This week the remarks prompted outrage from several Christian bloggers. The Rev. Jim Wallis, who leads the liberal Christian antipoverty group Sojourners, in Washington, called on Christians to leave Glenn Beck.

“What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show,” Mr. Wallis wrote on his blog, God’s Politics. “His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern.”

In attacking churches that espouse social justice, Mr. Beck is taking on most mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, black and Hispanic congregations in the country — not to mention plenty of evangelical churches and even his own, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mr. Beck said on his radio show on March 2, “I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.”

“Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If I am going to Jeremiah Wright’s church,” he said, referring to President Obama’s former pastor in Chicago. “If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop.”

I have to imagine Beck will take this as some weird affirmation that he is doing something right. That said, alienating the Truthers is one thing, finding a Van Jones in the administration is one thing, alienating the Church as a whole and finding a Jeremiah Wright behind every door…I think that may be a conspiracy too far, even for Beck.

Which last night meant his nightly Late Night show got the first crack at a sketch involving tickle fight enthusiast Eric Massa.

The Massa PR tour this week (on Glenn Beck and Larry King) is such red meat for SNL it would be shocking if it wasn’t part of the cold open. But any future sketch will be seen after Fallon went first – playing the embattled now-former Congressman. “We got a hold of some footage that never made it to air, which is probably a good thing for him,” said Fallon, setting up the clip (which ultimately played more like a digital short).

“Look Larry, I was elected to represent the people of New York, what am I supposed to do, not grope anyone?” asked Fallon-as-Massa. “Look, I’m familiar with my staff and they’re familiar with my staff.”

And so on. This week’s SNL, hosted by Jude Law, you’re up next. Will they really chose to do a Larry King/Massa sketch after it’s been done before, on NBC?

Here’s last night’s sketch:

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Compare Dienst, the gravitas glowing like TV anchor makeup from his face, with Meacham, right, his lightly furrowed brow highlighting his defining quality: skepticism.

There are two possible theories: one, the more obvious, is that an unfortunate hospital snafu has denied them both of a lifelong bond with their twin brother. It’s happened before! But it’s just too simple of a solution. The other, more likely scenario is that one of either Meacham or Dienst are the creation of the other, and their mutual existence is a nefarious plot to receive more airtime (and awards—“Dienst” has an Emmy and “Meacham” a Pulitzer under his belt) on the premise that they are two separate people. Think about it: the biggest physical difference is mostly a matter of expression– and, yes, most photos seem to show them alternatively looking trusting and questioning the object of their attention. Plus, “Jon(athan)” didn’t even bother to get creative with the first name! Nice try, Jon, whoever you are. We’re onto you.

Have you any suggestions for other “siamediaite twins” – you know, media professionals who look like they were separated at birth could be long lost twin siblings? Send suggestions to tips@mediaite.com.

Maddow: Stupak says that the bill, as currently written, spends money on abortion. Is he telling the truth?

Pelosi: Let me say that I have the highest regard for Congressman Stupak. He’s a valued member of the Congress. The facts are these: There is no federal funding for abortion in the legislation.

And then Pelosi concedes that if he really wanted to Stupak could ostensibly read federal funding of abortion into the bill because there is a tax deduction for a woman who has a health insurance plan that allows for reproductive health services in it. Not exactly the resounding NO I think Maddow was hoping for…something that was sort of clear in her facial expression.

Clearly, Pelosi is not looking to alienate Stupak or anyone else (she hasn’t been able to pass all of President Obama’s ‘planks’ for nothing!) and when Maddow pushes her on Stupak’s ‘group of twelve’ Pelosi is eager to point out this bill is not about abortion. It’s about plenty of other things, which Pelosi describes well and convincingly (“up until now being a woman has been a pre-existing condition). But I’m not sure Maddow buys that it’s not going to come down to abortion and in Pelosi’s defense, when pushed, she does say she won’t let the bill be “hijacked” though she’s not specific on the ‘by whom’ part. Video below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Now in its fifth season, the show has come quite far since it seemingly stunt-casted Britney Spears in 2008 to try and save it from cancellation after the writer’s strike nearly derailed the show’s promising, yet cult-following, beginnings. Things changed pretty quickly as guest stars including Carrie Underwood, J-Lo and even Tim Gunn have gladly stepped up to appear in one of the few remaining classic-style sitcoms around.

