I never made it Falls Creek, the large Baptist church camp in Southern Oklahoma, because I was raised Methodist and going there would be like a Sooner fan rooting for the Cowboys during Bedlam. But I heard it was nice, especially around church camp recruiting season.
I heard from my mother that Falls Creek was going to be opened up for Katrina refugees, an impressive move. Each cabin is owned by a particular Baptist church, which means that Oklahoma hospitality would take over and each cabin would have a small army of Baptist church ladies bringing in a never ending supply of casseroles. Not a bad set up, as these things go.
Then I learn (thank you, Paul), that FEMA has taken over the camp, lock, stock, and barrel. A Baptist family made a trip to the camp to deliver a large load of personally assembled supplies to their church’s cabin, only to discover:
- No food donations to cabins are allowed. Or no non-FEMA food, anyway. Because word of a steak dinner in the next cabin over could cause a riot.
- No cooking in the cabins either. FEMA will supply two (!!) meals a day to each cabin. Oh, and all the peanut butter you can eat.
- Back to the riot: there are no potential rioters at Fall Creek. At all. No refugees are there yet. (I heard about the camp being offered over a week ago.)
- But there are HIPO cars guarding each exit. And soldiers. And at least one military vehicle.
- And a new cell phone tower. So FEMA folks can phone each other instead of having to use one of those embarrasing walkie talkie.
- No clothes donations are allowed.
- The expected 5,000 occupants of the camp will stay there for five months and will not be allowed to leave at all during that time.
- Soldiers have taken over the local Baptist church that sits at the edge of the camp. It is now a barracks.
I wonder if Oklahoma Baptists will stand for this. I’m sure this isn’t what they intended to happen.
The Happy Tutor finds that we’ve rewritten the Social Contract in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
1. Each of us gets what he or she earns.
2. Each may help others if and only if he or she wishes.
3. No one (outide of family and a few friends) "owes" anyone anything except per a properly executed legal agreement, enforceable by law.
4. Government has a monopoly on force and uses it to preserve the system above from internal and external enemies.
[…] in other words, the answer for injustice is more of it: More boots on the ground, more jails, more guns, more graft, more cronyism. And, "giving" by sentimental suckers, really, takes up the slack, here and there, as the wealthy bear it away.
Ah, it’s morning in America again, now ain’t it?
Earlier this week I speculated on Ayatollah Pat Robertson’s thoughts about Hurricane Katrina. Now this group is saying that Baby Jesus destroyed New Orleans to punish it for sin:
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage… "We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said. "May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
Fuck you, Mikey. You and the horse you rode in on.
A disenchanted conservative speaks out about the right’s rapid intellectual detoriation: "The modern pseudoconservative seeks national redemption in good works delivered through the barrel of a gun." A good read.
I was a bit of a "Connections" fanboy back when Chris Lydon was doing that show for NPR out of Boston U. So you can imagine that I was a bit thrilled when I read (via Philocrites) that yours truly’s comment was read (paraphrased, really) on the "God 2.0" episode of his new show, "Open Source." (Download the mp3 here. My comment is 43 minutes in.)
I remember sending the comment in a while back (it’s one of their first shows) when I heard Chris was back up and running, and I clicked over double quick when I saw it was about godblogging. But I missed the show that next night, and they hadn’t quite got the podcasting in fighting shape yet. Glad to learn they re-podcasted it.
