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Former Fox News contributor Jane Hall says that her ex-colleagues at the conservative network have been "waging a campaign" to link the words "radical" and "Islam" following the bombings at the Boston Marathon earlier this month.

In a Sunday discussion on CNN, host Howard Kurtz noted that after briefly coming together in the aftermath of the tragedy in Boston, the media had returned to its "ideological sniping."

Current TV host Cenk Uygur told Kurtz that Fox News had led the charge in making the airwaves more vitriolic by "talking about Muslims, which is ironic because this is the same Bill O'Reilly who kept calling Dr. Tiller, "Dr. Tiller The Baby Killer," until Scott Roeder shot him."

"So here's a fundamentalist who's Christian worrying about fundamentalists who are Muslims, and driving people to violence," Uygur said.

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CNN's Ali Velshi will be hosting a new business show on Al Jazeera America this summer. Here's to hoping we've seen the last of interviews like this one from his final show, where regular Stephen Moore from the Wall Street Journal was there to dumb down the conversation as usual.

Ali Velshi Joining Al Jazeera America As Host:

Ali Velshi is getting a primetime business program on Al Jazeera America, the network announced on Thursday.

"The as yet-to-be named 30-minute magazine-style program will initially launch in a weekly format but is expected to move to a five-days-a-week schedule by year’s end," the network said in a statement.

The host's last day at CNN will be Friday. News of his departure broke on Wednesday. At the time, he said that he was leaving to pursue a project "he couldn’t pass up."

Velshi said in a statement that he was "thrilled" to join Al Jazeera America. “It’s a tremendous opportunity and I look forward to taking advantage of the extraordinary U.S. news-gathering capabilities the channel is building and working with such a diverse and talented group of colleagues to tell compelling stories that matter to Americans," he said.

As they noted, Al Jazeera America is going to replace Current TV's programming soon and they're still hiring staff and searching for on air talent. I haven't read anything yet about whether they're going to keep any of Current's lineup or not. I'd be happy if we find out that Cenk Uygur and John Fugelsang will continue to be employed by the network once they make the change.

I'll be very curious to see how Velshi's show differs when he's no longer working for CNN and if he's got some better guests than those who regularly appeared on his weekend show, Your Money, like Moore, who his network decided to inflict on the public just about every single stinking weekend.

And naturally every wingnut blog that posted anything about this has their comments section full of hate filled posts attacking Velshi for the move. I'm sure we haven't seen anything yet compared to the vitriol we'll be treated to once they actually bring the network on the air in America.

So how's that rebranding effort working out for you, Reince? Maybe instead of hoping this guy will resign from the RNC, someone could fire him instead.

Michigan Republican Refuses To Resign, Stands By Anti-Gay Facebook Post:

The Republican official in Michigan embroiled in controversy over an anti-gay Facebook post said Friday that he won't be heeding the calls to step down and he stands by the content of the inflammatory article.

Dave Agema, a Republican National Committeeman and former Michigan state representative, told Newschannel 3 that he has no intention of resigning, despite calls from members of his own party to do so. On Wednesday, Agema posted an article on his Facebook page in which homosexuals were described as "filthy." The article contained "some statistics about the homosexual lifestyle," such as: "50% of suicides can be attributed to homosexuals (10)" and "Homosexuals account for 3-4% of all gonorrhea cases, 60% of all syphilis cases, and 17% of all hospital admissions (other than for STDs) in the United States (5)." A screen grab from the Facebook post can be viewed here.

While Agema distanced himself from the "filthy" characterization, he was quick to highlight the statistics on the gay "lifestyle and what it causes."

"They quoted as what somebody else said and attributed it to me; I didn't say that," Agema told the news station. "So, do I agreewith everything that that guy and the way he said it in the article, no. But he gives a lot of statistics on the results of the health and mental and physical health of the lifestyle and what it causes."

Cenk Uygur did a really nice job of pointing out in the clip above that if Agema didn't want what was in the article attributed to him, then maybe he should have thought twice about posting it and endorsing what was in it, and that he still agreed with the better part of the article, which is frankly, just bullshit made up statistics.

Pam's House Blend has more on why it's important to be paying attention to the lies being pushed by the religious right and then parroted by anti-gay bigots like Agema here: Gay community wasting good opportunity in Dave Agema controversy:

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As Digby rightfully noted after taking a look at some of the reporting on this new Simpson-Bowles plan, "we see the folly of asking for a "balanced approach" when you are negotiating with partisan thugs." Once again, we see that Overton window continually being shoved to the right when there are other alternatives out there, like the package offered by the Progressive Caucus in the House. That, of course, will be ignored, because the Villagers don't seem to consider anyone Serious unless they're talking about austerity and inflicting pain on the working class.

