BuzzFlash Mailbag for May 4, 2009

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Subject: Torture, religion and Hannity

Dear BuzzFlash:

We just returned from a mini-vacation out west to New Mexico and being from Northwest Arkansas that requires the majority of time travelling being spent on I-40. Not far east of Amarillo, in a little burg called Groom, Texas, is a huge cross that purports to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere. It's well placed as far as visibility is concerned, as the Texas Panhandle is flat and offers enormous vistas extending to the horizon. It's beautiful in its sparseness, and for those who want to clear their minds and get out into the "open", so to speak, it's hard to beat.

But naturally, a gaudy classical-age torture device has to mar the prairie/semi-arid grassland, promising a beautiful spiritual experience for travellers along the interstate. Please spare me.

On the other side of the road in the same town is a water tower off its base and leaning at about a 70 degree angle. Kinda like zealotry, if you ask me. Askew and off balance. So we have a religion that has taken a horrible torture device, used it as the symbol for its message of Christian love, and hid behind it to sanctify the Crusades, which still continue today, as far as I'm concerned, sanctify torture of other humans simply because they aren't Christian, which is about the only substantial crime most detainees are guilty of, and spread hate of gays while being peculiarly hush-hush about polygamy and child sex crimes.

I think those suspected of crimes against the country should be detained, but they should be given due legal process, with timely hearings, legal support, and treated with dignity, not tortured as a means of interrogations. Sean Hannity, who is a big fan of James Dobson and other right-wing lunatics, sounds tough enough, but I must confess that I'd love to see him waterboarded as he said he's willing to do. I'd ask him questions like "Do you hate anybody who disagrees with you on any issue?" "Do you favor elimination of 1st Amendment rights for anybody who disagrees with you?" And "Do you have a mind of your own?" Put your money where your fat mouth and fat head is, if you think torture is such a keen idea. Where can we get front row seats?

Scott
Fayetteville, Ar.

Subject: "Swine Flu" vs Hurricane Katrina

Generally speaking, President Obama and his administration have received very acceptable comments about the way they have handled the "Swine" Flu issue.

It was rather surprising then the other day to happen upon some video of Michael Brown (formerly of FEMA and Hurricane Katrina) mismanagement fame criticizing the way the Obama Administration reacted and handled the issue.

This is just so rich in irony and disbelief. The Bush Administration did nothing, absolutely nothing, to help the people of NO after Hurricane Katrina for several days, ALTHOUGH they were WARNED about it several days ahead of it. Boy, does this that sound familiar? Remember in 2001, the Bush Administration was forewarned about another potential disaster and did nothing until after it happened. That resulted in 9-11.

We are still dealing with that botched mess, to include parts of NO still not being rebuilt and the decision to launch wars on two countries, neither of which really did anything to us. Afghanistan doesn't really count as it just happens to be the location where OBL is "alleged" to be hiding.

Which brings up another important issue. I was looking at the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist again the other day. Although OBL is on the list he is not wanted in connection with 9-11. That can only mean, despite Bush declaring him the responsible party, that the FBI has no evidence to back that up.

Gee, where have we heard those kind of lies? From the mouths of literally anyone remotely connected with the Bush Administration.

It is galling to see how deferential the MSM is with all of the GOP analysts, pundits, and politicians and not bringing up facts to them. Of course, it doesn't do any good to bring up facts because they put such a wild curve on it.

Michael Brown criticizing the Obama Administration for "Swine" Flu -- after he and his buddies were warned warned about the potential for catastrophe in NO and chose not to do anything.

That is too much for any thinking person to digest.

Lisa Johnson
Tacoma, WA

Subject: Bad word choice

Hi, Buzz!!

I take issue with your headline that says "the faithful" approve of torture. No doubt there are studies saying that the rabid right-wing of the evangelical persuasion approves of torture, but please don't tar us all with the same brush.

Why the Faithful Approve of Torture -- Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" Holds Clues

I'm one of the faithful, and I do NOT approve of torture, and nobody I go to church with does, either. Nobody can who takes Jesus seriously: He told us to pray for our enemies and do good to them. We are forbidden to hate. We are forbidden to judge. We are forbidden to do harm. We are commanded to love God and our neighbors - and He makes it very clear that "our neighbors" means everybody.

Jesus Himself was tortured to death, which is itself sufficient reason to disapprove of torture. A person who professes Christianity and does not consider torture evil is, at the very least, a bad Christian. Such a person is a hypocrite, and nothing got Jesus bent out of shape more than hypocrisy.

