More Evidence of FEMA's Incompetence

Posted on Sep 07, 2005

I usually stay away from these types of posts, but these stories just bring forth a level of indignation that is hard not to respond to. The Nation reports that FEMA's list of "voluntary organizations are seeking cash donations to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states" includes Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing (yes the same Pat Robertson who said we should assasinate Venezuela's deomocratically elected president among other incediary remarks). In fact, I verfied that the Nation's claim that "only two non-'faith-based' organizations were included" in FEMA's list is indeed true...don't believe check the list yourself. Then read the full article for the more details of Operation Blessing's shady dealings.

 

Comments

Don I think the majority of charities are faith-based and that Robertson's charity was on a prior list of vetted charities that was posted hastily on the 29th. FEMA's main site points everyone to usafreedomcorps.gov for donations and such.

Posted By Don / Posted on 09/07/2005 at 3:13 PM

Brian Rinaldi Don, thanks for your comments. You are correct that the main site does direct you to www.usafreedomcorps.gov and I want to clarify that I am not implying that religious charities are not a good choice. That being said, there appear to be enough questions surrounding Robertson and his charity as to give good reason to have left it off such a list by default except for that he is an administration ally. Your assertion that the list was "posted hastily" seems like an attempt to excuse something you cannot justify (even though the inclusion of such a group seems quite in line with prior administration behavior).

As a further follow up on a different angle read http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050907/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_disaster_response which discusses how help was sent only after the storm hit and documents noting that it was designed to "was to 'convey a positive image' about the government's response for victims."

Posted By Brian Rinaldi / Posted on 09/07/2005 at 3:32 PM

Brian Rinaldi Need more evidence?
Fromt he NYTimes "After Katrina, the FEMA Web site directing charitable contributions prominently listed Operation Blessing, a Pat Robertson kitty that, according to I.R.S. documents obtained by ABC News, has given more than half of its yearly cash donations to Mr. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network." (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/opinion/18rich.html?pagewanted=2)

Posted By Brian Rinaldi / Posted on 09/18/2005 at 7:13 PM

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About

My name is Brian Rinaldi and I am the Web Community Manager for Flash Platform at Adobe. I am a regular blogger, speaker and author. I also founded RIA Unleashed conference in Boston. The views expressed on this site are my own & not those of my employer.