Here's more from Greg Sargent at The Plum Line: Simpson-Bowles and the mythical, arbitrary “center”:

Like a pair of aging crooners hoping to recapture past glory with a long-awaited reunion tour, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson released a new version of their deficit reduction plan today. Ezra Klein ferrets out the real news in the plan: It asks for far less in new revenues, and more in spending cuts, than the previous Simpson-Bowles plan did.

Whereas the previous Simpson-Bowles plan contained a roughly even split of revenues and cuts, the new one reduces the revenue “ask” dramatically, with the result that the overall plan is lopsidedly tilted towards cuts. The reason pinpointed by Klein is particularly striking:

This isn’t meant to be an update to Simpson-Bowles 1.0. Rather, it’s meant to be an outline for a new grand bargain. To that end, Simpson and Bowles began with Obama and Boehner’s final offers from the fiscal cliff deal. That helps explain why their tax ask has fallen so far: Obama’s final tax ask was far lower than what was in the original Simpson-Bowles plan, while Boehner’s tilt towards spending cuts was far greater than what was in the original Simpson-Bowles.

In other words, the plan roughly represents the ideological midpoint between the Obama and Boehner fiscal cliff blueprints — which is why the plan is so heavily tilted towards cuts. As Kevin Drum notes, this is particularly odd, given that spending cuts have already been “75 percent of the deficit reduction we’ve done so far.” Drum adds: “this sure makes it hard to take Simpson-Bowles 2.0 seriously as a plan.” Read on ...

And here's more on that from Steve Benen: Meet the new Simpson-Bowles plan:

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From this Monday evening's The Young Turks, this interview with Alex Jones wasn't quite as contentious as the one he had with Piers Morgan last week, but it wasn't a whole lot better. I did enjoy watching Cenk get a chance to ask him if he'd ever sought any mental health treatment after listening to quite a bit of his ranting and raving. I can also say it didn't break my heart to see two of these wingnuts tearing each other apart and Jones ripping on Glenn Beck after he criticized his interview on CNN.

Alex Jones to Glenn Beck: ‘Thomas Jefferson would spit on you’:

In this clip from Cenk’s interview with radio host Alex Jones, whose rant on Piers Morgan’s CNN show was dismissed by Glenn Beck as an attempt to make gun advocates seems crazy, Jones says, “You jackass mainline conservatives don’t speak for me. You’re the ones that have discredited true conservatism and libertarianism. Thomas Jefferson would spit on you, you little bastard. You little piece of trash. That’s what I have to say to Glenn Beck.”

If you're in for some more abuse, you can watch the extended interviews with Jones here and here.

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This story is just disgusting. There ought to be criminal charges against this contractor for doing this, instead of them trying to dump their liabilities onto the taxpayers: KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill:

Sodium dichromate is an orange-yellowish substance containing hexavalent chromium, an anti-corrosion chemical. To Lt. Col. James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Qarmat Ali water treatment center in Iraq just after the 2003 U.S. invasion, it was “just different-colored sand.” In their first few months at the base, soldiers were told by KBR contractors running the facility the substance was no worse than a mild irritant.

Gentry was one of approximately 830 service members, including active-duty soldiers and members of the National Guard and reserve units from Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia and Oregon, assigned to secure the water treatment plant, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sodium dichromate is not a mild irritant. It is an extreme carcinogen. In November 2009, at age 52, Gentry died of cancer. The VA affirmed two months later that his death was service-related.

In November, a jury found KBR, the military's largest contractor, guilty of negligence in the poisoning of a dozen soldiers, and ordered the company to pay $85 million in damages. Jurors found KBR knew both of the presence and toxicity of the chemical. Other lawsuits against KBR are pending.

KBR, however, says taxpayers should be on the hook for the verdict, as well as more than $15 million the company has spent in its failed legal defense, according to court documents and attorneys involved with the case.

KBR's contract with the U.S. to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure after the 2003 invasion includes an indemnity agreement protecting the company from legal liability, KBR claims in court filings. That agreement, KBR insists, means the federal government must pay the company's legal expenses plus the verdict won by 12 members of the Oregon National Guard who were exposed to the toxin at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant.

The military disagrees. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracting officer told KBR in November 2011 that litigation costs "are not covered by the indemnity agreement."

The public doesn’t know what the indemnity agreement actually says because the military considers it classified. Until recently, the veterans exposed to the toxin couldn’t know either, nor could attorneys at the Department of Justice, who were left battling the contract in the dark, according to a source there.

