Operation Screw You

Some more interesting information about the whole Pat Robertson/Operation Blessing thing. The synopsis is that the FEMA (a government agency) website listed three places you could send cash to to help with the relief effort; two secular (Red Cross and Second Harvest) and one religious. But they didn't pick one of the more mainstream relief charities like Catholic Charities or Salvation Army or United Jewish Appeal or Lutheran Social Services, etc. etc. They picked Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing.

A couple of interesting facts.
According to the Fed 990, Operation Blessing's single largest donation last year was $885,000 to Robertson's own Christian Broadcast Network

During the Rawandan crisis, Pat went on the 700 club and asked for donations to Operation Blessing to send supplies to the Rwandan refugees in Zaire. "An investigation later by the Virginia Attorney General's office revealed that the planes that were bought by the charity were actually ferrying mining equipment for a diamond mining operation, the African Development Corporation, and low-and-behold, who is the principal shareholder of this private corporation? None other than Pat Robertson himself." Robertson was forced to repay the charity.

'Virginia's Office of Consumer Affairs initiated an investigation and determined that Robertson "willfully induced contributions from the public through the use of misleading statements and other implications." ' The Attorney General of Virginia overruled the Consumer Affairs recommendation to bring charges against Rev. Pat. Who was the largest single donor to the Attorney General's campaign? Rev. Pat Robertson.


All info and some direct quotes from Democracy Now

The Nation