This satirical article was written in response to the Fox News story about the solar powered audio Bibles sent to Haiti this week.
"On a recent flight into Haiti, much-needed medical supplies like antibiotics and pain medication were bumped to make room for something deemed far more urgently-needed: audio versions of a self-help book.
The book, "Answers to Life's Questions (In One Handy Volume)," was written by Jerry Nazarene, a motivational speaker with an emphatic fan base.
After Nazarene published a plea on his web site for fans to help Haiti, Doug Ballad, one of Nazarene's followers with a regional "fan club" of sorts, managed to score space on an outgoing supply flight to Haiti for his contribution: hundreds of audio recordings of Nazarene's book. The recordings were packaged much like the ready-to-use audio books sold in airports -- disposable, pre-powered, cassette-like things with earbuds included.
"Right now, what Haitians need is comfort," Ballad told one journalist. "Nothing has inspired me as profoundly or given me such lasting comfort as what Jerry Nazarene has to say. I just knew that if I could get Haitians to feel the way I do when I walk out of one of Jerry's seminars, they could overcome anything life has to throw at them."
One news blogger suggested that Mr. Ballad coordinated the shipment to get publicity for his own series of Nazarene-inspired seminars, which he calls "Working The Answers". Upon questioning, Ballad didn't exactly deny the charge. "What I teach are the principles of 'Answers to Life's Questions' -- which can and will transform anyone willing to learn them," Ballad said confidently. "The more people those principles reach, the more love, peace and charity we'll have in this world. And I'll never apologize for trying to promote those things."
http://blog.kimwrites.com/2010/01/23/selfhelp-audio-books-sent-to-haiti-instead-of-medical-supplies.aspx
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