August 29, 2002

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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.

Hello BuzzFlash,

I appreciate your posting of the editorial by Donald Clark, Post Commander of the VFW in Homewood Illinois. Please add my name to the list of veterans who are concerned about the loss of civil liberties we are suffering under the the Bush/Ashcroft regime. I am also opposed to the Bush agenda on Iraq, and on just about every other issue as well.

I served as a platoon sergeant in the infantry in Vietnam, 1969-1970. (3rd Battalion, Company C, 11th Brigade of the Americal Division)

Peter Jung
Hudson, NY

A BuzzFlash Reader Message to some politicians, various presstitues and a few friends......

Dung for Brains

8/28/02

The burning question now remaining is how much farther up their rectums this Bush regime can get their heads. Last week it was "cut down the trees to prevent forest fires." Today, buried inside the Austin paper is a new gem.

At the global summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, our mis-representative is leading the fight to water down proposals to rapidly expand the use of clean renewable energy technologies around the globe.

I just can't freakin' believe it. The climate of the world is changing. We know it, we know why and we have the knowledge and technology to do something about it. Why don't we do it? Well, because oil men have control of our government, of course. Who else on earth would be against green energy but an oil company executive and the illegitimate administration they have purchased.

The administration said it wants no timetable or specific targets for any renewable energy plan. Instead it wants "voluntary partnerships with business and other groups." As governor of my state, Junior Bush pushed through "voluntary" compliance of pollution laws. As a result Houston sprinted to the front as the most polluted city in America and Treasury Secretary O'Neill, as CEO of Alcoa, personally made more millions by leading a cheat on one of the few remaining pollution control laws that remained. Alcoa is being sued for this now, not by the state but by a collection of citizens groups and parents whose children are diseased as a result of Mister O'Neill's crime. But the suing ain't easy because Junior also pushed tort reform with the sole purpose of making it harder to sue corporations over crap like this.

Back to to Johannesburg....Junior's representative said he is against setting any goals for development of green energy because...and this is the direct quote: "I don't know of a goal that has protected a child from a water-borne disease or provided energy to a village. Goals do not by themselves bring about change." The stupidity of that statement takes my breath away.

How much more are we going to accept from these idiots, loonies and Strangelovians who are in control of the White House? I realize, sadly, that the Democrats are victims of self castration, but can't a half dozen or so of them at least find their spines? Eunuchs don't have to be cowards. Don't they love America? Don't they love Gods' green earth? Don't they care about their children?

Steve Warren
San Marcos TX

08-28-02

Dear BuzzFlash,

I can't help wondering why it was OK for the Republican supporters (many of whom are employed by the White House now) in Florida to terrify the people counting votes after the 2000 election by out-and-out rioting but it was not OK to protest Bush peacefully in Portland?

Is this what my parents and grandparents, my husband, my nephew fought for? Am I willing to support a government installed not elected? By God, not if its going to be like this. Let's remember Germany in the 1930's, Tiananmen Square, Kent State. When did America need a heavy hand to deal with protest? Why does America need it now? When people are losing their jobs, when their children are sent to an undeclared war, when they live uneasily with vague threats, when their votes no longer count, protest is not just necessary, it is vital. How well-trained your police force must be, that they can pepper-spray housewives and children, rough up unarmed citizens without a thought of why such people came out on the street, without a thought of the old saying 'to serve and protect.'

I have to ask--do you really think this cadre of bullies served or protected the residents of Portland?

Martha R.

Dear BuzzFlash:

While linking to indymedia's photos of the Portland protest via BuzzFlash, I followed a link to another webpage where a photojournalist who was SHOT by those rubber bullets posted a detailed pictorial of the protest.

He's opinionated (excessively concerned, for instance, with young protesters sexual prowess) but that aside, his detailed account of the police attack is riveting. He was shot by rubber bullets while taking photos!

Please look if you haven't already, and contact him if you think it would make a great BuzzFlash link:

http://www.well.com/user/streak/protest0802/protest1.html

Noah Johnson's Protest Record, August 22, 2002

All text and images copyright Noah Johnson, 2002. Please do not reproduce without permission. Noah Johnson may be contacted at streak@well.com

---

Keep up the great work.

~~robyn su

Dear BuzzFlash,

To whom it may concern--thanks a million for the chickhawk list--was WONDERFUL. Pretty much puts and end to the issue of which party produces patriots.