"The faithful" do not approve of torture. Some people who go to church may, but going to church doesn't make you a Christian.

Jane Hawes
Edmond, OK (red-state Democrat)

[BuzzFlash Note: That headline came from Newsweek's response to the polling done by the Pew Research Center. Their polling also showed white evangelical Protestants most accepting of torture while "white mainline Protestants" were less accepting of torture than the total US population overall.]

Subject: Holy Helicopters

HOLY HELIPORTS! & HALLELUJAH HELICOPTERS! The New Status Symbol for the Megachurch Pastor

Despite economic hard times, religious right megachurch pastors (the same who successfully placed Bush into office) have acquired a new divine appetite for expensive status symbols: helicopters and heliports. Megachurches with memberships ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 have launched satellite churches in surrounding communities serviced by the same pastoral staff; thus, the need for speedy transport. Helicopters fit the bill.

The current cost of helicopters range from $500,000 used to $2,000,000 new, and helicopter pilots' median salaries range near $82,000. Factor fuel and maintenance plus the cost of heliports for respective sanctuaries and parsonages places the total bottom price tag at an ungodly $2,000,000 per year.

Pastors in Springdale and Harrison in the 3rd poorest state, Arkansas, have joined the trend. Federal Way, Washington; Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and several other cities with megachurches boast helicopters & ports for their pastors to commute. Perhaps it's a means to look "presidential" or to build a powerful image ... or to outdo other ministers in the competition for souls.

But perhaps Jesus isn't pleased.

A church that spends $2 million + on helicopters is a church bound for heliport -- not exactly a heavenly destination. How many homeless living on their streets could be housed and fed? Millions are spent on tax-exempt preachers' toys and little for medical care and research? How Christ-like is that?

http://www.churchsolutionsmag.com/hotnews/church-to-build-heliport-to-transport-pastors.html

Many outside fundamentalist circles do not recognize what an impact this false doctrine of American derivative has had, not only on the church, but on the U.S. as a nation. Why do I write such? Because the very ones who have misled our nation into war and depression based on absolute lies and greed are advocates of this doctrine and believe that anything they "confess with their mouths," whether true or false at the time, will come true in due time if followers just keep repeating the propaganda and believe Jesus favors them over others.

The 9/11 event reinforced the grip of religion on America, perhaps by design rather than coincidence. Hence, the religious further propelled the anti-intellectual president to more power. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. Humans naturally turn to religion in times of crisis even when the turning point is artificially manufactured. In the book GOD IS BACK, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, describe America's religious revival which I attribute for the most part to the traumatic event 9/11 (most probably engineered by the same perpetrators of constitutional violations).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Rosin-t.html

Religious right dogma spread across the land, Bush was reinforced, and America endured eight long years of incompetent, corrupt leadership followed by a yet immeasurable period of recovery, possibly generations.

But the history of the religious right's power during those years must be remembered.

One well-known megachurch pastor, John Hagee of San Antonio, claimed on national TV God had informed him Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and George Bush was sent by God to invade Iraq. Watch actual footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP4PIQXUOLY

Hagee's congregation, The Cornerstone Church of San Antonio, which promotes ethnic cleansing in Israel (evict the Palestinians) and Armageddon, is frequently visited by Tom DeLay, Don Evans, Karl Rove and several other key former Bush cabinet members and has had as key guest speakers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. Recall John McCain's 2008 visit and Hagee's endorsement?

These are the religious right which fueled George W. Bush and encouraged him to make war. This is his base without which he could have never achieved the distinct accomplishment of devastating America.

This is ground-zero of the matter. Most people probably couldn't put their finger on it at the time, but here is a revelation: America was plagued by a great delusion that transformed the fundamentalist movement into a Republican tool which, in turn, seduced the nation into never-ending, unwinnable conflicts and a historic economic downturn.

"I'm so glad we got a president that prays!"

How many times did you hear that refrain or similar during the years Bush was raping the nation?

A few years ago a friend's son was visiting acquaintances down in Dallas. They were in a children's hospital where the acquaintance was an intern. Somehow the conversation turned to Michael's "Fahrenheit 911" movie, and the Texas acquaintance abruptly asked, "But aren't you glad we've got a president in the White House who prays to God before making decisions?

My friend's son said he about gagged.

Haven't other presidents prayed? On the other hand, the difference is what Ron Reagan, Jr., pointed out in his father's eulogy: "True leaders don't wear their religion on their sleeves."

