It’s torture-a-go-go time on Fox News again. And what’s even more sickening is how the needle has now moved from “We need to torture” to “you’re not a good American if you’re anti-torture.” Friday night (5/11/12), Bill O’Reilly hosted comedian Adam Carolla to attack CBS’ Lesley Stahl for being skeptical of ex-CIA officer Jose Rodriguez’ enthusiasm for “enhanced interrogation” techniques. No joke. Oh, sure, O’Reilly played devil’s advocate on behalf of Stahl but he never blasted Carolla for having the nerve to question anyone’s skepticism for torture. Instead, O’Reilly voiced his own support for “enhanced interrogation” and made the “Cavuto mark” debate about whether or not Stahl was sufficiently pro-American for lacking the same knee-jerk enthusiasm for torture as Rodriguez, Carolla and O’Reilly.

The O'Reilly Factor hosted Ali Soufan, a former FBI terrorism expert, who believes that "enhanced interrogation" techniques do not work. He appeared on The Factor to counter previous claims made by ex-CIA officer - and torture apologist - Jose Rodriguez. As Soufan tried to explain to O'Reilly that Rodriguez' claims have "been discredited," O'Reilly interrupted to say, "not to me, though, and that's the important thing for you tonight."

In presenting culture war issues, Fox & Friends seems quite adept at twisting the facts to suit whatever agenda is being promoted. In their fairly extensive and biased coverage of the VanderbiltUniversitynon-discrimination policy, they totally ignored the basis for the policy; i.e. a case in which a student was ousted from a religious fraternity because he is gay. Fox & Friends also played the bogus argument that evil atheists would be able to lead Christian fraternities which ignored the reality that the college wasn't setting requirements for leadership of campus groups but requiring that groups not discriminate in initial membership selection. Recently, during a mediation in a long running suit involving the posting of the 10 Commandments in a public school, the judge suggested that the four Commandments which mention God should be eliminated.  Not only was this discussed on "The Five," but it was the subject for Fox's one true clergyman, Catholic Fr. Jonathan Morris' weekly Sunday homily on Fox & Friends. As usual on Fox & Friends, the actual substance of the issue - separation of church and state - not mentioned. But rather, a mere suggestion by a judge was blown totally out of proportion.

Gary Stein, the ex-Marine who received an Other-Than-Honorable Discharge from the military after posting hostile and insubordinate comments about President Obama on Facebook, got a friendly welcome from Mike Huckabee this weekend to discuss his appeal. Not only was Huckabee sympathetic throughout, as if it were an unfortunate technicality that got Stein ousted, but Huckabee failed to mention some of the aggravating factors that also led to Stein losing his job.

Rick Perry got 10 minutes on Fox News’ Your World not too long ago (5/3/12,) ostensibly to promote a Republican-centric view of job creation. But somehow, Mitt Romney’s platform for job creation took a backseat to Perry’s.

Recently, PBS' Frontline aired a documentary about the phone-hacking scandals at News Corporation, the role of the Murdoch family and the interrelationships with the police and 10 Downing Street. Every Frontline documentary is worth watching, in my opinion, but this one is especially relevant to the News Hounds community. (H/T Eric J.)

Sean Hannity has been fixated for months on exposing the “real” Obama, suggesting that there’s some monster hiding behind the façade of the “fake” one. And yet somehow, this big Fox News star has not been able to persuade his own news network to assign a single reporter to the task. Instead, Hannity has relied on hacks like the two Breitbart.com editors whose “revelations” about the “radical” professor whom Obama praised and hugged in 1990 had already been aired by PBS in 2008. Or Fox's Eric Bolling, who wrongly accused Obama of being a drug dealer and then apologized the next day (though Hannity has not aired a retraction). Friday night (5/11/12), Democrat Steve Murphy called Hannity on some of this baloney.

You may recall that in late March, Sean Hannity was so taken with painter Jon McNaughton's series of anti-Obama paintings that he announced on the air he was going to buy one, try to loan it to a museum and then attack the institution as biased if it refused to accept it. Unfortunately for Hannity, Stephen Colbert may have put a wrinkle into that plan. Not only did he mock Hannity but he eviscerated the paintings. I think it's safe to say that no museum board need fear rejecting any of them now. (H/T Crooks and Liars) UPDATED

What a difference a few years make! In 2004, Karl Rove mobilized evangelicals to George W. Bush’s campaign by playing on their fears of a godless liberal social agenda that included the horrific slippery slope of same-sex marriage. In 2012, he’s spreading the message that same-sex marriage is not a game-changing issue because Americans are more concerned about serious matters like jobs and the economy.

Rush Limbaugh - he of the dwindling advertising revenue - has, not surprisingly, spoken out against President Obama's support for same-sex marriage. With his typical brand of opinionizing, Limbaugh can't just voice an opinion but has to attack while he's at it. So, after Shepard Smith voiced his unequivocal approval of President Obama's stance, Limbaugh went after him.