Steve Kiser

[BuzzFlash Note: http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/2002/Chickenhawks.html]

Dear BuzzFlash,

Let me divert a moment from the seeming Al Gore love fest of Rebecca Knight. Let me also take umbrage with her insinuation that those of us who voted for Mr. Nader are responsible for the close race of 2000.

First, Vice-President Gore. Several weeks ago, Mr. Gore penned an editorial for the New York Times. This copy sounds sweet and nice and it looks very pleasing when the economy's bad and you're out of work. In yet still another incarnation, Al has morphed into a populist, a regular Bob LaFollete fighting for you and me. The difference is that LaFollette practiced what he preached while the vice-president banked checks from bankers, CEOs and financial special interests.

Is Gore a better choice than Bush? Anyone with two brain cells functioning can see that he's a better pick than the walking batch of whimpering slime that now occupies the White House. But to pretend that the vice-president and the Democratic party have clean hands when it comes to pocketing special interest money is sticking your head in the sand. And to hear the Democrats say "Well, we only took x millions from Enron while the Republicans took x millions more than that" is like saying the guy who robbed a bank at gunpoint and got away with a hundred thousand is not as guilty as the guy who robbed a bank at gunpoint and got away with three hundred thousand. That is severely bent logic. All I'm asking is that Ms. Knight not confer sainthood on Al Gore. I'd respect her arguments much more if they pointed out shortcomings as well as high points. Maybe I'm missing something, but right now I just don't see it. When I start seeing Al standing shoulder to shoulder with representatives such as Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Dennis Kucinich, then I'll think he's got a bit more credibility. Jesse, in the tradition of his old man, is out in the streets getting things done and taking progressive stances that go against the centrist grain of his party. Kucinich has challenged the administration on Iraq right from the beginning and isn't afraid to take a stand that may not be politically expedient. But I don't think we'll see Al on the dais with either one of them anytime soon.

What galls me even more is Ms. Knight's insinuation that the three million reasonably intelligent voters who cast ballots for Mr. Nader somehow betrayed Gore. Rather than take a shred of responsibility for a candidate who moved away from the left and way toward the center as the possible reason, Ms. Knight takes the easy way out--blame the voters and blame Mr. Nader. Mr. Nader was talking about corporate responsibility long before congress got a pang of conscience after the lawlessness was exposed. He's been proven right.

What's even more glaring is that Ms. Knight, for all her talk of democracy, calls voters traitorous for exercising their choice. Again, it's so much easier to do that than to take a hard look at what 3 million voters were upset about and say, "you know, maybe they have a point we might want to listen to."

I've been a Democrat for over 30 years. I have not renounced my party affiliation. And comes time to support a candidate during the primaries, I intend on supporting Senator Kerry of Massachusetts. Yes, Gore did actually win the popular vote and more than likely won Florida by at least 30,000 votes. And yes, I agree Bush stole the election. But I also am amazed that a candidate running with a record of eight years of unprecedented prosperity didn't win going away. The presidential contest in 2000 should have been a landslide of epic proportions.

I will gladly support Senator Kerry in 2004. I will not support the former Vice-president Ms. Knight can support whom she chooses. And third party supporters can do the same. When they do, I promise I will not call them fools or traitors or anything else inflammatory. They will simply be citizens who chose to exercise their power of choice, even if their choice disagrees with mine.

Bill Chickering
White Bear Lake, MN
Midwest Style

Re: I'm With Dick! Let's Make War!

Dear BuzzFlash,

Provocative, as usual. I have to laugh to relieve the tension of fear. On the other hand, Cheney's et.al. reasoning is so absurd, I give the holocaust he espouses a few more weeks delay before more citizens catch on to his (their) warmongering.

Do they really think that Congress, for one, will sit back and let them push all of us into a conflict we can not win (remembering that Bush/Desert Storm and Reagan/Guatemala by-passed Congress, promoted death and suffering to innocents, and did not win)?

The Editorial Page of WSJ supports Cheney's position and many other Conservative-Republican points of view. My problem with that is the information they leave out. In other words, it is clearly propaganda ---- so I don't know that I'll be renewing in 15 weeks.

Love you ADE

Re: Carville Criticizes Republicans, Chides Democrats

Dear BuzzFlash,

A REAL Democrat willing to speak out! What a thought! Carville for President!!!!! Please let Mr. Carville know that some Democrats will agree with him. This Democrat, for sure!

