BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE

It’s the stuff scary movies are made of: a few select men, meeting secretly, settle on a previously written plan for world domination! With the cooperation of a beholden Supreme Court, and a compliant mainstream corporate media, they make sure a puppet is in place to begin the march! They know they must negate any “checks and balances,” they know they must annihilate the Constitution, they know they will need a “modern day Pearl Harbor event” to instill fear and loathing combined with patriotic nationalism within the public politic in order to succeed. Following, almost verbatim, Hitler’s pre-WWII model, it began -- the George Bush reign of horror.

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It's hard for Fred to appear like he's
Arrived on the Republican map
Because even when he's wide awake
He looks like he needs a nap.

VERSE CASE SCENARIO

Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

Summaries are excerpted from the source articles; the featured article follows the summary section.

1//The Independent, UK
BBC STAFF EXPECT NEWS OUTPUT TO BEAR BRUNT OF COSTCUTTING

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
By Danny Schechter

The FOX has come back to guard the henhouse. But if history is any guide, the hens and the chickens will not be too welcoming.

The arrival of the Fox Business News channel is to its backers comparable to the cavalry coming over the hill to save the business world, if not the capitalist system, from detractors if not from itself. Whereas Jesus sought to drive the moneychangers from the Temple, Fox's Roger Ailes has his sights on those subversive "liberals" who have wormed their way into posing as friends of the business world on CNBC. He has vowed to blow them away.

Congressional Progressive Caucus

Washington, DC - As public opposition to President Bush’s failed Iraq policy continues to mount, a growing bipartisan group of 89 House Members now have co-signed a letter to President Bush to inform him that they will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during FY08 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq before the end of President Bush’s term in office.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Norman Solomon

The Blackwater scandal has gotten plenty of media coverage, and it deserves a lot more. Taxpayer subsidies for private mercenaries are antithetical to democracy, and Blackwater's actions in Iraq have often been murderous. But the scandal is unfolding in a U.S. media context that routinely turns criticisms of the war into demands for a better war.

Many politicians are aiding this alchemy. Rhetoric from a House committee early this month audibly yearned for a better war at a highly publicized hearing that featured Erik Prince, the odious CEO of Blackwater USA.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Eric Lane and Michael Oreskes

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A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Mikey Weinstein