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Subject: Bush's Privatization Shell Game

According to the Economist, the burden of the tax cuts and spending increases in Mr. Bush's first term is already three times as great as the looming Social Security shortfall. In other words, the notion of a crisis in Social Security only exists because of the fiscal crisis the right has brought on themselves.

And they are continuing the farce. The Republicans have not included the cost of Social Security privatization in their budget, or the costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Regardless of your feelings on the merits of privatization, it's clear that the Republicans cannot handle money. Why would we trust them with the trillions flowing through Social Security?

Sher An

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Subject: Values

Washington Press Corps conservative gay whore does have a ring to it.

Michael Barry
Reston, VA

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Subject: "The Emperor's New Plan"

Hi. I humbly submit the following: The Emperor's New Plan, a short animated flash movie (.SWF) which I hope you'll enjoy. Created for the inauguration, but surprisingly applicable a whole month later. Features two Sousa marches, a half-dozen 'policies on parade,' and a brief walk-on by Karl Rove...thanks for your time.

http://www.4N0Mi3.com/emperor_intro.htm

anomie, inc.
NY, NY

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Subject: I Read The News Today...

Dear BuzzFlash Readers:

After reading the news, not only today, but for a long while, I have decided to give up on Americans. I am sorry, but, there is only so much a foreigner can take even if you are not so far away. There is too much bloodlust, too much capitalism, too much ethnocentrism, too much hatred and blindness in so many who lead you and who follow those leaders. I am glad that many of you are fighting your battle so valiantly against the indecent and immoral governance of your present administration and I hope you win your country back. I am now going to stick to our indies rather than the American ones because it is far too depressing.

For now, I am going to fight for my country's retention of our rights so that we will not follow in the footsteps of our neighbour. I will fight to retain all our social programs and to add to them. I am willing to renounce any tax cuts in order to fund them, because I believe that governments are in place to speak for the people; we who have put them where they are now. Were it not for single individuals within their jurisdictions, governments would not exist. They need us more than we need them.

I am going to make sure that the elderly get the proper care and nutrition just as I am going to fight for the same quality care for the children of my country. When governmental agencies forget that without a people, they have no nation, so that nation is lost and ceases to be.

I must thank you Americans for reminding me that I must fight to retain my rights and those of all others who cannot by themselves. Sometimes a good strong dose of reality does wonders. I am ready to start roaring!

So goodbye America, and should you come to Canada to visit, please wear a blue ribbon so that we will know that you too, have hearts and care for people, of all colours and nations.

Marie-france Germain
Nanaimo, Bc, Canada

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Subject: Guckiegate

This Jimmy-Jeff Guckiegate story appears to be version 3 of Washington Deep Throat. What timing, with Deep Throat 1 apparently on the verge of shuffling off the mortal coil, and his identity finally being revealed. Maybe Jimmy-Jeff can buy into Monica's handbag business. The mind boggles at the free advertising potential alone. Someone should ask Bush if he thinks Jimmy-Jeff's a hottie, as compared to His "Scott" and that poor Canadian, "Scott," that President Homophobe was chatting up a while back.

Ardyjay

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Subject: proof for impeachment

Get all the clips you can from archives of Hannity and Colmes, O'Reilly, Rush, etc. (Coulter, too) of them discussing the impeachment of Clinton. Then splice them together and use their logic for the calling of impeachment of Bush and everyone with him.

I sent this to Congress:

Karin Dicker
Los Angeles

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Subject: The Silence Is Deafening

The silence is deafening. Not only from the so-called media. But also not a word from our moral leaders James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell about the dangers of a gay hustler posing as a reporter for a fake news service asking rhetorical questions at a presidential new conference. They, who protected us from Tinky Winky, SpongeBob as well as witches and lesbians are curiously silent. And how naive of me to think Media Whore was only a metaphor.

GGP

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Subject: Investigative Reporter

Thank you for this fine piece, I have contended that it is the media, bought and paid for by corporate advertisers, that has failed the American people. The media should be our watchdog, but instead they are the tool of the party in power...financially that is. If the shoe was on the other foot and the Democrats had Gannon on their press pass list....well you know this would be front page news even in the NYT, let's not forget what they did to Al Gore. I hope someone answers your call to arms, and this story about the media takes on a life of its own.

Candice Vance
Hermosa Beach, CA

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Subject: Re: Tom Ridge Lied In Denying Links To Bush Campaign

Tom "Color Code" Ridge's role in the Bush campaign was no more evident than in his remarks on August 1, 2004 when he announced he was raising the threat level to Code Orange for parts of New York City, Northern New Jersey and Washington, DC.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=3870

In this address he included the line: "....we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the President’s leadership in the war against terror." This obvious plug for the Bush campaign was likely penned by Luntz or Rove to reinforce the Cheney warning about "...making the right choice on November 2...." to protect us against another al-Qaeda attack.

