BuzzFlash Mailbag for April 13, 2009

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Subject: His Body of Work is Just Not Up to ASU Standards

I think I need a bit more explanation from Arizona State University about their honorary degree program. I just checked out the list of honorees since 1946 and most of them I have never heard of probably because the only thing they ever did was graduate from ASU or raise a lot of money which I guess are right up there with being the First Black president of the United States at 47. There is just so much a guy can do in 47 years.

"University spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said Tuesday that the University awards honorary degrees to recognize individuals for their work and accomplishments spanning their lifetime. ‘Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time,' Keeler said."

They gave one to the Honorable Kim Campbell the first woman Canadian Prime Minister and she only served 132 days, but she must have done something else. The gave one to Lawrence Douglas Wilder, who was the First African American elected governor of a state (Virginia) while in the middle of his campaign for Mayor of Richmond, which he won. The President of the Navajo Nation got one while he was serving.

The first woman governor of Arizona got one, while she was serving. Barbara McConnell Barrett got one and she helped Reagan engineer the firing of Air Traffic Controllers and served in both the Reagan and first Bush Administration.

They say they don’t give them to politicians while they are serving in elected office. Mo Udall got one while in office and Barry Goldwater got one not only while he was in office, but while he was running for President. They gave one to Henry Cisneros while he was serving as the first Hispanic elected as Mayor of a major city, San Antonio. Rudy Campbell was mayor of Tempe. Sandra Day O’Connor got one as the first woman on the Supreme Court while she was serving.

I enjoy his films, but I am not sure any of Blake Edwards films are on the par with managing to become the first Black President of the United States at 47. J. William Seidman got one and he was with the FDIC and now he is a commentator of CNBC.

Pat Buchanan says he guesses he is a partisan, but he gets ASU’s point. Has he checked out past winners? Some names are really familiar; Pearl Bailey in 1989, Edward Albee, the playwright, Leontyne Price was one of the first Black Opera singers, Martha Graham was a choreographer, Erma Bombeck, Hugh Downs and Steve Allen got honorary degrees. All of these people are great and deserved honorary degrees for service and their accomplishments.

I guess George W. Bush just devalued the office of the president because it was an honor at one time on at least the level of the guy who sells bee pollen as an age reducer or the mayor of Tempe or even 132 days as the First Woman Prime Minister of Canada.

What do you suppose a guy of 47 would have to do to make his body of work up to the ASU standards? He graduated from Columbia, worked as a community organizer, was a civil rights attorney, graduated from Harvard Law School where he was head of the Law Review, taught Constitutional Law, was a state senator, a US senator and elected the First Black President of the Untied States all before his 48th birthday. If he were 60 and had done all that would he get one?

Oh yeah, he hasn’t donated money to ASU and someone else had already been the First Black Governor and he couldn’t qualify as the first Hispanic or female anything. He isn’t a Canadian citizen so he couldn’t be Prime Minister. I guess not having served as Mayor of Tempe, owning a sports team, running Pepsi or selling bee pollen as an age reducer just knocks him off the list.

ASU must be controlled by the GOP because they gave awards to other minorities and women so they aren’t sexist or racist. They have also given honorary degrees to people serving in elected office so that isn’t the reason.

Yes, they must be controlled by the GOP and are just saying “no” to everything like all the other Republicans. At least they haven’t given one to anyone named Bush.

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok

PS: The right is going nuts because the President has not been to church since his inauguration. Reagan didn't go at all during his presidency.

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Subject: Vatican turns down Caroline Kennedy as US Ambassador

Gee, the Vatican doesn't want the daughter of the first Catholic US President as an ambassador.

I wonder if JFK and RFK are looking down and shaking their heads, wondering what their church has come to.

Mike Curtis
Greenbrier Ark

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Subject: FOXNews.com - Those Who Forget History... - Glenn Beck

I watched this Glenn Beck show on Fox News last night and I'm convinced this man is ready for the rubber room. Beck spent a lot of time running down Woodrow Wilson and FDR. Beck claims Wilson and FDR started us on the road to fascism. He didn't say it, but he insinuated President Obama wants to turn the United States into a Fascist state or country.

If I were face-to-face with Glenn Beck, I would have only a couple of questions for him. Does anyone in your family take advantage of Medicare? Does anyone in your family take advantage of Medicaid? Are there any veterans in your family and if so do they take advantage of the Veterans Affairs Administration? If Beck answered "yes," I would then ask him if he knows that all of these programs were started by Democrats. Maybe he would start crying again like he did the other day on his program.

Bill
Chicago

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Subject: About the Vatican Rejecting Caroline Kennedy as Ambassador

Dear President Obama:

I have just left the Easter Sunday vigil at a Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother.

