Searchingtoo's Blog

U.S. murders involving young black males soaring By Ed Stoddard Ed Stoddard – Tue Dec 30, 2:45 pm ET

DALLAS (Reuters) – Murders involving young black males -- as victims and killers -- have soared in the past few years, bucking national trends and underscoring the need for more spending on at-risk youth programs, according to a U.S. study released this week.

The study by researchers at Northeastern University in Boston said national statistics showing total homicide rates stabilizing concealed the worsening situation among black U.S. males.

"While overall homicide levels in the United States have fluctuated minimally in recent years, those involving young victims and perpetrators -- particularly young black males -- have surged," the study said.

"From 2002 to 2007, the number of homicides involving black male juveniles as victims rose by 31 percent and as perpetrators by 43 percent," it said.

Northeastern criminal law professor James Alan Fox attributed the trends in part to a steep drop since 2000 in federal funding for local policing and youth violence prevention programs.

"Funding for community policing programs has been cut significantly since 2000. And there had been cuts in delinquency programs," he told Reuters in an interview.

The study said that federal funding for the Community Oriented Police Services program had fallen to around $500 million in 2006 from close to $1 billion in 2002.

BACK TO THE 1990s

"Much of the decline can be traced to the changing priorities following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America. Much of the federal support for law enforcement shifted from hometown security ... to homeland security," the study said.

Complacency also set in because of a sharp decline in crime in the 1990s, it said.

"We need to go back to the strategies that worked in the 1990s," Fox said.

But Barack Obama, who will be sworn in next month as America's first black president, faces many demands at a time of soaring budget deficits and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"In these difficult economic times, the banking and automobile industries have looked to the federal government for assistance. Where is the voice to appeal on behalf of the needs of at-risk youth?" the study asked. "We need an at-risk youth bailout."

Houston stands out among major cities, the report found. The number of blacks committing murder there between the ages of 14 and 24 more than doubled to 313 from 2000-01 to 2006-07.

Fox said the rise was probably due in part to the influx of refugees into Houston from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

During the same time period, the number of whites who committed murder in Houston fell 10 percent.

They quit funding these programs, because they are a waste of time. These youths could care less about becoming productive workers.. they feel they are entitled to a free ride.. the world owes them something.. So, when the handouts begin.. think the crime rate will drop.. or will it rise.. hence them wanting more?

And you have to ask yourself.. How many of the victims.. are also the perpetrators?

A mother is away 15-18 mths at a time in the military and her ex is now suing for custody. He is the one that has been caring for the child while she is gone

Read whole story here.

My question to you.. this used to happen to men all the time. Now the women in the military are whining it is happening to them.. what do you think.?

1. Should they be allowed to retain custody despite the fact they are never there?
2. Should the parent that is always there be allowed to take custody in their absence?
3. Should women make up there mind if they want to be Mom's and stay with their kids, or if they want to travel the world and kill people.. then they should let the presiding parent have custody?

I find it hard to believe that a parent that is absent 15-18 mths at a time, is actually parenting their kids.

People always seem so shocked when someone they knew in passing, a guy they worked with or lived next door to, commits some heinous act. That's because people don't pay attention, they don't really scratch the surface. I don't need to know if Pardo was a good or quiet neighbor, the fact that he was an usher every week at his church, or tended his flower bed, or any of the other unassuming tid bits from his day to day life that will continue to trickle out of news sources in the coming days. I won't bother tuning in to people like the Nancy Grace's or Geraldo's in order to "make some sense" of it all. I can tell you everything you need to know to understand all there is about Pardo, and I can do it in one sentence. "He shot an 8 year old child in the face as she opened the door for Santa". That tells you the guy was a monster.

Read his whole take on the situation here

The writers of the Pitch did a great special on Midtown Miscreant and his colorful blogs.. got to say, I have read this guys stuff for awhile and never dreamed he looked like this

You have to see the video!




Furry thief grabs Christmas present out of grocery store aisle December 24th, 2008 @ 5:11pm By John Hollenhorst

Murray, Utah -- Some people just can't wait to open their Christmas presents. That apparently was the case with a short and very fast thief who went to a store in Murray, grabbed a present and made a clean getaway on all fours.

