The BuzzFlash Mailbag
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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.
Subj: Commander in Chief Coin?
Dear Buzz.
I'm watching CNN and Bush visited Vietnam's War Memorial (without a hint of irony I'm sure) and the announcer mentioned Bush leaving Commander in Chief coins. Have these coins been around a long time, or has Caesar had his chimp face put on a coin? Please mention if you know because this is causing me anxiety. I didn't think he would dare do something as stupid as tricky Dick and his ceremonial palace guards with the plumed hats.
Thanks, Linda Patterson
[BuzzFlash Note: We found one reference to the coin given as "recognition" for winning the military's "Civilian of the Year" award. Since Rumsfeld's order about the use of the CINC title, we imagine Dim Son is giving them away like Mardi Gras doubloons.]
Subj: Unpatriotic?
TO: BUZZFLASH
Putting the Use of "Unpatriotic" in its Place
The use of the word unpatriotic or of phrases or events to cast the idea that one is unpatriotic if he or she does not agree with your view, has become a fine art in the political field. Take this past election where Saxby Chambliss not only used innuendo but also photographs to depict or to plant the idea that Senator Max Cleland was unpatriotic. Mr. Chambliss did this as what I see to be one of the most unpatriotic acts you can commit. Mr. Chambliss attacked the character of a good man to gain power. In the process, he misled the voting public about the true reason that Senator Cleland voted the way he did on homeland security.
Senator Cleland, unlike Mr. Chambliss, saw a problem in protection for the rights of federal workers under the Bush plan. Mr. Cleland believes that yes we need a homeland defense, but not one where the President could at any time -- peace or war -- fire, hire or reassign federal workers. No one would argue that under an emergency condition such as declared war, the President should have that power. To give the power to make national security decisions that would nullify labor agreements during that time and that time alone is within reason. To give that authority for all times is just beyond, well just beyond, and can only be viewed as a way to break the back of unions of federal workers.
As bad as what I think Mr. Chambliss did is, there are other things that I feel are equally as if not far worse than what he did. To discourage a person from voting is to me the worst unpatriotic act a person can do to another. I cannot imagine a person no matter how strongly their political belief or affiliation is, thinking that they are being patriotic by discouraging another person to vote for their beliefs. Not in this country anyway.
You may think that I have finished placing the word "unpatriotic" in the proper place, but I haven't. To tell the truth I believe that the most unpatriotic act you can commit is "NOT TO EXERCISE YOUR VOTE"! Based on the dismal figures of a 39.3% voter turnout, I believe this is largely an "unpatriotic" country. We have no patriotic act more important than to freely choose the course of this great nation, than by OUR VOTE! Since the attacks on September 11, 2000, we seem led to believe that we were patriotic to fly the flag, to stand beside and behind our president no matter what. We seem led to believe that to question what the president believes is unpatriotic. By the very nature of our Constitution, the demand is that we as a people must question his beliefs on a regular basis. WE CALL THIS TIME "ELECTIONS". When we fail to turn out and vote, we have committed the most unpatriotic act that is possible,
Remember the next time that a vote comes about, that it is not only a right guaranteed you under the Constitution, but that it is an obligation and a patriotic act as well.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Mike
Andrews
Pawtucket, RI
Subj: Why Isn't Anyone Reporting This?
Dear BuzzFlash,
Wow, what gives? No Alabama coup story on BuzzFlash, and none of the below on voting machine "glitches" that rewarded Democratic votes to Republicans. I can understand low morale and needing a vacation, but people are relying on BuzzFlash to connect the dots! That is a quote from Barney Frank, too, who said that part of the problem is that news agencies follow *one* story at a time, only. We need to connect the dots.
My own focus from now on is going to be getting rid of these touchscreen rightwing programmed "voting" machines (I have already been working on that, too---protesting KKKatherine Harris when she came to Boston to sell the idea of these machines; and writing to publications such as Harper's, where she was trying to sell that same idea). To fight this, the issue has to be kept out in front of the people. Please, please put these (below stories) and the Alabama story up front on BuzzFlash.
