Before I begin: my mother and brother are safe in Baton Rouge. My stepfather suffered a heart attack there a few days ago, but he's in good condition. My dad was also staying in Baton Rouge, but he's trying to visit Metairie again today to survey the damage to his home. He doesn't expect it to be that bad. My dad's other family (my half-siblings) have already permanently relocated to Nashville. They're safe as well.
So, without further ado, I'm going to paste an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush into the body of this message. But don't get turned off by that; believe it or not, though I'm from New Orleans, I disagree with Moore's statements here. I'm only posting the letter so that you can read my mother's disenfranchised response to it below.
An open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush:
"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
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."
My Mom responds:
"Dear Mr. Moore:
I can fully appreciate your letter to Mr. Bush, however I am a resident of Lakeview in New Orleans and live 14 blocks from the 300 ft. breech in the 17th Street Canal levee. We live in a very affluent, tax paying area of New Orleans. We chose not to leave with hundreds of other people in the neighborhood of Lakeview. I did not get out of New Orleans until Wednesday. I can tell you first hand, this was not a racial issue, we were not rescued by the National Guard, Coast Guard or any other governmental agency. For 30 hours, more than 70 people were on the Filmore Avenue bridge by Marconi Drive, we saw the Coast Guard helicopters flying to all different directions but never was help sent to us. The only reason we got out is due to the neighbors in Lakeview who commodered boats and rode through the flooded streets looking for people.
So don't cry race card, race and poverty had not one thing to do with not being helped. I am proof of that.
In my opinion, it was the lack of leadership in Washington. The death toll will exceed any and all estimates. To think we live in the greatest country in the world, with all the resources available to us and such a travesty could occur in a major U.S. city because of inaction. What more can I say after what I experienced?
Randie Porobil, former address - 6642 General Haig Street
225-778-1834 New Orleans, LA 70124
504-952-0811"
Yeah, you do the math.
Michael Moore upsets me so.
