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D_Raay
08-29-2004, 02:03 PM
Thursday, August 26th, 2004
It Takes Real Courage to Desert Your Post and Then Attack a Wounded Vet

August 26, 2004

It Takes Real Courage to Desert Your Post and Then Attack a Wounded Vet

Dear Mr. Bush,

I know you and I have had our differences in the past, and I realize I am the one who started this whole mess about "who did what" during Vietnam when I brought up that "deserter" nonsense back in January. But I have to hand it to you on what you have uncovered about John Kerry and his record in Vietnam. Kerry has tried to pass himself off as a war hero, but thanks to you and your friends, we now know the truth.

First of all, thank you for pointing out to all of us that Mr. Kerry was never struck by a BULLET. It was only SHRAPNEL that entered his body! I did not know that! Hell, what's the big deal about a bunch of large, sharp, metal shards ripping open your flesh? That happens to all of us! In my opinion, if you want a purple heart, you'd better be hit by a bullet -- with your name on it!

Secondly, thank you for sending Bob Dole out there and letting us know that Mr. Kerry, though wounded three times, actually "never spilled blood." When you are in the debates with Kerry, turn to him and say, "Dammit, Mr. Kerry, next time you want a purple heart, you better spill some American red blood! And I don't mean a few specks like those on O.J.'s socks -- we want to see a good pint or two of blood for each medal. In fact, I would have preferred that you had bled profusely, a big geyser of blood spewing out of your neck or something!" Then throw this one at him: "Senator Kerry, over 58,000 brave Americans gave their lives in Vietnam -- but YOU didn't. You only got WOUNDED! What do you have to say for yourself???" Lay that one on him and he won't know what to do.

And thanks, also, Mr. Bush, for exposing the fact that Mr. Kerry might have actually WOUNDED HIMSELF in order to get those shiny medals. Of course he did! How could the Viet Cong have hit him -- he was on a SWIFT boat! He was going too fast to be hit by enemy fire. He tried to blow himself up three different times just so he could go home and run for president someday. It's all so easy to see, now, what he was up to.

What would we do without you, Mr. Bush? Criticize you as we might, when it comes to pointing out other men's military records, there is no one who can touch your prowess. In 2000, you let out the rumor that your opponent John McCain might be "nuts" from the 5 years he spent in a POW camp. Then, in the 2002 elections, your team compared triple-amputee Sen. Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden, and that cost him the election. And now you are having the same impact on war hero John Kerry. Since you (oops, I mean "The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth!") started running those ads, Kerry's poll numbers have dropped (with veterans, he has lost 18 points in the last few weeks).

Some people have said "Who are you, Mr. Bush, to attack these brave men considering you yourself have never seen combat -- in fact, you actively sought to avoid it." What your critics fail to understand is that even though your dad got you into a unit that would never be sent to Vietnam -- and even though you didn't show up for Guard duty for at least a year -- at least you were still IN FAVOR of the Vietnam War! Cowards like Clinton felt it was more important to be consistent (he opposed the war, thus he refused to go) than to be patriotic and two-faced.

The reason that I think you know so much about other men's war wounds is because, during your time in the Texas Air National Guard, you suffered so many of them yourself. Consider the paper cut you received on September 22, 1972, while stationed in Alabama, working on a Senate campaign for your dad's friend (when you were supposed to be on the Guard base). A campaign brochure appeared from nowhere, ambushing your right index finger, and blood trickled out onto your brand new argyle sweater.

Then there was the incident with the Crazy Glue when your fraternity brothers visited you one weekend at the base and glued your lips together while you were "passed out." Though initially considered "friendly fire," it was later ruled that you suffered severe post traumatic stress disorder from the assault and required certain medicinal attention -- which, it seems, was provided by those same fraternity brethren.

But nothing matched your heroism when, on July 2, 1969, you sustained a massive head injury when enemy combatants from another Guard unit dropped a keg of Coors on your head during a reconnaissance mission at a nearby all-girls college. Fortunately, the cool, smooth fluids that poured out of the keg were exactly what was needed to revive you.

