HOW THE FIGHT STARTED

I rear-ended a car this morning.


So there we are alongside the road and slowly ... the driver gets out of the car . . .


and you know how you just-get-sooo-stressed and life-stuff seems to get funny?



Yeah, well, I could NOT believe it . . . he was a DWARF!


He storms over to my car, looks up at me and says, "I AM NOT HAPPY!"


So, I look down at him and say, "Well, which one are you then?"


.. . . and that's when the fight started .

Friday linkarama

Well, the house cleaning homo had a "plumbing incident" last night at home, and has asked to come at a time that is a.) inconvenient, and b.) will mean that the house will stand dirty over the weekend, which pretty much means I'll clean it myself by then.

Two interesting links about the current financial "crisis." First, the State of New York is (possibly criminally) investigating overly inflated appraisals, mostly relating to a WaMu contract which does NOT revolve around sub-prime lending. Second, just some commentary on the idea that Citi is too big to fail, and the fallacy of that notion, with a link out to a very thoroughly researched piece that's worth reading.

I need to pack up and head into the office - many things await my focus today.

Watching Lewis Black

He's so funny. I went to Netflix to rate it (the new DVD) and there was a new little hyperlink that said "you have 15 unrated movies."

As in, of the movies I've rented from them, fifteen have gone unrated. By me.

So, I thought back - how did I miss that? I clicked through. Well, everything in 2007 was rated. In 2006, too. And 2005. And 2004. Whoops - missed one in 2003. Hm. Fourteen to go - how long have I been a Netflix subscriber? Let's check 2002. Holy toledo! It's the mother load of unrated movies! I found twelve. Now, it's two to go. Uh - How long have I been a Netflix subscriber? Turns out six years and two months.

Holy crap!

Just

click here

Hippo Hump Hay

We arise this morning to find this fabulous and delicious post on my girl "Pam's House Blend."

Talibangelist finances under the Senate microscope
by: pam
Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 06:00:00 AM EST

Pious preachers rail on against moral failures in society, and fixate on what consenting adults do in their bedrooms or the ability of LGBT citizens to obtain equal rights. What they don't talk about from the pulpit is what's going on with the money coming from the pews -- and out in the TV audience. Perhaps that's a little inconvenient.

It hasn't gone unnoticed by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. He's taking a look at the books of some big-name Men of GodTM -- looking for possible financial misconduct. Go, baby.

Letters were sent Monday to the ministries demanding that financial statements and records be turned over to the committee by Dec. 6.

According to Grassley's office, the Iowa Republican is trying to determine whether or not these ministries are improperly using their tax-exempt status as churches to shield lavish lifestyles.

The six ministries identified as being under investigation by the committee are led by: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Three of the six - Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar - also sit on the Board of Regents for the Oral Roberts University.

The ministry watchdog Trinity Foundation, headed up by Ole Anthony, has been leading the charge against televangelists who rip off the flock.

"We've been working with them for two years," Anthony told CBS News. "We have furnished them with enough information to fill a small Volkswagen."

Anthony said after twenty years of working with media organizations to expose televangelists, he saw little reform. He says that's why he turned to another tactic, going straight to Grassley. He is confident that Grassley's inquiry will be different, "What we hope is that this will lead to reform in religious nonprofits."

Fun fact: homophobe Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church marched in Atlanta to "save marriage" with fellow homo-hater Reverend Bernice King back in 2004.

And not just conservative televangelists are under the gun. Read below the fold.
pam :: Talibangelist finances under the Senate microscope
Michael Hussey pointed to this article about ministers Randy and Paula White of the Without Wall Church, located in Tampa; its records have also been requested by the Senate, including:

* Statements for all credit cards used by the Whites since 2004 for expenses related to the ministries, including explanations for clothing and cosmetic surgery.

* A list of expenses paid by the ministries relating to homes purchased by the Whites in Tampa; San Antonio, Texas; New York City; and Malibu, Calif. The letters also call for the addresses and size of each residence.

* The year, make and model of all vehicles and aircraft purchased, leased or maintained by the ministries. Copies of flight records also are requested.

* A receipt and documentation of payment method for a Bentley convertible reportedly purchased by the Whites as a tax-exempt gift for Texas author Bishop T.D. Jakes.

* All domestic and overseas bank accounts and investments belonging to the ministries.

* Names and addresses for the publishers of all commercial-related goods relating to the ministry, such as books and audio-video recordings of sermons.

* Detailed accounting of $871,000 worth of merchandise reportedly sold to the church since 2005 by two private businesses owned by the Whites.

Hat tip, Sylvia.

I be lovin' me some Pammage lately. Last night, she had posted the audio interview of Joe Solomnese by Michael Signorile on Siruis radio - give it a listen. Really, just click on the link, open that page, then click on the embedded player. Signorile, although the lispiest homo you'll hear all week, doggedly pursues actual answers to his very straight-forward questions and Solomnese squirms like bait on a hook. In fact, he's so sleazy that I threw up a little bit thinking "this faux-homo Republiturd represents GAY PEOPLE?"

