Lisa
Hi, Buzzers --
I think it's time to use the term "Harken-gate" in reference to stories of Bush's inside trading activities.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Mike
Lambert
Woodland Hills, CA
Dear BuzzFlash,
Subj: White House says Bush worked hard for Harken?
"White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said that such loan programs across corporate America began as an incentive for officers to work harder for their companies."
But Bush has established that he did NOT work hard for Harken. HE WASN'T EVEN THERE! He says you have to check the minutes of Board Meetings to see if he even voted!
Dave Johnson
Greetings,
Watching with trepidation as the Homeland Security Department moves through the legislative process, my greatest fear regarding this procedure is for the Freedom of Information Act. This single piece of legislation has done more for government accountability than any other in memory. John Ashcroft and by extension the entire administration have openly declared their hostility to this vital tool for truly civil administration. Word is that the FOIA will be powerless to touch many areas of the "HSD." Considering the proposed nature of the HSD and the abuses that we've already seen in pursuit of the "war on terror," this is intolerable.
I'd like to respectfully suggest that your site pay particular attention to the issue of FOIA jurisdiction over the HSD as legislation of this proposed new department continues. The "USA Patriot" act is a dismal example of what happens when the legislative process runs out of control. Please, let's not see it happen again.
Sincerely,
Doug
Bostrom
Atlanta, GA
Hi Buzz.
I listened to John McCain 's speech today on "Stock Options" (wonderful speaker I must say) Can anyone explain to me.... why this man is a REPUBLICAN? He sounds like a Democrat who is for the people instead of the RICH..... Wait a minute...let me rephrase that...He sounds like a democrat SHOULD sound.....He states proposals that make sense, he doesn't waste superficial words...Just straight out like (IN THE PREZ WORDS) WITH TRANSPARENCY AND TRUTH......John, it sounds like you are for "WE THE PEOPLE," The average working person..... Ssooooo please John come on over to our side...we really need you.
Genie
Dear BuzzFlash,
After listening to the umpteenth nonspecific terrorist threat from the Bush Camp, an adage came to mind but I took the liberty (can I still use that word) of updating it for these frightening times:
- A threat in time saves mine! (A stitch in time saves nine)
Then it occurred to me that many other sayings could easily be modernized to fit these trying times:
- A warning a day keeps the dissenters at bay (An apple a day keeps the doctor away)
- A tool and his rights are soon parted (A fool and money are soon parted)
- Late to bed, and early to rise, leaves much more time for an endless stream of lies (Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise)
- A fiend in need is a fiend indeed (A friend in need is friend indeed)
- They that seize permanent control in the name of enduring freedom deserve neither control nor freedom (They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety)
- There never was a bad war or a good peace (There never was a good war or a bad peace)
- The GOP helps big corporations that help themselves (God helps them that help themselves)
- Never leave to nuke tomorrow that which you can nuke today (Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today)
- Little blokes end up big jokes (Little strokes fell great oaks)
- Remember that war is money (Remember that time is money)
- Here hides Cheney as droll as a mole in a hole (Here Skugg lies snug as a bug in a rug)
- We must all cover up together, or assuredly we'll get caught covering up alone (We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately)
And last, but sadly not least:
- Our Constitution has ceased its actual operation; everything appears to point to its demise; but in this world nothing is certain but wealth and their axis (Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld) (Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes)
YT Cai
Dear BuzzFlash,
As you probably know, the method of teaching at Harvard Business School is that classroom instruction ends at noon on Friday, at which time a case study is assigned, for which a solution proposal must be handed in on Sunday at noon. This is done for the entire two years. It explains, in part, why graduates of that eminent program can drink so much so quickly, because they have only from Sunday noon to Monday at 8:00 am to do their drinking for the week. I can attest to such abilities as a result of my friendship with one of those graduates who caused me to drink ten (10) dry Manhattans in one evening before we attended a boat show in Miami at which I almost purchased a $25,000 yacht (1961 dollars) which I could not nearly afford, and almost fell into Biscayne Bay in the process, not to mention waking up in my car in a ditch on the Tamiami Trail in the company of a very attractive young woman.