Huffington has also been working on producing her own sitcom with Scrubs-alum Sarah Chalke (who also has played a decent sized part in the HIMYM lore) and HIMYM writer Greg Malins. Add that to recent appearances on The Cleveland Show and Help Me Help You, and TV is beginning to be a great place for the online queen.

Who hasn’t been on HIMYM? Who could possibly be next? Betty White seems like a good target. Excuse me while I start a Facebook campaign.

Anyone who’s a briefing junkie (there are more than you think) can tell you that the back third of the daily pressers are often the source of fireworks like this. As AURN’s April Ryan tries to ask Gibbs if the CBC has the President’s ear, and if the President has an urban agenda, WorldNetDaily’s Lester Kinsolving tries to fight his way in to ask if the President approves of what he calls the CBC’s “racial segregation.”

I’ve seen Gibbs answer questions like April’s (some from April) many times, and the answer is always along the same lines, that by helping all Americans, the President necessarily helps black Americans.  However, if stimulus and jobs bill funding is missing minority communities, as critics say it is, this rationale is more of a cop-out.A rising tide doesn’t help people who can’t even get on the boat.

Of course, Lester’s question points up the reason the White House’s relationship with the CBC is so politically sensitive. Race became a flashpoint issue during the President’s campaign, and it wouldn’t take much for his critics to paint him as giving black people special treatment. There’s a long answer to Lester’s question, about the absurdity of accusing an organization whose existence was necessitated by forced segregation of segregation itself, and there’s the short one Gibbs gave.

Whether you think the President has gone too far in distancing himself from the CBC or not, you can take a step back and see this conflict writ large. With record numbers of poor, unemployed, and uninsured Americans, why has most of the President’s pitch on healthcare and the economy been directed at middle class Americans who already have health insurance?

Kidding. The advertisement is actually warning the residents of England that if they observe any of these things, and especially all of the together, they should report their neighbors: “This may mean nothing, but together it could all add up to you having suspicions…We all have a role to play in combating terrorism” Video below.

Karen Oberthaler, a vet herself, writes this week’s Newsweek “My Turn” column, and has proposed that reforms to the current way the medical industry works redesign the system in the image of pet care, where animal owners make the ultimate decisions on treatment based on out-of-pocket payments and the relative probability it will extend the pet’s life. Sure, Oberthaler admits that pet care is a bit different, especially since most patients come in for geriatric care, so the kind of pressure that would befall a young person suddenly getting sick is much rarer in the animal world. Yet she insists the strategy is a good one:

“While pet insurance exists, only roughly 3 percent of owners carry it; even then, clients pay a substantial portion of costs themselves. That means they usually want to know the rationale behind each test… My clients then choose what they want done, with an understanding of the relative importance, risk, and cost of each option. This step-by-step approach may seem time-consuming, but it dramatically reduces the number of expensive, unnecessary tests. And the process is more gratifying.”

It is true that people squander health care much less frequently when they are directly accountable for paying for it as opposed to going through an insurance company, but eliminating the entire concept of health insurance is a radical and not quite thought-out idea. There’s a reason it works so well in the pet world and not for the common human: the costs. For example, chemotherapy for a cancer-stricken dog can cost between $5,000-6,000. The human equivalent can cost between $20,000-80,000. The price of human medical care can quickly become unmanageable for something suddenly inflicted with a serious condition.

Oberthaler continues her argument by adding some conditions that she agrees make the adaptation of pet health practices onto humans difficult, including the fact that malpractice lawsuits are rarely filed (and even more rarely won), but then brings up one of the most common vet practices rarely seen in the human world: putting a pet down. Knowing that their pet is close to death, she argues, “No family wants to subject its already sick pet to uncomfortable tests or dump thousands of dollars into dead-end diagnostics. So why do we do that to our grandparents?”

