The BuzzFlash Mailbag
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Subj: Bush wanted Lott out, so Lott is gone
Dear Buzz,
I would find more joy in Trent Lott's stepping down as senate majority leader if I could believe it had anything much to do with his racist views, but it doesn't.
Trent Lott was "done" as soon as GWBush saw Lott's remarks and the ensuing brouhaha as an OPPORTUNITY to dump a senator Bush had long scorned anyway. Bush and his frat-boy friends had long looked down their patrician noses at Lott and thought him stupid. Bush saw his Main Chance to get someone installed in the position -- like Bill Frist -- to whom he is much closer, and perhaps, whom Bush can more easily control.
At first, the media whores blew Lott's remarks off as no big deal. Then, they began to pick up the vibes that Bush would like Trent Lott gone and, from that moment, Lott was toast.
If you want proof of what I say, ask yourself why Tom DeLay and John Ashcroft (both MUCH worse bigots, racists and virulent segregationists) aren't also gone. Their racist, bigoted views match Lott's in virulence -- BUT they are both still there.
Lott's departure has little to do with his racist views and everything to do with Bush wanting him outta there.
A Loyal BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
I just got this in my mailbox:
"frist voted with lott against expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation also voted with lott to ban affirmative action in 1995"
Will LAP DOG PRESS point this out? Ask the New York Times for us! Thanks.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
Please keep Bill Frist under close scrutiny. Suspect are his connections to Eli Lilly and the pharmaceutical companies. And his father and brother--of Colombia HCA--have been on the hook for fraudulent Medicare claims.
Regards,
Jay
Warshaw
Boca
Raton
Sent to various mainstream news media sources:
DON'T EVEN TRY AND BLAME THE DEMS ON THIS LOTT STUFF! GEORGE BUSH AND HIS MAFIA (WHILE LYING TO US) DROVE THIS ONE HOME FROM START TO FINISH!
DIANE A.
Subj: The Other Half of the Barbie Story
Dear BuzzFlash,
On December 26, BuzzFlash ran the puritanical story of Wal-Mart pulling pregnant Barbies, but missed out on the other half of the story: Mattel's other Christmas doll.
The Seattle Times' story on the message Barbie dolls are sending ("Barbie's pregnant pal pulled from Wal-Mart shelves," 12/26/02 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/134602707_doll25.html) alleges that Wal-Mart pulled the doll, a married and pregnant version of Barbie's friend Midge, when customers complained it glamorized motherhood and sent out "the wrong message."
The article didn't mention the message behind Mattel's other Christmas season release: Lingerie Barbie. (http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/65260.htm) This doll, complete with merry widow and garters, has not elicited a similar customer controversy to her pregnant counterpart; at least, unlike Wal-Mart, FAO Schwartz continues to sell the doll.
Retailers' message this Christmas?--being a woman and being pregnant is unnatural and offensive, but there is nothing wrong with producing and selling a toy for children that blatantly objectifies women's sexuality.
I encourage parents and consumers to consider the conflicting message they are sending to young girls when they denigrate motherhood at the same time they encourage exploitative sexuality. This "wrong message" is symptomatic of the larger problem of denying young people basic access to scientific information about reproduction while as a society we condone the sexualization of children's culture.
The winners are Mattel and the toy retailers, but the losers are our children.
Shaula
Evans
Dallas,
Texas
Dear BuzzFlash,
I don't know if reading the whole article is worthwhile -- some of the points he makes are lame -- but this observation hits the proverbial nail on the head:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/robison/1709537
P -- Party, Democratic. Texas Democrats haven't gone the way of the dinosaurs, but they need to stop trying to pass themselves off as pseudo-Republicans. Most Texas voters in recent elections have preferred real Republicans, as they did on Nov. 5. Sooner or later, Democrats campaigning as real Democrats will start winning statewide elections again, particularly as minority voting participation grows. But for now, Texas Democrats should be an outspoken, opposition party, trying to hold Republicans' feet to the fire on education, health care and other crucial issues.
Liz Taylor
Dear BuzzFlash,
When I read your headline, "Turkey Weighs Role in an Iraq War", I thought you were referring to George Bush! But then I realized he had already made his decision.
Rob
Moitoza
Seattle,
Wa.
Subj: Jessie Ventura's People are Starving???
