Author:
Mike Barnicle wannabe
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Date Posted: 08:01:34 08/27/05 Sat
In reply to:
Mike Barnicle wannabe
's message, ""O'Reilly Factor" whacks Union-Leader for refusing to defend its editorial stance on sex offenders on TV" on 21:30:50 08/22/05 Mon
(broadcasted on, "The O'Reilly Factor", 8/25/05)
Resisting Jessica's Law
By Bill O'Reilly
Resisting Jessica's Law, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."
I hope you saw the shootout we had last night with the publisher of The New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper. If you missed it, please check out billoreilly.com for details. My thesis is that most of the media in America will not help pass tough mandatory prison terms for predators who rape and molest children. I told The Union Leader guy his paper was not doing enough. He told me to stuff it.
Well, today, we did more research on just how many media organizations have editorialized in favor of Jessica's Law and here is the list. The Herald News of Passaic, New Jersey. That's it. That's the list. Only one small newspaper has actively campaigned for Jessica's law.
Surprised? I am. But The Washington Post quickly wised me up with this editorial quote today. "Society has a legitimate interest in protecting children and others from sexual abuse. Civil liberties cannot take a back seat.
There is a need for sound legislation that distinguishes between offenders who can be rehabilitated and those who cannot."
Well, there you go. Rehabbing child rapists. And The Post isn't the only one going this route. The Houston Chronicle opposes Jessica's Law, and as does The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which says, quote: "This kind of get-tough approach to sexual predators is hard to be against hard but necessary. Making sex offenders suffer, after all, isn't society's only goal."
Now, that newspaper is off the chart left, but the New Hampshire paper isn't, and The Washington Post is moderate left, so what's going on?
Let's start with the punishment must fit the crime, the philosophical basis of American law. If an adult rapes or molests a child, the child's altered forever. That crime never goes away. Some victims never recover. So a mandatory 25-year prison term, first offense, fits the crime. But many in the media are simply incapable of making that simple judgment. They live in a gray world, where nothing is black and white, right or wrong. There are always extenuating circumstances. They live in a "no judgment zone."
Call me crazy, but I'm not interested in rehabbing a child rapist. That person has forfeited his or her right to freedom. Period.
Second thing in play here is ego. The New Hampshire publisher wasn't going to let that punk O'Reilly tell him or his state what to do. No way. The telling line was when he told me sarcastically, well, you're quite a crusader, O'Reilly.
Well, I have to be because many establishment people like him aren't going to protect children until forced to do so. They're not going to secure the border either, or develop alternative energy, or even admit we're in a worldwide war on terror. Not that man. He's just coming up against us on Jessica's Law.
Crusading is just about the only way to get things done these days. And if we have to embarrass or call out people, we're going to do that. All Americans, especially the kids, need protection. When will the media figure this out? And that's The Memo.
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O'Reilly gets even in, "Talking Points Memo"