As mentioned in this post, I was waiting for Foundation Beyond Belief to put up a crisis response page. If you were thinking of making an aid donation, go here to help victims of the Oklahoma tornado.
I’ve seen some reluctance to donate because Oklahoma’s senators, Coburn and Inhofe, are fucking selfish scumbags. Don’t let that hold you back — the children who were killed or hurt or made homeless didn’t vote for them, so just think of them when you dig into your pockets.
(Also, apparently my very general link from last night led to about $3000 in donations — you can do better now that you’ve got a specific focus!)
Colburn has already stated that any emergency funds for Oklahoma must be balanced by cuts in other spending. Nice guy. I say they get balanced by an increase in taxes on fracking natural gas from OK.
However he did vote for Hurricane Sandy relief (it passed the senate unanimously, it was the house that had a bunch of republicans (including 2 from OK) vote against Sandy relief.
Ugh, now i’m reading Inhofe and Colburn opposed Hurricanse Sandy relief. Could’ve sworn it passed the senate unanimously. Here’s Inhofe saying he’s for OK relief because it won’t be a slush fund:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/05/inhofe-oklahoma-disaster-relief-will-be-different-than-slush-fund-for-sandy.php?ref=fpb
I was going to donate through the Red Cross but decided to go with FBB instead. In addition, my company has a matching policy so my contribution is doubled. As much as I detest Inhofe, Colburn, and much of Oklahoma, we’re all in this together and its the right thing to do.
@Larry, #3:
The fact that non-sociopaths are always willing to let bygones be bygones and help sociopaths is why sociopaths always end up winning. At this point, I’m really starting to think we ought to just say “the heck with this, if Oklahoma (Texas, North Carolina, etc. etc. etc. with the Usual Suspects) can’t be bothered to behave like human beings, then let’s treat them like the sub-humans they apparently want to be, and stop helping to clean up their mess”. We can’t save everyone everywhere, why not concentrate on the ones who will actually appreciate the help? (Oklahoma sure won’t — I guarantee you that if Inhofe and Coburn run again, they will be reelected, and the next time there’s a disaster in a blue state they’ll be in there trying to gum up the works again.)
(And yes, sure, there are nice people in Oklahoma who don’t deserve the bad treatment. That’s always going to be the case no matter who we choose to help. There are nice people in Iran, nice people in China, nice people in North Korea — in fact, I’d be willing to bet that there are more nice people as a percentage in Iran than in Oklahoma. But as a purely practical matter, I’d prefer that aid goes to help an area which is majority-nice than places like Oklahoma where the idiots and jerks outnumber the nice people by a substantial margin.)
Inhofe and Colburn are not the only right wing fanatics piling a layer of obfuscatory shit on top of a tragic situation. If we can counter these idiots, even in a small way, with our donations, let’s go for it.
Yeah, that’s right. The government has “weather weapons” and steers them toward Moore, Oklahoma to kill a few innocents and thus show we the peons the power of Obama. Sheesh.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/05/21/alex-jones-explains-how-government-weather-weap/194167
In case you would like to dismiss Alex Jones as just too far right and too mentally unbalanced to be taken seriously, even by Republicans, consider this:
What is a favorite source for Michelle Bachmann, a source that was even used by Mitt Romney during the campaign for the presidency? The Drudge Report.
I am already seeing “weather weapons” discussion in the far right blogosphere. I don’t think pundits like Alex Jones can cover their asses by adding that they’re not really sure if the government used weather weapons in Oklahoma or not. Disingenuous.
More on the hypocrisy of Inhofe and Colburn when it comes to financial aid for disaster zones:
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/inhofe_and_coburn_red_state_hypocrites/
More coverage of the “Tornado Truthers” — http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/alex_jones_admits_government_may_not_have_caused_tornadoes/
My local right wing radio (by far largest radio station in relatively large metropolitan area) is discussing the Oklahoma tragedy by delivering a long rant on the evils of the left using this to trump up the myth of global warming. There was a long rant on how humans somehow are too puny in gods green earth to effect the climate and the “consensus of scientists” is irrelevant since science is not about consensus. They learned their Rush EIB propaganda really well. Not only heartless, but completely outrageously stupid at the same time. But then again that’s the right wing.
I’m of half a mind to tell Oklahoma to go fuck itself and find its own libertarian way of dealing with this tragedy consistent with the two asshole senators. But then again, I am an atheist, I think reason and compassion trump ignorance and poetic justice even in Oklahoma. Too bad.
If democrats had any spine they would attach a large set of funds as condition of the relief to study the causes of natural disasters or global warming as a precondition for support. Of course we know they are mostly spineless weenies, so we know that won’t happen, but one can fantasize.
Screw Inhofe and Coburn, I’m not going to let those assholes keep me from trying to help the people affected by the tornadoes. I sometimes get sent out to school for my job, to Norman, OK (just south of Moore) and I’ve driven through that area any number of times. They seem like nice people for the most part, even if they elected those two shitstains.
Donation sent, through Foundation Beyond Belief.
I am a citizen of Oklahoma. Though I live some distance from Moore, I still wish to thank the Foundation Beyond Belief for its concern and aid to people of my state.
As for Inhofe and Coburn, I loathe their politics.
Yea, it does seem hypocritical to support punishing the Iranian and North Korean people, but not the people of Oklahoma, for not deposing their anti-social leaders. At least Inhofe and Coburn can’t stop the FBB from helping the innocent victims in their state (ha, ha, you heartless sacks of crap, throwing the people you’re elected to serve under the bus to score ‘bagger points, frickin tools).
@mikeyb
#9
Suddenly, analogy.
Climate is like a heavyweight boxing champion, and climate change is like a kid poking him with his finger.
Sure, we’re not going to “effect” the climate much (in the sense that we’ll destroyed the “climate”), but he can very well punch that kid out.
I donated, but I am more worried about feeding into the “We don’t need govment ‘cuz we can take care of ourselves” mentality. Or as The Vicar put it @ #4, “The fact that non-sociopaths are always willing to let bygones be bygones and help sociopaths is why sociopaths always end up winning.”