O'Reilly's stance on homeless vets poses questions

O'Reilly's stance on homeless vets poses questions
Tom Hennessy, Staff columnist
Article Launched: 01/26/2008 10:07:45 PM PST


O Reilly Critics of radio and TV commentator Bill O'Reilly find him brash, full of himself and, at times, given to outlandish statements.

Fans see him as super patriotic, unerringly correct, and a champion of the average American.

Whichever view you have of O'Reilly, if either, you may concede he is a flamboyant opinion-molder who does not shy away from publicity, which is precisely what he got earlier this month when he took on one of his current villains, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. The former North Carolina senator had said this:

"Tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates."
go here for the rest
http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_8090131

O'Reilly has made his living shooting off his mouth on his radio show and on FOX Cable "No Spin Zone" as well as several books, coming off as if he gave a damn about "the little guy" he began "fighting" for. He missed the point that the "little guy" he should have been fighting for should have included our veterans.

You've read stories about homeless veterans here and on line for years. Face it, if you read this blog, you are aware of the huge problem the veterans have been dealing with and are very informed. If you managed to find me since I'm so low below the radar, you have invested a lot of time researching what's going on. I applaud you! You are dedicated to seeking truth and thus will insure changes will be made in the system designed to help the wounded veterans.

As a reader I'm sure you read the comment that broke my heart from the wife of a National Guardsman, wounded and provided with zero disability rating. They are in fact homeless. They lost everything. You must have read about Sonny Iovino who died of hypothermia.

IOWA CITY - Two days before Sonny Iovino died of exposure, he was released by a Veterans Affairs Medical Center doctor and turned away from the Johnson County Jail after police repeatedly found him behaving erratically and shedding his clothes.
You also know there are two hundred thousand other stories just like their's. What you don't know is that there are many, many more. Families like the National Guard family won't be counted as homeless because they found room in a relatives house.

When O'Reilly had the chance to actually fight for the "little guy" he opted to defend Bush and the GOP. God forbid he say anything against what anyone in the GOP was doing. What O'Reilly missed was the fact this goes beyond politics and gets to the heart of what America is becoming. Homeless veterans, wounded veterans with wounds but zero disability or low ratings, are not new and they were not caused by Bush. They began long ago. After Vietnam there were over 300,000 of them. What happened to over 100,000 of them between then and now is a mystery. There are not enough beds, not enough programs and it's doubtful that they all died in a couple of years. This means that O'Reilly attacked the wrong people even from the standpoint of a "loyal Bushie" which Bush himself coined remarking on his supporters.

O'Reilly keeps proving he doesn't care but this is not the most troubling part to me right now. Over and over again the media proves they are behind the times. This piece just came out and a lot has happened between the "they're all drunks" comment he made. He ended up twisting this all around to being about "he's putting his muscle behind the problem" as Col. Hunt decided he would try to shove it down the throats of O'Reilly flocks. There should be other editorials in a week or so about this, so plan on a lot more reading on O'Reilly. He's trying to cover his ass but it's too late.

Homeless veterans had my heart and still do because my own husband almost became one of them. It was during a time when living with a PTSD veteran out of control we too much to take. It was before he began to get help for PTSD even after being diagnosed with it. The only help he received was from a Vet's Center in Boston. Hopelessness drained me of every rational thought and I wanted the suffering over.

I couldn't live with him at that point in our marriage and I wanted him to live someplace else. I tried to get him into a shelter because we couldn't afford anything and were barely able to support what we had. The shelter was full and there was a waiting list. This was in the early 90's! Today I thank God that shelter was full because a few days later, God hit me over the head with a frying pan and changed my mind on ending it. I give God full credit for my marriage surviving all these years. He gave me the strength and patience to get through the worst times in our life together. He began to be helped by the VA and years later, he was living a life again instead of just existing.

I thought, and still do, about the families out there without the knowledge to support them through this. I knew what PTSD was and what came with it and it was nearly impossible to deal with. Their chances of coping are just about zero if they don't have a clue what it is. This is how at least half of the homeless veterans become homeless.