How can I help BuzzFlash? Just say the word! You are needed; you are making a difference. You NEVER KNOW what will tip the balance. Look what happened to Salon when they broke the Henry Hyde story. Connecting the dots is what BuzzFlash does best and IT IS NEEDED, and our only hope for the future.
~~robyn su
``````````````````````
Could this explain Jeb's landslide? Combine this with no exit polling;
AP writes, "A Scurry County election error reversed the outcomes in two commissioner races. A defective computer chip in the county's optical scanner misread ballots Tuesday night and incorrectly tallied a landslide victory for Republicans. Democrats actually won by wide margins. The problem was discovered when poll workers became suspicious of the margins of the vote, Scurry County Clerk Joan Bunch said." Does anyone really believe that it is a coincidence that so many votes for Democrats were given to the GOP candidate? Ron Kirk also in Texas had this problem. NJ Dems had problems when 90 of 94 voting machines couldn't vote for the Dem. candidate. Broward County forgot to count 103,000+ votes. Missouri Democratic counties "ran out of ballots". This is just a small list. Where is the Federal Investigation of another stolen election?
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1652544
__Voter News Service's Lackluster Election Performance Prompts Inquiry
David Bauder writes: "Disappointed news organizations began an inquiry Wednesday regarding the technical failures that bedeviled Voter News Service after its rebuilt operations failed to deliver crucial information for the midterm U.S. elections. Two television news operations said they were reconsidering their participation in the elections consortium. 'Obviously, we're taking a very hard look at what happened yesterday and are reassessing our future participation in the consortium,' said Jeffrey Schneider, spokesman for ABC News. CNN said it too was evaluating its future course. VNS is an elections consortium of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and The Associated Press....Tuesday's election marked the first public test of a system revamped following the 2000 election, when TV networks twice used VNS data to make wrong calls in the decisive Florida vote for the presidency." Those exit polls can be pesky for election thieves!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl==story&u
==/ap/20021106/ap_wo_en_po/us_ election_vns_6
Subj: New nuclear weapons tests trade Opportunity for Bad Science
Dear BuzzFlash,
Today's BuzzFlash has a link to an important article in The New Scientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993016
Funding is provided in the pending Department of Defense authorization act for development of "bunker-busting" nuclear weapons. The language recognizes that testing of such a weapon would violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), so delivery aspects are covered without explosion of a nuclear device. The goal is apparently to enable penetration of some 40 feet of rock. Presumably, this new technology would be "tested" by first use on a country suspected of engaging in development of weapons. At that time, we would learn: 1) whether it works at all, and 2) whether the resultant release of radioactive material to the atmosphere would simply crap up the small area where it was used, or would be dispersed onto regional allies or the whole planet.
This work directly flies in the face of the NPT and encourages countries such as North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, India, etc. to regard the NPT as a dead letter. By pursuit of new nuclear weapons, we effectively abrogate this ratified treaty, no matter how much we pretend to dance around the NPT itself, as well as laws passed by Congress on such questions.
This action, like the earlier unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty without any consultation with or consent from the Senate, follows a pattern which includes:
1) misrepresentation of facts, 2) undermining Supreme Law, as defined in the U.S. Constitution through abrogation or violation of Treaties, 3) sacrificing real opportunities for improved safety through international action on the altar of really bad science.
In part, these actions are made possible by the lack of any objective source of fact-based knowledge for the House and Senate, that can be supplied on a nonpartisan or bipartisan way. In 1994, the new Republican majority shot its brains out by closing down the Office of Technology Assessment. This, or something like it, needs to be restored. We need fact-based information collection and analysis on a range of issues -- e.g., 1) what can be done to alleviate and/or deal with the effects of Global Warming? 2) how can we best strengthen international enforcement of Conventions governing development and storage of weapons for chemical, biological and nuclear warfare? 3) what are the prospective purposes and values of so-called nuclear stockpile activities, and how do the defense aspects of these relate to the development of practical fusion energy via inertial confinement in a "National Ignition Facility" 4) What are the technology needs to monitor megatons of material brought into the U.S. by ship? 5) what are the likely benefits from therapeutic cloning and use of embryonic stem cells, and how are these affected by restrictions on stem cell lines?
