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The BuzzFlash Mailbag
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Subj: Hope folks reading your site got to see this program ...
Dear BuzzFlash,
"ENRON MOVIE SCORES AT CBS IN LACKLUSTER VIEWERSHIP NIGHT... 'CROOKED E' TOP SHOW DURING 10 PM ET HOUR"
It got some good digs in re Bush/Cheney/Energy Program/Greed and the like.
Nate Roth
San
Mateo, CA
Click Here: Check out "Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush's war of 'liberation'"
Buzz,
They're all good letters, but I LOVE the third one. It's written by Dr. Eric Chivian, co-founder, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Harvard Medical School. I would say that we should take Dr. Chivian's advice and lock Bush away in a mental institution before he destroys the world. He is definitely a lunatic!!!!!
Gigi
Dear Buzz:
Thanks for the news of Randi Rhodes...and Lynn Samuels prior. I'm finding it's a pain to get them with dial-up. Don't know how it is for dsl folks. I think Lynn's show is jammed with listeners; got it the Saturday before Christmas and enjoyed.
adios, Buzzer
Dear Buzz,
Here's a few disturbing quotes from the Daily Howler:
Here's a quote from Bob Somersby's Daily Howler. This is from John Podhoretz of the New York Post (yes, I know, a total rag) talking about his New Year's predictions. They don't even try to hide it anymore.
PODHORETZ: "Presidential contender John F. Kerry will become the new Al Gore. With the original Al Gore out of the race, American politics will need a yin to George W. Bush’s yang-a polar opposite for a polarized electorate. The junior senator from Massachusetts is wooden, humorless, self-aggrandizing and fancies himself an intellectual. Sound familiar? Kerry will put off reporters who follow him around. Friends will protest that in private he’s incredibly charming. But nobody will believe those friends. He will be ripe for spoof and satire, and the parodies of him will quickly become better-known than Kerry himself."
SOMERSBY'S COMMENT: "In other words, conservatives like Podhoretz feel fairly sure that Kerry will be mocked, just as Gore was. Elsewhere, of course, they lie to The Cattle, telling them-wet tears on their cheeks-that they’re victims of that ol’ “liberal bias.”"
Here's another quote from the Howler regarding Margaret Carlson of CNN and Time. It was taken from an article in The Prospect by Paul Waldman: "Time magazine writer Margaret Carlson, who serves as a “liberal” on various Beltway gabfests, admitted to radio host Don Imus during the campaign that although Bush was lying with regularity, reporters simply enjoyed exposing Gore’s fabrications more. “You can actually disprove some of what Bush is saying if you really get in the weeds and get out your calculator, or you look at his record in Texas,” Carlson said. “But it’s really easy, and it’s fun, to disprove Gore. As sport, and as our enterprise, Gore coming up with another whopper is greatly entertaining to us."" [Carlson’s quote was transcribed from tape and reported by THE DAILY HOWLER]
Carlson, a liberal - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - you get my point.
Even though we know this goes on, it's scarier yet that they have no qualms about talking about it.
Better sharpen our claws!
Barbara in NYC
Subj: Boycott Blues Traveler!
Dear BuzzFlash,
First, these guys entertained the fat cats at the 2000 GOP convention. Now they're playing Jeb Bush's second inauguration.
David Raatz
Subj: Ticket in '04?
BuzzFlash,
I am picturing a Kerry/Edwards ticket in '04. You gotta believe that this has the GOP goons in full dread. Look for them to bash these guys in every way conceivable.
Just look at the map and the numbers: Kerry could take all the states that Gore won in '00, and a young Southerner on the ticket could help nab at least one of the Bush states, and probably more! All that's needed is one of those states!
Well, one can dream. I'm sure Karl Rove has a plan to burn the Reichstagg or something.
BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: Taxed twice?
Dear BuzzFlash,
If dividends are double taxation because the company already paid tax on them, then taxing my salary is also double ... if the company has paid taxes?
Jane O. Gutierrez
Subj: CLEAR CHANNEL IN FARGO DUMPS RUSH LIMBAUGH
Dear BuzzFlash,
I heard today that Clear Channel Radio in Fargo (ND) is dropping Rush Limbaugh because of low ratings. "Just a business decision, not a political one," according to a regional executive of Clean Channel who was explaining the decision to the audience of a talk show, News and Views, hosted by Ed Schulz. The show is heard in North and South Dakota, parts of Montana, Minnesota, Manitoba, Iowa and Saskatchewan. Many of the call-in guests were happy about the decision but a few dittoheads were disturbed.