At Smith's Food & Drug in Murray, a popular place these days is the manager's office, where they have the surveillance video. "You had to see to believe it, but it happened. So, it's crazy," said Tracy Jacobson, with Smith's Food & Drug.

A suspicious character entered through the front door. "I've never seen him shop in here before; brand new customer, didn't even have his Fresh Value card," store manager Roger Adamson said.

What happened next is already becoming legend. "I mean, how likely is that? For a dog to walk into a store, go down the pet aisle, get his bone and walk out?" Jacobson said.

Let's reconstruct the crime a step at a time: Entering at the checkout area, the dog approached a young girl. "He just kind of sniffed the customer up, and then headed down the aisle," Adamson said.

At that point, he had a decision to make: Left? No dog food. Right? Dog food. He turned right and went straight to aisle 16, the dog food aisle.

There are so many fun Christmas presents he could have picked, but he seemed to know exactly what he was after. He grabbed a rawhide bone and headed down the aisle, only to be confronted by the manager.

"I looked at him. I said, ‘Drop it!'" Adamson said. "I decided I wanted to keep all my fingers, so I didn't try to take it from him. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and he ran for the door and away he went, right out the front door."

Marshall Tanner with Alpha Dog Training says the culprit's sense of smell is 100,000 times better than the typical crook.

"[He] smelled the rawhide bone, grabbed it and walked out of the store, thereby being a shoplifting dog!" Tanner said.

At last word, the dog was still at large, presumably enjoying his Christmas gift. "He's enjoying the heck out of it," Tanner said.

The value of that bone is $2.79. Merry Christmas, Balto, wherever you are!

Man in Santa suit kills at least eight at Covina party, police say

Barbara Davidson, Los Angeles Times

Covina Police Chief Kim Raney tells media members about the 8-year-old girl who was shot in the face at a Christmas party as she opened the front door to a man dressed in a Santa suit.

Email Picture Authorities say Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, dressed in a Santa suit, opened fire at a Christmas Eve party and then set the house ablaze. He is later found dead of a gunshot wound. By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Tami Abdollah and Joel Rubin
December 26, 2008 As he had in years past, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo volunteered to serve as an usher at his church's midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

Pardo, however, was miles away from the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church as the religious service got underway. He had driven a rental car from his home in Montrose to the Covina home of his ex-wife's parents. Shortly before 11:30 p.m., dressed as Santa Claus, he approached the front door with a large, wrapped package.

 

• Photos: Man in Santa suit found...

Inside the two-story home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, his ex-wife, her parents and about two dozen others were enjoying their annual holiday party.

An 8-year-old girl ran to answer his knock. When the door swung open, Pardo, 45, shot her in the face with a semiautomatic handgun, stepped into the house and opened fire on the revelers. Amid the chaos, he doused the house with a flammable liquid contained in the package -- a pressurized fuel tank, about 2 1/2 feet tall.

Partygoers fled in panic as the house on Knollcrest Drive went up in flames. They ran to neighbors' homes and frantically called 911. A young woman, according to a neighbor, leaped out of a second-floor window, breaking her ankle.

The 8-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl who was shot in the back survived and were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. Eight bodies remained in the ruins of the house, coroner officials later said.

It was thought to be the worst single killing spree in the county this year. Overall, homicides have remained at relatively low levels compared to previous years.

The investigation, which began quickly and continued into Christmas Day, led to two other Southern California homes: Pardo's and his brother's, where Pardo was found dead. It revealed a divorce, the flammable device like the one Pardo took into the Covina home -- police said they'd never seen anything like it -- and incredulous reactions from people who knew Pardo as a reliable church usher and good, but quiet, neighbor. By late Thursday night, authorities weren't even close to identifying all the victims, although his former wife and her parents are thought to have been killed.

In Covina, police kept firefighters at bay as flames engulfed the house, believing the gunman might still be in the area. About 80 firefighters battled the blaze for an hour and a half before extinguishing it, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mike Brown. The second floor of the house fell to the ground. Palm trees swayed eerily in the smoke.

