holysh*t is anyone watching the news?

[Laurie Z.]

Hey, everyone...the discussion on this thread has been extremely literate and enlightening, but I'd expect nothing less from the folks on this board.

 

The extent of the hurt that these horrible events have put upon humanity has only just begun to be seen. It's frightening, surreal, like a nightmare that we should be able to wake up from but can't. One of the comforts that we have as musicians is an outlet to express our emotions. I hope that everyone can find a positive way to deal with their feelings in the coming months, because hatred begats hatred, and can only serve to multiply these horrors.

 

I wish you all, and your families and friends peace.

 

Laurie Z.

(so glad that Dan S. and our other friends are still here)

[dansouth]

Originally posted by lauriez@lauriez.com:

(so glad that Dan S. and our other friends are still here)

 

Thanks Laurie! It's nice to thought of so kindly. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

[dansouth]

Blood lust. If that ain't the truth! The World War II vintage "bomb the hell out of them" mentality is still so prevalent. Vaporization of shepherds is not a response. It's an act of terrorism. Instead, let's find the true perpetrators and cut them to pieces with a pair of rusty shears.

[Postman]

Over the past couple days I've come to think of the attack as a crime against humanity, not as an act of war. While I feel terrible every time I look at or even think about all those innocent people buried under the rubble of the towers, I think seeing more innocent people buried under rubble (even if half a world away) will only make me feel worse.

 

The perpetrators of this crime should be executed, if for no other reason than to make sure they don't do it again. While I do sympathize with the military's feeling of a need for vengeance, I don't think this is a job they're well suited to handle. If we run into a country who will not turn the guilty over to us, I would support an attack, but otherwise, no.

 

This isn't an issue of sovereignty. We shouldn't make it one unless we have to.

[dansouth]

Yeah, well, brace yourselves. The voting public has spoken.

 

---- From abcnews.com ----

 

Two-thirds expect war, this ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll finds, and more than that are willing to accept it. Some of the numbers approach unanimity: If the United States can identify the groups or nations responsible, more than 90 percent support military action against them. Eighty-six percent support military action even if it means war; 77 percent, even if it endangers innocent civilians abroad.

 

Sixty-nine percent, moreover, support military action in one of the worst-case scenarios: If it means a long war in which large numbers of U.S. troops are killed or injured. Polls are not predictive, and the public's dander clearly is up, but this result does indicate a seriousness of purpose. So do strength-of-support measures; seven in 10 say they'd "strongly" support military action, even at the risk of war.

 

----------

[soapbox]

Who did they poll? I know nobody called me up!

 

Elections often turn out differently from polling results, so I hope they don't set policy based on this "information."

 

Let's say that the poll was accurate, for the sake of argument. It still doesn't make a traditional war the right solution. I hope our government operates with the understanding that there are terrorists in every country. After all, some of these terrorists trained in US flight schools. Therefore, we need a worldwide approach to this problem instead of one that declares war on a few Middle Eastern countries.

[dansouth]

Originally posted by soapbox:

Let's say that the poll was accurate, for the sake of argument. It still doesn't make a traditional war the right solution.

 

No, it's a HORRIBLE solution! But it IS indicative of the will of a hurt, shocked, and angered public, a public that might not be pleased if Dubya doesn't get busy. Let's hope and pray that Dubya has a cooler head than the redneck majority.

[Slowly]

Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com:

Blood lust. If that ain't the truth! The World War II vintage "bomb the hell out of them" mentality is still so prevalent. Vaporization of shepherds is not a response. It's an act of terrorism. Instead, let's find the true perpetrators and cut them to pieces with a pair of rusty shears.

The only problem with that is, Soldiers dont really hurt when other soldiers get hurt. They know its a part of war. What hurt me the most is I protected this country for three years and then helplessly watched it being destroyed. The terrorist need to sit in hiding and watch their brothers and sisters being blown to bits. This is not terrorism, this is fighting fire with fire. Which is fair all over the world. When we show them how frigging crazy we are, then this crap will stop. Read Genesis in the bible. Worked then, should work now. Casey

[soapbox]

I was just on the phone with my mother, who has a PHD in political science. She brought up the very good point that our government recognizes our dependence on Middle Eastern oil supplies. This fact alone is likely to temper their response to focus retribution mostly on the terrorists rather than on the countries that allow their presence, despite rhetoric to the contrary.

