Rather than moments of Zen, Bill O'Reilly's "Tip of the Day" lessons are a view into the hubristic mind of a person whose teachings don't really correspond to past practice. But who knows, maybe Bill O'Reilly has achieved a whole new level of self awareness. But wait, after having lectured us about anger management (go scream in private), Bill vented, quite publicly, against Alan Colmes. So, one wonders if Bill will be able to follow his recent advice about ignoring "guttersnipes. Given his past history, odds are against him.

Any regular reader knows that Fox is inordinately skewed to Catholics. Is there any other channel that features such regular visits from a Catholic priest over all other denominations? So it's no surprise that Fox would consider the white smoke emanating from the Vatican's chimney, the sign that a new Pope has been selected, as "urgent."

If you're a fan of Texas' Tea Party Senator Ted Cruz and you're worried he might face a birther problem should he decide to run for president, you can rest easier knowing that Fox Nation has his back. Unlike with President Obama, Cruz's spokesperson's word is good enough to allay concerns about his citizenship. Let's compare and contrast.

Caroline Heldman, a frequent Fox News guest, had a bit of a blowout with Sean Hannity last night in which he argued that the booming stock market was not a sign of economic recovery because, he asked rhetorically, "those people on food stamps, are they investing in the stock market?” To which Heldman replied, "I’m impressed that you’re now concerned about the poor, thank you for that.” Tonight, Heldman was a guest on Al Sharpton's PoliticsNation where she said, "I have never met a group of people who are so upset that the economy is rebounding than the folks over at Fox."

Armchair General Sean Hannity is very disturbed that Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law will be tried in New York City instead of Guantanamo Bay. One of Hannity’s objections is that the suspect will receive “rights.” And even though Hannity has weaseled out of his promise to be waterboarded for charity, he now advocated “dunking” the suspect in order to make him “crack.”

Glenn Beck may be too toxic for Fox News, but he’s a regular on The O’Reilly Factor. Last night, Bill O’Reilly called on him to help advance his ridiculous justification for attacking Alan Colmes last week, that it was all part of “looking out for you.” Unfortunately for O’Reilly, Beck didn’t do much to help.

Just when you think that the absurdity level on Fox & Friends can't get any higher (or lower, as the case may be), along comes something that will disabuse you of that notion. This morning, Gretchen Carlson, wearing her biggest Miss America grin and doing her best happy voice evah, interviewed the Duggar family ("19 and Counting") who just returned from a trip to Asia. These fecund folks, who have their own "reality show on TLC," are no strangers to Fox, having been last seen endorsing Rick Santorum for president. Today's interlude was just so cute and inspiring - just kidding. They discussed all the fun they had in experiencing Asian cultures. It was just so inspirational when a Duggar daughter, with two children, said that she looks forward to welcoming her third baby and having as many more children as God will give her. Gretch, who has had two children, said "fantastic." What more can you say? Video here.

As part of its mission as a media conduit for the religious right, Fox News has taken on the role of defender and promoter of the conservative views of the Catholic Church - "Nuns on the Bus," not so much! So it's not surprising that while other news outlets are covering American politics, Fox has become the media outlet for extensive coverage of the upcoming papal election - a pope-a-paloozathon that consists of happy talk about the Catholic Church with only fleeting references to church "scandals." Given that Fox is on a mission from its god, Roger Ailes, to slam other media, Fox talkers have accused media, which discusses the "bad stuff" in the Church, of being anti-Catholic. And given that Fox is the media outlet for the Bishop's opposition to the president's birth control mandate, it's not surprising that the Fox papal election coverage never wastes an opportunity to promote the papal possibilities of the USCCB head, Fox fave, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as was done, again, by Fox VP John Moody on yesterday's America Live show. Megyn Kelly provided the amen chorus! And once again, Dolan's dirty laundry wasn't aired

You don’t need to be a psychologist or a body expert to figure out that Bill O’Reilly’s justifications tonight for his bullying attack on Alan Colmes last week are a lot of hooey. In fact, there was so much hooey, I’m not sure I can catch it all in one post. But for starters, there was the hooey that O’Reilly likened Colmes’ “lie” about federal spending cuts to the danger posed by Al Qaeda (which included the hooey that Colmes had his facts wrong in the first place), plus the hooey that O’Reilly attacked Colmes out of a public-spirited desire to draw attention to this big danger, plus O’Reilly’s "admission" that he shouldn’t have called Colmes a liar – even though he immediately afterward described Colmes as lying. And my favorite hooey: O’Reilly said he’s not in his job for money or fame, but to look out for us. 

Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center came out with an alarming report about the rise of anti-government “patriot” groups. So how was this discussed on The O’Reilly Factor Friday night (3/8/13)? By trotting out a representative from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigrant group listed as a hate group by the SPLC, smearing the SPLIC and all but calling them a hate group.