Thursday, September 8th, 2005...6:48 am
…And They Insist on Making Me Sick
My last post was angry, and I begged you all to give me a little hope. So, a lot of you, my adoring public, wrote in with some examples of the kindness of the people of this country.
This weekend, those of you who read my other blog know, there was a big extravaganza at Hotel Congress where fourty bands played. Most of these bands were selling chum of some sort. Many of them decided to give the money to hurricane relief. Something else that was interesting, Tom Walbank, a local musician, stood by a door with an old box and managed to raise $700 (at least by midway through Saturday night.) These, in the grand scheme, are small gestures but revealing about what we are all capable of.
My problem was never with the people of the country, it was with the cynical crowd that is running it.
As I read more about the administration response to the disaster, I see things like this:
With the Bush Administration’s approval, [Pat] Robertson’s $66 million relief organization, Operation Blessing, has been prominently featured on FEMA’s list of charitable groups accepting donations for hurricane relief.
I’m not one of these lefties that go into caniptions every time a religious group or another gets involved in anything. As a matter of fact, I don’t consider Robertson a religious figure, he seems to be more like a well-connected Republican buisnessman. A cynical and corrupt one at that.
Robertson’s organization has been under investigation from Virginia officials when money that was supposed to go to helping refugees in Rwanda went instead to aiding Robertson’s mining operations in Zaire. People were getting massacred, and Robertson used that to help himself make money. Truly, truly sick.
This “charity” is also under fire for misdirecting funds to help promote some sort of protein shake that is sold at GNC. One of Robertson’s other organizations, the Christian Coalition, was successfully sued by black employees over the sorts of discrimination we thought was over fourty years ago.
Why is this guy allowed to opperate with a Federal blessing, but FEMA is blocking the Red Cross and even Wal-Mart from the area so they can help?
By the way, I’m hearing now that Tom DeLay pal Joe Allbaugh and Texas Governor Rick Perry are trying to cash in now too.
6 Comments
September 8th, 2005 at 7:33 am
Hey, great blog! Keep up the good work. I will check back soon!
I have a site. It pretty much covers related stuff.
Check it out if you get the time
September 8th, 2005 at 11:30 am
I’d love to check it out…but what the heck is your address?
Or your name, for that matter.
September 8th, 2005 at 11:30 am
Well Ted, the Mayor of New Orleans was trying to get things done at least.
But I have heard a few Republicans starting to say the I word.
September 8th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
In addition, even though the Feds said only 60% of New Orleans could be gotten out, apparently the Mayor managed to get 80%.
September 8th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
That’s all Republicans can see from something like this. How to make a buck.
There was a story on last night on CNN (unfortunately it was not on their website) about how some 9/11 recovery funds that were given to banks to make low interest loans to businesses wanting to rebuild in Lower Manhattan, may have been abused by the banks and given to businesses not even in New York.
September 8th, 2005 at 9:46 pm
The government in this country is evil and the people who voted for Bush get what they deserve…unfortuantely for the rest of us, we are lumped in with this shit.
Karma will get them, it always does.