Maybe Randi Rhodes will be syndicated after all!
Sally Oremland, Bismarck, ND
Subj: Bill Frist
Buzz,
Bob Novak just confirmed on CNN (Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics) what we already knew. Bill Frist was responsible for inserting the clause in The Homeland Security bill limiting Eli Lilly's liability in cases of autism in children caused by a mercury additive in vaccines. I also suspect The White House was secretly behind it, since Mitch Daniels, Bush's OMB director, was an executive with Eli Lilly, before he quit and went to work for Bush. How could we possibly trust Bill Frist to formulate a fair healthcare plan for Americans, and medicare and prescription drug benefit plan for seniors, considering he was part of such sneaky behavior that favors the rich and powerful drug companies. That, coupled with his family owning Columbia Healthcare, and we, the American people, are once again defeated by corporate America.
Gigi
oh this is just sad! i come home from work and see all these republicans in defense of bush's economic plan saying stuff like this will help fifty percent of sr. citizens (as if everyone over 65 is poor) in fact most of the money in this country is in the hands of sr. citizens. it is not that fifty percent that need help, it is the other half, the half that can barely buy bologna! the democrats and media should not allow them to be so dishonest!
rk
madison
wi.
Subj: Voting Machines
Dear BuzzFlash,
Happy New Year to the incredible people keeping up this site and to all of you who visit it.
I noticed Jo Ann Simon's (of Maine) letter quoting Barbara Noble (of Florida) who had written about how if we don't correct the rampant voter fraud that went on in the 2002 election that Democrats will not be able to make any dent in the repug majority in the Congress, let alone win the Presidency.
I had written earlier on that subject, and feel strongly about it being the basis of the Democrats' challenge for 2004. Without that aspect improving, all other work toward victory is, for all intents and purposes, futile.
I have written to Greg Palast - who was the only American journalist to write on the subject as a big part of the Florida debacle in 2000. I have written to Rhandi Rhodes - the liberal Florida talk show host - suggesting that she consider the subject for one of her shows.
No one who could rally people to do something about this seems to be able to understand that if we don't stop it now, the "infection" will move on to a few more states each election cycle until the repugs literally control our votes. I don't understand why this isn't a burning issue in every Democrat's mind............
Beautiful Barb
Seattle
p.s. Welcome back to Barbara's Daily BuzzFlash Minute!
Subj: Paul Krugman for President???
Dear BuzzFlash,
Questions:
Has BuzzFlash ever tried to interview Paul Krugman???
If BuzzFlash gets the opportunity, then please ask:
Does he have any (how ever slight) interest in running for political office?
If he was drafted for president, would he accept it?
Krugman is much better at analyzing economic and international policy than any of the current Democratic hopefuls.
Thanks,
H. Russell
Subj: BushSpeak
Dear BuzzFlash,
I just tuned in CSPAN to catch bushie boy taking "questions" from "reporters", who, by the way, seemed to be on a first name basis with him. Hmmmm.....
Quote Bush:
"We don't believe it is the job of the government to manage the economy. It is for the private sector to do. We believe in the private sector." 1/6/2003
Wheeew! Am I relieved. He is going to keep his stupid ideas away from Wall Street! (NOT!)
BuzzFlash Reader
Subj: why aren't you pursuing this story?
obviously the white house manufactured the story about the 5 guys who supposedly snuck into the country. drudge is running the cover story right now, the abc version that says an "informer" concocted the story. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/alert_hoax030106.html
meanwhile, in an article you posted sunday night, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30312 it was reported that the FBI revealed that the white house faked the whole story for political purposes. the moment you posted that link, the white house went to work, and the "FBI" released the disinformation about the "informer" that concocted the story.
why are you guys not crowing about this coverup? it's so obvious that it's sickening! this is a classic story, and it needs to be hammered on. this is the most recent prime example of the bush cartel politicizing the terror war and creating fear in this country as a completely self-serving mechanism for ultimate re-election.
mac vex
Subj: Helen Thomas to Ari
Dear BuzzFlash,
You missed the best part of their exchange:
MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has been what history has shown.
Q I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the decision -- including us.