Dear Buzz:
What a great governor Jessie Ventura WAS. Seems he left a few people behind, suffering in poverty, dying of exposure and starvation:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/563/3558556.html
The enemy is poverty
This year 100 homeless people died just in Minnesota. Food shelves can't satisfy demand. And some 40 million people nationwide have no health insurance. Clearly, the major terrorist threat to America is poverty.
Personally I will no longer vote for any politician who doesn't support affordable housing, living wage laws, universal single-payer health care and an end to welfare time limits. Eradicating poverty should be our top domestic and global priority.
A few coins tossed in a kettle won't stop the terror of hunger, sickness and not having a place to live.
-- Sanford Berman, Edina.
This letter from the editor is taken from the Star Tribune, Saturday Letters
Buzz Reader
Dear BuzzFlash,
More GOP Racism exposed - and apologized for.
All hateful GOPers turn to page 666 in your standard apology manual.
GREENSBORO, NC - "Republicans have nothing against Muslims," says Marcus Kindley, Guilford County's GOP chairman. Though until last Thursday, the official website of the Guilford County GOP contained a link to www.islamexposed.com which states as it's one objective "to expose one of the greatest evils on our planet -- Islam. We have the evidence and materials to prove that this false religion is nothing more than a barbaric occult invented by savages for savages."
On Thursday, Ibrahim Hooper, the communications director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the link was "clearly intentional" and amounted to Republican Party approval while calling for an apology. Kindley said he later tracked down the Web master and got the GOP hate-site link removed. On Friday, an apology was posted on the website."We apologize for the link to this Web site and have instituted safeguards against links to such sites in the future. There is no room for hate in our society."
Yeah right!
A BuzzFlash Reader
Sources:
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/2048411p-1973589c.html
http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=20487&SecID=2
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2002/12/28/ap/HiTech/d7o6aoog0.txt
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4824214.htm
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/122702_NW_gopsite.html
http://www.wxii12.com/news/1857393/detail.html
http://www.guilfordgop.org/
http://www.islamexposed.com
Re: The Vocabulary Wars, A BuzzFlash Reader Commentary
Dear BuzzFlash,
You really should have mentioned how the Republicans use the term "special interest." When we want fair treatment for about 50% of the population (females), how do they get away with labeling such desires as being something for "special interests."
It also seems that fair treatment for any minority, no matter how large the group -- can be labeled by the Republicans as being concerns for "special interest." The pundits should have pounced -- long ago -- on this dishonest use of language.
Richard
Waddell
Bartlesville,
OK
Buzz,
For some obscure reason, I was under the impression that the Saturday radio rebuttal by the Democrats was just that - to refute Bush's remarks on his Saturday address. Today's example made a mockery of that impression. I expected much more of Senator Hillary Clinton. Bush, as shown in the link below goes on about how he is going to bring about the economic recovery but also continues to harp on Iraq. It seems that the threat from North Korea is much more immediate and critical but is completely ignored. Yet, the only thing Senator Clinton did was to call for an extension of unemployment benefits. Why don't the Democrats say it like it is - that the reason we're in this mess is because of Bush and while he's spending all our tax dollars on threatening Iraq (which is cooperating to the fullest in the inspections), sending troops to the Middle East and in the meantime, North Korea is waving a red flag that he ignores. Sure we need extension of unemployment benefits but we need the Democrats to stand up and start yelling Fire!
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=584&ncid
=584&e=2&u=/nm/20021228/pl_nm/iraq_bush_dc
Cynthia
Putt
Cloverdale,
OR
Subj: Don't forget- Bush WAIVED N. Korea nuke inspections
Dear BuzzFlash,
How quickly our "liberal media" forgets that it was Bush who waived the nuclear inspections in North Korea while giving them a trunkload of "your money."
Remember this?
-------------
US grants N Korea nuclear funds
Wednesday, 3 April, 2002, 12:06 GMT 13:06 UK
The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused. Under the 1994 Agreed Framework an international consortium is building two proliferation-proof nuclear reactors and providing fuel oil for North Korea while the reactors are being built.
In releasing the funding, President ****** George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors ****** to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.
President Bush argued that the decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States".
<more>
Subj: Update on a response to a great travesty
Dear BuzzFlash,
Senator Murray form Washington State will, this week, rightfully be demanding an explanation as to why this administration deliberately withheld information on the danger to the public from their unwitting exposure to a particularly insidious type of asbestos. She had also previously authored legislation requiring such public disclosures, which was co-sponsored by the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Had the Senate acted on this earlier, perhaps this travesty would not have occurred. It should never be permitted to happen again. There should be absolutely no discretion on the part of any government agency or the President to withhold information vitally necessary to the safety of the American people.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/102011_asbestos30.shtml
Dan DeLisio
Subj: ** Post Runs Two Gulf War Chemical Exposure Articles **
Friends,
The Washington Post ran two articles about the Gulf War and chemical warfare agents.
