I watched Bill O'Reilly the other night. I've always hated his show. But Shara told me that I had no reason to (which I didn't really) and that he was always right. So I gave it another try.

They were doing a segment on a recent controversy at Yale. For some reason, Sayed Hashemi, a 27-year old former Taliban official (who even made an appearance in Farenheit 911), is enrolled at Yale. There's been national media coverage about this unusual freshman.

I think it's pretty idiotic that he's here. I'm not sure what justification the admissions office used. When over 90% of Yale applicants were rejected this year, Hashemi was let in with a 4th grade education and questionable character. I won't dwell on this, though. The issue has kind of blown over now. Not because of any resolution; I think it just sort of expired.

Anyways, Bill O'Reilly was riled up about it, true to form, and thus denounced Yale as "anti-America." Still full of bluster--and advised by one of the students he was interviewing that conservatives were a minority here--he declared that Yale students should be more "fair and balanced."

It's a good example of how he exaggerates everything beyond belief. Every issue is reduced to a pithy statement that rarely ever does justice to the complexity of the problem. And he runs roughshod over his interviewers. Everytime they start speaking, he cuts them off so that he can reinterpret, mangle and then assemble their words into a single phrase. All in the name of common sense and the "No-spin zone."

Despite all of this, he is a magnetic figure. I've developed an addiction to his show. I watch it every night before going to sleep. I think it's because his show is just good entertainment. There is nothing complex to process. It's the news, but packaged--already distilled and analyzed for you. A quick few laughs and a little bit of outrage. Good stuff.