PTSD marriages are no longer marriages and you end up feeling like you are living with a total stranger who can explode at any minute. You live on a roller coaster ride of emotions never knowing what will cause them to respond with unacceptable behavior or take off for days at a time. If you have kids, you become a single parent, feeling as if your kids were just joined by an adopted child who used to be your spouse. Extreme financial problems come when you are usually missing their income because they can't hold down a job. They add to it when they self-medicate drinking and doing drugs, which adds to the stress level. You're sure every time they walk out the door will be their last and you pray to God they don't hurt anyone else. You know you are helpless to stop them. You try to figure out what you could do differently or what you did wrong to cause all of this. Questions evaporate and you replace them with wondering how to end it.

You watch them die inside on a daily basis, weighing the human compassion you have, the love you used to feel for them, against wanting to just get rid of them.

I went through all of this even knowing what I knew. I didn't go through any of this blindly and it was still hell. You'd think it would have been easier since by this time I was an expert on it, but living with it is a total different story.

Families of PTSD veterans and even regular citizens with it, need all the help they can get to become aware of what this is. They need the tools to help them cope. Will it end the homeless veterans or homeless people living on the streets or in shelters? No but it will cut it all down to a level where it will not be impossible to handle. Knowledge will eliminate a good portion of them. Changes in the system will help with the rest.

The wounds of PTSD begin to heal with treatment. They get worse if you don't treat it just as an infection untreated spreads and causes more damage. Treat the wound and save the family. Get them into treatment even if their claim is tied up. Set up support groups for families so that they can have some tools to cope and finally understand they are not alone.

Next is to get rid of the backlog of claims so that the wounded veterans receive some income to keep a roof over their heads and food in their belly. Added financial stress will only add to PTSD. Stop the nonsense of awarding zero disability or low balling it for veterans who cannot work.

Reevaluate the veterans who were discharged under "personality disorders" and given dishonorable discharges. If they are found to be suffering from PTSD then give them the money they should have had if they had been diagnosed properly in the first place. Never mind the BS of claims not being filed on time. The government knows when PTSD problems surfaced because they were discharged from duty for it. If they were really diagnosed properly as having a personality disorder, then the DOD has a bigger problem with the mental health screening they do before they give them weapons.

Educate the public so that no one ever again slaps a stigma like O'Reilly did out of ignorance. They are nothing to be ashamed of. We have only ourselves to be ashamed of for turning our backs on them when they needed us.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

It's too late for O'Reilly. He already proved he's a schmuck

Bernie and Jane on Edwards and Letterman Trashing O'Reilly
Friday, January 25, 2008

This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 24, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor!"

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Weekdays with Bernie and Jane" segment tonight, two hot topics. First, the Associated Press and various other news agencies reported yesterday that the Bush administration has lied or had lied hundreds of times in the run-up to the Iraq war. One problem with that: The information came from an organization funded by far-left enthusiastic, George Soros. I'm being nice tonight. But the AP and the other news agency failed to mention that fact.

Also, a couple of nights ago David Letterman and John Edwards pretty much trashed me over the contention that the economy has caused some veterans great harm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS: The core of the feud is that I've been talking about homeless veterans, and the fact that we have a couple hundred thousand homeless veterans that have no place to sleep at night.


It's embarrassing, horribly embarrassing, incredibly embarrassing for America, a huge moral issue facing the country. And he kind of went on the show and said that I was exaggerating, making it up. And I think he got a lot of correspondence, and a lot of homeless veterans have been calling in.

DAVID LETTERMAN: You know what I've noticed about Bill O'Reilly — and he's a marvelous communicator — but he's not — he doesn't really care much about telling the truth.

EDWARDS: Yes, I've noticed that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now as we demonstrated last night here on "The Factor," we have the stats to back up that we of course told the truth. But John Edwards did not, and David Letterman doesn't know what it is.

Joining us now from Washington, Jane Hall and from Miami, Bernie Goldberg. Both are FOX News analysts.