When a went to my computer, I saw this headline: "Vatican rejects Caroline Kennedy as Vatican ambassador," ostensibly for her pro-choice views.

I am outraged at the audacity of the Vatican. Do they not realize that this position as ambassador is a state position and not one that is based on morality? How should any nation reject any country's ambassador?

Here is the problem. Catholics call themselves "Pro-Life" if they oppose abortion. That is not correct philosophically. Pro-Life means that no human being shall take the other human being's life (and a fetus is not a human being until it leaves the womb). So, if Catholics are really Pro Life, they must oppose not just abortion, but also capital punishment and unjust wars like Iraq. Technically, the Catholic Church opposes Capital Punishment. That is in the catechism, yet many of their previous ambassadors, including those under George W. Bush, have been pro-capital punishment. Where was the outrage then?

Pope John Paul II recognized this, but the present leader -- who calls himself an intellectual -- is unable to understand this dichotomy.

My suggestion to you, Mr. Obama, is that you abolish the state position of ambassador to the Vatican. The Vatican is a state, but they have problems distinguishing between a state and a church. You really have no reason for having that position anyway. It is not like we have diplomatic relations with the Vatican on any issues.

I do realize that this could create problems with some Catholics in the United States who voted for you. However, if you must appoint someone, select an anti-abortion person=C 2 who follows the Jewish or the Protestant faith. That would create an interesting dilemma for the Catholics who say that only Roman Catholics can enter heaven.

In addition, I recommend that you reject any Vatican ambassador to the United States who does not follow the law of the United States, which is pro-choice. Make them select a pro-choice ambassador, or reject theirs just as they have rejected yours.

I will not speak about the pope, for whom I have no use on many levels. One of these is that he has denied what investigators have found are serious analysis: Joseph Ratzinger served for the Nazis under Adolph Hitler. He said that it was in the youth army, and then that he escaped and went home after a few years. All he had to say was that he was afraid of not serving, and we would have believed him. Unfortunately, he does not follow the commandment about telling the truth.

By falling down to the Vatican demands, you will look like you are caving in to the Catholics , and that makes you look weak. Stick to your guns!

Sincerely,

Hugh Conrad

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Subject: Panic and the party of NO

Paranoid Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, to name a few, along with the party of NO, have been blind-sided, and rendered powerless by President Obama. Why? Because he has shown to us and the world that he is not a politician, and yes, he is a statesman.

What are they to do? Being that they don't have a statesman in their midst and none to be seen for miles and miles, along with NO good ideas of their own, this has put them in a panic mode. So frightened that they resort to a childlike manner and throw perfectly good tea bags into bodies of water. What the heck???

Maybe if they take time to calm down, listen to reason and not give Limbaugh and his ilk the platform to do the talking for them, they might come up with an idea or two that would be worth listening to.

Panic the Party of NO, will get you NO where!

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Prop 8

So Iowa and Vermont have legalized gay marriage, while other states move in the same direction.... but such a step was far too radical for California?

Read these two articles, and try to reconcile the situation that they both describe with what allegedly went down in California--and, even more surprisingly, in L.A. County--on Election Day: the passage of Prop 8.

In fact, there is no evidence that Prop 8 passed, although there is persuasive evidence that it did not. And now, as further evidence, there's this great national surge of grass-roots tolerance toward gay marriage. How this shift could somehow not include a county that is one of the most liberal in the USA is a mystery, to put it mildly.

This is reminiscent of the Terry Schiavo travesty in March of 2005, when four out of five Americans expressed strong disapproval of the push by Tom DeLay and other Christianist fanatics to jam that feeding-tube back into Schiavo's barely living body. One of those fanatics was George W. Bush, who actually cut his vacation short to sign the law that had been dashed off by DeLay et al.

So roughly 80% of the American people hollered "NO!"--less than four months after Bush was "re-elected," we were told, by an aroused majority of "values voters."

To put it bluntly, that did not compute. Such voters were, in fact, a fringe majority back then (as quite a lot of evidence made clear already, and as lots more has made even clearer since).

And now, again, we see a social movement that belies the dubious official numbers from a previous election--numbers that we have no reason to believe in any case, since they were generated by computerized voting systems run by private companies with a partisan agenda.

So maybe it's now time for activists throughout the gay community to take a good hard look at the results re: Proposition 8. Because what happened there may not have been a gross repudiation of gay rights, but a massive breach of Californians' voting rights. And if that's the case, it's yet another grave injustice that those voters have been taking all the blame.

Mark Crispin Miller

p.s. If you're interested in seeing some of that abundant evidence of massive fraud in the 2004 election, start with the essays in Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008.