How much do you want to bet that, in the tradition of the Southern plantation owners who sent slaves in their stead to serve in the Confederate army, that W had a ghost who did his weekly case study at HBS? Add that to his insider trading, AWOL from Air National Guard, etc., and you are closer to denying his reelection in 2004. Do you know anyone in that class? It would be worth a small inquiry.
Wayne
Patterson
Los Angeles
Dear BuzzFlash,
Quote of the Year
"I get good advice, if you will, from their people based upon how we're doing business and how we're operating over and above the just sort of normal by-the-book auditing arrangement"
- Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney on disgraced accounting firm Arthur Andersen's work for him
Chewgababy
Dear BuzzFlash,
Subj: Novak's Racist Remarks
When: July 11th on Crossfire.
Comment: "Napkinheads with box cutters"
I would like to ask the right-wingers. Are terrorists the only "napkinheads" or do you mean ALL middle eastern people are "napkinheads"?
Fred
Seattle
Dear BuzzFlash,
If those two pilots arrested by FL officials for being drunk [the drunks were actually backing out the plane] had been armed? One of them had several run-in's with the law over domestic violence issues. What a scenario...a shoot-out with the police trying to arrest them.
Liz Taylor
* * *
Pilots packing heat
July 12, 2002
AIRLINE PILOTS are on their way to winning permission from Congress to carry guns on board as a last line of defense against terrorist hijackers. This emotional response to security lapses not yet corrected since Sept. 11 is loaded with its own potential for peril.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/bal-ed.pilo
ts12jul12.story?coll=bal%2Dopinion%2Dheadlines
Dear BuzzFlash,
Hey, Maybe I missed a few days of BuzzFlash, because I would have expected to hear more about Rush Limbaugh's hearing loss actually being him going to the hospital to have blubber vacuumed out of himself.
On a different tack, I was called for jury duty the same day as W, back when he and I were sharing Austin Texas, and he was hamming it up, and being a real jackass, and lots of dipshits were all kissing his ass, and he's trying to tear himself away from all that mindless praise and getting his ass sucked, so he can go back to the governor's mansion and watch ESPN, and the secret service is shoving him along, and everybody's getting ready to get back to the business of jury duty, I'm slightly peeved at this jackaninny's publicity stunt, so as he's leaving, and everybody is shut up, I holler;
"Oh, yeah,... and thanks for the blow job!!"
His shoulders went right up, and the secret service guys were all over their earpieces & wrist mics.
Then, I just felt like an honest citizen, speaking my piece; now, I feel like I touched history.
Blackie
Dear BuzzFlash,
On NPR this morning (Fri) Bob Edwards interviews Bush's crony Doty, who advocates strongly for Bush during the conversation, and claims that the SEC did exonerate W. At the end, Edwards reads the quotation from the letter, directly contradicting this Bushman.
Best,
Dian Fox
Waltham, MA
Dear BuzzFlash,
Subj: GOP did what Bin Laden couldn't
Just my 2 cents...bear with me
One of the side effects of 9/11 attack was to disrupt our economy. We did have a little disruption, but then things leveled out.
But considering all the deregulation, the push to get government out of the boardrooms, the way the monitoring agencies/offices are stacked - it seems to me that GOP policies set the stage for the current climate of corporate corruption - therefore GOP did what Bin Laden couldn't...
D.
Hippauf
Lehman, PA
Dear BuzzFlash,
I have to share this. Today I ran into an old acquaintance. I hadn't seen him for years but I heard he had done very very well for himself financially. This man is a card carrying, died in the wool Republican. After talking with him for a while, I finally had to comment on his social statement. Sitting on his head was a baseball cap with the words "duck fubya." He said he campaigned for the guy, gave money to the guy and voted for the guy, went to his inauguration, and has regretted it from Jan. 20, 2001. I just nodded and suggested he take a look at this website.
Now I am wondering once again, could the polls be somehow fixed? Dubya is now losing his constituency. The interesting thing is this friend doesn't like the loss of liberties, the financial mess, the handling of the war, nothing, he is angry over the whole last 18 months. Could there be other Repubs out there not marching to the party drum.