Busheviks act like their man is the first to ever honor God. No, he's one of the few to ever dishonor Him. He's made a mockery of Christianity; he's violated Christ's teachings which warn of piety and self-righteousness.

THE DAY BUSH STARTED THE WAR

Remember the day Bush announced war? Many people probably didn't recognize parts of "Fahrenheit 911" at the beginning and then later in the movie where George Bush and others of his administration were "grooming" for the big moment March 19, 2003.

Where did Michael Moore get his "live feeds" of Bush's team grooming for cameras the day of the announcement? It turns out the BBC "accidentally" let the cameras roll prematurely, and then Walt Disney technicians [who assisted Moore in making the movie] researched and discovered the feeds.

Bush's clown-like roving eyes would have meant little had they not been in motion just before he declared war, without provocation, on a sovereign nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s1odqQTKyU&feature=related

A Canadian journalist also reported Bush's behavior:

On the day the war began, March 19, 2003, he gave the air of joviality before giving the most important speech affecting mankind in a generation. Canadian journalist Kevin Lowe was at the White House at the time and reported:

Like some class clown trying to get attention from the back of the room, he started mugging for his handlers. His eyes darted back and forth impishly as he cracked faces at others around him. He pumped a fist and self-consciously muttered, 'FEEL GOOD!' which was interestingly sanitized into the much more and assertive, 'I'm feeling good' by the same Washington Post. He was goofing around, and there's only one way to interpret that kind of behavior just seconds before announcing war on Iraq: the man is an idiot.

http://www.davidcogswell.com/MediaRoulette/CloseupDog.html

A year before his call to war against Iraq, he made these remarks which were reported by TIME ON-LINE:

"F--k Saddam! We're taking him out!" Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America's Middle East allies. Bush wasn't interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in the short phrase. The Senators laughed uncomfortably; Rice flashed a knowing smile. The President left the room. (Michael Elliott and James Carney, "First Stop, Iraq," Time, on-line edition, March 23, 2003)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/040803.html

Now we realize, through thorough research and investigation, Bush and members of PNAC planned to invade Iraq long before GW stole the White House. All events were staged, including 9/11, leading up to it. He looked at war as a game, where the "pawns" (poor American kids) were sent into battle against someone who threatened his daddy, against a nation which happened to have the second largest oil reserves.

To forget how and what brought Bush to power is to give a permission slip for it to happen again. The religious right, un-Christ-like in "faith" and actions, is responsible. Their concerns are political influence, gleaming new buildings, satellite broadcasts, evicting Palestinians from their homes, and building heliports on-premise for their multi-million dollar helicopters.

If judgment is to begin at the House of God, surely they must repent, turn from their wicked ways, and return to the basic teachings of Jesus Christ.

Loren Adams
Fayetteville AR

Subject: Then and Now: Different?

"The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally." -- Carroll Quigley

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

"The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, because the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad." -- Hitler

"The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them more easy victims of a big lie than a small one, because they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell big ones. Such a form of lying would never enter their heads. They would never credit others with the possibility of such great impudence as the complete reversal of facts. Even explanations would long leave them in doubt and hesitation, and any trifling reason would dispose them to accept a thing as true. Something therefore always remains and sticks from the most imprudent of lies, a fact which all bodies and individuals concerned in the art of lying in this world know only too well, and therefore they stop at nothing to achieve this end." ~ Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." -- Herman Goering, one of Hitler's top Nazis, at the Nuremberg trials

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it . ~Adolph Hitler

The poor have never been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in [...] some decent government. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all." -- G.K. Chesterton

... The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. -- James Madison, Federalist 47,1788

D. Brown

Subject: College Kids and Condi Rice

In this video she is extremely defensive. If she should come to your college use Japan as an example of US not using torture because they did attack us and they did use torture and the US didn't. We did lock up Japanese citizens of the US and I am sure there were incidences of really bad treatment, but not like what we have just done to these prisoners.

Or you can use Britain as an example of not using torture while they were attacked for years and not just one incident where 3000 were killed.

The thing no one ever asks is, "Do you want this done to our soldiers, if captured, or would you want this done to your family member?" In the future if they do this to our kids, would you prosecute, even when they looked at you and said, "I did as you did and not as you said you did.

And she does say that if Bush said it was not against the law then it wasn't which is what Nixon said.

She couldn't have been more condescending with her "do your homework" crap or that if you weren't there then you don't know and never will.

