Thanks to your good advice, I decided I’d pass on that FEMA t-shirt ad. You did change my mind. I was leaning in favor of taking it but decided that now isn’t the time. Had a nice email exchange with the advertiser (who got free publicity anyway and who said he’s likely to still donate money to hurricane relief and we agreed that we agree about FEMA).
So you say you rejected the t-shirt ad and you like PETA better?
Jeff, if you’re all that open about opinions, I really, REALLY think PETA should go away and replace it with something useful and not misleading (reference to the Pam Anderson ad) nor hysterical (the actual one)
PETA bought a month and changed its ad from pam anderson and dead chickens to saving animals from the hurricane. once the ad is up, it’s up. is it exploitive? i don’t think so.
More troubling was that you considered it in the first place.
How is sowing more cynicism of FEMA (via catchy t-shirts) going to help anything?
I understand criticism and certainly it is warranted, but there is a difference between constructive and destructive criticism.
You drift into destructive-cynical criticism more and more often these days.
It happens in a lot of blogs.
I suppose sitting all day, every day *railing* about how “I am right” can amount to a kind of self-brainwashing. (but I digress)
I’d suggest focusing your efforts more on constructive activities. We need to make FEMA work better not sow more cynicism about it….
Shalom Jeff,
Thank you for asking. Thank you for listening and thank you for keeping the process transparent. Trolls hate sunlight. Ignore them.
B’shalom,
Jeff Hess
I understand there’s a breakaway wing of PETA that stands for People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.
That’s my kind of PETA… when’s that ad coming up?
Jeff,
the things that im selling on my blog are moving pretty well (and of course all profits are going to the Red Cross).
i dont know if youve ever tried anything with CafePress but ive had very good success with them selling self-published books, and tshirts and stuff.
perhaps you should give it a go. you certainly have the traffic to move some items and thus raise some change.
and although i can understand Right of Center’s concern, the way I look at it is we’re turning a horrible bungle on the part of FEMA and this administration and making it a good thing.
its way better than just bitching on a blog.
in my opinoin.
If you truly feel FEMA is so bad, why haven’t we heard one peep out of Mississippi, Alabama and South Florida about FEMA’s incompetance this week? Have you forgot IVAN and the four consecutive hurricanes that slammed into Florida last year? FEMA was deeply involved in those efforts, but I don’t recall many complaints about FEMA. It’s only when the revisionists try to make FEMA a first level responder instead of a third tier responder that the glaringly inept governments in Louisiana get a hearing from the MSM.
I’m omitting any reference to the breech of levees. The city has never been prepared to handle that, and I can’t accuse the governments on that specific point.
Actually, Ed, Senator Lott blasted FEMA and Mississippi’s state equivalent.
The link is here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/katrina.lott/.
I think that part of the reason that folks haven’t centered on this is that the MSM has focused mainly on NO–not without some justification due to the scope of the disaster, of course, but Mississippi folks are suffering, too.
How is sowing more cynicism of FEMA (via catchy t-shirts) going to help anything?
By getting the unqualified political hacks atop the agency fired for incompetence, if such a thing is even possible in the Bush administration.
One thousand firefighters volunteered from around the country to help with the disaster recovery. FEMA put them in sex harrassment seminars in Atlanta, pulling 50 out to participate in a Bush photo-op.
Who can possibly defend that?
On FEMA… Last year, when Charley hit: here. I live in Lee County, FL (we were the second-hardest hit – Charlotte County got hit hardest). And I can assure you that even though we were not hit as hard as the guy quoted there (he’s in Port Charlotte) – I heard a lot of similar stories here.
Luckily – I didn’t have to deal with them – but I’m not surprised at what we are hearing this year. Not surprised at all. You aren’t hearing the stories, Ed, because no one is reporting them.
[...] asked his readers if he should accept a particular ad because it was exploiting a tragedy. He then decided not to take it, based on comments he [...]