Letter from Michael Moore and the Vets for Peace in Covington, LA

[Generic Other]

Friends,

Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way to get aid in there immediately.

I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.

I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.

Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.

Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has saved many, many lives.

A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our own government.

My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website (www.michaelmoore.com) along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it.

Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").

The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?

That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24: www.unitedforpeace.org.)

If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)
Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.
Bottled Water
Canned Goods
Hygiene Supplies
Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte
Sterile Gloves
Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.
Volunteers with trucks and cars
Self contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers

Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.

Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board: www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/.

Send supplies via UPS to:
Veterans for Peace
Omni Storage
74145 Hwy. 25
Covington LA

Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month.

Yours,
Michael Moore
[e-mail]
www.michaelmoore.com

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Kick

for the good guys.

[gademocrat7]

2. kicked

[anarchy1999]

3. Dear GO and all of DU. I'm not okay with how this letter was written.

Peace to you all,

and to Mr. Moore.

[RC]

4. Moore is doing something positive to help and spending his own money

to do it. That is more than our own government is doing.

[anarchy1999]

5. Just ask Mr. Moore to quit with calling it "his" camp!

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. So what's up with Moore?

Is he really helping out, or just jumping on someone else's parade and trying to take the credit?

Did his website really generate as many donations as he claims, or is he including everything that was donated to Camp Covington has well?

[anarchy1999]

7. One might ask and I'm really sorry. Damned it all!

I QUIT, I QUIT, I QUIT! I keep swearing and I still don't and today it cost me my marriage today. Damned!

[ohio_liberal]

9. What does that mean?

One might ask? Did he or did he not raise $500,000+ through his website for relief efforts? Are Michael Moore's staff members working with VFP? If you have some information that none of this is true then please share it.

edited to add:

I don't see anywhere in this letter that says it's his camp. The only thing I read is "ours, our".

[anarchy1999]

10. I have no info right now if any of this is true. I don't like the way the

letters are written. Our Vets for Peace have been in Covington, on the ground since Friday. They were there before the Red Cross and they were there before FEMA. I know these guys. I'm offended for them (the vets) in the manner that MM calls "it" his camp.

It is wrong.

[ohio_liberal]

13. But his staff is there right?

And he's raising money, right? I don't see MM trying to take credit for the idea to bring relief or trying to say he was first on the ground. It's an "our, we" thing at this point, no? Shit, I don't understand why anyone is offended. Michael Moore is helping, Veterans for Peace is helping, and people are getting what they need. He's got a voice and a following that can raise a lot of money for those people.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Hey, it's okay

Please don't beat yourself up. I am so sorry to hear about your situation at home and I hope if and when things settle down you can work it out. You've been out there on the front line and have given it your all and more. Hang in there, we still love you. These are very dark times but somehow we will get through them.


:hug: :cry: :hug:

[anarchy1999]

12. Thanks. and peace and n/t

[TWiley]

8. He does not need another persons parade to jump on.

He is a parade all by himself. I am sure his claims are 100% accurate.

[Generic Other]

14. Anarchy, I am sorry you are so unhappy

On a personal note, you and Mr. Anarchy need to have a heart-to-heart talk about what Camp Casey was all about, what it meant to you personally, to Cindy and to all of us, then you need to focus on how much you contributed and pat yourself on the back for all the good you accomplished. Without the tireless efforts of many behind the scenes, yourself not least among them, Camp Casey would not have evolved into the incredible place it became.

But right now, the movement Cindy started has grown too big to contain under one tent.

I don't think MM sounds like he plans to usurp Cindy and the vets.
He is just one of many celebrities who have stepped forward to help.
If he's meeting firsthand with the vets, we should be cheering. The outcome will be positive for them in terms of money, influence and audience. He is not involved in a hostile takeover here. He comes to the battle as a powerful ally.

You need to have some faith in the vets. They will know how best to use him to help move their agenda forward, not the other way around.

That's my opinion, for what it's worth.

I really am so sorry to hear you are having difficulties in your personal life. I hope things work out for you. Please tell Mr. Anarchy that you want to "make" history not "be" it.