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Cursor's Media Patrol

Now updated by 6 a.m. CDT on Tuesday through Thursday, and by 12 noon on Monday and Friday.

As the U.S. military steps up the air war in Sadr City with daytime strikes, the Iraqi military orders residents to evacuate in advance of "a big offensive" that is expected to exacerbate Iraq's ongoing refugee crisis and has raised concerns about the possibility of "a new Fallujah."

Mark Benjamin and Christopher Weaver examine signs of a "body-count pressure" on elite U.S. snipers reminiscent of Vietnam, a FPIF analysis finds that, despite a promised amnesty, 'the "surge" of Iraqi prisoners' continues, and the attempt to shut Muqtada al-Sadr out of the political process is termed 'the next big mistake in Iraq.'

A Vet Voice analysis points to a little noted but significant rise in U.S. casualties in Anbar province that may signal problems for the U.S. military's awakenings strategy, as 'rockets shatter Basra calm,' in the first such attack to cause casualties there since March.

As the list of American contractors taking advantage of a perfectly legal Cayman Islands loophole to avoid paying millions in taxes grows, British arms giant BAE, facing an ongoing investigation into a corrupt arms deal with Saudi Arabia, promises 'ethical arms sales.'

Following a decision by the Lebanese government to dismantle Hizbollah's communications network, a tactic the group's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah denounced in a televised address as tantamount to "a declaration of war ... on behalf of the United States and Israel," Beirut erupts in deadly clashes.

As the 'U.N. pressures Myanmar to allow aid' in the face of a worsening refugee situation and inadequate government response, Helena Cobban illustrates problems with the "Laura Bush version" of what's been happening with a comparison to problems with humanitarian access to Sadr City.

With the Guantanamo trials already in disarray, and judges "making up the rules as they go," a military judge threatens to suspend the trial of one detainee unless the CIA turns over "a memo specifying brutal interrogation methods for use on prisoners held in U.S. custody overseas" for court review.

As the Politico takes note of the 'deafening silence' on the story of the Pentagon's deployment of military analysts in the media, Glenn Greenwald dissects a Gitmo trip, whose purpose a CNN analyst acknowledges was to "drink the government Kool-Aid," and an audio recording captures analysts hailing Rumsfeld's leadership.

With gas and oil prices jumping to record highs, and no clear ceiling in sight, Michael Klare paints a portrait of a superpower in decline, laid low by its dependence on oil, foreign ownership of key nodes of the economy, and a gas guzzling military machine.

A proposal heavily promoted by the entertainment industry to create a "White House czar" for enforcing intellectual property rights sails through the House, as Los Angeles cracks down on piracy as 'detrimental to public health, safety.' Earlier: Copyright and the public interest.

As bankruptcy filings soar in California despite changes in the law to make them more difficult, a look at the Federal Reserve's 'map of misery' suggests that the housing price bust has a long way to go. But President Bush, looking a little long in the nose, argues against plans to limit foreclosures.

Highlighting a statement Hillary Clinton made to USA Today that suggests that she is positioning herself as a white candidate, a New York Times editorial calls on her to back off, while Gary Sick situates her "obliterate" remark in a historical and foreign policy context.

Despite vehement denials from the candidate, Arianna Huffington maintains her account, now corroborated by other witnesses, that John McCain publicly said that he didn't vote for George Bush in 2000, as one radical pastor problem is amplified on video, and another reignites itself.

The Washington Post digs into one of a string of "McCain-engineered land swaps" that benefits one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers, his campaign's "pecuniary interest" is seen as a factor in a recent about face on FEC nominations, and McCain's wife vows "never" to release her tax returns. Plus: "For John McCain is an honorable man."

The chief exhibit in Katha Pollitt's survey of how the backlash against feminism is "cracking up a storm" is the recent decision by Washington University to give Phyllis Schlafly an honorary doctorate, while House Republicans stage a tactical vote against Mother's Day.

The chief of Mexico's federal police is gunned down in a dramatic escalation of a war between law enforcement and drug gangs that now "engulfs the entire country," amid concerns that the "cops are also starting to lose control." And the violence continues to escalate.

The New Statesman's cover retrospective on 'The Year that Changed Everything' features reflections by Noam Chomsky and Greil Marcus among others, while BBC World Service focuses in on May 68, when philosophy hit the streets and the 'best weapons were made of paper.' And in France today, "a festival of memory."

