Fitzgerald House at Brave New Films

White House Press Briefing, April 24, 2008

2008-06-12T09:35:27Z

Dana Perino White House Press Briefing, April 24, 2008

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17000 ASK O'REILLY FOR APOLOGY.

2008-07-09T15:44:23Z

Where is Karl Rove when you need him, O'LIARLY?

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Meet the “Non-Existent” Vets: Ryan Sussman

2008-07-16T14:03:03Z

Ryan was the first vet I interviewed that day at U.S. Vets. As I talked to him, I simply couldn’t believe that Ryan was just 21. It’s not that he didn’t look young, but the way he talked and what he was talking about reflected the experiences of someone much older.

By the age of 18, Ryan was fending for himself and figuring out what to do with his life while I was enjoying the training wheels/daycare we know as college. During his two and a half years in the Navy, Ryan was grappling with the forces of life and death. When he got out, Ryan was forced to experience the warped priorities of our government and face a country that claims to revere soldiers while leaving them out in the cold. At 21, I was coasting through my senior year of college, trying not to think about the future. At 21, Ryan had done what he was supposed to, but had no idea what the future held. At 21, Ryan was homeless, and the country he served didn’t give a damn.

Meet the “Non-Existent” Vets: Fletcher C. Hicklen

2008-07-09T13:23:50Z

Bill O’Reilly says he can’t find any homeless veterans. After a few hours of calling, I was able to find several hundred. One of them was Fletcher C. Hicklen.

To make FOX ATTACKS! “Non-Existent” Veterans, I had arranged to interview three veterans at U.S. Vets — an organization that provides treatment, transitional housing, and classes to homeless vets — but Fletcher wasn’t one of them. After shooting the interviews, my cameraman, Phil, and I walked around US Vets looking for a few vets who wanted to send a quick message to Bill O’Reilly. I met Fletcher in US Vets’ computer lab, where vets can learn how to use computers and have internet access.

Like most of the vets I met that day, Fletcher had a lot to say. He told me about how proud he was to serve. He told me what an honor it had been to shake the hand of George HW Bush when he came to Honduras aboard Air Force One to thank the troops stationed there. He also told me that vets get a “raw deal” in America and are not given the respect they deserve.

Fletcher also told me that he had spent many a night sleeping under a bridge when he was homeless in Michigan. He slept under a bridge where three men had frozen to death just a few weeks before. Fletcher told me he often went to sleep praying the same thing wouldn’t happen to him.

“I Was Off to Represent For My Fathers…”: Field Producer Robin On Veterans and the Petition Delivery

2008-07-09T19:10:18Z

As we were organizing Thursday's petition delivery to the FOX building in New York, we put a call out for field producers to help cover the event. Robin Laverne Wilson answered that call, and we’re so glad she did. The following is her account of what happened yesterday, as well as her thoughts on the struggles veterans face and her personal connection to this issue. If you are interested in joining our army of field producers raising hell across the land, go here.

And with that, here’s Robin…
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I put on my brown military thermals, my chocolate chip cammies, my black bandana and my black boots. I was off to represent for my father, my uncle, their army buddies and all the people in my life that I knew and didn't know who had served this country and in some way, often the same way, got the shaft from it. Most of them are Black, like me. My home state, Texas, is practically one huge military base. It's my patriotic duty, as the daughter of a Vietnam War combat medic, to pick up my weapon and fight for the cause. I grabbed my gear and went into friendly warrior mode to help these vets broadcast their story. And believe me -- their stories are AMAZING.

FOX Denies Entrance to Veterans Demanding an Apology from O’Reilly

2008-07-26T03:28:27Z

If you were around the FOX building in New York City today, you might’ve noticed that an impromptu press conference had broken out right in front. That’s because a group of veterans tried to deliver our 17,000-strong petition to Bill O’Reilly demanding an apology to homeless vets, and FOX wouldn’t let them in the door.

Two weeks ago, after hearing BOR’s second denial of the existence and significance of America’s 200,000 homeless vets, I took a trip to U.S. Vets in Inglewood, CA to see if I could find any of the homeless vets that BOR claimed he couldn’t find. I found them and talked to them. That night, BNF launched a video, FOX ATTACKS! “Non-Existent” Veterans, along with an open letter demanding that O’Reilly apologize for his factually-challenged statements. To date, over 96,000 people have seen the video and over 17,000 signed the letter.

So today at 3pm ET, five vets, Carol (executive director of the Fitzgerald House, an organization that provides transitional housing for homeless veterans), documentary filmmaker Dan Lohaus, and field producer Robin went to the FOX building to deliver the petition, along with a reporter from the Daily News and a local TV crew. But it wasn’t so easy.