Bill O'Reilly-- Get a Life, Dude

Bill O'Reilly, the 6 ft 5 in gargantuan of a TV performer, and host of the The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, has been lording it over us for many years. He claims to be a good Catholic boy from humble roots on Long Island, New York. Bill and I are both from Long Island-- and we are exactly the same age.

O'Reilly calls himself a traditionalist, claiming to be open-minded on political matters. Says he loves the working class, the regular guy, the average American. He is a hero, a talented broadcaster and spokesman for conservative viewers of Fox. That's cool. We're all entitled to a political viewpoint. He portrayed himself as a rational student of world events but truly has never been welcoming to people with viewpoints at odds with his own. He kind of bullies on the air.

But here's the thing. How did a guy, supposedly so smart, forget the golden rule for avoiding workplace romance... Don't get your honey where you get your money. O'Reilly has a net worth of $85 million, an immense fortune, and the power that comes with having the highest rated show on cable news. Power is the greatest aphrodisiac, with money a close second. Bill has both power and money. He should have no problem attracting women, even at 67 years of age. Does he really have to limit his sexual hunting to the Fox News office place?

Makes no sense-- and you even have to wonder if behind it all Mr. Bill O'Reilly wanted to get caught. I mean come on, New York City is full of beautiful women. Many would be discreet about sharing intimacy with a famous TV personality, O'Reilly is possibly the most successful TV performer out there.

And then there's the first lawsuit, the 2004 situation with Andrea Mackris, a former producer for his show. She sued O'Reilly but dropped her sexual assault lawsuit against O'Reilly after reportedly receiving a $9 million bucks payout. That was the famous loofah/falafel shower fantasy:

Her complaint alleged that in phone conversations, O'Reilly had "advised her to use a vibrator and told her about sexual fantasies involving her" and an allegation that he threatened that if she reported his behavior, "Roger Ailes...will go after you...Ailes operates behind the scenes, strategizes, and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what's coming to them but never sees it coming." (Wikipedia)

So, Bill had an unpleasant workplace experience back in 2004, gets burned for $9 million, and goes back for more! I would call that Catholic guilt on steroids. It's not okay for me to make all this money, have all this success, and so I won't pursue a beautiful companion by simply walking over to a Manhattan bar/club frequented by super models. No, that's too easy. Instead, I'll hound the women I work with-- so I can be rapped over the knuckles with a ruler by Mother Superior. And that Mother Superior is the Social Network-- the biggest network of them all.

Bill and his show have been totally savaged across the Internet and into the real world. The O'Reilly Factor sponsors are leaving faster his show faster than a woman racing away from a guy with a cold sore. Try to No Spin that one.

Climate Change Initiatives-- building an Ark in the 21st Century

Dear Friend,

Thanks for the link to New York Magazine article on rising waters. I like the insights about people's resistance to imagining the unpleasant. I've noticed how much we deny the obvious in these matters.

I mentioned to you that FEMA gave home owners on Long Island with waterfront property lots of money to lift their houses after the destruction caused by Super Storm Sandy. Some homeowners raised their homes to weird heights-- and then found some difficulty in reselling their houses. I'm sure it was a boon to the construction industry to fix up and build new houses along the shoreline and on the canals.

And in Manhattan I notice that the apartment on West End Ave is in close proximity to the Hudson River on the west. The east-west thoroughfare, West 79th St, takes a big rise as the land moves from Riverside Park up into central Manhattan. So I guess Riverside Park would be underwater before West End Ave. Maybe we would have riverfront property-- though our apartment faces away from the river.

I've never really been able to get my head around the rise in ocean levels. I'm a big believer in the validity of most climate change warnings. I guess water level rise is something we can actually do something about-- move further inland.

The stuff that I wonder most about it are the changes in rainfall, temperature etc. that I experience more directly. Just watched a video clip on NY  Times website, an interview of Obama. He points out that Chinese leaders were most motivated to cooperate on Climate Change Initiatives-- due to their concerns about the political stability of their nation. If it gets much harder to breath in Beijing you could have a riot on your hands-- or something along those lines is how I pictured it. Maybe I'm way off base-- and their afraid of food riots or something else?

Thanks for sending the New York Magazine article--  better to discuss it than put our heads back in the sand.

Thanks,

John