The BuzzFlash Mailbag
October 18, 2002
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The BuzzFlash Mailbag

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Dear Buzz Flash and "Flashers"

I threw in the towel on Larry King a few years ago. He once had a reasonably interesting show, but bit by bit it slipped into gossip, murders, kidnapping and little else.

I overcame my distaste for King to watch the Harry Belafonte interview. As usual Belafonte was the eloquent spokesperson for all that he addressed. It was, at moments, embarrassing to watch King, who was obviously confounded by many of the Belafonte responses -- be it the "slave" statement regarding Powell, criticism of Condaleeza (Miss Chevron Oil Tanker). The substance of Belafonte's statements flew over King's head like a clutter of pigeons.

Earlier on the same day the President"select" presented a rare off the cuff rose-garden interview with the press.

He has to be brain damaged. Inarticulate hardly describes his total lack of capacity to answer a question. To encounter Harry Belafonte and his remarkable, highly defined overview of world problems and the ease and facility with which he expresses them makes you want to weep when you think of the inept cowpoke yokel now trying to take over the world and the equally stupid people following him.

Charles Bennett/ PV


Subj: Good Morning, North Korea

Dear BuzzFlash,

....we wake today with the guy Junior recently called "a little pigmy" thumbing his nose at the American regime. Kim says he is developing nuclear weapons and declared the anti-nuclear agreement he signed eight years ago "nullified".

It is a good thing that an American president would never walk away from something so utterly critical as a nuclear arms treaty. Well, not an elected one, anyway.

Today, from the Orient, the bush cadre received instant karma. Now they should more clearly see that what they do makes it acceptable for others to do. The policy of pre-emptive attack is a very, very steep slope. The standards we set will be the standards others adopt.

Junior, rummy and dick tore up our long established and honored and SUCCESSFUL nuclear arms treaty and have started development of a new generation of 'cute' nukes. How can they now say, with any moral authority, that Kim can't do the same?

I close with another fine Alice in Wonderland moment....the administration announced this morning it is dispatching Undersecretary of State John Bolton to the region to confer with our allies Japan and South Korea. Does the name ring a bell? John Bolton is on record as opposing all nonproliferation treaties. This is the guy Junior put in charge of our Arms Control and International Security last year.

Now, get this straight, you news media doofuses and enabling congressmen: George W Bush has dispatched a man who opposes nuclear arms control to do something about controlling nuclear arms.

Does anybody else hear Country Joe and the Fish singing that song from 1968? "...and it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates....ain't no time to wonder why, we're all gonna die...."

Steve Warren
San Marcos


Subj: Even Orwell would be shocked

Dear BuzzFlash,

From the article "9/11 Relatives Push for Commission"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=544&nc
id=703&e=5&u=/ap/20021016/ap_on_go_pr_wh/attacks_intelligence

"The main sticking points continue to be provisions governing the commission's subpoena power and leadership, which the White House fears could lead to partisan squabbling and finger-pointing. Bush objects to a provision that would allow five members of the 10-person commission, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, to issue a subpoena. The administration also wants its only member on the commission to be the sole chairperson, instead of being co-chair with a Democratic appointee.

"Unfortunately there still are some members (of Congress) who do not share the view that this commission should be truly bipartisan," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We hope these members will reconsider." "

WTF? War is peace. Freedom is pro-terrorism. Equal division is, somehow, not "truly bipartisan." These folks have no shame at all. Also, The New Yorker has an interesting profile of Condi Rice. She is descended from "house slaves" and seems proud of that.

A BuzzFlash Reader


Hi Buzz,

Love these alerts each day. Every time I see a new "Mailbag" section I forward it to my group with the title, "What the people are saying today." I know, from experience with this section, it helps me cope and lets me know I'm not alone. Why not have that as a link on your "Daily Headline" email, when they come out? Just a thought. Been a member from the beginning and have gotten many books, bumperstickers etc. through you site. Spreading the gospel with your help.

Thanks,

John Donnelly
Doylestown, PA


Subj: US Funds N Korea Nuclear Program!! MUST SEE!!!!

Dear BuzzFlash,

W. and Rummy have been selling nuclear rods to N Korea for a while now. Please post! Bush's new propaganda push regarding N Korea's nuclear weapons program MUST be exposed! Please post. Please find articles attached. Note: Rummy sits on the board of this company (ABB) that sells N. Korea the rods!

Nancy Lynn Nagy (TN)

US grants N Korea nuclear funds
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1908571.stm


Subj: 10 days for 10 felonies...

Dear BuzzFlash,

Noelle got 10 days in Jail for committing, lets see, last count, about a dozen felonies. Not bad -- for a Bushie. If it was your kid, it would have been 5 years minimum. Oh well, onward with the drug war!

LL
Cloquet, MN


Subj: Are We Having Fun Yet?

