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| December 19, 2005 |
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The BuzzFlash Mailbag The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag. Subject: Bush Spies Buzz -- John Kerry ought to be outraged. It's not enough that the Bush regime rigged the vote through Diebold, but does anyone doubt that they were listening to the Kerry campaign's phone calls as well? In fact every Democrat ought to be demanding a special investigation of this blatant violation of American freedom. Because believe me, these criminals are not beyond listening in on every Democrat's phone calls and emails. By the way, they'd better not call the Justice Department for information...someone is listening... Tony Mac Subject: Advertising Basics Madison Avenue has long ago figured out that even negative exposure can benefit a product. Every time the reality based community uses the Orwellian language of the right wing, even in reference or criticism, it serves to strengthen their product in the public mind. The term "Patriot Act" should never used by those that are fully aware of the content. We should immediately rename these deceptive products and never look back; Domestic Spying Initiative, the Anti-Civil Rights Act, The Bill of Wrongs. That goes for the "War on Terror,""Aggressive Interrogation," "Tax Relief," or any of the other infringements on common sense, truth, civil rights and decent government. Eventually an accurate and popular reference will emerge. We should hold the press accountable for using such deceptive language as well. Every time we use their language or allow public information to get away with it, we hurt ourselves and our country. Carol Davidek-Waller Subject: He Is a President, Not a King Bush said "They hate us for our freedom." Well, George is taking care of that, by getting rid of our freedoms. Ya know, little things like the right of habeas corpus and a speedy trial (Gitmo), the right not to be spied on illegally, the right to be secure in our persons and papers (PATRIOT Act), the right not to be tortured as put forth in both the UN Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (And don't think if they do it to "them," they won't eventually think it's OK to do it to "us.") "He is a president, not a king." -Russ Feingold, 12/17/05. A Buzzflash Reader in Ohio Subject: Mailbag Hi Buzzers, To Shirley from St. Louis and others (including me) who are sick and tired of hearing that Congress saw the same intelligence as Bush - well this Talking Points Memo on Buzz today (12/16) has it all in black and white. Below is a highlight from a response to Dianne Feinstein's letter to the Congressional Research Service regarding that: (December 15, 2005 -- 07:09 PM EDT) President Bush says Congress saw the same intelligence he did in the lead-up to the war in Iraq. So Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked the non-partisan Congressional Research Service to look into the matter and report back whether or not what the president said is true. They reported back today. The verdict: not true. (Excerpt from CRS's response) "The President's position also affords him the authority - which, at certain times, has been aggressively asserted to restrict the flow of intelligence information to Congress and its two intelligence committees, which are charged with providing legislative oversight of the Intelligence Community. As a result, the President, and a small number of presidentially-designated Cabinet-level officials, including the Vice President - in contrast to Members of Congress - have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information, including information regarding intelligence sources and methods. They, unlike Members of Congress, also have the authority to more extensively task the Intelligence Community, and its extensive cadre of analysts, for follow-up information. As a result, the President and his most senior advisors arguably are better positioned to assess the quality of the Community's intelligence more accurately than is Congress." So we all know it's bull**it. We've always known that Congress did not see the same intelligence. But it's nice to see someone confirm that. Now if we could only get it out there on the airwaves. Yeah, dream on. By the way Shirley, I bought "Hijacking Catastrophe" on yours and others' recommendation. Can't wait to watch it. I also just ordered Jesus Land. So I'll be busy. Buzz, you just keep me so occupied. Everyone enjoy your whatever it is that you enjoy this time of year. Barbara in NYC A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Let's put Rep. Davis in a home for the congressionally stupid If you can read this without up-chucking your eggnog you're a better elf than I am. If this sense of Congress makes any sense to you, you are certifiably insane. 