A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS 

Every reasonable person familiar with the minimum wage/estate tax bill passed in the House is fed up with the Republicans' twisted behavior and clear partisan politics. A congressional staffer told BuzzFlash that Senate Democrats believe they have the votes to squeeze off a narrow defeat of the legislation, but that things are still very much up in the air. In the meantime, we have compiled a list of nine reasons why you should hate this bill and it's proponents.

BUZZFLASH MAILBAG

Subject: Border Agents Let Fake IDs Go Through

Dear Folks:

The Associated Press article headlined "Border agents let fake IDs go through" cites a GAO study revealing that undercover investigators have repeatedly penetrated our borders with fake documentation--when they were required to produce any documentation at all. This despite billions and billions of taxpayer dollars spent over the last five years on invading impoverished Third World countries, covering up the failures of the "Star Wars" anti-missile system, stuffing Halliburton's coffers, and other vital national security efforts.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Ray McGovern

The word does not require an "E," but the world desperately needs one-E for EXIT from the march of folly toward wider war brought on by plural US policy blunders: in Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon, for starters, and now threatening to spread to Syria and Iran. Fortunately, Webster's does allow the insertion of an "E" and that's precisely what we must do now. We need to make a prompt exit from the policy fiascoes that have brought violence and chaos to the Middle East.

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

To some extent they use words like "freedom" and "democracy" as synonyms for civilization. And there's a huge history of the words "civilization" and "civilized" being used to mean kind of good guys, like us. If you're good guys, like us, if you share our values, then you support freedom and democracy by definition. And if you aren't sympathetic to us, if you don't like us, if you're not going to help us and get along with us, then you are an enemy of freedom and democracy by definition. That's the way they use that kind of language, I think. It obviously is not using the word "democracy" in a very literal sense.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Paul Rogat Loeb

Through the actions of a lone man with an unstable mental history, the Middle East wars have hit my community. Naveed Haq, from a middle class Pakistani-American family in eastern Washington State, shot six women at the Seattle Jewish Federation, in the city where I live. He killed one and left three critically wounded, saying "I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel." I've never been to the Federation offices, but I've worshipped at affiliated Seattle synagogues, attended Federation-sponsored events, and met one of the women who was critically wounded. So Haq's reprehensible attack felt personal. Aside from the shooting of Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane and an ambiguous 1994 incident involving a New York taxi driver and a van of Hasidic students, this may be the first politically motivated killing of an American Jew by an American Muslim in the past sixty years. As such, it risks sharply increasing the level of fear in America's Jewish communities, and with it the reflex support of even the most questionable Israeli actions.

Libby's Lawyer Plans To Call Memory Expert

by Tony Peyser

I'm quite certain that the facts
His defense would like to be eliminating
Will just happen to be the ones
Which by far are the most incriminating.

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

1//The Jordan Times, Jordan--IRAN'S INVOLVEMENT TO END CONFLICT RISKY, BUT MAY BE INEVITABLE (France's idea of involving Iran directly in talks to end the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah is a risky venture but may well prove inevitable, French analysts said Tuesday. They were reacting to French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy's meeting on Monday in Beirut with Iranian opposite number Manouchehr Mottaki, and to his remarks concerning Iran's "important stabilising role in the region." The comments - condemned as "outrageous" by French Jewish leaders - appeared to indicate a willingness to include Tehran in the search for a settlement to three weeks of violence, in direct contradiction of American and Israeli policy. ... "It is a high-risk initiative. It has a certain logic, but it implies a willingness on the part of Iran and Hizbollah to alter their behaviour," said Francois Gere of the French Institute for Strategic Analysis. For Gere, the very fact that Douste-Blazy and Mottaki were unable to agree on a joint statement at the end of their talks is a sign of the delicacy of the French approach. "French diplomacy is trying to pull off something that is extremely subtle and complex," he said. Francois Heisbourg, of the Foundation for Strategic Research, agreed that "it would on the face of it be extremely surprising for Iran to play a stabilising role in Lebanon. And if it did, the next question is obviously what is the price Iran gets in return - on its nuclear programme." Iran has in recent days toughened its position in the stand-off with outside powers over its nuclear programme, indicating that the Israeli offensives in Gaza and Lebanon will have an impact on its next step.)

BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE  

In her wisdom, Golda Meir once said, "Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us," which made me think, “Peace will come when the Repuglicans love their country more than they hate the Democrats”!

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

1//The Jordan Times, Jordan--IRAN’S INVOLVEMENT TO END CONFLICT RISKY, BUT MAY BE INEVITABLE (France's idea of involving Iran directly in talks to end the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah is a risky venture but may well prove inevitable, French analysts said Tuesday. They were reacting to French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy's meeting on Monday in Beirut with Iranian opposite number Manouchehr Mottaki, and to his remarks concerning Iran's "important stabilising role in the region." The comments — condemned as "outrageous" by French Jewish leaders — appeared to indicate a willingness to include Tehran in the search for a settlement to three weeks of violence, in direct contradiction of American and Israeli policy. … "It is a high-risk initiative. It has a certain logic, but it implies a willingness on the part of Iran and Hizbollah to alter their behaviour," said Francois Gere of the French Institute for Strategic Analysis. For Gere, the very fact that Douste-Blazy and Mottaki were unable to agree on a joint statement at the end of their talks is a sign of the delicacy of the French approach. "French diplomacy is trying to pull off something that is extremely subtle and complex," he said. Francois Heisbourg, of the Foundation for Strategic Research, agreed that "it would on the face of it be extremely surprising for Iran to play a stabilising role in Lebanon. And if it did, the next question is obviously what is the price Iran gets in return — on its nuclear programme." Iran has in recent days toughened its position in the stand-off with outside powers over its nuclear programme, indicating that the Israeli offensives in Gaza and Lebanon will have an impact on its next step.)

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

For BuzzFlash, the most fundamental "in your face, no further proof needed" evidence of Bush Administration negligence and malfeasance in relation to 9/11 occurred in August of 2001.