by Last Night in Little Rock

Bill O'Reilly, of Fox News' O'Reilly Factor who was against sexual perverts on his show before it was popular, has apparently, at least in MSNBC's Tucker Carlson's view, proved himself to be a real sexual cretin, blaming a woman's rape and murder on her wearing a miniskirt and being inebriated, essentially saying that "she was asking for it." In Carlson's August 7th show, we see this:

CARLSON: Welcome back. Time now for "Beat the Press."

First up, FOX's Bill O'Reilly. On his radio show last week, O'Reilly discussed the rape and murder of 18-year-old Jennifer Moore. See if you can tell who he thinks is responsible for the killing of that New Jersey girl. Here he is.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, RADIO HOST: She was 5'2, 105 pounds, wearing a mini skirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is going to pick that up at 2:00 in the morning. She's walking by herself on the west side highway, and she gets picked up by a thug, all right? Now she's he out-of-her-mind drunk.

(END CLIP)

Time for readers to take over. Here's a fresh thread for whatever's on your mind.

(Apologies in advance, this is a long one.)

Why do we need terrorists to destroy the cornerstones of democracy with bombs when governments are willing to do it themselves out of fear? Isn't that a sign that the terrorists have won? First the U.S. with its Patriot Act and warrantless NSA surveillance and now Britain, which is considering a new racial profiling program aimed at Muslims based on behavior, ethnicity, and religion.

THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.

The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.

Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and a cameraman from New Zealand were ambushed and kidnapped in Gaza today.

Masked Palestinian gunmen ambushed a car carrying a Fox News crew in Gaza City on Monday and kidnapped two journalists, according to witnesses and Fox. "We can confirm that two of our people were taken against their will in Gaza," Fox News said in a statement.....

The men and their bodyguard were parked near the headquarters of the Palestinian security services when two trucks filled with masked gunmen pulled up and boxed them in, the Fox employee said. The gunmen took the two reporters from the sports utility vehicle, which was marked "TV," and drove away, he said.

The pattern has been to release those kidnapped unharmed.

On the kids from Texas busted in Michigan Friday and being held by local Michigan prosecutors for terror offenses because they bought too many cell phonesat a Wal-Mart:

The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate that the three Texas men arrested with about 1,000 cell phones in their van had any direct connection to known terrorist groups. Also, a prosecutor in a separate Ohio case said he can't prove a terrorism link to two men arrested after buying large numbers of cell phones and will drop terrorism charges against them.

Another case of racial profiling gone wild.

Update: Sen. Allen's campaign manager Dick Wadhams may have sunk the Senator. Macaca isn't a name for Siddarth's haircut since he doesn't have a mohawk, see original post below -- it's a name for a monkey with a mohawk. The Macaca monkey of Indonesia has a mohawk.

Sulawesi Macaques are covered with black hair that mixes with white on their shoulders and arms. Their most distinguishing feature is a short ruff of coarse hair on the top of the head that sticks straight up.

*******
Original Post:

What was Senator George Allen thinking today when at a campaign stop, he taunted a young university student of Indian descent who was filming Allen for rival James Webb's campaign, calling him "Macaca?

Received this by e-mail from the Decider's Last 1,000 Days and thought I'd pass it on:

• December 7, 1941 through May 8, 1945 (VE-Day) = 1,248 days

• March 19, 2003 (U.S. invasion of Iraq) through Friday, August 18, 2006 = 1,248 days

A new CBS poll shows President Bush's approval ratings haven't changed since the London terror threats became public:

The arrests in Britain have not helped President Bush's popularity so far, the CBS poll finds. His job approval remains exactly at 36 percent, where it was a month ago. Even the president's rating for handling terrorism - his strongest suit - remains unchanged at 51 percent.

The LA Times has a long profile, gleaned from hours of interviews, on how former SLA member Sara Jane Olson is coping in prison. Even if you're not interested in Olson (formerly known as Katheen Soliah) or her case (TalkLeft coverage is assembled here), it's a great read because it really conveys the dismal, grey, barren life of a female state prison inmate.

Shortly after 8 each weekday morning, Inmate W94197 reports for work on the prison yard. She earns 24 cents an hour emptying trash cans and tidying up. She is grateful for the job.

....[Olson] is now a white-haired woman of 59, serving out her seven years. Her experience, related in letters and a series of conversations, reveals much about punishment and survival in a state system that holds 11,730 women.

[More...]

The online auction for the domain "Right to Life.com" ends tomorrow. I would love to see an anti-death penalty group buy it. "Choose Life, End the Death Penalty."

The price right now is at $15,000. For an organization with 1,000 members, that would be a donation of $15.00 per member. Even at $25,000, an anti-death penalty group would recoup its investment through contributions of $25.00 per member.

Another possibility is for a human rights organization to buy it. If you know of any, spread the word.

The Christian Science Monitor, employer of kidnapped Jill Carrool, is publishing her account of her ordeal at the hands of Iraqi kidnappers beginning today. It's an 11 part series, which means it should be a book any time now.

Read it and remember all those who thought she might be complicit in her abduction. What fools.

The experts say the Republicans are now facing a tough battle in the Northeast.

The Iraq war and Bush's low approval ratings have created trouble for Republicans in all regions. But nowhere is the GOP brand more scuffed than in the Northeast, where this year's circumstances are combining with long-term trends to endanger numerous incumbents.

.... A Washington-Post ABC News poll this month found Bush's approval rating at 28 percent in the Northeast -- 12 points below his national average. The Republican Congress fared no better.

Democrats need a plan, and they need to get off the defensive about being soft on the war on terror. In one month, it will be five years since the U.S. has been attacked. If the Republicans want to say it's because of newly strengthened laws, then fine, they don't need any more of them.

We all know now that the bumbling warriors in Great Britain weren't ready to proceed with whatever plan they had. Yet Michael Chertoff still wants to milk it for whatever it's worth and is saying he will substitute non-skilled and non-union traffic screeners with more experienced ones from the TSA.