A BuzzFlash Reader

dear buzzflash,

we were just wondering, have the bush girls signed up for any military service? have they signed up for any of those volunteer services bush is pushing so hard? do they do any volunteer work at all? has either one of them ever had as much as even a part time job? or are they following in their daddy's foot steps? any chance they will be fighting along with other young men and women in iraq?

karen m. sc.

[BuzzFlash Note: We doubt they know much more than how to spend their father's ill-gotten money.]

Dear BuzzFlash,

In response to Tania in the August 28th mailbag there are petitions against the war at http://www.democrats.com and http://www.moveon.org. Moveon arranged meetings with all 100 senators on August 28th and at that meeting petitions were delivered. According to an email I received from Moveon they had 6500 names from New York. I know someone who attended the meeting with Senator Spector in Pennsylvania and it was an overflow crowd. Senator Spector staff member said the phone calls coming in were 100 to 1 against the war. After the meeting, the people did take to the street in a peaceful march.

Roberta
Lockport NY

Subj: NPR talk of the nation (Attack Iraq?)

Dear BuzzFlash,

NPR had an excellent piece today on Cheney and Iraq. Here is the link to the discussion http://yourturn.npr.org/cgi-bin/WebX?50@150.PaeKaRdeazI.2@.1dd0173b here is the link to the audio, but it will not be available until 3 pm west coast time http://www.npr.org/totn3.smil They had on the former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ridder and he demolished Cheney!

Keep Buzzin
Ron Sturtevant-Stuart

Dear BuzzFlash,

Just read your link regarding Carville's recent statements which were of course criticized by the administration as being inappropriate "during this time of war." Excuse me, but if we are really at war, then how can the pResident take a one-month vacation and/or go to fundraisers almost every week? We have got to start pointing this out loudly and often!! We are NOT at war, although they are trying like heck to start a real one. I really am afraid they've got something truly horrible up their sleeves, public opinion and sanity be damned.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Dear BuzzFlash,

As I was listening to yet another commentary from one of our foreign allies about why we should not invade Iraq I had an epiphany - GEORGE W HAS ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF INVADING IRAQ!

Ask yourself, what was the headline story three weeks ago when all this topple Saddam talk began? Corporate wrongdoing and how Bush and Cheney ran their companies along the same lines as Enron and Worldcom was the story that was building momentum. Heard anything about that lately?

Who is beating the drum for war? Bush, Cheney, Ari, and all the inner circle politicos. The Republican leadership, past and present, all oppose invasion of Iraq.

Dubya is wagging the dog. He is beating the war drum to change the headlines. And it has worked.

Glenn Anderson

[BuzzFlash Note: That's why we posted this Reader Commentary: Distraction and Misdirections.]

Dear Buzz,

What happened in Portland recently was horrid and unconstitutional. People have the right to petition their government for a redress of grievances and no matter what that government thinks of protest, they should not be allowed to take that right away.

Which is why I wanted to tell a little bit about the protest in Los Angeles, which I attended. From what I experienced, the protest was a success. And I was surprised--almost shocked--at how cordial the LA police were. Yes, that's right, the LAPD, home of Rampart and Rodney King, was actually nice to the protesters. No riot gear, billy clubs, or pepper spray; just yellow police tape and a friendly, "Could you please stay on this side of the tape? Thank you." And what's more surprising, when Dipsh*t's motorcade ambled down Westwood Boulevard, we were actually visible! Dim Son got a good look at a few hundred(?) rowdy, noisy protesters. Many signs were visible, from "Drop Bush, Not Bombs" to a picture of Bush with a Hitler mustache. Did he bother to look? You bet. I was front and center, and saw the dope's head craning to see. I just hope he saw my finger.

And the cops? The just stood by and smiled. They didn't seem to care. Maybe it's because we have a Democrat for mayor.

Peace from LA

Subj: Mail bag: Keep trying BuzzFlash gang

Buzz:

One of your writers (Peter Kallash) related how he attempted to communicate with a right-wing web site. I felt very proud and sad for him at the same time. I was proud that he at least gave it a try. It couldn't have been easy because they seem to be filled with so much hatred. And I was sad because I know how he feels! In fact I attempted to talk sense to a relative about Bush and his seemingly personal need to go to war. Imagine my surprise when he began to quote the same pseudo reasons that I hear Bush/Cheney and company sprout. I realized that he was repeating the views of a local Rush Limbaugh talk-radio clone (which he couldn't deny). I think that he realized that he wasn't adequately informed because he couldn't match my facts. I challenged him to go on the internet and find alternate sources of news....like BuzzFlash. Those of us who see the big picture have to keep trying to get the word out to others since many of them only get their news from the mainstream media or from hate-radio. The future of America depends on our trying.