These are just a few of the questions that are beyond the intellectual capabilities of legislators --not because they are stupid, but because they are ill-informed. So much is sensitively governed by science and technology, and so much of these contents have become polarized as political issues that we have virtually no chance of making decisions that are supporting and enabling of human welfare.
However, in the specific instance here, the downside of testing new earth-penetrating nuclear weapons cuts across and undermines so many established laws and understandings, and carries such a small tactical benefit that the decision NOT to pursue funding of the activity should be clear.
Unless we buy off on the idea that raw power, developed and used unilaterally without any consideration for Treaties, other laws or the interests of allies is the only way to preserve America, Congress should strip this new work on nuclear weapons from the DOD authorization bill.
Best wishes,
John
Williford
Kirkland, WA
Re: Thoughts on the Disastrous Midterm Election - The AngryLiberal on BuzzFlash.com
Friends:
The Republicans certainly out hustled and out smarted the Democrats. I must admit my own mistake paying too much attention and funds to the Governor's race in Florida. However, the National Democratic Committee who are professionals should have known better as all their efforts in so many close races should have been devoted to elect Democrats both in the Senate and in the House and perhaps Senator Jean Carnahan would not have lost by so few votes. Also far too little attention was paid to black voters.
I have been a progressive activist since my early youth and the results of this mid term election means that it will never be possible for me get over my depression. YES INDEED WHAT INSANITY IT WAS FOR RALPH NADER TO CON VOTERS THAT IT WOULD NOT MATTER IF BUSH BECAME PRESIDENT.
Best wishes,
David
Edovitz
Winthrop, Mass.
P.S How convenient for the Republicans for Senator Paul Wellstone to be killed in a plane crash as it was for Senator Carnahan's husband.
Subj: The New Radical Left
Dear BuzzFlash,
I just read the reader commentary The New Radical Left (And the Old Folks Who Fuel It). It does not help that the writer reinforces the myths and stereotypes the Right uses to discredit the Left in the first paragraph. In particular I hope you take the time to remind your readers that the belief that returning US Vietnam soldiers were spat upon is a myth. See http://www.rlg.org/annmtg/lembcke99.html, which has this fine quote "There are newspaper reports, for example, of pro-war demonstrators spitting on anti-war activists."
James
Subj: Compassionate Conservatism
Dear BuzzFlash,
I heard Garrison Keillor define "Compassionate Conservatism" on the radio show Prairie Companion (NPR / PRI) the other night. I can't provide an exact quote, but the gist is:
"They put a child on death row, but then they get the Make a Wish foundation to send him to Disneyland before they execute him."
Says it more succinctly than I could...
Linda L. Ireland
Subj: The Reincarnated Ghost of Neville Chamberlain
Dear BuzzFlash,
It is apparent that Mr. Daschle needs to step aside as quickly as Mr. Gephardt did. The man still evidently does not understand why he was responsible in large part for leading our party to a crashing defeat last Tuesday. In the first test of his post election leadership he, once more, has reflexively exhibited the classic accommodationist style which has been the hallmark of his Neville Chamberlain style of leadership. Rather than state publicly and emphatically for the record that he is fighting to insist that workers in the new homeland security department are themselves secure from being harassed, demoted and fired or political reasons, he instead blandly announces that a compromise will get done and, shockingly, that he will provide a vote to stop a filibuster. Now when the bill passes without a fight, we will have lost an opportunity to remind people that we are willing to fight for the rights of working Americans. Moreover, and importantly, the sacrifice of a courageous Democrat like Max Cleland who fought these rollbacks which cost him his Senate seat will have been for nothing. If Daschle doesn't believe in Democratic ideals and won't fight for them, then its time for him to step aside. I am emailing him this polite suggestion and encourage others who are equally outraged by this continuation of his "roll over and play dead, and maybe they'll go away" strategy to do likewise.