From the start, Ridge (and the DHS) has acted as nothing more than an arm of the Bush propaganda operation and explains why the White House wanted a comic-book figure like Kerik to succeed him

F. J. Calandra
Rochester, NY

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Subject: Fox Network And Homicide Bombers

Out of all the US networks, and worldwide media outlets including Israel, only FOX news uses the term" homicide bombers." I cannot understand for the life of me the meaning of that term. Suicide bombers are people who intend on killing other people while killing themselves, so what does homicide bombers really mean other than suicide bombers? If anyone who is an expert on the matter, of course other than propagandist, please elaborate on the subject.

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: It's Working

I wrote in earlier this week and asked you to please not drop the gannon story. It is capable of so much. You didn't drop it and I want to thank you! I also wanted to tell you that it is working. I work in a very conservative office of big money real estate assholes and I have been directing my coworkers to your site to read about the story which they have heard very little of.

The nature and content of this story is totally unique. It is opening up dialogue between myself and conservatives about the way the white house manipulates news, the myth of a liberal press, the bush propaganda machine, etc.... Having the mainstream media not cover this while you guys pound away only offers more proof and the idiots I work with who voted bush in are starting to see. now... DON"T STOP! we need rallies, we need concerts, we need MEDIA EVENTS to publicize this message. We need to ask ourselves "what would the conservatives do" if the tables were turned? But most of all, we need you guys to keep the fire burning. And you have! Thank you.

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Your Editorial

"Wanted: An Investigative Reporter to Break Open the Explosive Story of a Mainstream Press that Betrays America" is breathtaking. I agree with every word. It has been horribly sad to watch the devolution of the media over the last 5 years, but I am glad at least to have my own sense about the NY Times confirmed in your wise words. I recall that right after Bush's capture of the White House in 2000, I started to get this sense of unreality when reading the Times. Where was the outrage? Where was the questioning? Anyway, you guys have said it all in this editorial. I applaud you. I can't imagine that this editorial of yours won't rock a few boats. I hope it does.

Ivy

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Subject: Jim-jeff Guckert-gannon

Hi BuzzFlash,

I bet we never see any person in the White House sitting in front of a Senate committee saying, "I never had sex with that man, Jeff Gannon."

Martha Robbins
OH

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Subject: Honeymoon that Wasn't (Washington Post)

I just happened to read this column this morning and am so incensed that Rush Limbaugh would be granted "journalist" status so he can go to Dubai and Afghanistan paid for by our tax dollars that I immediately emailed my Congressmen, and am now suggesting you add this article to your lineup so others can be alerted and do the same. Remember how Limbaugh has always said he's an entertainer, not a journalist, so he can say anything he wants to. Also, he's the only talk show on Armed Forces Radio.

R. J.

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Subject: Suspicion creeps into and grows in my mind

Hi Buzz,

Howard Kurtz and Wolf Blitzer are acting so suspiciously in their overdrive spin of the Gannon/Guckert issue that it has occurred to me that they are hiding something. Am I being unnecessarily critical if I think they may also be paid off by the White House?

In my estimation, any journalist who never fails to fawn over Bush and his blatantly hostile and deadly policies is suspect. And the more they attack the blogs and the internet the more I think they are trying to divert our attention away from themselves (the Rovian practice of "managing" what the population talks and thinks about).

Another suspicious thought that creeps into my mind is that Gannon/Guckert must have connections that Kurtz and Blitzer and the press don't want to go up against. It's obvious he has important connections and it's also obvious he is being protected by CNN and FOX, etc. Once it occurred to me that certain journalists are hiding something then their actions begin to make sense.

Judith
Berkeley

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Subject: Guckert/Gannon got White House press credentials BEFORE he shut down his gay porn/hustler websites!

I Just noticed this:

Gannon/Guckert's Gay porn/hustler sites were still active in March 2003 when talon news went online, and AFTER Gannon/Guckert was admitted into White House press briefings!

So, Guckert/Gannon was still a gay hustler when he was first granted media credentials by the White House.

Hesiod

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Subject: Re BuzzFlash commentary

Don't forget that the NYT intentionally spiked a well researched and validated story on Bush wearing an electronic device during the debates. See full details on FAIR's web site.

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Bush Still Bugged?

