MILITARY VETS TO BILL O'REILLY: SHOW SOME HEART ON VALENTINE'S DAY AND SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON HOMELESS VETS
NEW YORK, NY - Dozens of U.S. military veterans, many of them homeless, will gather in front of the FOX News office tomorrow afternoon for a rally protesting Bill O'Reilly's disparaging comments about homeless vets. The vets will demand that O'Reilly stop denying the problem of homelessness among former servicemen and women, quit referring to homeless vets as drug addicts, and set the record straight on the challenges veterans face when they return from military service.
"Everyday, I'm fighting for my life," says Nestor Cabrera, a Korean War veteran. "I'm currently waiting for a liver transplant and my housing situation is never 100 percent secure. The last thing I need is O'Reilly saying on TV that I don't exist and that the homelessness that I and my veteran brothers and sisters have to suffer is not real."
Last month, in response to speeches by former presidential candidate John Edwards highlighting the daily struggles of 200,000 homeless vets in the U.S., conservative FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly claimed that there are in fact no homeless vets in America. In a later program, O'Reilly conceded that some homeless vets do exist, but charged that they are mostly alcoholics and drug users.
Responding to O'Reilly's absurd claim that there are no homeless vets in America, Brave New Films compiled an online video of interviews with homeless vets and circulated an online petition demanding an apology from O'Reilly. A delegation of homeless veterans from Fitzgerald House, an organization that provides housing and assistance to veterans, visited FOX News two weeks ago to hand deliver the petition, signed by over 18,000 people. There they were confronted by O'Reilly's producer Jesse Watters, who ridiculed them for not having watched O'Reilly's program on television in spite of the fact that these were people without a roof over their heads, much less cable TV. The next day, O'Reilly, who had not come down to meet with the delegation, went on air to call the vets "confused," saying that he felt "sorry for those guys" and that they were being "used."
"For someone who has never served a day in the military, it's unfortunate that [O'Reilly] chose to make these comments, especially since he's always saying that we have to honor the soldiers," said Gregory Rollins, an Army veteran and member of Fitzgerald House. "His refusal to meet with the organizations that serve this vulnerable population, the thousands of men and women who've risked their lives for their country is not putting his heart in the right place."
"Everyday, I'm fighting for my life," says Nestor Cabrera, a Korean War veteran. "I'm currently waiting for a liver transplant and my housing situation is never 100 percent secure. The last thing I need is O'Reilly saying on TV that I don't exist and that the homelessness that I and my veteran brothers and sisters have to suffer is not real."
Last month, in response to speeches by former presidential candidate John Edwards highlighting the daily struggles of 200,000 homeless vets in the U.S., conservative FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly claimed that there are in fact no homeless vets in America. In a later program, O'Reilly conceded that some homeless vets do exist, but charged that they are mostly alcoholics and drug users.
Responding to O'Reilly's absurd claim that there are no homeless vets in America, Brave New Films compiled an online video of interviews with homeless vets and circulated an online petition demanding an apology from O'Reilly. A delegation of homeless veterans from Fitzgerald House, an organization that provides housing and assistance to veterans, visited FOX News two weeks ago to hand deliver the petition, signed by over 18,000 people. There they were confronted by O'Reilly's producer Jesse Watters, who ridiculed them for not having watched O'Reilly's program on television in spite of the fact that these were people without a roof over their heads, much less cable TV. The next day, O'Reilly, who had not come down to meet with the delegation, went on air to call the vets "confused," saying that he felt "sorry for those guys" and that they were being "used."
"For someone who has never served a day in the military, it's unfortunate that [O'Reilly] chose to make these comments, especially since he's always saying that we have to honor the soldiers," said Gregory Rollins, an Army veteran and member of Fitzgerald House. "His refusal to meet with the organizations that serve this vulnerable population, the thousands of men and women who've risked their lives for their country is not putting his heart in the right place."
1 comment:
“We have a state auditor, and county auditors, so why is it that we don’t have a judicial auditor?”
Please don’t miss-understand what I’m about to say; I really believe you are doing a great public service.
But, the reason we do not have judicial auditors is that we have courts of appeal which are acceptable remedies for all parities.
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