The Devil in Pat Robertson

If anyone still doubts that Pat Robertson is not simply a man who speaks rashly, but a thief, a scoundrel and a supporter of mass murderers; if anyone doubts that our Government supports and abets such people, perhaps today's New York Daily News will cast some light on him and on or President's recent promotion of Faith Based organizations as the way to manage disaster relief.

The folks at FEMA, who owe their jobs to the Bush patronage system rather than to their experience or ability, have placed Operation Blessing, a Faith Based Organization owned by Right Wing evangelist Robertson on the top of the list of places to donate to Katrina victims. Now before you trot out all the standard arguments against my Liberal Bias, listen to this:

Operation Blessing is an integral part of the Robertson empire. Not only is he the chairman of the board, his wife is listed on its latest financial report as its vice president, and one of his sons is on the board of directors.Back in 1994, during the infamous Rwandan genocide, Robertson used his 700 Club's daily cable operation to appeal to the American public for donations to fly humanitarian supplies into Zaire to save the Rwandan refugees. The planes purchased by Operation Blessing did a lot more than ferry relief supplies. An investigation conducted by the Virginia attorney general's office concluded in 1999 that the planes were mostly used to transport mining equipment for a diamond operation run by a for-profit company called African Development Corp - owned and directed by Pat Robertson. He acquired the mining rights from his longtime friend Mobutu Sese Seko, then the brutal, US supported dictator of Zaire.

The exposed Robertson contritely returned $400,000 to his own charity. Who has been the biggest recipient of that Faith Based Charity? Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. It received $885,000 in the fiscal year ended March 2004.

What does he use that network for? To defend the brutal dictator of Liberia, Charles Taylor, now on trial for crimes against humanity and who by coincidence had facilitated Robertson's large investment in a Liberian gold mine.

Never in our history have we as a nation been victims of such organized deceit. As time passes, everything bad that ever happened will be the fault of Democrats and with enough time, enough of the people will be fooled, enough of the time.