The Honorable Representative Van Hollen:
I am furious! Angrier than I have been in my whole life. I’m fed up with the administration of George W. Bush and his political appointee at FEMA, Michael Brown.
I spent most of a week watching the people stranded in New Orleans suffer and die. There is no excuse for this. The current administration has an incredible record of failure (they failed to take the threat of terrorism seriously, they failed to find Osama bin Laden, they failed to send in enough troops in Iraq to secure the country, they failed to find the non-existent WMDs, they failed to protect prisoners of war from being tortured. I could go on and on). But this current failure crosses the line from incompetence to criminal!
On your website you write: “I have been very disappointed in what appears to have been a slow federal response to this disaster. In addition, many appeared to have ignored warnings over the years about the potential vulnerabilities and the steps that could be taken to prepare for this situation. There will be time later to fully review and assess the adequacy of the early federal, state, and local preparedness.” “Appears” to have been a slow federal response? “Appeared” to have ignored warnings? Sir, with all due respect, this administration has treated non-wealthy Americans as vassals and Democrats with utter contempt. When can we finally expect some anger from Democrats? You write, “...there will be time later to fully review and assess the adequacy...” Excuse me, but the Republicans now control all branches of the government. Do you honestly believe the Republicans are going to let the truth of their negligence see the light of day?
I urge the Democrats to hold their own independent investigation. I know there is a chance the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans and the Democratic Governor of Louisiana may be found to share some of the blame for this disaster, and if they made mistakes they should be held accountable, but there is no doubt in my mind that FEMA, either through incompetence or acting intentionally, was responsible for the criminally poor response to the flooding in New Orleans. Please refer to the following report on the Internet:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/105538/7048. I cannot vouch for the veracity of this report but there is enough information given so it cane be verified. In fact I have read at least four other independent reports from others who tried to help, but were turned away.
I am a 60 year old Democrat who grew up as a conservative Republican. I know what some of these people are capable of, and I know that it would benefit the Republicans to have a large group of inner city poor blacks loot, riot and shoot at their rescuers. If it weren’t for the large number of respected reporters who managed to make it into the city and shown the world that most of those trapped in the city were passively waiting to be rescued, they could have pulled it off. A few years ago I could not have imagined that any politician or political party would stoop to something like this, but that was before I saw just how far the Karl Roves of this administration will go to win all the marbles.
Let me also take this opportunity to ask you to strenuously oppose the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In fact I ask you to please fight this administration tooth and nail. Show backbone, show the anger that every single Democrat I know feels at the direction our country is going. In fact it seems as though the voters are angrier at George Bush than the Democratic Party.
Sincerely,
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