Noting that she understands the difference between a human patient and an animal one doesn’t quite erase the meaning of the sentence preceding her clarification: by putting an animal down, we are more humane to them than to the family members we keep alive through treatment. In other words, time to bring in the death panels?

The initial point of her piece is a valid one– people who are held directly accountable for their medical care are more informed and cautious about it– but that issue gets lost somewhere under calls for the eradication of insurance companies altogether and the dog/grandparent analogy indirectly supporting euthanasia. As much as Oberthaler would like to emphasize she can see the differences between her trade and the one the Obama administration is so keen on reforming, nearly all of her arguments contradict that. Sure, in an ideal world all Americans would live the lives of upper-middle class dogs, but the transformation of the health care system based on veterinary care is simply untenable.

[Photo via]

Fox News’ Shep Smith has the announcement, including the list of organizations.

Tom Hanks is currently promoting “The Pacific”, and HBO mini-series that he made with Stephen Spielberg, and according to O’Reilly, has refused to promote it on Fox News. But it was a quote he gave to Time magazine that put O’Reilly off:

And he is pleased that The Pacific has fulfilled an obligation to our World War II vets. He doesn’t see the series as simply eye-opening history. He hopes it offers Americans a chance to ponder the sacrifices of our current soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. “From the outset, we wanted to make people wonder how our troops can re-enter society in the first place,” Hanks says. “How could they just pick up their lives and get on with the rest of us? Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?”

Turns out that O’Reilly’s father served in Japan during WW II and took great exception. He had on left of center radio host Mark Levine to discuss, but O’Reilly made clear his disdain for Hanks (who had heretofore remained fairly agnostic on the political spectrum.)

When everyone suddenly started noticing Chatroulette a month or so ago, a lot of the early, excitable commentary centered around how the anonymous, ADD blitz of introductions brought us back to the Wild West days of the ’90s Internet, when chatrooms reigned supreme, strangers could really be strangers and no one knew you were a dog. Also: guys’ wangs.

So much for all of that: Chatroulette Map, a new web-based project, pulls IP addresses and images from Chatroulette to map user locations with alarming specificity. Especially if you’re in a big city, you can actually chart logins and pictures with an alarming level of detail.

Read the full post at Geekosystem.

The SNL head told USA Today that having White host was something he has always wanted, and while he has always felt the same level of affection for White as the Facebook fans have, it was their public support of her that “validated that.” While White called the opportunity “lovely,” she quipped that she was only hosting because “my agent said he’d divorce me if I didn’t do it, and I love my agent.” White had turned down the show three times previously for being too “New York.”

White has claimed that she is not afraid of the demands of the job. “I’ve got so much energy, it’s ridiculous,” she told the newspaper, although it seems like SNL won’t be taking any chances. While White will be the sole host of the show despite early rumors floating around of her having a co-host or two ease the amount of physical effort required from her, she will have an intense backup team: an SNL mom reunion with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch.

With this kind of host and this level of talent, it sounds like it will be nearly impossible for this show not to be completely amazing– and it’s all thanks to Facebook! Now if only the same could be done for Glenn Beck.

CNN is reporting that the success of the book in pre-orders has also been followed by crowded book signings and cross-country appearances. It’s quite a success for a potential presidential candidate who has been out of office and out of the limelight for some time, and is returning selling what very much sounds like his campaign platform in a hardcover spine, with some personal anecdotes in between.

It’s also somewhat shocking considering the lengths to which others with similar successes have had to go to promote themselves and their book. Going Rogue is one thing: its author is one of the most polarizing figures in the nation and preceded her book release with an unrelenting barrage of press coverage. Plus, her former son-in-law-to-be was helping her greatly by lying to the American people about the extent of his nudity in a Playgirl shoot (and occasionally taking jabs at the former governor). The media attention behind the release of Sarah Palin’s memoir was the perfect political storm.

