Gustav, God, McCain, W, and Moore....

Love him or hate him, Michael Moore has been speaking out bravely against the total and complete insanity of the past 8 years from the get go. This morning I woke to a letter in my inbox from Mike to God, and...so clearly does it spell out whats happened to us all as Americans, who has hijacked our country, the undercurrent of ideals from nuts implying who and what we are, and how helpless we have been in the face of a construct of fear designed to immobilize us.

This insidious fear , constructed by the Rovian spin machine, has glued us to our couches and demanded that we sit on our hands while our fellow Americans and citizens of the world suffer; go shopping, is the message that we get from our leaders...don't question what is being done in our names because if we do, maybe we are less than patriotic. Even if he is over the top, Moore has bravely spoken out about the truth of this sad situation. He is also someone who immediately took action when Katrina hit, raising money, closing his office, and sending all of his resources there. That is what Americans do in the face of disaster. As the Bush administration is winding down their fiasco, maybe we can start to get back to ourselves. 8 years is a long, long time in the American short term memory, but maybe we need to start expecting a little more of ourselves and eachother.



As of yesterday New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered the evacuation of NOLA and hopefully that is moving along as well as can be expected. There is no wonderful and smooth way to get the old and infirm out of their homes and to ensure pets and property. There is no easy way to then return to destroyed homes and to try to rebuild again. Even with most of the people gone...even with a partially rebuilt infrastructure...there is no way to tell what is going to happen. The same news reports about Louisiana also apply to Florida, Texas and just anbout any Gulf region where this or the next storm could hit. From the AP:



So, direct from Mike's site, here is his letter from this morning...you can read it here or there...and be sure to look at the trailer to the new documentary Trouble the Waters which is playing in limited release right now and should be required viewing as we decide who is going to take over the mantle of Commander in Chief.

Sunday, August 31st, 2008
An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore

Dear God,

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be canceled.

I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an "Act of God" -- when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.

Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized -- and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush's FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.

But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, "There you go again!"

So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.

So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.

But now it appears that You haven't been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America's "wholesale slaughter of unborn children." His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.

So this is my plea to you: Don't do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven't sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time -- they are already patrolling the city streets. And, in a nod to I don't know what, Bush's head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government's response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W's to help save the Gulf Coast.

So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It's done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I'll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.

Your faithful servant and former seminarian,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. To all of God's fellow children who are reading this, the city of New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina. Please click here for a list of things you can do to help our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. And, if you do live along the Gulf Coast, please take all necessary safety precautions immediately

Anger Management and George Tenant, Kansas Tornado Warns of More Katrinas, Stewart, Colbert, Matthews, and The Threat-Down!!

I don't have an anger management problem, and for the most part I am not an especially angry person, except for a few hormonal days per month when I suddenly become acutely aware of my desire to rip off the head of whoever is standing in front of me...But I don't act on it and I'm pretty balanced about those feelings...feelings pass, you know? (Just ask William how much I yell at him...Ha!)
The thing is that I was watching Tenant on hardball the other evening after receiving calls saying to be sure to catch the 7 PM rerun because Chris Matthews takes Tenant apart and how I shouldn't miss it...and I usually tune in while I putter around anyway, so....I found myself getting more and more angry at Tenant's seeming inability to reflect on his part in the deaths of so many, many people. All I see is explanation upon explanation, too little too late, and dead bodies.
Of course I'm somehow endlessly fascinated in the inside glimpse into the loony bin that was and is the Bush White House, but how could any human being have the knowledge that this guy had, or even the dawning realization of something being amiss, and not immediately stand up and yell about it?
So many people have said to me that, of course he would keep quiet because he has kids and a family, and back then the atmosphere was so tense that no one could stand up. My answer to that is that usually no one stands up until SOMEONE DOES! And that person is usually a person who is courageous and who sets themselves and their interests aside in the interest of something greater than the self. Last I heard, humans still had the ability to reason, and that we were still trying to overcome our basest instinct of complete self interest, especially when so much is on the line.
If this guy, a supposed expert, can't project ahead from a historical standpoint, maybe he could've at least worried about his grandkids...his own seed going forward...? Or was it all just immediate self interest?
I know that hes not the first or last American who has kept his mouth shut on this, but I find it completely reprehensible that, not only has he has made this book deal and profited greatly from the deaths of so many people, but that he so vehemently hangs onto his medal of freedom, which he views as an award for fighting terrorism in general as opposed to the mess in Iraq. I would say that its not deserved for fighting terrorism OR for the Iraq debacle!...and I would also say that not only does he not deserve it but that as a human being he shouldn't want it.
The one thing that these clowns have managed to do is to make sure that no one trusts the government...not to protect sensitive information unless it benefits someone in there personally or to protect us...and forget trusting the government to stand by their side of any deal such as enlistment papers that usually are laden with small print beyond what most kids can understand...If the point was to serve the higher power of the sensitivity of covert agents and actions and secret information, then Tenant is a huge failure because he is picking and choosing what was and is important to HIM in a situation where an agent was outed and...well, worse...much worse...and he stood by taking notes for a book!

