FRIENDS, PLEASE, WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP

[OSINACHI]

Friends,

Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way to get aid in there immediately.

I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.

I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.

Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.

Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has saved many, many lives.

A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our own government.

My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website (www.michaelmoore.com) along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it.

Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").

The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?

That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24: http://www.unitedforpeace.org.)

If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)
Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.
Bottled Water
Canned Goods
Hygiene Supplies
Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte
Sterile Gloves
Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.
Volunteers with trucks and cars
Self contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers

Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.

Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board: http://www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/.

Send supplies via UPS to:
Veterans for Peace
Omni Storage
74145 Hwy. 25
Covington LA

Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month.

Yours,
Michael Moore
mike@michaelmoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com

[CameoJoey]

Hi,

Sheehan has no credability among Democrats and has never has any with Republicans. She is insane and is a product of the New York media. Her statements are insane as well as not accurate so I assume that is why she is not taken seriously by members of both parties.
I have to argue with you on the goverm=nment not doing anything Bra' as they have saved almost 10,000 people alone through the coast guard and navy chopper services.
Osinachi you need to get your facts straight and condemn the Mayor of New Orleans as well as the Governor of Louisiana and get off your liberal wishes of blame.
I suppose all you can do is blame Bush but that is expected. In the end you will see the truth and of course you wont have much to say because your slanted opinion is based on want of reality rather than reality. Get the point that Democrats in Louisiana failed and led the people to the Superdome that was without water and food and then blamed their actions on the President. Makes sense if your liberal and without a plan and also makes sense that a minority leader of New Orleans has nothing but blame for everyone except himself.

Camster

[lenire]

Damn, this is twice that I can remember I have agreed with CJ.

Len

[CameoJoey]

Hey,

The PEOPLE of Nawlins are so mad with the Mayor and the Gov. that they are promising a replacement in the next elections.
The Governor would not ask for the National Guard and when she did the Mayor would not let them in. It's not for the Federal government to decide as they NEED permission from LOUISIANA to help and cannot just walk in and take charge.
The police force in Awlins who is paid 300 per week decided to loot the town on there own it seems. They took shifts and gathered many valuables in the crisis. NO wonder that 25% of the police force was missing because they robbed the city blind.
One day the people of Nawlins will realize that in a crisis your on your own no matter what. You can depend on yourself and your planning but what on earth makes you think you can depend on the GOVERNMENT to fight mother nature and wave a magic wand as if they have superior powers.
It's a reality that food and water can be found but not quickly because of damage. Leaders in New Orleans and Louisiana were not prepared and wasted federal money on three occasions that was SUPPOSED to be used to enlarge the LEVIES. Millions and MILLIONS of dollars are no where to be found that was supposed to be used for the people. DEMOCRATS are to blame but in my opinion it's always gonna be that way when minority leaders talk a good game as they watch the entire state or town become demolished because of the leadership the DO NOT HAVE.

Camster

[CameoJoey]

Hi,

The truth of matters in America are usually trailed back to the New York Media. That media machine is the blame for the most dis-information our country has to offer and by making that machine attack the wishes and plans they have it has become rather what not to believe.
The United States is not the center of the EARTH and New York is not the center of the USA. Too bad New Yorkers believe that to be true.
If you talk with AMERICANS it's clear to see that they are not influenced by the New York Media but sadly it's EUROPE who believes what they write.
So what you have is more JEWS in New York than you have in Israel and the Israel Jews do not understand the New York Jews. The Jewish ownership of media holdings in many parts of EUROPE are connected to New York and thus we have a battle for truth. Ownership of news media is a large and prevalent goal of Jews as they run and own many British television and news media centers.
You read a Houston newspaper and you get a totally different view of things in Houston. New York seems to think it's on top of Houston news..lol Same thing happens all over the place. Los Angeles is the same as the Jewish media runs the second serve in an attempt to control opinion.
The final straw in all this is that the elections are won because of the disinformation rather than the truth. The Republicans always win because they use the LIES of the Liberal media to show the TRUTH in election fairness. Dan Rather tried to lie John Kerry into the White House and with the help of the NY media the Democrats again lost. SHEEHAN is a NY media project for disinformation that again has failed miserably and until honesty in news is used again then the Democrats will continue to lose.

Camster

[lenire]

Good, I'm back to disagreeing


"until honesty in news is used again then the Democrats will continue to lose."

Are you saying that when we get honest and the media gets honest, the republicans and their ilk are out of here ?

Len