October 1, 2002
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Subj: Oh yeah! You and What Armey?
Dear Buzz,
Thank someone's god that Dick Armey is in this world; if for no other reason than for comic relief from the aches and pains that afflict our body politic. Dr. Dick is yet another whacko Texas Republican Congressman which the hot sun and frequent inbreeding all too often seem to spawn in that state.
Last week, the man (whose name I just love, by the way) gave his brilliant analysis of why there is such a wide chasm between the left and the right today. Did our Ph.D. in economics use his respected position as House Majority Leader to debate liberal vs conservative views on laissez faire capitalism, or did he contrast the conservative emphasis on individual responsibility Vs the liberal position on the government's responsibility toward those least able to compete in our society?
Nope. Ol' Deadeye Dick got to the very heart of the matter.
In response to a question from a lady in Sarasota, Florida in front of a Jewish group there, Armey summed up the entire problem with our political culture and why there is so little hope for all us dopey liberals. To quote the great man:
"Liberals are, in my estimation just not bright people. Conservatives have a deeper intellect and tend to have occupations of the brain in fields like economics, engineering and science. Liberals, on the other hand, tend to flock to occupations of the heart," which he defined as people with jobs in the arts.
"They're going to be liberals . . . because they want to feel good," he said.
Armey said as people grow they become more conservative because they gain a better sense of "reality." Liberals have a "romanticized" notion of a world they pretend exists, he said.
Well goddam, Dickie Boy...just where do I begin my retort? Okay, In a society where schools have all but abandoned the concept of teaching critical thinking, Dick Armey is truly the hero of the stupid. I can't even imagine this kind of statement being spewed by someone who just loves to remind of all of his professorial credentials. In my estimation, the outrageous generalities promulgated in his statement can only be the result of spending too much time in the Free Republic Forums, where intellectually superior conservatives comment on all manner of topical issues. Here among the intellectual elite, it's easy to come to the conclusion that the conservative mind is always sharp, fair, discerning, probing and wordsmiths of the first order.
One note of warning: the elevated synaptic activity engendered by time spent reading the Free Republic Forums can be dangerous to liberals whose brains are not used to this enhanced neurochemical bath. I, in fact, found myself having a full anxiety attack and nearly impelled to pull my eyeballs out of their sockets within as little as fifteen minutes of reading the comments found there.
Mike LaMartina
To the Democratic Senators:
Did you see Doonesbury yesterday? It was a series of direct quotes from junior taken from White House transcripts of the Waco 'economic summit'. The doozie was the one where he said Tommy Thompson was "...a pretty good actor, too". Dubya confused his own HHS Secretary with Fred Thompson of Tennessee. And this brainless fool is playing you for a bigger fool.
Are you really going to vote to give this person authorization to make war at will? No matter how it may be worded, with any tip of the hat to the UN, with any cursory 'inspect first', you will be giving your tacit approval to an immoral dunce and his cadre of zealots. You will be voting to change the very nature of our country. Our 'peace loving nation', as he is so fond of chanting, becomes an aggressor, a warrior-state.
How can you allow such a thing, Senator? Because you don't want to be accused of being 'soft' on defense? Because you want to hurry up and get it over with so you can get back to talking about the economy? My God, My God.
George W Bush is a deserter and a liar. Did you notice the story in the Washington Times last Friday: "The International Atomic Energy Agency says that a report cited by President Bush as evidence that Iraq in 1998 was "six months away" from developing a nuclear weapon does not exist." Once again, the administration is simply making up 'evidence'! Lying to your face and then calling you unpatriotic for not supporting them.
And you are going to give him more power? You are going to let him have his way with you because you are worried about popularity polls? You are going to let him change the face of our nation and further inflame the Islamic jihad? Is that not precisely, exactly what bin Laden wanted? Please come to your senses and listen to the better angels of your soul and stop this thing now, Senator. Be strong, be brave for America.
Steve
Warren
San
Marcos TX
Subj: 09-28-02 Editorial by Paul Ryan
Dear BuzzFlash,
Thank you for a wonderful editorial. During the 2000 Presidential campaign, I felt as if I'd explode waiting for Al Gore to get angry and go on the attack to counter the Bush campaign lies and distortions. He never did and we all know what happened. The Democrats need more voices like James Carville and Paul Begala. You're right, there are many swing voters waiting for the Democrats to show show spine and call the Republicans on their lies.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: The Trifecta President
To the Editor,
Looks like we may have to call Bush the TRIFECTA PRESIDENT from now on.