May 8

As 'Glitches mar debut of Guantanamo war court,' a former detainee is said to have carried out a suicide attack in Iraq, and a British human rights lawyer speculates on how the Bush administration will play election-year politics with Guantanamo. Plus: 'Torture Showdown Coming?'

After telling a House Judiciary hearing that "War crimes were committed," Phillipe Sands, author of "Torture Team," appeared at a forum on 'Beyond the Torture Debate.'

Cuban terror suspect Luis Posada Carriles 'enjoys a "coming-out" in Miami,' and Secretary of State Rice is branded 'Phony of the Day' for calling on Myanmar to let in more foreign aid workers, after having turned down an offer from Cuba to send some 1,500 doctors to the U.S after Katrina.

As part of its investigation of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, McClatchy reports that the FBI has subpoenaed records concerning Bloch's 2004 ethics probe of Rice, who was cleared of charges that she timed some of her trips to boost President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.

Advisers claim that 'All is Well in Clinton Land,' during a conference call in which Clinton's chief strategist, writes Greg Sargent, "made the case for her electability in some of the most explicitly race-based terms I've heard yet."

Although Obama is credited with having pushed back against the media wall, three major newspapers let stand the false assertion by an Indiana man that Obama "is Muslim." Plus: 30 new superdelegates for Obama?

Democrats are warned to "be ready for the maelstrom that awaits ... if and when the Clinton campaign calls it quits," since "Someone will fill the void that is left behind when it gets down to two. And somehow, I don't see the media setting their sights on John McCain."

McCain, who is said to be 'Multilateral Like Bush,' repeated the claim that Hamas "endorsed" Obama, during an appearance on "The Daily Show," and Juan Cole looks at "who is endorsing McCain in the Muslim world."

Jim Lobe reports on how Iraq war costs and Afghanistan troop demands are straining the "surge," and as Iraq asks the U.S. and Iran to 'stop accusing and start talking,' John Bolton says that he can "definitely" imagine the U.S. bombing camps in Iran before Bush leaves office. Plus: 'Blacklisted by my bank for living in Iran.'

The notion that Baghdad neighborhoods being walled-off represents a barrier to reconciliation, is dismissed by invoking the existence of gated communities in the U.S., one of which may soon be home to Ron Paul supporters.

Chris Matthews says that his bosses were "basically pro-war during the war," implying that it's over, and NPR Check looks at NPR's explanation for the participation of its analysts in the Pentagon pundits program. Plus: 'Are doctors shilling for drug companies on public radio?'

"Ribbon Culture," described as "a cogent analysis of the ubiquitous 'awareness-raising' ribbon and its more recent offspring, the wristband," follows the publication of "Pink Ribbons, Inc.," whose author noted that many major sponsors "produce products that are linked to breast cancer incidence."

Democratic Senators 'berate' one EPA official, another suggests that the 'EPA might not act to limit rocket fuel in drinking water,' and 'U.S. consumers rank last in world survey of green habits.'

'Suburbia in all its gore and glory,' is the subject of a book and exhibit on the photography of Irwin Norling, a kind of suburban Weegee who shot both crime scenes and community events as a newspaper stringer and "unofficial photographer" for a Minneapolis suburb. Plus: 'Through Weegee's Lens.'

May 7

With 'Options dwindling for Clinton,' who appears to have run out of potential "game changers," she is nonetheless asked: 'don't drop out! (yet).'

And David Corn isn't convinced that she will drop out, since '"The Clintons have defied the pundits before," as pundits Brazile and Begala mix it up over the Democratic coalition, video here.

As 'Obama shifts to general-election mode,' the Washington Post quotes a Clinton adviser as saying that "she cannot be nominated and he can't get elected.'

With Fox News injecting a new shot of William Ayers into the race, 'McCain finds his own radical friend,' and in explaining 'Why No HageeGate?', Tim Russert said that "If there was video of Hagee, it makes all the difference in the world..."

As 'Federal agents arrest illegal immigrants leaving U.S.,' McCain, having "flipped back to his original position" of "comprehensive immigration reform," is thanked for "reminding us Tuesday what this year's presidential race really is about."

In an online chat, John Dean, who contends that 'Contrary to his claims, Senator John McCain is not a Goldwater conservative,' discussed "Pure Goldwater," which he co-authored with Barry Goldwater, Jr., and which reveals that the McCain-Goldwater relationship was 'Not as rosy as once thought.'

McCain gets less than 80% of the Republican vote in both Indiana and North Carolina, and as he suggests that the U.S. should be able to get 80% of its electricity from nuclear power, he, Clinton and Obama are said to be "in favor of raising gasoline prices, not lowering them."