 

My mom, like any other expert, could be wrong. I hope she's right.

[dansouth]

Originally posted by soapbox:

I was just on the phone with my mother, who has a PHD in political science.

 

Soap! No wonder you're so smart!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

[synthetic]

I've had little to add to this heartfelt discussion until now, though I've been as horrified and saddened by this week's events as anyone else. I'm always impressed at the level of intelligence and civility on this board. (Well, civility is relative on the internet...)

 

I'm writing to comment on the military response discussion. Everyone, including the media and many on this board, seems to assume that the military response will be a large stealth bombing run since that was the last big American military campaign (bombing Baghdad). Although I expect there will be a bombing campaign, it won't last long. As many of you have pointed out, there's little to bomb.

 

Therefore, I think that the military response involve more infantry than any other group of the armed forces. They will search the Texas-sized chunk of Afghan desert for terrorist cells and capture them one by one. Whether this is viewed as a police action or an invasion will depend on the point of view and cooperation of those involved. Hopefully this type of campaign will allow us to separate the shepards from the terrorists, although it didn't work very well in South East Asia. This seems to be the option with the best chance of success for rooting out terrorism, or at least cutting it off at the knees.

 

Thanks for letting this thread continue, Dave. I continue to learn more every time I read this board. -jl

[Slowly]

Originally posted by soapbox:

I was just on the phone with my mother, who has a PHD in political science. She brought up the very good point that our government recognizes our dependence on Middle Eastern oil supplies. This fact alone is likely to temper their response to focus retribution mostly on the terrorists rather than on the countries that allow their presence, despite rhetoric to the contrary.

 

My mom, like any other expert, could be wrong. I hope she's right.

I dont argue with nobodies Mom. There is no easy answer to what we are facing. We have plenty of oil ourselves, but we ruin the California coast pumping it out. Dont mess with my California.

[midispaceho]

Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com:

Let's hope and pray that Dubya has a cooler head than the redneck majority.

 

He does'nt, but he has a really good team in place. I agree that we avoid traditional war. I think war needs to be re-invented for the 21st century. I don't know what the change needs to be, but I am absolutely confident that we will work our way through it. We will prevail and this evil will be punished and defeated. But make no mistake, there are serrious foes out there that are not isolated radical groups...entire goverments need to be attacked and eliminated. Once these few remaining rogue nations are brought back in line and democaracy reins may we have a chance at world peace.

[soapbox]

From Moby-Online.com

(click on link above; then click on "9/14/2001-New York City - A Letter")

 

"This letter was forwarded to me. It's from an Afghanistani man who lives here in the U.S. In my opinion it's worth reading.

-Moby

 

Dear Friends, I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's been going on over there. So I want to share a few thoughts with anyone who will listen.

 

I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New York. I fervently wish to see those monsters punished. But the Taliban and Bin Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who captured Afghanistan in 1997 and have been holding the country in bondage ever since. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a master plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would love for someone to eliminate the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country. I guarantee it. Some say, if that's the case, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban themselves? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, damaged, and incapacitated. A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan-a country with no economy, no food. Millions of Afghans are widows of the approximately two million men killed during the war with the Soviets. And the Taliban has been executing these women for being women and has buried some of their opponents alive in mass graves. The soil of Afghanistan is littered with land mines and almost all the farms have been destroyed . The Afghan people have tried to overthrow the Taliban. They haven't been able to.

 

We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble with that scheme is, it's already been done. The Soviets took care of it. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done.

 

Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure? There is no infrastructure. Cut them off from medicine and health care? Too late. Someone already did all that. New bombs would only land in the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they at least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around. They'd slip away and hide. (They have already, I hear.) Maybe the bombs would get some of those disabled orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would be making common cause with the Taliban-by raping once again the people they've been raping all this time. I don't have a solution. But I do believe that suffering and poverty are the soil in which terrorism grows. Bin Laden and his cohorts want to bait us into creating more such soil, so they and their kind can flourish. We can't let him do that. That's my humble opinion.

 

Tamim Ansary"

[Magpel]

Thanks for this, Soapbox (and Moby).

[mojosaur]

The Taliban must be eliminated and Bin Laden must be isolated, cut off from his money supply, isolated and attacked. It is understood that the Afghan people as a whole are victims just like the innocent people killed here in New York. Bin Laden has been slowly escalating the violence of his attacks. Don't forget, he has already destroyed two embassies with car bombs and attacked the USS Cole. US intelligence has obviously failed spectacuarly in tracking these terror cells which have now extended to the US.

