Another Bold Fresh... Guy

I'm currently reading the latest book by Fox News Channel journalist and commentator Bill O'Reilly, entitled A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity.

Most of us don't get to where we are in a vacuum. We are shaped by the influences of our youth leading up to the present. I believe it was Vladimir Lenin who once said: "Give me a child until he is five years old, and I will own him for the rest of his life." He was wrong about most things, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Even after nearly thirty years -- just over half my life, nearly all of my adult life -- living and working in the Nation's capital, I am still a small town boy from Ohio at heart, and I always will be. The gift of the Catholic faith from my parents did not merely lay down a set of rules and outward practices; it shaped the way in which I view the world, and my place in it.

So it is with O'Reilly, albeit with a New York state of mind. Early in the book, I identify with how he felt going to college amidst the antiwar protests, the drug culture, and so on. We're about six years apart in age, and in the mid-1970s, I caught the tail end of what he was going through earlier. He's also a wiseguy, by his own admission. Like me, it gets him into trouble, but it also proves to be an asset. Part of any self-awareness is accepting the good, the bad, and the ugly, turning any of them to one's advantage. God made us in spite of our faults, the result of the sin of Adam. He loves us in spite of our faults, and with grace conquering nature, we overcome the limitations of our faults.

So I'm looking forward to reading the rest of his book. He pretty much writes the way he talks, and if you saw him on Letterman this past year, you know he doesn't take any $#!† from anybody, including the audience.

He also won't take a sob story from the auto industry...

Romney says that if the unions don't renegotiate, U.S. auto companies will never be able to compete in the global market no matter how much money they borrow.

So, for our dazed senators and representatives the equation should be: If the unions won't bend, we won't lend.

But the head of the House Financial Services Committee, the brilliant Barney Frank, disagrees with Romney and calls his analysis "union bashing." Frank, who said last July that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "in good shape going forward," submits that the autoworkers union should be applauded for promoting "income equality."

Swell, Barney, but here's the rub: If the company goes out of business there will be no income at all. Am I getting through here, congressman?

Probably not. Until science finds a cure...

We need to keep an eye on these clowns before they give away the store at our expense, then vote themselves another damn pay raise. We also need to keep an eye on guys like Bill O'Reilly, who appears nightly on the only news channel that could still cover a house fire without showing up at the wrong address.

What a great American. HOO-rah!
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