Last August, the Center for American Progress put together a report, "Fear, Inc.," on what it labeled "the Islamophobia Network - "a patchwork of scholars, foundations, and opinion-makers that has propagated negative impressions of Islam and Muslims in the United States." One of the groups cited in the report is the Center for Security Policy which is described as one of the “key think tanks led by scholars who are primarily responsible for orchestrating the majority of anti-Islam messages polluting our national discourse today." It is funded by right wing donors and headed by the Islamophobic Frank Gaffney, a "misinformation expert," who has a veritable cottage industry that manufactures fear of creeping sharia. His group was in the forefront of opposition to the "Ground Zero Mosque" - an opposition for whom Fox News provided an Islamophobic "megaphone."  So was it merely a coincidence that Fox's Roger Ailes won their "Pen is Mightier than the Sword Award?"

News is breaking that George Zimmerman is about to be criminally charged in the Trayvon Martin shooting. It's not known at the moment what charges are to be filed.

Yesterday, I posted about a Fox News employee gone rogue and posting on Gawker from inside the belly of the beast. Today, Fox says it has identified the mole. UPDATE: Mole says otherwise!

Hannity suggests that President Obama is trying to instate sharia law in the U.S. All that's missing from this "teaser" for an upcoming segment on the Hannity show is a "Vote Republican" banner...

Memo to George Zimmerman: If you’re trying to show the world you’re not a racist, you might not want to pal around with Sean Hannity. Unfortunately for Zimmerman, he seems more interested in Hannity’s advice than that of his own attorneys. After a phone call with Hannity about which he said they “spoke on the phone about his case, and I agreed not to report on the contents of that conversation,” Zimmerman’s attorneys resigned. They cited that phone call as one of the reasons.

Gawker has a fascinating column by a current Fox News employee disgruntled by the tactics of his or her employer and ready to spill the beans. Interestingly, the self-titled "Fox Mole" says the moment of no return came via Fox Nation. Why are we not surprised?  Mole pretty accurately describes Fox Nation as an "unholy mashup of the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post and a Klan meeting."

Bill Hemmer and Fr. Jonathan Morris are hot, hot, hot for the hunky and very Christian Tim Tebow. But it's strictly biblical cuz Hemmer and Morris, as devout Catholics, would never engage in anything connected to base carnality. Rather, they love Tebow for his being an awesome Christian who frequently engages in the kinds of ostentatious Jesus praising that is so beloved in real Merka and the reason why, on Fox "News," Tebow has attained deity like status. Back in January, Hemmer and Morris were engorged with the fire of the Holy Spirit as they rapped about Tebow. And following Tebow's Christ like preaching to the Texas masses, on Sunday, Hemmer and Morris got positively orgasmic (in the spiritual sense, of course) about Tebow and other Christian sports role models. Not only did Hemmer and Morris articulate their reverence for Tebow; but while they spoke, the audience was able to pray to photos of Tebow, Tebowing, which were displayed on the news desk video screen.

It’s long been a contention of smart people (in other words: some smart people say) that watching Fox “News” makes people dumb.  Study after study has confirmed that people who watch Fox “News” are among the most misinformed in ‘Merka.  This is just one of the many points Chris Mooney makes in his upcoming book “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science--and Reality.”  AlterNet has printed a terrific excerpt called “The Science of Fox News: Why Its Viewers are the Most Misinformed,” in which Mooney not only cites all the studies, but also includes a partial list of topics on which Fox “News” viewers are lied to led astray.  Mooney also argues that studying Fox "News" becomes circular logic: Which came first?  In my mind it's a lot like self-perpetuating motion machine:

One day after Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News Sunday sounding very much like a candidate conceding electoral defeat, he appeared on the Hannity show and blamed the “elite media” for suggesting he was leaving the race. He insisted he'd be in it "all the way to Tampa" before giving himself some important wiggle room, saying he'd stay in the race "as long as it is possible to do it, period.”

During yet another Fox & Friends segment, in which Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan's talking points against the HHS birth control mandate were articulated and supported, Maltese Knight Peter Johnson Jr. made a surprising revelation. He disclosed (for the second time in all the propaganda pieces) that he is a friend of fresh Prince (of the Catholic Church) Dolan's and that he has represented him in "constitutional matters." He did so because - ready for it - "there are some anti-Catholics that like to go on the blogs and write about me and damn my Catholicism but I'm proud to be a Catholic and also proud to be a constitutionalist and when Cardinal Dolan speaks up he's speaking up for the constitution." Could he be speaking of your humble correspondent?