Sally McDonald
Dear Buzz:
Are the right questions being asked about Harken? After Harken bailed out Spectrum 7 (and W), where did the receive the huge infusion of cash? From the Bass family, who were front men for Bin Mussfusel (sp?), the head of the Saudi National bank (also known as the banker of terror with known links to Hezbullah, Hamas, and Al Queda). Who really is Harken Energy -- can it be the Bin Ladens? It seems that this is about a lot more than insider trading. As you look at all the connections, all the players from BCCI (bank of credit and commerce) keep showing up. Check out this article, especially the paragraph right before the section labeled "Jumping ship" Sound familar? This is going from my being upset to angry to frightened. Keep digging and so will I. Isn't it funny that when I search for BCCI it comes back empty? Keep up the good work- the real news.
Scoop: UQ Wire: Harken Energy - Bush’s No Good Trade
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0207/S00047.htm
Mike Mc
Dear BuzzFlash,
I build houses and read about houses being built. A month ago, the news that the most expensive mansion in Dallas was up for sale caused us to go take a peek at this mansion because we heard it cost a literal fortune to build. It was up for sale for about $12 million, which was at the very highest end of sale prices for mansions even in the NYC or DC areas.
Want to see rampant greed out of control?
Let's start with the garage which was bigger than Versailles. The floors were imported marble of five different colors laid out in an elaborate pattern. The walls were covered with 14' x 14' oil reproductions of Venetian masters of the 17th century. The ceiling was in the same style and every twenty feet hung a full sized French chandelier!
The house had a private movie theater that was a reproduction of the Sistine Chapel.
The master bedroom was 3,600 sq. feet and the closets were total about 2,000 sq. feet. The exterior of the house was imported stone and it looked like a Las Vegas gambling palace.
I am not surprised the name of the person building this place is never mentioned, not in any articles including the one you URLed. I bet a billion mansions this person is a very close friend of Mr. Bush and is entangled, financially and politically, with Mr. Bush. I also suspect this fire is arson and the fact that this huge mansion burned totally to the ground, obvious it is arson. It is the businessman's form of Koresh at Waco. And it is a sign of our financial Götterdämmerung which is causing the entire financial system built up so painfully by so many generations of Americans to collapse.
Rampant greed becomes rampant destruction. How many mansions under construction stood empty in 1930?
Thank you for bringing us the news,
Elaine Supkis
Dear BuzzFlash,
Subj: Jr. is to Nixon . . .
As Cheney is to Agnew. Is history repeating itself???
BTW: Is this the same Larry Klayman the ghp couldn't praise--and aid--enough? Is Judicial Watch attempting to achieve an actual balance? And, how do repugs condemn him without it backfiring? Love what they did to Clinton but mind the ronnie reagan adage: do not speak ill of fellow repugs....
The world IS a crazy place...thanks for the island of sanity you provide.
Liz
July 11, 2002, 10:10PM
Halliburton case touchy issue for West Wing
New scrutiny over Cheney's role may be bigger worry than Harken for BushBy BENNETT ROTH Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The increased scrutiny of Vice President Dick Cheney's former role as head of Halliburton, the Texas energy company now under investigation, could prove a greater headache for the White House than questions about the president's past business dealings, experts said Thursday.
Halliburton is the focus of numerous lawsuits and a Securities and Exchange Commission probe regarding an accounting change in the late 1990s that critics say allowed the company to report more than $100 million in additional revenue.
(more)
Dear BuzzFlash,
I have not been optimistic about Democratic chances until now. We are hitting Bush the junior where he lives and have struck a nerve. The accounting style or the business practices of Enron and Worldcom et al have been practiced for years. Harken and Bush are certainly as guilty as they, only on a smaller scale.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
In order for a Bush to grow and prosper, it must be firmly embedded in dirt and surrounded with fertilizer. It prefers the shade and does not like much sunlight which tends to damage it all the way to its roots.
Keep up the good work!
A Loyal BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash:
I just love the way most Republicans seek to blame Clinton for the downturn of the economy.
They need to be reminded that although the stock market crashed in 1929 -- just one year into Hoover's first and only term -- Americans then and now did not end up associating his predecessor --good ol' Cal Coolidge -- with the beginnings of the Great Depression.
