Posted on 01/28/2006 8:13:44 AM PST by JaggedEdge
The Factor just received this statement from Noah Hoffenberg, the editorial page editor of the Bennington (VT) Banner:
The right-wing blowhard Bill O'Reilly has called us again for the second time in so many weeks, asking the Banner to be on one of his shows.
He wants us on the Factster show to talk about our editorial from Friday, which clearly states how Judge Edward Cashman's decision to incarcerate a sex offender for a mere 60 days was nothing more than a springboard for the far right to rant about the liberal crazies in Vermont.
O'Reilly and his ilk are constantly claiming that its the rights of the little girl in the sex assault case that are the issue, and that the rights of the perpetrator are of no consequence.
The rights of the little girl are of the utmost consequence, but cutting the sex organs off of the sex offender won't help her. Neither will boycotting Vermont, as O'Reilly has suggested.
Speaking of helping the little girl, what, we wonder, is O'Reilly doing on that front. If he were more like his counterparts in the phony baloney realm of TV, he would get off his keister and use some of his millions to help the girl and her family out. Maybe offer to pay for her college tuition and a lifetime of psychotherapy. Will we be seeing that? Doubt it. O'Reilly's concern for that little girl will fade with next week's programming and will eventually disappear, just like him and his 15 minutes of fame.
So you want us on the radio for a so-called debate? Well, O'Reilly Factster, we've seen your show, and we're not playing. You're a seasoned veteran at talking loudly and saying little. We'd hate to rough-up our vocal chords trying to get a word in edge-wise with a windbag such as yourself.
Your recent "chat" with Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, a fine law enforcement officer, went exceedingly bad, because everything to you is a black and white matter, an opportunity to try to show how the rest of the world is wrong while you are right.
The bottom line, from us to you, is this: We as a society can treat sexual predation like a symptom of a disease, and mitigate it with jail, voluntary castration, or what have you. This does nothing to alleviate the social problem. Or, we can see sexual predation as the disease itself, and make every attempt, as Judge Cashman did, to get to the source of the illness, thereby preventing the devastation of sexual assault in the future.
This problem is much bigger than even your ego, Factster, and will be around a lot longer than you, whose name will fade into the white noise of TV programming history. Us, though? We'll be here for a while, another 150 years at least. Our being, just like Cashman's decision, is designed for the long haul. You? Factster, you're just a blip that someone ignores while channel surfing late at night.
And by the way, in case you didn't notice, Cashman got what he wanted: Jailtime for the sicko and treatment in prison. What did you accomplish, besides an incremental hike in ratings?
This is simply unbelievable!
Well, that sounds like the most immature paper since the 'Weekly Reader.'
The Bennington paper is a looney socialist paper and has been forever.
Typical liberal tactic - raise a point of hyperbole that has not been raised by your opponent.
O'Reilly has not called for the dude to be castrated. He has called for a prison sentence that fits the crime.
Speaking of helping the little girl, what, we wonder, is O'Reilly doing on that front. If he were more like his counterparts in the phony baloney realm of TV, he would get off his keister and use some of his millions to help the girl and her family out. Maybe offer to pay for her college tuition and a lifetime of psychotherapy.
And then to the typical liberal position - it's all about money and material things. Not about justice or protecting the public.
How embarrassing for Bennington.............to say it was "sophomoric" gives it too much credit. More like a sixth grade effort.
O'Reily, that cagey rope salesman!
I assume your BARF ALERT is because you're sharing something from O'Reilly's BLOG - right?
This is just too hilarious. The circulation numbers for the Banner? 7,254 weekly, and a whopping 7,613 readers on Sunday. In other words, a change of a single reader is statistically significant for this paper.
Meanwhile, O'Reilly gets millions of viewers each day.
The more I read this, the more it becomes a textbook example of liberal delusion.
Noah Hoffenberg wouldn't happen to be a member of NAMBLA, would he?
O'Reilly is often a blowhard and is often wrong.
But he's dead-on with this subject - and the fact that any liberals will try and pretend otherwise reveals their own pathologies.
Typical liberal hypocritical swill.
"...because everything to you is a black and white matter..."
Yet, the whole tone of the piece is one of "O'Reilly bad; we good". Libs are the most black and white people around...
The "Barf Alert" means that, if you are a normal, fair-minded person, this "statement" should make you sick to your stomach.
Rights of the perpetrator.
He had a right to a fair trial. He got one. He was found guilty.
And for repeatedly raping a very young girl, he gets 60 days? Martha Steward got more time than that. He should be put in jail for at least 25 years, if not life.
He is wrong, however, about the only thing he mentioned that wasn't a jibe towards B.O.: ......Cashman got what he wanted: Jailtime for the sicko and treatment in prison.
Cashman did not want any jailtime for the sicko at all. He wanted him to get treatment-which is seldom effective-at home.
"Speaking of helping the little girl, what, we wonder, is O'Reilly doing on that front. If he were more like his counterparts in the phony baloney realm of TV, he would get off his keister and use some of his millions to help the girl and her family out. Maybe offer to pay for her college tuition and a lifetime of psychotherapy. Will we be seeing that?"
Hey, Noah. Mr. Big mouth...why don't you respond in kind? How about buying the perp an iron penis so it won't be chopped off? Don't you want to protect this guy so he continue on his "merry way"? And why you're at it, how about paying for the Judge's retraining for other gainful employment--if you don't, he'll probably get lynched. So please save him! Surely you're rich enough. Come on, how about it!
So, mr. editor, can he borrow YOUR daughter for awhile?
This editorial writer is dumber than dumb!
It is precisely because O'Reilly raised this outrage as an issue that anything was done.
Life in prison will accomplish that. Victims require justice. A sixty day sentence tells the victim "we (the state) don't think what this rapist did to you was all that bad". Shoplifters and drunk drivers get worse sentences. And mandated counseling instead of punishment tells the victim "we (the state) think this rapist is a good person, he just has a disease".
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