All right, Bernie, now does Letterman owe it to his audience to, when he sides with a guy like Edwards and calls me a liar and I don't know what I'm talking about and all of that. And then we produce the evidence that says 150,000 beds available to homeless veterans every night, $37 billion, a record amount of spending, on veteran health care. And the V.A. guy comes on the program and says, "If you're a homeless vet, we will come to you, anywhere, anytime, and help you." That's the truth. So does Letterman owe it to his audience to come on the next night and say, "Gee, you know, I was really unfair to Bill O'Reilly"? Does he owe it?
go here for the rest if you can stand it
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325569,00.html

First the son of a bitch attacks homeless veterans, claiming there aren't any, then he spins it to they're all drunks, drug addicts and mental cases, then he says the "government can't do anything about it" followed by Hunt's claim "he's putting his muscle" to work for the homeless veterans. Bullshit! It's too late for O'Reilly when he's already proven he's a schmuck! He doesn't give a crap about the truth anymore than he cares about our veterans. He doesn't care about facts or where they came from and either he's too uninformed on what information our own government finally admits to, or he's too stupid to understand any of it. Now he has the balls to claim he is the victim of any of this! I still say gather up all the Marines, soldiers, National Guardsmen, Reservists brave enough to do what he wouldn't dare dream of doing and show up at his studio to tell him it's too late to cover his huge ass. It's all on tape!

As for the crap about 150,000 beds, that's bull too.

State
Funded Beds
Homeless Veterans
AK
0
600
AL
42
824
AR
40
850
AZ
199
3,970
CA
1,875
49,724
CO
102
1,203
CT
103
5,000
DC
43
2,500
DE
15
550
FL
430
18,910
GA
165
3,297
HI
118
800
IA
56
547
ID
10
500
IL
136
2,197
IN
108
1,200
KS
47
601
KY
115
425
LA
150
9,950
MA
378
1,700
MD
241
3,300
ME
0
100
MI
139
3,513
MN
23
523
MO
82
3,325
MS
60
1,579
MT
17
232
NC
182
1,659
ND
0
1,000
NE
12
770
NH
36
257
NJ
142
6,500
NM
30
860
NV
201
4,715
NY
274
21,147
OH
261
1,710
OK
27
500
OR
159
5,891
PA
332
2,784
RI
23
175
SC
110
1,375
SD
42
170
TN
241
2,844
TX
233
15,967
UT
145
530
VA
86
870
VT
10
30
WA
167
6,800
WI
209
828
WV
41
347
WY
31
98
PR
12
80
TOTAL
7,700 beds provided!
195,827

http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81

Hunt now saying O'Reilly "putting news making muscle" to homeless veterans

HUNT BURIED HIS HEAD UP O'REILLY ASS On Homeless Vets WTF Now they are trying to spin this like O'Reilly was the one to bring this into the public's mind as some kind of champion of justice instead of pervert of the century?
At last, people with some political and news-making muscle are talking about a true American tragedy: homeless veterans. On his radio and TV shows, Bill O'Reilly commented on Sen. John Edward's remarks on the plight of homeless veterans.
That cantankerous SOB is now trying to spin this? It's as bad as when he and O'Reilly not only denied troops were being sent back into Iraq and Afghanistan already diagnosed with PTSD, but they made fun of it saying what a danger that would be to the rest of the troops. They claimed there was no way possible this was happening. This at the same time the DOD admitted to doing it after the Hartford Courant reporters uncovered the truth. Worthless scum! How much money do these buffoons make for lying? Why would anyone listen to them at all after this? I really hope and pray every homeless veteran and PTSD veteran from the National Guard to the Marines go down to that studio and let them know how they feel about this! Good Lord!
NamGuardianAngel :: HUNT BURIED HIS HEAD UP O'REILLY ASS On Homeless Vets
No Homes For Our Soldiers By Col. David Hunt
Upfront, if this does not piss you off, finally get you off your butts, run outside naked while screaming mad, make you paint your face and do a protest dance in front of the White House, then my friends, you are dead from the neck up - and you need to forever stop saying you care for soldiers or, for that matter, your own freedoms.
THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF VETERANS HOMELESS IN THIS COUNTRY - THOUSANDS!
At last, people with some political and news-making muscle are talking about a true American tragedy: homeless veterans. On his radio and TV shows, Bill O'Reilly commented on Sen. John Edward's remarks on the plight of homeless veterans. Time for some background.
I am not an expert on much of anything, but I have experience in some things. I have volunteered in homeless shelters for over 30 years all over the country, depending on where I was assigned. The homeless are the ugly underbelly of this great country. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324948,00.html
If he isn't an expert on anything then why does he keep talking and getting paid for it? If he did "volunteer in a homeless shelter" then was it a pet shelter? Why the hell didn't he come out swinging against O'Reilly instead of doing this then if he had any kind of conscience at all?
Poll
Do you hate Bill O'Reilly
YES Most of the time Only when you hear his voice NO Did you have a mental breakdown?

