The O'Reilly Factor
A daily summary of segments aired on The O'Reilly Factor. A preview of the evening's rundown is posted before the show airs each weeknight.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The Factor Rundown
Talking Points Memo
Top Story
Impact Segment
Unresolved Problems Segment
Factor Follow Up Segment
Personal Story Segment
Back of Book Segment
Factor Mail
Book Mentions
Want KILLING REAGAN Free?
Get the book free when you become a Premium Member. Join up today!
Comments
Military action and Iran
"The media is making a big deal out of a report that the Pentagon has been planning a military scenario, in case Iran will not stop its nuclear weapons program. Apparently, that has horrified some in the press. But, once again, the outrage is phony and political, designed to denigrate the Bush administration. If the Pentagon isn't studying military options against Iran, President Bush should be impeached. Iran presents a huge threat to America, does it not? Just today, that country announced it has enriched uranium for the first time, a key step towards developing nuclear weaponry. Of course, diplomacy has to be given every chance. But, if it fails, the USA might have to use force against Iran. So, planning for every contingency is a must, is it not? Any president, short of Howard Dean, would want to know the military options. Iran, as I said, is a very real threat. And if you think the U.N. is going to stand up to that threat, you need to get Dorothy and Toto off your front lawn. The time has come for all Americans to be honest. The Iraq military campaign has not gone well. That's the truth, but it's still winnable. And a victory would be good for the USA in the overall war on terror. That's the truth. Iran's government wants to hurt Americans. Thus, allowing them nukes is reckless. That's the truth. And, finally, the anti-Bush media is relentless in trying to undermine the president, and will not stop, no matter what the issue. Again, truthfully, that puts us all in grave danger."

Fox News Video: FoxNews.com

No DNA evidence in Duke lacrosse case
Guest: Attorney Wendy Murphy

An explosive situation developing at Duke University, where some believe a stripper falsely accused members of the lacrosse team of a brutal crime, but others believe the crime was indeed committed. Fox's Senior Judicial Analyst, Judge Napolitano told The Factor the DA should drop the charges, but prosecutor Wendy Murphy says, "not so fast." She told The Factor, "[Napolitano] got spun. He got spun by the defense in a very big way, as did a lot of people. The coverage was disturbing, because although the defense was more than happy to say what they wanted to say about the DNA results, you notice, they didn't just hand over the report. They didn't let us see it, so we could actually challenge them on what they were saying ... there was DNA that matched two of the guys found on a towel in the bathroom, sexual DNA, that -- that, you know, is consistent with what the woman said." But The Factor believed the DNA results were a significant setback for the prosecution, "There was DNA found in the bathroom, but it's consistent with anybody's bathroom ... then, we have a report that the bruises found on the woman's body, which would be another way to corroborate any kind of a sexual assault, were there way before she showed up at the house. And then we have a report -- all right. I'm just -- look, I'm raising reasonable doubt here ... this is a really, really tough case."

Mexico and the border
Guest: Dr. Mike Waller, Center for Security Policy

As you may know, the Mexican government, headed by President Fox, has been outspoken in its assertion that illegal immigrants from Mexico help the USA and that a wall or military on the border would be wrong. However, Mexico does station its military on both its borders and has an interesting take on noncitizens who want to live in Mexico. Dr. Mike Waller, of the Center For Security Policy studied the Mexican constitution and reported to The Factor, "foreigners are forbidden to engage in any political activity at all." The Factor pointed out, "Yesterday's demonstration and last week's in the United States could never have happened in Mexico, because they would have arrested those people?" Waller said, [Mexican authorities] would have arrested them and deported them, because it's also a felony to be an illegal alien in Mexico. You get up to two years in prison under Mexican law." The Factor asked, "So, it's safe to say that their immigration laws are a lot tougher than our immigration laws?" Waller said, "They are very tough. And, in fact, they are very sound, for a country who wants to keep its culture and -- and -- and maintain the integrity of its borders and so forth. I think Mexico certainly has a right to have laws like that. But when that same Mexican government starts to dictate our laws and saying they want to dump all their surplus labor into the United States and they won't cooperate with us on it, then it becomes extremely hypocritical of them." The Factor said Mexico's policies are worse than hypocritical, they're criminal, "We have video -- video of military vehicles escorting marijuana, you know, loads over and all of this. So, we can't have our military on the border, but they can have their military. They can demonstrate here, but foreigners can't demonstrate there. And here's the kicker. If you do become a Mexican citizen or do get an extended visa, you can be removed at any time for any reason from Mexico."