We've waited nearly 12 years for some of the facts to come out regarding how the U.S. armed Iraq with chemical warfare agents and how those agents were blown up by U.S. forces, resulting in the largest "friendly fire" incident in U.S. military history.
Here are the two articles:
1. "U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup: Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds," Front Page, News, Washington Post, December 30, 2002:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html
2. "The Fallout of War: Iraqi Ammo Debris Fell on Jim Stutts in '91. In Many Ways, He's Being Pelted Still, Front Page, Style Section, Washington Post, December 30, 2002:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52223-2002Dec29.html
Many, many veterans worked very hard for more than ten years to makes these articles a reality. Please distribute the articles widely.
Paul Sullivan
Subj: 'Pain control is a very subjective thing,' (Observer UK - Briton tells of ordeal in Bush's torture jail)
Dear BuzzFlash,
Is this the People's Republic of North Vietnam circa 1970 or The United States of America circa 2002? Can't be the United States. We're the good guys. We don't believe in torture because it violates our basic ideals. The Observer must be mistaken. I'm sure the Red Cross has had full access. Sure of it. Yes, sure of it.
Alan
* * *
"They are confined to tiny rooms, blindfolded and thrown into walls. They are tied up in painful positions, subjected to loud noises and deprived of sleep by having lights shone on them all day and night. Sometimes they are forced to stand for long periods in black hoods or wearing goggles which have been spray-painted so as to render them blind. The aim is to disorientate and confuse the suspects, as they face a barrage of questions about their activities in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It is believed that some, who had battle wounds when captured, are denied painkillers as a further way of coaxing information from them.
'Pain control is a very subjective thing,' one US official said, deadpan, to the Washington Post last week."
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,866235,00.html
Subj: Begala MISSED his opportunity: Tucker says Bush-GOP better at providing "national security", Begala missed chance to point out
30 December 2002
Dear BuzzFlash,
Tonight on CNN Crossfire, Paul Begala was describing the "mountain of evidence" that Mr. Bush and his chief of staff Karl Rove are politicizing the "war on terror"
Tucker Carlson predictably replied, "Well, he (Pres. Bush) SHOULD politicize the war on terror, because the Republicans are BETTER at national security than the democrats."
Oh My God!!
W takes a ONE MONTH vacation as terror-alerts are pouring into America from our own and other nation's "intel." services; those warnings climb all the way through the US bureaucracy until they get to the sub-cabinet level, whereupon they are stymied and blocked at the behest of the highest, cabinet-level officials. First one hijacked airliner, then another airliner, then a third airliner slams into American targets, and our military and intel. services are NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. By contrast, the Clinton admin. stopped A SINGLE terrorist with one car-load of bombs on the eve of the millennium celebration, took efforts to target bin Laden and al Qaida, and kept North Korea from producing weapons grade plutonium.
Then, Rep. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona (R), blamed the Clinton administration for "APPEASEMENT" for North Korea's nuclear warhead development... even though during the 8 year Clinton administration, the Koreans DID NOT develop any nuclear warheads, and did shut down their plutonium production.
Democrats need to KEEP IT SIMPLE! Vice President Dick Cheney at the head of Halliburton Inc. SUPPLIED technology to Iraq in 1997-1998-1999, as he did in the months before the Persian Gulf war as Secretary of Defense for the Bush administration.
America is being run by propaganda, and the Repubs are winning the battles.
LJBK
Sent to Bartcop:
Subj: god-bless you, Bart! for putting my outrage about Margaret Carlson's "outrage of year" into words..!!!!
god-bless you, Bart!
for putting my outrage about Margaret Carlson's "outrage of year" into words !!!!
even MWO couldn't put my disgust and despair into words, and they're on vacation. and the democrats are even MORE AWOL and on vacation than the moronic "mainstream media."
EVERY ONE of George W. Bush's 2000 campaign appearances featured him bashing "WASHINGTON OFFICIALS" of incompetence and corruption, SO WHAT HAPPENS??
