Media Matters caught Sean Hannity on Tuesday blaming the "anti-war left" for protesting at the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq. In reality, the protesters were members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) in Topeka, Kansas, which claims that terrorism and other disasters are divine retribution against America for the "sin" of tolerating homosexuality. WBC members, who held signs saying "God blew up the troops" and "Thank God for dead soldiers," also have a website called GodHatesAmerica.com, where the rhetoric of America's religious right sounds ominously like the rhetoric of Al Qaeda: "The American army is a fag army! ... WBC rejoices every time the Lord God in His vengeance kills or maims an American soldier with an Improvised Explosive Device."

Multiple opinion polls show that President Bush's approval rating has reached its lowest point ever. Gallup pegs him at 40% approval and 56% disapproval. Gallup's analysis finds other bad news for the White House. "Some observers had argued that Bush's approval rating cannot go too much lower as long as Republicans remain robust in their support," says Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport. "Well, we are seeing some signs of slight erosion in the support for the president even among his base in the Republicans." Gallup also compared Bush's current standings against the ratings for the six other U.S. presidents who have served two terms since World War II. "Only one of the six presidents in the late summer of the year after they were relected was lower than Bush's current 40% rating, and that was Richard Nixon. ... Of course, at that point he was beset by the woes of Watergate." In addition to rising oil prices and dissatisfaction with Bush's domestic policies, the war on Iraq is taking its toll, as nearly two-thirds of Americans now feel the war has made them less safe from terrorism.

"Two weeks after The Washington Post pulled its co-sponsorship of a controversial Pentagon-organized march to commemorate Sept. 11, The Washington Times has offered to take its place," reports Editor & Publisher. The Washington Times' offer of free advertising is "a very reasonable thing to do in terms of public service," said general manager and vice-president Dick Amberg. Defense Department officials "have not responded to the offer, and it is unclear if it will be accepted." In explaining its decision to pull out of the America Supports You "Freedom Walk," which includes a concert by Clint Black, the country musician who wrote the pro-war song "Iraq and I Roll," The Washington Post said its policy is to "avoid activities that might lead readers to question the objectivity of The Post's news coverage."

"UK ministers have been accused of spending British aid money on a public relations campaign to promote water privatisation in Sierra Leone," reports BBC News. Vicky Cann, of the organization World Development Movement, criticized the British Department for International Development (DfID), saying, "In the poorest country of the world, which is still recovering from a decade long bitter civil war, DfID is not only going to pay international consultants to advise on how to privatise water ... but they will also pay for a propaganda campaign to run alongside it to counter public resistance." The eight firms under consideration for the contract include Adam Smith International, "a consultancy arm of the free-market thinktank," and PricewaterhouseCoopers, reports the Guardian. In May, a similar water privatization scheme in Tanzania that DfID paid Adam Smith International £273,000 to promote collapsed "after the contractor, Biwater, was asked to leave by the government."