With the 'U.S. presidents-to-be in denial' about Iraq, a commentary on 'The Price of Silence,' points out that the conflict is "eating up more of our money than rising prices at the pump." And with increasing congestion in the Persian Gulf skies, the U.S. Air Force hopes to fly 'Above All.'

As 'King David' is interviewed by Spencer Ackerman, 'Leader Reid gets pushback on Iraq war bill,' and a Pentagon spokesman ritualistically warns about soldiers not getting paid.

The U.S. military has reportedly "tied itself into a verbal knot as it tries to avoid further inflaming tensions" with Muqtada al-Sadr, and as 'Israel turns 60, probe threatens prime minister,' and 'Arabs in Israel are outsiders.'

As Mikhail Gorbachev accuses the U.S. of being on a new Cold War path, the 'White House threatens Swiss over $42b Iran gas deal,' a U.S. State Department official charges Iran with 'seeking to keep Afghanistan unstable,' and it's reported that the 'Pentagon targeted Iran for regime change after 9/11.'

The Department of Defense posts the documents released to the New York Times regarding the Pentagon pundits program, which garnered two follow-up stories in last week's PEJ news coverage index, one more than the latest iteration of the "Larry Craig Scandal."

As 'Lawyers for Guantanamo inmates accuse U.S. of eavesdropping,' the Al-Jazeera cameraman who was freed last week described it as "the most heinous prison mankind has ever known," in a speech that was broadcast live on Sudanese television. Plus: Released detainees face trial in Afghanistan.

William Fisher details the collapse of the "bioterror" case against artist Steve Kurtz, whose story was made into the docudrama, "Strange Culture," and Hendrik Hertzberg offers up three 'Drug-War Bulletins.'

"Violin Man" Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez is interviewed by Tavis Smiley about "The Soloist," which chronicles his friendship with a homeless, schizophrenic classical musician, Nathaniel Ayers.

May 6

With a prediction that there's likely to be a 'Sharp rise in suicide attacks by women in Iraq,' the Committee to Protect Journalists issues a report on attacks against journalists in Kurdistan, audio backstory here, one day after an Iraqi female journalist was shot and killed in Mosul.

As the House holds a Tuesday morning hearing on suicide among veterans, the U.S. government's top psychiatric researcher says that "it's quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths."

'Iran halts talks with U.S. on Iraq,' citing the continued fighting in Sadr City, and Greg Mitchell contrasts articles from McClatchy and the New York Times about claims of 'Iran's link to Iraqi insurgents.'

With the Guantanamo justice system 'Moving at a crawl,' and Senate Republicans blocking torture investigations, it's argued that "the American public, press, and legislature appear to be completely oblivious to the idea that questions of war and military force raise any legal issues at all."

Alleging Abu Ghraib torture, an Iraqi has sued L-3 Communications and CACI International, claiming that a new book by CACI's chairman reveals that the company's "internal investigation failed to include any interviews of detainees or of a former employee whistleblower."

In his new book, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez calls Bernard Kerik's efforts to train Iraqi police in 2003 "a waste of time and effort," saying that Kerik spent more time "conducting raids and liberating prostitutes" than training Iraqis.

As the New York Times returns to the same 'Stale Voices' that weighed in on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, FAIR wants readers to "Ask ABC, CBS and NBC when they are going to air responses to the Pentagon pundits scandal."

Tim Russert making his first 11 questions to Obama about Rev. Wright -- "as if some impersonal mechanism had tossed him a ball and now it had to be kept in the air" -- is cited as one example of how the race has "descended into the gutter." Plus: Voters obsessed with politicians' sex lives?

Robert Parry reviews the Clinton campaign's "oppo" against Obama, David Brooks contends that a "contrast between combat and composure defines the Democratic race," and Bill Berkowitz finds conservative activists Floyd Brown and David Bossie, 'Back in the Swift Boat captain's chairs.'

As John and Elizabeth Edwards officially decline to endorse, Facing South updates its investigation of robo-calling in North Carolina, where polling is all over the map.

Matt Taibbi, who writes about 'Hillary's Bitter Victory' in Pennsylvania, and who just won a National Magazine Award, discusses Sen. John McCain with Keith Olbermann, as McCain denies a claim that he didn't vote for Bush in 2000.

With the British press seizing on a good fight, one tabloid declares that Obama is 'Desperate," and as McClatchy reports that 'Clinton disclosures didn't list $24 million of Bill's income,' a junior high classmate recalls Hillary's first campaign.