That you never got a purple heart for any of these incidents is a shame. I can fully appreciate your anger at Senator Kerry for the three he received. I mean, Kerry was a man of privilege, he could have gotten out just like you. Instead, he thinks he's going to gain points with the American people bragging about how he was getting shot at every day in the Mekong Delta. Ha! Is that the best he can do? Hell, I hear gunfire every night outside my apartment window! If he thinks he is going to impress anyone with the fact that he volunteered to go when he could have spent the Vietnam years on the family yacht, he should think again. That only shows how stupid he was! True-blue Americans want a president who knows how to pull strings and work the system and get away with doing as little work as possible!

So, to make it up to you, I have written some new ads you can use on TV. People will soon tire of the swift boat veterans and you are going to need some fresh, punchier material. Feel free to use any of these:

ANNOUNCER: "When the bullets were flying all around him in Vietnam, what did John Kerry do? He said he leaned over the boat and 'pulled a man out of the river.' But, as we all know, men don't live in the river -- fish do. John Kerry knows how to tell a big fish tale. What he won't tell you is that when the enemy was shooting at him, he ducked. Do you want a president who will duck? Vote Bush."

ANNOUNCER: "Mr. Kerry's biggest supporter, Sen. Max Cleland, claims to have lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam. But he still has one arm! How did that happen? One word: Cowardice. When duty called, he was unwilling to give his last limb. Is that the type of selfishness you want hanging out in the White House? We think not. Vote for the man who would be willing to give America his right frontal lobe. Vote Bush."

Hope these help, Mr. Bush. And remember, when the American death toll in Iraq hits 1,000 during the Republican convention, be sure to question whether those who died really did indeed "die" -- or were they just trying to get their faces on CNN's nightly tribute to fallen heroes? The sixteen who've died so far this week were probably working hand in hand with the Kerry campaign to ruin your good time in New York. Stay consistent, sir, and always, ALWAYS question the veracity of anyone who risks their life for this country. It's the least they deserve.

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. George, I know you said you don't read the newspaper, but USA Today has given me credentials to the Republican convention to write a guest column each day next week (Tues.-Fri.). If you don't want to read it, you and I will be in the same building so maybe I could come by and read it to you? Lemme know...

EN[i]GMA
08-29-2004, 05:20 PM
Genuinely entertaining.

Ali
09-06-2005, 01:20 AM
Apologies if this has already been posted... I've been on vacation. Searched but couldn't find.

Lovely stuff!

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
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.

Newtral77
09-06-2005, 02:14 AM
the helicopters are tired of being shot at by the people they are trying to save....

Shooting at would-be rescuers (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050901/us_nm/weather_katrina_dc_83)

Ali
09-06-2005, 02:19 AM
the helicopters are tired of being shot at by the people they are trying to save....

Shooting at would-be rescuers (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050901/us_nm/weather_katrina_dc_83)Bush condemned the rampant looting after the storm and warned against charging artificially high prices for gasoline.

"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud," Bush said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."Hypocrite. Go play golf.

Newtral77
09-06-2005, 02:24 AM
Lol did you even read the rest of the story? I mean come on folks... it isn't rocket science. If you shoot at people who are trying to help... guess what happens. THEY DON'T HELP ANYMORE!

ms.peachy
09-06-2005, 02:56 AM
Lol did you even read the rest of the story? I mean come on folks... it isn't rocket science. If you shoot at people who are trying to help... guess what happens. THEY DON'T HELP ANYMORE!
Are you actually so thick that you don't get that an appropriate and organised intitial response from the federal authorities would have prevented that chaos and lawlessness in the first place, or what?

Newtral77
09-06-2005, 03:10 AM
I kinda doubt it. Not to say the response was correct, but some people will try to take advantage of a situation like this, not matter the circumstances. The L.A. riots are a prime example. Anyone who thinks the riots were over the rodney king incident is ignorant, and ill informed. It was a small group of people who started acting like jackasses, and the police (scared to do anything because of the king incident) letting them get away with it. Then all the other gangsters and bad people in LA saw that the cops weren't doing anything to this one small group, so they decided they were gonna get their peice of the action too.

Looting was going to happen no matter what, but the people who are shooting at helicopters trying to save their fellow citizens, and then whining and wondering "Why aren't we getting any help" are screwing it up for everyone else.

