Lies and the Lying Liars

To shift gears just a bit, here's something from the "not surprising at all" department:

Fox News's talk show star Bill O'Reilly took aim at Governor Kathleen Blanco on his show this week. In an episode on sex offenders, the conservative talk show host said Blanco, and Louisiana, don't care about getting tough. But it may have been O'Reilly's staff who didn't care to research the issue.

Despite bill after bill in the recent legislative session cracking down on sex offenders, the O'Reilly Factor host on Tuesday said Louisiana is apathetic toward sex offenders.

After naming 13 states and their prospective governors, including Kathleen Blanco and the state of Louisiana, O'Reilly goes on to say, "Remember those states and those governors, ladies and gentlemen, if you live there. These states are soft on child sex offenders, and their governors do not care. What a disgrace."

We asked Governor Blanco's staff about the comments. Press Secretary Denise Bottcher says she's not sure how O'Reilly came to his conclusion.

"The research that the Bill O'Reilly show did in this area was just a series of e-mails."

E-mails, Bottcher says, asking questions her office couldn't answer. So they referred the researchers to the Attorney General's office and to prosecutors who know the laws a little better. According to the A.G.'s office and the district attorneys, O'Reilly's office never followed through.

LDAA President Brent Coreil says not only are Louisiana's laws some of the toughest, but if D.A.'s come across a legal barrier in their prosecution of child sex crimes, both the legislature and the governor help them out to tweak the laws.

Coreil says, "I think it's very strict, and we are complying with it strictly, and I just cannot see the reason for these statements to be made."

Speaking for his colleagues, he takes offense to O'Reilly's attack. "When an attack like this is made without substantial research, it really hurts the overall legal community."...

WAFB tried to contact Bill O'Reilly for comment, but according to the O'Reilly Factor staff, he is out of the office.

Now, to be honest, I don't really follow sex offender laws here in the Gret Stet, not being a sex offender (and, years ago, I went through a background check proving as much--the background check was job related). The point is, of course, that O'Reilly did shoddy research, but that didn't stop him from opening his pie hole and making substantial contributions to global warming.

Maybe folks from the Gret Stet will finally begin to see Bill for what he is--a liar.