SEARCH
Tell Bill O’Reilly: Hundreds of Thousands of Vets are Homeless |
 |
|
Bill O’Reilly, the obnoxious, belligerent, ranting loudmouth of Fox News, is at it again. But he’s not after some evil liberal or even a mainstream moderate.
This time, O’Reilly is going after homeless veterans—men and women who served in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. He claims the homeless group is “nonexistent.”
Earlier this year, O’Reilly mocked former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) for pointing out that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless, “sleeping on grates…and under bridges.” Said O’Reilly of Edwards’ statement:
I mean, come on, the only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy’s brain.
But as Levi Cunningham, a homeless Vietnam-era vet, says in a video rebuttal on the lets-keep-Fox-honest website, FoxAttacks:
There’s a lot of homeless veterans out there. Anybody that would even imply there are no homeless veterans is out of touch with reality.
In fact, the Department of Veterans Affairs says that in 2006 there were 195,827 homeless vets on any given night. That figure could be higher. In November, we reported on a study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness that estimated more than 336,000 vets were homeless sometime in 2006.
When the soldiers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan by the Bush administration return home, many of them have difficulty finding jobs, shelter and health care—about 1.8 million vets have no health insurance. Don’t forget, Bush vetoed a bill that would have extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to family members of wounded service members.
Last week, O’Reilly grudgingly admitted there might be some homeless veterans, telling talk radio host Ed Schultz:
Maybe they’re out there, but there’s not many of them out there.
Homeless Iraq veteran Ryan Sussman says:
I would sure like to meet that guy and tell him a thing or two, honestly, I mean….
There are a lot of people who would like to say a thing or two to O’Reilly, and the folks at FoxAttacks are giving you an opportunity. You can click here and join the more than 15,000 people who have e-mailed a letter to O’Reilly demanding that he apologize for his remarks.
If you are looking for a little more strident take on O’Reilly’s ridiculous riff, click here to see what MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Paul Reickhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, have to say.
8 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I’m a vet, 1965-69, and I’m not homeless. But I know that there are thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands of homeless vets. I know some of them personally, from different parts of the country. And one of them, from MY part of the country, is NOT homeless, because he is living with my wife and me while he gets himself together. Bill O’Reilly isn’t homeless. He’s not a vet either: he’s a CHICKENHAWK.
I am glad that John Edwards talks about the homeless vets in his speeches. This is a disgrace in this country of plenty. In a way, Bill O’Reilly’s foolish remarks may help to draw attention to this crisis. Since he called Edwards a liar, more people have started to listen to what Edwards had been trying to tell us. These people are out there, and we must help them. Some of these men - who have served our country well - are dying under these bridges.
I liked it when Edwards was on the David Letterman show, and told Dave that most of what O’Reilly says is “crap”! I agree with that and so did Letterman!!
Despicable!
How can you tell when O’Reilly is lying? When his lips are moving!
He is a boot-licker for the hateful, fanatical right wing’s mean spirited agenda.
It is no secret why FOX televises his garbage. Garbage is the bill of fare on Rupert Murdoch’s FOX network.
Who is Rupert Murdoch? He’s head of the world’s largest media empire. He has used his influential position to push an ideological agenda closely associated with U.S. neoconservatives. During the lead up to the U.S. invasion of and war in Iraq, the editors of Murdoch’s 175 media holdings vociferously supported President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s pro-war campaign.
Here’s what the Columbia Journalism Review reported: “Murdoch uses his diverse holdings … to promote his own financial interests at the expense of real news gathering, legal and regulatory rules, and journalistic ethics. He wields his media as instruments of influence with politicians who can aid him, and savages his competitors in his news columns. If ever someone demonstrated the dangers of mass power being concentrated in few hands, it would be Murdoch.”
Bill O’Reilly and his venomous tirades are part and parcel to FOX’s “news” packaging. (While other networks - featuring similar blowhards masquerading as commentators or reporters abound - FOX programming is the most vitriolic and deceitful.) If O’Reilly refused to sell his soul to Murdoch he’d be forced to seek an honest job.
Freedom of the press? Only when it serves the interests of neoconservative, anti-worker hate mongers. (Two exceptions are Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! and Air America.)
Lastly, O’Reilly’s dirty lies are intended to support the dirty lies of the Bush Administration. The president has claimed (over and over) that he supports our veterans. Why, then, are many of our veterans being denied needed health care? And why are some of our veterans forced to sleep under bridges?
Bush + FOX + Bush = LIES!
Bill O’Reilly, who takes him serious? Unless you are a hard core conservative who believes George Bush has conversation with his god!
Then you really have no reason to be on this message board!
Democrats ‘08!
Will there be change?
O’Reilly is just another radio idiot who lives to flame his gullible listeners.
All three of them.
Yes there may be one in a thousand homeless vet who want’s it thar way. While those who stayed out pf the service were getting trained for a good job or had a good job, the vets were fighting a war. When some of the vets returned, they were too mentally disturbed to concentrate through no fault ot their own to take job trainiing.
The level of Bill O’Reilly’s ignorance is rivaled only by the level of his hypocrisy. Should you still not believe it; click to this link and discover just how PATRIOTIC he really is with regard to his compassion for U.S. Veterans:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4279146231683120255&q=Keith+Olbermann+Neuters+Bill+O%27Reilly&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
First, he fabricated; then, he lied; and finally, (instead of owning up and taking responsibility), he altered the show’s transcript. Yes; Fox altered “The Factor’s” transcript in order to substantiate O’Reilly’s propaganda; so much for the oath of “No Spin” and “Fair and Balanced.” Perhaps they should re-brand the name and slogans to “The Fictors Free Spin Zone, with Bill Oh Really; Biased and Slanted; We Distort…You Decipher.”
I am a veteran who served in Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. I am not homeless, however until my retirement a few years ago I worked as a welfare caseworker. Over the years I met many vets who were homeless. I retired a year after the start of the war in Iraq. I hate to think about how much worse the situation is now with service people forced to serve repeated overly long tours in a quagmire.
Maybe if Bill O’Reilly was not a Chicken-Hawk he would have some standing to talk about any issue involving veterans.