The New Generation of Homeless Veterans

Veteran of the Afghan and Iraq wars Peter Mohan, right, hugs Vietnam veteran Robert Whitfield, of Haydenville, Mass., left, in a hallway at a veterans homeless shelter, in Leeds, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Whitfield is a Veterans Administration employee. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Steven Senne - AP)



Veteran of the Iraq war Mike Lally pulls a clothing cart through a walkway at a homeless shelter, in Leeds, Mass., Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Lally did two tours of duty in Iraq while serving with the Marine Corps. Lally, who is participating in the program "Soldier On," pulls the cart as part of the work he does to pay his way in the program. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Steven Senne - AP)

New Generation of Homeless Vets Emerge
By ERIN McCLAM
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 19, 2008; 11:52 PM

LEEDS, Mass. -- Peter Mohan traces the path from the Iraqi battlefield to this lifeless conference room, where he sits in a kilt and a Camp Kill Yourself T-shirt and calmly describes how he became a sad cliche: a homeless veteran.

There was a happy homecoming, but then an accident _ car crash, broken collarbone. And then a move east, close to his wife's new job but away from his best friends.

And then self-destruction: He would gun his motorcycle to 100 mph and try to stand on the seat. He would wait for his wife to leave in the morning, draw the blinds and open up whatever bottle of booze was closest.

He would pull out his gun, a .45-caliber, semiautomatic pistol. He would lovingly clean it, or just look at it and put it away. Sometimes place it in his mouth.

"I don't know what to do anymore," his wife, Anna, told him one day. "You can't be here anymore."

I know I posted this story before but now there are pictures to go with it. I've been posting on Sancho Press, as well as my own blogs, and this thing with O'Reilly has been really ticking us off. One of the members thought it would be a good idea to get the homeless veterans on film and send it to O'Reilly. BraveNew Films beat us to it. Before I could arrange to go to the local veterans homeless shelter in Orlando to film, they already had one up to confront O'Reilly's delusion and/or stupidity. I still plan on filming them and telling their stories.

While we take a look at the veterans lucky enough to get into a shelter, we forget about the thousands across the country who don't. From cities and towns all over the country there are people trying to get them out of the woods, out of their cars and into shelters. The problem is, most of the veterans sleeping in the woods and under bridges can't find room for them and others don't trust anyone enough to even try. Ask anyone who tries to help with Operation Stand Down how hard it is to get them out of the woods even for one day to get a hot meal, some fresh clothes and get cleaned up.

While O'Reilly lives in comfort and never has to worry a second about paying bills between his fat paycheck for shooting his mouth off on FOX and writing books claiming to be all about "watching over the little guy" these men and women, who served the nation find there is no place for them to call home. He can deny it all he wants, find excuses for as many times as his mouth can move, but in the end, he hasn't a clue what it is like to serve this nation only to find the nation has forgotten you.

Bill O'Reilly proves once again he doesn't give a shit

O'Reilly inconsistent on role of government in addressing vets' homelessness
Summary: Bill O'Reilly took inconsistent positions during the January 17 edition of The O'Reilly Factor on the role of the government in addressing the problem of homelessness among veterans, highlighted by John Edwards. O'Reilly said, "Certainly there are homeless veterans, but it's not because of the economy. It's mostly because of addiction and mental illness, something politicians can do little about." But when National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse president Joseph Califano later told O'Reilly that "the real tragedy here is most of those veterans have had combat experience that are suffering from drug and alcohol problems and mental health problems. And we are not taking care of them," O'Reilly replied: "And that is something that should be addressed."
go here for the rest
http://mediamatters.org/items/200801180012?f=h_latest

First O'Reilly slams the fact soldiers are being sent back into combat already diagnosed with PTSD and given medications that need to monitored. Didn't matter to him the report from the Hartford Courant was based on a report from the DOD.