Dear BuzzFlash,

Keep up the good work.....I remember when Trent Lott went to the senate floor, in the very beginning of Bush's pResidency, discussing the budget or the tax cuts, (I can't remember exactly) but he said that "We have a 5 trillion dollar surplus.....the American people worked hard for it....let's have some fun with it."

Well, 2 years later...are we having fun yet Mr. Lott?

I'm very frustrated with the state of the economy and all the talk of the war. When will we have some good news for a change? (I feel like I've been in a depressed state for 2 years.) Hopefully, the Dems take over the house and senate in November. It's going to be a long 2 more years before Bush is out of office. We have a lot to do....so again...keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Kathy Szubota
Van Nuys, California


Subj: this is telling about Wolfowitz...

Dear BuzzFlash,

A telling reply in the last part of this excerpt.... (Associated Press: Ron Fournier)

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan backed a new U.N. resolution that would toughen weapons inspections and urged Baghdad to use this ''last chance.'' But leaders from 130 mainly developing countries demanded a peaceful settlement of the U.N. dispute with Iraq.

South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, whose country chairs the movement, urged the council to ''seize the possibility of a peaceful solution.''

As if in reply, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told military experts in Washington that the United States can't ''be hamstrung by the waverings of the weak.''

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story
&u=/ap/20021016/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_49

A BuzzFlash Reader


Subj: NY Times - U.S. Not Certain if North Korea Has the Bomb

Dear BuzzFlash,

I don't think it's hard to make the case that the North Koreans, finding that Bush shut down talks just after coming to office, later lumping them in with an "axis of evil" and then announcing to the world that the the National Security Strategy of the United States was now centered on global military domination and pre-emptive war, have decided admitting they may have nuclear weapons is "sensible" policy useful for leverage in dealing with the Bush chickenhawks.

Short version: All this saber rattling and talk of global hegemony is coming back to bite Bush (and us) in the arse.

A BuzzFlash Reader

http://nytimes.com/2002/10/17/international/asia/17KORE.html

According to one theory, discussed widely in the Pentagon and the State Department, North Korea's leaders want to demonstrate that they cannot be bullied by the United States. "Here they are declaring they have the stuff to make a nuke," one official said. "Whether they have one, or they are bluffing, we don't know for sure. But the message is, `Don't mess with us.' "


Subj: early coverage of Bush visit to Atlanta and protests

Hi Buzz,

www.wxiatv.com/news/news_article.asp?storyid=22943

This is the NBC affiliate. Reporter Dennis O'Hayer showed the protests at the top of the hour, saying there were at least 200 and more arriving. WXIA soon cut to Saxby's long intro and the president's long and highly partisan speech endorsing Chambliss and Purdue. The other networks cut away soon after Bush's opening remarks, but not WXIA; they carried the speech almost through the whole 30 minute newscast, in essence giving Chambliss extended free political advertising. I called and spoke with someone in the general manager's office to complain about the extended coverage of Bush's speech which did not contain newsworthy material, and made WXIA appear extremely biased. WGCL CBSAtlanta affiliate also showed the protestors at the top of the show. I would expect Atlanta Journal to write up the story later. I was not able to catch from WSB or Faux News whether protestors were shown.

Carol Brown
Marietta, GA


Dear BuzzFlash,

If you can get the transcript of Gergen's appearance on CNBC's "The News with Brian Williams" (wed, oct 16) it would be revealing.

Gergen floats the idea of deploying troops on the streets of Washington. To restore order. And they stay with it for awhile.

I tried to see if they have transcripts, but was defeated by their website.

Jim P


Dear BuzzFlash,

OF ALL the races in all the places across the country this fall, none is more important to the president than getting “Little Brother” re-elected governor of Florida in his surprisingly tight race with Democratic attorney Bill McBride of Tampa.

Electoral College arithmetic is one reason, of course. As he contemplates the presidential race of 2004, the president knows that Florida again promises to be the mother of all battles — as close and contested as in 2000. His brother’s presence in the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee was a big help two years ago. For the Bush White House, there is no worse nightmare than having a Democrat — let alone a shrewd lawyer like McBride — in the governorship.

Jackie Corr

Can Bush resuscitate Little Brother?

With the Bush family pecking order turned on its head — and the political situation dire — George W. is out to rescue Jeb

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 —

http://www.msnbc.com/news/821999.asp?0dm=C1CPN


Subj: Vote Against War

Dear BuzzFlash,

If we boil all the issues down to a solid pulp we ought to be able to get to the essence of why we should vote Democratic.

A vote against something is just as powerful and just as good a vote as any other kind. Where is it written that we should only feel good about voting when we vote FOR something? Life is full of hard choices and dilemmas and sometimes it helps just to ask the simple question "what is best?".