 

These are educated men and they are well trained....it is not unrealistic to think that they have other weapons at their disposal, and will retaliate when and if attacks are launched on Bin Laden.

 

They will escalate the violence if we do not attack.....the only solution is a coordinated effort to eliminate and isolate the Taliban and Bin Laden, and then use armed force to capture them....a combined US/Russian force would probably work.

 

Andy

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by mojosaur:

Bin Laden must be isolated, cut off from his money supply, isolated and attacked.

 

Cut off from his money supply? I think it should all be forfeit to the victims - same with any money that any person and/or entity that was directly involved with this has.

 

Admittedly, we're talking a drop in the bucket, but anything would help, and the idea of leaving these people penniless is kind of appealing to me.

 

It'd be a start...

 

dB

[midispaceho]

Originally posted by Dave Bryce:

Cut off from his money supply? I think it should all be forfeit to the victims - same with any money that any person and/or entity that was directly involved with this has.

 

Admittedly, we're talking a drop in the bucket, but anythng would help, and the idea of leaving these people penniless is kind of appealing to me.

 

It'd be a start...

 

dB

 

Good idea Dave. The news said bin Laden is worth an estimated 5 billion, actually a pretty big drop. We should seize all of his assets, as well as any other terrorists that are convicted.

[mojosaur]

Originally posted by Dave Bryce:

the idea of leaving these people penniless is kind of appealing to me.

 

dB

 

I assume that is a typo, and I like your idea....but the first step is to keep him from making other attacks and to eliminate him by stopping those bankers who allow him to operate.

 

By the way, many of the WTC businesses have already pledged to support the families of victims.

 

 

 

This message has been edited by mojosaur on 09-15-2001 at 06:31 PM

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by mojosaur:

I assume that is a typo

 

Typo? Do you mean the use of these instead of those? Sorry if I used the wrong word...

 

I hope I was clear that I meant that the idea is to leave Mr. bin Laden and his terrorist buddies penniless, and to use all of that money to help begin to rectify some of the damage caused by this attack. I think that'd really hurt them, and their so-called cause. If you want to squeeze the faceless enemy and make him surface, I would think that drying up every resource available to them would be a nice start.

 

At the very least, it'd sure be a nice addition to whatever else gets sent after them, and I imagine that a few billion dollars would sure help the relief effort.

 

dB

[burningbusch]

Watch out for gross exaggerations as to his wealth. The reports that I've seen estimate it somewhere between $100-$300 million. Given that he is one of 52 children (not a typo), a even figuring that the women wouldn't see any of it, $5 billion to Usama alone would make Daddy far richer than Bill Gates, which isn't true. Maybe Daddy's worth $5 billion.

 

Interesting reading from Time.com about Usama:

 

He was born either in 1956 or 1958 as the 17th of the 52 (or 53) children of Saudi construction magnate Muhammad Awad bin Ladin. His mother (variously reported as either Palestinian or from the conservative Saudi hinterland), is unanimously derided as the billionaire's 10th and least-favored wife (a claim bolstered by the fact that Osama is their only child).

[Pim]

To make a parallel:

 

Mr. Milosovich, a war criminal from the Balkan, is brought to trial. (International Court of Law, The Hague - The Netherlands)

How they got him? Simply. He was bought.

The European Community offered financial support to the democratic movement in his country.

 

Cheaper than declaring a war to catch him... Healthier too.

Economics are a very powerfull weapon.

 

 

 

------------------

-- Pim --

 

www.dancewave.nl

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by pim@dancewave.nl:

Economics are a very powerfull weapon.

 

Now that is what I'm talking about!!!!

 

Congress has just allocated several boatloads of cash to spend on this little project - who says that we have to send soldiers? I'll bet that if this money were spent causing total financial havoc and ruin to anyone that was involved with this or anyone who is harboring those who were, these people would be forced to the surface very quickly. Much neater, much quicker and potentially much more effective, IMO.

 

Why can't we bring brainpower and economic strength to bear locating and punishing those who were responsible? Why does it have to be about brute force?

 

dB

[soapbox]

Here's an e-mail I received that will help our voices be heard beyond this forum:

 

<< Dear Friend of MoveOn,

 

Thousands of you participated in our online discussion this weekend. The heartfelt and clear-headed suggestions are a real breath of fresh air from the drumbeat for war we hear on TV.