She is trying to cover her own butt, even if she is putting Bush's out there to be flogged.

http://vodpod.com/watch/1576373-video-rice%E2%80%99s-tortured-excuse?pod=buzzflash

Karen Webb
Moore, OK

Subject: Orwell -- Churchill -- Eisenhower

"From the totalitarian point of view, history is something to be created rather than learned." -- George Orwell, Essay: "The Prevention of Literature" (1946)

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." -- George Orwell

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." -- Sir Winston Churchill

"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist." -- Winston Churchill

.....Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Unless We Stand Up and Demand Safe Meat Production, Next Time We WILL Have a Plague

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/aporkalypse-now.html

George Washington
California

Subject: The BS Legacy

Hi Buzz & Friends,

As we all know irony is symptom of devilish incoherence. That's what we're close to achieving in Iraq and is the biggest part of the BS legacy. What we've effectively achieved is to stamp out what little secularism that existed in the region for a fairy land democracy pitting the car bomb party against the suicide bombing party - both extreme religious factions. I don't blame Obama - you can't roll back an invasion and occupation of an erstwhile sovereign nation - or a looted economy for that matter. President Obama is correct to stay focused on the future, but taking the time to set the dogs on some high level perps. The torture clown could take the interim as an opportunity to shut his trap.

Instead of one of mankind's "greatest achievements" - which Nancy Pelosi assures me that it was - the establishment of the "Jewish" state of Israel has actually been a terrible failure that has kept nearly the entire region frozen in medieval times and perpetual religious conflict. We are secularists why should we inflict something else on other people? It has nothing to do with religious bias and everything to do with common sense. Government and religion mix like water and gasoline - with the same inherent dangers. There is consequently precious little of democracy to be seen anywhere in the region - and Americans should not believe the fantasy of "benevolent" royal families. Ask the Afghan merchant who got the royal cattle prod treatment in the UAE. The Saud royal family in "Saudi" Arabia is about as popular as a certain texan recently removed from Washington.

Tim Mooring
San Francisco

Subject: What's Missing Is A Culture Of Change

"Characterized by?"

"Our switching the subject from what's wrong and how to fix it to our vision of a peaceful and just world."

"What about analysis and debate?"

"Where's that gotten us?"

"How will our changing the subject make a difference?"

"We'll be putting out vision within everyone's reach."

"Based on?"

"Yes we can."

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Red Flag Republicans

Hi Buzz & Friends,

The Future of the G.O.P.

Will a senator’s defection and a justice’s retirement spur Republicans into action or greater torpor?

The headline and lead to this iNYT's opinion piece:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/weekend-opinionator-souter-specter-and-the-future-of-the-gop/

Note the use of the word torpor. The state of the republican party is far more akin to an angry pit of snakes than it is to being in a torpor. They variously want Obama to fail, have their state secede from the union, or are upset that the President actually shook hands with another elected president of the hemisphere. It seems the media is constantly waving a red flag at bullheaded republicans - as if they're not incensed enough as it is.

Obama failing has displaced the second coming of Christ and Armageddon as the most fervently prayed for event - amongst the several republicans. Snapping off the arm of the occasional interlocutor is about the only food they're getting these days as their other normal sources for sustenance have pretty much dried up. And the press is prodding the republican "party" to come out of its torpor?

I'm still holding out hoping that Holder is going to prosecute some bankers, regulators and auditors. The only one to be jailed so far is Madoff - and he's in jail because he didn't restrict his predations to the common herd - a deadly sin - at least on Wall Street and in Washington.

Apart from MSM's primary message to all Americans: take a pill, everything seems to be one kind of little circle-jerk or another. It's a primary void that almost requires an SSRI to venture into.

At the end of the cold war the west was tripping all over itself to reunite Germany. In spite of the fact that Koreans are just as cohesive a people as Germans - you'll rarely - if ever - hear a representative of a Western government or press mention reuniting Korea. We'd rather have that blustering little dilettante as an excuse for maintaining a large military presence in South Korea. It should be about Kim-thirty when the swine flu scare finally gets old.

Tim Mooring
San Francisco

Subject: Voting for a Real Dem in PA

Dear Sen. Reid,

We Pennsylvanians want to vote for a real Democrat for the U.S. Senate next year, not a recycled retrograde Republican like Arlen Specter. You appear to be having enough problems in Nevada, so why don't you focus on that while we Pennsylvania Democrats find a good candidate for next year's primary? If you are guaranteeing a Democratic endorsement of Specter in 2010, when he will be 80-years-old, you have to be crazy. See, Sen. Reid, we Pennsylvanians have a much harsher appraisal of Specter than you do.