Romney’s path to success is much quieter. Outside of getting punched in the face in an airplane by someone marginally related to Jersey Shore and having his CPAC speech overshadowed by a two-pronged Beck/Breitbart conservative firestorm, the Romney team has been rather quiet. He hasn’t been polling terribly great, but he’s certainly in the running, and has kept himself in the news cycle with periodic appearances without saturating the market with his product. He has also been making appearances on his book tour, campaigning with the people without actually having to admit that that’s precisely what he’s doing. And he’s become much more humorous and likable, and whether he has legitimately lightened up or his campaign team told him his lack of personality was a deal-breaker for American voters, it seems to have been working. People want to hear what he has to say. While it’s unclear whether this newfound popularity would translate into votes this year, Romney is going to have to extend his appeal anyway into 2012 if he wants to be a viable Republican candidate.

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Today we’ll talk to Adalian about Conan O’Brien’s tour (a story he broke this morning), Betty White hosting SNL and more TV stories. Koppelman will discuss Glenn Beck/Eric Massa…and wherever that conversation leads. Follow them here and here on Twitter.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

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See you at 3pm!

Now the late night comedians are weighing in. Here’s a list of the Top 10 Oscars-related jokes this week. What do you think? Leave your take in the comments!

#10

“The Academy Awards is so long during the show they had to keep adding to the dead actor montage.”

David Letterman

#9

“Mo’Nique, she came out of nowhere with very, very hairy legs. She’s growing it out for a part in Harry and the Hendersons 2.”

Jimmy Kimmel

#8
“Kathryn Bigelow was seated right in front of James Cameron who is also her ex-husband. How do you say ‘awkward’ in Navi?”
Jimmy Fallon

#7

“Kathryn Bigelow) won the Oscar for her film ‘The Hurt Locker’ about the Iraq War, but in her speech she forgot to thank the two people without whom this film could never be made – Bush and Cheney.”

Jay Leno

#6

“Last night, nation, was Hollywood’s biggest stroke fest – the Oscars. The one day of the year you have to give a crap what a sound editor does.”

Stephen Colbert

>>> NEXT PAGE: Speech crashing, Cameron’s “hurt locker” and more

But all this was merely a lead up to last night’s highlight: the “fatty fat fat pie.” The pie in question is the ‘twice-fried cherry pie’ from a Brooklyn restaurant called The Chip Shop (if you ever go there make sure to have the deep fried Mars Bar). The menu states that the pie has been banned by New York State, presumably as part of their saturated fats ban. IT IS A PIE TOO FAR. Especially combined with the rumored (and unlikely) salt ban someone in Albany just proposed, also, Bloomberg’s plan to tax soda. I encourage you to watch the entire clip, it’s one of the better ones in recent memory, and then reflect on the restraint Beck showed during the Massa interview.

• Bill O’Reilly just edged his colleague Glenn Beck on Tuesday for the top-rated cable news show. Beck had his much-talked about hour-long interview with former Rep. Eric Massa, but the tickle fight conversation was beat by less than 100,000 viewers in the demo and total.

• The top non-FNC show was Countdown on MSNBC in both categories, still hosted by Lawrence O’Donnell. It reached the one million total viewer mark as well.

Check out all the ratings below, and leave your own thoughts in the comments:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 860	Blitzer 116	Matthews 97	Prime 95
6 pm	Baier 501	Blitzer 109	Ed Show 135	Prime 83
7 pm	Shep 541	Blitzer 139	Matthews 142	Issues 148
8 pm	O’Reilly 925	Brown 157	Olbermann 257	Grace 199
9 pm	Hannity 733	King 169	Maddow 251	Behar 193
10 pm	Greta 477	Cooper 182	Olbermann 248	Grace 156
11 pm	O’Reilly 434	Cooper 134	Matthews 132	Showbiz 128
TOTAL DAY	425	114	114	137
PRIME TIME	712	169	252	178
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 3406	Blitzer 527	Matthews 424	Prime 188
6 pm	Baier 2686	Blitzer 504	Ed Show 528	Prime 186
7 pm	Shep 2243	Blitzer 502	Matthews 543	Issues 370
8 pm	O’Reilly 3499	Brown 527	Olbermann 1004	Grace 698
9 pm	Hannity 2901	King 699	Maddow 994	Behar 785
10 pm	Greta 2027	Cooper 582	Olbermann 729	Grace 457
11 pm	O’Reilly 1405	Cooper 384	Matthews 378	Showbiz 377
TOTAL DAY	1673	451	418	316
PRIME TIME	2809	602	909	638
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

After a self-described near-death experience that almost saw Last Call with Carson Daly go off the air, the NBC late(est) night show has made some nice waves in its return, perhaps best evidenced by their prescient profile of Roger Ross Williams before he was known as “the guy who got interrupted during his Oscar’s speech.”