Ali
09-06-2005, 05:38 AM
Well said, Ben. (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050903/cx_bs_uc/bs20050903)

zorra_chiflada
09-06-2005, 08:22 PM
sisko, you could have said that in one post.

do you think that what you have to say is so profound that every sentence deserves its own individual post?

King PSYZ
09-06-2005, 08:45 PM
I kinda doubt it. Not to say the response was correct, but some people will try to take advantage of a situation like this, not matter the circumstances. The L.A. riots are a prime example. Anyone who thinks the riots were over the rodney king incident is ignorant, and ill informed. It was a small group of people who started acting like jackasses, and the police (scared to do anything because of the king incident) letting them get away with it. Then all the other gangsters and bad people in LA saw that the cops weren't doing anything to this one small group, so they decided they were gonna get their peice of the action too.

Looting was going to happen no matter what, but the people who are shooting at helicopters trying to save their fellow citizens, and then whining and wondering "Why aren't we getting any help" are screwing it up for everyone else.
Were you in LA at the time? Have you ever lived in LA?
I await your answer...

Newtral77
09-07-2005, 01:57 AM
yes and yes.... and um answer. I await your ill fated response.

Lol I mean come on yes I lived there and yes I WAS there. The riots started in a somewhat small nieghborhood. The people were pissed because the cops were arresting a guy who had thrown something at a cop car (I think it was a bottle). The entire 'hood came out in support of this loser, and the cops get into their riot gear to try to re-establish order. Well a panzy Lt. with the dept. gets on a loud speaker while all these cops are holding the crowd back while they finish arresting this guy and says "pull back it's not worth it." well the folks realize that the cops are afraid that the mostly black neighborhood will do something to make them use some sort of force option, and that since the use of force is a HUGE issue at the time (especially against minorities) the media is all over this normally typical arrest. So the cops are afraid that ANY use of force will be viewed as more racism (although it wouldnt be) and they pull out of the neighborhood.

This is when the neighborhood goes ballistic and decides they are going to all get together and cause some trouble since the cops aren't going to do a damn thing to stop them. They all march down to the famous corner where reginald denning (sp?) is assaulted with the brick.

The entire population of LA see's that these people are getting away with all of this and the cops STILL havent done a damn thing so all the scumbags of the city go out and "get theirs"

Ali
09-07-2005, 02:12 AM
So, the only thing keeping black neighbourhoods from rioting is the police?

Newtral77
09-07-2005, 02:14 AM
Ok now you are twisting my words. I said that ONE neighboorhood acted crazy, now you are saying that I said ALL black neighborhoods would immedietly turn to choas. if the cops weren't there. I am not a racist, please don't make sad attempts to paint me as one.

Newtral77
09-07-2005, 02:21 AM
Anyone who doesnt believe me I would suggest you look at an Investigative Reports episode on the riots. It does a really good job of detailing the events leading up to the riots. Actually very informative, as most episodes of that show are.

Ali
09-07-2005, 02:34 AM
Ok now you are twisting my words. I said that ONE neighboorhood acted crazy, now you are saying that I said ALL black neighborhoods would immedietly turn to choas. if the cops weren't there. I am not a racist, please don't make sad attempts to paint me as one.I didn't mean to paint you as a racist, but your post certainly made it seem as if the neighbourhood in question went ballistic because the cops left and then The entire population of LA see's that these people are getting away with all of this and the cops STILL havent done a damn thing so all the scumbags of the city go out and "get theirs".So, it wasn't one neighbourhood that you said went crazy, was it. It started there, but the rest of the place went nuts when they saw that the cops couldn't cope. And you did say the cops are afraid that the mostly black neighborhood will do something to make them use some sort of force option, and that since the use of force is a HUGE issue at the time (especially against minorities) the media is all over this normally typical arrest. So the cops are afraid that ANY use of force will be viewed as more racism (although it wouldnt be) and they pull out of the neighborhood. which, to me, implies your attitude to who is on which side of the line.

What I meant, without trying to blacken your name, was that incidents like the LA riots and the NO looting, where black people (impoverished black people) have gone nuts as soon as there was nothing to stop them.

