Operation Perish Hilton
I have been reading about this story a lot in the past few days and have been meaning to post it myself. The famous DC resturant, Fran O'Brian's, will not be having its lease renewed May 1st by the Hilton hotel where it is located. This might not be of national consequence, but for the fact that every Friday, Fran's hosts wounded military soldiers recovering and rehibilitating at near-by Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Fare is steak and bottomless drinks all night. The reasons for not renewing the lease are less then convincing. Milbloggers everywhere are up in arms, as am I. Come on Hilton, even non-Americans see how important this is. Kudos to Chris Dickson for starting the call-to-arms, and links from Michelle Malkin.
Story is also here in a letter from LtCol Buzz Patterson, Ret. , and here, here, update Hilton reaction,
The Washington Post has picked up the story also.
Protest Hilton (you know you hate Paris anyway, so it won't hurt that much).
I want to be a milblog too. Boys, can I join the club?
posted by chic[k]pilot @ 8:32 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Thank you for this posting. I sure wish it had worked. Needless to say, I'll climb into a pup tent and live out of garbage cans before I ever enter a Hilton again....
I am a retired disabled veteran. I spent a year at Walter Reed and was retired early after 14 years of service after being injured in a Combat Training Exercise (CTX/FTX). I only received a brain injury and some relatively minor orthopedic injuries compared to those soldiers that are losing their place of honor at Fran O'Brians because of Hilton arrogance. These soldiers have sacrificed their limbs for their country, which in my mind is the next thing to sacrificing their lives.
We owe these more than to stand by and allow them to be effectively evicted because of Hilton Hotels may have been advised by their insurance company that Hilton may be discontinued or that their insurance rates would increase if they continued to serve disabled vets in wheelchairs and on crutches as part of a regular function on their property. Hilton always had the option to change their stupid insurance company. Instead, and if true, it appears that instead of going to that trouble of changing insurance company's, they chose to evict the disabled vets from their property by closing Fran O'Brians. One writer who is friends with owners owners, Hal Koster and Marty O'Brien goes further and writes:
“Many, however, believe that the Hilton just doesn’t want a lot of limbless, severely injured veterans being seen in their lobby, especially since their attire is frequently casual and many of the guys don’t look like the stylishly groomed corporate types who usually frequent big city Hiltons.”
Hilton admits that they have no future plans for the space currently occupied by Fran O'Brians, so it is clear to this disabled vet that Hilton is hedging their bets by evicting Fran O'Brians and thereby evicting the disabled vets. They kill two birds with one stone.
Unfortunately, as someone else mentioned, Paris is probably the keenest member of the Hilton family and she has no college behind her. The Hilton’s MBA’s seem to have made them stupid and heartless, though they were probably that already. The Hiltons still appear to have no idea what they have done and are doing. We vets have long memories and so do patriotic Americans when we are insulted through our country’s warriors, who are nothing less than extensions of ourselves.
You know, I remember during the Reagan Administration when the French refused us flyover rights when we attacked Libya, resulting in the loss of one of our pilots probably to fatigue because of the flight around Spain and down through the Mediterranean. I still hate the French basta*ds for that and I will always remember what they did then. I will always hate the Hiltons in the very same way. Many Americans feel the same way. The Hiltons are digging their own grave. They should stop listening to their accountants and listen to their PR people, or hire PR people with the wherewithal to tell them the truth or maybe they should just listen to their conscience if they have one. Maybe the Hiltons should all move to France. They may be more at home there, as they act more like the French and less like Americans.
Basta*ds! Perish Hilton! Zeig Hilton! Heil Hilton!
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