Now...
But they really left a bad taste in my mount after 9-11.
What, exactly, did they do after 9-11 that left a bad taste in your mouth?
Then there is stuff like this: http://www.rense.com/general67/redcr.htm
I got as far as this:
The American Red Cross or the International Red Cross, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank, is an Illuminati-controlled front organization whose true purpose is completely opposite from their stated purpose.
(the first paragraph, as it happens) before I stopped reading. "Illuminati-controlled front organization"? C'mon. Look, there may well be legitimate criticisms to be made of the Red Cross, and I'd love to hear them. But the ARC as a front for a sinister world-girding conspiracy? Be serious.
Marsha Evans makes $450,000/year.
She manages an organization with over three billion dollars a year in revenues and expenses. I don't know much about Evans's qualifications, but I would certainly hope that the board of directors would hire a competent chief executive to manage that kind of money... and offer a salary attractive enough to recruit such a capable executive.
Compare that to the CEO of the Salvation Army.
What is it? I don't know, because as a religious organization the Salvation Army does not have to file the same forms as the Red Cross. I don't have time to do a whole lot of digging, but a cursory look at Charity Navigator, Guide Star, and the Internation Salvation Army's own home page didn't reveal that information.
The Red Cross also had "Administrative expenses" on the order of $170 million. Maybe I'm just some poor white trash, but that is a huge amount of money to me.
That's about five percent of total expenses. Over 90% of the money the Red Cross spends goes to program expenses.
Again, there might be a good case to be made against the Red Cross. If there is, I'd love to see it made, so I know not to financially support them next time. But so far I've seen smearing and innuendo, but precious few facts.