We at News Hounds know as well as anyone what it's like to have your work pirated on the internet. But Congress' so-called solution not only creates more problems, it threatens the very freedom and openness that we cherish in the internet. Wikipedia, which has blacked out for the day, has more. Please join us in speaking out!

(Original graphic by longtime News Hound supporter Dee, PbD.)

With our new site, I thought it was time for a new hound logo. Check out Artemis, the News Hound and let me know what you think. Artemis is a real dog who happens to live with my sister. As you can see, she has inherited Aunt Ellen's affinity for blogging!

In the last of the five O’Reilly Factor segments in which Bill O’Reilly used Martin Luther King Day to play the racial victim, he consulted Karl Rove for an explanation as to why the Obama administration is opposing Republican voter ID laws. O’Reilly was puzzled because in his mind, standing up for African Americans is a turn off to everyone else! 

The O’Reilly Factor used Martin Luther King Day once again last night to portray whites as victims of blacks. I’ve already posted about three other segments in which Bill O’Reilly played the white victim last night. In this one, the context was the Republican efforts to impose voter ID laws. O’Reilly forbid his guests, Monica Crowley and Alan Colmes, from debating such laws and insisted the discussion stick to the Obama administration’s decision to block the one in South Carolina on the grounds that it violated the Voting Rights Act. In other words, he laid the groundwork for another opportunity to race bait - and Crowley seized it without objection from O'Reilly.

Every year at this time—due to the same internal clock that drives cicadas and the Phony War On Christmas—Fox “News” uses the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., to reinforce Right Wing Talking Points and Fox “News” memes.  The practice reaches its height on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, which always falls on a Monday for the 3-day weekend.  It’s a fascinating exercise in necropunditry: divining what MLK would think about current affairs, based upon readings—and sometimes misreadings—of what he said and wrote in his lifetime.  The Foxy friends at Fox and Friends played host to two separate guests on Monday, both of whom knew precisely what Martin Luther King would think: Star Parker and MLK’s own niece, Alveda King.

In a third segment in which Bill O’Reilly used Martin Luther King Day to play the racial victim last night, he hosted Bernard Goldberg specifically to attack journalists who expressed concerns that Republican racism will be a part of the 2012 race. Unfortunately for O’Reilly, Goldberg hilariously shot himself in the foot with a failed attempt to look racially hip. Goldberg brought a photo (undoubtedly Photoshopped) of him posing with Ice Cube. But Goldberg mistakenly and repeatedly called Ice Cube “Ice-T” and O’Reilly had to correct him.

One of our readers, on my Hemmer/Morris thread, alluded to Fox's hypocrisy vis-a-vis kids being "used" for political purposes. True that. It was only in August of last year that Fox's Maltese King Peter Johnson Jr., Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson whined about children who were in a MoveOn.org ad that promoted progressive talking points. Johnson said it was "a new low in using children for a political message." Gretch said that the kids couldn't possibly know what they were talking about. So will the gang on the curvy couch say the same things about those kids who pushed John 3:16 in a Focus On the Family ad which was aired during a recent football team? Are these very young children really that savvy about the nature of the Trinity and the meaning of "life?" Is using children for Christian evangelizing purposes any different from using them for politics? Just saying...

Move over Father Jonathan Morris and Martha MacCallum. Methinks you're not the only ones who are hot for Tim Tebow. On yesterday's alleged Fox "news" show, America's Newsroom, alleged "news" anchor Bill Hemmer showed that you just might have some serious competition. But rather than crass carnality, the love shown by Catholic bachelor Hemmer and offical Foxpriest Jonathan Morris, was of a deeply spiritual nature. Both Hemmer and Morris just glowed with the fire of the Holy Spirit as they waxed poetic over Tebow and his favorite bible verse which was the basis for a Focus on the Family ad that was played during Tebow's last game. Those of a cynical nature might say that the whole segment was more of Fox's patented pimping of Christian right memes; but I'm sure it was just Christian fellowship. Right?

As the morning show where Jesus and some serious "T&A" happily co-exist, Fox & Friends is the place with something for everyone. Where else can you see professional Christians get their freak on with scantily clad Victoria's secret models, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and lingerie footballers while praising the lord (and Tim Tebow).  It's a place where junior can feast his eyes on "Hooters Girls" before going off (after a suitable bathroom break) to some evil, librul public school system that the "friends" are always braying about. And most of all, it's a wholesome fun place where former Miss America and Jesus BFF Gretchen Carlson, who objected to sexy high school cheerleader moves, said that the Fox & Friends lingerie football scrimmage was "the best thing I've ever seen on TV." Yet, Gretch seems to have a problem with the latest "Cosmo" cover cuz it's too "racy?" Really?

Immediately following the Martin Luther King Day segment with South Carolina Democrat Dick Harpootlian, Bill O'Reilly used the occasion to race bait a second time when he trotted out Senator Jim DeMint and complained, "I don't like this race business."