This came after he denied every fact put out about the propaganda regarding the decision to invade Iraq in the first place, the history of first hand qualified accounts from 1991 by the people who were responsible for the Gulf War laying all of what happened as reason to not do it, all the way up to facts and admissions that there were no plans for after the invasion.

Now O'Reilly slammed for his callous, uninformed denial there were homeless veterans at all, followed up by admission there were, he then trumped it with they are all drunks, drug addicts and mental cases but it had nothing to do with the economy.

Stick a pin in his head and let out all that hot air keeping it inflated.

Half of the homeless are and have been connected to PTSD and all that comes with having it be untreated. The drugs and alcohol are used to kill off feelings they don't want to have. They use it to try to fight against the nightmares, flashback, calm the twitches. The other half are there because they cannot find jobs. National Guard families have found they no longer have incomes equal to what they made in civilian life and cannot afford to pay their bills while they are deployed. We're not talking about a month or two but over a year deployed. While Bill gets paid big bucks to shoot his mouth off, it's very hard for him to understand not being able to pay a mortgage or rent payment because they are serving the nation deployed in an occupation prolonged because people like O'Reilly have been shooting off their huge mouths instead of reporting facts.

For them it's not just a one shot deal but they go back over and over again. Employers are either laying off or closing down their businesses. The jobs are not there when they come back. Add into that many of them owned their own business. Being away for a year does not inspire customer loyalty because they cannot wait for a plumber they trust to come back and fix a leak or for an electrician to return to increase the power to the house to be able to put in their new toys.

Back to those who are on drugs and drinking, O'Reilly denied the "government" can do anything about this or for the mentally ill. How much money does O'Reilly think the government is "wasting" because they cannot do anything about the problem he thinks they don't have?

O'Reilly just keeps proving he doesn't give a shit about any veteran or anyone in need. After all he considers them as unworthy of being viewers of his in the first place. Why else would he keep insulting them if he thought any of them or their families watched his stupid show in the first place? Maybe he thinks they are just too dumb to get him? Too bad their too smart to waste their time watching him and in reality, he's just too self absorbed to notice.

I wonder what will happen when the Democrats are in control for real and the rest of the nation gets as pissed off as we are about what's been happening while O'Reilly made sure it was business as usual?

Bill O'Reilly needs a wake up call on homeless veterans

Fox Attacks Homeless Vets: O'Reilly Says They're "Non-Existent" [VIDEO]
Post by DJK
Video: Meet some of the so-called "non-existent" vets and sign a petition demanding that Bill O'Reilly personally apologize to them. More »

Fox Attacks Homeless Vets: O'Reilly Says They're "Non-Existent" [VIDEO]Posted by DJK , Brave New Films on January 18, 2008 at 11:12 AM.
Sign the letter to Bill O'Reilly demanding he apologize to the "non-existent" homeless vets here.


To Bill O'Reilly: Homeless veterans exist. I met some.
In a previous post, I wrote about Bill O'Reilly's bizarre assertion that there are no homeless veterans in America. He made this claim on January 4, 2008 while talking about a speech by John Edwards where Edwards said that 200,000 vets are homeless on any given night in America. BOR continued to deny the existence of homeless veterans on January 16, 2008 during an interview with radio host Ed Schultz. This time, he added a caveat that if there are homeless veterans, "there aren't many of them out there". You can see both clips for yourself and read transcripts here, since I'm sure you'll soon be hearing BOR complain, as he always does when he's criticized for something he said, that he has been "taken out of context." The context of these unedited clips is quite clear.

On both occasions, BOR was either ignorant to or consciously ignoring a recent study from the National Alliance to End Homelessness (using data from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau) that found:

In 2006, approximately 195,827 veterans were homeless on a given night -- an increase of 0.8 percent from 194,254 in 2005. More veterans experience homelessness over the course of the year. We estimate that 336,627 were homeless in 2006.

Either that or BOR believes that 195,827 homeless veterans (and that number is surely low) is a small enough number of homeless veterans as to be insignificant. I have no idea what number of homeless veterans BOR considers to be "many" -- 195,827 homeless veterans certainly seems like a lot to me.