Pardo had left the scene quickly, driving to his brother's house about 40 miles away in Sylmar. Shortly before 3:30 a.m., the brother summoned Los Angeles police, saying he had come home to find Pardo dead with a gunshot wound to the head. When arriving officers ran Pardo's name through a law-enforcement database, they were alerted that he was wanted by Covina police.

By 9 a.m., a pair of Covina detectives had arrived at Pardo's tan stucco house in Montrose and cordoned it off with tape. A wreath was hung on the front door and candy canes adorned the fence.

An SUV and a military-style Hummer were parked in the driveway.

In midafternoon, authorities approached the house with guns drawn, shouting, "We're police! We have a search warrant!" When no one responded, they used a battering ram to get in. More than two hours later, officers carried away four shotguns, a handgun, wrapping paper and a fuel tank like the one Pardo used in the attack.

A label on the red tank read, "WeFuelFun.com," the website of a company that specializes in fueling devices for all-terrain vehicles. Buchanan, a 30-year police veteran, said the tank Pardo used in the attack was "nothing that we or the arson team had ever seen."

Recently, Pardo had been living in the Montrose home alone, said Det. Antonio Zavala. Court records show that his wife divorced him last September. He "was apparently going through a bad time in his marriage," Covina Police Lt. Pat Buchanan said.

Neighbors said that Pardo had lived in the house with his wife, Sylvia, 43, and her three children for a few years, until she and the children moved out last spring.

The family was often seen walking their dog in the neighborhood.

Pardo, several neighbors said, was a quiet, unassuming man who enjoyed tending his garden and regularly ushered at the evening Sunday Mass at Holy Redeemer.

"Bruce?" said an incredulous Jan Detanna, the head usher at the church, when told about the attack by a reporter on the phone. "I'm just -- this is shocking. He was the nicest guy you could imagine. Always a pleasure to talk to, always a big smile."

Bong Garcia, Pardo's next-door neighbor, said he last saw Pardo between 9 and 10 p.m. Christmas Eve. Pardo, who was dressed in regular clothes, said he was on his way to a party.
Pardo's former wife and her parents, Joseph Ortega, 80, and Alicia Ortega, 70, are believed to be among the dead. Authorities said Thursday afternoon that the bodies found in the house were so badly burned that dental records would be needed to identify them.

The Ortegas lived in a bucolic neighborhood -- their street lined with large homes with swimming pools, valued upward of half a million dollars.

  Tom Minter, 78, who lives a few doors down from the Ortegas' house, was washing dishes when he heard a loud bang. Soon after, police SWAT officers rushed a man and two women who had been at the party into his home, sat them down in the hallway and turned off all lights in the house, Minter said. Both women were crying and the man was talking into his cellphone, saying 'They're all dead, he shot them all,' " Minter recalled.

Gazing at the scene of destruction on Christmas morning, Frank Castillo, 46, stood at the yellow police tape barrier trying unsuccessfully to obtain information about relatives he said had been at the party.

"I want to make sure [they] are OK," he said, choking back tears.

The bizarre case continued to unfold into the night. Bright lights brought in by police illuminated the crime scene in Covina. In searching the rental car in Sylmar, the L.A. County sheriff's bomb squad found a suspicious object.

As they attempted to render the object safe, the car erupted in flames, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. James Bender. Later, police evacuated houses close to Pardo's in Montrose, concerned that he might have left behind bombs.

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello!!!!!!

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips 1 - 9; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, latte i the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David Barry at the Miami Herald has a hilariuos take on what it is like at christmas in Miami

 

Away in a mangy strip club BY DAVE BARRY

 

(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published Dec. 10, 2000.)

Here in Florida (Official State Motto: ``I voted for WHOM??''), we do not have what you would call a typical Christmas season.

