To my friends at CNN

For 25 years, you have been the eye on the world. You have reported everything from assinations, to massacres. From famines to celebrity. From new found fame to classic wealth.

For most of that time, I've been a faithful friend, enjoying our moments together, often turning to you when I felt I needed comfort or information.

I feel, today, that you have failed me. As I turned off the coverage of the hurricane (finally!) I shook my head in disbelief. Why would you do this?

Why would you exploit the men and women of the New Orleans/Missippi region for your own gain and political agenda? Why would you use this opportunity to create more unrest in an already battered place?

Somewhere along the line, we have to start asking the question, "What is opinion and what is fact?" Somewhere along the line we have to start being critical thinkers again and get on with what is important -- which is providing healing to those who suffered this tragedy and those who have sat somewhat helplessly by.

Here's my question: What could possibly be the motivation of our government to keep aid from the people of New Orleans and Missippi? Isn't that what a good criminal lawyer would ask if he were trying a case? It seems to me that we have already issued the indictment without even so much as a public hearing.

I was encouraged by the interview with a mega-church minister, himself black, who was asked to comment on the comments made by Kanye West. This "interview" was so leading (the corresopndant kept asking questions such as "Aren't you mad it took so long.." and the man being interviewed said, "Yes, I'm furious. But I'm not so mad that I'm going to jump to accusations and assumptions until I find out what went wrong. Something surely went wrong, but we don't know yet where the system failed and that's not the point. The point is to get these people out and to get them help."

Between Christian Amanpour and Anderson Cooper's "coverage", good critical thinking and judgement have gone out the window. They appear to be more interested in laying blame than in being creative on helping discover where the system needs to be repaired. Their logic appears to be, "We have a white president and these people are black, so it must be his fault."

I personally have a lot more questions about the state government of New Orleans than I do of the federal government. Where were you when your state needed you? Where were your evacuation systems and relief systems? If the state -- the first line of defense in any tragedy -- gives way, then mobilizing a federal relief aid is logically the next.

How many times have we had a chance to prepare for such a crisis? How many times have the systems used been put to the test for survival? How many times have we dealt with the reality of problems of this magnitude...and here's the big question, "now that we see the defects, how do we fix them?"

And again, the question, "What and who would gain by ignoring people at a time like this?" What agenda would be served? Whose career (except those of the resporters) is being helped by such thinking?

Are there clearly mistakes that have been made? Surely. What I find amazing is that we're not asking the question, "how did anyone survive at all?" Given that we have not one, but possibly three tragedies of nature, how did those who survive do so?

I find the reporting that your correspondants are doing, CNN, to be sloppy and self-serving at a time when we have neither the patience or time for either.