This question has the magical result of eliminating all kinds of thinking that can bog a choice down. For example, it eliminates the emotional attachment of what one wants to vote for because that may not be what is best, and it also adds the quality of inclusion of other possibilities, such as including something that isn't totally up to par (such as the Democrats who we're all pissed off at) who still are better than the ultra conservatives in power now.

So if we all go to the polls and vote solely on what is best for the most people in the world (this is scary, but it's exactly what our vote will decide), then it will be very easy to know how to vote.

Just keep in mind that if we don't vote against the Republicans we will be allowing our country to go to limitless war for the sole purpose of being the sole superpower on earth. We will basically give our country up to those who would build it into a world Empire.

If we vote Democratic it will mean we vote for people who may be "spineless", and who we wish weren't representing us now, but I prefer a spineless rep. who has no insane drive to conquer the world or take away my rights. Any day. I also prefer one who cares about my health, my old age, my children, my income, and my job.

For me it's an easy choice.

Judith Foster,
Berkeley


Dear BuzzFlash,

It seems to us ann coulter knew where this bush administration would take us! Give her some credit! Invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to christianity!

Sounds like bush took her advice. :)

Sixty of us old but not brain dead yet in FL.


Subj: Heaven Help Us: The Utterances Of God's Court Jester

Dear BuzzFlash,

You really have to wonder whether Jerry Falwell gets up every morning and sticks his head in a microwave oven at full power for about 20 minutes - just to make sure he's really good and stupid for the rest of the day.

http://tampatrib.com/News/MGAXAZFRC7D.html

Chewgababy


Dear BuzzFlash,

Why does the media always refer to Noelle (age 25), Barbara and Jenna Bush (21 in December) as kids or children? They are adult women. Not juveniles sowing some oats. And why wasn't Jeb Bush in the court room with his daughter today? Hell or high water could not have kept me from being there with my daughter! And if she had been a poor black woman with a public defender, she would be sitting in prison for a long time!

DA

[BuzzFlash Note: Remember that George W. set the family example by "sowing his oats" (legal parlance for drug and alcohol abuse and addiction) well into his 30s. That means we can expect at least a decade or more of newspaper and TV coverage of Bush children and grandchildren drug and alcohol hijinks and that many years watching them skirt the laws. What fun it must be to be rich, powerful and ignorant.]


Subj: The Dubya Store blew me to bits!!! Tarnation!

Dear Buzz,

Have you seen it??

http://www.georgewbushstore.com/

WWWWoWWW. Bush is like, the new Louis Vuitton or maybe even Diane Von Furstenberg! He's like, PIER ONE! He's like, one of those Eddie Bauer Ford Explorers! Leather coasters!!!

This is an amazing site. Not one picture of the man himself, though. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM (that's Dubya upside down).

I especially liked "Go WWWWWWest." And the slogan, "W. The President. What more can you say?" Ya killin' me! When does the W running shoe come out?

If Clinton had a store, it would be much more fun. More Frederick's of Hollywood and less Land's End-meets-the-Gene-Autry-museum-gift-shop.

Click the link, but be prepared. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry!

:-) )-:

Jeanette Castillo


Subj: Targeting Rogue Nations

Dear BuzzFlash,

I guess I don't get it. Bush said he was going to invade any rogue nation. So here is North Korea (who Bush dubbed as part of the axis of evil), a country that blatantly told us they have nuclear weapons (a.k.a. weapons of mass destruction), yet Bush wants to go to Iraq where we are not sure they DO have nuclear weapons. Is Bush confusing nuclear weapons with oil fields, and is he wanting to attack only nations that have lots of oil? I guess an Iraq attack would help his daddy and Cheney and the man Bush used to refer to as "Uncle Kenny Lay" of Enron. Or have I got it wrong to say Bush is confusing oil fields with weapons of mass destruction? Maybe Bush just wants to attack Muslims, is that it?

mari


Subj: Smell the Hypocrisy

Dear BuzzFlash,

I have to credit my dad for pointing this out:

1. "W" touts missile defense as the highest priority program in the US.

2. "W" doesn't support gun "fingerprinting" because the technology is "unproven."

Hypocrisy, thy name is Bush.

Troy Torstrick


Subj: So What's With Noelle?

Dear BuzzFlash,

I want to encourage all BuzzFlash readers to call or write Florida papers and radio and television stations and talk about the hypocrisy of Jeb. His daughter could have been charged with a felony like so many Floridians whose offenses were far more minor than those of Noelle. The judge was scared of Jeb, I am sure, and treaded lightly. Don't think for one minute that Jeb didn't put the squeeze on the judge. I bet that is why neither he nor his wife appeared in the courtroom. I think he was over-acting and trying to show that he was not interfering. I believe he pressured that judge because the slap on the wrist 10 day sentence shows that Noelle still got treated with special deference. You know that other drug offenders in Florida are locked away for years. Well, it won't wash.

a BuzzFlash reader


Dear BuzzFlash,

Beware! Not of the threat posed by the North Korean nuclear program, but of the threat posed by Phase II of the Karl Rove plan to focus on war before the election. This 11th hour announcement concerning a second Axis of Evil member being a real world menace is too well timed to believe that it doesn't have Rove's fingerprints all over it.