For one thing, it never snows, at least not in Miami. Down here, we don't sing ''I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.'' We sing, ''I'm dreaming of a Christmas that is not so hot and humid that I need a coat hanger to un-bunch my underwear.'' Actually, it's a good thing we don't get snow: People down here already have enough trouble driving. For example, we have an inordinate number of accidents caused by people driving into buildings. And these are not buildings that have been carelessly left in the roadway: These are buildings carefully placed off to the side. Yet people drive into them! I suspect that somewhere in the official Florida driver's manual there's a picture of a building with the words: ``If you see one of these, aim straight for it!''

 

So if we ever had snow, it would be horrible. There would be cars on roofs, cars in the palm trees, cars in the Gulf Stream. The only safe place for a pedestrian to stand would be on an actual highway.

Since I've lived here, we did have one cold Christmas -- cold for us, anyway -- when the temperature briefly fell into the 30s. But snow did not fall from the sky. What fell from the sky was: lizards. Really. I went outside on Christmas morning, and lying on my lawn, looking stunned, were at least a dozen bright-green lizards that had fallen out of the trees. These were not small lizards. These things were the size of cocker spaniels, and they had TEETH. That is not a normal Christmas-morning sight. There is no Christmas carol that goes:

Good King Wenceslas looked out

On the feast of Stephen

Saw big green lizards all about

So he said, ``I'm leavin'!''

Nevertheless, even in Miami, we do have our Christmas traditions.

Traditions are an important part of Christmas. For example, when I was a boy, my mom and I had a wonderful tradition that went on for nearly 10 years, called: The Fruitcake Slam. I am not making this tradition up.

Every year, some people we knew thoughtfully sent us a fruitcake that was approximately the same density as the Hoover Dam. And every year, my mom -- who was, take my word for it, the funniest person who ever lived -- would declare, in her brightest June Cleaver voice: ``Look, Davey!''

(She called me Davey.) ``The fruitcake has arrived!''

And I'd say: ''Hurrah! I hope we don't accidentally leave it in the kitchen doorway, like last year!'' Then I'd open the kitchen door and place the fruitcake on the sill.

''UH-oh!'' my mom would say. ''It's getting drafty! I had best close the kitchen door!'' And she'd give the door a mighty slam. Usually the first slam would barely dent the fruitcake, so my mom would give it a few more, the two of us cackling like maniacs. This is still one of my fondest Christmas memories.

Anyway, here in South Florida I have a new tradition, called: Try to Find a Christmas Tree That Was Actually Alive Within the Past Five Years. This is very difficult. Christmas trees are grown up north, and as the tree shipments travel south, all the good trees get taken along the way. By the time the trucks reach Miami, all that's left are these brown, scrawny things that appear to be members of the tumbleweed family.

And even those quickly get snapped up. By the week before Christmas, trees are scarce. Last year, on Dec. 23, my wife and I were driving around, desperately looking for a place that still had trees, when we spotted a guy selling some out of a pickup truck in a parking lot. This was not just any parking lot: This was, I swear, the parking lot of a strip club.

These were not choice trees. Each one had maybe five remaining needles, which was also the number of teeth possessed by the guy who was selling them. But at that point, we were glad to get anything. We picked out a tree, paid for it, and stood there for a moment, basking in our success. It was just getting dark, and the temperature was about 85 degrees. Our Christmas tree's naked branches were bathed in the bright pink glow given off by the sign above us that said, simply, ADULT ENTERTAINMENT.

It was a special moment, a Christmas-in-Miami moment. And at that moment-call me sentimental, if you want-I felt a very special kind of feeling. It was my underwear bunching up.

Local writer NIck Sloan has an interesting take on it:

Yes, Virginia: Santa's A Socialist
Is there any doubt that Santa Claus is either a socialist – or worst yet – a Godless commie?

Consider the facts:

• He gives free stuff to children. What kind of message does that send to children? If Big Santa is there giving them handouts, how far behind is Big Government? Paraphrasing a good friend of mine: In a capitalistic society, children should have to earn those gifts.

• "Gifts" is a cute word for "handout."

• Doesn't the beard look a bit Marxist to you?

• Even if you make mistakes during the year, Santa still bails you out and gives you gifts...err...handouts anyway, even though you don't really deserve them.

• What's up with this talk about Santa being "secret?" Of course, that's how communists work – in secret ways. Whether it's communist propaganda in Hollywood or just anywhere in America, Santa works in mysterious ways.