Dan
Subj: Numbers
Dear BuzzFlash,
First of all, thank you for being here and doing what you do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After I woke up from my severe depression from election night returns I began to wonder about this...
The numbers: Out of how many people who could be registered to vote, how many are actually registered to vote in this country? How many registered voters actually voted in this last election? How many of them voted Republican? How much money did the Republicans spend per vote?
And finally my actual question: Aren't we talking about an incredibly massive effort of time and money from Bush and the Republicans in order to attract a relatively tiny number of people to vote for them against weak opposition?
Sincerely,
Chris Younken
Subj: Get Help of Foreign Agencies
BUZZ:
We are going to have to enlist the help of intelligence agencies outside the US to solve the problem with America's rigged votes. Interpol or some other foreign agency could tell us in a heartbeat who/what/when/where/how our basic democratic principle has been stripped. Other countries just have to ask point blank-- are the elections on the up and up and put all this integrity and christianity on the line. No organization in America will do it. But then again, foreign investors may just realize they don't want to be involved with a nation that does not support democratic principles.
The God I serve knows all and sees all. That which is done in the dark will soon come to light...
PJOnes
Texas
Subj: About Republican Campaigning
(Note: I hope you print this in hope that mailbaggers come up with suggestions on fighting a pro republican media.)
Dear BuzzFlash,
Republicans campaign every day of the year.
Huh?
Yes, they do campaign every day of the year! And they have the largest, wealthiest, megaphone in the world -- the corporately-owned media outlets. Corporations own and influence television news, cable news, and many newspapers and magazines. They own and influence radio news and give us a steady diet of republican talking heads. Every day of the year and through the corporately-owned media, republicans get free air time for their "daily" campaigns. If you read, listen, or watch... you are getting republican viewpoints every day.
Many in the 11/11/02 Mailbag made references to the media ignoring democrat election messages. When democrats are up against media giants that gag their messages, democrats can expect to lose, election after election. Do I blame the media? Absolutely!
US media are nothing more than propaganda outlets for republicans. I have been ranting about this for several years. Democrats have been relegated to small and independent news sources to get their messages out. Most Americans are busy. They get their news from car radios, to and from work. They scan the local newspaper briefly. They watch both Cable and Network TV for evening news. Thus, they get the daily republican campaign year round. In the minority, are Americans who take the time to check small alternative news sources. Think about it... Begala and Carville on Crossfire are the only pro democrats on widely viewed television. If the democrats think that these two are enough to get their message out, they are sadly mistaken. It's time the democrats demand equal time in the media.
I don't pretend to know the answers to fighting a giant, but I do know this: If the democratic party doesn't find a way to out-fox biased media giants, those giants will continue to gag democratic messages. Then they will portray democrats as the party of the past, a party with no message.
~ Cathy
Dear BuzzFlash,
It looks like the republicans are going to try to do the same thing to Kerry they did to Max Cleland. If the Democrats let them get away with it this time we will never vote again! Every time a Republican tries that crap the Democrats should start talking about AWOL George! The Democrats need some balls! The Democrats should also continue to remind this country what the Republicans did to Max Cleland!
Sixty of us in FL
Subj: Election Results
Dear BuzzFlash,
I got the opportunity to call in to C-Span in August. I forgot the question, but my comment was something along the lines "What are you going to do when they steal the next election"....Well, I think we have our answer. Absolutely nothing.
PJOnes
Texas
Subj: Shame on Us
Dear BuzzFlash,
Shame on George W. Bush, for lying to us so shamefully about Iraq, tax cuts, the war on terrorism, virtually everything.
Shame on us for believing him.
Shame on the Republican party, for following blindly his awful policies; people who otherwise have a conscience like Colin Powell & John McCain have proven that they are first and foremost political sheep.
Shame on us for believing them.