First of all, while it is nice to have to that 60th vote, Specter has already become anathema to those of us in the Keystone State who are looking forward to voting for a true Democrat, someone like Joe Sestak, the retired admiral, or even Franco Harris, the former Pittsburgh Steeler who is a successful businessman in the city. In addition, Sestak and Harris voted for President Obama, unlike Specter.

Why are we upset with Specter? First, he opposes Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's choice for the Office of Legal Counsel, who is a superb intellect. Second, he voted against the President's budget. Third, he said today that he would not support the President's health care proposal if it places a public plan like Medicare against the private plans. Last, he opposes the union choice bill that Democrats have been planning to pass this session. That's four strikes, Sen. Reid.

Specter should bid adieu to the U.S. Senate, and I am one Pennsylvania Democrat who will work to make that happen. Do you forget some of Specter's horrible actions as a senator? First, he voted to confirm both John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Need I say more?

Well, just go back to his unprofessional grilling of Anita Hill, one that led to the seating of the worst Supreme Court justice in the past century, Clarence Thomas. I can go on and on, Sen. Reid, but I will not go further. Just realize that we are not marching in lockstep with you on the 2010 election, and while Ed Rendell says that he will support Specter, if things continue the way they are in Pa. Rendell will not have any political cred left in 2010.

From the grassroots, we will choose the Democratic candidate next spring, not you.

Sincerely,

Hugh Conrad
PA

Subject: Right-Wing Demagogues Are Cowards

"What makes this so?"

"Faced with social unrest they always go for scapegoating rather than attacking systemic causes."

"Why?"

"It's safer and easier."

"Anything else?"

"They're poisonous."

"And the antidote?"

"Change we can believe in."

"Based on?"

"Yes we can."

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Gay Marriage Poll

On KFOR in OKC they are having a gay marriage poll. Help us out and scare the crap out of OKC. It is down the page on the right.

http://www.kfor.com/

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok

Subject: On torture:

Personally, I think the Bush administration had to torture because they needed confessions quick from middle easterners to corroborate their explanation of the happenings on 9/11/01.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Of Failing Memories

Conservative columnist calls for GOP to remember Reagan. And the responses are priceless!!

to read the conservative columnist go to - http://voices.kansascity.com/node/4455#new

here are a few responses ...

Yeah, I DO remember Reagan Submitted by mommadillo on May 2, 2009 - 12:08pm.

He signed a treaty banning torture. Said something along the lines of:

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

and:

An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

and:

Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.

Thanks for reminding me. Sometimes I forget there used to be Republicans with actual principles. And yes, the modern-day GOP could certainly use a few more of those.

The column he was responding to: Remember Reagan? GOP needs optimistic leaders again

=================

here's another response.........

I remember him too

Submitted by apop on May 2, 2009 - 12:28pm.

He trashed the unions, thereby contributing to the destruction of the middle class.

He closed the mental hospitals, and our streets filled up with homeless people.

He had an agriculture secretary who wanted to make ketchup a vegetable to save money on school lunches.

His attorney general said "If a person is innocent of a crime, then he is not a suspect".

Some idiot in his administration thought the Beach Boys were a subversive group and shouldn't play on the White House lawn.

Then there was Iran Contra.

Yep, I remember Reagan. Good idea. Bring him back. Then even more Americans will understand why the GOP has lost its way and this didn't just begin with the last president.

================

and another...............

Ahhh the Reagan years... Submitted by dacme on May 2, 2009 - 1:17pm.

1. The savings rate went down drastically.

2. Taxes were shifted from the rich to the middle and working class.

3. The national debt increased ten fold and the US went from the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor.

4. The number of federal employees went up by 300,000.

5. Government spending increased.

6. Foreign aid increased.

7. The economy grew by little more than the post WWII average.

8. An we launched a new era in international terrorism by running away from Lebanon with our collective tail between our legs.

=================

Reagan's memory was failing: His supporters' memories are also.

Submitted by Skeptic on May 3, 2009 - 12:09am.

Reagan pushed the country into recession with his tax cuts, invaded Grenada, facilitated genocidal wars by Central American countries' governments against their own people, supported and armed Saddam Hussein, presided over the meltdown of the Savings and Loan industry, started the still-useless trillion-dollar money sump ("Star Wars" program), elevated that lying racist Rehnquist to Chief Justice and had many members of his top staff indicted.