Marie Korpi
Subj: Progressive and Liberal Radio Voices
Dear BuzzFlash,
Happy New Year!! - Lynn Samuels is back on the air, and although it is a small Long Island, New York station (WLIE 540 AM), she has a live studio hook up via her website so that Americans who care and crave for the truth can listen to her on the computer and call in and email her on Saturday mornings, 10am - 1pm EST.
Lynn is one of the longest running (and loudest!) progressive voices we have, and she is also one of the most highly entertaining.
Here is a link to her site http://www.lynnsamuels.bigstep.com/
Things are looking up for 2003.
David McCarthy
New
York City
Subj: Monday Night's Donahue on Media Bias
Dear BuzzFlash,
I am sure you guys are already aware of Monday Night's Donahue with Bernie Goldberg (author of Bias - another one of those conservative screeds) as the guest with Mario Cuomo and Al Franken (and some other light-weight conservative (bar)talk radio guy. (I call conservative talk radio 'Bar Talk Radio' because it is like listening to a bunch of opinionated and ill-informed drunks mumbling at each other in a bar.) Anyway … Al Franken absolutely DESTROYED Goldberg on this show. So much so, that Goldberg got defensive and snotty … so much so that he even insulted sweet Phil Donahue … the soul of grace. I checked Donahue's web site but they did not have a transcript posted yet of last night's show. It is worth checking out.
By the way … I LOVE what you guys do. You are right up there with the Daily Howler. Keep up the great work.
landon smith
albuquerque,
nm
Subj: Strange Fruit
Dear BuzzFlash,
Richard Cohen writes a weird editorial today in the Washington Post, entitled "Tacitly Racial."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19750-2003Jan6.html
It is a superb example of a purportedly “liberal” columnist bending over backwards to be fair to the right wing.
Cohen does penance for writing twice about Trent Lott’s racist remarks. He writes about how in 2000, Al Gore did not condemn an African American organization (the NAACP) when it pointed out that horrible, life-threatening racism still exists and that Republicans propose nothing of substance to fight this. (Sounds like an issue to me, but what the hell do I know?)
He then equates Al Gore’s lack of condemnation of this organization with racism. You say, Huh? (Yeah. Me too.)
Here is the story. There was a gruesome, racially-motivated murder of a black man in Texas. African Americans were offended because then-Texas-Governor Bush offered no solution that would place the crime within its racist context. In truth, the solution that Bush proposed explicitly ignored the racist motivation of the crime--the fact that the crime was committed because of racism. He declared that the murderers were bad men, evil men, and he hates evil and prejudice is evil so he hates that too, but murder is murder so who cares why it happened. The family of the victim was further devastated by the Governor’s response. The NAACP placed an ad saying so.
The ad seemed to offend some white people—even more, it seems in some cases, than the crime itself. Indeed, from what I remember, the Republican Party’s expressed outrage at the ad at the very least matched its expressed outrage for the crime.
After condemning Gore for not condemning an effective condemnation of racial insensitivity (?), Cohen goes on to blather something about how affirmative action and hate crime legislation just don’t get people motivated against racism the way segregated lunch counters did.
Well. How interesting.
I guess he means to say that while we can talk about affirmative action and hate crimes as solutions to address the racism that still exists today, we shouldn't talk about these topics because they are so, well, boring.
I guess he also means to say that if we bring up the fact that there is racism in America today and that some people would prefer to ignore it, we are somehow being tacitly racist.
We certainly can’t talk about a horrible racially-inspired crime and a then-Governor’s shockingly unsatisfactory response to it, because it might motivate people to do something, like, say, maybe vote against him.
At any rate, the truth is now on the table. Republicans are racist when they say racist things, but Democrats are racist when they speak out effectively against racism, or let others do so.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Dear Bart and Buzz,
Here is my response to that mendacious Cincinnati Enquirer columnist, Peter Bronson, about his ridiculous Clinton-hating bullshit rehashing of the mega-debunked White House-trashing cornpone.