BOR said that he couldn't find any homeless veterans. Maybe he wasn't looking in the right places. It took me less than a day to find several hundred.

I went to U.S. Vets in Inglewood, California. US Vets is the largest non-profit organization in the US dedicated to helping homeless and at-risk veterans with temporary housing, counseling, and employment assistance. The facility currently houses up to 500 homeless veterans.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

sign the letter and let him know this is not acceptable to you and should not be to any American. Two words that should never be linked together is Homeless and Veteran. If we can't take care of them, what chance does regular people have when they have fallen through the cracks?
http://foxattacks.com/vets

I just did a search on homeless veterans here in the Orlando area. This report has been posted here before but it was also on the local FOX STATION'S WEB SITE WHICH O'REILLY MUST NOT BELIEVE EITHER!!!!!!!

Housing Glut Could Help War Wounded

Last Edited: Friday, 04 Jan 2008, 7:21 AM EST
Created: Friday, 04 Jan 2008, 7:21 AM EST
By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer


CIBOLO, Texas -- The glut of unsold houses pocking the nation's newer neighborhoods may be just what the doctor ordered for thousands of wounded servicemembers facing homelessness and serious financial hardships since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, advocates say.

Operation Homefront, a nonprofit that aids the families of deployed and wounded servicemembers, has launched what it says is a first of its kind effort to match wounded soldiers with lenders and homebuilders to help them buy homes at prices they can afford in communities near Veterans Administration medical facilities.

"Especially with so much inventory, it seems like the perfect match," said Meredith Leyva, co-founder of Operation Homefront.

The physical wounds suffered by the more than 30,000 servicemembers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are often followed by financial chaos as the families absorb extra travel and living expenses, forgo combat pay and transition to civilian life with a disability, Leyva said.

Her group, which helped 1,700 injured servicemembers' families pay utility bills or other living expenses last year, is seeing more families fall into bankruptcy and the threat of homelessness, she said.

A servicemember who is injured and decides to leave the military usually qualifies for disability payments. But often, it can take 18 months to get military, Veterans Administration and Social Security benefits determined, Leyva said.

Meanwhile, families -- many of which have little savings -- fall behind on bills at a time when travel expenses for medical treatment are climbing and they are least able to work, she said. Their credit is badly damaged, and they must move out of base housing when the servicemember is discharged from the military.

Veterans have access to VA loan guarantees. But the limits mean they don't offer much help in many housing markets, and in any event, lenders still apply typical creditworthiness requirements to mortgages, Leyva said.

On average, it takes six months for the VA to determine disability payments, and the lag can get longer if a veteran appeals to get a larger amount, VA spokesman Jim Benson said.

"That's a tough amount of time to wait," he acknowledged.

The agency has been working to decrease the wait, but the workload and paperwork requirements often bog down processing, he said.

The VA, which is primarily concerned with medical care and disability, doesn't track bankruptcy among wounded veterans but has estimated that 195,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. As many as twice that number have been homeless within the last year, the agency says. Many of the homeless are Vietnam-era veterans.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=FB37C6C134966D7A39CEBEB6FC3EB52A?contentId=5390704&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Fire Bill O'Reilly for being stupid and evil

From the Ed Schultz Show on Air America Radio

Paul Rieckhoff founder and Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America joined the 1st hour of Wednesday's show to discuss Bill O'Reilly comments that there are no veterans are sleeping under bridges.
http://www.bigeddieradio.com/

IAVA Events" href="http://www.iava.org/content/blogcategory/21/105/">
IAVA Events :: 01/16/08
Homeless Veterans
He may have been wrong about the details, but Bill O'Reilly brought up an important subject on his show last night. Click here to watch the video and get involved.

An interesting caller phone into the show today. He is a Marine. He was a Marine in the 80's. He lost his wife and son in a car accident and then lost everything else. He lives in his car in Colorado.

What he did not lose was his want to work and get back on his feet. He can't. He was robbed and they stole his wallet, along with all of his identification. He needed his ID to get help and is trapped in a maze. He told Schultz he didn't want a hand out. He just wants to work to support himself.