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Subject: Larry O'Donnell Should Get a Spot on MSNBC

Here's why MSNBC should give Lawrence O'Donnell the 10pm slot: Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of Pat Buchanan on Hardball:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdykMM1W7I4&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of Rep. Eric Cantor on Morning Joe:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29772232#29772232

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out Mitt Romney & Mormonism on the Mclaughlin Group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aWjIpkxcak&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of Sarah Palin on Morning Joe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD_e4yTQpg8&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of House Republicans on Countdown (with a little help from Nancy Pelosi's tax trap):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkXPdO6RRu0&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of Dick Cheney on Countdown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqn6avsyMmc&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of Lawrence Eagleburger on
Morning Joe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYPiznY4sIE&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of Sarah Palin's (again) on 1600 w/ David Gregory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW7tj-yo1sQ&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of the GOP on Morning Joe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upAD8EsLEVI&feature=player_embedded

Lawrence O'Donnell Smacks the S**t Out of McCain's Hate Campaign on Rachel Maddow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuZfapUamsc&feature=player_embedded

Oh, and have you read his piece the reaction to Mitt, Mitt's Mormonism and Mormonism's racism, 'polygamy and sex with very young girls' & other weird s**t? If not, you should. It's called Romney & Me.

Joshua Epstein

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Subject: Some of us didn't give Dubya a honeymoon, either.

Lunatic Fringefolk vs The “No” Party Tea Sippers

I hear on April 15 the Tea Parties will commence. There are a lot of people saying that the left didn’t do to Dubya what the right is doing to Pres. Obama. You would be wrong, but I don’t plan to apologize for my participation. I even made myself a vest type thing that said something like “member of the Oklahoma lunatic fringe”. Dubya himself talked about that tiny fringe that just wouldn’t “get over” his theft of the election.

The link that had pictures of all those fringefolk is no longer on line. We were not very nice, but I am not sure we were as nasty as the Compassionate Conservative diehards of today. I was on my way back from a votermarch.org event in Miami, Dec 12, 2000 when the Supreme Court negated the states rights of Florida and gave the election to Dubya. I know the GOP trumping states rights doesn’t sound right, but that is exactly what they did. We didn’t even want Dubya to have a wedding, much less a honeymoon.

The Tea Sippers have several advantages we did not have. For one we didn’t have a “fair and balanced?” national network spouting our talking points. We did not have dozens, if not hundreds of talking heads supporting us and we had no liberal radio stations. We didn’t even have the leadership of the Democratic Congressional Caucuses on our side, except maybe the Congressional Black Caucus.

We were protesting the treatment of poor folk and the tea sippers want sympathy for the rich folk.

We were but a few, especially in Oklahoma. Even our presidential candidate told us to “get over it” for the good of the country and now it seems our president is asking us to “get over it and forgive and forget it” things like torture and all kinds of things worse than stealing an election.

We were all supposed to meet at the Oklahoma City Federal Building to protest the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2001 and it was cold, really cold and Calvin Rees and I nearly froze to death during our two-people protest. Later we joined about 10 others at the state capital where the police made us put down our signs because we didn’t have a permit. We had a good time and I met my good friend Jim Nimmo in person. I don’t think Calvin and Jim joined Fringefolk, but I did.

Some people do not believe this but the Bush Administration came up with “free speech zones” almost immediately after, if not before the inauguration. My first experience with them was at the Bob Bullock Museum dedication on April 27, 2001 in Austin, Texas. Three of us went from Oklahoma City. Every time we made it to where the “free speech zone” was supposed to be a police officer would send us somewhere else. That happened at least 3 times. The idea was to divide the protestors.

There were not a lot of us, but we were loud. They lined up two rows of school buses between us and Dubya. People told us they could hear us on TV while he was speaking. Over at the Governor’s mansion where his majesty was having lunch, about 50 of us were rushed by mounted police officers and one of them spit at me because I called him Bull Connor. I am sure he was much too young to know who that was. Here are links to some articles from the Austin Statesman.

4/27/01 Protestors march on Guadelupe street.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?SecID=2&ArID=5435

There was a free speech zone.

5/24/01 Protestors suing the city of Austin

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?SecID=2&ArID=7561

A woman named Priscilla, John Gordon and I were there. John has some video, but not of the event. We were in a small triangle, with one tree and a parking lot behind us, a line of about 20 police motorcycles parked on one side, and across the street on the other side was the governor’s mansion with enough police officers to mount a coup. There were four mounted police officers. We were not blocking the side walk.

1/14/03 The trial.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?SecID=2&ArID=58148

"Questions about the validity of the election process. Also, sanctions against the people of Iraq and the impact it had on people's lives and the economic policies of the President," Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project said.

