Fresh Loaf

The AJC’s Cynthia Tucker clearly struck a nerve on Wednesday when she used her column to demonstrate how Fox News Senior Falafel Correspondent Bill O’Reilly is a ginormous phony.

After calling her a “nut” a couple days ago, O’Reilly sent a camera-wielding goon squad to Atlanta this morning to ambush the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist while she was carrying her groceries.

According to Tucker’s colleague, AJC columnist Jay Bookman, the goon squad yelled loaded questions at Tucker that blatantly misrepresented the points she made in her recent column, which noted O’Reilly’s selective outrage on the subject of teen pregnancy.

O’Reilly publicly condemned Lynne Spears after her 16-year-old daughter Jamie Lynn became pregnant. Yet, O’Reilly has been supportive of Republican V.P. candidate Gov. Sarah Palin, whose 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant.

One can only guess at O’Reilly’s motives for sending a crew to ambush Tucker at her home. It sounds to me like the self-pitying talk show host was hoping to gather unflattering footage of Tucker to air on his show.

In other words, O’Reilly lost the factual argument, so he’s lashing out like a whiny little bitch.

If ever a grown man needed to be put in time-out, it’s Bill O’Reilly.

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In a great column yesterday, Pulitzer-having AJC columnist Cynthia Tucker noticed that phony Republican moralists only attack parents of unwed pregnant teens when the parents of said teen are not Republican vice-presidential candidates.

Among those she singled out was Fox News Senior Falafel Correspondent Bill O’Reilly.

Quoth Tucker:

When Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy was revealed, for example, Bill O’Reilly went after her parents.

“On the pinhead front, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. The sister of Britney says she is shocked. I bet.

“Now most teens are pinheads in some ways. But here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl, who obviously have little control over her or even over Britney Spears. Look at the way she behaves,” O’Reilly declared.

Bill O’Reilly’s response to having been called out?

He called Tucker a “nut” and insisted the two situations have “nothing to do” with one another.

You know you’re having a good week when this guy calls you a nut:

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PALIN: Excites the crowd at the RNC with an aggressive speech aimed at Obama’s experience and celebrity. McCain makes a surprise appearance to support Palin, and reminds those in attendance of her national security experience.

OBAMA: Will give a prebuttal to McCain’s acceptance speech tonight on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Maybe this will come up.

KWAME KILPATRICK: The embattled mayor of Detroit has accepted a plea deal and will resign.

HANNAH: Takes a northward turn, and is now expected to bypass the Georgia coast and hit land on the Carolina coast. Savannah’s unlikely to be evacuated, but the Hostess City is still preparing for the uninvited guest.

HAITI: “The situation is as bad as it can be,” according to a U.N. official in Gonaives. The country has been hit by three tropical storms in two weeks, and more than 100 people have died amid flooding and mudslides.

PAKISTAN: Mad at the U.S. for an alleged cross-border raid that it says killed 15 villagers in the northwestern part of the country.

CLAYTON BOE: Gets one step closer to a quorum by appointing Jessie Goree to fill the vacant District 3 seat, but takes two steps back by holding another controversial closed meeting, which two members refuse to attend in protest. Meanwhile, Gov. Perdue is looking into how he could gain more power to intervene in troubled school systems, even if by constitutional amendment, but the earliest that could happen is November 2010, likely too late for Clayton.

WAREHOUSE FIRE: Shuts down North Avenue this morning near City Hall East.

SHOCKLEY AND AWE: Terence Moore fantasizes for UGA/Falcons fans how the beloved former Bulldogs QB could ascend now that he’s the No. 3 behind an unproven No. 1 and a mediocre No. 2.

BAD SPORTS? Spencer Hall at the Sporting Blog defends “the Atlanta sporting landscape” in response to mockery of the Falcons reducing ticket prices in hopes of avoiding a TV blackout for the season opener.

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Received a press release concerning a local benefit for homeless vets.

Of course, if one believes Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly — and we all know what a funnel of truth that Bill O’Reilly is — there are no homeless vets. It’s just propaganda from Democrats. “Well, we’re still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges … so if you find anybody, let us know,” he said a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s the press release:

On Sunday, February 17, Veterans for Peace Greater Atlanta Chapter 125 and The Mad Housers will show When I Came Home, a documentary about homeless veterans in the United States, at PushPush Theater in Decatur. This will be a benefit to raise funds for their project to help homeless veterans in the Atlanta area. Show time is 7:30 pm, doors open at 7:00.

The possibility of homelessness is a very real concern for returning veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other veterans. The Homeless Research Institute and National Alliance to End Homelessness estimated that there were 336,000 veterans who were homeless in the U.S. in 2006 and that approximately 196,000 veterans were homeless on any given night that year. Veterans make up nearly a third of our homeless population. Forty-seven percent of those are from the Vietnam era, but the number from current wars is growing. According to a Nov. 7, 2007, article in the New York Times, “the Veterans Affairs Department and aid groups say they are bracing for a new surge in homeless veterans in the years ahead.”

A new VA report shows that the average veteran’s wait for disability benefits is around six months, 183 days. It’s the third year in a row that the wait time has increased. “This situation certainly places these persons in a position of potential homelessness while waiting for their benefits,” says Mike Hearington, an Atlanta Vietnam era vet. “My brother did not get his disability until years after he returned from Vietnam and he lived on the street quite a few of those years.”

The Mad Housers, Inc. is an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that builds shelters for homeless people. Veterans for Peace Atlanta Chapter 125 is a nonprofit educational and humanitarian organization dedicated to the abolishment of war.
The film is 70 minutes long. A discussion will follow with representatives of Veterans for Peace, the Mad Housers and, via telephone, director Dan Lohaus.

Did anyone remember to invite O’Reilly?

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Last week, Fox News no-spinmeister Bill O’Reilly went to Sylvia’s, a restaurant in Harlem, N.Y., with the Rev. Al Sharpton.

What did Bill discover? Not all black people are crazy.

There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, “M-Fer, I want more iced tea.” You know, I mean, everybody was — it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all.

I’m not sure what’s more noteworthy: The transparent racism that inspired O’Reilly’s “compliment,” or the fact that an angry prick who makes his living insulting people puts such a premium on quiet civility.

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