Shame on Jesse Ventura & Trent Lott for being offended by a show of support and love for Paul Wellstone. I'm sorry they got booed, but they should have thicker skin. Where was their outrage when Hillary Clinton was booed at a 9/11 memorial?
Shame on us for apologizing to them.
Shame on Jeb Bush & Katherine Harris for the terrible acts they committed in the 2000 election; have they no sense of decency?
Shame on us for electing them to office.
Shame on Karl Rove and whoever else arranged for the many horrible, race-baiting campaign ads and dirty tricks, as this election proved worse than any before; Lee Atwater would be proud of them.
Shame on us for not being outraged by this.
Shame on America that we take seriously the jingoistic, self-absorbed, and potentially dangerous ideation that passes for foreign policy today.
Shame on us.
Stephen
Anderson
Hollywood, CA
Dear Buzz,
Another oxymoron:
Jerry Falwell and his Christian followers praying and fasting for war.
Nancy Lynn Nagy (TN)
Subj: Advice to Democrats
Dear BuzzFlash,
I hope you will learn that you must never compliment a Republican. Don't worry. The media gives them enough free rides. You must never support their proposals, nor say anything positive about anything they do. Do they EVER support us? Have they EVER? No, So don't support them. It leads to your defeat. This is why you lost. Wake up and learn, Tom, Dick, and Terry! You sold us out really bad. Don't worry, I will vote for a Democrat on a ballot before I would ever vote for a Republican, (I don't care if the Democrat in question robbed 15 banks, and was serving time in San Quentin, I would vote for him/her over ANY Republican, but it would be nice if you would stop working against me and quit licking Bush's boots while you are at it, ok? Much obliged!
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: First Things First
Dear BuzzFlash:
One of the first things, if not THE first task of the Democrats as we approach 2004 is to neutralize the major media. It will be exceedingly difficult to win if they are all carrying water for Bush. We have to find some way to force them to be balanced, or to strip them of their influence, or to alert the America people to their shenanigans.
A Buzz Reader
Subj: About Last Week
Hello,
About last week and the election results, I agree with some of the pundits in their evaluation that Democrats didn't create a clear distinction between them and the Republicans. But, I must remember and remind others that it was a set-back and not the elimination of a political party. It does not prove a mandate for the GOP in power.
Something very disturbing came to me this afternoon; the exit polls in the 2000 presidential race showed early on that Gore received more votes in Florida than were counted. That became a comparative statistic with which to measure vote tallies against. With last weeks election, these polls were not available due to a "computer glitch", thus eliminating a manually tabulated number to check the new electronic vote machines tallies against. In some races, three very key, the ending results were a complete flip-flop of the pre-election day polls. Democrats ended up 5-6 points behind their GOP opponents instead of ahead. I know it sounds paranoid but the idea of a clean, carefree election after 2000 may be naive. This is especially unsettling after hearing today that several race results have been overturned in favor of Democrats after it was discovered there were faulty computer chips in new machinery, giving election night wins to the GOP. I strongly suggest checking ALL of these new machines, for the sake of our Republican counter-parts we would hate for it to have gone the other way and have more Democrats in the Senate and Congress than were voted for.
James Pluta
Subj: Stupid American Voters
Dear BuzzFlash,
Since last Tuesday, I've lost count of the times I've heard Democrats blame the loss on "stupid American voters." In reality though, it was the INTELLIGENCE of American voters that saved the Democrats from a devastating defeat.
In last Tuesday's election, Americans demonstrated a STRONG PROPENSITY to vote Democratic. Think about it...
The Republicans have got:
1) a ton of money,
2) a popular sitting president,
3) a distracting (though fake) war,
4) at least four TV networks vigorously cheerleading for their side.
The Democrats: they got NUTHIN'.
And yet Democrats received only SLIGHTLY FEWER votes than Republicans. The ratio of votes cast in Senate and House races was 10 for Dems to 11 for Republicans. If you count gubernatorial races, the Democrats had a net gain of offices and got more votes than Republicans.