12/7/2005 Protecting the Symbols and Traditions of Christmas Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis today introduced H. Res. 579, a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected, and that references to Christmas should be supported. This measure, which is non-binding and does not carry the force of law, simply states Congressional support for traditional references to Christmas that are being eradicated from the public dialogue. Where do these people live? I haven't found one case of anyone being told they can't say Merry Christmas, but apparently we need to force everyone to say it. "There has been an ongoing effort by retailers and many media outlets to slowly eradicate references to Christmas and the symbols and traditions that come along with it from public dialogue," said Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis. "Common sense has been hijacked by political correctness, and the Christmas Season has become a vague, generic 'holiday season' spanning from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, representing nothing and celebrating anything. December 25th is the federally recognized day known as Christmas, but retail chains across the country have banned their employees from wishing people a Merry Christmas. As if it could not get more ridiculous, the Christmas tree has now become a holiday tree. This is political correctness run amok. No one should feel like they have done something wrong for wishing someone a Merry Christmas," added Davis. I think Rep. Davis has been celebrating in that Hollow Tree with the Keebler elves and has had a little too much figgy pudding or something. "Celebrating anything" refers to every December holiday that is not Christmas because we all know that none of those are worth mentioning. The tree is an evergreen of various varieties covered with tinsel, except when the tree was tinsel and had a revolving colored light back in the days when Christmas was really Christmas and not a holiday to be happy on because that would be evil. No one should be made to feel like Satan himself for not saying Merry Christmas. "My resolution is a simple sense of Congress defending Christmas and its symbol and traditions. It is a unified statement supporting references to Christmas, and disapproving of attempts to ban these references. The traditions, symbols and heritage of Christmas cannot be the next victim of political correctness," said Davis. "This is a selective assault on religious free speech, which is a fundamental right. Celebrating Christmas is not a violation of separation of church and state. The Framers intended that the First Amendment to the Constitution would prohibit the establishment of religion, not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog. Who would have thought that we would live in a society where the display of Santa Claus and the mentioning of a Christmas tree would bring out the speech police?" added Davis. When, oh, when will they realize that tolerance of other people's religious beliefs has nothing to do with political correctness? It is common decency. She thinks the fundamental right is her right to force everyone to say Merry Christmas or she may have a coronary. Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings have been around a very long time, maybe longer than Rep Davis. Will this woman be making up her mind sometime in this century? One sentence has God being abused and in the next Santa and the tree. "Efforts to morph Christmas into this generic 'winter celebration' go beyond the secularization of the day," said Davis. "Santa effectively took the Christ out of Christmas years ago, but this new effort looks to replace Christmas and even its secular symbols with the celebration of nothing. Christmas symbols symbolize Christmas, and Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. Therefore, the purge of Christmas is the goal. This resolution supports Christmas and defends the heritage and symbols that represent it," added Davis. Someone needs to morph Davis into something vaguely resembling a congress person who can actually realize that her job is not to control thought or speech. Christ was already out of Christmas, according to her, leaving her with only secular symbols and now she has nothing to celebrate with. Okay, who took her stuff? Please let her have her decorations back so we can have Peace on Earth, except in Iraq. "Christmas symbols symbolize Christmas," I didn't know that. Carve that into the congressional record, the Lincoln Memorial and tattoo it on her butt. I want a shirt. Symphony cymbals symphonize cymbals, no that's not right. Christmas decorations decorate Christmas, I think I've got it. Make up your own inane holiday statement. Fourth of July celebrations celebrate the Fourth of July. The Lincoln Memorial memorializes Lincoln and the Washington Monument monumentalizes Washington, naah, that's not one. I want to don me now my gay pride apparel and dance on Rep Davis' desk. Did they really think changing "don me now my gay apparel" to "don me now my pride apparel" was less gay? "Gay" and "pride" didn't mean the same thing even in the Pride Ninety's when "gay" didn't mean homosexual. Speak up or they assume you agree!!! Rep. Davis says humbug to a PC Christmas (fredericksburg.com) Karen Webb Subject: New York Times Sitting on Story for a Year Okay, so now we find out that that New York Times SAT on this story for a full year (wouldn't that have made for interesting discussion during the ...ahem ... election?!)..... Isn't that a strange thing for a 'liberal' paper to do??? Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11, Officials Say (NY Times) A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: "Boo Yahoo" Dear BuzzFlash, Jim Hightower recently wrote:
It's too bad Yahoo refused to extend the same prompt and courteous service to the family of a Marine killed in Iraq:
Boo Yahoo, indeed. Sincerely, Cathy Vance Subject: House Calls for Border Fence in Xenophobic Spree Sounds like as many members of the House of Corporate Representatives have been to the Mexican Border as have relatives in the military. The Mexican Border is, in fact, a disgraceful, grotesque 10-foot Iron Curtain complete with pill boxes and electronic security systems as sophisticated as anything around Area 51 or East Germany. It runs nearly the entire length of the continent except where rivers make up the border. So what's this about a new Border Fence? House OKs Mexican border fence (timesargus.com) Will Wyche Subject: Airplanes and Box Cutters Since I never adhered to the faulty claims of taking over 757s with box cutters and from the beginning believing that the current administration had a hand in the 9/11 "terrorist" attack, I find myself rejecting articles that fall prey to such falsehoods. I strongly recommend to everyone to read and for all media to publicize the sane missives of Dr. David Ray Griffin - The New Pearl Harbor and The 9/11 Commission: Omissions and Distortions. The truth is there and as long as people keep believing things like box cutters the culprits will get away with what is their first impeachable crime. Since reading Marianne Pearl's book about her husband, Daniel, I have held that he was outed by his own countrymen's complicity. Dr. Griffin is the first to let me know I am not certifiably insane. Let's have more publicity about this and let the entire world know the truth. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: I don't need no stinking laws! "I don't need no stinking laws! I'm the president, I do what I want." This is what Bush is effectively telling America when he decided to authorize using the NSA to spy on Americans without getting authorization from the courts. So I don't understand why Bush wants the Patriot Act renewed because if he really has the powers to authorize spying without law, then why bother with laws? Bush now claims that he's above the law. I think someone needs to remind Bush that he's not the king. I'm Marc Perkel - And I approved this message! Marc Perkel Subject: What's Buggin Me? Dear Mr. Bush, I have recently learned that since 2003 it is possible the NSA has been listening to my phone calls, and they have been doing so on your orders. Please let me save you the trouble, and my tax dollars, by putting my opinion in writing. As a teenager, I watched as Richard Nixon defiled the Office of the Presidency, forcing him to resign in disgrace. Like the rest of the nation, we spent the remainder of the 70's trying to rebound from the humiliation of Vietnam and Watergate. As an optimistic yet uninformed Reaganite in the early 80's, I celebrated the resurrection of this nation as the foremost bastion of International freedom and equality, as I am sure you did. And then we saw the dark, illegal and immoral side of the Reagan Administration in its deeds, actions and lies regarding the Iran-Contra affair. In the 90's, we celebrated a decade of prosperity the likes of which the age of capitalism has never witnessed. Republican and Democrat alike reveled in great leaps of technology and profit. Only to once again have the Office of the Presidency soiled by immoral, sophomoric acts of sex, lies and impeachment proceedings. And yet, the sum of the transgressions committed by the above named Presidents do not begin to equate to the dishonor and disgrace that you have brought upon your Office and in turn, this great nation. You have failed this nation on all fronts, domestic and foreign. You have failed in your attempt to bring Osama bin Laden to justice and you have used your bogus war on terror as an excuse to withhold humanitarian assistance to citizens of your own country. You seek credit for the recent upturn in the economy yet the upturn was only brought about by the lowering of outrageous gas prices, and the only reason that gas was lowered is because Congress pretended to ask questions of Big Oil. You have never fooled me. Whenever you speak, the entire nation knows we are about to get lied to. I eagerly await the day that you are no longer in office and I hope that the next President, regardless of political affiliation, is held to a higher standard of accountability that we have allowed your administration to adhere