What's not to like about the guy?

D. Mullaley

Subject: Truth to Torture

People,

You know all that stuff about torturing prisoners in order to "keep America safe from another attack"?

Another bald-faced lie.

Now we know that the whole Bush/Cheney torture program was designed NOT for the purpose of saving American lives, as has been so often and so deceitfully spoken until recent revelations belied the manipulative malice of these public pronouncements, but rather for a purely self-interested political purpose -- to provide a convenient excuse for a long-planned, illegal, immoral, and completely unjust war that was so profoundly perverse and stupid in its conception and intent that it could be launched no other way:

[Excerpts from a recent article by Robert C. Koehler, emphasis mine]

Indeed, Guantanamo interrogators, in 2002 and early 2003, were under pressure from way high up to "produce evidence" -- can you feel the moral drift here? -- that Saddam Hussein helped bring down the Towers so we could go to war with Iraq. This was when Khalid Sheik Muhammed was being waterboarded 183 times and Abu Zubaydah 83 times.

"The more frustrated people got in not being able to establish that link . . . there was more and more pressure to resort to measures that might produce more immediate results," the psychiatrist, Maj. Charles Burney, told Army investigators, according to the McClatchy story.

Let us pause the news cycle here and strip away the desperate delicacy of this language. The Gitmo intelligence crew was being told, from the highest levels of the Bush White House and the Pentagon -- think Cheney, think Rumsfeld -- to keep slamming these guys' heads against the wall, to keep pouring water down their throats, to keep tormenting them with dogs and insects, until they blubbered, in their pain and terror, a word or two that would justify the long-planned (and completely pointless) invasion of Iraq.

Raise your hand, stand up, step forward if you think a deep moral violation has occurred in this scenario: An American president, or at least his primary advisors, circumvent international and domestic law to permit the use of cruel and occasionally fatal interrogation techniques on Muslim detainees (sometimes randomly arrested and completely innocent), not for the purpose of mining them for actual information, which might have national security value, but to get them, sheerly, to lie as instructed.

And the only ones who want to investigate and prosecute this wicked, barbarous behavior and wholesale rape of the U.S. Constitution are accused by just about everyone in the mainstream media of being crazy, fringe, far-left liberals that nobody should take seriously anyway?

What ... what in the world ... has HAPPENED to us?

Those of us who care can do something: we can regularly contact Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama, and demand the immediate appointment of a well-funded, independent special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this devilish torture, brutality, murder, and mayhem proudly conceived and authorized by the highest U.S. government officials in the name of all Americans and to forward the cause of "freedom and democracy" (of all things).

Knowing what we now know, unless we vigorously oppose and protest such depraved criminality, do we not become complicit in it ourselves?

Contact info:-

Attorney General Eric Holder Office of the Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice Washington, D.C., 20530

Phone: 202-514-2001, 202-353-1555

Fax: 202-307-6777

Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Phone: 202-456-1111

Fax: 202-456-2461

Email form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Chris Borland

Subject: Arlen Specter

I’m sorry but I can’t get all excited over Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party, it was simply a typical slimy Republican tactic. It wasn’t a principled stand, it had nothing to do with integrity or honor, it was purely political self preservation. Specter knew he would be defeated in the Republican primary so he switched political parties. The word for that is hypocrisy; we already have too many hypocrites in Washington DC.

Cary
Cedar Park, Tx

Subject: Klean Kanteen offer

as a laid off american steelworker, please stick your chinese made water bottle where your free trade sun don't shine!!!!

Dan Morsillo
Sharon PA

Subject: Which pandemics are Repub related?

According to anti-history channel, anti-history class, anti-history fact check, anti-history googler and just plan accept anything coming from the far-right crusader, Michele Bachmann, it is interesting that the last time there was a swine flu pandemic it was in 1976 under another Democratic administration, Jimmy Carter. She isn't blaming Obama it is just interesting, except it was under the Ford administration.

According to the Jon Stewart show it should be interesting to Michele Bachmann that Republicans get Sars, Bird Flu, Legionnaire's Disease and AIDS. There is a valid point because Reagan didn't do much on AIDS until he was forced to.

