FEMA Directing Donations To Rev. Pat Robertson

[ray of light]

FEMA Directing Donations To Rev.
Pat Robertson
09/01/05 02:45 PM Eastern

SPLOID EXCLUSIVE: FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson …

Millions of Americans and people around the world have rushed to donate money to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which is shaping up to be one of the worst U.S. disasters in history, if not the worst.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the lead federal agency in the rescue & recovery operation at work in New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast.

FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.

The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.

“It’s an outrage,” said privacy watchdog Bill Scannell, who alerted Sploid to the FEMA / Robertson scam. “Operation f**cking Blessing? And it’s right underneath the Red Cross link!”


http://www.sploid.com/news/2005/09/01/fema-directing-donations-to-rev-pat-robertson-123509.php

This is an UPDATE:

I just saw this same article posted there too and a response from "Karen" at the Democracy Cell Project.

http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/09/a_great_america.html

On the Robertson thing, Casey called FEMA today and the Robertson listing is old. According to the person she spoke with, it will be gone by tomorrow.

FEMA is, no doubt, underfunded, like every other service agency in this government. The only feds gaining ground seem to be the agencies of subterfuge and profiteering.

And so, we all lose ground...

[goclark]

1. Unreal - FEMA is crap

We see where their head is --- where is their manpower?

[slay]

47. Oh they're much worse than crap

Some people have referred to it as the "secret government" of the United States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. This government organization has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress, it has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution.

more:
http://www.sonic.net/sentinel/gvcon6.html

Other good info here:
http://www.logicsouth.com/~lcoble/conspire/fema3.txt
http://www.logicsouth.com/~lcoble/conspire/femablue.txt

[Liberty Belle]

Kick! This is an outrage.

[Liberty Belle]

2. Kick! This is an outrage.

[yorgatron]

3. unfuckingbelievable!

:kick:

[area51]

20. What yorgatron said. (n/t)

[Samantha]

5. Just goes to show what an unbelievable lack of judgment Bush* and Co

has.

Kicking this thread ...

[VegasWolf]

4. God told Bush that the levees would be okay! Pat Robertson says

that is what God told him too! Bush has now said that God has
told him that help is on the way which is good.

[ohgorsh]

27. He drove his chevy to the levy ,,,, I can wish ,,,,

They cut funding for New Orleans to fix the problems they were having with flooding and being below sea level beings land was eroding yearly
They tried to get funding and bush and factory gave them the cut backs ,maybe things would be OK there now

[blue sky at night]

6. Here is my foot...........

where is their ASS?? Thats what I will donate to those thugs.

[Samantha]

7. I read your thread title THREE times and thought I had to be misreading it

I still can't believe this.

[Lars39]

8. I saw it myself on CNN. Unbelievable.

[JustSayNO 2 Sheeples]

9. Exactly which straw will break the camels back?

Every story I read of this damned administration is going to be the one, I figure... then I read something else even worse.

[stickdog]

10. Well, somebody's got to handle the assassinations. Right?

[rooboy]

11. Kick... in the guts. n/t

[struggle4progress]

12. This administration has always supported terrorists like Patty boy. eom

[LibDemAlways]

13. I saw that on CNN and wondered

what the hell "Operation Blessing" was all about. Knowing Robertson is involved, you can be 100% certain that not one penny will make its way to a hurricane victim, and next year you'll be seeing Robertson's ugly mug on the cover of Forbes 100 richest Americans issue.

[fearnobush]

14. I guess they hear us more than the dying in NOLA.

Its now third on the list.

<http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/katrinadonations.shtm>

email them - tell them how much you love giving money to advocates of murder.



FEMA

[north houston dem]

15. kick

[tk2kewl]

16. i can't find it on the FEMA site?

The donate link goes to a general hurricane info page now.

did anyone get the screen-grab?

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. I just did - saved whole page in pdf and top part as jpg.

But I can't post either here because I don't have a web site. Try this link, which is where I found the Operation Blessing donation number.
http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/katrinadonations.shtm

There are only THREE CASH DONATION POSSIBILITIES GIVEN - AND ONE OF THEM IS OPERATION BLESSING. But they don't let you know it's Patwa Robertson's cash cow. Just a phone number to donate cash.

