This public outrage and expose seems to be one of the very few positive
outcomes of this man-made disaster.
So many more Americans must have become politicised than after 9.11?
Shirley
On 3 Sep 2005, at 21:45, Mike Cole wrote:
> The Iraq/Katrina connections are in wide currency in local media
> coverage as well, Shirley. Many unvoiceable thoughts by unhearable
> people have exploded all over the US media, along with predictable
> moves to restore ideological as well as physical order.
>
> On 9/3/05, Shirley Franklin <s.franklin@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
>>
>> Our impression here in the UK is that people are very much relating
>> the disgusting neglect by the Bush Government of those hit by the
>> hurricane to the war and occupation of Iraq.
>> The Daily Mirror, a tabloid daily newspaper, published this today:
>> (Shirley Franklin)
>>
>> 3 September 2005
>> MICHAEL MOORE: DEAR MR BUSH
>> 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!
>> Advertisement
>> 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 per
>> cent 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<http://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.
>>
>>
>> On 3 Sep 2005, at 17:59, David Daniel Preiss Contreras wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Indeed, my humble impression, is that what Madame Katrina made more
>>> evident is the issue of the lack of social justice. But, from
>>> compasion to a real endorsement of new policies there is a huge step
>>> and, my pessimistic prediction, is that, when voting, people will
>>> care
>>> more about taxation and oil prices than social security, education
>>> and
>>> environment. And, who knows, maybe nobody will remember that there is
>>> a war going on up there in iraq.
>>> David
>>> Mike Cole writes:
>>>> I believe you may be underestimating the situation here, Phil. We
>>>> all
>>>> are underestimating..
>>>> What is needed is a truly many sided account derived from people in
>>>> many positions. Of which your post and the others on XMCA and other
>>>> such dicussion groups are some.
>>>> I have never witnessed American journalists so deeply in sympathy
>>>> the people they
>>>> are reporting on. The class and race issues are benig far more
>>>> widely
>>>> discussed in a way that the rising price of gasoline has not. Deep
>>>> questioning of the Bush government
>>>> has surfaced in very mainstreat media-- The NY Times, this morning,
>>>> pointed to the tax
>>>> system and said it is essential to start to think about increasing
>>>> taxes to pay for governance,
>>>> broadly speaking. The voices of the poor have, in a very rare
>>>> moment, been loudly and clearly heard. The middle
>>>> and upper classes have not been on TV except in the guise of
>>>> politicians... they got away and
>>>> while inconvenienced severely, have not undergone the terror and
>>>> fatigue.
>>>> You are, of course, entirely correct that such a situation has gone
>>>> unresolved in the Tsunami zone
>>>> but that the drama in the US creates forgetting of the
>>>> still-vicimized survivors of the last great,
>>>> "natural" disaster. And we can predict the same for the Gulf Coast.
>>>> Unless there are some fundamental changes in US policies, its
>>>> governmental general world view, the poor will have again
>>>> begun to go "of the radar screen" of "society," so that again the
>>>> head of FEMA will be hear and seen
>>>> to say that he was not aware that such people existed.
>>>> Its hard to learn from history when one has a short memory.
>>>> mike On 9/3/05, Phil Chappell <philchappell@mac.com> wrote:
>>>>> I in no way wish to detract from the immediate and immense problems
>>>>> in
>>>>> the gulf, but I have just spent a couple of days in Phuket,
>>>>> Thailand
>>>>> (on an educational kind of visit) where thousands died 8 months ago
>>>>> in
>>>>> another natural disaster. 8 months on there are dispossessed and
>>>>> traumatised children who lost all family members, street vendors
>>>>> who
>>>>> cooked and sold bbq chicken and salad to put their kids through
>>>>> school
>>>>> whose carts were destroyed and who are still working out how to
>>>>> return
>>>>> to their villages over a 1000 km away, homeless adults wandering
>>>>> around
>>>>> with ragbags (a very unusual sight in this international playground
>>>>> where everyone prospered), and endless, endless, endless
>>>>> restaurants,
>>>>> bars, and other entertainment joints empty except for the few staff
>>>>> who
>>>>> are dozing on tables. The "west" has shunned its former playground.
>>>>> An
>>>>> island that once owed its existence to the various fishing
>>>>> communities,
>>>>> many nomadic, that plied its waters; a playground that now owes its
>>>>> existence to western "fly and flop" tourism, and James Bond. The 4
>>>>> and 5-star hotels remain unaffected, apart from having no guests.