Dee Turner

Dear Buzz:

Things seem to have gotten curioser, curioser and more curioser. As Kafka said, "...not the last, but the very last." We have finally succumbed, or so it seems, to Big Brother's chanting. Hey diddle diddle. What was up is now down. What was good is now suspect. What was surplus is now debt. What was innocent is now criminal. Where there was Peace now there is War.

There was a day when being on the Supreme Court meant that you were a recognized scholar, an intellectual, a jurisprudential "giant." Now we seat vengeful jurists, threatening openly in public to undermine the very institution they have taken an oath to protect. Scalia, just two weeks ago, argued publicly that the Christian bible confirms that, even if retarded, the death penalty, according to the Scriptures, gives it's approval, therefore, it should be our "law." How strange. We hear the right argue "…true, even if 1 in 10 executed are in fact innocent, it is the social price of capital punishment, too bad." The Supremes, as they are now so rightfully acknowledged, has become the very institution our forefathers feared the most - a badgering group of political hacks. The Supreme Court has been irreversibly damaged in our Chapter of American history.

We see great people like Colin Powell, who rejected outright the role of homosexuals in the military, yet ambiguously we know him to be an intelligent man. And why Mr. Powell, would you argue thusly? Can you give us a clue? Homosexuality, as I'm sure you've heard, is in fact, genetic. So what gives? Well, the answer is quite simple. The military, which overwhelmingly supported Bush (I suppose they were getting antsy for some overseas action) also overwhelmingly find it disturbing that homosexuals be allowed to share the same shower stall. Fear, plain and simple. So even Mr. Powell, an intellectual in his own right, will be shown in history to have, as so many in our generation have done, abandon principal and truth for political and financial gain.

We see young people, staging and stopping a vote re-count, later honored with praise and jobs by the White House. We see high school kids subjected to urine analysis in order to participate in school activities (isn't that a great message to pass on!). People on buses are searched without probable cause. A 65-year-old woman was recently wrestled to the ground for holding up a protest sign. A few weeks ago an 88- and 85-year-old nun were given 6 month prison terms in the federal penitentiary for protesting South American death squads. First Amendment Zones have become modern day corrals designed to keep anti-Bush protesters from getting near the News cameras. Our jails hold more people, per capita, than any other industrialized nation. Victimless drug laws are used openly in class warfare. 35% of all black males in the entire Southeastern US have been disenfranchised in the drug war. This is not the land of the free.

We see an important World Conference in South Africa, discussing poverty and health in the world, and the US, as so many times in the last year, held up our "nose" to the rest of the world to say "Thanks, but no thanks." We, as a people, are only a shadow of what we were just 2 years ago. Our spirit is dying, our constitution trampled upon, our vigor weakening, our hopes fading. We have a moronic leader, backed by the right wing media and thugs like Rove, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and Cheney. Bush and Cheney are now known to have been involved in illegal backroom accounting and insider trading, but we asked no questions. NORAD, our trillion dollar first line East Coast defense was home watching football on 9-11, yet there was a mountain of evidence to show we were under threat of an "imminent" attack. After the second plane hit the WTC, Bush continued reading "The Hungry Little Caterpillar" to 2d Graders in Miami. Has anyone asked why? NORAD must be triggered by a Presidential call. The truth is, and what is puzzling to so many of us these days is why, or better, how could we, as a nation, have become so bovine.

We pick up respectable journals and trustworthy accounts of life today by intellectual professionals & writers, and they are all in unison that the reputation of the United States has suffered immeasurable harm in the eyes of the rest of the world. Who of us out there would feel "safe" traveling to a foreign country? As for me, I will leave a legacy that I abhorred these times, that I despised the fascist tendencies of the right wing, that I was well aware of the media propaganda, and that I did everything within my legal rights to rebel and protest the insanity of it all. I could not bear the thought that a descendant of mine might reflect, even for a moment, that I would support, in any way, the right wing extremists that who are so well entrenched at the head of our government. What an interesting time, indeed, that we find ourselves living.

Genevieve D. Thomas
Eastman, WI

Dear BuzzFlash,

Today I saw a bumper sticker that had me thinking about the phrase "What Would Jesus Do."