Operation Blessing is under investigation for shady dealings - I'll post on it downthread shortly. Greg Palast has investigated, and it's truly nauseating. But Pat is a Bush donor, so there his "chariity" is on the FEMA page.

[blue northern]

61. if you want to IM me

i can post them on this thread

[AuntiBush]

43. Seen it listed on CNN/MSNBC today, too!

[Mnemosyne]

17. I though you must be joking! This is

totally not unbelievable any longer in this parallel universe.
A man that has called for the assassination of a world leader that has now offered his hand to help, is going to benefit from this human disaster. This is simply unconscionable.

[demnan]

18. I thought this was a sarcastic thread

I had no idea this would be serious. Well why not. :crazy:

[goforit]

19. A HUGE Conflict of Church and STATE!!!

Robertson is looking for trouble.

[ohgorsh]

24. Is he keeping the katrina money to do away with chavez

Maybe he needs money from good people to do a hit on chavez

[Nothing Without Hope]

32. Oh no, he has his own huge private financial empire. Read in post #25

downthread about what Greg Palast has found about Operation Blessing and "Patwa's" past tax-free donation fundraising - you'll be utterly outraged. Operation Blessing is under current criminal investigation so it's all the more ironic that a link to caution hurricane donors to be cautious of shady fundraising scams is on the same page with the donation info for Operation Blessing.

[Gelliebeans]

22. Here is what the IRS says about

operation blessing international
put that into the search and then look at the code

http://apps.irs.gov/portal/site/pub78/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.72f1796ad102792acd9e6be24937a759/?javax.portlet.tpst=289c57ca6035546c47564fe84937a759_ws_MX&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=token&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=token#


The code for this charity is state as follows:
A public charity with a 50% deductibility limitation.


and this is being promoted by the US goverment folks.

[TNDemo]

23. What is a deductibility limitation?

How much they have to give to charity?

[Nothing Without Hope]

25. GREG PALAST:funds diverted from Operation Blessing to Pat's huge personal

financial empire

I found out about FEMA's outrageous direction of hurricane donations to "Patwa" Robertson's own Operation Blessing in another DU thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4558552
And did some digging and hit a gold mine – or perhaps I should say “diamond mine,” since that’s one of Pat’s entrepreneurial ventures.

Respected UK investigative reporter Greg Palast tells us more about Pat Robinson's enormous personal wealth and money raised for desperate Rwandans via a passionate Operation Blessing fundraising drive was actually used instead for airplanes for Robertson's own diamond mines in Zaire. Yes, Pat knew about it, too – he has ridden in one of those diamond mining planes himself. And that’s not the only time tax-free donations to Pat’ have been used for entrepreneurial purposes quite foreign to what their donors imagined.

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

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

Observer, London - reprint
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
by Greg Palast

(snip - much more and it should all be read)

The combination of ministry and Mammon has provided Robertson with a net worth estimated at between $200m and $1 billion. He himself would not confirm his wealth, except to tell me that his share of the reported $50m start-up capital for the bank is 'just a small investment for me'.

Neil Volder, president of Robertson Financial and director of the new bank venture, emphasises that Robertson selflessly donated between 65 and 75 per cent of his salary as head of International Family Entertainment. But that amounted to only a few hundred thousand dollars a year - pocket change for a man of Robertson's means.

There was also, says Volder, the $7m he gave to 'Operation Blessing' to alleviate the woes of refugees fleeing genocide in Rwanda. Robertson's press operation puts the sum at only $1.2m. More interesting is the way the Operation Blessing funds were used in Africa. Through an emotional fundraising drive on his TV station, Robertson raised several million dollars for the tax-free charitable trust. Operation Blessing bought planes to shuttle medical supplies in and out of the refugee camp in Goma, Congo (then Zaire).

But investigative reporter Bill Sizemore of the Virginian Pilot discovered that over a six-month period - except for one medical flight - the planes were used to haul equipment for something called African Development Corporation, a diamond mining operation a long way from Goma. African Development is owned by Pat Robertson.

