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!
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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
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>
>>> >>
>>> >> 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
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