Mount Virtus

In case you missed this, here is a must-read: a Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Blame Amid the Tragedy” by Evergreen Freedom Foundation president Bob Williams. Here’s a key section:

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

Mr. Williams is a respected personal acquaintance who I will gladly tout to you for his vast experience and his keen intellect, among other favorable traits. And his op-ed today is simply spot on.

Operation Renewed Hope, which is doing terrific work in organizing relief efforts to the victims of Hurricane Katrina – sharing the love of Christ through very real personal ministry – is looking for help from churches and Christian individuals. Read on…

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An update on your opportunity to donate to Operation Renewed Hope. An active online donation link is up that you can access. Click the “Donate Now” button, and you can submit your donation with the requested information. Be sure to put “Hurricane Katrina Relief” in the “Designation (Optional)” blank.

More on Operation Renewed Hope can be found on its main Web site and at this SharperIron post by Greg Linscott.

Whatever organization you choose to contribute to, please be sure that it is legitimate, credible, and does good work. Some examples include the American Red Cross and Feed the Children. And check out Rossputin’s challenge to match some donations – you might want to take him up on it.

The Tax Increase Crew has begun ratcheting up their campaign with guilt and scare tactics to kick off the Labor Day weekend. As reported by the Rocky Mountain News, the state announces that it has an overrun of revenues under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), albeit a smaller amount than projected a few months ago.

“This is evidence that the economy is improving, but we still have less revenues than we did in 2001,” said Henry Sobanet, director of Colorado’s Office of State Planning and Budget.

Next year, taxpayers will receive $15 each in TABOR refunds, an amount that figures to rise in successive years. Or you can vote for Referendum C and give more money for the next 5 years – and beyond – to state government.

Go back and read the quote carefully: The economy is improving. But still one of the justifications being trotted forward for Ref C & D is that there is some sort of crisis, the implication being that the government needs more resources to end the recession. Well, my friends, as a good basic sense of history and economics would have told you, the state’s fiscal engine is revving up just fine with the very modest rate of growth allowed to government under TABOR.

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Are you a Christian and still looking to donate to a good organization that is working with the relief efforts in the Gulf Coast region? Try Operation Renewed Hope.

Why Operation Renewed Hope? Here are some reasons:

ORH has conducted remote jungle medical clinics since 1993, helping thousands who have very limited, or no access to medical care. We are one of the few agencies who work in these remote locations.

Due to our very low budgets and tremendous efficiency, we can remain in areas of need for long periods of time when other, higher budget agencies have pulled out.

ORH does not use project donations for salaries, office expenses or overhead costs. Each individual working with the organization raises his own salary money and support so that 100% of the project money goes to people in need.

ORH recruits doctors and other medical professionals for mission clinics and require them to pay their own expenses. Some other agencies have on-staff professionals which require that donation funds intended for relief are directed towards overhead expenses of facilities and staff.

ORH builds 50 foot mobile medical trailers to use in clinics where roads are available. The average cost for the trailer is $10,000 – Making it an incredible tool for a very low cost.

ORH acquires, stores, and refurbishes used equipment for the needs of medical clinics in nations around the world.

Currently, the online donation feature is not functioning well. I wanted to make you aware of ORH but will look into getting the best information for how to donate and post it ASAP.

Update: You can send a check via snail mail to:

Operation Renewed Hope
c/o Donations
P.O. Box 43242
Fayetteville, NC 28309-3242

The organization’s directors are busily working to put together a plan they can share tomorrow. According to an email from ORH’s president Jan Milton, this is where they are at right now:

1. Southland Camp in LA. has officially offered to be our staging area to conduct relief missions to the stricken churches and areas in New Orleans. The staff there are willing to handle the relief work toward the churches.

2. Todd, director of the camp, has already made contact with good churches in the stricken area who are willing to work with Operation Renewed Hope to qualify those in need of help. These churches will be conducting the actual ministry to the people. They will send to Todd and his staff those who need help.

3. These are the plans that we have.

a. We are seeking 15 to 20 churches who would be willing to help us raise enough money to buy building materials to warehouse at Southland. These materials would be distributed to the people qualified by the Pastor’s in the cooperating churches in the stricken area.

b. We are also asking these churches to help us by supplying workers to help clean away the debris from those people qualified by the cooperating churches in the stricken area.
We also hope to send framing teams to help frame the homes of those qualified.

c. We are also asking each pastor to contact 5 other pastor to be informed of what Operation Renewed Hope is doing in New Orleans. We are not asking the pastor to solicit for ORH. We only ask that they contact and ask the pastors to listen to a presentation about what is being done.

More as updates come….