(snip)

:grr: :grr: :grr:

Greg Palast's article details more of the "miracles" by which Pat Robertson made huge amounts of money from investments purchased with tax-exempt donations. Read through them and your blood will boil. One of them was a deal in which a cable channel (and some old sitcoms) financed this way were sold to RUPERT MURDOCH FOR 1.82 BILLION DOLLARS.

I doubt a lot of the money being sent through the FEMA donation site to "Patwa’s" Operation Blessing will be going to give real help to the hurricane victims any more than it did those dying Rwandans.

The Virginia State Attorney General is conducting an investigation into Operation Blessing that is looking into the use of the charity's equipment.

But he's obviously a pal of FEMA's Bush Administration bosses!

[fearnobush]

29. This really needs its own thread.

The world must know that the Feds are ripping off the American people in their most desperate hour. Remember, when the Murderer occupier of 1600 Pa. ave. speaks, believe the opposite. Today he spoke of cracking down on bogus charities - well, Pat Robertson... Now thats a bogus charity.

[Nothing Without Hope]

35. Do you have a link to quotes on cracking down on bogus charities?

I would indeed like to start a thread on this. It is beyond outrageous that "Patwa" Robertson's private tax-free cash cow is listed (without identifying it as associated with Robertson or indeed as religious at all) is one of only three cash donation sites FEMA, a federal agency.

Given the back-story where funds were diverted from dying Rwandan medical care and other "causes" into Pat's own financial empire, this does need more attention.

And Operation Blessing is currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the State of Virginia.

So, got some links to quotes about the POTUS said to beware of bogus charities? That is just CRYING to be a prominent part of a new thread about FEMA and Operation Blessing and Pat's financial history. PM me if you like. And thanks.

[chomskysright]

48. KICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chomskysright]

49. KICK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

[electron_blue]

26. I went to the website for donations at FEMA - almost all are religious

[Nothing Without Hope]

28. But I bet most of them are not under investigation for scams. See post

#25 just upthread and you will be astounded at "Patwa" Robertson's "charitable" doings.

[Carla in Ca]

58. But his real name is...

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson

[VegasWolf]

30. Bushy and his faith based approach are pushed down our throats.

[KoKo]

31. CNN has Red Cross first and Operation Second on their CNN Cable front

They leave that screen up...then later add another screen with another RW Christian Organization and a few other more "mainstream" seeming ones like "Salvation Army." It's very offensive.

[boddhi]

33. the list may be old, but the page is not

because it does have "katrina" in the html. How long has Pat Robertson's group been number three on FEMA's list of where to send money in an emergency? Whoever made this list should be held accountable for including them and excluding so many other worthwhile groups. And I guess there aren't any Islamic groups worthy of making the list. Or Buddhist. And the separation of "donate cash" versus "donate cash and/or volunteer" was completely necessary to be clear for the people wanting to donate......

wtf? over...

[bushisanidiot]

34. So how is Robertson going to figure out who the gays and democrats are so

he can withold money from them?

who's fucked up idea was this?!!

[metisnation]

36. Pat Robertson????

are you f***ing kidding me? this is preposterus!

there is no limit is there?

[MetaTrope]

37. Robertson's Operation Love Lift funded DEATH SQUADS in Guatemala!

One might wonder if the armed gangs now rampaging through New Orleans don't have something to do with him...

[VegasWolf]

38. Pat Robertson should probably hold off assinating Chavez for at least

a few weeks till we can see how much oil we might need.

[slay]

46. A lead up to his next "public service" - the Kill Chavez fund

NO WAY should a scumbag like Robertson be allowed to be involved in handling public funds. You know why it's called the 700 Club right? Cause you gotta pay $700 a year to be a member! I'm not kidding. :(

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

39. Oh for Christ sakes

Just when you think they couldn't do anything more stupid.....

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is something that all Americans should be concerned about no matter what their political views. But instead the ever opportunistic * administration wants to politicize this event by giving money to an assassination loving Pharisee.

[JawJaw]

40. Thank God - help Is On Its Way

"operation Bible-drop" crankin' up.