Rove never expected the Democrat's to so quickly capitulate in the Iraq resolution. Such taboo words as "prescription drugs", "privatization", "recession", "unemployment", "al Qaida", etc. were creeping back into the dialogue. Like garlic to vampires, or wolf bane to a werewolf, such terms cause GOP candidates to withdraw into their shady corners.

Lo and behold, General Rove calls in the cavalry. He reaches up his sleeve and draws out his ace in the hole. Yanked out of the bag of endless secrets the Bush Administration has squirreled away, this latest stunning news will suck what little hot air was left in the Democrat's agenda balloon. News known since July is exposed just two weekends before the November 5th mid-term elections. This weekend has already been reserved for the "what to do about North Korea" debates. Of course the media will give the topic as much legs as Rove feels it needs before we go to the polls.

So beware, don't get distracted, don't fall for the additional infusion of fear the Republicans are trying to pump into the already frightened electorate.

YT Cai


Subj: So if there are terror warnings here, why is Bush going on campaign stops?

I don't get it, Buzzy,

Tenet says we Al-Qaida is planning another attack on American and Bush is running around the country trying to raise campaign money for his party. Are we on alert or not? Do we have time to fiddle with an Iraq oil quest or a settle the score for poppy Bush quest or a campaign trip quest? I don't get it. What a confusing administration!

a BuzzFlash reader


Subj: Jesus would forgive Falwell

The hateful Jerry Falwell:

"I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I read enough by both Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war. In my opinion, Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses, and I think Mohammed set an opposite example."

The forgiving Muslim cleric:

"...a high-ranking cleric said Falwell had shown courage. "A person courageous enough to apologize for his errors is worthy of praise," Ayatollah Hussein Mousavi Tabrizi told The Associated Press. "It's humanitarian and good Islamic behavior to accept an apology from a person who admits making a mistake."

Now there's an example of Jesus' love, Mr. Falwell.

elaine in Petaluma


POODLE PRESS TALKING POINTS ON KOREA

Dear BuzzFlash,

Logic nerds may point out the following about North Korea:

1. They already have nuclear weapons. Several.

2. They have already developed and tested long-range ballistic missiles. They tested these missiles by shooting them over Japan.

Therefore they possess nuclear weapons and a means to deliver them. Furthermore:

3. They actively sell their weapons technology abroad.

4. They have engaged in terrorism against South Korea and Japan even though we have 40,000 troops and nukes on their border. (In other words, they take hostile action even though they flirt with self-destruction. Also known as insanity.)

Therefore they are terrorists and are willing to arm other terrorists. Furthermore:

5. They starve and brutally repress their citizens to accomplish their goals.

6. They blatantly break international agreements to accomplish their goals.

Therefore they are just as evil and untrustworthy as any other dictatorial regime.

Cool response:

As the administration has patiently pointed out, this is just the North Koreans trying to express themselves. A form of adolescence for developing nations. Besides, they have admitted that they have nuclear weapons. That's the first step towards getting help. We don't need to attack, and I'm not just saying that because they border China, who would probably respond by invading Taiwan. No, the real troublemaker is definitely Iraq. Big, oily, evil, isolated Iraq.

End of Argument. Excuse me, I have to go fly somewhere on Air Force One now.

Feel free to use,

Patrick


Hi,

Don't know if you have this little bit of information about how Jeb is desperately seeking votes down here in Florida. However I thought I would pass it on just for the record.

I am a registered Democrat in Palm Beach County, Florida. Just two days ago, I got a voicemail message, (prerecorded of course), from non other than "Barbara Bush"!, urging me to vote for their "son" along with asking for a complete "republican" sweeping vote. I about laughed my ass off when I heard that voicemail, that I had to save it and listen to it again.

Just thought you might want to share that with the other readers and voters, so they know just exactly how desperate the Bush family is for a win here in Florida.

I got news for them though, I am the token Democrat in my family, however they are voting for McBride! Seems even they, as hard-line Republicans can't seem to muster up the nerve to give Jeb another 4 years to do nothing for Florida but flap his lips in the wind.

Hope this newsflash helps. Imagine, having MOMMY calling any, and all Floridians across the state to beg for a vote for their son. Geeze...pathetic!

So Long Jeb!!! That's all I have to say.

Sincerely,

MaryAnn Sheridan
Palm Beach County


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