Is it fair to say that the poorer parts of the US are mostly inhabited by black people and that a police presence is required in these areas at all times, in order to prevent trouble.

Why is this? Why is there so much seething anger in these communities?

Newtral77
09-07-2005, 03:02 AM
not at all. the statement was simply this. The Rodney King situation had the police on edge about using any force, especially in any way that could be construed as racist, whether it was or wasn't. the entire region was on edge and a small incident snowballed into a huge mess that really wasnt about race or anything else, besides bad people seeing their opportunity to do stuff without repricussions.

Ali
09-07-2005, 03:30 AM
not at all. the statement was simply this. The Rodney King situation had the police on edge about using any force, especially in any way that could be construed as racist, whether it was or wasn't. the entire region was on edge and a small incident snowballed into a huge mess that really wasnt about race or anything else, besides bad people seeing their opportunity to do stuff without repricussions.OK, and the New Orleans looting?

Newtral77
09-07-2005, 03:50 AM
pretty much the same thing. I won't say most because it is inaccurate I think, but some people who are there were anticipating a mass evacuation, leaving them to grab whatever they could. This happens all the time. There was a fire here in San Diego the other day, and as soon as there were evacuations, the police that did the evacuations were put on roving patrol for looters.

Simple way of life... Opertunists just need opertunities....

Ali
09-07-2005, 06:23 AM
pretty much the same thing. I won't say most because it is inaccurate I think, but some people who are there were anticipating a mass evacuation, leaving them to grab whatever they could. This happens all the time. There was a fire here in San Diego the other day, and as soon as there were evacuations, the police that did the evacuations were put on roving patrol for looters.

Simple way of life... Opertunists just need opertunities....Well, personally I think the cops should ignore the looting and get on with helping people to safety. The stuff's insured, for fuxake, why waste time and effort saving stuff which is going to be replaced anyway?

It's a question of priorities. Cops are patrolling for and having shootouts with looters when they should be helping people.

That's what insurance is for.

ms.peachy
09-07-2005, 07:11 AM
Well, personally I think the cops should ignore the looting and get on with helping people to safety. The stuff's insured, for fuxake, why waste time and effort saving stuff which is going to be replaced anyway?

It's a question of priorities. Cops are patrolling for and having shootouts with looters when they should be helping people.

That's what insurance is for.
Well, yes and no. I do understand that stuff is only stuff, at the end of the day. But I think the problem with just saying "well fuck, go ahead and loot" is that to be seen to do nothing contributes to the overall lawlessness. Because if suddenly taking anything and everything (not things that you need, like food) becomes A-OK, then what is not OK? Rape? Assault? Murder?

I totally do understand the 'take what you can get your hands on' point that the situation devolved to very quickly. What I find unacceptable is that it was so predictable, and yet nothing (really) was done IN ADVANCE to prevent such a total breakdown in the first place.

Ali
09-07-2005, 07:23 AM
Well, yes and no. I do understand that stuff is only stuff, at the end of the day. But I think the problem with just saying "well fuck, go ahead and loot" is that to be seen to do nothing contributes to the overall lawlessness. Because if suddenly taking anything and everything (not things that you need, like food) becomes A-OK, then what is not OK? Rape? Assault? Murder? You mean looting is a "gateway" crime like Weed is to Heroin? I don't think somebody's about to kill somebody else because they saw someone steal a TV in front of a cop who was helping a family to safety.

If the cop was doing nothing and didn't stop the looting, well then that would be a different story, but going on patrol to stop looting while people need help... that's what I'm talking about.
I totally do understand the 'take what you can get your hands on' point that the situation devolved to very quickly. What I find unacceptable is that it was so predictable, and yet nothing (really) was done IN ADVANCE to prevent such a total breakdown in the first place.Nothing was done in advance about anything, really.

enree erzweglle
09-07-2005, 07:37 AM
Nothing was done in advance about anything, really.I agree with you about the looting--in a life/death situation like what they had last week, I think it would have been better to NOT have police aiming guns at people who were looting (especially when they were looting clothing/food/water). Maybe those things were isolated incidents, but I saw footage of a cop with a rifle pointing it at a guy and screaming for him to drop what he had in hand. He did drop it (a pile of clothes) and they floated away. I saw another guy who cornered a looter (he stole something from a 7/11 type of store) and got him to admit that what he did was stealing and wrong. WTF.