But more importantly – lost in all of the hullabaloo surrounding the acceptance speech kerfuffle, is the real story behind all of this: the remarkably moving short film about Prudence Mabhena – the wheelchair-bound singer and songwriter from Zimbabwe – who’s story warms even the most cynical of hearts. Check the profile below.

The news was announced via his Twitter feed this morning, a website has been set up (TeamCoco.com, of course) and more details about what to expect have been revealed.

The web site is referring to the tour as “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On TV Tour” and promises “a night of music, comedy, hugging and the occasional awkward silence.”

The tour will stop in 30 cities including Universal City, CA (close to his old studio) on April 24 and Radio City Music Hall June 1 (across the street from his older studio). He’ll also make a stop at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. The tour is sponsored by American Express, and tickets are available at TicketMaster.com.

TheWrap.com’s Josef Adalian has more details:

Jeff Ross, O’Brien’s longtime producer on both “Tonight” and “Late Night,” has been using his music promotion roots to help spearhead the organization of the travelling revue.

He said there was a very good reason for taking The Coco Show on the road.

“If we don’t get Conan in front of an audience soon, there’s gonna be real trouble,” Ross told TVMoJoe.

> Update: The tickets must be selling quickly – Conan just tweeted this: “We are now adding a second show in both NYC & Chicago. For that second show, I’ll be doing all Liza Minnelli songs.”

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“To Glenn Beck’s credit no matter how badly Eric Massa screwed this thing up he tried to get him back on track…But the more Beck struggled the clearer it became that he was opening Al Capone’s vault only to find some dog-eared, well combed over, old men’s fitness magazines.”

Some sharp editing on the Daily Show’s part actually makes Massa sound like a voice of reason (they pulled the three reasonable things he said), which led Stewart to reflect on Beck’s shocked visage and wonder whether the FOX host perhaps needed a visit from the “tickle monster.” Also, Stewart speculates Beck may have stumbled upon his new nightly sign-off. Video below.

In other news, stay tuned, because in our top story tonight, some really good (or bad) news: as expected, in a surprise move yesterday, informed sources say, a world class icon, diva, mother of all motorists, and famed undocumented alien, lauded for putting area residents at risk and in harm’s way, but at this point in time behind bars for allegations that — according to sketchy details that, to be fair, have officials and authorities under fire for speaking out — he reportedly engaged in shower activity with all of you folks at 5 am in the morning, underwent surgery, utilized an undisclosed vehicle in torrential rain in a near miss manhunt when it was time for a break, literally fled on foot, completely surprised his mother with a clash with bare naked police behind closed doors, definitely possibly completely destroyed a medical hospital under false pretenses, and is lucky to be alive after, the fact of the matter is, he lent a helping hand to a legendary incarcerated pedestrian lone gunman (the perpetrator who over in a neighboring state, perished in a perfect storm of no brainers and things that went terribly wrong, and was plagued by killing sprees in which he gave 110% only to have his senseless murders marred by the untimely deaths of guys and folks whose fatal deaths came in the wake of auto accidents, and while it may be a mute point, let’s everybody touch base on the fact that he was under seige in the wake of unrest after shots rang out in close proximity of the best kept secret on the campaign trail which had authorities reeling up in one place and down in another, and going forward, the alleged aftermath of the death toll for youths behind the podium exceeds those out there, down there, and out in that other place by a two to one margin), is seeking white stuff for those of you that want it, and thus, we’ll explain what he did when we’ll be back — we’ll be right back, after the break and after these commercial messages, and we say “we’re back,” “welcome back,” or “welcome back everybody.”