New York-based 5W PR counts as clients the Christian Coalition, the Zionist Organization of America, and Israel's Ministry of Tourism, according to O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Representatives from these organizations are apparently now working to derail Bush's "road map for peace." Democracy Now reports Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon is lobbying the U.S. Congress and Christian fundamentalists -- including Christian Coalition President Roberta Combs and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer and Pat Robertson -- against the U.S. peace plan. The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reports Elon is presenting a different plan that will call for the establishment of a Palestinian state in Jordan. Ha'aretz reports that Elon said: "What we are now seeing across the Muslim world is not a powerful surge of faith but the dying embers of Islam. ... Within a few years a Christian crusade against Islam will be launched, which will be the major event of this millennium."

The trade organization Professional Lawn Care Association of America wants "to create a positive message about the benefits of a well-maintained landscape." Landscape Management, a landscape and lawn care trade publication, writes that PLCAA is sponsoring a meeting next month to address "threatening issues" faced by the "Green Industry. ... These include issues pertaining to pesticide and fertilizer use, air pollution and water restrictions." PLCAA Vice President for Government Affairs Thomas Delaney recently told the PLCAA board of director, which includes representatives from lawn care business and the pesticide industry, that the "Green Industry and particularly the lawn care sector is under attack here in the United States and in Canada because of misinformation propagated by zealous activists."

Country radio station KKCS, part of the Clear Channel network, has suspended two disk jockeys for defying the station's ban on playing music by the Dixie Chicks. The Chicks were banned from many Clear Channel stations after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President Bush. The station has received 200 calls from listeners, 75% of which want the ban lifted, but station manager says he gave the DJs "an alternative: stop it now and they'll be on suspension, or they can continue playing them and when they come out of the studio they won't have a job."

Paul Krugman asks "why is the failure to find any evidence of an active Iraqi nuclear weapons program, or vast quantities of chemical and biological weapons ... a big deal? Mainly because it feeds suspicions that the war wasn't waged to eliminate real threats. This suspicion is further fed by the administration's lackadaisical attitude toward those supposed threats once Baghdad fell. For example, Iraq's main nuclear waste dump wasn't secured until a few days ago, by which time it had been thoroughly looted. So was it all about the photo ops? Well, Mr. Bush got to pose in his flight suit. And given the absence of awkward questions, his handlers surely feel empowered to make even more brazen use of the national security issue in future."

"Media have been quick to declare the U.S. war against Iraq a success, but in-depth investigative reporting about the war's likely health and environmental consequences has been scarce," media watchdog Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting writes. "Two important issues getting shortchanged in the press are the U.S.'s controversial use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons. According to a May 5 search of the Nexis database, there have been no in-depth reports about cluster bombs on ABC, CBS or NBC's nightly news programs since the start of the war. There have been, however, a few passing mentions of cluster bombs -- enough so that viewers may be aware of their existence. Not so with depleted uranium. Since the beginning of the year, the words 'depleted uranium' have not been uttered once on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News or NBC Nightly News, according to Nexis."

In the last of its investigative series the Washington Post reports on how a multi-billion dollar environmental charity takes care of its own. For example, "on New York's Shelter Island, the Nature Conservancy three years ago bought an undeveloped, 10-acre tract overlooking its Mashomack Preserve ... just a stone's skip from the exclusive Hamptons. Cost to the charity: $2.1 million. Seven weeks later, it resold the land, with some development restrictions, to James Dougherty, former chairman of the charity's regional chapter, and his wife, Nancy, a trustee at the Conservancy's preserve. Cost to the Doughertys: $500,000. ... Time and again, the nonprofit has bought raw land and resold it at a loss to a trustee or supporter."