Here's another way to look at it: Democrats received 50% MORE VOTES-PER-DOLLAR than Republicans. Republicans spent 54% more than Democrats ($527.4 million to $343.7), but only got a tiny bit more votes. That extra $184 million literally BOUGHT the election. It shows that it takes enormous force to suppress America's strong tendency to vote for Democrats.
Tuesday only proved again that:
Even when Democratic candidates are buried under an avalanche of money and ruthless attack ads... Even when Democratic candidates are humiliated over and over and don't fight back... Even when Democratic candidates act like Republicans... Even when Democratic candidates suck...
EVEN THEN, Americans voters are still more likely to vote Democratic.
~
The other comment I've heard since Tuesday concerns "the stupid Americans who didn't vote." I don't buy that one either.
The fact is that liberal-leaning Americans who did not vote simply did not see how a Democratic candidate would benefit them or the country. And can you blame them? They may be wrong, but all they have to go on is what the candidates say; and these days, most Democratic candidates sound exactly like Republicans. (They differ sharply only on a few issues, all of which happen to matter very much to millions of Americans. GUNS. Way to pick your battles!)
We who live and breathe politics know why it's important to vote no matter how lame the Democrats get (for example: judicial appointments!). But that's only us! How are people supposed to know about that kind of stuff if the press doesn't tell them, the candidates don't tell them, and if WE don't go out and tell them?
~
OK, I don't want to just bitch and moan about Democrats bitching and moaning--I've got a positive suggestion for how we can use the Internet to turn this situation around. I've been mulling this idea over for a while, and this seems like the right time to propose it...
It's an idea for how to use the Internet to turn out ONE OR TWO MILLION non-voters in 2004; and to raise tens of millions of dollars in small contributions from people who have never given to a political campaign before.
Rather than take up any more space in your inbox, I'll explain this idea at http://AngryDems.com . Please visit and tell me what you think. If a lot of people are interested, then maybe we can get a bigger online group to endorse the project or take it over and run it themselves.
Check it out at: http://angrydems.com ...and tell me what you think!
Optimistically, Your wartime Webmaster,
Zack Exley
Subj: Liberal
Dear BuzzFlash,
I am sick and tired of hearing the word liberal used like a dirty word by the Republicans and no one talks back to them. Instead we stutter around and then call ourselves Progressives. I have been a DEMOCRAT all my life - I am 65. I have been a LIBERAL all my life and proud of it. It is LIBERALS who gave us 5 day work weeks, weekends, vacations, social security, Medicare, family leave, etc. It is LIBERALS who fight to raise minimum wage. It seems after looking at the sad sack Republicans, that it is LIBERALS who go to war and fight for their country.
Who in Shrubs administration has fought in a war? Why is no one on TV talking about that? We should worm our way onto every TV talk show and radio talk show, and shout from the rafters what DEMOCRATS(LIBERALS) have done for America and the American People. What have the conservatives done? Jessie Helms that great conservative stood in the way of any meaningful legislation that came along and he was proud of it.
If the Democratic party doesn't start speaking up about a myriad of things, we will find the Republicans in power in 2004. That is too awful to think about. We should remember "the bigger they are, the harder they fall". We should be there to shout "TIMBER" when the big shrub comes down thanks to the Democrats.
Carol
Siwinski
Crestwood, Il.
Dear BuzzFlash,
Why are the democrats acting so shocked?
Day in and day out they have been telling us what a great job bush does, so why should we bother to vote against a republican if they are doing such a great job? Jesus, they need to make up their mind!
KM
Subj: What Now?
Dear BuzzFlash,
At midnight Tuesday, when we observe the one week anniversary of the 'historic midterm election', can we progressives please cease the teeth gnashing, brow beating, finger pointing, 'what ifs', and Monday morning quarterbacking...and please get on with what needs to be done?
Enough ink has been spent and airwaves permeated to provide political analysis for the next decade. What happened is no longer relevant; what will happen is.
We've spent more than two years complaining about who he is; let's talk about who we are.