The officers on horse back rode into the group and I know one girl in a wheelchair was pinned against the tree. No one from Oklahoma was hurt, but we were scared and really angry. I have the name of the officer who rode his horse up to me and spat at me. Indi-media was there and I was interviewed and gave a written testimony, but was not called to testify.

1/17/03 Protestors lose case in city

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?SecID=2&ArID=58433

7/17/06 Re-Trial begins.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/?SecID=278&ArID=166795

7/20/06 Protestors rights were violated.

http://www.texascivilrightsproject.org/newspub/clip_060720_city_violates_rights.html

On May 18, 2001 we had a VotersRights march in DC and Dubya went to Camp David. A few of us went from Oklahoma City. There were a lot of veterans at this protest. One of the issues we were protesting was Dubya’s tax cuts for the wealthy and now the Tea Sippers want to keep those tax cuts. Some Democrats voted for those tax cuts twice.

It is strange how things change, but they have the support of the GOP and we didn’t have the support of the congressional Democratic leadership. The website with the pictures of the Fringefolk is no longer there.

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok

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Subject: They're coming to take you away haa ha hee hee ho ho.......

If Obama continues to ignore the crimes of the bush administration he could find himself an accessory to crime and if he continues with bush policies he will be just as guilty as Bush. Breaking news: Indictment of Bush Officials May Come in Days Newsweek Breaks Shocking New Revelations About Disappeared Persons From Pinochet to Bush, the Path to Prosecution

Publicizing the indictment movement requires placing newspaper ads, organizing national call-in days to pressure Congressional representatives, intensive media work, teach-ins and educational forums. Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush. * The imminent indictment in Spanish courts of former officials of the Bush Administration is being applauded by civil and human rights organizations and legal scholars. The popular wave of support for indictment of Bush officials will inevitably lead to Bush himself.

* Newsweek Magazine blew open more shocking news about Bush' system of kidnapping, secret prisons and torture. A secret Red Cross report indicates that many kidnapped and tortured people were turned into "disappeared persons" by the CIA under instructions from Bush and Cheney. A former Bush administration official told Newsweek's Michael Isikoff that the information had been hidden from the Red Cross. "The majority of the people in the CIA program are unaccounted for. We don't know what happened to them," a human rights investigator told Isikoff.

* Like Bush, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, thought his power would shield him from criminal prosecution when his regime kidnapped and tortured and assassinated individuals who became known as the "disappeared." It was when Spanish courts brought indictments against Pinochet that everything changed. As Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights said, "the importance of this investigation [in Spain] can not be understated. Contrary to statements by some, the Spanish investigations are not 'symbolic.' Just ask Augusto Pinochet, who was stranded under house arrest in England and who ultimately faced criminal charges in Chile because of the pressure of the Spanish courts. If and when arrest warrants are issued, 24 countries in Europe are obligated to enforce them. The world is getting smaller for the torture conspirators.”

Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General has called for the prosecution of Bush and other high officials in the United States, stating, "The greatest danger arising from impunity for President Bush and his cohorts would be that all subsequent officials will feel secure in committing the same crimes and the people, having failed to compel impeachment for such open, notorious and egregious crimes, will feel even more helpless to prevent them. Ultimately the power and the responsibility to prevent criminal acts by government is with the people."

Now is the time for massive outreach and publicity. This requires newspaper ads, organizing national call-in days to pressure Congressional representatives, intensive media work, teach-ins and educational forums, and providing literature for people of conscience to distribute in cities and towns across the country. Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush. There is no time to spare. The time to act is now and we will.

--All of us at IndictBushNow.org

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/PageServer?pagename=IndictmentReferendum

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Internet Rankings are Massively Gamed

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/04/internet-rankings-are-massively-gamed.html

George Washington
California

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Subject: FOX

I broke the promise I made to myself NEVER to watch Fox News, but this morning I thought I would take a peek at "Fox and Friends." I almost fell out of bed when I heard the dimwits who anchor the program say that a survey of Fox News viewers indicates the "MOST POPULAR STORY OF THE DAY" is whether President Obama bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia. OMG!

You mean to tell me with all that is going on with the economy and 5 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq today, the Fox News viewers think the "MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF THE DAY" is whether Obama bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia? No wonder Fox News viewers are considered the dumbest people in America. I thought Rush Limbaugh's "dittoheads" were the dumbest, but Fox News viewers have taken over first place.

Bill

[BuzzFlash Note: Most popular or most important? Not the same ... but the two audiences are probably comprised of the same people, more or less.]

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Subject: Obama DOJ Invokes State-Secrets Privilege

UNFORTUNATELY TOO MUCH OF OBAMA'S "progressive IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING" NOW reveals himself as "............... without clothes ("NON UNION-MADE")???????????????

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/705

A BuzzFlash Reader

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