Tag: Charity

Where Does Your Donation Go?

Let wish all you FATHERS and very happy Father’s Day……..enjoy your day……

I am not one that gives easily…..I check out almost anyone that ask for money…..sorry but I do not trust blindly no matter who asks.  I have seen good stuff done by these charities and I have seen crap done…..after Katrina there was a wealth of people looking for donations and much of it never made it South…….

The Red Cross did an excellent job as far as I could see after Katrina…..they were there in numbers and did amazing work…..so when I read a piece about them and Haiti I was surprised to say the least…….

The American Red Cross raised nearly $500 million after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, but what happened to the money? According to an NPR and Pro Publica report, the organization claims to have provided 130,000 people with homes but in fact built only six permanent homes. The Red Cross says land-rights issues hindered its efforts, but reporters found other problems, like lengthy bureaucratic delays, changes in staffing, and a full year in which nothing happened. “They never had a real plan for what they wanted to do in housing,” says Lee Malany, who was in charge of the organization’s Haiti shelter program. He says Red Cross leadership, including CEO Gail McGovern, seemed more concerned with publicity than project details.

NPR and Pro Publica look at the struggling Haitian community of Campeche, part of a Port-au-Prince neighborhood where the Red Cross promised to spent $24 million on rebuilding—but residents say it never happened. The Red Cross reacted with an email that accused reporters of “creating ill will in the community, which may give rise to a security incident. We will hold you and your news organizations fully responsible.” The Red Cross also says it provided Haitians with temporary housing, rental assistance, clean water, vaccinations, sanitation, and other services (but won’t give details on projects or expenses). A press conference about the report got heated in Haiti this week, Pro Publica reports, and NPR says there may be a Congressional hearing. Click to see the Red Cross’ full response.

What happened to the money?

I suggest that everyone pay close attention to the charities that they give to……all may not be as it appears…….look for the “hinkey”……………please give but give wisely.

US charities fund Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program | EUTimes.net

You know the crap that has been spread about Muslim charities that are funding extremism……well guess what?

Israel got help from US charities to fund their nuke program…..a program they have yet to admit to having……

We need to work on getting this info out there….and I want to know who these d/bags were so action can be taken to hold them criminally responsible.

 

US charities fund Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program | EUTimes.net.

Celebs For The PR

Before I go on my little rant for the day….I have a thought to share…..we are in an extreme cold weather cycle and with all said I have an explanation……..IT IS WINTER!  Enuff said?

We hear almost hourly that some celeb is pushing this charity or the other…..they tell us all the good your cash will do….the all but beg for cash to continue the work that has been started….but let me ask….after you donate what is result of your generous donations?

I am glad I ask that……I found a few results of all this good will that our dynamite celebs have given us and the world…..remember after Katrina when Brad Pitt was getting all that PR about building new homes for the homeless?  Well here is part of the result……

Newser) – Brad Pitt got a lot of good press when he built a number of affordable, eco-friendly homes in New Orleans’ devastated Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina … but here comes the bad press. Some of the houses are starting to rot, and the wood will need to be replaced. “The wood turned gray and it was also black,” one homeowner tells Radar. “Also some parts it was buckling and it had mushrooms growing out of it.” Of the 100 houses built by Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, 30 used wood from TimberSIL, which claims to use non-toxic ingredients to prevent rot. Though not all 30 are yet rotting, all of them will have that wood replaced, the New Orleans Advocate reports.

The absence of chemicals in the wood apparently left it “unable to withstand moisture,” says a Make It Right rep, “which obviously is a big problem in New Orleans.” The wood was guaranteed for 40 years, but some of the homes in question were built as recently as three years ago, and the replacement project will cost Make It Right $150,000. The organization is considering legal action.

To be honest I heard after I wrote this draft that Pitt’s organization will make it all right……thus he will most likely forgo a lawsuit…..

Brad Pitt is not alone…for instance remember when George Clooney was all over the tube pushing for some sort of justice in Sudan….especially in the South where many people had been killed and maimed by militias….you may not recall…but I do….and that is…..WHY I AM HERE!

Here is part of the PR problem for Clooney and other celebs that jumped on this bandwagon…..

