Letter To Dubya

Friday, Sept. 02, 2005 - 12:00 a.m.

Congratulations to Goodbar, who is now getting paid to try and break things. (QA at computer game company). Some people have all the damned luck. :-)

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Relief stuff:

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - More than 20 countries, from allies Germany and Japan to prickly Venezuela and poor Honduras, have offered to help the United States cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Accustomed to being a rich donor rather than on the receiving end of charity, the United States initially seemed reticent about accepting foreign aid, but later said it would take up any offers. The hurricane devastated New Orleans and other parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing hundreds and possibly thousands. "Anything that can be of help to alleviate the tragic situation of the area affected by Hurricane Katrina will be accepted," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

The State Department said offers so far had come from Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Britain, China, Australia, Jamaica, Honduras, Greece, Venezuela, the Organization of American States, NATO, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, South Korea, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Assistance ranged from medical teams, boats, aircraft, tents, blankets, generators and cash donations.

That's very nice of the rest of the world to step up like this.

Our leader needs some advice from his country's citizens, though.

Here's a few things I've had on my mind:

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Dear President Bush:

Don't you even THINK of taking a DIME from Canada until you apologize to them and refund their lumber fines. They've come through for us again and again, and it's time we just admit we made a mistake and do what's right and issue an apology and a big fat check to what has consistently been our most loyal ally.

And by the way, Mister President, if I can have your attention for just a few more minutes...

- How about if you take oil from Venezuela and Mexico in lieu of cash?
- How about if you impose a price freeze on gasoline at the pump?
- How about if you stop dispatching money to other countries until New Orleans is rebuilt?
- How come you won't just let civilian pilots airdrop MREs and cases of water to the extremely needy?
- How about if you allow those military bases scheduled for closing to accept the displaced populace?
- How about if you get the desalination experts and the levee experts from the Netherlands over here posthaste?...

Obviously it's in somebody's best interest that none of these simple and cheap solutions be implemented. I can just hear the vultures in the back room rustling and scratching around for what will surely turn out to be over-bureaucraticized government contracts.

And oh by the way, Mr. President... Please pardon me for being blunt, but -- you fucked up, sir. You were the Governor of Texas, and you know damn well what damage a hurricane has wrought upon your state, time and again. You should have put the government and all the neccessary personnel on alert before Katrina struck.

I'd like you to step off of Air Force One and take a little stroll around inside the Superdome and get a feel for the circumstances the people there are enduring due to your delayed response to this problem. No, leave your security detachment outside. There's no law and order in there anyway; go ahead and have a look around.

I'm sure you'll be greeted appropriately.

Especially by everybody who voted for you.

Respectfully,

A Citizen

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All right. I will do the Friday Five if it gets posted.

Otherwise, have a good rest of the day and I'll see ya Saturday. :-)

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