to. So please, have your flunkies at the SS.....I mean the NSA, download and save this letter so you STOP tapping my phone. Yes, I am a threat, to your reign as Pretender, and I believe that you should be impeached and tried for crimes against humanity. I do not like you as a President or as a person, but I do love my country, and spying on your own citizens is the epitome of a dis-attached, dangerous and weak President. Scott Eugene Subject: About the Terrorists Don't Need to Destroy Democracy. Bush Is Doing Their Work for Them. Unless the assumption is made that bush is NOT a terrorist --- i.e., there is no such thing as state terror, it's only terrorism when THEY do it, it's only terrorism when the bomber dies and it's only terrorism if it cannot be traced back to state sponsorship --- it's terrorists that are destroying democracy ... they CALL themselves presidents and other things, ... but they are "winning" the war on terror by proving that they are the "biggest, "baddest" terrorists. What else is it they say? " It's only torture when SOMEBODY ELSE does it? unless we tell them to ? ..." A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Manipulation! Manipulation is the secret exercise of power; the one who is influenced is not explicitly told; but facts are misrepresented, twisted and/or stonewalled, and those subjected to manipulation are subjected to the will of authority whether it is correct or not. It is the shabby arrogance of George W. Bush that demands his will be done, whether the American people like it or not. The authority, in this case George and his Administration, considers themselves infallible, therefore they are reluctant to admit to mistakes! It is a sickness that was rooted, and inherent in, all tyrants like Bush. Example: The election is over, we are withdrawing troops. Fact: Extra troops were brought in for the Election, now they are being withdrawn along with those scheduled to go home as a matter of regular rotation leaving about the same amount of troops in Iraq. In the matter of breaking the law, any excuse {Homeland Security, Executive Privilege, National Security} serves a tyrant, whether it is relevant, true, or not! Walter Savage Landor explained, “Tyrants never perish from tyranny, but always from folly,-- when their fantasies have built up a palace for which earth has no foundation!” From the beginning of the Rovian plan, George W. Bush has been always stirring up something or another to prove his image of himself as a leader! This Administration which ran on “Moral Values” has practiced “Moral Hypocrisy!” The only law Bush recognizes is obedience to him and his cohorts, anything else is called, “unpatriotic! Bush is a law unto himself!” The illegal war in Iraq is the Bush alibi for empire-building, power, legacy, and profit, but is posed as a “sacrifice for freedom!” No amount of ballots will insure freedom in Iraq while there is a division of the Kurds, whose final aim is for independence, and for others a controlled theocracy! The Bush Administration has moved our country towards a definite course of destruction of the Democracy we all value. It relies on the short and eventually blurred memories of wrongdoings such as Harken, Downing Street Memo, rigged elections, secrecy in government, no oversight for its power, and diminished checks and balances, invasion of a sovereign power, high crimes against the Geneva Conference and International law! It ignores global warming and puts cronies in charge of regulating our environment. Never before have we seen such a “Culture of Corruption”! Now Bush has added crimes of spying against the American people! Bush’s use of the Religious Right and their use of us, and the media, sends out an appeal that anyone who is religious must follow them! Despots from the beginning of time have used this method of controlling one part of the population to control the other parts. Hence, we get the blurring of the separation of Church and state as a purely political move! George Bush is in office now, it will take the active participation of all of us to expose the distortions and the manipulation, to work to maintain our rights, and to once again regain respect for our country! Susan Carr Subject: The nasty part of the patriot act. Not that some of it is good...but, the interview I saw this weekend with the Syrian family....legalized American citizens.....was chilling. The kids were all born here....late teens and one I think, 20. The kids were fluent in English....the girl said she could not read or write Syrian. The parents....were troubled...both still Muslims...but, I think there are many muslims in this country and many places for them to worship. They, right after the Patriot act started....were investigated. Not finding anything, they took them to a brig/prison in Washington state....a very austere building....that was intended to look much like the ones in the Mid East. They kept them all there for 6 months.....without charging them with anything. This country is like