(Newser) – Hollywood stars like George Clooney and Don Cheadle have argued passionately for nation-building in South Sudan. Only problem: They didn’t quite see the whole story, writes Daniel Howden at the Guardian. Film stars and other activists delivered “a narrative about the new country that borrowed from a simple script”: After two decades of war and two million dead, the south needed to break free from “an Islamic and chauvinist north led by an indicted war criminal.” And only “huge development support” was required.

But most of the fighting was actually between rival militia groups in the south, often fueled by ethnic tensions, writes Howden. And when the war ended in 2005, no effort was made to ease those tensions. So when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked his government to stop then-Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer, from taking power, the two groups naturally started fighting. Now, “the only way out … will be another round of payoffs to military commanders and a reluctant return to square one on the state-building board, accompanied by an admission of past failures.”

Ple4ase do not get me wrong…….these people try to do good work but they need to be warned that their actions have consequences and some of them are not so pretty………and it is a shame that we need celebs to speak up before some of the problems are noticed….to me that is the saddest part….few care less unless some overpaid acting hack tells them they need to care….so very sad!

Charity Begins At Home

The day after…..are you sick of leftovers yet?

Today’s rant will be the use of the term charity.  Charity?  Yep it is that time of the year when people think about donating…..I wish I could say that most do it out of the kindness in their heart but…..let’s be realistic….it is the end of the year and tax time approaches.  While there are many organizations that do good work there are just as many that are nothing but a scam…..please do not misunderstand I do NOT hate all charities….while I do see them necessary…..my problem is……..why?  Why are they necessary?

Like the numerous charities that claim to help our returning vets especially those that are in need of rehab and such…..my problem is that they should NOT be in existence.  Why?  The repair of the returning vets is a debt owed them by the government that since them to their doom and maiming…..there should be NO need for these charities to feed on the guilt of the Americans that did not participate.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

I also do not appreciate those animal rights groups that ask and ask for donations and 80% of the cash goes for administration fees….not to preserve the animals and their habitat…..

Charities can become a scam when they appeal to the guilt that people may have for whatever reason for whatever cause…….

(Newser) – This month, the man behind a $100 million “charity” scam was finally convicted on 23 felony counts. But “the most outrageous aspect of the case is that much of what [John Donald] Cody did was probably legal, or at least not specifically illegal,” writes Ken Stern in the New York Times. Cody’s US Navy Veterans Association purported to help needy Navy vets, but much of the millions raised over eight years stayed with the for-profit telemarketers who brought it in from unsuspecting donors. The rest went to Cody and various lawmakers, and the whole thing unraveled only because two reporters started investigating.

Yet, outrageous though it may seem, “the alleged fraud was not that very, very little money ever went to Navy veterans,” Stern writes. Rather, it stemmed from things like Cody filing registration documents with false information. “The irony is that he could have accomplished virtually his entire enrichment scheme without ever violating the law—and others have figured that out.” The IRS simply doesn’t have enough staff to adequately regulate the charitable sector, and neither do state and local authorities. (Indeed, the IRS actually audited the Navy Veterans charity in 2008 and found nothing amiss.) That’s why donors need to do their homework before giving, by first checking sources like GiveWell to find worthy organizations. Click for Stern’s full column.

There is NOT a penalty stiff enough to hit these con artist with……the problem is they have money and an army of lawyers……and that prevents these parasites from paying dearly for their transgressions….

Please, if you must donate at least check them out and donate to the ones that actually do the work that they promise they would do with your cash…..

Lisa Cypers Kamen, MA: Vet Your Veterans Charities – The Allied Veterans of the World Scam

My readers know that I think that our government has done s disservice to vets for many years….while charities are an excellent service of support….there should be NO need for them…..aznd then there are the pigs that scam people in the name of charity……

Lisa Cypers Kamen, MA: Vet Your Veterans Charities – The Allied Veterans of the World Scam.

KONY 2012

About a week ago I listened to the interview with the guy behind KONY 2012 and the video that has gone viral……and it peeked my interest and i started digging into the whole issue of Invisible Children and this KONY 2012 thing….

