The US Council of Catholic Bishops spends beaucoup bucks on lobbying the Congress to role back American women's reproductive rights. But they get to lobby the American people for free as a result of their cozy relationship with Fox News which provides a platform for a Catholic Diocesan attorney and Fox host to articulate whatever it is the men in black want articulated.  But given that Fox's Peter Johnson Jr. was "knighted" by the Catholic Church (as was Rupert Murdoch; albeit a different royal posse), it's only fair, I guess, that he's dancing with those who brung him. Monday morning, Peter Johnson Jr. and Steve Doocy continued Fox & Friends' ongoing Fox "sausage fest" in support of the bishops' position regarding the HHS birth control mandate. As usual it was a verbatim restatement of the bishop's talking points, including the lie that emergency contraception is abortion as well as - wait for it - the assertion that birth control kills babies. Seriously!  With friends like Fox News, who needs lobbyists? Certainly, not the bishops!

In his Common Sense Commentary Monday (2/13/12), Neil Cavuto complained that there are “really no real cuts” in President Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2013. What Cavuto seemed to mean was that rich people were sacrificing too much, the poor not enough.

Sean Hannity has been screaming about Islamic extremism taking over Egypt since before Mubarek was overthrown. Lately, he has been trying to exploit a dispute between Egypt and the U.S. over 16 detained Americans by calling it a “hostage crisis.” Unfortunately for Hannity and his Islamophobic fear mongering, John McCain set him straight in no uncertain terms Monday night (2/13/12).

Sean Hannity’s all-male religious panel got its just rewards on The Daily Show last night.  As usual, Jon Stewart struck right at the heart of what was wrong with Hannity’s picture – not the opposition to Obama's contraception mandate, per se, but to the self-aggrandizing holy war that Hannity and his like-minded crusaders tried to make out of it. “I gotta hand it to these guys on imagination," Stewart said. "First, wine becomes blood, then insurance reform becomes war."

Last night’s Hannity discussion about Nicki Minaj’s performance at the Grammy’s was proof positive that Fox News will use ANYTHING as an excuse to attack President Obama. Guest Deneen Borelli suggested that Minaj’s “assault” on the Catholic Church was merely following the example set by President Obama with his contraception mandate.

This just in. The very fecund Mr. and Mrs. Duggar, after praying about it, endorsed Rick Santorum. The told the smiling and giggling gang on the curvy couch that they think Santorum is awesome because he promotes "family values" and "lives within a budget" just like they do. It's a complex world! (Video below the fold)

Religious opposition to the HHS contraceptive mandate is not universal. The decision has been praised by clergy who support women's reproductive rights, such as the Episcopal Church, the UCC, and non Orthodox Jews. But you didn't see any of these faiths in the audience for Sean Hannity's all male conclave of right wing clergy who oppose the HHS mandate, as well as women's reproductive rights in general. In addition to the clergy, including Roger Ailes' personal house priest, Fr. Jonathan Morris, the Fox anointed Catholic leader, the  homophobic, anti-Semitic, and blamer of victims of pedophile priests, Bill Donohue was present to do his usual incoherent braying. When Hannity asked how many of the clergy would disobey the HHS policy, all but one of the guys raised their hand. Not only did Fr. Morris raise his hand; but he said that clergy should be "ready to die" for this issue. While all this sound oh, so butch and brave, it turns out that Morris' (and many of the other clergy) really don't have anything to protest about and in Morris' case, he's been strangely silent about things in his hood.

What a difference a network makes. Last week, the Morning Joe crew interviewed Washington DC's Cardinal Wuerl about the HHS mandate. They treated him as they would any guest - with polite but hardball questions. Contrast this treatment with yesterday's interview of the Cardinal by official "news" person Martha MacCallum. While she did ask one pertinent question that was also asked on MJ, she also agreed with everything the cardinal said - unlike those on MJ who rebutted a number of the same points made, on America's Newsroom, by this "prince" of the Catholic Church whose ring was figuratively kissed by the Catholic Martha MacCallum. I'm sure the Cardinal enjoys being on the "fair & balanced" Fox "News."

Brad Stine, fresh from his appearance at CPAC [all 15 minutes of which can be found here, if you like your comedy unfunny] made his weekly appearance on Fox and Friends.  Readers would be right to suspect he’d disappeared from the Fox and Friends rotation, since his last several appearances have not been documented by News Hounds.  No, he simply had nothing new to say and started to repeat himself.  That messed with my perfectly crafted conceit that former-carney Stine was an expert on everything, because that’s how the Curvy Couch seemed to use him.  It turns out that Stine is a maven on two things only: “Wussification” and “Political Correctness.”  No matter the topic, Stine is able to twist his response into some variation of “The Politically Correct Wussification of [fill in the blank].”  Wash, rinse, and repeat—like all the best propaganda. This week Stine didn’t disappoint in that regard, the jumping off point being teachers’ unions and so-called rubber rooms. 

Fox News contributor Liz Trotta appeared on America’s News HQ on Sunday (2/12/12) and suggested that if women want to serve in the military they should expect to be raped and not make a big deal out of it. Even Host Eric Shawn seemed to be offended by her.