Haiti on the O'Reilly Factor by Stanley Lucas

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www.solutionshaiti.blogspot.com

Tonight Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly did a follow up piece on aid to Haiti with featured correspondent Geraldo Rivera who has been following this issue.

They discussed the fact that 80% of the 1.9 million people affected by the earthquake are still living in the streets and no construction has begun.

More than $1.3 billion in private donations were made and almost $9 billion in foreign aid and there is nothing to show for it so far -- and much of the money hasn't even been received yet. The Clinton Foundation was mentioned as being in the lead on Haiti, and the highlighted all the celebrities who were using their fame to highlight the situation in Haiti when the disaster happened but haven't returned, with the exception of Sean Penn who has demonstrated serious commitment to the country.

Geraldo said that people are essentially "flies to the light" when there's a disaster and then not having any follow up. O'Reilly drew a parallel to all the money raised for the 9/11 families which took forever to get to them in their time of greatest need. He singled out George Clooney in particular for walking away from Haiti.

Clooney was recently honored at the Emmy awards for philanthropy and acknowledged his weakness in follow through.

They focused most of the discussion on the US aid commitment being held up by one senator, Tom Coburn, in the Senate because he objected to the creation of a new State Department position to be the Haiti aid coordinator for $5 million and for the expenditure being unfunded, but more importantly, Coburn questioned why we needed this new position when the US already has an ambassador in-country and an Embassy to manage and coordinate aid. While Coburn was focused only on holding up the $5 million, he unfortunately held up the whole process.

But we will see what happens next. O'Reilly committed to putting his spotlight on this issue to free up that money and get it down to the people.

It was heartening to see such a powerful voice still focused on Haiti when others have really moved on. O'Reilly has a real track record of getting results so Haiti can only benefit from him throwing his weight behind this issue.

Please write to O'Reilly at oreilly at foxnews.com with you strong support and gratitude -- we have to encourage and acknowledge this type of support.

Martine Geffrard, October 8 2010, 10:38 PM

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