Here is what I have found……

So why does Invisible Children only go after Kony while leaving Museveni alone when in fact they are two sides of the same coin?

Invisible Children’s goals initially may have been to publicize the plight of children caught in Uganda’s decades-long conflicts; lately, IC has been acting as apologists for General Yoweri K. Museveni’s dictatorship and the U.S. goal to impose AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Military Command) on Africa.

IC has produced a brilliant film that’s making the global rounds onFacebook

It’s a classic as propaganda pieces come. The short but overwhelmingly powerful film uses all the best tear-jerk techniques. In the end, the film denounces Joseph Kony, the leader of the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, while giving the impression that Museveni’s dictatorship and his brutal military, which was found liable for war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo by the International Court of Justice, has nothing to do with the atrocities committed against children in Uganda. It also doesn’t inform viewers that Museveni abducted thousands of child soldiers to win his insurgency in Uganda in 1986, launching the pattern of child soldier recruitment all over Africa.

The young folks behind Invisible Children don’t understand the conflict in Uganda; yet they have made themselves the spokespersons. They have campaigned and convinced some celebrities, including Rihana and P. Diddy, to tweet their half-truth propaganda film. This is a way to have one-sided or impartial information become the “dominant truth” globally, and drown out critical analyses.

It’s like a group of impressionable White youngsters coming to Harlem and saying: we see you have major crises, let us tell you what’s the solution. Who would accept such misguided and destructive arrogance? If it’s unacceptable in Harlem, it must also be rejected in Uganda’s Acholi region.

There is another documentary that tries to explain the Ugandantragedy, in a more sober manner, unlike Invisible Children’s slick propaganda piece.

Hopefully this commentary will motivate people to do their research and demand that the international community deal with both Kony and Museveni.

Hopefully more people will also do their own research and not be vulnerable to slick propaganda such as Invisible Children’s.

For example, readers can Google terms such as “Yoweri Museveni and Congo genocide,” “Museveni and Kony,” “Museveni and and Rwanda genocide,” “Museveni and Acholi genocide,” and “U.S. support for dictator Museveni.”

Since I started my research i have noticed that the comment section of the Video has been turned off…………..it seems that the negative comments were taking over the section and the people decide to avoid any negativity as long as they were asking for cash……

And there is more from Tony Cartalucci of black listed news…….

As the US State Department, USAID centric Invisible Children psy-op KONY 2012 collapses, Invisible Children has disabled comments on their viral YouTube video.

When last checked, negative comments were voted to the top and a cascading effect of skepticism as well as damning facts began drowning out the initial confusion, sympathy, and emotional knee-jerk support the propaganda video purposefully created and preyed upon.

The Establishment-Funded “Anti-Establishment” Charity

It has been revealed that indeed Invisible Children has been working with USAID, a US government agency that helps lay the groundwork for what could best be described as a modern-day imperial administrative network. It is now also revealed that Invisible Children attended the 2010 US State Department and Fortune 500 sponsored Alliance for Youth Movements (AYM) summit in London.

Unlike the “Arab Spring” however, the KONY 2012 scam has collapsed almost as fast as it first swept the globe. And as it falls, it is taking with it the credibility of all who participated in it and promoted it, including the deceitful International Criminal Court (ICC) and its chief prosecutorLuis Moreno-Ocampo, as well as Hollywood and the corporate-media who did all in their power to lie, manipulate and make fools out of millions once more in the pursuit of perpetuating the imperial ambitions of Wall Street and London.

This is just another scam that tears at the hearts of Americans to gain access to what little cash they have on hand…….just another indication of how controlled the American people are by their media and their movie industry……my advice is do what i did….if it sounds too good to be true….then research it before you throw your money at it……

In closing I would like to ask….where is the concern for the children of Gaza that are being killed everyday?  I have already answered that question….they are NOT that important to the policies of the US, the media or the movie industry……..there is the sad truth!

Give Me Your Money!