nazism....Imperialism....it is not something I want any part of (the kids fear that if they have to return to Syria, they will be out of country...this is their country). We must impeach this bunch!! Shirley.................St. Louis Subject: Constitution According to Bush BuzzFlash, I see a contradiction in Bush's thought on the Constitution. He calls it, " A God damn piece of paper." Now, since he is spying on America, He says, "consistent with US Law and the Constitution." Just like him, to make anything fit his version, at the time, and place. This is called, The World According to George. If the piece of the puzzle doesn't fit, King George says, "MAKE IT FIT." WHATEVER! What's wrong with us, Americans, when he can do the crime, and not pay the time??? Fooled us once, shame on him, fooled us SO MANY times, shame on all of us! Doesn't that sound something like the small, quote, King George, twisted to suit himself, awhile back? He's done it again with the Constitution! Angela Subject: What Is a "Terrorist"? So now Righteous George is indignant and angry about the media spilling the beans on classified information. Never mind the irony of leaking Valerie Plame's classified status to the media. I suppose in Bush's twisted view that's different. The term "terrorist" is being thrown around like a styrofoam packing peanut in a tornado by Bush and his Republican ass kissers on the Hill, never identifying a specific cell except maybe Al-Qaida, who did not associate with Hussein. The way he abused his power by authorizing indiscriminate wiretaps on basically anybody the NSA damn well pleased, it's not too much of a stretch to define a "terrorist" in George-speak as anybody who questions him, his performance or policies of any kind. George claims that the terrorists won a victory because news of his executive order became public. Actually, one terrorist was outed when we heard of the wiretaps, and that is a victory in the fight against terror. Scott Subject: Patriots and Heroes Dear United States Senator: Leave it to a flat lander like Bush to create fear, highjack our constitutional guarantees, continue to misdirect, to outright lie to the American people, and to bring us yet closer to reactionary totalitarianism. When does his complete incompetence in everything he has done and his reckless abandonment of the lives of our military heroes rise to the level of unfettered outrage? When does his witless adherence to a failed economic policy that is wrecking the lives of working class Americans rise to the level of condemnation? And when does the pillaging and grand theft of our treasury, leaving us the perils of illness and destitution become a criminal act? In the wake of the most recent revelations on civilian spying by Bush’s Information Police how much more of an erosion of our civil liberties can we sustain before we cease being Americans… before we cease being America? Bush’s moronic simplicity about complex and nuanced issues has placed us in great peril. His almost Orwellian facility to misdirect and to miscommunicate to a decent and too trusting American people has made him a pariah, not a leader. You are wise men and women whom I have admired and respected for years. These are times when our politicians have to put their principles on the line - just the way our troops place their lives on the line for us. Bush has lost all credibility and authority. All democrats must speak with one voice until this aberration to our democracy is corrected. And if that means filibustering - so be it! If that means stopping business-as-usual in the Senate (The House appears to be hopeless) then so be it! We know of times when men and women have had to rise to the level of patriots- this is such a time. David M Loucas Subject: A Letter to the Republican Party First off, I am a liberal and I vote Democratic. Een a dumb animal like a rat can tell when the ship is sinking. However, I don't see very many of you jumping ship, so I am going to break ranks and give you some advice. Bush has admitted to an impeachable charge, namely ordering illegal wiretaps. Several of you found out this year that associating yourself with Bush and his regime is an easy way to not get re-elected. And that was BEFORE this latest debacle. Every poll shows that the American people are tired of Iraq, tired of the stonewalling and denials coming from the White House on almost every subject. This person (Bush) is going to bring you down. Your entire party. He's not a Republican, that's just a convenient label for him. He is only out for power for his group, and their goals are not the same as that of your party. This is your opportunity. Redeem yourself in the eyes of the American people. Turn on him and begin impeachment proceedings, not only against him, but Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Rove and the whole damned bunch. If not....well, just keep watching the polls and see who wins in 2006. Mike Curtis Subject: Insulting the Dead and Their Families! Greetings BuzzFlash and Buzzers, One of the things