Open Letter to Bill O'Reilly

Dear Bill:

On yesterday's program, you had this to say:

I mean, they lie all the time. They -- I don't know whether you know this or not, but they contacted the Secret Service saying that there was somebody on BillOReilly.com threatening Senator Clinton. I mean, this is how insane these people are.

Hmmmm. So, you have the nerve to call me insane. And by 'me' you mean the mysterious 'them.' You also say I lie all the time. And by that you mean 'THEY' lie all the time.

Come on Bill, get real. The insanity in this discussion is how hypocritical you are. You have called open forum discussions 'bull' on more than one occasion, stating that "these things can be moderated." This was the basis for your attacks on Daily Kos, a widely respected blog, and a sponsor of YearlyKos Convention, which is associated with the former by name only. I wonder if you or your producer decided to shortchange the facts on that.

But, thanks to the handiwork of John Aravosis at AmericaBlog, we know that your own blog contains many of the same hateful, vile comments that you have criticized liberal blogs for. You may not understand the nature of the blogosphere, so let me tell you a little bit about it. Millions of people engage in the reading of and commenting on their content. Of course you're going to get some foul language and hateful remarks when you've got that many people. It's the nature of free speech.

The difference, however, is that none of the liberal blogs and websites are being investigated by the Secret Service. Yours is. Will you cooperate and identify the member of BillOReilly.com that posted the threatening comment?

In your asinine comments on your show yesterday, you didn't even bother to say that the comment that I referred to the Secret Service actually existed. Further, you didn't take responsibility for the threatening comment on your website, furthering your hypocrisy.

But, then again, I haven't come to respect much from you or your show. You're nothing more than the classic shock jock with a video camera. In the future, please stop referring to your program as a news show. It's an opinion show. And, in my opinion, yours is wrong.

Best-

Lane Hudson


P.S.- I just saw the clip from your show tonight where you accused Jane Hall of lying. You're the liar. You had the hateful comments on your website that she said you did. They were not immediately removed. You should be ashamed and you're a coward for cutting off her microphone. Of course, that's typical when you're trying to cover your a**.

Bill O'Reily.com being investigated by Secret Service

After seeing this post by John Aravosis on AmericaBlog, I was incensed and concerned at the same time. Here is the comment on O'Reilly's blog that crossed the line:

If Hillary wins, I will be respectful of our leader. If you could read my thoughts, I would be on the SS [Secret Service] watch list.

So, I did what a responsible person should do when they see something like this on a blog. I called the Secret Service to report it. This comment isn't about politics or defaming Senator Clinton. It outright states a threat to her life. It is unacceptable.

The Secret Service, who does an amazing job protecting their subjects, were very professional. The first person I spoke to transferred me to another person. Initially, she dismissed my comments. But, when I read her the comment and suggested that the person could be easily identified, she took me much more seriously. She called back minutes later, asking me to talk to someone else. That agent took the information and said that he would refer it to their Internet team.

It is a completely different discussion to have when debating the appropriateness of offensive comments. This, however is not a part of that discussion. When the life of anyone is threatened in any part of our corner of the internet, we should take appropriate action.