On the same day that Neil Cavuto went into a snit over the thought of a $10 an hour minimum wage, he completely lost it over the suggestion that all workers should have a pension. While Cavuto is undoubtedly set for a very cushy retirement, making sure that others are secure in theirs is, to him, akin to asking for “chateaubriand every night.” Meanwhile, he shot down two alternative suggestions for cuts – charging oil companies for drilling on public lands and/or holding off on $300 million dollars to build a new baseball stadium – without even considering them.

On yesterday’s Your World, Neil Cavuto and Democratic strategist Malia Lazu debated a plan by House Democrats to raise the minimum wage from $7.25/hr to $10/hr. Just the thought of it put Cavuto in a snit by the end of the discussion.

The "fair & balanced" Fox News network loves bogus "wedge issues" as they provide a handy, dandy way to further divide an already divided country while promoting right wing memes, particularly those related to the culture war. Fox's patented phony "War on Christmas" is the winner and still champion of those things that Fox uses to put the Fox viewers on the side of the angels while those on the other are on the road to perdition. But running close second behind this is the Fox war on Planned Parenthood. Last year, during the run-up to the failed House vote on defunding PP, Fox hosted a fun filled week of Fox "opinion" aimed at defaming an organization that provides health care to millions of low income women. Last week, we were treated to credulous coverage of Lila Rose's bogus sting videos meant to influence public opinion before a House vote on mythical sex selection abortion. And this week, Fox viewers were given more propaganda about another "bogus" PP"outrage" which has become another battle in the anti-choice real war on women for which the "fair & balanced" Fox News supplies only the best of munitions.

Yesterday Fox Nation posted for their readers’ edification a clip from the "Today Show" in which Ann Curry asked comedian Chris Rock (aka Marty the Zebra on soon-to-be-released Madagascar 3), what animal he could be if he could choose. Rock replied he'd stick with Marty, joking that it was "in honor of our zebra president, black and white, white and black." Rock added "I love our president, you know, but he's black and white, he appeals to all…That's what I'm going for….We ignore the President’s whiteness, but it’s there, it’s there.” 

Sean Hannity is still obsessively intent on painting President Obama as a secret (black) radical who has somehow hidden his real self thanks to a lapdog media. As I wrote in a previous post, it's very telling that this big Fox News star has been unable to persuade his own news network - the only one not "in the tank" for Obama - to assign a single reporter to the task of unearthing these radical connections once and for all. So last night, Hannity trotted out yet another Breitbart-esque figure, in this case National Review author Stanley Kurtz, to offer up some shred of long-irrelevant Obama history and call it proof that he's an anti-American radical. And Fox News, of course, continues to sanction this smoke and mirrors hate mongering.

I thought Dr. Laura Berman did a terrific job. She knocked down each and every one of Laura Ingraham's attempts to smear the Los Angeles school district for having a Planned Parenthood clinic in a public high school. Berman pointed out that what Planned Parenthood is doing is entirely needed and legal. And Ingraham didn't really have any argument other than to try to fox (pun intended) Berman into admitting contraception is not as effective as abstinence (she didn't) and to make smarmy suggestions about Planned Parenthood.

Listening to this debate, in which Michelle Malkin and Sean Hannity decry incivility from the left while either justifying or shrugging off as humor or part of the First Amendment the incivility from the right, is enough to make me cry for my country.

Bill O'Reilly mourns the demise of the white, male, Christian power structure - those halcyon days when these men were free to discriminate against women and women had no legal recourse because patriarchy ruled. So there's rich irony in Bill's concern about the non-existent issue of sex selection abortion - given that these abortions are the product of societies with the kind of gender inequalities that were part of the society to which Bill wants to return and which still exist today. Bill's fondness for the "good old days" extends to his desire to insert himself (metaphorically speaking) in the uteri of American women who, in Bill's ideal world, would be faced with the option of carrying a pregnancy to term, regardless of the circumstance, or having a dangerous illegal abortion. As such, he has no problem promoting the agenda of the radical anti-choice movement, including the "sting" videos of James O'Keefe protégé Lila Rose who wants, as does Bill, to see Planned Parenthood destroyed and all abortion criminalized. She would be a minor player, known only to the extreme fringes of "pro-life" activism, if not for Bill providing her with a national and supportive platform on his show. "No spin zone" indeed!

On yesterday’s Your World, John Stossel spoke about the Obama administration  creating 3.1 million green jobs. Fair and balanced? Both Stossel and host Neil Cavuto sneered at the administration’s contention. 

Our favorite sneermonger, Michelle Malkin, visited Fox & Friends this morning where she laid another lump of hate on her fellow Americans in the name of loving her country. The target this time was liberal radio show host Bill Press who had the unmitigated gall to say he doesn’t like the Star Spangled Banner. You see, there’s nothing too vile that can be said on Fox about a liberal American. But the Star Spangled Banner? Well, that’s just another reason to hate liberals more! In the name of loving your country, of course.