By Bill O'Reilly
Stay with me on this one, it's complicated, but very important.
Last Friday, we invited 30-year-old Sandra Fluke to appear on "The Factor." The Georgetown law student has now become the poster woman in the debate over birth control coverage mandated by the federal government. Unfortunately Ms. Fluke would not appear on "The Factor." Instead she has chosen friendly venues where she will not be challenged.
Now, I did not, did not want to talk to Sandra Fluke about contraception. That's a personal issue and as I said on Friday, she is free to do whatever she wants in that area. It's none of my business. By the way, that memo is posted on BillO'Reilly.com.
I did want to ask the young woman about her sense of entitlement. Why should anyone have to pay increased health insurance premiums so that she and others can get the pill, free?
As we all know health insurance companies pass any and all costs on to the consumer. Since President Obama took office, my health insurance premiums have risen about 30 percent. And once ObamaCare kicks in, they will go even higher. So that's what I want to talk to Sandra Fluke about, just in case she changes her mind.
Now the big picture. When the Obama administration decided to order the Catholic Church to cover birth control and the morning after pill, they quickly got into trouble. The President was warned not to do that by Vice President Biden but Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius won the debate and the President went up against the church.
Soon after he had to retreat because the government simply cannot order religious organizations to do anything that runs counter to their belief systems. That's flat out unconstitutional.
So sensing danger, the Obama Administration quickly pivoted and attempted to make the whole situation about women's health. Enter Sandra Fluke, a contraception activist. The Democrats tried to force a House Congressional Committee to hear her testimony. But the committee saying she was not qualified to speak on church-state issues which they were talking about, turned her down. That's when Ms. Fluke went public and into the firestorm.
So presto, what was a big loser, President Obama intruding on the Catholic Church became a potential winner, President Obama protecting the rights of women. In reality, the whole contraception situation is bogus. Under Title 10 of the Public Health Service Act; 75 percent of all the counties in the U.S.A. provide free birth control to women who want it; 75 percent. And the rest of the counties are so rural, nobody lives there.
President Obama well understands that he needs American women to support him next November; 2008 he beat John McCain 56 percent to 43 among women. Thus, Sandra Fluke is now a major part of the Obama re-election campaign. That's what this is all about.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
"Dr. Seuss's The Lorax", huge hit at the movies. The film grossed $71 million over the weekend as it provided children with a green message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY DEVITO, ACTOR: Welcome to Thneedville, a city they say that was plastic and fake, and they liked it that way. No nature, no flowers. No one seemed to mind, but a secret was waiting for someone to find.
CHARACTER 1: Oh, hi, Ted.
CHARACTER 2: You think it would be cool? What are those?
CHARACTER 1: Trees. They used to grow all around here.
So what I want more than anything is to see a real living tree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: The eight-year-olds in my neighborhood, thumbs up. They liked it. And because we want American kids to respect the environment, we do want that, we're happy "The Lorax" is doing very well and consider the movie to be patriotic.
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