 

It's important to let our leaders know that Americans won't support playing into the terrorists' hands by responding with escalating violence.

 

http://www.moveon.org/justice/

 

One of the top-rated suggestions was to send the following letter to the President and Congressional Representatives:

 

To combat terrorism, we must act in accordance with a high standard that does not disregard the lives of people in other countries. If we retaliate by bombing Kabul and kill people oppressed by the Taliban dictatorship who have no part in deciding whether terrorists are harbored, we become like the terrorists we oppose. We perpetuate the cycle of retribution and recruit more terrorists by creating martyrs. Please do everything you can to counsel patience as we search for those responsible. Please ensure that our actions reflect the sanctity of human life everywhere. Thank you.

 

We've mounted a petition campaign, called "Justice, not Terror", that delivers exactly this message. Please add your voice at:

 

http://www.moveon.org/justice/

 

Your participation is extremely important in breaking the myth that Americans support senseless bloodletting. Send an instant message to Washington and tell your friends at:

 

http://www.moveon.org/justice/

 

If you haven't participated in our discussion forum, go to:

 

http://www.actionforum.com/forum/index.html?forum_id

 

The thoughts posted are really wonderful. It gives me renewed hope for our future.

 

Sincerely,

 

- Wes Boyd MoveOn.org September 17, 2001

 

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it... Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. >>

 

This message has been edited by soapbox on 09-18-2001 at 03:06 PM

[soapbox]

Also, check this out:

 

America's tragedy is felt by all the world

[nursers]

I agree that use of economics is a great idea - but even it can be a blunt instrument. Look at the sanctions against Iraq - basically Saddam Hussein continues to live it up while the population rots - there are some horrific stats on number of children that have died since sanctions were put in place.

 

 

 

 

------------------

www.mp3.com/thirdstoreystory

[sudeep]

i just wanted to say that the language used by the president really scares and worries me!! using words like "well SMOKE them out", and "wanted Dead or alive"...i dont know what hes trying to achieve...this tragedy has really affected people around the world (even us down here in australia), but the language Bush uses makes him sound like John Wayne!! is this really how americans feel? if it does then it really worries me, and portrays americans as trigger happy cowboys. I really feel that someone like Mayor Juiliani (sorry about the spelling) is someone who has really come across as statesmenlike, honest and trustworthy.

[sudeep]

by the way could i also say i have been checking quite a few of the internet forums...and except for a few comments (earlier on)...this thread has had some of the most well informed, intelligent and guinine conversation and discussion.

[nursers]

Originally posted by sudeep_rao@hotmail.com:

i just wanted to say that the language used by the president really scares and worries me!! using words like "well SMOKE them out", and "wanted Dead or alive"...i dont know what hes trying to achieve...this tragedy has really affected people around the world (even us down here in australia), but the language Bush uses makes him sound like John Wayne!! is this really how americans feel? if it does then it really worries me, and portrays americans as trigger happy cowboys. I really feel that someone like Mayor Juiliani (sorry about the spelling) is someone who has really come across as statesmenlike, honest and trustworthy.

 

I can see your point - I got an email today on a similar point:

 

Lost in America, Closer to Home

 

9/19/01

 

Dear Friends,

 

We have made it to Columbus, Ohio for the night and are staying just a

couple of blocks from the state capitol building where Governor Rhodes gave

the order on May 4, 1970, to send the National Guard to Kent State. There

they opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students, killing four and wounding

many others.

 

Few dared to call it a terrorist act committed by the state of Ohio* but,

there I go again. Off message! Stay focused on the main themes, Mike:

AMERICA UNITED! SMOKE EM OUTTA THEIR HOLES, HUNT EM DOWN, AND GIT

EM! THE SLEEPING GIANT HAS BEEN AROUSED! and REMEMBER THE POSTER IN

THE OLD WEST: WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE!

 

I have a question to all the war hawks out there: When you listen and look

at our Commander-in-Chief, do you really think THIS is the guy who is going

to kick some major league ass? Im just asking all you conservative drum

beaters out there -- man, you must be *embarrassed* that this is the best

we have to offer.

 

I know we are all supposed to be supportive of Mr. Bush, at the moment, but

has it dawned on anyone that he is not, in fact, the president? I hate to

bring up a thorny subject, but this is the man who *lost* the election. He

got the *least* number of votes between the two major party candidates. His

brother oversaw a rigged vote in Florida.

