Letter From London - The Deed is Done - Humorous Gossip from London

Houston, We've Got a Problem - 2 September

Dear Lulu,

Back from holiday in Prague: only eat the bread…food inedible; don’t, I repeat, don’t be tricked into exorbitant tickets for ubiquitous concerts…all competent musicians must be playing elsewhere because they certainly aren’t in Prague; take rain gear, clothing for summer, fall, winter, spring…beautiful, sunny and hot one day, freeeezing and constant rain the next two… ah, life in a valley. But, the city is just gorgeous. Cubist, medieval, gothic easily mixes; post-communist era complements. Fantastic city, really.

But. How can I even think of holiday fun when the lid has been pried off the awful truth about America for the world to see. (As if we didn’t know already.)The Bush Boy was strumming the guitar. (Who knew he had hand and brain coordination?) Cheney was on perpetual holiday; still in hiding from 9/11? While Condi stuffed her big? little? feet into shoes in NYC: “I’ll take these 10. Bill my husband, oops, I mean the President,” ‘her people’ were wallowing in insufferably hot/humid, fetid, lawless, harrowing conditions. Condi crossed the white/black divide years ago and once a black person in America steps over, there is no going back, there is no further acknowledgement. They are just too elated to be aligned with the richwhitemen who rule/run the US. America is a third-world country. There are the (many) obscenely rich and everyone else. In every city, in every rural area in all of America, there is abject poverty. Black poverty pervades. It is a virulently racist, segregated place. Be warned; it is not pretty any time.

Shoot to kill! No - help the elderly, save the babies. Save pproperty, not lives. If the National Guard can so easily gun down the desperate, they could have so easily offered aid, organisation, order. It’s a third world country armed to the teeth. Roving gangs vs the military. The National Guard could have so easily organised supplies, food, water rather than arresting those who looted for the same. Americans always loot when law breaks down (what does that say about the richest country on earth?), only this time, where were they going to plug in those flat-screen, 36” tvs, washing machines, play stations?

Michael Brown, the head of FEMA (federal emergency management (really?) agency) said he hadn’t heard about the disaster until Thursday. Thursday. So where was the man? On a cave expedition? At a hot air balloon convention in Idaho for four days? Tied up in his bedroom? Locked in his car? His mobile needed to be recharged? When the mayor of Chicago offered buses, many buses, this same guy said: “Not needed. But if you twist my arm, I’ll take one.” My small brain is beginning to spin due to incredulity. Let me know if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this organisation handle all national emergencies? If they can’t implement a simple strategy, what do they do all day? Lunch? Golf? Give themselves bonuses? Isn’t America supposed to be prepared for any crisis after 9/11? Coordinated communication, shared information, strategies, quick responses, efficiency?

“Ah knows that President Bush luvs and cares ‘bout us. Ah seen it in hiz ahyes.” Presumably the Bush Boy wasn’t smirking like he had done at his first interview. One thing is certain; this now homeless white guy may have thought he saw it, but he hadn’t heard da luv. After years as the so-called president, Bush still hasn’t been properly trained to string two monosyllabic words together yet, and we can all see how he can’t read. Head resting on chest, eyes straining: “Hmm, hmm. It’s hmmm…up to …hmm…each person to take per…sonal re…re…respon…s…sibyl..ity here.” How dare he? Does he presume every poor black carries a chemical water-purifying kit? I’m sure this Bush-loving-guy is representative of the rest of America: deaf and blind (and dumb) to the reality of the situation. The media fails to alter this. CNN, CNBC have covered the harrowing situation as they do: the helmet-haired, plastic-faced newsreaders wallowed in sentimentality and earnestness. They allowed First Lady hologram, Laura to coo on and on about how these (limp, traumatised) children needed to go to school immediately. Up to their little knees in raw sewage? Is she going to be there passing out brand new yellow pencils, notebooks, Hello-my-name-is tags, toilet paper? (At one shelter, there were 6 lavatories for 3,000 people. Best not to even think about it.) Then she gave her obligatory Ronald Reagan ‘human’ interest story about some boy who was skinny and went to high school with the big boys. Am I missing something here? One newsreader brought a smile and a tear when she gave us the names of twins born at the convention centre or was it the Super Dome where the New Orleans Saints (?) play? I rather doubt if it was the woman with tears streaming down her face, who had lost her three sons somewhere on the buses: “They treated us like animals, like animals, do you hear?” Yes. But who else is listening?

Dubya! Over here! Try acting presidential! Let me help you here. P-r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t-i-a-l. Now you try it yourself. Okay, let me simplify for you. P-r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t. Now, how difficult was that? Oh god. I’ve lost his attention. Must have been that scary big word.

TTFN, Maggie

Letters From London