Vermont is one of 10 states that have rejected Jessica's Law, which imposes harsh prison terms on child predators and takes discretion away from judges. Jessica's Law in Vermont was beaten down by this man, House Judiciary Chairman Bill Lippert, who instead drove a law through that imposes a mandatory minimum of just five years for child rapists. A judge can add to that, but five years mandatory is all Vermont's willing to do.
Now the rejection of Jessica's Law comes after Vermont Judge Edward Cashman sentenced the rapist of a 6-year-old girl to 60 days in jail. —Under pressure from us, you'll remember he later upped that sentence to three years.
Shortly after that, Judge David Howard sentenced a man who molested a 4-year-old boy to no jail time at all, just probation. — So it's quite apparent the state of Vermont is soft on child predators.
But Bill Lippert is tough on one group, those who would discriminate against transgendered people. Lippert championed the Gender ID bill, which prohibits any bad behavior toward those who change their sex.
By the way, "Talking Points" supports that legislation, but it's not nearly as important as Jessica's Law.
The problem in Vermont is that the legislature has been hijacked by secular-progressives who emphasize politically correct action like the gender deal, but reject tough criminal statutes like Jessica's Law.
Mr. Lippert holds a lot of power and turned us down for an interview last year. So "Factor" producer Jesse Watters visited him in the state house cafeteria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE WATTERS: I'm Jesse Waters with "The O'Reilly Factor." Nice to meet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, really lovely to meet you.
WATTERS: Great. Quick question for you, why did you pass that transgender bill and kill Jessica's Law?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I beg your pardon?
WATTERS: Why did you pass that transgender identity bill and kill Jessica's Law?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't know what you're talking about.
WATTERS: That transgender identity bill that you guys just passed. Just seems like those priorities are a little strange.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I passed an anti-discrimination bill to protect transgender people in Vermont. And I'm proud of that.
What's your problem?
WATTERS: What about Jessica's Law? It seems like the priorities are a little out of whack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The legislature passed that.
WATTERS: Right, but it was your committee and your sponsor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who are you with?
WATTERS: I'm with "The O'Reilly Factor" at the FOX News Channel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go home! Go home! Go home!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Such a surprise!
WATTERS: Mr. Lippert, it just seems like these priorities are a little strange considering the fact that you're not protecting the children.
LIPPERT: Welcome to Vermont.
WATTERS: Why aren't you protecting the children against child rapists? Instead, you're passing bills that protect transsexual rights?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You're disgusting.
You people don't even begin to know what the truth is. Yesterday we passed a strong bill against sexual predators. If you start with getting your facts straight for once, it would be a refreshing change.
WATTERS: What about 25 year mandatory minimum for child rape?
LIPPERT: We have the strongest laws in the country against sexual predators.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Well, that's simply a lie. Bill Lippert is lying. All right. And child predator statutes in most other states compared to Vermont will prove that.
In the end, this comes down to the folks. They elected Lippert and his S-P contrary. Remember in Vermont, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is a socialist. U.S. Senator Pat Leahy is very liberal. And Governor Jim Douglas, although a Republican, is a very weak leader.
Now the moral of the story is that many Vermonters have no idea how they lost their state which used to be traditional. But lost it they have. If Bill Lippert is running any kind of a show, there is a problem.
And that's "The Memo."
Most Ridiculous Item
I don't want to belabor this L.A. Times thing. But you should all know what's going on out there. The Times pays a columnist, Rosa Brooks, who is actually a lawyer representing George Soros's Open Society Institute. But the L.A. Times has not told its readers that. That's amazing!
Now, Ms. Brooks, obviously a far-left person, used a bogus Indiana University study to attack me. Not fair, not good. So we contacted the L.A. Times with the facts, asking them to run a column explaining the dopey study. The Times agreed.
But Instead of putting it in the paper, the column wound up on their Internet site. By the way, BillOReilly.com, our web site, has that if you want to check it out.
The bottom line, all we want is fairness from the L.A. Times and every other media organization. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, in L.A. it is.
And it's ridiculous.
It's going on all over the country, these people, they hire people, and they don't tell you who they are. It's just dishonest.
—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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