Charity Begins at Home

Mater horribilis Barbara Bush donated an unspecified amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with the instructions that it be used to buy educational software produced by Ignite!, the Austin-based company owned by her son, Neil. How awfully generous of her to turn a gift to her son’s company into a tax-deductible donation to charity.

Interestingly, a healthy slice of Ignite’s capitalization came from investors in the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai Ports World. Perhaps this partially explains why the Bush administration would risk its dwindling supply of political capital on the ports deal despite a perfect storm of opposition.

Of course, none of this was mentioned on NBC's Today a few weeks back when they allowed Neil's bedraggled-looking son Pierce to come on the show and defend the ports deal.