A letter signed by more than 200 economists criticizes a holiday from the gas tax that Bill Clinton increased in 1993, and a group that prays at the pump is branded a "movement."

In his book "While America Aged," business writer Roger Lowenstein says that the U.S. is sitting on a "retirement time bomb" and it's not Social Security. Lowenstein also assesses the leading presidential candidates' proposals on entitlement programs.

As 'Bernanke gives green light to Frank foreclosure bill,' the Washington Post reports on the "remarkably productive relationship" between Treasury Secretary Paulson and Rep. Barney Frank, who's fresh off of last week's conversation with Paul Krugman about growing economic inequality in the U.S.

A U.N. official discusses the challenges of providing aid to a closed society like Burma, where Cyclone Nargis is said to have exposed the myth that the country has a "strong" military.

May 5

Although Iraqi officials, who increasingly find themselves caught in the middle, issue conflicting statements on whether Iran is fanning the flames of conflict, the New York Times' Michael Gordon, citing unnamed sources, reports that 'Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran.'

Among numerous recent rumors of war are a report in the London Times that says that the U.S. is 'drawing up plans to strike' such a camp, and Andrew Cockburn's claim that "President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime ... unprecedented in its scope."

As U.S. missile strikes damage a hospital in Sadr City, a pair of reports from the International Crisis Group on 'The New Sunni Landscape' and 'The Need for a New Political Strategy' critique U.S. "divide-and-rule tactics" and urge the peaceful incorporation of the Sadr movement into the political process.

While Tom Engelhardt traces out the contours of 'Endless War' in Iraq and beyond, and a PBS essay looks back at the five year evolution of explaining mission accomplished, Glenn Greenwald annotates 'Fred Hiatt on the noble glories of occupation.' Plus: Richard Perle gets a makeover.

Hints of a Pentagon-backed 5 year and $5 billion vision of a shiny future Green Zone are already driving up real estate prices, and NPR plays it straight with talk of the Magic Kingdom proposed for its outskirts.

Mother Jones' Bruce Falconer sums up testimony from 'contractors gone wild,' reports about ignored warnings of flawed wiring point to KBR negligence in the electrocution of U.S soldiers, and investigations of Blackwater killings appear to be exacerbating cultural conflict. Despite all this, the Pentagon is now looking to outsource training of the Iraqi army.

The Pentagon is reportedly considering a surge of 7,000 more U.S. troops in Afghanistan to make up for a shortfall in contributions from Nato allies, whose citizens, according to recent polls, are "growing impatient with the lack of results."

New documentation of the role of psychologists in military interrogations puts APA plans for further integration into the security establishment in context, a planned speech by bioethicist Steven Miles' on torture is abruptly canceled, and the Daily Mail samples the offerings at the souvenir shop at Guantanamo Bay.

Israel insists that it has "no hidden agenda" about settlements, as the first class of Palestinian security officers, whose training was funded by the U.S., hits the streets in the West Bank without the proper equipment after Israel blocks shipments, and the siege of Gaza generates some unpleasant blowback.

'Obama and Clinton wrangle over whether to obliterate Iran,' with Obama blasting his opponent's threats as "language reflective of George Bush," and Clinton expressing no regrets about her expanding nuclear umbrella.

Scorched earth campaign tactics reminiscent of the right deployed by Hillary Clinton and some of her supporters have raised questions about a possible crippling backlash, as she ditches the economists and champions the gun.

One new poll shows the Wright controversy pulling Obama down but another doesn't, as Bill Moyers looks past the "terrible simplifiers" to the rational roots of racial anger and the role of the pulpit as a safe venue for expressing it, and then for comparative context points to what Frank Rich terms 'the all-white elephant in the room.'

As McCain fumbles around for an explanation of what he means about oil dependency, a New York Times editorial raises questions about what's behind a pattern of missing records.

As attempts are made to puzzle out exactly who fired an EPA director in the midst of a battle with Dow Chemical, the Los Angeles Times investigates the surge in uranium claims along the Grand Canyon rim, and the Alaska state legislature shops around for scientists who will deny a threat to polar bears.

A vote for autonomy by a rich Bolivian province, in apparent violation of the constitution and in the face of a boycott by supporters of President Evo Morales, threatens to pull the nation apart. More background on the election from Real News Network analyst Pepe Escobar.

Following an electoral rout capped off by the selection of a Conservative celebrity with some lingering credibility issues as mayor of London, Tariq Ali pronounces New Labour dead, although given the likely follow-up, one commentator suggests that "undead" might be a more accurate description.