Think about it -
. First, Bush trumps up his political war on Iraq in September, enabling the 'Repugnicans' to win control of Congress in November.
. Second, Bush thereafter invades Iraq causing massive death and destruction and grabs the world's second largest oil reserves (making his cronies, the US oil companies, very, very happy).
. Third, Islamic fanatics with or without Iraqi connections visit a tidal wave of terrorism specifically upon New York City (see Jimmy Breslin's brilliant column "City Set Up For Slaughter" in Newsday, 9/26/02).
Thus Bush will have hit TRIFECTA II: Election victory in November; Acquisition of Iraqi oilfields; Terrorist retaliation aimed at New Yorkers.
Laura and Jack Gordon
Dear BuzzFlash:
I just called Durbin's office to thank him for his position on Iraq.
The staffer said they are doing a poll of the reaction and asked if I wanted to be included.
I'm so glad I called!!!!!!
Senator Dick Durbin: 312-353-4952
vgdesign
Dear BuzzFlash,
Thank you BuzzFlash for sending me to the RNC email form. I used it to turn myself in. I told them what this disloyal liberal is doing to defeat Bush and his insane ideas.
Its easy to use. I would suggest that everyone take a shot at it. Let the RNC know that we liberals and democrats are out there fighting as hard as we can against Bush and his fascist cabal.
http://www.rnc.org/Attacks/GetInvolved.asp
Robert E. Reynolds, Orange Park, Fl
Today the world faces a single man armed with weapons of mass destruction, manifesting an aggressive, bullying attitude, who may well plunge the world into chaos and bloodshed if he miscalculates. This per son, belligerent, arrogant and sure of himself, truly is the most dangerous person on Earth. The problem is that his name is George W. Bush, and he is our president. --Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School. September 22, 2002
To:
senator_murray@murray.senate.gov
Sent:
Monday, September 30, 2002 1:03 PM
Subject:
Go Ahead: Make Saddam's Day
To Congress;
Go Ahead: Make Saddam's Day
Authorizing a first strike against Iraq will prove that we are what Saddam (and Osama) say we are. And it will justify acts of "anticipatory self defense" against us.
Actually committing unprovoked aggression against Iraq to seize control of their oil (the only believable reason), will legitimize any and all acts of retribution against us.
If you favor starting a war with Iraq, put your families in uniform and go there. Otherwise shut up and vote against this insane criminality.
XXXXX XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX XX
Olympia, WA 985XX
Thanks to: http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm/ID/6438 Originals to "my representatives" (whatever that means anymore) had my name and address.
Subj: Is Your Name Bush?
Dear BuzzFlash,
I see Noelle beat the odds again when a Florida judge today found that staffers at her rehab center did not have to testify that Noelle was found with crack cocaine the week before (her 4th or 5th felony??)
Let's see....
A dozen automobile wrecks in and around Tallahassee, many witnesses at the scene watched a "stupored" Noelle get wisked away by Florida State Troopers at every accident site. No doubt she was under the influence of narcotics.
Is arrested for possession of narcotics and writing illegal narcotic prescriptions (both felonies) not to mention other violations of her probation (additional felonies).
She spends no time in jail, still retains her driver's license and has never been charge with a crime. But her daddy is "tough on drugs!"
Now, if your son or daughter is caught smoking a joint in a second offense they go directly to jail.
If this is not hypocrisy then what in the hell is? Jeb Bush is hypocrite, just like his brother --
J.
Johnson
Crestview,
FL
Subj: Member of Congress with a child in the military
Dear BuzzFlash,
In answer to Tim Totten, I don't know if there really is only one member of Congress with a son or daughter on active duty, but I do know of one. Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, has a son, Brooks, on active duty in the Army. I believe Brooks has been stationed in Afghanistan. Shrub handpicked his opponent, Rep. John Thune, who has run ads calling Johnson opposed to national security and the military because he voted against Star Wars.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: This President is a Union Buster!
Dear Buzz,
http://www.msnbc.com/news/814049.asp?pne=msn
Seems MSNBC has a headline story about the lock out of union workers on the west coast. In it they say 'The last time an economic emergency was declared and the government forced workers back to the job under the Taft-Hartley Act was 1978, when President Carter unsuccessfully tried to end a national coal strike."
I seem to remember that the last time an American President declared emergency and busted a union was RONALD REAGAN AND THE FLIGHT CONTROLLERS UNION!!!!
