Tag Archives: Bill O’Reilly

Single Parents the Losers in Bill O’Reilly/Jennifer Aniston Fracas

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You know, sometimes celebrities should just stick to acting. Or being bigoted bullies. Or whatever. This “feud” between Jennifer Aniston and Bill O’Reilly is getting totally out of hand and is fanning fires instead of generating useful discussion, which some disagreements between public figures so effectively do.

The gist of the situation is that Aniston made an attempt to de-stigmatize single-parent families at a recent press conference, emphasizing that women “don’t have to settle with a man just to have that child” and noting that there are numerous options out there in this day and age if a single woman does desire a child.

This is a mindset that I agree with wholeheartedly. In a world where the nuclear family is fast disappearing and some of the happiest and most loving families are …

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The NAACP + The Tea Party = The Shirley Sherrod Debacle?

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If you follow the news at all, you’ve more likely than not heard the name Shirley Sherrod. While you’re probably aware of the veritable circus being made out of comments she made at an NAACP event, you might be a little foggy on the whole story. I know I was.

Basically, Shirley Sherrod was the USDA Director of Rural Development for the state of Georgia until she quit abruptly last week just before a media storm of epic proportions. Her resignation came about after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted excerpts on July 19 of a video taken of Sherrod speaking about the importance of overcoming personal prejudices.

Sherrod’s comments, which were pretty obviously taken out of context in an edited two minute clip, come off as sounding about as racist as they come when speaking about her laissez faire attitude in helping white farmers because of their skin color. Sherrod was pressured to resign and ultimately did so via an e-mail sent from her BlackBerry on the side of a road.

From Politics Daily:

Sherrod made headlines Tuesday morning after a video clip surfaced from a speech she made in March to an NAACP forum recounting her meeting with a struggling white farmer who came to her for help in 1986.

“Here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land,” Sherrod said about her feelings 24 years ago. “So, I didn’t give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough so that when he (went to state or federal officials) he needed to go back and report that I did try to help him.”

Sherrod told CNN on Tuesday that the clip was taken out of context. She said she described the decades-old incident with the white farmer because she has since come to realize her mistake. “Working with him helped me realize the issue is not about race, it’s about those who have and those who have not,” she said.

And now the backlash has begun.

Howard Dean, former Democratic National Committee Chairman (and former presidential candidate), is making strong racist claims against Fox News, whose Bill O’Reilly led the charge in smearing Sherrod’s name.

From CNN:

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NPR Affiliated News Producer Fantasizes About Leaving Rush Limbaugh for Dead

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Sarah Spitz, a producer for the NPR affiliate KCRW based out of Santa Monica, recently learned a lesson about how private e-mail is isn’t. Spitz evidently made comments about how she fantasizes walking away from Rush Limbaugh if he was dying without helping him. Wow.

The thing is, I can certainly understand Spitz’s views of Limbaugh as an overbearing, ignorant buffoon. I offer as an example the following from Limbaugh’s 2009 interview with CNBC’s Mark Haines following Limbaugh’s comments calling Obama a political hack and stating unequivocally that he hopes President Obama fails:

Haines: I’m sorry a week after the inauguration you said you hope he fails. Are you now admitting that it was a stupid and mean-spirited thing to say?

Rush: No, it was an accurate thing to say, it was an honest thing to say and it came…

Haines: Well then how is that bipartisan?

Rush: Well, if you’ll let me explain.

Haines: Well so far you haven’t.

Rush: You’ve been contentious for no reason. It came after a thorough explanation and my belief that liberalism is what Obama represents destroys the free market, destroys capitalism and this stimulus plan is all about re-FDRing America, the New Deal and as a conservative I want liberalism to fail. I want the country to succeed. And that’s what I meant and that’s what I over and over again., You’ve got to stop reading these left wing media sites…

So, yeah, I can understand Spitz’s vehement distaste for the king of all dittoheads (or pinheads, if you want to go all O’Reilly). That said, though, picturing yourself walking away from a dying human being, no matter who he or she might be, is kind of sick.

The thing is, she is as a news producer in the public eye to a degree. If you make inflammatory statements like that and you’re a plumber or a doctor or a gas station attendant, it’s not very likely that it would be picked up on a national level. If you work in the field of journalism, if you …
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Sarah Palin + American Law = The Ten Commandments and God of the Bible

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Most of the time when I watch anything Sarah Palin has to say, it is for entertainment purposes. I very rarely take what she has to say seriously, but this week in particular she said some really outrageous things on the Bill O’Reilly Show. She was upset about the folks who were protesting the National Day of Prayer – so, Palin said this:

“Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant — they’re quite clear — that we would create law based on the God of the bible and the ten commandments….What in hell scares people about talking about America’s foundation of faith?” Palin continued. “It is that world view that involves some people being afraid of being able to discuss our foundation, being able to discuss God in the public square, that’s the only thing I can attribute it to.”

What scares people is that governing from the bible is essentially spitting in the face of this little thing called ‘separation of church and state’. I’m pretty sure that whole idea was important to the founding fathers. Has she also forgotten that a big reason why the English people left Britain for America was the ability to practice freedom of any religion? I highly doubt Palin would be so supportive of mixing the government and religious freedom if a Jewish or Muslim congressman wanted to govern based solely on the Torah or the Qur’an. Freedom of religion also encompasses no religion; so atheists should not have to be subjected to anyone’s religious beliefs either.

I know the founding fathers are up there right under Jesus in Palin’s book, but before we are so quick to jump on the ‘getting back to original founder’s ideas’ bandwagon – let’s just take a moment to remember they didn’t give women or African Americans the right to vote. I love the Declaration of Independence as much as the next person, but it wasn’t perfect.

I know it’s fun to say that we should all love bible, the ten commandments, church, but it is very offensive to those who do not believe in a higher power and it is really, really insulting to the real foundation of this country – the separation of church and state.



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