September 3rd, 2008
Mayor Tom Potter | Fool me twice.6 comments
August 27th, 2008
Sue Castner | Serious Party Foul.28 comments
August 20th, 2008
Vladimir Putin | Georgia on our mind10 comments
August 13th, 2008
Clear Channel Outdoor | Company shows signs of cowardice.12 comments
August 6th, 2008
Senate Republicans | Thanks for nothing.2 comments
July 30th, 2008
David Wu | Talk about junk mail.10 comments
July 23rd, 2008
Outlaw cyclists | Road rage rides on two wheels.34 comments
July 16th, 2008
John McCain | Give the money back, senator.12 comments
July 9th, 2008
Bill Bradbury | A signature embarrassment.10 comments
July 2nd, 2008
Legacy Good Samaritan | Please, go by streetcar27 comments
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[June 25th, 2008]
For mischaracterizing a Portland school principal’s actions and deluging her with hate mail from his whack-job Fox TV viewers, ex-KATU gasbag Bill O’Reilly sweeps this week’s highest ratings from the Rogue Desk.
Last Thursday, O’Reilly devoted a segment of his The O’Reilly Factor to discussing a minor brouhaha over the Pledge of Allegiance at Capitol Hill Elementary in Southwest Portland earlier this month.
Principal Pam Wilson had decided her fifth-grade students should recite the preamble to the Constitution at their graduation ceremony June 10 instead of the Pledge. When one mom asked why, Wilson gave a clumsy answer about wanting the ceremony to be inclusive. She thought the pledge’s words “under God” were not. But the mom was enraged. So she shared Wilson’s response with the media.
First, Lars Larson took up the cause. Then O’Reilly went on national TV to say Wilson had “banned” the Pledge. Not really. But at least 60 angry emails landed on Wilson and Portland Public Schools anyway. “YOU SCUMBAG AMERICAN HATING BASTARDS,” one viewer wrote in all caps. “THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IS NOT OFFENSIVE TO US AND IF IT OFFENDS ANYONE THEN FUCK THEM.... I WISH AN EARTHQUAKE WOULD REMOVE THE WHOLE LEFT COAST.”
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A Fox spokesman said the broadcast was accurate. So we’ll end with O’Reilly’s own quote on the topic and replace “educators” with “cable news bloviators” and “kids” with “television viewers”:
“If you let the crazy educators [or cable news bloviators] run wild, which they are in many, many parts of the country, then we’re just going to lose the country, because the kids [and television viewers] are confused. They don’t know what the heck is going on.”
So true, O’Reilly. So true.
RECENT COMMENTS ON “Bill O’Reilly”
When exactly was it that the religious right and, ostensibly, the Republican Party turned against public education? The founding fathers, to whom they on the right are so intent in referring, support...
I believe it would be helpful if everyone would first understand that Fox News isn't news. Fox News is entertainment. As entertainers then, the facts are irrelevant and ratings are everything. To g...
This is making a mountain out of a molehill. As one of the parents of a 5th grade students singing the preamble I was proud of my daughter and her classmates. Only one parent had an objection and im...
The fact of the matter, as correctly reported in several locations, is that the administrator claimed that the word "God" might offend Muslims.
Which is exactly what SHE d...
