Atrios directs us to this story, which points out that Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing is high on FEMA's list of recommended organizations for Katrina donations.

There are more reasons to object to this than just the obvious ones. For instance:

In 1994, ... Robertson told viewers Operation Blessing was using cargo planes to aid refugees from Rwanda who had fled into the neighboring nation of Zaire (now known as Congo) to escape a violent civil war.

Investigators later discovered that Robertson was using the planes, intended for relief efforts, to haul mining equipment in and out of Zaire for the African Development Corporation (ADC), Robertson's for-profit diamond-mining company. Robertson later said the planes had proved impractical for relief work and insisted he had reimbursed the charity for ADC's use of them.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper noted that state officials criticized the charity for sloppy bookkeeping and for mixing non-profit and for-profit activities. It also pointed out that Robertson reimbursed Operation Blessing for ADC's use of its airplanes in two stages. Investigators determined that ADC owed Operation Blessing $468,773, and Robertson ultimately gave the group $572,597, although $400,000 of the debt was not paid until two months into the official investigation.

Investigators with Virginia's Office of Consumer Affairs concluded that Robertson "willfully induced contributions from the public through the use of misleading statements and other implications." In fact, the office recommended prosecuting Robertson in 1999 for making deceptive appeals about his charity but was overruled by the attorney general's office. Lawyers in the attorney general's office, headed at the time by Mark Earley, agreed Robertson had made inaccurate statements but decided against prosecution. (Earley, a long-time political ally of Robertson, accepted $35,000 in campaign contributions from Robertson in 1997.)

And prior to that:

As of 1987 Robertson reported that Operation Blessing had sent more than $3 million in aid to the Nicaraguan refugees. [His] CBN [Christian Broadcast Network] gave the $3 million to the contra's Houston-based Nicaraguan Patriotic Association, according to Juan Sacasas, Vice President of the group and representative of the FDN contra force. Robertson denies any connection with Sacasas. However, there is little question that the Operation Blessing donations reached the contra forces. Robertson was so popular among them that one group named itself the Pat Robertson Brigade.

Jesus wept.