The O'Reilly Factor
A daily summary of segments aired on The O'Reilly Factor. A preview of the evening's rundown is posted before the show airs each weeknight.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The Factor Rundown
Talking Points Memo & Top Story
Impact Segment
Unresolved Problems Segment
Stossel Matters Segment
'Is it Legal?' Segment
Back of Book Segment
Factor Mail
Pinheads and Patriots
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Comments
Fact vs. fiction on President Obama
"We get a ton of Internet propaganda here - nearly every day some hysterical dispatch lands on my desk. And no one is more popular on the 'net propaganda circuit than President Obama, so tonight it is my pleasure to set the record straight because Mr. Obama deserves to be treated honestly. Allegation: The President has not released his academic transcripts. That's true, his records have not been made public. Allegation: His thesis from Columbia University has not been made pubic. That's false, he didn't do a thesis. Allegation: Mr. Obama has not released his medical records. True, but his doctors say he's in good health. Allegation: President Obama has not released his law practice client list. True, but I don't know many lawyers who would. Allegation: No birth certificate has been made public. True, but the state of Hawaii has once again said Mr. Obama's birth certificate is on file. A Factor investigation also showed that Mr. Obama was born in a Honolulu hospital. Allegation: Barack Obama received foreign student aid while in college. False, somebody just made that up. So there you have it - just the facts. Talking Points is glad to be of service."

Obama-watchers Monica Crowley and Alan Colmes were eager to opine on the Talking Points Memo. "There are some things out there that are myths," Crowley said, "and you just debunked a lot of them. But there are other legitimate questions about this man's background - for example, college records, grad school records, who paid for his college education, who paid for his graduate school? Nobody knows. The press was so protective of him that they did not do their due diligence in digging into this man's background." Colmes chastised his sparring partner for focusing on the past. "You want to refight the last election when all these things came up. What we need to know about him is how well he's done as President, I don't care about some grade he got. This is all about delegitimizing the President." The Factor agreed that "people who hate Barack Obama want to use this stuff to say he shouldn't be there."
Protests erupt over budget deal in Washington
Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray was arrested during a protest against the recent budget agreement. Mayor Gray joined The Factor and outlined his objection. "The principal issue for us," Gray said, "is that the District of Columbia deserves the right to be able to make decisions about how we spend our money. But Congress is imposing on us a ban on spending our local dollars on abortions. These are decisions that ought to be reserved for the people who are the citizens of the District of Columbia. We raise our own tax money, so why should we be subjected to that kind of federal intervention?" The Factor challenged Gray on both legal and moral grounds: "Congress does have authority over the District, they have power over you. And I think you're wrong on the abortion issue - I don't think any tax dollars should be going to abortion."
Gas prices ticking upwards sharply
With gasoline approaching $4 a gallon, The Factor asked two observers to explain the recent price rise. Tyson Slocum of the liberal organization Public Citizen blamed financiers. "There's no question that speculators and Wall Street banks and other financial firms are driving this," Slocum asserted. "Prices are far beyond the supply/demand fundamentals, and that's because we don't have regulatory oversight over the banks that are driving the price." Jerry Taylor of the libertarian Cato Institute immediately dismissed that claim. "Futures markets are simply places where people make bets about future prices for crude oil. If you're right, you make money; if you're wrong, you lose money. Prices are going up because we have lost 2% of global oil production in Libya." The Factor pointed the finger at traders and major oil companies: "I have been very critical of the speculators who are bidding up the price of oil. It doesn't seem that prices are rising based on supply and demand."
John Stossel on school lunches in Chicago
An elementary school in Chicago considered forbidding students from bringing their own lunch to school; the school wants to feed the kids healthier food. Fox Business anchor John Stossel was not amused. "Schools can barely teach reading and writing," Stossel complained, "and they have no business telling people they can't bring their lunches to school. It shows one more bad effect of handouts - lunches are free to the school, so why not give away some more tax money?" The Factor reported that the school in question is justifiably having second thoughts: "The intrusion on freedom of choice and parental rights, which are dissipating in our society, is crazy. And the school is backing off now."
Part of Arizona immigration law ruled unconstitutional
The Arizona law intended to curb illegal immigration seems to be headed for the United States Supreme Court. FNC legal analyst Lis Wiehl reported the latest on the controversial law. "A judge has said that Arizona police can't just pull people over," she said, "and ask for immigration identification. They say that's a federal responsibility. This will go to the Supreme Court." Kimberly Guilfoyle turned to the case of convicted rapist Lonnie Johnson, who was set free by a Utah judge last week. "Your Factor team," Guilfoyle said, "just got in touch with the sheriff's department and in fact Johnson has moved to Oregon, where he registered as a sex offender. He is alleged to have raped his 8-year-old cousin continuously."

NOTE: On Tuesday night Johnson's sister claimed he is no longer in Oregon, but refused to specify where he had gone.
Pakistan pushes back on the CIA
The U.S. sends Pakistan about $3-billion in aid every year, but the Pakistan government is now demanding that the CIA curtail its efforts in the country and that President Obama stop the drone attacks on suspected Taliban outposts. Fox News political analyst Charles Krauthammer urged the administration to play hardball. "This is a very weak and double-dealing duplicitous ally," Krauthammer declared. "One of the reasons we haven't been giving the Pakistanis information about our drone attacks in advance is because we worry that they give so much covert support to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. I think it's time to give Pakistan an ultimatum that we will cut off the support unless they join us in a serious war on the bad guys. They will respond to an ultimatum." The Factor agreed that "we have to get tough with these people."
Viewers sound off
Factor Words of the Day
Bob Randazzo, Smithtown, NY: "The whole budget deal is a farce. Boehner caved instead of standing his ground. He should have ignored the Democrats."

Patty Simpson, Tulare County, CA: "I disagree with Brit Hume. The Republicans lost the budget fiasco. Decreasing the federal budget by less than 1% is not a win for anyone."

Vivian Pacewicz, Needham, MA: "Bill, you are right, Brit is wrong. George Soros and his ilk want the economy to collapse. They are depending on American naïveté."
You decide who's who!
Tuesday's Patriot or Pinhead: The Texas police officer who sprayed a squirrel with mace when the critter was running loose on a schoolyard. Is the rodent-macing cop pinheaded or patriotic? Cast your vote here on BillOReilly.com. Monday's P or P asked about HBO's Bill Maher, who called Islam "the one religion in the world that kills you when you disagree with them." For the first time in recorded history, the vast majority of you (83%) depicted Maher as a Patriot.