Disaster used as political payoff (By FEMA to Pat Robertson)

[RamboLiberal]

Thank you Daily News for exposing what DU'ers know!

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/343813p-293471c.html

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has done it again.
Already under fire for its woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, the federal disaster agency appears to have turned hurricane relief donations into a political payoff - until it was challenged.

All last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

For anyone wishing to donate only cash, the agency's site listed the names and phone numbers of three groups: the Red Cross, Operation Blessing and America's Second Harvest, a national coalition of food banks.

That first list was followed by a second, longer list of several dozen religious and nonsectarian charities. This second list was for anyone who wanted to give either cash or noncash gifts.

[progressivebydesign]

1. Gee.. is the media waking up? Or is the NYDN usually good that way? n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. They are waking up, at least a little bit.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4640022

Encourage the media by commending them whenever they wake up or whenever they speak truth to power.

[jsamuel]

2. nominated

[skooooo]

3. I remember this when it was going on....

Man...time seems distorted there's so much happening.

[Kerrytravelers]

4. Here, let me put on my surprised face.

baa--waaaahhhhhh----

[knitter4democracy]

5. Crooks. They're all crooks.

Time to get rid of them.

[Peace Patriot]

8. You got that right, knitter4democracy! n/t

[LincolnMcGrath]

6. Pat is not a controversial right-wing evangelist

He is a radical-extremist-cleric.

[Joebert]

7. I would die if I heard the news use that term on an American

Or for that matter, a caucasian.

Cleric. When that started popping up in the news, all I could think of was Dungeons and Dragons. :-)

[jwirr]

21. Or maybe Islamic/Muslin Fundamentalist Cleric!

[mwooldri]

26. And his actions aren't in my definition of Christian (n/t)

[bettyellen]

9. Red Cross Money kept big $$for 9/11. earmarked it for the battlefied......

just another seemingly innocent group supporting out outsourced war machine.
they did it to Frisco during the earthquake too. Fuck them.

[Nothing Without Hope]

27. Got a link for that? Taking 9/11 donations and siphoning them into

Bush's war is an action that needs wider publicity.

[VegasWolf]

10. Faith Based FEMA!! nt

[VegasWolf]

11. FEMA - Failed Entirely to Make Arrangments . nt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. "Let's assassinate New Orleans." -PR

[Roland99]

13. How much cash will end up in African diamond mines?

[bostonbabs]

15. Operation Blessings

was also listed on the CNN and MSNBC charities list. Robertson should be held accountable.And it was the 3rd charity listed the FEMA website! I am so outraged!......George Bush is EVIL TO THE CORE.

[paineinthearse]

16. Just $500,000 through Friday

http://philanthropy.com/pcgi2-bin/printable.cgi?article=http://philanthropy.com/free/update/2005/09/2005090701.htm

Operation Blessing, a Christian relief organization in Virginia Beach, Va., had received Internet gifts totaling more than $500,000 by Friday, but beyond that, the charity was not sure how much it has raised overall. "We're still trying to get to that," says Kristin Vischer, a spokeswoman for Operation Blessing. "Our phones are ringing off the hook."

Thank you, Rep. Conyers, for bringing this to our attention - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2069068

[Sven77]

17. the terrorist who threatened chavez

Pat Robertson: 'I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist'

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=49&row=0

some links i googled

http://www.ihatepatrobertson.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson

[northzax]

18. to be fair

operation blessing does very good relief work in the immediate aftermath, and later on, of disasters, especially in the developing world. They were actually not a bad fit for the situation, as they have the airlift and medical assistance capability to help out. They wouldn't be my first choice to donate to, given their religious bent, but they area legitimate disaster relief charity.

[jwirr]

22. What is your source?

[northzax]

23. I am in international development

and have many friends and colleagues inside the international disaster relief community, including people who have worked with OB, although not FOR OB.

[SlowDownFast]

19. These people have absolutely no shame.

[MellowOne]

20. Their all a bunch of criminals

But what is even more sickening is when they use God as a mask for their evil.

[freemen2005]

24. the good ol' boys

more human trajedy = more money for the terror machine (FEMA/BUSH)

[ClintonTyree]

25. This is why I waited..........

until the State Of Louisiana started their own Katrina relief fund to donate. I did not want ONE CENT of any donation made by myself to pass anywhere near Robertson's grimy, greedy hands. If Robertson is a man of god, I'm an ear of corn.
WHY do people continue to give their money to this charlatan? Why are they so easily duped into thinking that Robertson is a great man of god, that bush is a determined and capable president? Does it all revert back to the media, once again? Has the media in this country so failed our people that these men are respected and admired while real American heroes such as John Kerry and Max Cleland are vilified? What has happened to the soul of our country? :wtf: