Unlike the liberal biological son of President Reagan, Ron Reagan Jr., Michael Reagan shares no DNA with the former president. But as his adopted son, Michael has taken on the mantle of his father in order to promote views that make his conservative father look downright moderate. Thus, not surprisingly, he is a frequent guest on the Fox News channel where he is allowed a full platform for his extremist and frequently incoherent positions. Given that the Catholic Church's opposition to the HHS contraceptive mandate dovetails nicely with the position of the hard right GOP, it's not surprising to see Reagan weigh in on the issue. Yesterday, on the alleged Fox "news" program, "America Live," Reagan was allowed to offer his usual brand of right wing blather not only as a conservative but as a Catholic which is rather interesting seeing that Reagan once called for the murder of an anti-war activist and the killing of Muslim women and their babies. Go figure!

Remember how Monday night, Bill O’Reilly promised an investigation into the funding of Occupy Wall Street? That “investigation” proved to be nothing less than a hazy suggestion that Fox News boogeyman George Soros is the behind-the-scenes financier. Oh, O’Reilly didn’t exactly say so. What he said was that the non-profit Institute for Policy Studies, which he claimed (without any evidence) runs OWS, accepts money from Soros’ Tides Foundation.  Therefore, without bothering to tell anyone how much money from Tides goes to the supposed Occupy-masterminds or for what purpose, the viewers were left to draw their own conclusion that Soros is really controlling the purse strings. Mixed up in all that was O’Reilly’s and then guest Monica Crowley’s malicious attempts to use the Occupy movement as a vehicle to attack President Obama.

Today marks three years and one month since waterboarding-supporter Sean Hannity said he'd undergo the process for charity - in an effort to prove it's not torture. But if it's such a benign procedure, why hasn't Hannity fulfilled his promise?

Bill O'Reilly loathes the Occupy movement and has proclaimed, based on a NYC streetencounter with an alleged Occupy protester, that they are terrorists. But Bill's feelings about protesters seem to be based on whether or not they agree with him. Those who don't are deemed anathema while those who are in synch with his views are safe from his wrath. In other words, in Bill O'Reilly's world, not all protesters are created equal. Bill O'Reilly, arbiter of all that is right and just, is a hypocrite? Oh, Noooo......

Sarah Palin, probably the most highly paid inconsequential figure in the 2012 election, took to the Hannity show airwaves last night and joined the chorus of Fox News pundits longing to use Rev. Jeremiah Wright to make race-based attacks on President Obama. But Palin went to ridiculous new lengths when she argued that “putting everything on the table” is necessary, “if we want to continue to be exceptional and prosperous and secure, and the most generous country in the entire world.”

Along with being an arm of the GOP, Fox News has lately taken up the banner of the Catholic Church in its fight against the HHS contraception mandate. For both the conservative, US Conference of Catholic Bishops (not Obama fans) and Fox, it's a divine quid-pro-quo. The Church gets its message proclaimed on a national "news" network while Fox, on behalf of the GOP, gets to bash the Obama administration which is portrayed as waging war against Catholics who will, presumably, join the GOP congregation. Since the policy was announced, it seemed like not a week went by without Fox's professional conservative Catholic Fox & Friends guys opining on a topic pertaining to ladyparts that they and their bishop pals don't have. This morning, Catholic Knight of Malta Peter Johnson Jr. and Brian Kilmeade, one of many conservative Catholics in Fox's media tool box, virtually shouted Hosannas in the highest for the plethora of lawsuits filed by Catholic dioceses and colleges against the Obama administration. Once again, ideology trumped reason. But then this is Fox & Friends so it's all good.

Apparently, some Occupy Wall Street protester or protesters had the nerve to confront Bill O’Reilly Friday night while he was attending a Broadway show with some children. Although O’Reilly routinely sends his own producer to accost people – and on camera, to be aired on national television – when it’s O’Reilly on the receiving end, it’s a terrorist plot. And President Obama needs to be held accountable!

Remember Heather Childers? She’s the Fox News host who sent a tweet asking for “thoughts” as to whether or not the Obama campaign threatened to kill Chelsea Clinton in order to keep Bill and Hillary Clinton from spilling the beans about then-candidate Barack Obama’s birth certificate. It’s bad enough that she still has any job at a cable news outfit. But how on earth can Fox justify her co-hosting America's News HQ, which is supposed to be one of their “objective” news shows? Even worse, part of that work involves moderating discussions about President Obama’s campaign.

Fox News chief Roger Ailes is speaking at Ohio University today. There’s nothing wrong with that per se. Ailes is certainly an important figure and OU is his alma mater. But what is troubling is the likelihood that he will be presented as a credible journalist and the unlikelihood that his questionable practices will receive any serious challenge. All you need to do is follow the money to understand why.

Bill O'Reilly presents himself as a devout Catholic which, as I recall from my childhood daily catechism lessons, does not preach a gospel of hatred. But that was a long time ago, so maybe things have changed because Il Papa Bill does seem to harbor hatred for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. During his one man, nationally televised jihad against abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, O'Reilly claimed that Sebelius was "unfit to serve" as governor of Kansas because she didn't participate in the kind of anti-Tiller jihad that Bill was waging. The reality is that Tiller was found innocent of criminal charges brought against him by the disgraced former Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline whose "dishonest and selfish" campaign against Tiller had Bill's imprimatur. Sebelius was recently invited to speak at one of Georgetown University's commencement venues. Not surprisingly, that prompted paroxysms of pro-life protest from O'Reilly who, as a devout Catholic (phone sex not withstanding), felt that her pro-choice views and her, according to Bill, defense of Tiller and support for "baby killing" disqualified her from speaking. Last Friday, Bill, in his words, "blasted" Sebelius. Other verbs such as demonize, vilify, smear, and attack come to mind!