Katrina's POLITICAL aftermath (keep the political discussions HERE)

"Next week will be the Senate’s opportunity to address this crisis, and I write to you today to ask that you permit the Senate to do just that. As you know, the current Senate agenda calls for us to consider motions to proceed to estate tax legislation and other issues when we return to session next Tuesday. Given the tragic and devastating events along the Gulf Coast, members of the Senate would have great difficulty explaining why we were debating the estate tax during our first days back when we know hundreds of thousands of families are suffering.

I urge you to take the estate tax and these other items off the table, so that Senators and the resources of the Senate can immediately be focused when where they belong when we return -- on the recovery effort. There can be no more important challenge facing our country in the days ahead than getting relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the agenda of the United States Senate should reflect that priority."

-- gabbneb (gabbne...), September 1st, 2005.

http://www.ob.org/

I dunno, judge for yourself. It appears to be a pretty large-scale international charity. Is the list-placement a little suspect? Maybe. But hardly something to be up in arms about from the sound of it.

By Wesley Clark

...Again, just this past week, there was at least 36 hours notice that a major hurricane was going to hit the Gulf Coast, including likely a devastating blow to New Orleans, which certainly came to pass. The President continued with his regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday in California, Arizona, and Texas to hold some staged Medicare events and enjoy more vacation time, while finally returning to the White House yesterday. The joint task force including National Guard set up by the Pentagon failed to be on the scene in New Orleans in a timely manner to stop the looting and assist in the evacuation. Where is the leadership?

Then just this morning, the President claimed that no one could have anticipated the levee breaches we've seen in New Orleans after Katrina hit. That's not leadership, that's an excuse. In fact, people have predicted this kind of disaster for many years, including President Bush's own FEMA in 2001, when they ranked hurricane flood damage to New Orleans among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing America. Instead, funding was significantly cut back, leaving key engineering projects on hold. Instead, this Administration focused on the war in Iraq, tax cuts, and private sector economic growth without asking the American people to make needed sacrifices for the good of the country. Again I ask you, where is the leadership?...

Oddly, the Red Cross and AmeriCares are NOT blocked. Judgment passed.

Donate Cash

American Red Cross
1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English,
1-800-257-7575 Spanish;

America’s Second Harvest
1-800-344-8070

Operation Blessing
1-800-436-6348

Donate Cash and/or Volunteer

Adventist Community Services
1-800-381-7171

B'nai B'rith International
1-888-388-4224

Catholic Charities, USA
1-800-919-9338

Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
1-800-848-5818

Church World Service
1-800-297-1516

Convoy of Hope
417-823-8998

Corporation for National and Community Service Disaster Relief Fund
(202) 606-6718

Feed the Children
1-800-525-7575

Lutheran Disaster Response
800-638-3522

Mennonite Disaster Service
717-859-2210

Nazarene Disaster Response
888-256-5886

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
800-872-3283

Salvation Army
1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)

Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief
1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440

United Jewish Communities
1-877-277-2477

Union for Reform Judaism

United Methodist Committee on Relief
1-800-554-8583

It just happens to be one of three charities that fall under "donate cash" only as opposed to "donate cash and/or volunteer." They are alphabetical, and it's third on the list.

Come on, bloggers!

If you had any doubts as to the evilness of Fred Phelps and his right-wing, anti-gay, anti-American "Christian" crusade, your doubts can be lifted. Here is what is posted on his site now:

THANK GOD FOR HURRICANE KATRINA!!!

THANK GOD FOR DEAD AMERICANS!

THANK GOD FOR HIS JUDGMENTS!

America worships at the fag altar and spits in God's face with every funeral they hold for these so called her soldiers. Is it any wonder that God has punished this vile nation with these losses?

It is no wonder that God has sent these great, unstoppable winds to sweep whole cities away like so much chaff. Just as it is no wonder that God sent the Muslim planes to destroy the World Trade Center, it is no wonder that the God who created the Earth and Seas (Genesis 1:9-10) could use them to destroy whole cities and unkown numbers of unrepentant sinners. Be thankful it wasn't BILLIONS, as it was in the days of Noah!

I'm not going to link to this. Fred Phelps, if you're reading: Eat a dick.

ROFFLE

knowing our fate is to be with them?

key sentences here: "As for the tragic piggism that is taking place on the streets of New Orleans, it is not unbelievable but it is unforgivable, and I hope the looters are shot. "

disgusting.

xpost: peggy noonan is so batshit, it makes sense that she's on the wsj's op-ed roster. they only let you in if you've passed the crazy conservative test.

No duh. It's almost heaven, jackasses.

re: Fox News only focusing on the looting; It's real easy to try to lessen the criticism on those who you're covering for if you continue to show the people in trouble as inhuman vandals. Why, they're animals! it's not so bad that our elected officials can't do shit to help! those people don't deserve it! we'd just be coddling them, and they'd never learn!

Anderson Cooper was so great just now on CNN. He laced into Sen. Mary Landrieu saying people who have witnessed the devastation don't want to hear politicans congratulating other politicians for how they've responded.

He was yelling, basically, "Don't you get it yet?" He mentioned seeing a woman's body on the ground being eaten by rats. Landrieu told Anderson she understood what he was saying and then thanked the President again.

and the comment:

I saw him too. He was so calling bullshit on the claim that officials "were doing all they can." He was fantastic. He interrupted Sen. Landrieu right in the middle of her atta-boys to virtually tell her "excuse me but you're all so full of shit. People are dying here and you're congratulating each other!?" It was fantastic!

vid is here, but as expected the servers there are overloaded.

yeah I posted on the other thread that apparently they've calculated for awhile that it was around 112,000 HOUSEHOLDS, which is at least double that number of people...224,000 PEOPLE left behind after evacuation. and yet they weren't prepared with provisions...crazy

what the fuck are you talking about? i'm saying that if the entire point of your news station existing is to blast RNC talking points 24/7, funny how convenient it is to tailor your coverage to how "disgraceful" those people in need are in an effort to deny any sympathy and thus lower the intensity of criticism.

will that actually happen? fuck, i dunno. will that stop them from trying? take a fucking guess.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5249797,00.html

Now, how legit is Operation Blessing? CharityNavigator.com, which rates charities, gives them four stars (their highest rating) across the board. They report giving fully 99.4% of their income to program expenses and trivial amounts to administration and fundraising.

On the other hand, Robertson has repeatedly been criticized for commingling his overseas charitable operations -- specifically, Operation Blessing -- with his personal for-profit ventures into precious metals and diamond extraction, particularly with some of your better-known human rights pariahs and genocidal dictators. Zaire's Mobutu with blood diamonds, Liberia's Charles Taylor with gold mines. He's well diversified.

So, on balance, you might say the picture is mixed.