Unintended consequences of illegal immigration
Guest: Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 Commission

With about 12 million undocumented folks running around the USA, it is assured that some very bad things will happen. One of them already has, 9/11. Illegal alien Zacarias Moussaoui, who overstayed his visa, may be executed. Security has to happen in the immigration circle as well. And, if we don't, we will continue to have terrorists come here, stay here, and carry out heinous acts against us. But the argument right now is that we aren't under any terrorist threat from the southern border. As we mentioned, Moussaoui came and overstayed a visa, and that all of this is hyped up. The Factor asked Janice Kephart, former counsel to the September 112th Commission if this concern was just being hyped by anti-immigration folks, "It's not hyped up at all," she said. "Terrorists have taken advantage of every single loophole that is available in the immigration context, and it's something that, both on the 9/11 Commission and since the 9/11 Commission. I released a report in September 2005, discussing 94 indicted and convicted terrorists, and how they took advantage of our immigration benefits system, the same system that will be used in any kind of guest-worker program. Fifty-nine of those terrorists used fraud to obtain their benefits. So it manifests itself everywhere throughout this system. And I would also be able to argue about our physical borders, our southwest -- our southwest border as well, as being an issue in terrorism." The Factor pressed Kephart on other security issues in our nation's immigration policy and asked, "Does that mean you're against a guest-worker program?" Kephart responded, "My issue with the guest-worker program, whatever economic policies that you consider pursuing, the issue for me right now is twofold. It is both -- it's security and it's the bureaucracy of -- that would handle the guest-worker program. One of the most un-sexy issues that nobody seems to want to talk about with guest workers is, the bureaucracy right now is not at all able to handle a guest-worker program ... we cannot handle the security aspects of it, because we do not take biometrics in the immigration process across the board. These folks have very little access to information about prior history for people that come here." The Factor concurred, but pointed out the problem is much larger, "There is no discipline on the southern border. There is no discipline in a proposed guest-worker program. There is no discipline in how to deal with these people already here. It is all touchy-feely nonsense being demagogued to death. And you submit that we are being put in danger because of it, correct?" Kephart agreed.

God under attack in America
Guest: Author Jon Meacham

Although some left-wingers in the media deny it, we have documented a number of cases where Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter, have been attacked by secular interests. Lawsuits and corporate policies have proved this point over and over again. The Factor asked Jon Meacham, author of the brand-new book "American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation, "What do you think Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would have thought about the ACLU, all right, Pledge of Allegiance, no God, Christmas icons out of the public arena? What do you think those guys would have thought about that?" Meacham responded, "They would have been against it. They would have been against the ACLU taking on the elimination or pushing for the elimination of religious references in the public square. There's no question. The Declaration of Independence, our founding document grounds the fundamental human rights and the cause for which we went to war against the world's mightiest empire in the rights that were the gift of nature's God and endowed by their creator." The Factor challenged this idea and asked, "But that wasn't in the Constitution. Once the ACLU spits at you, if they wanted that, they would have put it in the Constitution." Meacham said, "You have to read the documents together. You can't be secular and eliminate the Declaration, nor can you be on the right and read the Declaration and ignore the Constitution." The Factor wanted this pint made as plainly as possible and pressed further, "So you're firmly convinced based upon your research that the founders would not approve of the ACLU jihad, pardon the pun, against Judeo-Christian tradition in this country?" Meacham said, "No, I don't think so at all. I think that what they wanted was religion in the country. They didn't want it coercive. They did not want it forced on people, because largely for religious reasons. The religious argument for religious freedom is that if God himself did not compel obedience, then no man should try."