Dodging shoes, Bush says more work is needed in Iraq By JENNIFER LOVENAP Evan Vucci An Iraqi man throws a shoe at President George W. Bush during a new conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, in Baghdad. A man threw two shoes at Bush, one after another, during the news conference. Bush ducked both throws, and neither man was hit.

On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the unpopular war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of opposition to his policies when a man hurled shoes at him during a news conference.

"This is the end!" shouted the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him.

"All I can report," Bush joked of the incident, "is a size 10."

The U.S. president visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to President-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, adding that the agreement puts Iraq on solid footing.

"The war is not over," Bush said, adding that "it is decisively on it's way to being won."

It was at that point the journalist stood up and threw his shoe. Bush ducked, and it narrowly missed his head. The second shoe came quickly, and Bush ducked again while several Iraqis grabbed the man and dragged him to the floor.

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after U.S. marines toppled it to the ground after the 2003 invasion.

Bush brushed off the incident, comparing it political protests at home.

"So what if I guy threw his shoe at me?" he said.

In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory. Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a war that is intensely disliked across the globe. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died in the conflict, which has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began five years and nine months ago.

Polls show most Americans believe the U.S. erred in invading Iraq in 2003. Bush ordered the nation into war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while citing intelligence claiming the Mideast nation harbored weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, the intelligence was discredited, Bush's credibility with U.S. voters plummeted and Saddam was captured and executed.

For Bush, the war is the issue around which both he and the country defined his two terms in office. He saw the invasion and continuing fight as a necessary action to protect Americans and fight terrorism. Though his decision won support at first, the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.

In the news conference with al-Maliki, the U.S. president applauded security gains in Iraq and said that just two years ago "such an agreement seemed impossible."

"There is hope in the eyes of Iraq's young," Bush said. "This is the future of what we've been fighting for."

Said al-Maliki: "Today, Iraq is moving forward in every field."

Air Force One, the president's distinctive powder blue-and-white jetliner, landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon local time after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington. In a sign of security gains in this war zone, Bush received a formal arrival ceremony - a flourish absent in his three earlier trips.

Bush soon began a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders.

Subject: BEN STEIN'S PROFOUND REMARKS FROM CBS SUNDAY
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The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees..  I don't feel threatened.  I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are:  Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me.  I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto.  In fact, I kind of like it  It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu .  If people want a croeche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians.  I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.  I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country.  I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?  I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.   But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different:  This is not intended to be a joke;  it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.  She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.  And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.  How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.  I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.  Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.  The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.  And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide).  We said an expert should know what he's talking about.  And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.  I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell  Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.  Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.  If not then just discard it... no one will know you did.  But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. 
My Best Regards,  Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Police say they have two new clues that could finally lead to an arrest in the 3 1/2 year old murder case

Read for all the details

Midtown takes on a guy who has made 100's of thousands of dollars suing businesses over handicap parking spaces... enough is enough.. the court has even ruled that he is no longer allowed to sue... that is how bad he is.. He was on vacation in Europe when that went down!

Check it out!

If in fact the government will make no laws in respect to religion, then why are churches on the law as tax exempt?

They will be able to write of f anything that is donated to charities, or used for charitable expenses.. just like anybody else.The utilities, building, payroll expenses, pamphlets they hand out, all would be an expense of doing business.

Do  ministers pay taxes? It is a salary and they go to work like everyone else.

Is a house given to a minister, considered as part of his pay? Or does he pay Capital gains on it? Or at the very least does the church pay gift tax?

If a church is truly blessed, wont God provide plenty of money to give unto God what is God's and give unto Ceasar, what is Ceasar's?

Why did this practice begin? If they werent tax exempt, then they could feel free to have all the same freedoms of speech as everyone else. And if the speech was blessed, wouldnt God make sure they they had all the money that they needed to do his work?

Just curious....

 

In case you thought Miscreant was going to forget one of the most famous urban blights in the area

never fear. He certainly didnt.

Read his latest blog on his now infamous Urban Blight tour.