BuzzFlash Mailbag for April 4, 2008

BUZZFLASH MAILBAG

Want to join the conversation? Share your thoughts with other Mailbag readers by clicking here. You also may register to post articles yourself at BuzzFlash.net; or send urls for BuzzFlash.com to consider posting to: www.buzzflash.com/contact/newstip.

Subject: Whips

In case everyone has not figured it out yet - the issuing of tasers to anyone resembling an authority figure and encouraging the use of them at any sign of resistance is no different than authorizing the use of whips to keep all us "bad" slaves in line -- by those who would be our overseers.

Bee
Washington, DC 

Mostly ... regarding the post from Ralph Filicchia, about the dissension amongst the Democrats and the silliness of Rush Limbaugh.

Many years ago ... after 911, and as the noise started from Bush, Cheney and Rummy about Iraq, it's hard to remember the date ... so much water under or over the dam ... I knew ... something inside me knew ... that this was going to be something much more than a bombing of the WTC (which was questionable). I don't know when it actually grabbed me ... but I knew ... this was what it has all been about, and I am not all that sure of anything about the 911 bombings ... I am just sure that, that was used to get to Iraq. You must understand at the time, everyone on this earth ... was in love with Bush and his approval rating was likely around 90 ... it makes me sick to my stomach ... but, it was! I think we likely even saw how gullible our own party was at that time.

As the war progressed, and things went from bad to worse ... money spent ... American soldiers killed, Abu Ghraib ... etc ... etc ... gas prices ... I had a granddaughter there, in fact. She is not there now but proudly had her car painted on the back glass with the words, "Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom" ... it is hard to not tell her that the original phrase was to be "Operation Iraqi Liberation" ... but, hey ... I would imagine she has heard that already. Neither she ... her father... (my son) nor her mother have ever voted in any election ... but his dad did tell me that Bill Clinton should have been hung. Leave it to a non politic.

Everyone else in the family at first ... were in love with Bush, but my daughter who crossed over ...d id not take long to see the error of her ways ... and cried on my shoulder that she would have to live with that for the rest of her life, and I told her she would! End of story.

Many Americans have changed, dramatically, but a few still stay the same ... whatever the polls show ... what is is maybe 20% still think he is fine!? Okay ... what I was really getting to ... is that a few months back ... when the campaigns started in earnest ... I heard a story that the hard right were going to 'Swiftboat" Hillary Clinton, because it had worked so well on Kerry ... and made him the candidate ... that they thought it would work for her, too ... and she would be much easier to beat. Could be ... however, like I said, I don't actually believe anything about politics anymore.

Her biggest flaw ... negative, if you want, is the fact that she was there ... when the war started and she did vote for the resolution and she and her husband did play kissy face with the Bushes much too much for me, when they opened their library in Little Rock. I did not like that! Now, the part of Clinton's help with the things he did with the elder Bush ... was not hurtful to me or any other Democrat ... in the first place ... the elder Bush has taken a beating since his stupid son took office. He is smart enough to see it ... and he has aged like no other man I have seen ... so, the work they have done together has not hurt ... I personally do not think. But, the kissing up has ... sorry ... it has with me.

No matter who the candidate becomes ... I will vote for them ... anyone but a Republican ... but this is the hardest 6-7-8 yrs. I personally have ever withstood ... I see few persons now who actually will defend Bush ... in fact ... very few! In my family ... the ones who voted for him ... mostly just keep quiet. Others ... try to not hurt the feelings of the few who did ... because it is the most touchy subject ever, in this world.

I absolutely hate the country we have become ... the people in this country who have had to give up so much to the rich ... all ... all the people who have resigned from the office ... who will still collect more in their old age ... than any of us who have worked our combined asses off all our lives, and now do not even have health care to count on. Our parents were lucky to go already ... and we will see much of the bad as we get old ... thanks to so many idiotic persons who thought Bush was soooooo good!

The other night ... in one of my few nights of watching television ... on King, he had four people on ... one girl who is so hard to the right of Attila the Hun ... an aide to Romney ... one to Clinton and one to Obama. The question came up about Chelsea ... "Should she be expected to answer questions about Monica?" How very stupid ... but, everyone ... even the Romney aide ... said, No ... it had nothing to do with what is going on now ... and it never had anything to do with her ... or her mother's campaign ... and of course, the 'Amy" person ... an aide to McCain ... said, "of course she she should ... it was a dark time in our history ... it is her father's legacy ... it caused this country a lot of anguish!" BS+++!!

The former governor of Minnesota ... the ex wrestler was there ... and he was pissed,. "What ... what? lying about WMD ... and a connection to Saddam ... killing 4000 American soldiers ...@!?... that is a sad time in this country and our lives!" He stopped her in her tracks ... that just does not happen enough!!

