From Michael Moore:
>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


From me:
Dear Mr. Moore,My name is Josh Norman. I am a reporter with the SunHerald of Biloxi, Mississippi. Last Sunday and Monday, I was in Biloxi when the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head as a category 4.It was terrifying.Immediately after the storm, I went out and reported on the disaster. I met families destroyed, saw neighborhoods reduced to their concrete foundations, smelled death and dispair and heard the disbelief roll off of everyone's toungue. Disaster, perhaps, is therefore not strong enough of a word.What will be a disaster is a divided and bickering nation.I appreciate your work, Mr. Moore. I understand your viewpoint.I have voted democrat across the board since I started voting ten years ago. I could very easily be described as a liberal too...I was in the Peace Corps for Christ's sake.But I do not feel that now is the time to berate Bush. Now is not the time to bring him down a peg. He may be pathetic, he may be barely able to actually help, but any help he can get down this way is desperately needed. By causing him to divert energies to defend his frequently spotty record people who attack him are diverting his energies away from here.And, I feel like you and others who attack him are diverting your energies away from here too.This disaster is about people. It's about the mother who came home from work and found her baby and husband had drowned in her living room. It's about the casino janitor who came home and found his daughter's baby photos missing - his house had been reduced to a slab - much the same way Hurricane Camille had done to his baby photos.It's about the firemen who had to swim out of their fire station, had their homes leveled, and are still working 20-hour days, 7 days a week.We need help here. Now. Listening to the political bashing, frankly, makes me concerned. I know Bush did wrong. I know there was a major fuck up. Now is not the time for finding of what that fuck up was.Have you spent as much time helping the people of South Mississippi and Louisiana get clothing, medicine, food and water as you have figuring out what Bush did wrong?-Josh