The sticker read "REAL MEN LOVE JESUS." I think that "REAL MEN" should not be busy riding tall in the saddle but walking a mile in their neighbor's shoes.

I really think Jesus meant that stuff about loving each other. What would Jesus do? Not lead us into war. The very people who loudly proclaim their faith ignore some of the very basic teachings of Jesus.

George W. Bush claims to follow Jesus. Well, Mr. Bush, just what would Jesus do?

Paul C. Hartmann
Glenville, WV

Dear BuzzFlash,

When I was a young girl, and having been raised a protestant with faithful attendance of Sunday School, I was shocked to learn that my Catholic friends were not allowed to read the Bible for themselves because their church felt only a priest (who hadn't read the Bible either) could correctly interpret the meaning. Based on that I begin to study all religions to find out why people believed the way they believed. My mother, a reading specialist and my father, who kept his beliefs to himself, encouraged me to explore. And so I read the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud, went to all kinds of churches, and studied religion and history.

What I discovered was more than I was looking for, I discovered that all through history repressive governments, religions and monarchy's had their roots in denying information to people, frightening people, sometimes with torture and death, if they tried to learn anything outside what they were told. Not just religious material, but historical material, or even what their government was doing or knew. There were raids on people's homes, book burnings, book banning and all of it was justified by the fear that the people wouldn't understand or the people would have their minds damaged, and the people believed this.

The real reasons were power, power of the few over the many. Power to control what people thought or knew, because knowledge is empowering. Knowledge puts everyone on the same level, knowledge strengthens self-esteem. A knowledgeable society is less likely to give their power to priests, kings, ceo's, queens, and yes presidents. A knowledgeable society thinks for themselves and they are not dependent on a filtered government or business controlled press who have exchanged lies, distortions, and sound bites for truth. A knowledgeable society is free. Free to learn, discuss, debate and draw conclusions of their own making.

Now in North Carolina the right wing wants to determine what is read, explored and discussed. They certainly aren't the only state in this country where children are discouraged in reading or learning anything "labeled" inappropriate such as sex or alternative life styles, Harry Potter is discouraged in some areas of this country, some places science is derided, obviously any religious text other than the Bible isn't encouraged. Secrets abound in the Government, this administration has made a joke of the Freedom of Information Act. We have a President and White House attorneys who are so ignorant of the Constitution they don't even understand what they can and cannot do, but so what, most of the people don't know what they can or cannot do, that's why it's been easy to dismantle the Constitution piece by piece.

We now have more African/American young men in prison than in a higher education program. Is that because black Americans use or sell more drugs? No, that distinction goes to the white population. We need to find out why this has happened. We need to find out why, in the last 20 years there has been a 16 percent raise in the monies put toward our institutions of higher learning and 331 percent raise toward our prisons. Does that sound like a knowledgeable society. Does it sound like a society interested in knowledge or learning? Where are our educators, where is our media to inform, where is our government, our Legislatures, our Presidents, our corporations? Where are the people who are supposed to be interested in our becoming a knowledgeable society.

We think we've grown and developed over the centuries, become a civilized and knowledgeable nation. After all we don't torture or kill people anymore for what they read or think, or do we? How many millions of minds are we killing every day? Let's write our Congressmen and President and ask them. Let's write our newspapers and TV stations and ask them. Let's make knowledge an issue. Let's make secrets and lies an issue. Let's stand up to our own empowerment.

Sally McDonald

Dear BuzzFlash,

It appears that the major news media is determined to ignore and blackout all our protests of G.W. and his war plans. So, I have a suggestion. If they won't come to us... let's go to them!! Wherever there's a major news event in your town, bring your "No More Bush War" sign. Teacher strike? Bring your "Impeach Bush" sign. Boeing strike? Bring your sign. Let's crash the party folks and MAKE the media listen!

Rob Moitoza
Seattle

Subj: Rove is a frikkin genius

Dear BuzzFlash,

Karl Rove is waggin the dog now and with perfect timing... I am in awe.

Karl knows there is no way to take sides when the issue is whether Bush or Cheney exhibited bad boardroom behavior. So, what to do? Ha, change the subject! Now he has most of us fretting about an invasion, when it really is just a great way to take our focus off the economy and white criminality. We are all sucked into this one.

He gets three thumbs up!

~ Stephen

Quote of the Day (Huh?)