Isn't it nice when you have a news service and you think you're GOD, and with the current illegal administration busy erasing the history files at the Dept of Education and Locking down (at least that's all they SAY they're doing) files at the library of congress in an effort to END THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.......I guess you can REWRITE HISTORY YOUR WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loyal Democrat
WA
State
GO UNION!!!!
Dear BuzzFlash,
Senator Torricelli (D-NJ) just pulled out of the Senate race. It looks like the GHP bullied a Dem out of office (like they tried to bully Clinton). This time it worked.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
Sen. Torricelli was tainted, and it's just as well he's not long for the Senate. That said, the Torch went out for things that wouldn't trouble a Republican. Why the gross double standards?
W. Bush, Dick Cheney and many other corrupt-licans get free rides from the media and ardent support from their side no matter their corruption. We know Al D'Amato and Newt Gingrich were much dirtier than Torricelli. They stayed in office with strong GOP support until they lost at the ballot box or otherwise became unsuccessful.
Democrats clean house, while the other side defends their dregs. The GOPocrites also whine incessantly about Democrats and get away with claiming the high ground. What does that say, other than the mass media is biased? Our side is less hypocritical, less committed? Both?
Allan
Dear BuzzFlash,
Today in the U.S. Senate, Senator Fred Thompson argued that government union members and civil service workers must give up their rights to work and other rights to President Bush's demands for complete control of the lives of anyone in his Office of Homeland Security.
I wonder what right's he (Sen. Thompson) as a member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) which he is going back to when he retires, is willing to give up for any reason?
If there is anyone that knows a member-maybe they would allow us to see their contract which is secret and for union members only to see.
Go to SAG.com and see for yourself.
A BuzzFlash Reader
[BuzzFlash Note: Besides giving up all the workplace and pension protections SAG and AFTRA would provide for his future acting work, Thompson should be forced to give up his rights to residuals -- courtesy solely from the bargaining power of a labor union -- from any work he did while working under a SAG or AFTRA contract. Then, when those entertainment products are aired 24/7/365 on cable and late-night TV, he can watch others make a tidy profit from his work while he is left with nothing more than the memory of his own glaringly stupid efforts to destroy the protective benefits of labor unions.]
Buzz & Mailbag readers,
Wednesday, October 2nd, is Mahatma Gandhi's 133rd birthday, a day to celebrate Peace!
T Quigly
Dear BuzzFlash,
Since the Republicans have no problem politicizing the war, the Democrats should respond with this simple slogan: "Vote Democratic - It may save your son's life!" Most Americans are opposed to sending troops to Iraq and realize that the threat Hussein poses could be taken care of with bombing of his palaces and other places he refuses to let the UN inspectors investigate. There is no reason to overthrow Hussein other than he tried to kill Bush's Daddy (who tried to kill Hussein first!)
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash:
I hope all BuzzFlash readers will read "The president's real goal in Iraq" by Jay Booklman in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were."
ajc.com | Opinion | Bush's real goal in Iraq
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/0902/29bookman.html
Thanks for the great job BuzzFlash does in getting out the truth.
And thanks to Jay Bookman for an excellent column.
Fan from Winter Park
To my fellow letter writers:
Go, guys and gals. I especially want to thank the writer who put up all the Congressional representative's sites where they allowed a vote on current policy and war questions. Thank you for your efforts, and peace to your strained eyes. I've had equally strained ones trying to read telephone numbers and names to connect them with print-outs from my local Knox County Democratic headquarters where I volunteer.
I've been a letter writer to BuzzFlash for a while, and a minor monetary supporter when they ask, and I have to say that this is the first site I go to on any day for political news and updates.
I'm also an activist who has gone to three recent protests against Bush in DC, and am considering going to the Oct. 26th march for Peace. I organized a bus from Maine (all 70 seats filled) in order to join the VoterMarch (along with other organizations) in protest of the Bush false inauguration. I also went down this spring on another sleep on the bus trip to protest Bush policies. Although the press never reported that protest (since it was totally peaceful), our group joined with a huge march of American Muslims who felt they were being targeted after 9/11.
There were huge numbers of people protesting in DC that day, even though the mainstream media never reported it. But, of course, Bush, most senators, congress-critters, and most major rip-off, high-wage earning reporters were all out of town.
It was amazing, being at the front of the march down Pennsylvania Avenue, to look back and see this wave of humanity, covering every inch of the grounds from the Washington Monument, joining us as we headed to the march down Penn. Ave.