During the press conference following Negroponte's nomination yesterday (2/17) as Director of National Intelligence, my ears perked up a couple of times. The first was at about midpoint, when he corrected himself: "friendship... France, Germany..." He was speaking pretty fast, and I thought he might have misunderstood the person speaking into his earpiece the first time (saying "France, Germany" fast, and not enunciating could be misheard as "friendship"). But this is not a normal speech error to make if you are the one doing the speaking and the thinking. (Ask any linguist on this.) The second time came around 3/4 into the press conference; it seemed like he was mumbling something to someone else...much like the time he oddly "spoke into his tie," at a 2004 press conference. (This was a video link that I got from BuzzFlash at the time, but I had trouble finding it with a search). I was listening on the radio, so I don't know if he tilted his head down this time. I couldn't find the video on the web to see (let alone try to figure out what he mumbled). Did anyone else notice this?

Nicole
Pasadena, CA

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Subject: Boycott the Press conferences

Dear BuzzFlash,

I vaguely remember an old expression which, I think, goes something like this: What if they held a war and no one came? (Please correct me if I have it wrong.) Well, I dare the White House correspondents and their media bosses to just not attend the press conferences at the White House. If no one shows, does anything really happen? Or they could just have one person show, because most of them report the same way anyway. If the majority of media have the guts to do this, they might find it so invigorating and empowering that they will get their consciences back and take on the weaselly Bushites! Will it happen? Probably not!

Irma S.

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Subject: Corporate Lawsuit Relief

Isn't it odd that the day after corporate lawsuit relief is passed by congress it is announced that Vioxx and Celebrex will go back on the market?

Ricardo
Orange/CA

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Subject: Buffett, Soros Make Cable Buys (CNN Money)

BuzzFlash Readers,

I submitted a news tip about Money/CNN reporting that George Soros and Warren Buffet have bought large blocks of stock in several different cable media outlets. I think this is great news. Soros even bought over 200,000 shares of NewsCorp, (Faux News Parent Company).

Buffet and Soros, what a team!! Combined they should be able to give old Rupert and the other ditto-heads a run for their money. Just think, if every progressive, liberal or Democratic member of the reality-based community bought a couple shares of media stock, there would be a shift in the stockholder voting. Maybe "fair and balanced" could mean just that again. Take on right-wing media from the inside-out.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Michelle
Florida

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Subject: blogs

My friends and family know all too well my biggest complaint about The United States. It's not the lying administration. It's not the stolen elections. It's not the protection of wealthy friends and corporate America by this administration. It's not the march toward fascism. No. My biggest complaint is the lack of free press. For an investigative, honest, free press will correct all the other things that are wrong with this country. I started to get angry at the media during the Clinton witch hunt. I realized that the media was not reporting all the facts and was starting to replace journalism with the right wing spin. Things progressed rapidly with the 2000 election as the Republican attack machine went into full gear and the mainstream press turned into a GOP megaphone. By the time the 2004 elections came along, the GOP attack machine was in warp speed and the mainstream media and journalism no longer existed.

I have always been a news junkie and felt deprived if I did not read a newspaper every day. However, I stopped reading hard print newspapers for my news a few years ago. There are two reasons for this. First, as I got more and more news from the internet, the hard print news was usually one or two days behind. Their news became old news. Second, as time went on I saw even the "old" news was being spun, not reported or just wrong. My faith in America was shattered by the lack of honest news. I found the international media much more honest in their reporting and found many stories that never appeared in the American press.

But wait. We now have blogs and I say "THANK GOD." Are blogs perfect? Not by a long shot. But blogs seem to be somewhat self correcting. They are instantaneous, and a lie, spin or misleading statement is picked up by other bloggers. Now the big spew from the "mainstream media" is the blogs have no controls and a blogger can say whatever they want, true or not.

As I am writing this, Judy GOP shill Woodruff, is talking about blogs with Stuart Rothenberg, from Roll Call, and a CNN analyst, and Howard Kurtz from The Washington Post. Kurtz seems to be for blogs and says they are forcing mainstream to pick up stories they would usually ignore. Rothenberg says they are just opinion and need to be edited and Judy thinks the bloggers should put their efforts more to mainstream news.

For once I agree with Howard Kurtz. Surprises even me! He made the comments I was about to make in my ranting here. The blogs are not perfect but they do seem to be the only investigative journalism we have in this country. I believe they will continue to grow with amazing speed and will overtake mainstream media as the principle news source for the world. There will always be the liars and spinners out there like Fox News, Talon and, yes, even some on the left. But over all, the blogs will sort out the truth in the end. Something the mainstream media refuses to do. My faith in America is quickly being renewed.

Bob Lambert
Northridge, CA

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Subject: Wanted: An Investigative Reporter To Break Open The Explosive Story Of A Mainstream Press That Betrays America

Hello,

Thank you BuzzFlash.com for being such a good Investigative Reporter! I have added above link to my site: http://www.dataoptions.com/informed.htm#ISSUES Keep up the good work,

Peace, Hope and Optimism,

Aimee
Friday Harbor, WA

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Subject: What's in a name

Dear B-F,

Why. Oh why do I continue to vote for the Dems? A spineless bunch of twits.

