forceful LTE in a small town Ohio paper

[Bill McBlueState]

This was in the Marietta Times yesterday. I grew up there, and while there is a small progressive community, they tend to keep quiet about politics. So it really surprised me to see such a forceful letter in the paper, which got bought out by rightwingers a few years back.

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As I write this letter Sept. 1, at nearly midnight, there are people in Louisiana and Mississippi suffering tremendously. But it’s those people who have collected at the gathering points of the Superdome and the convention center, whose suffering, misery, and death, has been vividly brought to us by the media this evening. What is occurring there is a disgrace and a national tragedy. This is creating a stain on the fabric of America that can never be washed away. And if that sounds too melodramatic, consider the real-life drama that continues to unfold at those locations. It is entirely inexcusable that in the wealthiest nation in the world, nearly five days after the event, that people remain stranded and suffering to this degree.

This is not the result of a lack of resources. This is the result of a lack of leadership at the highest levels of government. There is one person who has the authority to direct the manpower and resources it would take to evacuate those poor souls in relatively short order. George Bush has the power to make that happen. But George Bush has not done so. Some may say that what he has done in Iraq is a crime against humanity, and they may be right, but it’s what he hasn’t done in New Orleans that is an even greater crime against humanity. It would be tragic enough if he were not aware of this situation, considering the level of media attention, but it is even far more unforgivable to see it in living color, have the power to correct it, and still not act. I sometimes wondered how he could seem so relatively oblivious to the thousands of deaths of men, women, and children in Iraq that his decisions have caused. But considering the ease with which he appears to passively accept the deaths and suffering of the men, women, and children right here in the heart of America, it is now far more understandable. I guess I shouldn’t be so bitter, after all, it must be tough to get back in the groove of things after four weeks of vacation. And let’s face it, this is not nearly as pressing an issue as say, tax cuts for the rich.

You know, it just occurred to me, there still may be a way to get him to act. The sky would blacken with helicopters and the roads would be jammed with buses if someone could just convince Bush and Karl Rove that, at the convention center, there’s a white woman in a vegetative state who just had her feeding tube removed. There should no longer be any doubt that this charlatan deserves impeachment.

xxxxx
xxxxx, Marietta

[karlrschneider]

1. Yep, the truth is getting out...

.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. I know some good folks from Marietta.

The folks in Marietta know only too well, about floods and broken hearts and dreams. That's a great letter!

[WildClarySage]

3. Marietta is a lovely town with wonderful people.

They have firsthand recent experience with disasterous flooding. That their residents are sympathetic to the people affected by Katrina, and are angry with those who ate cake and bought shoes while all hell broke loose, doesn't surprise me in the least.

[Bill McBlueState]

4. Marie Antoinette

I remember Ohio History in seventh grade, or maybe earlier. The official story was that Marie Antoinette must have been a decent person, since the town was named after her. But I could tell my teacher didn't quite believe that.

Decades from now, they'll be able to tell the kids about how we had our own Marie Antoinette in 2005.