Our mainstream media behaves as if we have a legitimately elected President heading this country, when in fact WE DON'T! GW Bush wasn't elected--he was appointed by a right leaning Supreme Court. Most of American voters voted for his Democratic opponent, Al Gore. And if all the Florida votes had been counted (despite the injustices of the Butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County), Al Gore would have won statewide in Florida, too. Maybe not by much, but George W. Bush only won the electoral college votes of the state after the Supreme Court stopped the vote recount, which put the election in his column, by 537 votes.
Let us not forget, that no matter what GW Bush says, he is not our elected President, but our APPOINTED one, by advocates of the military/industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about.
Jo Ann Simon
Subj: RNC E-mail form - Turn in a Dem.
Dear BuzzFlash,
Below is my note and the list of lies that the Dems are spreading:
...............................................................................
The Democrats in this area are spreading disgusting lies about our president and his administration, at least I think they are lies.
Lies
1. That Bush was given preferential treatment during the Vietnam War and that he went AWOL before his term of duty was over. Is he still AWOL?
2. That the 2000 selection was a coup rather than honest election and, that if it were not for the vote manipulation by his brother in Florida the Supreme Court would not have been asked to install him as my president. Wow if true.
3. That he still has an drinking problem. Does he?
4. That he can't spell either. Can he?
5. That he and others knew what was to happen on 9-11 and that is why they were all out of town at the time. Is that true?
6. That he fancies himself a world leader - a kind of illiterate Napoleon. I told them I heard him speak French so that is a lie.
7. That this neocon nightmare of world domination by the US is doomed. Is it?
8. They told me I had better not vote for him in the next selection either if I knew what was good for me. I assured them that I knew what was good for me and that I would vote for an honest person if one can be found.
Thank You
Lynn Dohner
Who Am I to Question the Commander-in-Chief?
". . . the tenor of the debate is exactly what President Bush said: if you’re not with us, you are against us. If you don’t support war on Iraq, you must be Saddam’s best friend. If you don’t support “turning the place into glass,” you must be anti-American. If you don’t support slaughtering innocent civilians abroad, you must support terror against Americans at home.
"I'm a combat veteran, and I reject that argument. If we give up the civil liberties on which our society was founded, then what are we fighting for? If we trade in our brains for the spin of the oil-company-controlled White House, we're in trouble.
"But then again, if I believe what I read in my inbox, I’m just a radical with a liberal left-wing nut, anti-everything agenda."
Charles Sheehan-Miles, a decorated Gulf War combat veteran, is the author of "Prayer at Rumayla" (XLibris, 2001) and is a former President of the National Gulf War Resource Center. He can be contacted at http://www.sheehanmiles.com. The Veterans for Common Sense statement can be read at http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org
Sent by a BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Bush "Saddened" by Mink's Death -- Yeah, right!
Dear BuzzFlash,
http://starbulletin.com/2002/09/30/news/story2.html
Dancing on her grave: while the Great Pretender feigns sorrow over the death of Hawaii Congresswoman Patsy Mink (who values of respect, equality, and compassion for the less fortunate stand foursquare against every special interest he champions), her right-wingnut opponent Bob McDermott says, "I'm running against a ghost" and that a vote for her is a waste of money.
Has the GOP no shame?
Donald
R. Koelper
Honolulu,
HI
Subj: Weyrich crony speaks at holocaust denial conference
Dear BuzzFlash,
The Fall 2002 issue of the Intelligence Report has a great article about William Lind's speech at a June 2002 Holocaust denial conference. Lind heads the Free Congress Foundation's Center for Cultural Conservatism.
One of the Free Congress Foundations annual "American Founders Freedom and Governance Award's" went to Dick Armey, by the way. (Economics America Inc: The Right Guide, p 157). I wonder if Armey's recent comment about Jews originated from the Free Congress Foundations documentary called "Political Correctness: The Frankfurt School", which documents the alleged cause of political correctness, which of course, according to Lind, was started by some liberal Jewish guys.
Please check this great article out. You can find it at: http://www.splcenter.org/intelligenceproject/ip-index.html Click on the Intelligence Report, scroll down to the article "Mainstreaming Hate".
Curtis Maes
Dear BuzzFlash,
I sent this to all of my friends . . .
* * *
If you're the least bit curious why it's important for you to vote for the Democratic party on November 5th, and to encourage everyone you know to vote Democratic, read the article below. It explains how significantly our lives would be altered if the Republicans controlled all three branches of the government. Currently, they are one Senate seat away from this kind of complete control and if you think things are bad now . . .