"Nothing he [Saddam Hussein] has done has convinced me—I'm confident the Secretary of Defense—that he is the kind of fellow that is willing to forgo weapons of mass destruction, is willing to be a peaceful neighbor, that is—will honor the people—the Iraqi people of all stripes, will—values human life. He hasn't convinced me, nor has he convinced my administration."

—Crawford, Texas, Aug. 21, 2002

Chewgababy

Hi there folks,

Did anyone see tonight's ABC News where they ran footage of various soldiers from Camp Pendleton asking Rummy how they would be able to attack Iraq without allies and, gee, how long are we going to be there?

It made a change from the usual newsbite coverage of the photo-op that ran on most networks--Macho Man Rummy blathering a sentence, then big applause.

ABC of course then *didn't* show his contemptuous and evasive responses, but summed them up. I think showing his replies would have done a lot to show how nuts the BushJunta is.

Keep Buzzin'!

Ted Mills

Subj: Nuclear waste truck hit by pickup

Dear Buzz,

I hate to say I told them so, well, actually I love to say it when I'm right and they're stupid! But, not long ago I did write my elected congressmen to criticize their voting in favor of the plan to transport tons upon tons of nuclear waste across the United States highways and railways, exposing untold numbers of people to a potential catastrophic disaster. This plan is plain hair-brained stupid!

Either they can pretend that the trucks are just plain old goods in transit, in which case they must not display any military or police protection and draw attention to themselves, or they can travel with military escort in tow and have a great big bulls-eye painted on them for terrorists to see and target. Obviously, if a drunk driver can get close enough to one of these rolling nuclear waste piles to collide with it, the military or police protection is lacking. I guess they opted for the low profile approach to transport. Who needs terrorists when a drunk driver can take out one of these rolling disasters-looking-for-a-place-to-happen?!?!

Yesterday, I sent my local TV news station's news-tip-line a link to the story with the comment that I'll bet this story doesn't get much mainstream media coverage. Guess what? They didn't cover the story. They were too busy talking about late-breaking news of potholes. Big surprise! "Better duck our heads and hope no one heard about this, pretend it didn't happen, shhhhhh!" What a joke! Stay tuned, a nuclear waste disaster coming to a town near you...

A BuzzFlash Reader

[BuzzFlash Note: "Truck Hauling Nuclear Waste Hit By Pickup Truck"]

Subj: Bush is actually stomping for the democrats!

Hey BuzzFlash,

I had lunch with a friend of mine this week. That friend is a dyed-in-the wool republican.

Somehow, the subject of Bush bull-horning war with Iraq came up. As usual, I decided to remain quiet. Understand that conversing with hard-rock republicans on anything political is paramount to talking to yourself. I'm sure many mailbaggers fully understand that statement.

I nearly snorted my iced-tea when my friend stated that she was upset with Bush and Cheney promoting war with Iraq! She went on to say that Bush's father should had finished the job when he had the opportunity. I leaned forward in my chair to listen, heh, heh. I began to think I was listening to a BuzzFlash mailbagger. She went on to say, "I never thought Bush Jr. would turn out like this... he has ruined this country and our small business is financially stretched to its limits." (She and her spouse own a small retail business that has been in operation generations before them.) The friend went on to recite a litany of objections to the Bush administration... you know... the same kinds of things we are privy to at BuzzFlash. I could hardly contain myself and asked, "You never thought Bush would turn out like this?" I told her that I began checking into GW Bush in April of '99 and found evidence that Bush would absolutely turn out the way he has. I also reminded her that I tried to educate her on GW Bush. "Oh, I don't like to talk about anything political," she retorted, and that was her attitude back in 4/99. I came out of the box on that statement and said, "Well, you had better develop an interest in the political arena. Not only is it the duty of every voter, but it could very well mean the survival of your retail business!" Defensively, she went on to say that she was aghast at Clinton bringing disgrace to the White House. Did Clinton's personal indiscretions disgrace anyone's retail business? Nope! Was their retail business going gang-busters during the Clinton/Gore years? Yep! Who has brought more disgrace on the White House... Clinton and his personal indiscretions, or Bush with his blatant corporate greed and screwed-up mentality? I think she got the picture.

Did I convert a hard-core republican? No, GW Bush did! As he alienates each group of people in this country and they "personally" experience the ramifications of his pro-corporation right-wing administration, I believe Bush is converting republicans to democrats all by him wittle-self.

~ Cathy