And it's not just me. I sent the link to a big HRC 'mo late last night, and already this morning he had responded that he's "really concerned" and that "hearing it, when our leader can't consistently explain it is sad."

I think I'll keep my checkbook saddled the next time Homosexuals Raise Cash give me their spiel about being civil rights advocates. I don't like lobbyists anyway.

I have laundry swirling around in the machine, and have already cooked up this morning's oatmeal. A few minutes from now, I'll be headed over to the Valero to stick a few dollars' worth of $3.10 premium unleaded in the car and then off to work.

Some important articles -

This article discusses the wild variable between the treatment meted out to the Conservatives as compared to the "Liberals," aka "mostly Conservatives" by the "Liberal Media." It's very well phrased, and makes some crystal clear points that I've been seeing for years.

I was thinking about this a few weeks back - why would the democrats WANT to achieve the presidency? This post says it so much better than I could have ever done.

Since this is important to reflect upon, and since I know most people don't like to click through and read something - here it is, reproduced for you:

What the Next President Faces
by SusanG
Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 07:10:45 AM PDT

With a hat tip to bumblebums, who linked to this blistering analysis by Charles Pierce in the open thread, all we can say is ... preach it!

Quite honestly, I don't understand why any Democrat wants to be president this time around. It's not just the wreckage that the Avignon Presidency is going to be leaving behind, although that is considerable. (Did you see Himself yesterday? All the cheesy smirking while the Heritage Foundation unemployables cheered his nudge-nudge, wink-winking on torture? It's like being ruled by Torquemada's mall cop.) Monica Goodling's testimony back a few months as regarding the hiring practice at DOJ leads me to wonder how many home-schooled, Christianist, Patrick Henry College yahoos have been salted away within the federal bureaucracy over the past seven years, and how effective a functioning underground resistance they might be. There was a little of this during the transiton from Poppy Bush to Bill Clinton. Cleaning up the debris is going to be hard enough without a bunch of authoritarian toddlers running off at the mouth to the Washington Times, or to whatever Republican legislators may be left after the upcoming bloodbath. The first two years -- which, given the idiotic way we run elections, often are the only chance any president has to get anything done before it's time to run for president again -- are hard enough without being undermined in the government by Bible-banging Mole People. None of these people can conceive of public service as an end to itself. If they're not in it to promote the party -- or, alternatively, "Conservatism," as though that term has any meaning any more -- they're in it to "give witness" to their Personal Lord And Savior, who should be told by any Democratic politician worthy of the name to shut the hell up for a couple of years while we try to repair the damage His fans have done to our country. The first order of business for any Democratic president elected next year should be to appoint unreconstructed hardbars to head the personnel offices throughout the Executive branch whose only job will be to root these people out before they can hurt the country further. The Monica Goodlings should be sent back where they belong -- into a commercial for one of those execrable "Songs For Worship" CD's that seem to be dedicated to ruining gospel music as thoroughly as these people have ruined the Justice department.

He's right, of course. Beyond the obvious tasks of rolling back executive power, the restoration of the rule of law, and a return to at least pretending the Constitution is a guiding document, there's going to be a lot of dull, persistent clerical work for the next president. Not just the personnel matter Pierce (brilliantly) addresses, but all the quirky little policy and standard language this gang has undoubtedly slipped into bureaucratic edicts issued by every executive department and sub-department and sub-sub-department. Think the Patriot Act on a petty and more insidiously seeded scale. The mind boggles.

Speaking of boggling - what a waste this weekend was, in terms of commercial success.
Not just for me, but for everyone at the train show. It sucked, and it sucked out loud.

At least Jeremy had the brilliant idea to photograph all of the model trains while we had them out, and so now it's a matter of using Turbolister to get them all loaded up and listed out on eBay.

I'll have to go to my room and put everything back into the closet, temporarily, while I finish that task.

We're talking about how to decorate for Lurlinemas. Do we put up a tree? Outside lights? Tschotkes (of which I have a great many, courtesy of my mother?)

Do I care? Sort of. I'd like to get even more stuff out of the attic, so I guess I care THAT much. I'm thinking of skipping the whole pagan schlock mess this year, frankly.

I did decide to mostly forego sending Christmas cards. Each year, I've sent out a raft of them, and get fewer and fewer back, as fewer and fewer people actually go through the trouble of buying, writing, addressing, posting and mailing them.

It's not yet 10:00 p.m., and I'm feeling ready for bed.

Why do we bother observing Daylight Savings Time, anyway? It's not like the "farmers," all of whom now are corporations, give a wild turkey. Most of their workers are migrants or indentured servants, it's not like they could complain.

Which leads to an interesting point Jeremy raised today - is the government's reported increase in new jobs created any way related to the huge increase in ICE raids on places of employment, in which bus loads of Hispanic workers are deported back to their home countries?