Wince!!

Just in the past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of high-profile Austinites in the news, and first of all, I must say... I apologize. Please don't judge the rest of us based on a few big-time stinkers.

The first embarrassment is Alex Jones. You may have heard some of his bad crazy on the topic of guns via the rant on Piers Morgan. The Young Turks provide the highlight reel below. This is some really far out craziness:


Alex Jones is an Austin-based conspiracy theorist of THE most wild-eyed over-the-top variety. His website is InfoWars and his shows are called Prison Planet TV. His product is massive paranoia, and a lot of people are buying that nowadays.

The other local chaff is Lance Armstrong. He lives not even a mile from my commuter road. The level of excitement, admiration and inspiration that he brought to people with his amazing performance on the bike - coupled with being a cancer survivor who established a force for good such as the Livestrong Foundation - it was amazing. There have been plenty of athletes disgraced by steroids before, and we are all getting used to that kind of disappointment. I went through that whole Mark McGwire roller coaster when I lived in St. Louis, same kind of thing, but the added cancer-related part of the story elevated Lance to a much higher place in the public's eyes.

Some Livestrong participant/supporter postcards displayed.

Plus, he was just so damned convincing in the lies that most people refused to even entertain the accusations as anything more than mean-spirited jealousy... until they just wouldn't go away, the wheels started to come off. Trouble is, he didn't just wreck himself, his fall injures so many more - folks who really don't need anything else beating down their hopes and dreams.

This is being written the night before the 2-part Oprah confession is revealed, and I am interested in what he is going to say. My prediction is that along with his confession he will point the finger at everything else possible, and I do believe that professional sports are highly poisoned by power, money, cheating, and absolutely wrong-headed priorities. Truly.

Charities helping themselves

It's hard to think of something lower than a charity scam that pops up during a crisis, just when people are ready and willing to do anything they can to help. This article is about several of those scam charities that popped up after 9/11. [see Brett Blackledge - AP]

The American Quilt Memorial raised $713,000 to create a giant quilt. Each person killed would have a decorated sheet, and they would all be stitched together and the final version would be big enough to cover 25 football fields. I am not clear on how or where the quilt was to be displayed.

The founder did create a few hundred sheets which remain in storage. About $238,000 went to him and his relatives. He has spent at least $170,000 traveling (mostly with two large dogs in tow) and continued to run up expenses, such as allowing himself $200 a week for a car, plus his rent, loans and "petty" expenses in the tens of thousands. Not only did he squander the money, he appointed an elderly priest as the chairman of the board - something that was done completely without the knowledge of the priest. [video extra]

"If I made a mistake, I made a mistake. If I did, then crucify me. I never said I was a professional at this."

Then there's the 9/11 Garden of Forgiveness at the World Trade Center site, something that never has and never will exist. Rev. Lyndon Harris raised $200,000, paid himself $126,530 (salary) and spent $3,562 in dining expenses.

Harris said he sees his charity's work as a success even if there is no garden at the site. "I saw our mission as teaching about forgiveness," he said.

How about this one:
Urban Life Ministries of Manhattan raised over $4 million for victims and first responders. Only about $670,000 was accounted for on tax forms that it did file (and taxes were not always filed). Rev. Carl Keyes admitted that they did not keep good records of how the money was spent. His accounting skills were similarly bad for his church's Katrina fund.

"You're going to beat me up in an article because we're bad managers?" Keyes said.

Another one mentioned in the article is called The Flag of Honor Fund, which raised $140,000 for a flag containing all the names of the dead, but the funds ended up supporting a for-profit business which sells the flag at Wal-Mart and only donates a tiny portion to charity.

People really do want to help when it's needed, and there are always going to be a good share of predators ready to pocket their donations. If possible, try and look them up on a site like Charity Navigator, The American Institute of Philanthropy, or BBB. I personally avoid giving to anything that has a religious source, because they have an underlying agenda that is part of their nature - they must deliver their message and are used to using donated money for that agenda - but not all scams have a religious source.

Also, people who are going through tragedy do not need ornamental quilts, flags, flowers, mythical gardens or purchased prayers. They need money, housing, food, income, and health care.

Lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut at the bottom of the Grand Canyon

[LINK] It is hard to top this for pure assholery. A woman driving under the influence of twice the legal limit for blood alcohol, ran over a bicyclist and killed him. Then, during a phone call in her jail cell, she is told that her neighbor remarked that "she should get a medal and a parade because she had taken out a "f***king tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot." Her response to that was laughter! Then, after saying she's not supposed be laughing at that, she adds that she would have to agree.

The Judge called the conversation "breathtaking in its inhumanity". She was sentenced to 10.5 years. She was driving on a suspended license from a previous DUI conviction.