--patsy devlish
----------
From:
Patrick Monteleone
Date:
Tue, 07 Jan 2003 10:57:36 -0500
To:
<pbronson@enquirer.com>
Subject:
Re: "The Anti Clinton Lie-brary"
Peter
Bronson
The
Cincinnati Enquirer
Mr. Bronson,
By now you have received many messages from concerned (and probably enraged) readers outlining how handily your regurgitated Karl Rove-inspired lies about the Clintons have been debunked, so I won't bother you with references to additional examples of the truth. I do have one question, though--one that ultimately has to do with your own sense of well-being: Are you a multimillionaire or billionaire Bush contributor? If you are not, then you might just think about changing your mind about Bush and his gang, because they will destroy you as surely as they will destroy the rest of us who are not their super-rich allies. Media cheerleaders for Bush might hang on a bit longer than others, but eventually, unless they are able to influence vast numbers of people with widely-disseminated propaganda (read: Rush Limbaugh; your column in the Cincinnati Enquirer likely does not rate as an organ of mass-influence), or are themselves very wealthy and willing to contribute large quantities of money to right-wing campaigns, even they will get theirs.
* * *
Bronson's response and my reply
Thank you for your note.
Why don't you read the GAO report yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Here's the website:
http://www.counterclintonlibrary.com/GAOReport.htm
Best wishes,
Peter Bronson
* * *
Dear Mr. Bronson:
I checked the original source.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02360.pdf
Perhaps you should do the same.
Instead of dwelling on the much investigated Clinton Administration, why not look at the corruption of the present regime? tradingtraiding, business dealings with Iraq, military desertion, business dealings with the Saudi Royals, cocaine usage, allowing contributors to steer a submarine, resulting in the deaths of several Japanese civilians, allowing contributors to write legislation favorable to their business interests -- I could go on.
Subj: The Blunderers
Dear BuzzFlash,
Please tell me, what has this administration done right since coming into office?
Morality Is Not a Strategy
http://www.msnbc.com/news/855032.asp?0dm=N11SO
Rustam Tahir
Dear BuzzFlash,
Regarding the Peter Bronson article in the Cincinnati Enquirer you featured on this morning's site (http://enquirer.com/editions/2003/01/06/loc_Bronson06.html), I thought it best to bypass Mr. Brosnan and instead wrote a letter to the editor. Just wanted to share it with you:
I just read Peter Brosnan's disgusting piece of fiction "The anti-Clinton lie-brary." In the future, please see that Mr. Brosnan sticks to the facts, as every single one of the "facts" he puts forward in this article regarding the trashing of the West Wing was denounced by everyone, from the GAO to the White House itself. Have Mr. Brosnan do some research and find the article where Ari Fleischer was forced to apologize for putting forth these lies as the truth.
This is such a dead issue I'm surprised to even be hearing about it again. Mr. Brosnan did no favors for the reputation of your newspaper or your city by writing this ilk. And you did no favors for your newspaper or your city by publishing it.
Jeffrey
Stewart
Los
Angeles, CA
did i hear bush right yesterday? did he say it is this administration's policy that the government does not have anything to do with the economy? :):) the democrats should play that piece of tape for the 2004 election :):):) and then show how many people were out of work the day bush took office and to date. also what about all that talk during the campaign about how it was clinton's fault the economy was was going sour.....:):):)
kate
Dear Buzz,
Below is my letter to the list of Washington DC correspondents provided by Take Back the Media:
It has come to my attention in the past few years that the Washington Press Corps is not what it used to be or should be. I miss investigative reporting. The press corps seemed to be very interested in that kind of probing reporting during the Clinton administration. What has caused such a change? It appears as if many you are quite in awe of the power that our presidential administration has bestowed upon itself, and you have forgotten how to ask questions. It's not your job to be their friends. Lord knows there are a lot of questions that need to be asked and answered. You are not standing up to the powers that be (Ari). There's some lethargy going on here, but is also seems there's a line you've been pressured not to cross. We have a very uninformed electorate, and the media should take much of the blame for that. I know there are those in power who would like the American people to remain uninformed. But all of you are supposed to be there for us, and if that means challenging our government on various issues at the risk of angering them, or heaven forbid being called unpatriotic, then so be it. This is America. Many of us have been expressing our dissatisfaction with the mainstream media for a long time now, but they have successfully shielded themselves from us. Score 0 points for democracy. I also realize you are working with an administration that shields itself from the press and closely guards its secrets. The difference is that we're screaming for answers and you're not. Please try and do a better job of informing the public. Thanks.
I hope everyone will write. This person, Russ, at Take Back the Media must have gone through a lot of trouble putting this email list together. The least we can do is write. The list is cumbersome, but you can do it in chunks at a time. Please take part in that action alert.
Barbara in NYC
