NP fwd. Michael Moore's message

Fri Sep 14 15:24:38 CDT 2001

Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 13:16:28 -0400
To: michaelmoore-l at cloud9.net
From: Michael Moore <mikemail at cloud9.net>
Subject: [Mike's Message] Across America Tonight
Mime-Version: 1.0
Sender: owner-michaelmoore-l at cloud9.net
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: mikemail at cloud9.net
Status:  U

9/13/01

Across America Tonight ...

Dear Friends,

I am on the road tonight, the only way to get out of
L.A. and back home to 
our daughter and our friends in New York City. Oddly
enough, I have never 
driven across this vast country. My wife and I have
now stopped in 
Flagstaff for a few hours sleep before moving on.

The sorrow and anger builds across America. Talk radio
tonight was filled 
with calls for carpet-bombing every Arab country. Many
want revenge, blood. 
But a surprising number of people have called for us
to not add to the 
killing of more innocent humans. The rest stops and
the convenience stores 
along the way were filled with quiet, solemn people,
many of whom, like us, 
can get home no other way than by this four-day trip.

Our daughter is fine, mostly frightened by my desire
to fly home to her 
rather than drive. Once again, I was outvoted 2 to 1.
This is nothing new.

We have learned of more people we know who have lost
their lives. Bill 
Weems, who worked as a line producer for us this year,
was on the flight 
from Boston that crashed into the World Trade Center.
He was such a sweet 
and decent soul. Such senseless madness.

The children of New York who are orphaned tonight ...
what do we say or do? 
I will do my part -- anything, something -- as soon as
I get to New York. 
But it will never be enough.

The firefighters of New York: they are on every other
block, every day, and 
they are your best neighbors. Sitting out on the
sidewalks in front of the 
fire stations, a good word and a kind smile to all who
pass ... now, 350+ 
of them gone, having risked their lives to save the
victims of a carnage 
they soon became part of.

A good friend from Flint is a clerical worker at the
Pentagon. I have heard 
no word about her condition. I have tried contacting
her family to no 
avail. Her son, Malcolm, worked on our show. I cannot
find him. I keep 
getting tears in my eyes. Once she gave me a tour of
the Pentagon, took me 
everywhere, and got such a kick out of taking me
around this building I 
used to march on. Will our mutual friends who know
Barbara, and know how 
she is, please write me? Please.

The man who occupies the White House cried today.
Good. Keep crying, Mr. 
Bush. The more you cry, the less you will go to that
dark side in all 
humans where anger rages to a point where we want to
blindly kill. Your 
dad's and Reagan's old cronies -- Eagleberger, Baker,
Schultz -- are all 
calling for you to bomb first and ask questions later.
You must NOT do 
this. If only because you do not want to stoop to
these mass murderers' 
level. Yes, find out who did it. Yes, see that they
NEVER do it again.

But GET A GRIP, man. "Declare war?" War against whom?
One guy in the desert 
whom we can never seem to find? Are our leaders
telling us that the most 
powerful country on earth cannot dispose of one sick
evil f---wad of a guy? 
Because if that is what you are telling us, then we
are truly screwed. If 
you are unable to take out this lone ZZ Top wannabe,
what on earth would 
you do for us if we were attacked by a nation of
millions? For chrissakes, 
call the Israelis and have them do that thing they do
when they want to get 
their man! We pay them enough billions each year, I am
SURE they would be 
happy to accommodate your request.

But I beg you, Mr. Bush, stay with the tears. Go today
to comfort the 
wounded of New York. Tell the mayor, a guy most of us
have not liked, that 
he is doing an incredible job, keeping the spirits of
everyone up as high 
as they can be at this moment. Being there for a city
I believe he loves, 
his own cancer still with him, he goes beyond the call
of duty.

But do not declare war and massacre more innocents.
After bin Laden's 
previous act of terror, our last elected president
went and bombed what he 
said was "bin Laden's camp" in Afghanistan -- but
instead just killed 
civilians. Then he bombed a factory in the Sudan,
saying it was "making 
chemical weapons." It turned out to be making aspirin.
Innocent people 
murdered by our Air Force.

Back in May, you gave the Taliban in Afghanistan $48
million dollars of our 
tax money. No free nation on earth would give them a
cent, but you gave 
them a gift of $48 million because they said they had
"banned all drugs."

Because your drug war was more important than the
actual war the Taliban 
had inflicted on its own people, you helped to fund
the regime who had 
given refuge to the very man you now say is
responsible for killing my 
friend on that plane and for killing the friends of
families of thousands 
and thousands of people. How dare you talk about more
killing now! Shame! 
Shame! Shame! Explain your actions in support of the
Taliban! Tell us why 
your father and his partner Mr. Reagan trained Mr. bin
Laden in how to be a 
terrorist!

Am I angry? You bet I am. I am an American citizen,
and my leaders have 
taken my money to fund mass murder. And now my friends
have paid the price 
with their lives.

Keep crying, Mr. Bush. Keep running to Omaha or
wherever it is you go while 
others die, just as you ran during Vietnam while
claiming to be "on duty" 
in the Air National Guard. Nine boys from my high
school died in that 
miserable war. And now you are asking for "unity" so
you can start another 
one? Do not insult me or my country like this!

Yes, I, too, will be in church at noon today, on this
national day of 
mourning. I will pray for you, and us, and the
children of New York, and 
the children of this sad and ugly world ...

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmlfint at aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

__________________________________________________
Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help?
Donate cash, emergency relief information
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/