Better You Should Just Donate to Lucifer.org

For those of you who haven't heard this story, FEMA's website lists a number of charitable organizations for Katrina relief donations. While that is laudible, it is also ostensibly an endorsement. Listed third until two days ago (behind the American Red Cross and Second Harvest) was something called "Operation Blessing."

Operation Blessing is a charitable foundation owned by the Rev. Marion "Pat" Robertson, the erstwhile loopy televangelist who is known for making silly assertions on his, uh, religious broadcast, such as "we should set off a small nuke" (on the State Department) and that the U.S. should assassinate foreign leaders because we disagree politically.

But that's not all there is to Operation Blessing. It was used to launder donations (donors contribute so OB could fly medicine to the impoverished in Africa) in support of Robertson's Africa Development Corporation, a euphemism for Diamond Mine in Zaire.

But I could be wrong about that; that's only according to an investigation by the Virginia Attorney General's office, which declined to prosecute after Robertson personally reimbursed his own company $400,000 for the diverted cargo planes.

Here's a very nice rundown of Robertson's work for bookmarking. Show your friends!