Changing voting policies in NYC
Guest: New York City Councilman Charles Barron

In New York City there are currently about 1.4 million non-citizens of voting age living within the city limits, if you can believe it. These people are not illegal aliens. They are here on legitimate visas. In 1804, New York City ruled that only U.S. citizens could locally vote, but now there's a move to change that. The Factor asked the man leading the charge, New York City councilman Charles Barron, if he understands why people might be upset about this, "When the immigration complexion was white, when Irish came, when Poland came, when Italians, when Germans came, and Jewish came. They came in at the bottom; they worked their way up. It was easy to become citizens. They took jobs from other people. No one complained." The Factor interjected, "I got your point. Did you ever hear or see a picture, 'Irish need not apply'?" Barron countered, "Come on, did they ever say that they should be a felony for those whites who came in here undocumented? Never." The Factor then asked, "Do you believe in an open border? Do you believe anybody from the Caribbean or from Central America should be able to walk into this country?" Barron reasserted his position, "Whatever they did when the immigration was white, they should continue to do it now. The rules have changed." Barron went on to say that illegal immigrants in the United States shouldn't be made felons, that the southern border does not need a wall and that this is all a result of bad American policy and NAFTA. The Factor stated, "Mexico wanted NAFTA."

Violence in American high schools
Guest: Ken Trump, National School Safety and Security Services Organization

School violence is a problem nationwide. For example, in Chicago, in the first three months of this year, school violence up 56 percent. In New York City, there were more than 10,000 violent school episodes last year. In Los Angeles, 17 percent of all the students there say they have slugged it out on school grounds. The Factor asked Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services Organization, if violence is schools is getting worse. "One of the problems, is those statistics are based on academic research surveys and not crimes reported to law enforcement. There is no federal mandatory school crime reporting and tracking law in this country for K-12 schools." Trump explained to The Factor he's been collecting research on his own and reported, "We're seeing an uptick in the last three years: 77 nonfatal shootings this year so far, compared to 52 and 68 the last two years. School deaths, 28 this year. Thirty-nine and 49 the last two, compared to 60 and 70." The Factor replied, "how can that be happening -- how can that be happening when you have No Child Left Behind Title 1, where billions -- billions with a 'B' -- of federal dollars are going into schools, public schools, to try to regulate the schools so these kids can learn. They have security guards, and they have, you know, the metal detectors and they have all this? How can that be happening?" Trump responded, "There's an enormous pressure on school administrators to improve test scores today, and actually prevention programs, security emergency planning effort has fallen backwards the last couple of years ... I've worked in districts where they told me they couldn't get the principals together for half a day in services, because they had to focus on improving test scores." Trump reported Congress is slashing federal safety fund for schools, but added, "Throwing money at is not the total solution, but why are we cutting money in Congress on safe schools when we're putting more money into protecting bridges and monuments and airports? It doesn't make sense." The Factor suggested that the problem in't just money, "I it looks like many of these kids don't have any fear ... it seems to me that there should be a zero tolerance of any violence in American schools. You do it, you're out, and that's it. That's the solution to the problem, not $389 million more."

Viewers Sound Off
Factor Words of the Day
A huge reaction to our segments on the illegal immigration controversy:

William Skwarlo, Coahuayana, Mexico: "O'Reilly, your guest Gabriel Camacho blamed Mexico's problems on the World Bank and the USA. This is gobbleygook. Mexico simply does not embrace free market capitalism."

Ralph Swindler, Panama City, FL: "Bill, keep up the pressure on our government to secure the borders. Only then can a sane guest worker program be instituted."

Joan Crowley, Smithtown, NY: "This is a sovereignty problem. We are allowing Mexico to export their poverty problem to America."

Caesar Van Till, CA: "Bill, I've noticed you don't like Mexicans or anyone else south of the border. Do I need to remind you that this country was founded on 'all men are created equal?'"

Daniel Keenan, Los Angeles, CA: "Does Fox News test employees for steroids? It's ratings are suspiciously high."

Dan Clay, Fostoria, OH: "Bill, you are not allowed to take a vacation ever again."

Book Mentions
Check out the books mentioned during this show.
American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation
by Jon Meacham

Read more...