Michael Doyle, a Houston-based lawyer who helped the successful suit against KBR, told The Huffington Post the military declassified the indemnification agreement on Dec. 21 and gave it to him under a protective order that banned him from sharing the language to parties not involved in the case. John A. Elolf, a spokesman for KBR, confirmed the declassification of the agreement and said the contractor also was prevented from providing a copy. HuffPost has requested the document under the Freedom of Information Act from the Corps of Engineers. Read on...

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From the Young Turks: Cenk on #CTShooting (Part 1): ‘They don’t want you to talk about it now because they don’t want you to talk about it ever’:

Cenk weighs in on the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn., asking again what it will take for politicians to act on gun control.

“There’s no way in the world they all would have been dead if that shooter didn’t have a gun,” he says. “No way, no how. People will make their ridiculous arguments…about how you can kill people with other things… but they don’t. They kill them with guns. And they killed 20 young kids today with a gun. They tell us, not now, not now. Don’t talk about it. Don’t politicize it. It’s a trick. They don’t want you to talk about it now because they don’t want you to talk about it ever. Because they don’t want to fix it. People like the NRA and who represent gun manufactuers want to sell guns and more guns at all costs. All costs, at costs even as high as this. Which is why they will send all their lap dogs in politics — which is almost all of the Republicans and a significant chunk of the Democrats — to say ‘not now.’ If not now, when? When do we talk about it?”

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Too big to jail ought to mean too big to exist. Don't dare rob a bank or run drugs across the border, or you're sure as hell going to prison. But if you're a megabank which might take down our economy, by all means feel free to break the law with a slap on the wrist.

Too Big to Jail: Big Banks Can Finance Terrorists and Walk Away Scot-Free:

HSBC receives get-out-of-jail-free card in a real-life game of Monopoly.

The New York Times reports this week that megabank HSBC has escaped criminal prosecution for money laundering that probably funded terrorists and narcotics traffickers. Why? Because regulators and prosecutors were petrified that an indictment would undermine the entire financial system. The Times quotes anonymous government sources who confessed fears about bringing formal charges because doing so would be a "death sentence" for the bank. So they let it off the hook.

That’s right, HSBC is officially above the law. Too-big-to-fail has become too-big-to-prosecute.

A year-long investigation found that the British banking giant had blown right past federal laws by laundering billions of dollars from Mexican drug trafficking and processing banned transactions on behalf of Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma. A Wednesday Times article serves up vivid passages about the shady goings-on, including HSBC officials working closely with Saudi Arabian banks linked to terrorist organizations. According to the report, "the four-count criminal information filed in the court charged HSBC with failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, to conduct due diligence on its foreign correspondent affiliates and for violating sanctions and the Trading With the Enemy Act."

In a statement, the bank said it “will acknowledge that, in the past, we have sometimes failed to meet the standards that regulators and customers expect.” HSBC apologized and promised never, ever to do it again, scout’s honor.

I’m pretty sure I know what would happen to me if I stole a loaf of bread from the corner store. But a big bank can act as financier to freaking terrorists and never worry about things like jail. Funny how a corporation is a person until it breaks the law. Read on...

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The Young Turks Cenk Uygur with some follow up to the story Karoli wrote earlier this week, on the CEO's having fits over Obamacare -- Papa John’s owner can afford a turntable for his limousines, ‘but he doesn’t have enough money for health insurance for his employees’:

Cenk and Current TV correspondent Jacki Schechner call out Papa John’s Pizza owner John Schnatter for claiming he can’t afford Obamacare. Schnatter took home almost $3 million in 2011 alone, and holds Papa John’s stock worth $297 million. “He has a moat! This dude has a moat on his house,” Cenk says, and but he’s still complaining about needing to pitch in for his employees’ healthcare.

As Cenk rightfully pointed out, maybe they could afford to pay for health insurance if they just quit giving away so many of those free pizzas.

And as this article from Forbes reported, the cost per pizza may be quite a bit lower than was originally estimated -- Breaking Down Centi-Millionaire 'Papa' John Schnatter's Obamacare Math

Here's more from The Daily Show where, as Cenk opened with above, Jon Stewart tore into the CEOs as well -- Jon Stewart Rips Attempted Secessionists And CEOs For Whining About Obama's Re-Election.

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From Current TV's new series, Currently on hunger, under-nutrition and obesity in America. This segment from The Young Turks takes a look at celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and the work he's doing with Meals on Wheels.

For more interviews, articles and recipes, check out their new site here -- http://current.com/currently/feeding-the-need/ .