Had I been down there, I would much, much rather have had those armed cops patrolling the places where rapes and murders were being reported. I realize that doing that represents a breakdown in the law, but at a certain point, it does become a matter of degrees of acceptability.

And I think you're right, Ali, in that nothing appears to have been done in advance about this situation and now everyone's backpedalling to protect themselves.

I was at the gym on Saturday and for two hours, I had no choice but to watch the DHS head (Chertoff) ramble on/on about how the government responded magnificently to these TWO crises in New Orleans. It made my head hurt. He kept emphasising that there were two emergencies and that they handled both well. I kept thinking, "There hasn't been this much bullshit since that backup in my brother's neighbor's septic tank." Do they think we're stupid? In this age of mass communication when we can and do see the images in real-time, how can they deny that they did anything but screw this up.

Ali
09-07-2005, 08:04 AM
I agree with you about the looting--in a life/death situation like what they had last week, I think it would have been better to NOT have police aiming guns at people who were looting (especially when they were looting clothing/food/water). Maybe those things were isolated incidents, but I saw footage of a cop with a rifle pointing it at a guy and screaming for him to drop what he had in hand. He did drop it (a pile of clothes) and they floated away. I saw another guy who cornered a looter (he stole something from a 7/11 type of store) and got him to admit that what he did was stealing and wrong. WTF.This is the type of shit I'm referring to. The stuff was all going to be replaced on insurance, everybody knows that. Why are the cops and everybody else more concerned about protecting property when there are far more important things to be done. They call it looting, I call it salvage. It's just stuff, it's insured, why bother?

King PSYZ
09-07-2005, 08:07 AM
I'd like to know where you lived in LA during the riots, because anyone who lived in LA at the time knows there were LONG building tensions between police and and minorities.

When the verdict was handed down not guilty shit got outta hand all over town in several locations. And several people warned of such an event if 4 guys caught on video beating the living shit out of someone where let off.

Torrence, Westchester, Compton, Downtown LA, at the Courthouse... all over the town people started rioting. Because it was being reported on radio live at the time before TV crews picked up on it.

Was everyone who rioted a social activist? fuck no, but to a lot of those people who had been harassed and beaten by police unfettered for years and saw a chance for the cops to be brought into line. When that didn't happen frustrations ran high and shit got outta hand. Also police were far from afraid to fight back or try and maintain order. They were merely outnumbered, there were several times during the riots where you'd see police trying to move into an area and just be overwhelmed. When national guard showed up they hit the streets in force.

King PSYZ
09-07-2005, 08:09 AM
This is the type of shit I'm referring to. The stuff was all going to be replaced on insurance, everybody knows that. Why are the cops and everybody else more concerned about protecting property when there are far more important things to be done. They call it looting, I call it salvage. It's just stuff, it's insured, why bother?
Esspecially when cops themselves were looting as they call it.
http://www.thatvideosite.com/view/614.html

QueenAdrock
09-07-2005, 08:54 PM
Spoken like a true liberal!! No respect for the law!!

Any cop looting TV's and things like that should be shot.

How do you feel about CEO's getting insider information, and making millions and millions of dollars off of illegal transactions? They don't have respect for the law, do you think they should be shot? The way I see it, these multi-million dollar corporations who get kickbacks from screwing over the little guy (and their former staff of their corporations) are about a million times worse than looters who may only affect a few people with their selfishness. They affect hundreds to thousands of families with their disrespect for the law.

We should shoot the CEO's of Enron! It's martial law!

Ali
09-08-2005, 01:03 AM
This is Martial law.Unfortunately, the people who are supposed to be enforcing martial law are all in Iraq!

Why don't YOU go down there and shoot a cop and see what happens to you, stupid MF.

P.S. that video made me laugh... when that cop gets asked what she's doing in the store (filling a trolley) she says "my job" :p then she says to the reporter "looking for people in the store... like you!!!" :p :p