My local Fox affiliate in New York, WNYW, runs an occasional feature called "You Paid for It!" The concept is to expose some government folly that your hard-earned tax money funded. The subtle implication: Fox is on the side of the common person, fighting against the excesses of big government. No word yet on when they'll run a segment on Medicare colonoscopies for Grandma and textbooks for Junior. (You can suggest that and other ideas for the Fox news team here.)

The latest promo, run for several days during other Fox programs, slipped over the edge dividing faux-populism with tastelessness. The subject: tax deductions for sex-change operations, that crucial issue recently mined for values-issue gold by the Traditional Values Coalition and Free Republic. The Fox promo shows a male stick figure as a leering male narrator says, "Sex-change operations: How you're helping pay for Dick [skip a beat] [skip a beat] [wait for it] to become Jane." Get it? You paid for dick
…

to become Jane.

Another proud moment for journalism.