A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Ronald B. Weinert, Col, USAFR (Retired)

Dear Senator McCain:

You have sullied the reputation of the country as well as your own by your participation in the charade you and your cohort senators (Graham and Warner) call a "compromise" on S3931. There was precious little compromise, it appears. The man in the White House now has the "legal" capability to name anyone he so desires as a terrorist threat, and to subject that individual to whatever "aggressive interrogation" he deems fit. You admitted in a statement on a Sunday news show that you did not know what "techniques" might be employed. That is truly amazing. You don't know? Do you even care?

BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZ

"It's vile. It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction." That was Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), commenting on President Clinton after the Starr Report was released in 1998. Be careful of the things you say, for sooner or later they could come back to bite you in the ass! “Six-term Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida resigned from the U.S. Congress on Friday following reports he sent sexually inappropriate e-mails to underage male congressional interns.” Resignations from those Representatives who enabled Foley’s behavior by covering it up should be the next order of business in The United States Congressional House, unless of course the Repuglicans are enjoying the reputation of being PIMPS!

THE ANGRY LIBERAL

I’ve thought over the predicament that former Florida Rep. Mark Foley finds himself in and I can’t help but wonder if he wasn’t a bit hasty with his resignation, which was based on a cheap liberal smear. I mean, what did he do that his constituents would find so terrible?

VERSE-CASE SCENARIO

GOP Congressman Resigns Over Explicit Messages To Minors

by Tony Peyser

Representative Mark Foley is gone because of e-mails
Which his party wishes had all been sent to females.

1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--TALIBAN BACK IN BUSINESS IN BORDER AREAS (President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's controversial peace deal with Pakistan-based Taliban has already resulted in a new assertiveness by the 'Islamic Scholars' in the Waziristan agency which borders Afghanistan. On Thursday, an Afghan national identified as Malang Khan was shot dead by Taliban vigilantes for allegedly spying for the United States army. "Malang had been spying on the Taliban in the North and South Waziristan agencies for Americans. A satellite phone set has also been recovered from him," said a note pinned to his body. Khan's bullet-riddled body was discovered in Khadi village on the road that leads to Mirali town from Miramshah, capital of North Waziristan agency. The note warned that all spies would meet the same fate. ... . The Taliban are now showing every intention of taking over administrative control of the Pashtun-dominated semi-autonomous North and South Waziristan. One pamphlet distributed on Wednesday said: "There is complete lawlessness in the area and crimes have increased. So after the peace accord, Taliban has set up an office to serve residents of the area and restore peace." The office, complete with telephone facilities, has been set up within the premises of the main bus stand in Miramshah. And the local Taliban Shura [council] has constituted a committee to jointly run the office. That the Taliban have the blessing of the Pakistan government has become clear with military authorities returning automatic rifles and other material seized from a madrassa [seminary] run by the Afghan Jehadi commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqani here on Wednesday morning.)

The Republican Party knew about Foley, they just couldn't wipe his reputation clean in the same way they wiped Bush's AWOL military records clean (and who knows what else has been cleaned up by Poppy Bush and his friends).

According to Bob Woodward’s (personal and professional turnaround) blockbuster, "State of Denial," Bush has declared about Iraq: "I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me."

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Brent Budowsky

They did not, and whoever was responsible must go. Congress must be reconvened, sworn testimony must be taken from the entire Republican leadership, that testimony must be publicly released, and major new resignations will be necessary.

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

It was an event little noted by persons other than those of us who are devoted to the American Dream of Constitutional Democracy. But it will be long remembered by the whole world, if there is a future history to record it. On Sept. 29, 2006, the Congress of the United States passed what can be termed "The US Enabling Act." It is the equivalent of the Act by the same name passed by the German Reichstag on March 23, 1933. The latter gave the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, the power to over-ride the protections for freedom and liberty written into the German (Weimar) Constitution of the time, if he determined that so doing was necessary to protect the nation from terrorism and "actions endangering the state." It was under that Act, of course, that Hitler established his dictatorship.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Elliot D. Cohen, Ph. D.

George W. Bush has repeatedly warned, "Either you're with us or you stand with the terrorists." Now he has gotten through legislation that allows him to back it up. On Thursday, September 28, 2006, in a hastily drawn decision that will likely live in infamy, the Senate nodded assent to the Military Commissions Act (PDF).