Thursday, February 26, 2009

Army Emergency Relief Scandal: Stockpiling, Hoarding, and 'Never Mind?'

I haven't found updates from The Associated Press on the 'news' that Army Emergency Relief is - prepare for a shock - connected with the Army. And, even more shocking, gives GIs zero-interest loans.

Not even revelations that soldiers have to qualify for these loans seems to have been enough to rekindle The Associated Press's journalistic zeal.

The story isn't dead, though: local and regional news outlets are still running with it. They're a bit divided on just what it all means, though. Take a look at headlines in "In the News," below.

Using a Buck-Eighty for Every Dollar Given - All Charities Should 'Hoard' Like This

I think one reason that The Associated Press isn't following up on this story is that some inconvenient facts got published.
  • 'Stockpiled' funds were
    • Loans to soldiers
    • Investments whose interest gave AER a 1/1.8 donation/program ratio
A comment on this blog revealed that AER did require that GIs qualify for the loans, and the Army expecting soldiers to pay their debts was revealed in the news.

In my world, having to qualify for a loan, and then pay it back, is a pretty basic expectation. So is investing money, and using the interest. If The Associated Press can be believed, not everybody sees things that way.

Related posts: In the news:

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.