it’s friday – and a friend of mine sent this my way (thanks a!) – and i thought it overall quite powerful and very well stated – you all know michael moore – the amazing documentary filmmaker (roger & me, bowling for columbine, and fahrenheit 9/11) – so read on below – i think many people are feeling the same way…popbytes out for now
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Subject: Open Letter to George Bush (From Michael Moore)
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It’s Day 5 of
Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New
Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could
you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you
need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears
parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers
are? We could really use them right now for the type
of thing they signed up to do like helping with
national disasters. How come they weren’t there to
begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside
while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my
head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty
nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were
still homes without power. That night the weatherman
said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That
was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn’t
want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you
don’t like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers
to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and
smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane,
instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego
to party with your business peeps. Don’t let people
criticize you for this — after all, the hurricane was
over and what the heck could you do, put your finger
in the dike?
And don’t listen to those who, in the coming days,
will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army
Corps of Engineers’ budget for New Orleans this summer
for the third year in a row. You just tell them that
even if you hadn’t cut the money to fix those levees,
there weren’t going to be any Army engineers to fix
them anyway because you had a much more important
construction job for them — BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN
IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I
have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force
One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New
Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the
disaster. Hey, I know you couldn’t stop and grab a
bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a
commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this
tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your
people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing.
Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would
happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is
getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this
inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming
Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a
hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one
F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It’s not your
fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty
or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get
out of town. C’mon, they’re black! I mean, it’s not
like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine
leaving white people on their roofs for five days?
Don’t make me laugh! Race has nothing — NOTHING — to
do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of
our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the
people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near
Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer
at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of
the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country,
stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can
catch up with them before they get to DC on September
21st.
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