Guest Column
An Open Letter to Bill O’Reilly
- There are many legal means to recruit and develop home-grown terrorist or get them into a country legally e.g. 9-11 and Britain's subway bombers. There is no need for them to try to cross the border illegally - by foot, like the poor, desperate Mexicans who die by the hundreds each year trying to bring a better life to their families.
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- Andrew R. Holguin is President & CEO of Holguin, Fahan & Associates in Ventura, California. Contact at: andy_holguin@hfa.com
By Andrew R. Holguin
First, let me say this is not going to be pithy and there will be no one liners to show case on your program (at-least not many) but contained herein is some good advice, I hope you read it.
One of my favorite topics of your show BILL, is when you explain how the liberals are self-destructing due to their out-of-the-mainstream ideologies as reflected in the Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy School of liberalism. You are entirely correct in your analysis of the Democratic Party, the far left has taken over the party and is causing it a lot of harm.
The Factor, as well as the Republican Party, has benefited mightily from the flight of middle-Americans from the Democratic Party and the main-stream media. We were sickened by the blatant - blame American first attitudes of the Democratic Party and the media after the War in Iraq commenced, and we came home to roost at The Factor and FOX network, where we thought we found a true voice of the main stream - No Spin, Fair and Balanced Reporting. And for awhile all was good. However, it appears the honeymoon is over, because lately Bill, you have begun to espouse the ideologies of the far-right as well as the knee-jerk prejudges of the Republican Party.
I hope you understand that the Factor and the Republican Party are at risk of losing the gains if you and they continue to espouse these ideologies - which have been reflected in your recent segments on Evolution and illegal immigration.
Let's start with the easy one first and the one you already know the answer to: religion is not science and should not be mentioned in the same context as science. Your position that schools should mention Intelligent Design in Biology Class because it is an alternative to Evolution, is not intelligent (sorry, couldn't resist). Intelligent Design is the latest spin of the Religious Right in their attempt to put a Scientific face on the belief that god created the earth and all it's creatures.
Ever since the Scopes trail, the Religious Right has been attempting to get religion back into High School Biology Class and Intelligent Design is their latest attempt at this. Intelligent Design has been discredited by every main-stream scientific group in the Country (if you would like, I would be more than happy to explain how Intelligent Design does not work as a Science).
I am totally confident that you know the difference between Religion and Science and that you also know that the two cannot be mixed. This stance may appeal and appeal greatly to the Religious Right but, let me warn you bill, you are going to lose the middle if you continue to push the Agenda of the Religious Right. According to your own credo, you should not be promoting this spin or maybe the Spin does not stop at the Factor, it merely changes direction.
Fair and Balanced and your stance on illegal immigration appear mutually exclusive. The Republican Party has had a difficult time, in the past, of containing their well-known prejudicial attitudes toward minorities. Nevertheless, lately, to their credit, they have been trying but unfortunately, it appears those attitudes are again surfacing (isn't it funny how that happens only during years when there are no national elections).
Since the American public and the Bush Administration have not, to-date, been very concerned about illegal immigration, the Factor and the Republican Party are now basing their latest spin against these immigrants on the security issue. Although, it is fair to say that these people are here illegally, it is not Fair or Balanced to say that they represent either a security risk or are a bunch of criminals unless you can prove it.
Alas, you have not even attempted to demonstrate that illegal aliens are either a security risk or that they represent more of a criminal risk, than does the general population. Instead you and the Republican party are using these issues as an canard in an blatant attempt to turn public opinion against this hard working group.
The 9/11 terrorist were all here legally, the recent terrorists in England were all legal residents or citizens of Britain, the Bali Bombers were citizens of Indonesia; where are the FACTS for your argument that illegal immigrants are a security risk?
Likewise, you have been painting illegal aliens as a bunch of criminals, selling drugs and preying on the good people of the United States. You do this by showing a few examples and some photographs of obvious criminal activity by illegal aliens and then attempt to paint a picture that they are all a bunch of criminals.
Bill if you were trying to be fair and balanced, you would do your homework and show that there is more criminal activity associated with this group than in the general population of the United States, not that there is some criminal activity associated with illegal aliens - of course there is. There is some criminal activity associated with any group of people (think child abuse and the problems of the Catholic Church). If there were more criminal activity associated with this group than the general population and you showed that to be the case then you would be fair and balanced, I would back your stance that we must do something to protect us from these people. But you have not even attempted to be either fair or balanced here, merely racist.
If a Mexican criminal wants to prey on Americans, they can easily find them in the tourist locations in Mexico - there is no need to risk life and limb crossing the border - that is done by people desperate for the miracle that is America. Nor, would I guess, the average terrorist needs to try to cross the border illegally. As a group, the terrorist leaders appear to be a well-educated and sophisticated group, not to mention, well-financed.
Additionally, you opinion that we should station tens of thousands of National Guard on our borders to protect us against these aliens is insane and if anything would cause more harm than any possible good. I know you were a high school teacher but apparently not a math teacher but try doing the math, anyway: Thousands of miles of borders (Canadian as well as Mexican, unless you think that Terrorists would only try to cross the Mexican border); multiplied by: (how many Guardsmen per mile: 1, 3, 5, 10, more?); multiplied by: three or four shifts per day; multiplied by: a factor greater than one to take into consideration the need for the Guardsmen's vacation time, sick time, holidays, management, support services, etc. etc. etc.
This doesn't even take into consideration the fact that the Guard is suppose to be made up of part-time warriors, not full-time border watchers. Bill, you can see we don't have enough people to guard the border and perform other important jobs, like say - fighting the war in Iraq or helping out during major domestic disasters of which we have a quite a few recently. Let's get real, Bill.
Bill, if the Republican Party and the Factor continues to push their right-wing ideologies and prejudges then I can guarantee that you and the Republican Party will AGAIN lose the vast middle of the American public and once again middle America will move towards the Democratic Party and the Left. If you don't think that is possible ask your friend, Newt Gingrich about what happened to his "Contract with America".
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