Shirley ... St. Louis

WOW! What a wonderful selection of very, very good letters in yesterday's Mailbag! I have said before that your Mailbag is one of my favorite things about BF and yesterday just validated that.

It is so amazing and reassuring to know there are so many other similarly minded people here in America -- and by that I don't necessarily mean they share the same opinion or point of view, but rather that they are exercising analytical and critical thinking skills and paying attention to not only the words but the actions that accompany the words of our "leaders."

We must never give up hope that we, and ultimately, truth and justice, will prevail over the people who seek power for power's sake and choose not to govern according to the will of We, the People.

Thanks again to all the BF readers who choose to express themselves in the Mailbag feature and for expanding my horizons by providing another perspective or additional information.

Lisa Johnson
Tacoma, WA

Constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley, was on Keith Olbermann's Countdown on 4/3/08.

See video and article: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5865 Countdown 4/3/08.

They were discussing the 81 pages of the John Yoo torture memos released this week.

See my article, "Torturers, Inc" 4/3/08 http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/mailbag/ 589 for links to several excellent articles.

Turley told Keith Olbermann that the President ORDERED WAR CRIMES.

He made it clear that this was NOT just TORTURE, but a TORTURE PROGRAM ORDERED by President Bush.

Mainstream media has NOT given the coverage that it should, to a President who BROKE our laws as well as the Geneva Conventions, which is an International law.

Yesterday, David Swanson from AfterdowningStreet, said Conyers is WAITING to IMPEACH Bush ONLY AFTER he bombs Iran. That's a LITTLE TOO LATE.

The Democrats MUST START IMPEACHMENT hearings now. Mr. Sands, who wrote the "Green Light" article, said he was handing over all his materials to a European judge and prosecutor, in order to see if Bush and company can be prosecuted in the International Courts.

See article: "The Green Light: Attorney Phillipe Sands Follows the Bush Administration Torture Trail." 4/3/08. http://www.democracynow.org/ 2008/4/3/the_green_light_attorney_phillipe_sands

Call Conyers and Congress to IMPEACH these WAR CRIMINALS NOW.

IMPEACH! IMPEACH! IMPEACH!

Markmyword
Chicago, Illinois

Subject: Support For BuzzFlash

I have been reading all the comments from people angry at you for your pro-Obama stance. I just wanted to give a little shout out in your favor. I am one of those who is disenchanted with Hillary, and I welcome your position. I know you've taken a lot of heat for it and I'm glad you're still in the game.

I understand you've taken a financial hit and wish I could donate. I can't, but at least I can voice my support.

I am an Edwards supporter who also favored Richardson. I don't think Obama hung the moon, but between the two remaining candidates, it's a no-brainer for me.

But mostly, I don't like the way the Democratic Party is being torn apart. Both our candidates used to be polling ahead of John McCain and we are steadily falling against him. Another couple months of this, and I shudder to think where we will be against McCain.

I do fall into the camp that places a lot of that responsibility on the Clintons. I have no problem with Hillary if she can win based on promoting her own policies. I do, however, have a problem if she can only win by tearing down her fellow Democrats. I realize Obama has gone tit-for-tat on this the past few weeks, but I agree with your expressed view (as I interpret it), that Hillary basically started the destructive and negative campaign techniques (i.e., their kitchen sink strategy). I also really don't like all the games being played with the rules. All this spinning on what is a win is ridiculous. We've known how this works from the beginning and changing any of the rules midstream is just not fair.

Anyway, I just wanted to express my support. Thanks for hanging in there, BuzzFlash!

Marihelen

Hi, Buzz!!

Mrs. Clinton's claim that there's no such thing as a pledged delegate has me confused again. A question about pledged delegates came up at our caucus in March, and our local party leaders answered it this way:

Pledged delegates are obligated to vote for the candidate they are pledged to, unless and until that candidate releases them to vote for someone else.

Seems pretty clear to me. So what planet is Hillary on these days?

Jane Hawes (red-state Democrat)
Emporia, KS

Dear BuzzFlash:

It's quite easy to blame Washington for all our woes, for not fixing things to our satisfaction, etc. However, one thing that the media doesn't seem to be interested in reporting is that the housing and foreclosure crisis is a mess of our own making, and D.C. didn't really have much to do with it. I have talked to some folks who have been in a crunch with credit card debt, took out adjustable rate mortgages without considering or even being aware of the risk, with no help from greedy lenders, and face losing their homes on top of a very weak job market. Most of these people were frank and admitted they never thought of anything except what they wanted right now, damn the costs later. This is impetuous childish behavior and totally preventable.

My parents and my school taught us about interest rates, mortgages, the ins and outs of buying a home, and so on. Apparently nobody is being taught anything now.

A friend of mine is a successful real estate agent and he tells me that he explains the risks, the best strategy for people's situations and how their decisions will affect them down the road, but the buyers are totally closed off to anything except what they want. They don't want to hear about escrow, the dangers of borrowing against a home loan, getting a home with little or no down payment and an adjustable loan or anything else.