Maybe that's because Hoover, like Bush, chose to do next to nothing to relieve the situation when he had a chance.
Sincerely,
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
Things are not going too well for the prez especially given that he is is above criticism.
Halliburton, Harken, and the stock market.
I am wondering when the next major scary alert will happen.
My assumption is before the weekend news cycle.
For now its making me very uneasy...
Carol Ehrlich
Dear BuzzFlash,
Just a little warning about Larry Klayman. Don't be in such a hurry to welcome him to objectivity re George Bush. This may be a Trojan Horse maneuver, and a Karl Rove devotee may be lurking inside that Trojan Horse.
Here is an example of what I am talking about: on Larry Klayman's website, he offers an online vote opportunity regarding the questioning of Cheney on certain issues. I clicked on "yes" but was told by his website that I had already voted yes once, which wasn't true. Ergo, the only acceptable votes by the website would result in a preponderance of "no's". See what I mean? I wrote to him and challenged his credibility on that issue. Remember that a leopard doesn't change its spots. Word to the wise, and all that.
A BuzzFlash reader.
Dear BuzzFlash,
I wake up every morning and one of the first things that I do is check out BuzzFlash.com to see if w. is still our president. I don't ever recall doing this and I have had Reagan and Nixon as past presidents.
Now that new information is coming in about w. business dealings, I wait for something that will deal the final blow to w. presidency. w. is a cheater. He always has been. It took this special character flaw to the steal the election. It seems obvious now that he trained for years as a cheater. He has cheated in business. I am sure that before it is over with someone is going to come forward with something about how he cheated to get through college. Trust me there is no way that he did it on his own. w. is not Harvard or Yale caliber. Bush cheated to beat McCain. This is why McCain rightly hates him so. He cheated in the Air Force Reserves.
I feel that there are a lot of people that are going to go down with w. or maybe there are a lot of people that are going to go down with him. I really do think we are heading towards something that is going to transform American politics. I think that our system needs to be purged even if the Democrats have to risk confronting a media popular president.
I, for one, am tired of America's attitude in the world. We do not fight for the common good and I say this knowing that many Americans have fought and died for nothing. I say this knowing that many people who were not even fighting have died on both sides.
Hope needs to be restored in America. We are no better or worse than other countries. We just control with force and threats most of the world's assets and resources.
And, finally, I think of the use of the word God in our pledge to the flag and on our currency and all the controversy that it has caused. I think of "In God we Trust." I want it to be in "America We Trust." I want my faith in America to be restored. I want to know that we are always going to try to resolve conflicts without violence. I want to be assured that we are not going to exploit the world's people including our own. America and our current capitalist system is failing us and the rest of the world. It is based on greed.
I do not think that God is taking sides in this matter. He is letting us handle this internally. I would bet that God quit listening to Tom Delay's prayers a long time ago. I sure he has Pat Robertson indefinitely on hold. As a matter of fact, God probably turned off his prayer answering machine a long time ago. We must resolve this among ourselves. All six billion of us.
w. is not the man to help us to resolve the turmoil of the world. There is no way that he should have been allowed to become the most powerful man in the world. Think about it. George W. Bush is the most powerful man in the world. God help us. Ok, maybe God is listening to little ole me. So, God, if you are listening or you have tapped into my computer, I ask you to restore honor, dignity and peace to America and the entire world and if we have never had it before, you would you tell me what we are doing wrong? And, please, don't tell us that we need to put down our weapons. It won't fly. Could you also give us a new President. He is out of touch with the real world. Trigger happy. He is a money grubber. He didn't even get enough votes to win. And while you are at it, could you do a couple of other things. Could you raise the minimum wage to maybe 15 bucks an hour? Make the raise global, please. How about a maximum wage? $150.00 an hour instead of $300,000 an hour or whatever Bill Gates makes? What about the pollution? Thanks, hope to see you one day. One other thing, if you do help some people more than others. Say, you were in on the inside trading that made America's president rich, could you help me out a little. I am not greedy, the new maximum wage would probably be enough.
Fred
Noelke
Boulder, Co
