There's a new American twist to the Murdoch scandals. Reuters reported a few days ago that the name of American financier Robert Agostinelli turned up as a "blagging" target of private investigator Steve Whittamore, working on behalf of the Murdoch tabloid News of the World - which shut down in the wake of the phone hacking scandals that have engulfed the Murdoch empire. "Blagging" is a British term for obtaining information under false pretenses. In this case, someone misrepresented him or herself to get a copy of Agostinelli's hotel bill. (H/T Eric J.)

Sometime in June, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare” to Fox News believers). As the time approaches, the war of words is heating up on both sides - though judging from Friday’s “On the Record,” it’s the liberals’ fault because they’re trying to bully the judges into upholding the bill.

The right wing Media Research Center (MRC) is in a tizzy because the evil, librul media isn't obsessing, as is Fox News, about what conservative Catholics are calling "unprecedented" lawsuits filed by Catholic entities against the evil, librul Obama HHS. This whine is fast becoming part of the dialogue on Fox News which never wastes an opportunity to feature their patented "outrages" against American Christians. As reported by the MRC blog  "Newsbusters," dedicated to ferreting out evil, librul bias in the non "fair & balanced" media, good conservative Catholic Eric Bolling mentioned this travesty to fellow conservative Catholic and - drum roll please - MRC honcho Tim Graham when Bolling filled in for Neil Cavuto last week. Bolling and Graham suggested that this Catholic "diss" was coordinated by an Obama loving press. On Friday's Fox & Friends, Mike Huckabee was asked about why the press was ignoring this. And yesterday, even Chris Wallace, in a discussion of the mandate with Washington DC's Cardinal Wuerl, used the MRC's "data" in one of the questions. So a "fair & balanced" "news" show sources from an agenda driven source? Who knew!

It's time to empty our mail bag again - of emails meant for Fox News but inexplicably sent to us. Here again is a stunning assortment of communiques which some say could be proof that watching Fox News makes you ignorant.

The newest meme in the right wing world of victimization and self aggrandizing paranoia is that the evil, godless mainstream media isn't paying proper attention to the newest right wing fight card - Catholic Bishops vs. President Obama. The right wing "Media Research Center," headed by Fox fave and muy macho Brent Bozell, claims that the evil, librul media has devoted only 19 seconds to "the biggest religious lawsuit" evah which, according to the facially hirsute Bozell, is the "worst bias" he's seen in 25 years. For the deeply conservative Catholic Bozell, this very mortal sin of "deliberate and insidious withholding of national news" is "despicable." Since he published his scorching exposé, a group of so called Catholic leaders have expressed, as headlined on Bozell's Media Research website, their "fury." Joining the pedophile priest defender Bill Donohue, and number of radical right wing, GOP friendly Catholics is - drum roll please - Fox priest Fr. Jonathan Morris whose written statement about "shameless bias" is a tad ironic given his place of employment and his function therein!

On Saturday's (5/26/12) America's News HQ, Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board teamed up with host Kelly Wright in a deliberate effort to malign the NAACP's endorsement of same sex marriage as a political stunt on behalf of President Obama. But Riley took it a step further by claiming it was part of "a pattern" of instances where the organization worked against the interests of everyday black Americans. One of those instances was Riley's dubious claim that the NAACP support minimum wage laws that “disproportionately harm black workers.”

Ok, Folks, it’s time for yet another chapter of “Freedom of Religion” hypocrisy from Fox News. This instance comes from Mike Huckabee, as a guest on Fox & Friends Weekend yesterday, where he made an appearance to talk about (what else?) The HHS Mandate. More specifically, he was talking about the EWTN lawsuit or the lawsuits by 43 Catholic agencies against the Obama administration over its mandate that health insurance cover contraception. Some say it's a ploy to help Republicans. But nobody mentioned that in this segment.

According to the head honchos at Fox News, Bret Baier's evening show is the flagship for Fox's alleged "Fair & Balanced" news programming - as opposed to the clearly conservative partisanship shown on the "opinion" shows such as Fox & Friends, Hannity, and O'Reilly. Last Monday, however, Baier provided a report on the Catholic lawsuits against the HHS mandate that would seem to contradict the fairness and balance that are touted on the logo for the Fox News channel. But given that Fox "News," seems to have become the media mouthpiece of the US Conference of Catholic bishops, headed by Fox fave Cardinal Timothy Dolan whose antipathy toward the president dovetails nicely with that of the GOP, it's not surprising that the blatant bias that is such a part of Fox "opinion" programming would spill over into Fox "news" which is supposed to be "fair & balanced." Go figure!

Last night's Hannity show was an hourlong special with Frank Luntz described by Fox as "Taking America's Pulse on 2012." What they meant was "taking America's pulse on Mitt Romney" - at least as far as the presidential election goes. Because the show kicked off with Luntz' group rating two pitches for why voters should elect Romney (one pitch from Luntz and one from Sean Hannity). The pitch for re-electing President Obama? There wasn't any.

Bill Hemmer, a "devout Catholic" (one of many in the Vatican's America's Newsroom), attended Catholic high school long after I did back in the good (?) old days when Catholic students were taught that Jesus and the Pope wanted you to save your body until marriage - at which point sex was only for reproductive purposes. One assumes that the message hadn't changed all that much in Bill's happy, high school days; but one also assumes that Hemmer's cohort were equally, if not more, insouciant about the message than we were. But based on Bill's line of questioning and seeming validation of Concerned Woman for America, Penny Nance's positions (Heterosexually married and "missionary" only) it would appear that Fox News' "bantam boy toy" is still drinking the Kool-Aid which is only fitting as he's still single (so guys and gals, there's still hope) and, as such, is morally obligated to abstain. But it seems like he just doesn't understand those who don't. Oh, well....