I love about BuzzFlash is going to the BuzzFlash Mailbag and reading the letters. I am often surprised by how informed BuzzFlash readers are, and I learn a LOT of things I never see or read anywhere else. So now I'm turning to BuzzFlash once again, only this time it's for help on something I've been angry about since Bush "admitted" "thirty thousand Iraqis had been killed," or some such nonsense. A least a year ago, possibly longer, I heard on several independent news outlets that one of the latest KNOWN Iraqi body counts was WELL OVER 100,000. That's right, at LEAST ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND but all those independent news sources did admit, with the hostilities and continuous combat operations going on, it was most likely a lot more than one hundred thousand. These independent news outlets like Democracy Now, updates from Dahr Jamail, said that it was total chaos and with kidnappings and secret morgues and such it was impossible to get an accurate body count. The statistics on how many were civilians was guesstimated at about 60% to 70% or more. The months wore on. The hostilities continued. But the reports of "over one hundred thousand" remained the same. I don't know how many people remember this, but for a brief period of time, the Red Cross reported that a large number of Iraqi men were being simply stopped on the street and taken into custody and held for long periods of time that were later found to be civilians. The Bush administration and White House HOTLY denied this, and the story was silenced about two weeks later. The Red Cross first reported that about seventy percent of the prisoners or "detainees" were in fact, civilians. My question to you, BuzzFlash, and all you noble BuzzFlash readers, is do any of you know for sure how to actually trace down and get a more accurate account these statistics? If anybody does know how, it would be an invaluable resource for activists, advocates, researchers, historians, and all other concerned individuals who want to set the record straight and set about cleaning Bush's catastrophe; and it would also be a giant help to the hurricane victims who are STILL trying to get the promised help that they have yet to see any of. They need accurate counts and statistics too, just for starters. When the illustrious White House frat boy "admitted" that "thirty thousand" Iraqis had died in this criminal invasion and continued atrocity of his, I honestly felt as if he literally SPIT on every single Iraqi who has died because of him AND directly in the faces of their families. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Job Security for Homeland Security Agents' visit chills UMass Dartmouth senior (southcoasttoday) gives me an idea. How about we all start requesting copies of Mao's Little Red Book from our local libraries, as well as other 'radical' publications? Let's see: how about books on fascism, defeating corporatism, anti-Bush books...the possibilities are endless! I'm off to my local library online catalog to see if I can get the DHS to visit me, too. Karen Isaacson Subject: Bush Domestic Spying When I heard on the radio that Bush admitted he had authorized what amounts to a serious violation of the law but then defended it by claiming he had authority to do so by virtue of being the president, the first word that came to mind was dictator. Then the radio newscast did a story on holiday checkpoints where the cops pull you over and detain you without due process and in violation of inherent human rights, the first word that came to mind was Nazi. Then I remembered that we are now admitting that we torture people -- torture! Bush and the leaders of this country are killing it. Thanks and please excuse the bad spelling. I'm only in fourth grade. A BuzzFlash Reader [BuzzFlash Note: Thanks for your comments -- and you're in luck. We try to correct everybody's spelling.] No one could have said it better than you did BuzzFlash. Bush's regime, bugs our communication, in the US. Then why could they not catch the murderers, who were here in our country and took down the World Trade Center? I guess it's us little folks they like to use their scare tactics on. Makes it look like they are protecting We the People! Anyone who believes anything Bush and his Regime says, are fools of the worse kind. Angela george bush said tom delay is innocent. does that mean if tom delay is convicted of a crime, bush will pardon him? or will he let an innocent man go to jail? and how does he know he is innocent? bush should give that info to the prosecutor. A BuzzFlash Reader Hmmmm, wonder how many journalists are terrified and intimidated by the bush people knowing they could be on the white house enemy list to spy on. Better be nice to the bush administration. :):):):) Diane Anderson PS. maybe the only way you can be safe is to work at fox news.:):) Subject: The Gary Hart Interview Gary Hart may have gone to divinity school, but he is wrong, wrong, wrong, and it's clear that he doesn't know what he's talking