O'Reilly still denies we have homeless veterans. Doesn't matter how many times he gets slammed with facts he would rather shut his eyes and deny it. It doesn't matter the figures on homeless veterans come from the government itself and workers in the field say there are many more than reported.

This Marine called Schultz's show to make sure O'Reilly got the message that they are real and suffering no matter how much O'Reilly wants to deny them any kind of compassion, mercy, help or attention.

Later on in the show a woman called in identifying herself as a Marine Mom from Florida. Schultz was a bit surprised this Mom was offering to help a Marine in Colorado. She explained to Schultz that it is more a matter of every Marine being their son. She called a couple of friends and found some in this veteran's area ready, willing and able to help him. Unlike Bill O'Reilly who would rather shoot off his huge mouth instead of offering to help any of them. I bet he kicks drunks too.


US Vets celebrates five years of helping homeless veterans
Prescott Daily Courier - Prescott,AZ,USABy Derek Meurer, The Daily Courier When people pass a homeless veteran, some may feel sad at seeing an American hero living in such a depressed state. ...See all stories on this topic
O'Reilly Downplays Number of Homeless Veterans
Huffington Post - New York,NY,USAO'Reilly raised an important topic: the plight of homeless veterans. Too bad he got the facts wrong. There are almost 200000 homeless veterans in America. ...See all stories on this topic

Bill O'Reilly Mocks Homeless Veterans Who John Edwards Fights For ...
Huffington Post - New York,NY,USA... cracked research staff take a look at the Veteran's Affairs numbers where they estimate approximately 200000 veterans are homeless on any given night. ...See all stories on this topic

Edwards: I'm underdog for Democrats
abc7news.com - San Francisco,CA,USAThe Fox News Channel commentator reportedly said Edwards "had no clue" when he asserted in Tuesday's debate that there were 200000 homeless veterans in the ...See all stories on this topic

Richland County plans to count homeless on Jan. 29
Mansfield News Journal - Mansfield,OH,USAWhy would a veteran be found Friday sleeping under a bridge in Shelby?” Moore said.

O’Reilly Downplays Number of Homeless Veterans
By Paul Rieckhoff As a homeless Iraq veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and living out of his car in Brooklyn, Herold was not greeted by a support system for veterans. Instead, he met resistance from the Housing Authority, the VA,
O’Reilly Repeatedly Denies the Existence of Homeless Veterans
By info@bravenewfilms.org So instead of admit that he’s wrong and that the disproportionate, unacceptably high number of homeless veterans is a big problem that must be addressed, is a shameful commentary on our nation’s priorities, and an example of republican
Nearly 200000 Homeless Veterans
By Grandmère Mimi(Grandmère Mimi) O'Reilly: "They (homeless veterans) may be out there, but there's not many of them out there. Okay?...If you know where there is a veteran, sleeping under a bridge, you call me immediately, and we will make sure that man does not do it.
A New Generation of Homeless Veterans
By ernesto While the issue of homeless veterans is nothing new many Americans would be shocked to find out that 336000 former service member are homeless every year. Moreover, the VA has already identified 1500 homeless Iraq and Afghanistan

Olbermann tells O'Reilly to switch places with homeless veterans

During the January 7 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Bill O'Reilly the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for saying that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards "has no clue," as Media Matters for America documented, regarding Edwards' statement that "tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates."

Olbermann stated: "But our winner -- well, it's Bill-O night. He blasted John Edwards for noting in Iowa that 200,000 vets sleep each night under bridges and on grates. Quoting Bill-O: 'The only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy's brain. Ten million illegal alien workers are sending billions of dollars back home, and Edwards is running around saying nobody has any money.' "

Olbermann continued: "Seriously. First off, Lou Dobbs is going to kick your backside for working his side of the street.

Secondly, it's 200,000 tonight. Over the course of the year, the Veterans Administration says, 336,000 vets will be homeless on and off."

Olbermann concluded: "Why don't you try changing positions with one of them, Bill? See how long you last, then run your mouth about Edwards. The over/under on that, by the way, would be three minutes. Bill Orally, tonight's 'Worst Person in the World.'
http://mediamatters.org/items/200801080005?f=h_latest

O'Reilly now denies veterans are homeless too?

