No One Is Responsible...

To watch the memo click here .

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly.  Thanks for watching us tonight.

Russell Yates, Enron executives, and leaders of the Catholic Church in America, what do they all have in common?  That's the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

No one is responsible, not Mr. Yates, not Kenneth Lay and his cohorts, not Cardinals Law and Egan.  Even though those men had authority when things went bad, none of them agreed to take the fall.

Russell Yates is blaming anyone he can think of for the out-of-control home in which he lived.  Kenneth Lay says he has no idea his company was corrupt and mismanaged, even though he was being paid tens of millions of dollars to run Enron.

And the cardinals?  Well, one of them, Law of Boston, admits he made mistakes by reassigning pedophile priests so they could do even more damage, but when it comes to paying for those mistakes, the cardinal will not resign.  He wants to keep his power.  The other cardinal, Egan of New York, is hiding in his plush office at St. Patrick's Cathedral, continuing to duck all responsibility for allegedly doing the same thing that Law did.

So there you have it.  No one's responsible for anything.  Yates, Lay, Law, and Egan, what a crew.

It's no secret that personal responsibility is almost extinct in America.  Visit any prison.  Most inmates say they're either innocent or victims of some terrible injustice that compelled them to commit crimes.  Visit any school and listen to the kids who fail or are caught misbehaving.  The litany of excuses would be hilarious if they weren't so frightening.

John Gotti, he didn't do anything.  Ted Bundy, pornography made him a murderer.  O.J. Simpson completely innocent of any and all.  The list goes on and on.

And those of us who refuse to accept excuses for bad behavior are called arrogant and judgmental and callous.  Russell Yates went out of his way to call me a cruel guy because I just can't sympathize with him.  Wait till you hear the mail segment later on, scores of letters accusing me of making Atilla the Hun look like the Olson twins.

Political correctness has stamped out outrage in this country.  No one is responsible for anything in the PC world.  All crimes can be explained, all irresponsible behavior excused.  There is no right and wrong, only disease and neurosis and miscommunications.

Well, baloney.  Cardinals Law and Egan should be fired.  Kenneth Lay should be imprisoned.  And Russell Yates should be scorned.  Behavior that hurts kids and innocent people cannot be tolerated by a society built on a spirit of equal justice.  The bad guys have to pay a price.

It is not P.C. to say that, but it must be said.

And that's the memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

Take a look at this picture  sent to me by the Mooney family living in Whiting, New Jersey.  The text from Tom Mooney reads, "Bill, my wife loves you.  My sons think you're great, but you don't excite everyone."  Obviously true, somewhat ridiculous, Tom.

— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com