We've giggled ourselves silly mocking how he leads; let's figure out who will lead us.
We've cried real tears over huge sections of the Constitution and Bill of Rights he's ripping to shreds; let's figure out the two or three scraps for which we will fight to the death.
People, stop looking over your shoulders--let's roll!
Don Varyu
Redmond,
WA
Subj: It's The Media Stupid!
Dear BuzzFlash,
The cable news networks are aiding and abetting the theft of elections. Its only a crime if they say its a crime. The issue in 2000 was not pregnant chads, it was voter disenfranchisement of black voters. The same thing that is going on in 2002. There is no was Jeb Bush won Florida. I have stopped watching cable news. Let me know when or if there are ever impeachment hearings. What else can we the people do?
Eddgra
Fallin
Huntsville,
Al
RE: Falwell on Liberals, Abortion and the Reinvigorated Right Wing Juggernaut
Dear BuzzFlash,
PLEASE---don't you use that Republican focus group invented emotionally loaded term, "partial birth abortion". There is no medical term even close to that! When our side adopts their semantic inventions, they win!
Sara Nichols
Subj: Bush Speech
Dear BuzzFlash,
"w" said in his recent speech, "History has shown that when Iraq's leaders stall inspections and impede the progress, it means they have something to hide." I wonder if this same conclusion could be applied to the administration's successful effort to stop an investigation of 911 or of Dick Cheney's failure to honor subpoenas about his "energy commission?"
BuzzFlash reader
Subj: There's a bad moon risin'. . .
Dear BuzzFlash,
Who else remembers Iran-Contra??
Regards,
Dave Galloway
--------
From Harper's Weekly;
"It was reported that Admiral John M. Poindexter, who was convicted in the Iran-Contra affair in 1990 but later acquitted on a technicality, joined the Bush Administration earlier this year as head of the Office of Information Awareness at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Poindexter is in charge of a new system called Total Information Awareness, which would permit the military to spy on the civilian population of the United States without search warrants by scanning personal information such as email, credit-card statements, banking and medical records, and travel documents for patterns that suggest criminal or terrorist activities. Deployment of the surveillance technology would require new legislation, since the military traditionally has not been allowed to spy on ordinary American citizens. "This could be the perfect storm for civil liberties in America," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, "The vehicle is the Homeland Security Act, the technology is Darpa, and the agency is the FBI. The outcome is a system of national surveillance of the American public."
Subj: Sen. Shelby: "...the full story has yet to be told"
How refreshing to hear a powerful Republican Senator who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reflect my sentiments exactly! This issue will not "go away" and I will NOT "Get over it", nor I imagine will the victims' families . I continue to feel strongly that full disclosure regarding 9/11 (leaving aside Cheney's energy policy meetings) is THE Achilles heal of this Administration. When the full story is told it could be that the whole agenda that's unfolded since 9/11 pushed relentlessly by this Administration will collapse under the weight of it's own contradictions, deceptions and perhaps outright treason...time will tell as we continue to speak out and demand the truth.
Where are the Woodwards and Bernsteins when we need them? Where's our 'deep throat', our outspoken critics and skeptics? Oh yeah...they've been silenced! Or have they?
Stay tuned, plug in and get the word out--
Kyle
F. Hence
Co-founder, UnansweredQuestions.org
====================================================
Courtesy of Lois...
Excerpted from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/nyregion/12TAPE.html
By Jim Dwyer
November 12, 2002
In Washington, a national commission to investigate possible lapses by the intelligence services seemed to be a near-certainty last month, having gathered broad political support around the anniversary of the attacks. To the abject frustration of family groups that had lobbied hard for such an inquiry, the plans have stalled: the Bush administration has been concerned about exposing intelligence methods, and objected to the terms of an inquiry that had been agreed to by Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
This week, the matter will again be debated when Congress takes up next year's budget for intelligence. "The American people must know the full story has yet to be told," Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said at a hearing last month.
NB: One must register with The New York Times to view the above linked article.
* * *
MAILBAG ARCHIVES