LESS THAN one year into his administration, his cabinet and sub-cabinet officials bury terror alerts and warnings so as not to disturb the new president on his one month vacation. And today, the standard line is that "those unheeded terror warnings before 9-11 were LOST IN WASHINGTON."
BUSH HAD HIS CHANCE To improve the Washington establishment, and if anything he made them MORE corrupt, more incompetent, more obscure, and less responsive.
[Here's the CNN transcript link: http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0212/28/cg.00.html]
Quotes
"With its totally tasteless Wellstone memorial, Democrats killed Walter Mondale's chance of winning that seat and hurt Jean Carnahan in Missouri as well. Why didn't the Clintons, instead of clapping and laughing, send word backstage to tone it down?
-- Margaret Carlson, (R-Backstabber) blaming everything on Clinton AGAIN, this time calling Wellstone's Memorial the most outrageous thing that happened in politics all year.
Here's an incomplete list of things that outraged Carlson less than Paul Wellstone's Memorial.
- the continuous assault on the Bill of Rights by President Oil Slick and his religiously-insane AG
- the upcoming war against an oil-rich nation disguised as a "war on terror"
- allowing BIG TIMBER to rape the country at will, just to get more donations in 2004
- allowing BIG POLLUTERS to poison the country at will, just to get more donations in 2004
- rolling back the standards on clean water
- rolling back the standards on clean air
- allowing BIG OIL to secretly write America's energy policy
- giving the crooked CEOs less than a slap on the wrist for stealing billions
- Cheney doing commercials for Arthur Anderson, "a company you can trust" the insurance lobby and BIG corporations paying Bush to limit their liability damages
- the religiously-insane Ashcroft running from nudity on statues and calico cats
- Ted Olson preparing for his inevitable appointment to the Whore Supreme Court (Gee, I wonder which way he'd rule in the next vote-counting dispute)
- Smirky McWarhardon using "Let's roll" as a rallying cry at the damn Olympics the crooked voting machines that gave GOP candidates the same number of votes (If numbers could fall that way naturally, there wouldn't be a Vegas) appointing "bloody hands" Kissinger to investigate 9-11
- a president so incredibly stupid, he actually said "Fool me once, ...won't be fooled again"
- Bush saying the Palestinian/Israeli conflict should be worked out "on their timetable, not ours."
- the Catholics methodically and systematically protecting child rapists. (That didn't outrage Catholic Carlson at all, but rallying Democrats? Now that's an outrage!)
- Bush and Cheney helping to overthrow Venezuela's government to get better oil deals for the B.F.E.E.
- The Carlyle Group getting ready to make billions from their Lil' Puppet's oil war
- Karl Rove being the second most powerful man on the planet, his pet Chimp being the first.
- the possible murder of Paul Wellstone - not a problem, Carlson can look past that possibility if there's a chance for her to get in another shot at Clinton who was not in charge of Wellstone's service
- The most powerful man in the senate waxing nostalgic for the great days of segregation
- the Clinton-hating pundit monopoly which Margaret Carlson seems to have joined. (Margaret, do you have kids entering college? Is that why your turned whore? For the kids? How expensive is Harvard these days, Margaret? When are you moving to Fox?)
- Max Cleland (D-War hero, tri-plegic) losing because he was painted as "unpatriotic." (There's certainly nothing for Margaret to be outraged about there...) Bush lying about not having made up his mind about invading Iraq. Just like with Clinton's impeachment, they're going to do it no matter what the evidence shows.
- the tax cuts that have thrown 31 states into near-bankruptcy, but then again, maybe Carlson is now making enough money to qualify for one of Bush's windfalls for the super-rich
- Al Gore not running for re-election because he knows people like Carlson and Cokie will spend the entire year of 2004 lying about him, fabricating quotes and praising President Dumber.
There are hundreds more, but the internet is only so big.
Margaret Carlson has joined the dark side and now sits squarely on Karl Rove's lap.
Margaret, if you wanted to beat up the Democrats, why not attack them for giving up? Why not attack them for creating a one-party system to praise the never-elected oil stooge?
..and since you've learned that attacking Clinton is the most profitable industry in America after prostitution and drugs, it can only mean one thing - you have a book coming out and you need to boost sales by appearing on Hannity, O'Reilly and the vulgar Pigboy's show.
Thanks to Barry Crimmins, whose year end review assisted in this rant.
LJBK
Subj: Wash. Post Links Raygun/Bush-I and Iraq, Ho Hum
Dear BuzzFlash,
The Washington Post story linked below is rattling old RAYGUN/BUSH-I skeletons, not that there's anything NOT known, and not that our CRACK media will give it "legs", but here it is for documentation purposes anyway.
