Chris in Paris noted this article in a post below, but I wanted to talk more about the Red Cross angle. Apparently the Red Cross has been lobbying in favor of religious groups, churches, etc. getting federal money to reimburse them for the "charity" work they did on Katrina.
From the Washington Post:
After weeks of prodding by Republican lawmakers and the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday that it will use taxpayer money to reimburse churches and other religious organizations that have opened their doors to provide shelter, food and supplies to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.Funny, I didn't realize that the federal government was in the business of people for charity work. Is the Bush administration going to start paying the Mormons to compensate them for their missionary work (all that travel and those white shirts add up)? Are they going to reimburse the religious right groups for their "ex-gay" ministries, i.e., their brainwashing camps where they claim to "cure" gays?
FEMA officials said it would mark the first time that the government has made large-scale payments to religious groups for helping to cope with a domestic natural disaster.
And while we're at it, where's my reimbursement for my monetary donation to the Katrina fund (where's yours?)? Where's my federal bail-out for all the time we spent on this blog working on the Katrina issue in an effort to get the Bush administration to help all the people affected by the hurricane? And where's your $1500 to compensate all of you who donated to help send Kyle down to New Orleans to cover the hurricane? If self-less acts are now the domain of the federal government, then I want my fair share, hallelujah!
And finally, it's nice to know that some of the money Americans donate to the Red Cross, instead of going to help disaster victims, is instead going towards inside-the-beltway lobbying on behalf of the far-right agenda.