 

I am so, so sorry to bring this up now, but the tragedy of the past week is

EXACTLY the kind of horrible circumstance many Americans feared wed find

ourselves in -- A NATIONAL CRISIS UNDER A LEADER WHO IS NOT THERE BY THE

WILL OF THE PEOPLE. It is a tribute to the goodwill of the American public

that they have rallied behind George W. Bush as best they can, cause he

and his fake flight jacket is all we got right now in the Oval Office.

 

Someone needs to get in charge and propose some real solutions to bringing

the perpetrators to justice and preventing this -- as best as possible --

from happening again. Instead, what we have is Bush speaking like a wind-up

doll, mouthing a bunch of nonsense clichés, repeating them over and over

and over.

 

But occasionally his batteries run out -- and he goes off on some

unintelligible tangent. You can see his handlers desperately trying to cut

him off and whisk him away. You watch in awe and you ask the question that

none of us even wants to contemplate right now, and that no one will dare

to ask, so I might as well take the hit and be the one: THIS is the

Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country on earth? Who amongst you

feels secure tonight? What enemy is going to be afraid of *this* guy?

 

Bush keeps calling what we are in a war. Has anyone told him that the

more he keeps using this word, the more HE puts US in jeopardy? A war

implies that two sides are participating in an action to kill as many of

the other side as possible. Bush and the pundits use the word like its a

one-sided deal, like were going to be the only ones doing the bombing. War

means we bomb them, then they bomb us. Thats what war is, you idiots. We

strafe Afghanistan, then the terrorists drop a canister of chemical weapons

in the New York subway. We send in a group of commandos and wipe out a camp

of Muslims, they take out the Sears Tower.

 

All of you who are screaming for war: are you prepared to pay the price, to

take thousands of more casualties? Because, my big, macho-talking friends,

THAT is what this kind of war would be like. America is a complex and open

society with a massive and intricate infrastructure that is fragile and

vulnerable and susceptible to easy attack and disruption. IT CAN BE BROUGHT

DOWN WITH A BOXCUTTER. Let me repeat that:

 

IT CAN BE BROUGHT DOWN -- IT CAN BE BROUGHT TO A TOTAL STANDSTILL -- BY A

BOXCUTTER!

 

Nearly a week with no stock market, no commercial television, no

professional sports, three days with no planes in the air (for the first

time since 1911), no airports open, the country essentially shut down. A

week later and the phone lines still dont all work. A boxcutter, folks! Do

not be misled into thinking he with the biggest missile is going to win

this war.

 

We will never be able to protect all of us from this kind of terrorism.

Back and forth, more buildings bombed, more planes downed, more innocent

American lives lost. When does this end? After we have killed every

terrorist? When exactly is THAT scheduled to happen? Or is it just when we

kill Osama bin Laden, *then* we win the war? Are you serious? We couldnt

even assassinate Hitler during a massive World War that lasted 6 years!

 

Bush now says this is a war against the evil people in the world. Oh,

really? THAT war! Yeah, we should be able to defeat evil, oh, sometime in

the next millennium or two. Get a grip. War is not going to get the

justice we demand or make us more safe. You know it and I know it. There is

a different way to go, and I will lay it out in a later letter, but to

simplify it for now and put it in a nutshell, it goes like this:

 

One billion people on this planet have no clean drinking water. Two billion

have no electricity. Three billion have never made a phone call from their

home. We have the money and the people-power to alter ALL of this. We also

have the moral imperative to stop supporting repressive regimes and

corporations who exploit these people.

 

When we decide to help improve these billions of peoples lives, we will

pull the rug out from under the terrorists who need those they send to

their deaths to be poor and exploited and angry at us. The

multi-millionaire bin Laden isnt going to give up HIS life!

 

When all the people in the Middle East have food on the table, a decent

home, a good job, and democratic control over their own lives, who among

them is going to be convinced to sacrifice his life by crashing himself

into a tall office building?

 

Sure, there will always be those who go insane and kill without reason. The

British saw that in a Dunblane schoolyard, we saw it in Oklahoma City.

There will always be religious fanatics willing to kill and be killed

because they believe God has so ordered them. Ask the families of the

assassinated womens clinics doctors in Buffalo and Florida about those

willing to commit evil in the name of religion in America.