From the VOMITORIUM

How about this for a great story…a feel good story….a story of philanthropy …….

the Giving Pledge — a movement spearheaded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates — revealed the names of 40 individuals and families who are taking up the challenge to give away at least half of their net worth during their lifetime or at death. Along with a commitment, the philanthropists all posted a letter explaining why they were taking the plunge. Analyzing their remarks offers a rare glimpse into the minds of the richest of the rich: how they view their fortunes and where they think their money should go after they die.The most common philosophy: That a life of monetary excess can be an empty life if the wealth does nothing to advance a greater cause.

Buffett stresses that The Giving Pledge is free of any issues-driven agenda. The idea is simply to encourage the richest to give up their wealth to any philanthropic pursuits that inspire them. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who joined Buffett and the billionaire husband-and-wife team of Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor for a conference call about the effort — says the flow of private donations can support innovation. For instance, where public dollars might be better suited to pay for time-tested teaching methods and materials, private donations could fund innovative ways of teaching or new measurements of success.

I think this is a great story if it is done for the right reasons….if it is done as a tax write off or a way to try and beat the estate tax or some other financial slight of hand….then it is a piece of crap…….and also if the donations stay in this country….we have so many problems that will not be funded because wars are more important than people…….and God forbid that we do anything that would actually be good for the people (sarcasm is a wonderful thing)…….

The Sympathetic American

Daily Agitator

I am always amazed at the generosity of the American people……and they just cannot let a disaster go by without taking pity on the afflicted and trying to help when help seems to be in short supply……

When the bitch of a storm, Katrina, hit in my area….the American people to quick to come to the aid of the people of the Gulf Coast, with donations and volunteering and while the government was sitting around scratching their crotch, the American people we helping the Coastians get their lives back…..Americans are very compassionate and generous…..two qualities that have made this country great…..

The recent earthquake that destroyed Haiti, the American people once again showed their compassion and helped out whewre ever it was needed, most notably raising millions of dollars that would be spent in Haiti helping the people who have lost everything….they are very generous….once again…..

And when the health reform debate was raging they donated over a million dollars to fund a series of free health clinics across the US…..helping people that could not afford health insurance to find out about their personal health…..several people’s lives were saved because of this effort….once again the generosity of the American people knows no bounds….

And now I come to the meat of this agitation……the American people have done all that was asked of them and then some to help people in need around the world….and they have been unbelievably generous……but with all that said I would like to know why health reform is a dirty word?

We are talking about the lives of the American people and somehow the compassion was been lost on them….what did the uninsured people do to deserve this treatment by their countrymen?  Why is the people that are not so close to their hearts deserve better treatment than the people next door?

Please someone, anyone explain this to me….None of my questions are rhetorical…..I am listening!

Civilian Response Corps–Part 3

III:

The Peace Corps, inaugurated during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, played a role in this process. This initiative was useful both in attempting to refurbish America’s image abroad, supposedly combating poverty, and in engaging young people who were appalled at conditions in “Third World” countries. The Peace Corps was prompted primarily by fears of revolution in countries where the US had very little credible presence and where it feared growing Soviet influence.

Kennedy’s emphasis on the universal rights of man and the need to “abolish all forms of human poverty” nevertheless had a different ring than current US policies. The US government committed limited resources to social reform. It turned out to be the last gasp of social reform both in foreign and domestic policy.

The volunteer crusade served several political purposes. It helped supply free labor to cover up the elimination of government programs. From health care to child care to education, essential services were cut, made “volunteer” (preferably “faith-based”), and drastically reduced. Volunteer agencies were made institutionalized subcontractors.

Additionally, volunteerism was part of an ideological campaign to undermine social consciousness by transferring responsibility for alleviating poverty from the government to the individual. In this mindset, poverty is not an official outrage, but an unpleasant (but unavoidable) circumstance and even a personal choice. Americans were being conditioned to understand that they were no longer “entitled” to jobs, housing and a decent standard of living. This was the repudiation of even the limited programs of the Great Society, and the ruling elite made no effort to disguise this.

In 2002 President Bush called for 4,000 hours of volunteer service by all Americans and created USA Freedom Corps, a White House office. Proposed in the president’s State of the Union address, USA Freedom Corps was to include Operation TIPS—the Terrorism Information and Prevention System—“a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letters carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity.”

