Email Campaign: Fanning the Flames.

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Dear Friends:

This is a time of intense tragedy. Even those of us who are so fortunate as to not feel the same suffering as our fellow American can’t help but feel helpless and emotional. It’s hard to know what to do and it’s easy to find excuses to stop caring.

Compassion from strangers is not as tangible as food or shelter, but I suggest to you that we must act now. And that the first step is confronting brutal reality.

It was not a choice for the Hurricane to hit or for people die. However, the number of people that will die or will suffer is determined by the choices that are being made right now. As these times go on, I ask you to realize that this is just the beginning of the terror.

Do not let the government fool you. They can act and choose not to. They impede the local heroes of government and community from saving the lives of their loved ones, from repairing damage, and from piecing together a plan for themselves.

Some say that this is not about politics. That is true. It’s about decency. It’s about duty. It’s about the purpose of government. If you feel a little pity for federal government and its leaders, think about their response to the next terrorist attack or natural disaster that might happen in your area. Think about that. It could be you. It could be your children. It could be your home. The fact that it isn’t you now shouldn’t stop you from holding our government accountable.

Read the following transcript from Jefferson parish president Aaron Broussard’s Meet the Press appearance. Then, contact your congressional representative and refuse to go away until they DEMAND that action is taken. If even corporate America is turned away, if none of our efforts will reach survivors, if the federal government continues to declare war upon Louisiana – we have no choice but to demand answers and demand solutions.

I feel drained. I’m sure that you do, too. But never forget that the federal government has made its choice. It has no solutions and is choosing for Americans to die. "Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now."


Take care in this time of tragedy. Be strong, because it’s not going to end soon.

Sincerely,

XXXXX XXXXXX

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Meet the Press Transcript

Aaron Broussard, President of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana:

We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.

I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me they need to be fired right away because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go.

And whoever’s on the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we need to start with some new leadership. It’s not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.

It’s so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding, it needs more presidential support. It needs to be a cabinet level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America.

FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere like New Orleans with all of its force immediately -- without red tape, without bureaucracy. Act immediately with common sense and leadership and save lives. Forget about the property, we can rebuild the property. It’s got to be able to come in and save lives. We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this into reconstructing FEMA.

Tom Russert interrupts: Shouldn’t the mayor of New Orleans and the governor bear some responsibility? Couldn’t they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized about evacuating the area?

Aaron Broussard continues, but Tom Russert speaks over him: “Hold on a minute…”

Broussard: Sir, they were told, like me, every single day “The cavalry’s coming.” On a federal level, “the cavalry’s coming. The cavalry’s coming. The cavalry’s coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the Calvary. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I’ve begun to hear the hoofs and we’re almost a week out. Let me just give you three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn’t need them. This was a week ago.

FEMA. We had a thousand gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said “come get the fuel right away.” When we got there with out trucks, they got a word. “FEMA said don’t give you the fuel.”

Yesterday. Yesterday! FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. Cut em without notice. Our Sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. He reconnects the line and he posts armed guards on our line. And he says, “No one’s getting near these lines.” Sheriff Harry Lee says if America … American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded we wouldn’t be in this crisis. But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she’s done and all the leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th street canal that the secretary didn’t foresee. A three hundred foot breach. I just completed it yesterday, with convoys of National guards and local parish workers and levy board people. It took us 2 and half days, working 24/7.

Russert interrupts with a grunt, sounds annoyed

Broussard:

I just closed it. I’m telling you. Most importantly, I want to thank my public employees {Russert grunts again) that have worked 24/7, that burn out – the doctors, the nurses… I want to give you one last story and I’ll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me.

The guy who runs this building that I’m in, emergency management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped {Broussard starts to cry.} in St Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, “Are you coming, son?” “Is somebody coming?” And he said, “Yeah Mama, somebody’s coming to get you. Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned on Friday night. She drowned on Friday night.”

Russert interrupts: Mr. President…

Broussard: “Nobody’s coming to get us. Nobody’s coming to get us. The Secretary’s promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m.. I’m sick of the press conferences. For God’s sake, shut up and send us somebody!” {deep sobs}

Brown and Chertoff shouldn't just be fired, they should be prosecuted. And Dubya should be impeached.

But I'm with you -- they had a duty and they breached it.

and fellow activists - over a 100 of them.

I hope your Congress people get the message.