Even Upper Class Twits. Like the ranking Democratic member of the Armed Services Committee, "Poppin" Jay Rockefeller. The man believes Negroponte, former Gauleiter of Iraq, is a wonderful choice to assume the role of Obergruppenfuhrer of our 14 (14!) spy agencies. He, Negroponte, is another bloody fascist with a shady past of supporting right wing "death squads" in Honduras.

Do you think, in the future, we could get our tame twits in the Congress to vote en bloc against nominees or Bills sent to them by the repugs? And let's recognise repugs by their true color, Black, and true label Fascists.

God Save America - and the world.

A. Leslie Palmer
Mill Valley, CA

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Subject: Your Editorial Today Friday

Hello,

I agree with your editorial, and believe too that mainstream media is attacking internet media out of fear but also because they seek to marginalize internet media.

Unfortunately, some internet media are, through their content, helping this marginalization, but Ii have hope that other i-media will tend to become more credible and valued. Corp media and NPR, too, are all worried about financial results, more so than reporting in the spirit of what we hope to get from solid journalism, and this issue is as huge as you mention.

A major problem though is this: the major media are relatively few, have 'assigned channels' on TV, newsstands, and known radio channels (e.g., "your NPR station") and i-media are scattered all over the web so to speak..it's like having a radio that tunes from 550 khz to a gazillion megahertz, so many choices, how does one get a handle on what's out there? How does 'the public' find these i-media resources? There are so many, including your site.

And, what about internet radio? Pacifica's KPFA is on the web, so is the BBC, so is Thom Hartmann's show, so is Air America, and one has to be a geek like me to find all these resources. Beyond this, having worked for "your NPR station," I am very aware of how, for example, NPR appears to cover an issue without covering it, or how the power of the ability to question can lay the ground work for supporting government rather than questioning it.

That media is supportive of a corporate-Bush administration, and that we have a Congress which is controlled by money and corporate power, means we get from this media a very specific picture, and other voices need to be heard, such as yours. I agree with you that this situation, media, the Bush administration's seeking to disenfranchise Americans who make under 200K/year, all of it, is larger than we all realize...it's monumental in scope, a sea change, a changing of the climate, and people are not awake to see this.

Your site and all the others can help wake people up...but i-net and i-radio need to be easier to find than is the case today for people, and we cannot really hope that the Bush Kool-Aid drinkers are going to seek out alternative media, but there are 50 million others who would, if they had some help in finding these sources. Just recently, I helped a person who was TV and NPR bound to discover the net and news sources there...he was amazed. There are others like him.

Thank you for what you are doing!

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: More On Outsourcing And The US Downfall

Have any of these so called "super patriotic" rich corporate ignorants considered how they are putting our nation's security at risk for profit? Forget about the lies and wars for profit and terrorists. Let's even try to forget how we Americans are more and more out of work and how this can't possibly bring a good "actual " economy. Let's think back to WWI and II.

What was it that made our country the strong military power that it was. Was it a technologically advanced military? No, the Germans were much more advanced in that area. Maybe it's the ever popular idea that our troops, our people, are better than everyone else's. As nice as that sounds to Americans let's be honest, our troops are very brave and well trained but so are the troops of other nations. I think that's a draw. Perhaps it's that our causes are more righteous and we are fighting for more. No that's not it either, because I'm sure our opposition sees their cause to be just as good.

So what is it then? What made us so powerful? How about this: We were the greatest industrial nation on the planet then. We made everything for ourselves and made it right here and could make it in large quantities. We could do all that and do it on demand. There were thousands of factories in this country making just about everything. If we didn't, any number of those factories could adjust to make what it was we did need. In a time of war that's just what they did. Business owners who had an obligation to their nation before their own profit adjusted to manufacture what was needed for a war time nation. Proud Americans worked hard to put out so much that no other nation on earth could keep up with us. The Germans couldn't blow the stuff up as fast as we could make it. Because of this our military was an unstoppable wave of industrial power.

We don't have that anymore thanks to outsourcing. We don't make much of anything here any more due to "true capitalism!" Thanks to "good business" we don't even have the capability do do it if we need to any more! From steel to cars to even the great technology we brag about. None of it is made here any more! And if you think about it, in the idea of good business, it's all being made in countries that could potentially be enemies of this country. Like China for instance!

The so-called true patriots of this country have sold our security to countries like this for their own profit. And they have used our tax dollars to do it. Technology and super smart weapons don't win wars. The ability to make an endless amount of them does. We don't have that ability anymore because of "good business." Amazing that, if and when you think about it, American jobs, good American jobs in manufacturing, etc., and our nation's security and military power, are so closely connected. And "W" wants us to think we are safer!?

A True Blue State Patriot

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CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE FEBRUARY 21, 2005 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG.

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