RUMSFELD *LIED* to CNN???!!!------shocking, SHOCKING. Congress actually raised "HEATED OBJECTIONS"???!!!------------*sigh*.
**********QUOTE***********
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html
It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend." ....
The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague. ....
The U.S. tilt toward Iraq was enshrined in National Security Decision Directive 114 of Nov. 26, 1983, one of the few important Reagan era foreign policy decisions that still remains classified. ....
In a September interview with CNN, Rumsfeld said he "cautioned" Hussein about the use of chemical weapons, a claim at odds with declassified State Department notes of his 90-minute meeting with the Iraqi leader. ....
As part of its opening to Baghdad, the Reagan administration removed Iraq from the State Department terrorism list in February 1982, despite heated objections from Congress. ....
CIA director William Casey used a Chilean company, Cardoen, to supply Iraq with cluster bombs... ....
**************UNQUOTE***************
John Garza
BuzzFlash Editors,
Thank you for your editorial regarding the editorial board of the New York Times this was the mail I sent to them that morning...... they of course did not respond.....
David Sanders
----- Original Message -----
From:
David Sanders
To:
editorial@nytimes.com
Sent:
Thursday, December 12, 2002 6:32 AM
Subject:
Fire Trent Lott
Every time I read one of your editorials, I wish I hadn't. Your last paragraph is infuriating to me, the George Bush I see is the one who unapologetically went to Bob Jones and praised them for their Christianity, asked them and by inference all the other bigots across the country for their votes.... than appointed another good friend of Bob Jones to be Attorney General, then a graduate of Bob Jones to Solicitor...... a judge who appealed for leniency in a sentence for cross burning..... THE LIST IS ENDLESS..AND THIS IS WHAT YOU BELIEVE... "few can doubt Mr. Bush's commitment to a multiracial America" INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!
Subj: Dec. 17-18 TIME/CNN poll has bush approval at 55%. but the poll has been SCRUBBED!!!
Dear BuzzFlash,
have you seen these poll numbers? of course not! the "liberal media" completely scrubbed any mention of them! TIME's ONLINE version... http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2002/poyrelationship.html doesn't mention BUSH'S JOB APPROVAL RATING IS AT IT'S LOWEST EBB SINCE 9-11, but the dec. 30 PRINT edition of TIME shows it only in pictorial form on page 90. i scanned the attached bushpoll.jpg at my local library as proof (the main story starts on page 86).
very convenient, the poll numbers time/cnn paid for and are obligated to disclose are encapsulated in an unsearchable less damaging graphic form never to be heard from again. so far no one has taken notice.
CNN's
official distillation of the poll is entitled 'BUSH ADVISERS GET FAVORABLE
MARKS'... http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/22/bush.poll/index.html
it makes no mention of the diminished job approval rating or the fact
that support for an invasion of iraq is contingent on PROOF. the AP is
the only source of that aspect of the poll... http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/
ap/20021220/ap_wo_en_po/na_gen_us_iraq_poll_1 "if the United
Nations and Bush do not provide proof, then support drops sharply. In
that case, people oppose military action by a 66-27 margin."
a
google search of CNN's web site using the keyword's (bush "approval
rating" december 2002) results in no relevant hits... http://www.google.com/search?q=bush+%22approval
+rating%22+december+2002+site:cnn.com
CNN's BILL SCHNEIDER earned his pay when he said this on INSIDE POLITICS dec. 30... "SCHNEIDER: Well, we're seeing some evidence of repercussions for the president. The president's current job approval rating stands at 61 percent. Not bad, but it is the lowest rating he's gotten since the terrorist attacks of September 2001." http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0212/30/ip.00.html i guess BILL SCHNEIDER isn't senior enough to have access to ALL the polling data CNN pays for.
to put it poetically... "TIME'S OWN POLL APPEARS NOWHERE ON THEIR OWN WEB SITE" http://www.takebackthemedia.com/down.html
makes you wonder what else is in that poll they're not sharing?
- kyle
i would sooner be in a room full of rattle snakes as bush and his posse! they make my skin crawl! they don't know how to tell the truth and the media plays right into their hands. it's like if you watch some really smooth guys rob a bunch of old people of their life saving and the old people don't even know it until they go to the bank and the media brags about how smooth and good at it the crooks were!
karen massey in south carolina