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok

Subject: Wages

This whole debacle about the economy has happened before. Reagan did the same thing, and the results are the same. Workers lost their wages and big business benefitted. The banks are blackmailing the government into this scenario for fear of crashing the economy. I was "laid-off" in Jan of this year after trying to keep my "good" paying job for 6-1/2 years as a mechanical designer. I was a temporary employee the whole time for this company-no benefits no raises unless I threatened to quit. Now unemployment is demanding I accept a 15% lower paying job or else lose my benefits. I work in Texas.

I am totally outraged. My wife is handicapped, no social security because she didn't get diagnosed as handicapped in the 5 year no work period. She has Multiple Sclerosis. Will lose home after paying the banks for it 20 years. No savings or retirement plans. No insurance. Nothing to show for the work I did for 30 years. Aged 55 and what's next? Thanks republican Bastards.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: "This Particular Strain of Flu Got its Genetic Start on U.S. Hog Farms Back in the 1990s. That's According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control"

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/05/this-particular-strain-of-flu-got-its.html

Re: Stress Tests: A P.R. Stunt Devised by the Banking Industry

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/stress-tests-pr-stunt-devised-by.html

George Washington
California

Subject: liberation is soooo scarrrrry:

All the prisoners have not been formally charged with any "crime" and none has had access to any legal council or trial. An example: someone drew an anti-occupation graffiti on the wall of one neighborhood, all of the men in the age range of 15 to 45 of that same neighborhood were arrested the following day and imprisoned

http://www.arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Karen Webb ...

Great post...on the Mailbag. They do not think of it as torture...most of them still think that we had every right to invade Iraq...most do not even think of it as torture.

Because, mainly, they do not have to go through it...nor do they have any relatives going through it...so...they feel nothing for the other human beings that God made.

It would be a lot different, if one of those persons had to have a relative going into the war zone, like so many innocent Americans did, or for that matter, innocent Iraqis. So, many people, ignorantly, still think that Iraq did something to us...they are so blind! And it will never change...never.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Condoleezza Rice at Stanford

The Nixon Doctrine: Nothing is Illegal if the President Does It

Q: Is waterboarding torture?

RICE: The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture. So that's -- And by the way, I didn't authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency, that they had policy authorization, subject to the Justice Department's clearance. That's what I did.

Q: Okay. Is waterboarding torture in your opinion?

RICE: I just said, the United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture. And so by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.

Mark Crispin Miller
NYC

Subject: Why America Needs Two Parties

Arlen Specter leaving the Republican Party demonstrates the vacuum of ideas, not just Republican ideas, but the complete absence of well-thought-out alternative to Obama’s plans. Somebody needs to sit down with the Democrats and discuss the ramifications of the huge deficit we are leaving our children. Yes, sit down with them, but leave out the name-calling, the questioning of Obama’s patriotism, the character assassination, the potty-mouth, and the insistence that the only response to any Democratic suggestion is “No.”

I am a fan of Obama, and a lifelong Democrat, but I recognize the danger of one-party rule, and today, the only party opposed to the Democrats is dominated by people who use terms like “baby-killer” to define their opponents. Republican leaders insist on describing Democrats in the worst of all possible terms, ascribing to them the lowest motives and morals. This one-note symphony is all you hear.

After the Specter announcement, Republican leaders clearly resisted any self-analysis, and simply hurled insults: “Take McCain and his daughter with you,” and “We’re better off without him.” Republican ex-senator Rick Santorum couldn’t resist getting graphically profane, and before the day’s end, another Republican representative claimed that Democrats are responsible for Swine Flu.

Yes, Repubs just can’t lay off the name-calling. They call Obama a “socialist,” even though he’s presiding over the largest corporate giveaway in US history, with very few strings attached. That’s sad, because on this one point, the far left and right actually agree: The administration is too chummy with Wall Street and the banks. The thinkers of both sides of the aisle agree that the Administration’s solution to our economic woes is too bank-centric.

Now, in countries with a parliamentary system, what we’d be witnessing right now is a strategic alliance between the left and right, designed to rein in the Administration’s love affair with Wall Street. But for that to happen, the Republicans must put forth ideas, not just repeat the “lower taxes” mantra endlessly.

Will they change? No, because the people running the party believe their future lies in a firmer anti-gay and anti-abortion and anti-tax stand, rather than invite new thinking. In the coming days, look for more big-name Republican defections, followed by more glee from Steele and Limbaugh as the moderates flee in droves.

