A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

What we describe in One Party Country is how Lee Atwater saw a particular opportunity for Republicans. Atwater realized that, if you were going to have to redraw district boundaries in such a way that you could guarantee minorities would be represented, their surrounding, contiguous districts would lose the benefit of that core Democratic vote. The nearby districts would become, in a sense, whiter and more Republican. So you could elect an additional minority member to Congress, but you might get two or three Republican members in districts that used to have a sufficient number of Democratic minority voters to elect Democrats.-- Tom Hamburger, Co-Author of One Party Country

Talk about chutzpah! I was suffering a bit from outrage fatigue Thursday but was shaken out of it as soon as I downloaded an unusually slick paper, "Recognizing Iran as a Strategic Threat: An Intelligence Challenge for the United States," released this week by House intelligence committee chair, Pete Hoekstra.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Ah yes, need we remind you that it was Donald Rumsfeld who was Reagan's emissary to Saddam Hussein -- and that the Reagan Administration sided with Iraq in the ruinous Iraq-Iran War in the 80s that killed millions of people?

Iraq was the Sunni counterweight to the Shiite Mullahs in Iran. Saddam was a cruel but secular Sunni leader. In realpolitiks, he kept Iran's territorial and Shiite Crescent ambitions in check. We don't justify Saddam and we think he was a barbaric leader, but the facts of realpolitik speak for themselves. In attacking Iraq and getting bogged down in a civil war, Bush has enabled Iran as a regional power.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Cindy Sheehan

The only thing I ever wanted to be my entire life was a Mom. I never even thought of having a career because I always wanted to have babies. My own family was pretty dysfunctional when I was growing up and I just wanted to have a family of my own to love and nurture.

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

BuzzFlash,

When is it ever going to stop? The abuse and criminal activity from this Bush administration. Reimbursement? ... Let's start with the confiscation of all of those who have profited off of the illegal Iraq war ... starting with the Bush administration and allowing the ripples to go as far as they can go ... we Americans shouldn't have to pay for this treasonous war, and, oh, there is so much more that we Americans should not be paying for and should be reimbursed.

BUZZFLASH MAILBAG

Subject: Pay Attention, Kkkarl Rove Is Tipping His Hand

Pay attention, this is a very rare opportunity for Democrats. KKKarl is tipping his hand and showing us just one of his many dirty tricks in an effort to curb a massive shift in political power in November. He knows that the Democrats will use the issue of the lack of National Security to illustrate that the reTHUGs are lacking any plans to keep us safe. He thinks he can use his dirty little trick of grounding many planes and few if any will thwart any plot. He is using porn and pedophilia as an emotional tool to erode law abiding citizens' civil liberties. Media will play along making them a large show. We can expect to see it played out time and again until election time.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Imagine waiting twelve long months for your loved one to return from serving in Iraq. For 365 days you watch the news, recoiling at every report of casualties. Dread encompasses every ring of the telephone. With just two weeks left before your son, father, brother, or friend returns, the anticipation is unbearable. You plan a huge cookout with the whole town, or maybe just a quiet family greeting, as you prepare to welcome your loved one back into normal life again.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Jimmy Lohman

A caller to the Randi Rhodes show on Air America Radio yesterday ranted about how Randi hates America. "You only criticize and never say anything good about our country. Why do you live here, anyway?" he asked. As always, Randi deftly handled the poor fool, insisting that it is her love of America that compels her to criticize the horrid administration at the top of it.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

Dear Buzz,

President Bush persists in thinking -- or wishing us to believe -- that his Commander in Chief powers give him the authority to wiretap Americans inside America without bothering to get a warrant. He is wrong.

BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE

"MSNBC canceled Phil Donahue's talkshow after an internal memo argued that he would be a 'difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. ... He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives.' The report warned that the Donahue show could be 'a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity.' An email from a network executive, also leaked, suggested that it would be 'unlikely' that Donahue could be used by MSNBC to 'reinvent itself' and 'cross-pollinate our programming' with the 'anticipated larger audience who will tune in during a time of war' by linking pundits to war coverage, 'particularly given his public stance on the advisability of the war effort.'" Hmm, didn't matter Donahue had higher ratings, didn't matter there are more liberals than conservatives, didn't matter his guests were telling the truth! Here we are 3 1/2 years later, 0ver 2600 American soldiers dead, thousands of innocent Iraqis dead, an entire country destroyed, Osama still at large, the Taliban returning to Afghanistan, wondering why the American media was more interested in ratings, reinvention and cross-pollination, than the truth!