Published: Friday, November 18, 2005
Bylined to: Mary MacElveen


VHeadline.com commentarist Mary MacElveen writes:

I want to start this editorial with a quote authored by Winston Churchill:

Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.

We must never forget our collective history. We must also never forget that acts of humanitarian relief by a few were denied to many by our elected officials in Washington, D.C.

This heinous act must be a part of the Bush legacy for future generations to understand and more importantly correct.

A few days ago, Ethel Freeman was finally put to rest.

You may be asking yourself: Who is Ethel Freeman?

She was the dead woman who was photographed at the New Orleans Convention Center in New Orleans slumped over in a wheel chair. In past editorials written by me and conveyed to you, I was engaged with our political leaders to accept humanitarian aid packages coming from Venezuela and Cuba. But, our government said no.

How dare they do that when their fellow countrymen were suffering and dying?

Did Bush care about this woman?

No he did not.

These were the people that Presidents Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro wanted to help ... but Bush slammed the door in their faces.

This woman could have been saved by the 1,500 doctors Cuba wanted to send us. This woman could have been saved by the emergency medical relief package that President Hugo Chavez wanted to send us which included two hospital ships fully equipped to deal with this disaster.

When I saw the collective outrage at Bush in Argentina when he visited there during the Americas Summit, we should have done the same when aid packages for our people were denied by Bush.

I do not care what the relations are between Venezuela, Cuba and America; these aid packages should have been accepted. These people needed help and Bush said NO!

American policy dictated that these people were denied help and as an American I am ashamed of my government for doing this to my fellow Americans.

As it stands now, 150,000 Katrina victims will be kicked out of various shelters just in time for Christmas. How Christian (?) Bush is to allow FEMA to dump them on the street.

Oh, I keep forgetting he needs that money to fund his illegal and immoral war over in Iraq.

This is the perverse politics we are dealing with here in America.

Those that rioted in Argentina were correct in doing so. They truly showed this man for what he is. He is a sociopath who only thinks of himself and those that give him praise. President Hugo Chavez may call him "Mr. Danger" where I prefer to call him the anti-Christ.

When Bush faces his own judgment day these are my thoughts:

As Bush reaches the Pearly Gates they will be slammed in his face and the hell that he will have to live through in the after life will mirror Iraq.

But before that happens, every single face of every single person whose death came at his hands will be seen by him at the moment they died. Also he will have to see the many faces he denied this help staring back at him as those gates are slammed in his face including Ethel Freeman.

Ethel Freeman -- this AP picture appears to have been
removed from Internet sources, for which reason we publish
it as a matter of public interest and information

While some may feel that this is beating a dead horse in Ethel Freeman's memory we must continue to bring issues such as this to the forefront of our global debate where all humanitarian aid if offered by one country to another is accepted.

Let us not forget Ethel Freeman ... she was the symbol shown to the world of what this country has become under the rule of Bush.

According to her son, Herbert Freeman, Jr.:

"She was calling out for a doctor or a nurse, but there was nothing there."

I wish there were someway to contact Mr. Freeman to tell him that aid from Venezuela and Cuba was offered, but was denied.

When he saw her image on TV he is quoted as saying:
"It made me angry!"

Many who also saw her image were angered, but not nearly as much as her son.

We must remember that Ethel was not the only victim denied humanitarian relief, but her death through that picture is the one many will remember as we go forth.

Mr. Freeman is now in the process of suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for this very reason: over the death of his mother, who had a pacemaker for a heart ailment and a feeding tube in her stomach.

His attorney, John Paul Massicot had this to state according to the AP: "He would not have taken his mother there if he thought there would be nobody to care for her!"

It took Mr. Freeman seven weeks to track down her body even when he left contact information in her pockets before he was forcibly removed in the evacuation process.

Is this the best we can do for our citizens?

If there is any other person or persons for him to sue besides FEMA it would be Bush, Cheney and the rest of his administration for their failure to accept these aid packages and their failure at responding to this disaster when they saw the storm tracking towards this region.

Please remember that Bush was at a fundraiser and also appeared strumming a guitar while many Ethels were left to die.

Mary MacElveen

http://ca.f882.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=mary@vheadline.com
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