Cursor: Media Patrol, April 6, 2005

As at least 16 people die in a Chinook chopper crash in Afghanistan, the country's defense minister touts a permanent U.S. military presence as an alternative to "the catastrophic disengagement of the international community from Afghanistan in the 1990s, which cost us all so dearly," echoing the "personal view" of Sen. John McCain.

Iraq's new National Assembly has reportedly broken a two-month deadlock, agreeing on a president and two vice-presidents, who "will have two weeks to pick a prime minister, who would then select a cabinet," as the 'sausage-making' continues.

With the central government in Baghdad described as "resisting attempts to loosen its grip on power," Iraq's local councils are said to be "in a much bigger mess than the National Assembly," with newly elected council members in one province "afraid to gather for their first meeting, mindful that eight of their predecessors were assassinated."

'Is this familiar?' Pondering press reports of "the smashing victory at Lake Tharthar," Harper's publisher John MacArthur keeps hearing the voice of Marlon Brando, torturing Martin Sheen "with upbeat war propaganda manufactured by Time magazine on behalf of Lyndon Johnson's White House."

Prison Break Reviewing the "coverage (or lack thereof)" of the insurgent attack on Abu Ghraib prison, CJR Daily concludes that "the utter disregard the American media have shown this story is astonishing." Plus: 'The right-wing smear on photojournalists' who won the Pulitizer Prize.

A returning humanitarian worker, who tells the Portland Press Herald that 'things have gotten worse' in Iraq, "recalls a meeting at the Ministry of Health that was held on the 12th floor of the building because every stick of furniture had been stolen from the first 11."

Pick Six Left Coaster runs the numbers on Amnesty International's annual survey of government-ordered executions around the world.

Kicking off the Bush administration's "campaign to preserve and expand" the Patriot Act, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales warned against "unilateral disarmament" and told senators that the Justice Department "should not be penalized for exercising restraint." An architect of the Act debates the ACLU's Nadine Strossen.

A U.K. business leader warns that 'new U.S. passport rules "threaten business relations,"' while a Canadian travel exec is quoted as saying, "If you don't want us to come, you're giving us a good reason not to."

The Christian Science Monitor, exploring President Bush's vision of 'A Beachhead In Space,' quotes Global Security's John Pike as saying that "space is a really good way to lose a lot of money." In a 2000 interview, Pike argued that "the Air Force doesn't understand that space is different from the air."

David Sirota works the rough numbers to show 'How Much is Bush's SS Tour Costing You?' while Robert Kuttner finds the hidden costs of "tax simplification."

As Mexico's financial markets sell-off in advance of a congressional vote that could keep Mexico City's popular mayor from running for president, an economist tells Reuters: "Although some investors are becoming more sensitive to the political situation ... a million protesters in the Zocalo will jolt more of them into action."

'As the World Watches and Watches,' Billmon offers a 'TV Guide' to coverage of the papal funeral, and an accused exploiter of anti-Catholic bigotry heads to Rome.

"If Orthodox International had a founding father, it was John Paul II," writes Harold Meyerson, describing what he calls the globalization of the blue state-red state division and arguing that Samuel P. Huntington "located his fault line in the wrong place."

The Washington Post investigates the connections between "business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government," a mysterious "Bahamian-registered company," a Washington nonprofit, and an expense-paid trip to Moscow for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and his staff.

Pay roll The New York Times reports that since 2001, DeLay's political action and campaign committees paid his wife and daughter "more than $500,000" for "fund-raising fees" and other campaign-related services. Plus: "So what if it's in the NY Times ... is it on Fox News?"

Referencing David Foster Wallace's Atlantic Monthly profile of LA radio talker John Ziegler, Slate's Jack Shafer looks at how Fox News apes the conventions of talk radio. Ziegler's Web site says that it had been posting a link to a copy of the profile, "but we were forced by Atlantic and Clear Channel to take it down."

Clear Channel Chairman Lowry Mays finds himself among the list of possible inductees into the newly-established Big Media Hall of Shame. Read how Mays keeps it all in the family.

A Times editorial says a floor speech by Sen. John Cornyn "excuses murderous violence against judges as an understandable reaction to their decisions," while Cornyn regrets that his remarks have been "taken out of context." Earlier: "You'll be able to marry a goat -- you mark my words!"

As a cast of thousands greets attendees at a $1,000 a head fund-raiser for California Gov. Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives, a political science professor tells the Contra Costa Times that "I think he's going down the Jesse Ventura path to political futility."