about when he talks about Jesus' teachings being "filtered through the later apostles in the New Testament": the letters of Paul were written BEFORE the gospels were written, and if the letters of Peter and James were authentic (which they probably aren't), they probably would have been too. Even more important, the gospels themselves are "filters" -- not transparent windows through which Jesus can be seen without intermediaries, but "the later apostles'" versions of Jesus and his teachings, written in service of the later 1st century churches' needs. Also, the gospels present Jesus as a "wrathful prophet who is judgmental, divisive, and opposed to any notion of liberalism" -- not that "liberalism" was a concept that would have had any meaning in the first century. The Jesus of the gospels is a fire-breathing, hell-fire and brimstone, end of the world preacher, eagerly anticipating the wretched fate of unbelievers in the fire that is not quenched, the worm that is not sated. ("Forgiving"? Not on your life, baby.) And believers would be few, according to the gospels: the gate to safety is narrow, and few find it, while the road to perdition is wide. And so on. Obviously Hart has not bothered to read the gospels in a while, if he ever did. Even nastier here is Hart's anti-Jewish use of the "Old Testament" as a metaphor for what he doesn't like. The Old Testament prophets were a varied lot, and there's as much peace, love, and understanding in their writings as there are threats of punishment. (And even there, they are not threats of *eternal* punishment -- the afterlife is a New Testament concern.) Hart doesn't know the Hebrew Bible either. So he really should think twice before casting the first stone at anyone else. Duncan Mitchel Subject: Re: Huffington Post on Bush He states that Bush has committed an impeachable crime. He's right, but, what will be done? It's great and grand of all of you to post and post and post, again, the crimes and travesties of not so much Bush's actions (simply because he does nothing), but those in the back room. But, what will be done about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Who will do it? No one. Because if you adhere to the words of Harold Pinter, posted by your site, We (Americans) are the criminals. Our entire culture is criminal. We raised Bush. Feed him, nurtured him by all we represent. Symbol of liberty and freedom...my ass. Tres Falls Subject: Excuses; Excuses WHATEVER IT IS, WHATEVER QUESTION IS ASKED....THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S ANSWER IS THE SAME, it's 9/11!!! CONDI DID HER SAME WORD DANCE, AS SHE DID DURING THE 9/11 INVESTIGATION, saying little, dancing a lot, and we even learned a new excuse on "Meet The Press," "I'm not a lawyer" and the old Bush stand-by, "SO I CAN'T ANSWER THAT!" Bush{dictator in his own mind}, BROKE THE LAW, took it upon himself to NOT Follow the law! HOW MUCH IS THIS ADMINISTRATION GOING TO GET AWAY WITH BEFORE WE SLAP THEM DOWN, as they time and time again SKATE AWAY from Corruption without consequences! Here is a real eye-opener posted on the website "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING." Just a #@%*& Piece of Paper! Read and Weep! It's Much More Than Just NSA Spying (thiscantbehappening.net) Susan Carr Subject: Proposal of National Strike Against Bush's Tyranny! Dr. Johnson said "...the last refuge of scoundrels is politics and religion..." Enough of these mental and moral midgets, especially the brain-dead Bush/Cheney/DeLay scoundrels. Therefore I propose a Day of National Strike, each month, called by e-mail and cell phones. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: When the Dust Settles, the True Numbers of Wounded May Leave Us Shaken! My estimates for Iraqi Wounded May Be Way Off … It’s time for an investigation! Last year, we heard projections of war wounded that ran between 12,000 and 15,000. That sounds like a lot of wounded men considering that we had about 130,000 troops active in Iraq and not all of them assigned to combat roles. Yet as the civilian adviser to Kerry for Veterans Affairs in Southern Delaware, I discovered that it was virtually impossible to get the true figures. The reason: Each service reports its own wounded. On top of that, accidental wounds are separated from wounds incurred during combat which further serves to complicate the question. Why, I wondered, would they go through so much trouble to complicate the process of getting answers to what seemed for all intents and purposes a pretty straight-forward question. Based on what I saw and was hearing, I had a feeling that our projections were totally off and I said so. In fact, according to my projections, I suggested that we may be off by 300% in the number of totally wounded and I made that announcement more than six months ago. I left it at that. But tonight, I got some new input. I was watching Tom Brokaw’s To War and Back on NBC where he chronicles the experience of just an average group going to war. In the original group of National