Joey Martin
One Vote Away
Republicans could win control of the entire federal government in November. Why won't Democrats talk about it?
By Nicholas Confessore
An excerpt
But those four months of one-party rule were nothing compared to what the real deal will be like if the GOP wins back the Senate this fall. Unfinished business from 2001 would be up first: permanent repeal of the estate tax; permanent institution of the income-tax cut; passage of Bush's energy plan (including provisions to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge); a partial-birth abortion ban; money for the technically unfeasible national missile defense system; repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax; redefinition of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects more than 50 million acres of federal land from logging; and a welter of special-interest corporate tax breaks that didn't make it into Bush's big cut. "What changes is that the president's able to get his agenda considered," says Charles Black, a leading Republican consultant and former adviser to Ronald Reagan and the elder George Bush. "You would have a unified agenda and a predictable order of business."
That business would almost certainly include a serious effort at tort reform--like eliminating the 200-year-old principle of "joint and several liability" in civil suits, making it easier for corporate defendants to wiggle out of court judgments. Republicans would likely push to have Bush "unsign" the Kyoto accords on global warming and the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, both anathema to many conservatives. Big business lobbyists would fan across the Hill, demanding "regulatory relief"--or federal subsidies, depending on the need--in ways large and small. Congress and the White House might even try to implement one of the three privatization plans put forth by the Commission to Strengthen Social Security, none of them demonstrably likely to make the system solvent over the long term. And now that the Supreme Court's July ruling in Zelman, et al. v. Simmons-Harris has resuscitated the voucher issue, proponents of "school choice" are already at work building momentum for an "experimental" national voucher program.
(more, lots more)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0210.confessore.html
--------
You can sit back and watch your government be used against you or vote to save your future.
Dear BuzzFlash,
So if Iraq has been shooting at all those planes for over a decade....why haven't they ever hit one?
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
I followed the link given to the RNC website where one can report attacks made by democrats, and I think I'm going to have fun with it. Here was my first "report":
You won't believe this, but at a local tent revival to which some political leaders of the state and city were invited (including Senator Tim Hutchinson), one democrat judge had the gall to get up on the podium and refer to Bush as a "godly" and "Christian" man. Terrible! To suggest that our president may be the least bit imitative of that simpering Christ who extols humility and virtue when in fact it should be plainly visible from his actions that Mammon is more a god of his choice. We can't let fiendish democrats get away with this! We can't have them libeling the president with false accusations of humility when, any day, our president will be bringing down the forces of Ragnarok and drinking blood from the throats of dead Iraqi children! LET'S KILL THEM ALL!!!!!!!
Guy Lancaster
Subj: Jeb Bush cheats in TV debate - the proof
Dear BuzzFlash,
For a video of the TV debate, go to:
http://www.c-span.org/politics/
In the first minute of the tape, the moderator explains that the candidates have not seen the video taped questions they will be asked. These are Floridians from all over the state who provided taped questions for the candidates.
Go to the point in the tape marked 16.45. A lady by the name of Fran asks a question. Jeb Bush replies and addresses her as Sylvia. The NEXT question, a question that neither candidate was supposed to have previously heard, is from someone called.... Sylvia!
As you watch the debate, Bush seems to have the answers memorized, Bill McBride clearly has to work much harder and come up with good answers on the spur of the moment. If we cannot trust Bush not to cheat in a TV debate, how can we trust him not to cheat in the election? (Again)
You may want to watch this soon, before the Republican censors 'correct' the tape. The transcript of the debate has already been scrubbed to remove the reference to 'Sylvia' in Bush's answer.
Best regards,
Faun
Dear BuzzFlash,
Jesus, is anyone monitoring that Paula Zahn woman? She is to the right of Rush Limbaugh!
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear Buzz,
There was a mistake pointed out by someone on a message board that could indicate collusion by Jeb Bush and the people running the last debate. Basically Jeb answered a woman's question believing he was using her name. He called her 'Sylvia'. The problem is that was NOT her name. The next person to ask a question was named 'Sylvia'.
The transcript is available at:
http://www.news4jax.com/jax/news/stories/politics-169207820020927-210952.html
The proof is online now. Compare the transcript with the archived video at CSPAN. It's at:
http://video.c-span.org:8080/ramgen/hdrive/c092702_fl.rm
Melinda Barnett