Excuse my language here but I can't help it. What the hell is wrong with this bastard? First he denies soldiers are being sent back into combat with PTSD and a pocket full of pills. Then he denies veterans are homeless. He went on to talk about illegal aliens sending money back home? What country deserves to have this bastard living in it because it certainly isn't this one? He gets paid how much to slander our troops and veterans? What is he trying to prove? Does he think if he says it isn't so, it suddenly goes away? What about his responsibility in all of this with his huge paycheck and audience?

Readers of this blog know what PTSD. They know how many suicides there have been because of PTSD. They know how many homeless people there are and they know what causes them to be homeless. They are aware! O'Reilly lives in a land of his own making.

I'm tired of this man saying whatever he wants and never, ever having to face those he attacks and denies their existence instead of helping them.

What if every service organization across the country dealing with the homeless veterans writes to FOX and demands he apologize for this? How about every family member who has had a son or daughter deployed back into combat with diagnosed PTSD and prescriptions do the same? What if the thousands upon thousands of family members who have had a son or daughter commit suicide because of PTSD and service to this country do the same? How about they get joined by the hundreds of thousands of people dedicating their lives to helping these people do the same? Can FOX news allow any of this bastard's ranting to go on unchallenged?

O'Reilly and FOX have a responsibility to their viewers. It is one thing to not report on what is going on which they do consistently but another to lie about it.

From Crooks and Liars
O’Reilly Slams Edwards For Standing Up For Homeless Veterans
By: billw on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 3:05 PM - PST



On Friday, Billo showed off his pundit wisdom idiocy following the Iowa caucus and went after John Edwards for saying the US should be taking better care of our veterans.
Download (1624) Play (2866) Download (1014) Play (1725)

O’Reilly: As for John Edwards, Good grief! this guy has no clue. (plays clip)
Edwards: … and tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates. We are better than this. (see Edward’s speech here)

O’Reilly: That was Edwards’ concession speech last night. I mean, come on. The only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy’s brain. 10 million illegal alien workers are sending billions of dollars back home and Edwards is running around saying nobody has any money. Hard to believe.

Billo, who has a history of insulting veterans, just dismissed outright the plight of homeless men and women who have served in our nation’s military and implied that they don’t even exist. To mask his callous indifference he threw out illegal immigration as a red herring and insulted Edwards by saying he “has no clue.” Well, as usual, Falafel Boy is the one who desperately needs to get a clue.

In 2006, approximately 195,827 veterans were homeless on a given night—an increase of 0.8 percent from 194,254 in 2005. More veterans experience homeless over the course of the year. We estimate that 336,627 were homeless in 2006.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/06/oreilly-
slams-edwards-for-standing-up-for-homeless-veterans/

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We want YOUR input! Tell us what you love, tell us what you hate ... just don't keep it to yourself! As a FOX Fan, you'll have a unique opportunity to make your voice heard and affect change at FNC. Below, you'll find a few ways to contact us. BUT, if you're more of a phone person, you can call us at 1-888-369-4762.

Here is the email
Oreilly@foxnews.com

Here is the email I just sent.

I was shocked to hear O'Reilly deny our veterans are homeless. I've worked in veteran's outreach for 25 years and this is beyond pathetic. In O'Reilly's failed attempt to go after John Edwards, he ended up attacking homeless veterans in this county and all veterans who have served this nation. Denying the problem exists may allow him to sleep peacefully in his luxurious surroundings, blissfully thinking he deserves any of it but at the same time veterans are homeless and sleeping in boxes, under bridges and fighting their way into shelters that just don't have enough room for them. Half of the homeless veterans have PTSD, a war wound which is something O'Reilly will never have to worry about because it requires a person to have a soul first and be brave enough to serve this nation, willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the people in this nation. It requires a conscience which O'Reilly apparently lacks. Wasn't it bad enough that O'Reilly and Hunt denied the soldiers were being sent back into combat with medication for PTSD? I wonder how many lives could have been saved had he addressed the problem instead of denying it? I wonder how many homeless veterans would be taken care of if O'Reilly addressed the problem instead of denying it? Can you think of a better way for him to spend a fraction of his money or inspire his viewers to do the same than to help take care of these forgotten veterans?

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

- George Washington