Guard from upper New York State, the show covered the war experiences of just seven men. In the end, of the seven who went to war, three came home unscathed physically, three bore life-changing wounds, and one died. That means of the seven, 57% were either killed or wounded. Was that an anomaly? . Not according to the fact that they were a pretty average group doing a pretty average job under combat conditions. That got me to thinking. For the sake of argument, let’s say that even if they were 20% off from the norm, let’s deduct 20% from our total to cover probability. Let’s assume then that only 46% of troops were either dead or wounded. Now, we have been in Iraq about 3 years. Since the average tour is 12 months, let’s extrapolate that that means only 400,000 troops got to serve in this theatre; that’s extremely conservative because we know that such rotations typically involve many more men than just the gross numbers quoted by the military to fill out the ranks both prior to and after a rotation. If we apply our yardstick of 46% of 400,000 troops, That means that 184,000 troops may have been killed or wounded; but we already know that only 2,100 troops have been killed. In other words, this rough estimate means that nearly 182,000 troops could be lying injured in field bases through-out the world with no one being the wiser. What all of this means is that my minimal estimate of nearly 50-55,000 wounded may be off by a factor of nearly four; it would mean that the government’s estimates are off by an error of more than 90%. That’s a big error any way you slice it! And this doesn’t take into consideration the fact that the number of incidents has increased from a few to literally hundreds per day, upping the ante. I think based upon these rough calculations, a new investigation into the truth about the wounded is justified. And I think it can be achieved now before we are overwhelmed with dead and wounded we didn’t even know about. A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: Rove/Documents Interesting reporting about Rove 'possibly' destroying or hiding evidence in the Valerie Plame leak case... Ya think?! Who was it who gave those in the White House at least 12 hours head start to shred documents in the case? Did Karl Rove Hide or Destroy Evidence in Plame Case? (Counterpunch) A BuzzFlash Reader Subject: What Tevya Really Said in "Fiddler on the Roof," as Applied to Bush Well, what he said (in the Broadway show, anyway) is, "May G-d bless and keep the Tsar--far away from us!" Lori Subject: Patients vs. Profits Hello, Below is from today's AP. The Republicans don't care about patients suffering from no oxygen, they are just concerned with the profitability of oxygen companies!!
KEITH GORDON Subject: Down in the Valley Remember that old song, Down in the valley, Here we are down in that valley looking up at the high ground we used to occupy. Our government has put us down here and, like sheep put out to graze, we mostly just accept our move to lower pastures. As long as some hot air bag politician tells the citizens of this country that they are the “Greatest” people in the “Greatest” nation in the world, they’re content. We want to like ourselves. We tell each other how wonderful we are. Much of the rest of world has come to quite a different conclusion. (Invading little pip squeak countries that never did anything to you and killing lots of their citizens tends to give those who dislike us some really hefty anti-American talking points.) Thus our descent into the valley when we used to hold the peaks. We think we are a great people and are spreading democracy around the world. But it looks as if, like the bumper sticker says: “We are Creating Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them.” America is the land of the free and the home of the illegally wiretapped. We set up a system in Iraq where voters take their life in their hands to vote while losing our freedoms here at home on an almost daily basis. The 9/11 Commission says we are no safer than we were on 9/12. Considering all the lives lost, the money spent, and the disdain that a good portion of the world now has for us, this is the best we can do? What has this government done for us? Are our lives better than they were before Bush was placed in the White House by 5 members of the Supreme Court? The people of this country need to take a good, long and candid look at their country. Honestly, without worrying about being a democrat or a republican, a liberal or a conservative. Because if you can honestly say that this country is not headed in the wrong direction, then you deserve the country you will get. And believe me, it won’t be the land of the free and the home of the brave. It will be the land of the scared airheads who traded freedom for a theocratic dictatorship. You choose. Marjorie L. Swanson CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE DECEMBER 19, 2005 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG |
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