At least the corpses will have something to read.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

41. Hurricane disaster relief information is printed above every threadl

Some of our own DUers need assistance in the aftermath of this storm. Take care in your donations; Robertson and other crooks are working hard to take your money.

[alittlelark]

42. Scannell is all over this one.....

He did 'Boycott Delta'http://www.boycottdelta.org/ ( one of the first ever to WIN) , and is now ALL OVER the privacy issue.

He is a good guy, and one of our best friends. I will get a DU to Scannell direct thread started in a few hours or a day. .... if anyone is interested.

[jwirr]

44. WTF does pattie boy have to offer victims

of this kind of disaster? False prayers? At least Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Lutheran World Relief and Catholic Charities are well known for their charitable actions during disasters. What is pattie boy known for?

[VegasWolf]

45. Well, Robertson gets a 30% cut on the take of money that passes

through his ogranization for "overhead costs"!

:sarcasm:

[NuttyFluffers]

50. for the love of god, how much cruel irony can we as a people take?

thank god it'll be removed tomorrow, but come on now... god truly has a vindictive sort of humor. i mean, if i even tried to pass all these stories as a rough draft 6 years ago i would've been laughed out of class, if not the entire english department. it would be dismissed as too absurd to be real.

[reprobate]

51. My email to FEMA

Give money to "Operation Blessing"?

Is this some kind of joke? Surely you can't be serious!

The one thing I can be sure of is that not a penny will reach the hurricane victims. Robertson will just buy another gold mine.

Come on people. This is the worst disaster this nation has ever seen. These folks have been without food and water for almost four days. The survival expectancy without water is three days, so people are dieing of dehydration NOW!

Here's a simple suggestion to help those poor victems survive another day or two: Put bottled water and MREs on some aircraft and air drop them to the ones who need them.

You probably have some more sophisticated plans, and that's OK. Whatever you plan, stop planning and just DO IT.

[Kool Kitty]

52. I'd personally sponge-mop New Orleans clean

before I'd give one thin dime to Robertson and his operation.

[Nothing Without Hope]

53. CNN directed donors to Patwa's Operation Blessing too. Probably lots

of other corporate media venues are doing it too.

[cascadiance]

54. IMPEACHMENT IS THE ANSWER!

[progressivebydesign]

55. OMG. No. That can't be true...

So basically Robertson can continue to fund his gold mines, his oil biz, and his portfolio, on the backs of the terrified people in NOLA? That is wrong... A political hack running FEMA is wrong, wrong, wrong. Bush's number will be in the lower single digits by monday.

[ngGale]

56. All corporate slush funds....

going into the same pockets. :grr:

[oldgrowth]

57. FEMA move it today from #2 to 3 looked earlier today!!!

They could have removed it when they moved it today!!!

[Naipes]

59. The Link is Still on the FEMA website...

This is disgusting.

[xchrom]

60. what else can you expect from bushco?

it's an outrage -- but only when you haven't gone through the looking glass like we have.

[doc03]

62. We were on strike in 1996 for 10 1/2 months

that summer the Union called us and said we were getting a donation of frozen food from "Operation Blessing." We show up and find frozen heart shaped chocolate cakes, plain no frosting. This was in the middle of the summer and obviously the cakes were from before February 14th.

[indepat]

63. Give your money to God, but send it to my address

[getting old in mke]

64. Still there as of 11:30 CST 9/2

> On the Robertson thing, Casey called FEMA today
> and the Robertson listing is old. According to
> the person she spoke with, it will be gone by tomorrow.

[Geo55]

65. Pat Robertson......God's Will....Terrorists (poor peolple)Control Weathter

let them eat cake.

[tom_paine]

66. No tragedy so awful these monsters can't steal some more $$$$

Monsters, says I. At least they aren;t rounding us up into concentration camps.

Their Caligulan generation, which is coming within 20 years, I would guess, probbaly will be doing equivalent things.

For now, they are content to murder by inaction (and by the occasion arranged plane crash) and steal the National Treasury (which leads to more "death by looting" performed bythe Busheviks).