This attempt to turn volunteerism into a direct tool for spying on citizens was followed up by the decision to give the Department of Homeland Security a granting agency for “citizen involvement [volunteerism] in public health, public safety and disaster relief.”

Barack Obama has now called for universal voluntary public service and has pointedly included military service under this rubric. In fact, his plan for the increasing the military is contained in his “service” policy statement, alongside the expansion of AmeriCorps and the creation of a Classroom Corps, a Health Corps, a Clean Energy Corps and a Veterans Corps.

Obama’s position has considerable support. Last year Time magazine profiled the calls of a number of prominent Democrats in a cover story, “The Case for National Service,” supporting a plan to mandate universal service and establishing a cabinet-level Department of National Service. The plan envisioned 419,000 jobs annually for young people between the ages of 18-25 doing one year of “national or military service.”

The reactionary content of “volunteerism” is more and more transparent. Today, however, the decades in which the ruling class has tried to pass it off as being a matter of the majority of Americans helping the “disadvantaged” minority are rapidly drawing to a close. As millions lose their homes to foreclosure and the vast majority of workers struggle to meet the rising costs of basic necessities as unemployment climbs, the fraud of capitalist charity has become clear to many.

Civilian Response Corps–Part 1

An Info Ink Analysis

Recently I have been asked by some what I thought of the proposal of a Civilian Response Corps, a group of volunteers to be used to help wherever help is needed, overseas, states, etc. I did not know as much about the subject as I thought I did and so I went about educating myself on the CRC.

This will be a multi-part analysis as there is more to this subject than meets the eye. This Part 1 is the fact sheet released by the US State Dept.

The Civilian Response Corps is a group of civilian federal employees and, eventually, volunteers from the private sector and state and local governments, who will be trained and equipped to deploy rapidly to countries in crisis or emerging from conflict, in order to provide reconstruction and stabilization assistance.

· They are diplomats, development specialists, public health officials, law enforcement and corrections officers, engineers, economists, lawyers, public administrators, agronomists and others – offering the full range of skills needed to help fragile states restore stability and the rule of law, and achieve economic recovery and sustainable growth as quickly as possible.

· Because no single government entity has all of the relevant expertise, the Civilian Response Corps is a partnership of eight departments and agencies: the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Department of the Treasury.

· Already, the pilot Active and Standby components of the Civilian Response Corps within the Department of State have deployed members to Sudan, Chad, Haiti, Lebanon, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan to assist with conflict prevention and mitigation.

America’s federal civilian workforce has a long and distinguished history of service in difficult environments abroad. Yet the challenges of the 21st century require a significant increase in our capacity to respond quickly and effectively to emerging threats to the security of the United States and our friends and allies. The Civilian Response Corps is intended to provide this capability.

The President has empowered the Secretary of State to coordinate and lead integrated U.S. Government efforts to prepare, plan for, and conduct stabilization and reconstruction activities, and to coordinate with the Secretary of Defense to harmonize civilian and military activities.

President Bush has requested $248.6 million in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget for the Civilian Stabilization Initiative (CSI), which includes the Civilian Response Corps. If fully funded, CSI will:

· Create 250 full-time positions for members of the Active component of the Civilian Response Corps across the eight participating U.S. departments and agencies. These “first responders” are experts who can deploy to a crisis with as little as 48 hours’ notice.

· Train 2,000 “Standby” members of the Civilian Response Corps in the same eight departments and agencies. These are current federal employees who volunteer to undertake additional training and to be available to serve in stabilization missions in case of need. Standby Members are deployable within 30 days for up to 180 days.

· Recruit and train 2,000 “Reserve” members of the Civilian Response Corps: volunteers from the private sector and state and local governments who will bring additional skills and capabilities that do not exist in sufficient quantities in the federal government, such as police officers, city administrators, and port operators.

In the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (PL 110-252) Congress provided up to $75 million in initial funding for the Active and Standby components of the Civilian Response Corps. By launching the Civilian Response Corps as an interagency capability, the funding provided by Congress this year will strengthen our ability to conduct integrated operations advancing America’s interests by helping states avoid or recover from conflict.