Now Washington is under pressure to bail out the big lending institutions who have gone broke loaning money to these people because the mortgagees are wiped out because of their ignorance and impatience. If Washington doesn't help these mortgage outfits, we all suffer because without a loan, most of us can never own property, no matter how careful we are with our money.

I am proud to say I have done it right -- we bought a house several years ago that we could afford, refinanced when interest rates dropped, and stayed put until we had a good equity balance to put toward the larger home we now enjoy. It isn't really very hard -- mortgage lenders and real estate companies must be more diligent and educate their potential buyers and lessees. If this country learned not to abuse credit in all its forms, we could weather the economic ups and downs a little better. After all, with a horrible President like Bush in office, our financial security must be tantamount, as jobs fly out of the country by the millions and we have no money to pay the immense debt we rack up.

The U.S. budget? It's a reflection of our own poor spending habits. True, sometimes events come along we can't control, like medical catastrophes, but the lack of fiscal common sense in the average American is appalling.

Scott
Fayetteville, Ar.

Subject: Lou Dobbs

I was somewhat disgusted me to see BuzzFlash chastise Lou Dobbs as one of their pet scourges of the day, allegedly because of his opinion on illegal immigration.

BuzzFlash apparently does not understand that the crux of the problem in America is that corporations are running both the country and our elected representatives for their personal benefit.

Almost everything that is wrong with our country from the $30B bailout of Bear Stearns, to outsourcing, to overpaid CEOs, to the Iraq War, to China dominating our economy, to a declining lifestyle for lower and middle class Americans, has its roots with corporate favoritism by corporatist politicians who are running our country.

Let me say this quite clearly and loudly ... LOU DOBBS IS ONE OF THE ONLY MSM TALKING HEADS WHO HAS FOR YEARS CONSISTENTLY OPPOSED BUSH, THE IRAQ WAR, AND THE CORPORATIZATION OF AMERICA BY BUSH AND HIS CRONIES.

Illegal immigration is one more corporatist rung in the ladder that represents that rush to the bottom and the sinking standard of living for most Americans. Most Democrats by a large margin oppose amnesty for illegals and want border enforcement now, but they are never polled on it. That's because the media plays the issue to the benefit of the elites and assumes that average Democrats aren't interested, and thus are never asked about it.

How about having a poll on BuzzFlash regarding this issue and Lou Dobbs and don't make assumptions? BTW I Support Obama but I'm very concerned about his position on illegal immigration.

I don't agree with everything that Dobbs says, but I want to reiterate that most working Americans would be far worse off without his vocal support.

Thomas Varner
Harrisburg, PA

April 3, 2008 Chris, during your show today, you talked about "sticking the fork in Obama" for NOT his words, but the words of his pastor. Why didn't you quit the Catholic church, with all the priests that raped little boys and girls, and the priests who hid them? What if I put a tape together of snippets of things you have said over the years and played them? They would kick you off television. Imagine ... and try to think if you are a hate monger or a hypocrite?

Karin Dicker
Los Angeles

"The one in which he's speaking at a Mississippi airport named after his grandfather?"

"Along with the scene where he's paying a visit to the high school he'd attended."

"Interesting, but what's all that got to do with what's going on in the world?"

"Then what can he do that'll show us he's sincere about wanting to be our next president?"

"Lead the way."

"How?"

"By promising us that if elected he'll end the Iraq War, negotiate with Iran plus turning things around here at home."

"And if he doesn't take this pledge?"

"He loses the election."

A BuzzFlash Reader

Yes!!! Finally, Randi stepped on her tongue one too many times! Her popularity went straight to her head and now her name is mud! I think she should be fired! Don Imus had to pay the price for calling black girls whores! Now she's calling educated, accomplished white women whores! Both show lack of class!

Also, BuzzFlash will never, ever get a dime of my money for their biased support of Barack Obama!

HILLARY CLINTON IS MY GIRL!!!

T. Barr

Subject: This Not Quite Fifteen Billion For Mortgage Relief Compared to Hundreds Of Billions For A Wall Street Bailout Says What?

"Who counts and who doesn't."

"Especially since there are so many of us already evicted or in foreclosure with millions more on the verge."

"Yet Wall Street gets most of the relief."

"How can we reverse this?"

"We elect a president who'll end the Iraq War, negotiate with Iran plus turning things around here at home."

"And then what sort of world?"

"It'll be up to us."

A BuzzFlash Reader

The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. You can write to Mailbag at http://www.BuzzFlash.com/contact/mail.html. Guidelines for submissions are at BuzzFlash FAQ #18.

BUZZFLASH MAILBAG

Bookmark/Search this post with:

buzzflash | delicious | digg | yahoo | technorati