>>>>> Several people complained of the government's slowness in providing
>>>>> the
>>>>> reconstruction support that they felt was due months ago. And the
>>>>> government complains that the millions pledged by other countries
>>>>> are
>>>>> still to be received. I don't have international TV at home, but I
>>>>> watched it in my hotel in
>>>>> Phuket. I saw Americans echoing the words of Thais, albeit 8 months
>>>>> too
>>>>> early. And I read in a local English rag the complaints that "the
>>>>> Bush
>>>>> government is spending all its money on the war in Iraq and doesn't
>>>>> have enough to support this latest disaster". (I didn't bring the
>>>>> article back with me and it's not available electronically). My
>>>>> hope
>>>>> is that the spin can stop for long enough to help those who
>>>>> need - in the latest gulf area, in Thailand, in Sri Lanka, in Banda
>>>>> Ache, on the bridge in Iraq............ One poignant moment for me
>>>>> was the entertainment place (half bar/half
>>>>> restaurant) that we passed by. A cable tv (cnn) was showing looters
>>>>> up
>>>>> to their necks in water. The viewers were slumped on tables asleep
>>>>> -
>>>>> the wait-staff for the evening, waiting. This is not a terribly
>>>>> eloquent post, but one I wanted to write as I
>>>>> ponder humanity's latest issues with nature and itself. And from
>>>>> another list: "In such a terrible situation as the one that
>>>>> thousands of people are
>>>>> experiencing now in the USA, I believe it is not time for refined
>>>>> exercises of discourse analysis (at least, I would be unable to do
>>>>> them) that, for the sake of academic "rigor" and self-complacency
>>>>> (which too often are one and the same issue) would obscure the
>>>>> fundamental issues at stake in this crisis. The simple issue is
>>>>> that
>>>>> the bodies and minds of poor people always DIE in greater
>>>>> quantities
>>>>> and SUFFER more than other economic classes under critical
>>>>> circumstances. If you have an opportunity, do search for and listen
>>>>> to
>>>>> these speeches, for example. I doubt that CNN will make them
>>>>> available
>>>>> on line. And to the international academic community (particularly
>>>>> the US
>>>>> scholars) I can only suggest, with all due respect and humbleness,
>>>>> to
>>>>> consider anew or review the role that the material bases of
>>>>> society,
>>>>> and particularly objects such as "class", "class relations",
>>>>> "poverty",
>>>>> or the like, play in the models (?) that inform (?) their
>>>>> respective
>>>>> forms of discourse analyses." Phil On 03/09/2005, at 2:01 AM, Vera
>>>>> Steiner wrote: > Hi,
>>>>>> The only small step that I am aware of is that the U. of New
>>>>> Mexico is
>>>>>> letting undergraduates enroll with no
>>>>>> records and providing them with tuition, etc. But no steps thus
>>>>> far at
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> graduate level or assistance to researchers,
>>>>>> Vera
>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>> From: "Peg Griffin" <Peg.Griffin@worldnet.att.net>
>>>>>> To: "'eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity'" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 10:46 PM
>>>>>> Subject: RE: [xmca] Hurricane Katrina-LSU Student Relief Fund
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for the info, David.
>>>>>>> Do you know if any of the colleges and universities to the south
>>>>> and
>>>>>>> east
>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> Baton Rouge have any temporary web homes?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Does anyone know of anyone keeping track of ways to work with
>>>>>>> students,
>>>>>>> teachers, researchers who have been displaced from the gulf?
>>>>>>> Is anyone getting a database about displaced doctoral candidates
>>>>> who
>>>>>>> need
>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> replace months of data collection, students who need certain
>>>>>>> requirements
>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> graduate, junior faculty who have to rewrite their almost
>>>>>>> finished
>>>>>>> manuscripts and so on?
>>>>>>> Is anyone trying to get them together with university people who
>>>>> can
>>>>>>> help
>>>>>>> them work out reasonable next steps?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So far the evidence from Yale and UC seems to say that those
>>>>>>> institutions
>>>>>>> haven't yet recognized they might be the someones with the
>>>>> expertise
>>>>>>> to do
>>>>>>> these sorts of things...
>>>>>>> PG
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>> [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
>>>>>>> Behalf Of David Daniel Preiss Contreras
>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 11:12 PM
>>>>>>> To: 'xmca@weber.ucsd.edu'
>>>>>>> Subject: [xmca] Hurricane Katrina-LSU Student Relief Fund
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A secular way to help, from the site of
>>>>> www.lsu.edu <http://www.lsu.edu><http://www.lsu.edu>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> David
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hurricane Katrina-LSU Student Relief Fund
>>>>>>> Hurricane Katrina has had a terrible effect on our state and
>>>>> there are
>>>>>> many
>>>>>>> LSU students from South Louisiana who could use your help in this
>>>>>>> time of
>>>>>>> need. The LSU Foundation's Hurricane Katrina - LSU Student Relief
>>>>>>> Fund
>>>>>> was
>>>>>>> created in response to the far-reaching damage caused by
>>>>>>> Hurricane
>>>>>> Katrina,
>>>>>>> and all donations to this fund will directly assist students
>>>>>>> whose
>>>>>>> lives
>>>>>>> have been greatly affected by the storm.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> To give to the relief fund by credit card, simply fill out the
>>>>>>> information
>>>>>>> here. If you would like to donate by check, please make the check
>>>>>>> payable
>>>>>>> to the LSU Foundation and indicate on the check that it is
>>>>> intended
>>>>>>> for
>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> LSU Student Relief Fund. You can mail your check to:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hurricane Katrina-LSU Student Relief Fund
>>>>>>> c/o LSU Foundation
>>>>>>> 3838 W. Lakeshore Dr.
>>>>>>> Baton Rouge , LA 70808
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thank you for giving to the LSU Student Relief Fund, and, as
>>>>> always,
>>>>>>> thank
>>>>>>> you for all you do for LSU.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> David D. Preiss
>>>>>>> home page: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ddp6/
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>
>>>
>>> David D. Preiss
>>> home page: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ddp6/
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> xmca mailing list
>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>
>>>
>> Shirley Franklin
>> St Martin's College,
>> Tower Hamlets PDC,
>> English Street,
>> London
>> E3 4TA
>> Tel: 0207 364 6334
>> Mob: 07958 745802
>> _______________________________________________
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
>
Shirley Franklin
St Martin's College,
Tower Hamlets PDC,
English Street,
London
E3 4TA
Tel: 0207 364 6334
Mob: 07958 745802
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