Jerome Heyes

Subject: Distasteful GOP Propaganda

I was tipped off to this 12-part series by someone on Facebook. This is Part One of the 12-part series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO16nPXNZfY

FYI: I didn't have the stomach to watch the rest of the eleven parts to this series. If you stick with the video to the end, you will see listed the rest of the eleven part series and you can click on any one of them and watch. I didn't and I have no interest in something that is filled with racial undertones.

I wonder if there will ever come a day when the Repukes come up with a plan to save this country or are they going to continue to attack Obama for everything he does or attempts to do without a single suggestion from the GOP on what should be done? Judging by FAUX NEWS and Rush Limpbrain, the answer to that question is: NO.

Bill
Chicago

Subject: Arlen Specter

There is a simple solution to the Specter problem. Just put a liberal democrat in the primary against him and let the people decide. Some of those middle of the road independents might actually like a liberal democrat over the turncoat candidate. And the right-wing nut may not stand a chance at all.

Turning to the other party through ambition is not new. Several people ran as democrats in earlier elections and switched to the republican party immediately after the election. And the republican party has been courting Lieberman for years. They even considered him for VP before Palin was 'discovered'.

My big question is that why is Specter such an asset that we need to put up with his votes against his chosen party?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Ben Nelson

We need to expose the Ben Nelsons of this world. Thank you for doing your part.

Gerry Day
Hemet, CA

Subject: Congressional Corruption - Senator Durbin

Now that the democrats are in charge in our nation's capital they can't use the excuse of being in the minority any longer. They'll have to come up with a new excuse for their complicity and caving to the republicans. I truly believe most Americans are not aware that our nation's capital is the most corrupt city in the world. Our elected representatives have made bribery legal and set rules that allow them to operate outside the common laws that you and I must abide by!

The democrats will be forced to show their true nature in the future as they did yesterday. Senator Durbin's statements hopefully opened millions of blind eyes. Corporatist bankers and their ilk now own and run the fascist enterprise called the Federal Government of the United States of America. Short of insurrection I see no way the American people will ever regain the government they lost!

Lawton Watson
Springdale AR

Subject: WATERBOARDING: It's Not Torture!! Hannity, Coulter, Rush, O'Reilly ~ Time To Fess Up!!

Hannity, Rush, O'Reilly & Coulter have implied that waterboarding is fun, surely not torture, so I have attempted to contact each of these subjects and make them an offer to be waterboarded, and would like others to donate to Olbermann's $1,000.00 a second fund if we can get him inspired, money that could be donated to any children's charity of the four subjects' choice. And it would be the best entertainment per buck the left could ever hope for. They are not replying, so I think Olbermann will have to make the challege for the four righty heros to join the liberal fun. Can someone contact him direct??

So here is the proposal I have sent Hannity & Coulter. I will pay you $100.00 each to be waterboarded for 5 minutes, on the K. Olbermann show. And of course it would be nice if media would join in to collect donations from eager donors like myself who is betting they can't last 5 minutes.

Here is Coulter's latest, comparing waterboarding to a college hazing. Come on Ann, 5 minutes of waterboarding!!!

http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200905010047?f=cf_cl...

Thank you & pass the idea along!!

WARNING: These are not exact quotes below.

Coulter: It is like college hazing.

Limbaugh: It isn't torture if you survive it.

Hannity: It isn't torture. O'Reilly: Torture, my ass.

Shintao Boadhism
Stockton, CA.

Subject: Illegal Military Tribunals Still Wrong

Hello, President Obama.

There are two categories of captured persons. First, Prisoners of War, defined under Geneva Accords of 1949, and criminals. Prisoners of War are not criminals. Persons captured on a field of battle in a war of aggression mounted by us are all Prisoners of War. Persons arrested in criminal activity are subject to due process of law.

There are no other categories.

Under Geneva, persons not recognized as Prisoners of War have the right of an assessment of their status by a duly constituted and objective body - NOT a military tribunal.

Your return to the illegal Bush use of Military Tribunals to further accord due process under U.S. Constitutional Law or International Law (including, but not limited to the Geneva Accords of 1949) is unconscionable.

The news item in the NYT on the prospects for revived Military Tribunals in Guantánamo is really the last straw for this Liberal, adding to an expanding load of really bad ideas and backsliding on morality and law.

U.S. May Revive Guantánamo Military Courts

Congratulations. In only 100 day you have managed to lose my support and trust.

I don't see how anyone versed in the Constitution, aware of our obligations under Geneva, and the weight of the law under the War Crimes Act of 1996 can behave in this way. Can you offer an explanation?

John Williford

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