So, the democrats and republicans apparently have found themselves united on one thing: we all hate Tenant...and its only leading to more book sales, better shows for everyone from Matthews to Stewart, and soldiers, civilians, and children are still dying and being horribly injured.
I haven't read the book, and I doubt I will unless I come across it in the cutout bin, because from what I can tell, its not an honest assessment of anyone who is able to admit to personal fault in any of this.... I just think that in matters that are this important on every level, at some point he should have walked away.
To say that, you know, of course he has a family and he was worried about what would become of him if he spoke up...or who knows if the information would even have been received, is the same as saying that the people who bravely powered the civil rights movement, the suffrage movement, and everyone in the world who hid a Jew during the holocaust should have just kept quiet and done nothing...at times when the stakes were certainly higher considering that people were getting shot and lynched ...actually killed.
Its not like Tenant was in the Jack Bauer world where upon his first dissent he would be dealt a quick, clean bullet to the head, (or a torn out jugular, torn by teeth!...pick your poison.)

The strange thing about this Tenant thing is that he is an extremely odd bird who seems to jovially take the flagellation and somehow remain grounded in his own certainty. People like that make me nervous. If everyone attacked me like that I would be dead just from the stress hormones alone!

Tenant, on Jon Stewart's show last night, stated his reason for writing this book now as being a "historical obligation" towards young people; that he had to tell what we got right and what we got wrong...Jon Stewart asked if Tenant might not be suffering from accessibility, in that he is the only person that we can yell at (chuckle.) The Thing about Tenant is that he doesn't answer alot. He sort of chuckles in answer and moves on to what we need to do now.
Tenant said that he feels that we may have been wrong on WMD but is right on post-war Iraq and terrorism in general (hang on to that medal George, it may be all you have left!)
He goes on and on about the fact that he doesn't make policy, and that his analysts never changed their stances, but he seemingly feels that it was RIGHT to stay in his job back then and to just offer his point of view...or so he says...and his attitude is so flippant about the whole thing that...there is almost a disconnect in his affect and what is going on. Like, doesn't he feel BAD in the least.
hell, I had nothing to do with any of it besides my little corner of the universe here with bumper stickers, signs and calls to my representatives, and I feel so bad that I didn't do more...
So, Tenant is reflecting...supposedly telling the truth (chuckle,) but I'm thinking that the real truth must be SO MUCH WORSE THAN THIS...and he seems really disingenuous about the whole thing (chuckle...)
Y'know, I'm not gonna go off on cognitive dissonance again, but I really think that this guy has a major screw loose and that if he feels like NOW is the time to sit back and muse on all of this, then...Jesus!...share it with us? Do I want to be part of this guy's mental illness? I think he is full of shit, and I also think that in throwing us a bone that seems all so bad about the inside workings of the government, he is covering up what is going ot be alot worse than we can imagine!
Ultimately, I'm really surprised that Jon Stewart, of all people, didn't stand up and say, "What the fuck is the matter with you?" Maybe that would have ended the interview...but it seems like even Jay Leno would have dropped a "what the hell were you thinking?" sort of line....and if its press that Stewart is looking for, I don't think a Fresca is gonna do it.




So, who did Oprah endorse for president? What a no-brainer!...and especially for Jill the Brilliant Threat # 1 according to Steven Colbert...Its KNUT!! Here is The Threat-down....a little levity in an otherwise grim situation:










Back in the angry reality about where our resources are concentrated these days, I wonder what would happen if the press besides Huffpo and limited small bits here and there, actually picked up on the story of the Kansas tornadoes and whats happened there, or not happened there as the case may be. This should be a front page screaming story because its a WARNING that Katrina lives and is coming our way!
How many people died under the rubble because all of the area's resources are in Iraq and the nearest help was 2 days away? (floaty and drownie, indeed!)
This is just the beginning, folks....and we have to wait till after the summer to even revisit the SURGE! What has to happen for people to look at this?
Our infrastructure is crumbling, people are dying, and Joe Scarborough is actually OK in Imus' place on MSNBC mornings...These are signs of the end times!

On the home front, Ive apparently got 6 eggs in the nest! The birds so seldom come out that its really hard to check them, hence my ongoing counting. The other night I got a good look and feel and from what I can tell, there are 6 and they are warm and...hopefully alive! Day 25 for egg#1 is on Friday, so I will be closely watching and I will have to start officially checking soon to make sure that no one is stuck in an egg...though it can take a chick 2 days to get out of an egg and during the hatching process they absorb the rest of the yolk, so its important not to panic and "help" them too soon....passing the time, meantime, watching movies that I missed this year and...
my new Midnight Special DVDs arrived, and the frequency with which Olivia Newton John shows up on these things reminds me of the depth of my alienation when I was a teen. I often watch these and send them back but Ive kept a few...and these may be keepers...but then, probably not...Hall and Oates-Kiss On My List...nah...Olivia N-J-Magic...ick....Syreeta & Billy Preston-With you I'm Born Again...that's it...the thing goes back.
No amount of America's Sister Golden Hair or Willie Nelson's Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain can make up for any of this...back they go!
Remember kids, this was the late night show that broke through the nothingness after the late shows and the ultimate loneliness of the anthem playing over a waving flag and then...snow....
But there was something good about the fact that TV went off at a point. It didn't run our lives back then...it was finite. Yes its true...and we only had 3 or 4 channels...and some of us even had only black and white till we were teens! For the longest time, we actually had one little TV for sound and one for b&w picture...and then the one for picture would only work on its back so we would stand above it and look down to watch it. Ah, the simple old days....what was left back then except to read a book...smoke pot...wander the neighborhood aimlessly.... waiting to grow up.