The Los Angeles Times reported state and federal health officials are investigating four deaths of women who had taken the RU-486 abortion-drug cocktail. In addition to the underpublicized story of Holly Patterson, there are now three others whose stories have yet to catch on in the other national media outlets, including Oriane Shevin, 34, of Sherman Oaks, California, an attorney and mother of two young children. She died of sepsis, a blood infection, on June 14. This is no joke: our national media got more excited over the potential health risks of fat-free Pringles (with Olestra) than it does over RU-486.

Cindy Sheehan earned a live interview segments at the start of Monday's 7pm EDT Hardball on MSNBC, where she appeared from Texas with her sister, Deedee Miller, and then just past 7:30pm EDT Sheehan showed up live on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 with anti-war activist Pat Vogel.

After Sheehan went on at length about how the U.S. is “building bases the size of Sacramento, California in Iraq. They plan on never leaving” and “I see Iraq as the base for spreading imperialism. And if we don't stop them now, our babies and our unborn grandchildren will be fighting this," Matthews suggested: “You sound more informed than most U.S. Congresspeople, so maybe you should run."

In contrast, Cooper hit her with her own words, pressing her to re-affirm: “Do you really believe the President of the United States is the biggest terrorist in the world?” Cooper pushed her several times, but she wouldn't back off her claim.

Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner points out an interesting line in an article in the New York Times regarding Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"The newspapers circulating in Ethiopia's capital have plenty of room for improvement. Typographical errors occur too frequently. Bias creeps into print regularly."

It's nice to see the NY Times recognize bias, even if in someone else's paper.

Safely tucked away on Page 2 of Monday's Business section is Katharine Seelye's "Editors Ponder How to Present a Broad Picture of Iraq," in which some newspaper editors admit they are hamstrung from covering good news in Iraq:

"Some editors expressed concern that a kind of bunker mentality was preventing reporters in Iraq from getting out and explaining the bigger picture beyond the daily death tolls." Associated Press Managing Editor Mike Silverman confesses something the Times and other media organizations have been reluctant to make: Their readership isn't getting the whole story about Iraq.

According to the AP's Silverman, "The main obstacle we face is the severe limitation on our movement and our ability to get out and report. It's very confining for our staff to go into Baghdad and have to spend most of their time on the fifth floor of the Palestine Hotel."

It would be an understatement to say that Cindy Sheehan, mother of a serviceman killed in Iraq, has gotten a lot of coverage in the past couple of weeks. The media, gathered in Crawford, Texas, at the site of President Bush's ranch, has devoted much of its time and energy to coverage of her "vigil," as she demands to meet with the President. The Associated Press has averaged almost 4 stories per day over the past 12 days on Sheehan and her mission.

But, in addition to being a bereaved mother, Cindy Sheehan appears to also be a committed left-wing peace activist. One who has already met once with the President a year ago at Fort Lewis in Washington State. One who thinks that George Bush is a terrorist, that Israel should get out of Palestine, that we need to act now to prevent climate change and that the truth as to why we went to war, "the real answer...it was to make his buddies rich...it was about oil."

As Mark Finkelstein accurately noted earlier this morning, NBC’s Today gave big play to the supposed havoc that rising fuel prices are having on American society. But the hype reached ridiculous levels when Katie Couric insisted during Monday’s show opening that “I had to take out a loan to fill up my minivan. It’s crazy.”

Couric makes at least $15 million a year co-hosting Today.

(Video available: Windows Media, Real)

NBC Nightly News on Sunday devoted its “In Depth” segment to Bush-hater Cindy Sheehan’s impact, as anchor David Gregory touted how she “has become both a magnet and a source of controversy in the President's hometown, single-handedly bringing the Iraq debate to Mr. Bush's doorstep.” Reporter Kelly O'Donnell began with how “she's tiny Crawford's biggest draw. This woman said she drove 900 miles from Denver, compelled by Cindy's story." Earlier, filling in for Tim Russert on Meet the Press, Andrea Mitchell blamed Bush’s communications team for what the news media has really done: “How did they let this one woman become the symbol for the entire anti-war movement?” Mitchell added: “It certainly doesn't help when you see the videotape of the motorcade rushing past the protesters on their way to a Republican fund-raiser at a neighboring ranch.” On Saturday’s World News Tonight on ABC, anchor Bob Woodruff introduced a story by trumpeting how Sheehan’s “vigil for her son, killed in Iraq, has given new life to the anti-war movement and a place in Crawford called the 'Peace House.’”

Full MRC CyberAlert item follows. For Monday's MRC CyberAlert.

(As read on-air today by Rush Limbaugh. Click here to listen to introduction)

The main political headline from the AP today is the results of an AP-Ipsos poll taken a week ago.

Bush Approval a Low for Recent 2-Termers reports that President Bush's job approval is down to 42% with 55% disapproving. That certainly sounds disturbing, or at least it would if he were running for anything again. But looking at it again, something suspicious jumps out.

The partisan divide for Bush is stark — 80 percent of Democrats disapprove of his overall performance while nearly 90 percent of Republicans approve.

The Today Show this morning employed a phalanx of Democrats to heap scorn on President Bush's foreign policy and its impact on domestic security, while just for good measure throwing in a segment letting Americans know that the impact of rising oil prices is . . . even worse than they thought.

First up was the lugubrious George Mitchell, former Dem Senate Majority Leader and foreign envoy under Clinton, to comment on developments in Israel and elsewhere. Mitchell-of-funeral-director-mien droned up predictably about the evacuation of Israeli settlers from Gaza.

But turning to Iraq, Mitchell first suggested that W's decision on troop levels in Iraq will be driven not by the national security interests of the United States but by pure politics, stating: "I don't think they [the Bush administration] can go into the next general election in the United States in November of 2006 with the status quo so I think you're going to see significant troop withdrawals."

Byron York amazed folks this weekend with a Bush hater's comparison of Cindy Sheehan's "peace vigil" with the quashed Chinese democracy protests at Tiananmen Square. It makes me feel old to remember that back when the Tiananmen Square massacre happened in June 1989, liberal media people made bizarre American connections:

"Thousands may have been gunned down in Beijing, but what about the millions of American kids whose lives are being ruined by an enormous failure of the country's educational system...We can and we should agonize about the dead students in Beijing, but we've got a much bigger problem here at home." -- Former NBC anchorman John Chancellor's commentary on NBC Nightly News, June 20.