By Bill O’Reilly
As we predicted last fall, the Occupy Wall Street movement has diminished greatly. That's because the good people who were in the movement fled when the loons took over. And there are not enough loons to sustain a viable nationwide presence.
Enter Ben and Jerry, the Vermont ice cream guys. As you may know they are committed left-wingers who want a progressive agenda in the United States. So, now they are organizing a bunch of like-minded people to raise money to pay far-left agitators.
Let me repeat that, Ben and Jerry the ice cream guys, are trying to raise nearly $2 million dollars to give out, quote "grants" to hardcore Occupy protesters. So what exactly is a grant? Well, it's a salary; they're going to pay people to agitate all across the U.S.A. That's dangerous, because as we have seen in cities like Oakland and New York, people get hurt. But apparently Ben and Jerry don't care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY GREENFIELD, CO-FOUNDER BEN & JERRYS: I was concerned that Occupy was going to be anti-business. And what I found was that the folks at Occupy are not anti-business. They are anti a system that advantages the few and does not give opportunity to the many.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Ironically Jerry and his pal Ben are also giving opportunity to a few anarchists, agitators, destructive people. At this point Occupy is not a genuine protest. Instead, it's a fabricated operation designed to create as much chaos as possible in order to demonize the capitalistic system.
Also there is no question that Ben and Jerry want to re-elect Barack Obama. And they believe by putting people in the streets who will scream against Republicans that will help the Democratic Party. "Talking Points" believes the opposite; that the crazier the Occupy movement gets the more people turn against the left-wing agenda.
Finally let me throw out a hypothetical. If Ben and Jerry are paying agitators and those people kill someone or destroy property or hurt a police officer or commit violent crimes in their tent cities, can Ben and Jerry be held legally responsible? That's an interesting question. Their foundation is paying folks who commit crimes; certainly the legal system must take a look at it.
If the Occupy Wall Street movement was really strong, was really speaking for the regular folks, why would you need to pay people to participate? The Tea Party doesn't pay its demonstrators.
We've invited Ben and Jerry on the program. Shockingly, they have declined.
And that's “The Memo.”
Pinheads & Patriots
You may remember the movie "Wall Street," where Michael Douglas played a character named Gordon Gekko, who proclaimed to the world that greed is good. Well, now Mr. Douglas is working with the FBI, trying to track down greedy financial people who may be breaking the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: In the movie "Wall Street" I played Gordon Gekko, a greedy, corporate executive who cheated to profit while innocent investors lost their savings. The movie was fiction, but the problem is real. Our economy is increasingly dependent on the success and integrity of the financial markets. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: The FBI says they are now investigating hundreds of allegations of white-collar crime on Wall Street. It's a good thing, so Mr. Douglas is a “Patriot”.
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