Decius wrote: Mike the Usurper wrote: The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse churches and other religious organizations that have provided shelter, food and supplies to the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The payments with taxpayer money would mark the first time that the government has made such payments to faith-based groups at a time following natural disasters, the newspaper reported, citing FEMA officials.
WHAT??? Isn't that what "charity" is all about? What the hell is this?
I don't really see why its a problem for FEMA to make use of church facilities in managing emergency operations in the same way they use "secular" facilities. This is not charity. This is federally funded disaster assistance. These people were asked to assist with federal releif efforts. This is not the establishment droid you are looking for. If those churchs end up using federal funds to convert disaster victims there might be a problem, and I presume the previous firewall here was intended to prevent that, but one can cut that line with a scalpel rather then a sword.
What I am concerned about is not about facilities FEMA used, but rather about people doing what they were doing already. Not for any service rendered to other organizations (if FEMA were operating out of the 6th Street Baptist Church, then sure you pay the church for that) it is for doing what they were already doing. Do I find those organizations activities admirable? Yes, they did something to help out others in need. Where this offends is that in places where FEMA said to send donations, #1 on the list was the Red Cross. #2 was Pat Robertson. I have more than a creeping suspicion that this is simply a ploy to allow people to get cash both coming and going. A second more significant point is, we all saw how useless FEMA was (and are seeing it again with their Rita efforts ) and if we believe Mike Brown, the state and local people were even less useful, meaning there's no way any money should go out under this because all of the government agencies had their thumbs in their collective asses. So who will this money be going to? All I have seen happen with this so far has been a demonstration that the government's emergency response ability has atrophied beyond the ability of Viagra to make them show any potence whatsoever, at the same time that same government is pushing Jesus as the cure for all the nation's ills via their "faith-based initiatives." I do not trust them because they have proven they are incompetant and untrustworthy. | 