 

There IS a way to protect us from further attack, to lift the rest of the

world out of its misery, but it requires some smarts and some guts, two

things in short supply in Washington these days.

 

After arriving in Columbus, Kathleen and I met up with one of our best

friends from Flint, Al Hirvela. Al teaches at Ohio State. He was just the

shot in the arm I needed this week. He, Kathleen, I and a bunch of others

all used to put out an alternative newspaper in Flint many years ago and we

miss being around each other in times like these. We miss being able to

talk and try to figure out what it all means -- and what we should be doing

about it. Al is a Quaker and a pacifist, and sitting in the Big Boy last

night talking to him was the kind of grounding experience I needed after

four days on the road.

 

My publisher called two nights ago to ask where I might end up for the

evening, as my editor wanted to ship me a copy of my new book, just off the

press. This was bittersweet news -- I have dedicated this book to Al, and

to think that I would be there when he opened it up and saw his name on

that dedication page was indeed a lucky privilege, a cool moment I never

expected to have.

 

But the book publisher also gave me this news: They are delaying the

release of my book due to the events of the past week. No doubt, this book

is going to ruffle some feathers, and in light of the attack in New York,

the book suddenly gave everyone connected to it (including me) the

heebie-jeebies. What a feeling to have in a free country!

 

In a way, though, I was relieved with their decision -- I have absolutely

ZERO interest in going out on a book tour this week. Even though I have

much I would like to say -- opinions and thoughts that are NOT being heard

in the media right now -- I just cant go out there and have my name

attached to something that is on sale (I have asked our webmaster to

remove anything from our site that leads one to purchase any of my films,

TV shows or books).

 

I am very proud of this book, and I hoped it would stimulate a lot of

discussion on various topics. I dont know now when it will come out --

maybe next month, maybe next year. In the meantime, I will continue to

communicate on the Web and speak to any media outlet that will listen to --

and report uncensored -- what I have to say about the tragic situation in

which we are now immersed.

 

I cant believe all the incredible letters you are sending me -- over

41,000 letters in the last week. I am so sorry I cannot respond to each of

you. I have scrolled down through the subject headings and read a few of

the letters and it is clear I am not alone in my sadness over this tragedy

or in the anger I have for what is being proposed by our leaders. I will

print these letters and let our elected officials see what the REST of

America is thinking about the idea of war.

 

We are now driving across Ohio toward West Virginia and Pennsylvania. On

the radio, NPR is running a history report on Osama bin Laden. We are told

that he comes from a wealthy family and that they are the main builders for

the Saudi royal family. Theyve remodeled palaces and built holy sites.

Their construction projects are everywhere. Kathleen turns to me, and with

one word sums up the kind of low-life we are talking about here.

 

Contractors, she says. Bin Laden is a contractor. Indeed, it all made

sense.

 

Someone at NPR tracked me down on the road and asked me to stop by the

nearest NPR station and read my letters over the air. I agreed, but I got

choked up reading them into the microphone. I wonder if they will even

broadcast them. I hope they do, as I felt that my reading of them conveyed

more of a real and human sense of what I am trying to say and what I am

seeing on this drive across America.

 

Later in the evening, my letters go out on an NPR program called The

Connection from WBUR in Boston. More mail pours in. On the Pennsylvania

Turnpike we pass through nearby Shanksville, PA, where the United flight

went down. The girl at the newsstand counter in the rest stop says it was

just three miles down the road. Close enough for all of them to hear it

crash. Her voice shakes as she tells me this. A car parked in front of the

door has a temporary Cemetery Pass sitting on its dash.

 

I think of Barbara Olson, the conservative commentator and wife of the man

who argued Bushs case for installation in front of the courts last year. I

have been on Politically Incorrect with her on a couple of occasions. She

was always a warm and friendly person. She was on that plane, on her way to

do that show.

 

Monday night, the program went on, and Bill Maher left a chair on the stage

empty, in her honor. I agreed with her on nothing, and I cried when I saw

that empty chair. She was a human being who deserved to live. She was an

American who loved her country. Maybe I should have gotten to know her

better, instead of just ignoring her because of her politics. She was a

year younger than me*

 

We will make it home to New York, sometime tonight*

 

Yours,

 

Michael Moore

mmflint@aol.com

www.michaelmoore.com

 

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www.mp3.com/thirdstoreystory

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That's the worst load of crap I've heard in a while. That's all I'm going to say.