Here goes nothing.
A Letter from Michael Moore
“To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:
On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?
How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?
That's right. Horse shows.
I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.
I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.
Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?
When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?
When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?
Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?
Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?
With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?
Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.
That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.
It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"
My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?
And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?
Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.
Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?
I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?
I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.
Yours,
Michael Moore”
(http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2005-09-11)
I said I would do my best to answer his diatribe, and I will. I don't need to hide behind lies like Mr. Moore, I am happy to answer in my own words.
How do I feel on the 4th anniversary of 9/11? Well, pretty good, had a barbeque, watched some glorious baseball. (GO Cubbies!!!!) Went to work out in the early morning quiet and took time to reflect on the lives lost due to extreme assholes flying planes into buildings.
How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows? Well President Bush formally nominated him as deputy director on March 22, 2002, and the Senate confirmed him many months later. Uh, so that would be the Senate, write, call 'em, go get 'em Mikey boy.
How do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? Well, since I disagree that he has shown utter contempt, and would love to see your reasoning behind this, then I don't feel so bad. Come up with a reason for that statement and I'll answer.
Are we safer now than before 9/11? No, the same, maybe slightly better, some security is better than none. But the holes in security due to the open borders seem to negate everything else.
When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure? I always feel secure, pretty much. One would have to work as head of Homeland Security, to gain experience, right? He's fine. I kind of like him. I mean, He was confirmed in this position by the U.S. Senate on February 15, 2005, in a unanimous 98-0 vote.
When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Yes. Just because you haven't flown a plane doesn't mean you can't fly in one.
Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? Well, no one has cut them Mikey Boy, they still exist. Learn to articulate. I am sure that almost every single federal program out there could do with some budget cutbacks. The problem wasn't FEMA not being there, or prepared it was Blanco's failure to get them there.
Do you believe in Jesus? Yes, he seemed like he might have been a nice guy. Anyone who goes and dies for me is good in my book.
My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world? We sir would never be friends. You make me sick. Laughing stock? I wouldn't know, look in the mirror and ask yourself the same question.
Is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away? No, my hope is they stop shooting each other, stop soiling themselves, and stop drowning on the filth of their own making, and make something of themselves. Poverty has been an issue since mankind began. It's nothing new, and until those that suffer from poverty get tired of the suffering, then nothing will ever be done to solve the problem. You don't have to be rich, to be rich.
What do you propose? That people like you would fuck off. No, really, I propose that you stop blaming one man for every problem we face as a nation. That would be like saying you personally, with your bullshit about Kerry losing in November 2004; because that's not true, we all know it was he himself, Hollywood, and a non existent platform that caused that failure.
Mickey Boy, when you donate all your million of dollars to the poverty stricken poor of the world and spearhead a campaign to get rid of all the drug dealers, and crack whores and come up with a real plan to solve these issues, then I'll listen, until then, put down the fucking Big Mac, eat a f-ing carrot and try to make a movie where every other scene isn't spliced and diced to your own liking.
3 comments:
I a a Republican New Orleanian (and yes I voted for Mr. Bush twice) and I think this administration has been a disgrace. I am counting the days until they are out of office. Only then can I truly start healing from the betrayal I feel towards my own government.
I am the writer of this so I'll address your comment. Bush told Nagin to evacuate the city long before Katrina hit. In paraphrase Nagin told Bush to fuck off because he has no say in how he runs his city. Nagin was right to do so; the federal government has no say into way New Orleans runs. However by doing so Nagin takes all the blame for the deaths in the city.
You directly called Bush's administration a disgrace please explain that, because an accusation without support is useless.
Anon,
You live in a pretend world. The head of the NOAA told Nagin to evacuate the city 24 hours before the storm hit, not President Bush. Nagin got on TV, told the people that this was "the big one" and to evacuate. He hesitated to call a "manditory" evacuation because of legal liability concerns and said so. It was a semantic difference only. He told people to get out. The people were not killed by the hurricane. They were killed by the flooding caused when the levees broke. You obviously could care about ANY New Orleanian anyway. All one has to do is look at your post to see that.
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