While he says in this one interview that the torture these pedophiles put children through as being far worse than Stockholm syndrome, that is what he should have addressed on his show instead of ripping into the victim. This is what Oprah Winfrey should have questioned him on and not elevated his status as being the one as being the protector of our children.
She should have asked him why his invitation to speak was revoked by a local chapter in Naples, Florida for the Center for Missing and Exploited children.
Where he calls for life in prison for these pedophiles, I do agree with him there since in my ten years of addressing this issue, I have called for putting an end to Megan's Law and locking up these predators. I was livid in reading a Newsday article two years ago in which a pedophile was given a two year prison sentence.
In a previous piece titled The panacea known as Megan's Law, written for my blog, I addressed this law in great length. Bill O'Reilly states that our children should scream when confronted by these predators, well how about we lock them up for these crimes instead of letting them out to live within our communities. Child sexual predators are terrorists plain and simple, yet we as a society refuse to put as much money and manpower into protecting our children's security. No, we think that putting them on some online data base is our answer when clearly it is not.
As Americans clamor for border security when it comes to illegal immigration, what about the security of our children? If we truly believe at leaving no child behind, it means that we lock up these predators for good. Yes, we adjudicate them on a case-by-case basis. But, those who have had a lengthy history of committing these crimes should be locked up and not allowed to live amongst us.
Just to prove how reliable these registries are in protecting our children, in the piece above, I cited a report which stated: "California's authorities have been unable to track up to almost half of the state's total number of registered sex offenders at any one time: In 2002, for example, California could not account for 33,000 sex offenders, or approximately 45% of the 76,000 who registered with the state at least once-rapists and child molesters who vanished after registering. That's approximately 20% over the current estimated national average of sex offenders who have failed to comply with state registration requirements." This only goes to prove the ineffectiveness of Megan's Law and others like it.
When Bill O'Reilly attacked Shawn Hornbeck on his show, he gave power to the pedophiles and failed at being our children's protectors. This crime is all about power. It is about sick recidivist monsters having power over innocent victims and Bill O'Reilly failed at making that case as he attacked Shawn Hornbeck.
What I did not see reflected in this interview is that registered sex offenders have gone on to commit this heinous crime and have even killed their victims. How effective is Megan's Law and others like it, while some who are on these registries will go out and commit murder? I would like for Bill O'Reilly to address this. More importantly, I would like our local, state and federal elected officials to answer this for all of us.
In another article that deals with child sexual predators which can be read on my blog, I wrote, "There were two cases in Florida two years ago, in which two children were murdered after being raped by the offender. There was also one case in Iowa that same year. Do we really want these offenders in our neighborhoods? How did these registries protect those children? They didn't and as a result three families must grieve a lifetime when these predators should have been locked up and not roaming our streets."
In this article that I wrote Another child found dead at the hands of a registered sex offender for my blog, you will be astonished as you read, "not all parents are concerned parents in my previous column, according to this article it, "Col. Fred Bealefeld, the department's chief of detectives, said there was "every indication" that Irvin's mother knew about Jones' 2002 conviction for having sex with a teenage boy." So, what was this mother thinking by allowing her son to befriend a known sex offender? I do hope that you read this column written by me in hopes to better educate not only you, but other parents as well. When O'Reilly said that Shawn Hornbeck had a friendly relationship with this predator, in this case the parent as relayed in this news article did allow her son to befriend a predator and now her child is dead.
In addressing this issue, we must call upon our elected officials in Washington, D.C. to make this crime against our children a federal crime. Then again, when you have an elected official Mark Foley having inappropriate communications with House pages, it clearly shows that predatory behavior can be seen coming from those we should be able to trust. It shows how low in priority of our children's safety, is amongst leaders in Washington, D.C. How about a real 'binding resolution' when it comes to the safety of our children?
Lately, Scarborough Country has been reporting of online predators via Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator". Chris Hanson has shown all of us just how vulnerable our children are through Internet predators and in one case a predator was a rabbi. Not to target this one man alone, but it only goes to prove who will commit these heinous acts upon our children and in this case a man that most trusted. One must ask how many sex crimes against children these predators committed previously. Do you still think that Megan's Law and others like it are effective in dealing with those who will only commit the most heinous acts against a child?
We must protect children such as Shawn Hornbeck and the countless others whose voices remain silent. Often children are assaulted by those known to their families and they do not feel safe enough to come forward. They feel as if no one will believe them. Within our families we must create an environment that we will say to our children, you have a safe place to fall and should such an act be committed against you, we will listen.
In closing, I have been addressing this issue for ten years now and have written elected official upon elected official to take these crimes against our children seriously. I have cited chapter and verse how little Megan's Law does in protecting our children and never once did I use Bill O'Reilly as a credible source of information and in the advent of the Shawn Hornbeck case, neither should you. Bill O'Reilly left our children behind by leaving Shawn Hornbeck behind.
Author's note: Should you wish to email me concerning this piece, my email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
