Perjury ['per-je-re] from Latin perjurium, from perjurus deliberately giving false testimony, from per- detrimental to + jur- jus law. The act or crime of knowingly making a false statement (as about a material matter) while under oath or bound by an affirmation or other officially prescribed declaration that what one says, writes, or claims is true.
Cultural Warrior: (from billoreilly.com): Bill O'Reilly sees that America is in the midst of a fierce culture war between those who embrace traditional values and those who want to change America into a "secular-progressive" country. In this book he clearly fights the good fight for the soul of America.
Tuesday morning Bill spent the first hour of his radio show railing against Michael Moore. You know, the usual. "Sicko," bombing at the box office, having a problem getting into theaters, (didn't hear whether Bill mentioned that "Sicko" is the second-highest grossing documentary ever, re: Fahrenheit 9/11), Moore goes wacko with Wolf Blitzer (just because Blitzer cheer-led the war and CNN medical corespondent, Sanjay, Gupta got his facts wrong), health insurance not the problem Moore says it is. Need proof? Just wait until you hear the actual Canadian from the right-wing think tank who Bill has on next.
But this was only to be a blip on the looking-out-for-you screen.
A caller phoned in to explain that he had lost his health insurance because he had made a claim. The chief T-Warrior and bottle washer suggested options for the distressed, uninsured caller.
Bill: Get insurance from another HMO.
Caller: Four times as much. Can't afford.
B: Get on your parents' policy.
C: Not after graduating college.
B: Find a job where the company will cover you.
C: Dwindling coverages and if there at all, delay in getting coverage.
Finally the O'Reilly HMO plan came into clear view.
B: If you were a minority then you could claim they dropped you because you are one.
C: I am a minority.
B: Then you say your HMO dropped you because you're a minority.
C: But that isn't true.
B: You have to fight fire with fire.
C: Bill, you've always advocated that you don't respond to bad behavior with more bad behavior.
B: This is not cause and effect because they've declared war on you. You have to use every weapon you have.
Was Bill telling the caller to lie? Only if you listen to what he told the caller to do. Some might say that when you lie that you've exhausted your options and in fact are calling for anarchy. Did Bill not learn anything from history? I mean, did Joe McCarthy lie? Okay, bad example.
Perjury can get you in really big trouble. Did Bill not learn anything from Scooter Libby? Okay, worse example.
Let me try this. Would the Attorney General, the country's top law enforcement official, lie, say, to Congress? Okay, worst example.
On Fox - and in this administration - perjury seems to only be theoretical, but to actually call for it would seem to be...um...a good fight for the soul of America?
Steve Young is the author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful." and his "All The News That's Fit To Spoof" appears in L.A. Daily News opeds every Sunday (www.dailynews.com/steveyoung), right next to Bill's...really.