'Italy's Rightward Lurch,' which has some talking of a fascist revival, is attended on the cultural front by a proposal for the partial privatization of Pompeii and a campaign initiated by Rome's one-time neo-fascist mayor to blacklist Hollywood stars.

May 2-4

Responding to the unanimous decision by a Senate committee to 'shift costs of war to Iraq,' one exasperated Baghdad official says "America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq," while Nir Rosen explains, in a Campus Progress video interview, "how the occupation has traumatized a generation of Iraqi youth."

After the APA publishes a study concluding that 'stigma keeps troops from PTSD help,' Defense Secretary Robert 'Gates acknowledges mistakes in the treatment of troops,' and the Pentagon announces that it will no longer consider seeking counseling for combat stress a barrier to a security clearance.

While it appears that Blackwater won't be bought out, "Democracy Now!" talks to activists resisting its latest foray into Southern California, and Project Minerva, the Pentagon's ambitious new initiative to involve universities in the War on Terror, faces scrutiny.

In 'the largest labor strike since the invasion of Iraq', 29,000 dockworkers shut down all 29 West Coast ports on May Day to protest the continuation of the war, retaking the spirit of the day, in Ian Williams' view, from the chickenhawks who turned it into "a symbol of loyalty rather than labor."

With George Bush pioneering new lows, the Washington Post editorial board re-edits its original position on the war, and Harper's Ken Silverstein responds to 'journalism ethics lessons from the war's chief salesman.'

As American officials appear to cross a red line in charges against Iran, and the dangers of a confrontation at sea are considered, Pepe Escobar analyzes the position on 'The Iranian Chessboard,' and a recent documentary is recommended as a window on "aspects of Iranian politics not usually seen in the Western media."

Facing a new trial by military commission, a Supreme Court winner gives up on the system, which even a former prosecutor now concedes is "politicized and unfair," as "a prisoner in the Bush administration's assault on al Jazeera," released after six years in detainment, speaks out against conditions at the prison.

As a final bid is made to hunt down the last of the Nazi war criminals, a legal analysis finds the Nuremberg precedent likely insufficient for prosecuting today's torture lawyers, and one reviewer finds Errol Morris' interpretation inadequate to the truth about Abu Ghraib.

Although there was a substantial rise in wiretaps in 2007 and, according to Glenn Greenwald, 'backroom conniving' is breathing new life into the prospects for telecom immunity, the use of national security letters may be restricted if legislative attempts to power down the Patriot Act prove successful.

The embrace of Fox News by both Democratic candidates elicits dismay from the left, and Eric Alterman finds the very idea of a debate focused on the real social and economic crises confronting America inconceivable, given the current corporate media landscape.

While deploying "issues of race and patriotism as a wedge strategy" may be helping Hillary Clinton line up some white working class Democrats, Obama's enduring edge leaves her with "dwindling options," and McClatchy highlights the risk of losing the Black electorate if Obama loses the nomination.

As critics unite against the McCain-Clinton tax holiday -- now apparently DOA -- the word "pandering" keeps popping up, but Senate Republicans up the ante with an enthusiastic call for opening drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A CJR analysis criticizes the media for doing little to illuminate 'McCain's Health-Care Muddle' which, it's argued, "would shift the burden of unaffordable health care costs from the employer onto working families," while it appears that 'McCain's medical records release, put off twice, won't really be a "release."'

A Washington court's injunction against an emergency contraception law appears to sanction a "refuse and refer" system for pharmacists, radical pastor and McCain supporter John Hagee explains what he thinks goes on in public schools, and a new study of delinquency may be the key to 'Unlocking Bush's Chastity Belt.'

Facing an environmental lawsuit, the EPA proposes the first new limits on lead emissions in 30 years, but the standards are weaker than scientists recommended, as a top regulator for the agency, which has been under increasing political pressure, is forced out for pushing too hard on Dow to clean up after a dioxin dump.

Exxon comes under fire from investors for a "disappointing" $10.9 billion profit, and from the Rockefellers for ignoring the planet's future, and with the FTC preparing to investigate oil price manipulation, a Nieman Watchdog commentary lays out key issues for developing a long-term energy policy.

Apparently unimpressed by an open letter to the media from 21 academics urging skepticism about a seized rebel laptop, which got noticed even at the Washington Times, a Miami Herald series continues to trumpet its dramatic "revelations" about Ecuador and Venezuela. Plus: 'The Pope's Holy War Against Liberation Theology.'

May 1

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