Passing the Collection Plate For Dollar's Defense

"Televangelist faces battery charges

ATLANTA - A 15-year-old daughter of televangelist Creflo Dollar said he choked and punched her after an quarrel, a police report indicated. Dollar faces misdemeanor charges of simple battery and cruelty to children."

"Atlanta pastor denies assaulting daughter" Associated Press, June 11, 2012

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - Megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar staunchly denied Sunday that he punched and choked his 15-year-old daughter in an argument, telling his congregation the allegations made in a police report are nothing but “exaggeration and sensationalism.’’

“I will say this emphatically: I should have never been arrested,’’ Dollar said in his first public appearance two days after police charged him with misdemeanor counts of simple battery and cruelty to children.

The pastor got an enthusiastic ovation from the packed church as he took the pulpit Sunday at the World Changers Church International in metro Atlanta. He addressed the criminal charges head-on for several minutes before moving on to his sermon.

“I want you all to hear personally from me that all is well in the Dollar household,’’ Dollar said.

Dollar, 50, is one of the most prominent African-American preachers based around Atlanta area, with 30,000 members in the Atlanta area and a ministry of satellite churches across the country.

He was arrested after his 15-year-old daughter called 911 at about 1 a.m. Friday and told a Fayette County sheriff’s deputy that she and her father argued when he said she could not go to a party....

Preacher's daughter wanted to go to a party? Hot!

Dollar launched into a lengthy denial of the allegations from the pulpit Sunday.

He said the mark on his daughter’s neck had been there for 10 years and was caused by a skin condition, eczema....

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Also see: Michelle Obama’s ancestry linked to slave owners

Now piss in this cup:

"Unemployed drug users in Ga. risk benefits" Associated Press, June 02, 2012

ATLANTA - Georgians who fail a drug test while trying to get a job could lose their unemployment benefits under a new policy being quietly implemented by the state’s Labor Department.  

When are they going to start testing politicians and the Wall Street crowd?

The agency is not forcing everyone who collects jobless benefits to take a drug test.  

Then IT IS DISCRIMINATORY!

Instead, officials are asking businesses and the public to essentially inform on people who fail a drug test required to apply for a job.

Hey, American, WAKE UP BEFORE IT'S.... oh, it is ALREADY TOO LATE! 

You have GONE TOTALITARIAN under the banner of FREEDOM and you DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT!

It’s a novel strategy, in part because the policy took effect without needing approval from lawmakers.

Record numbers of people have filed for unemployment across the country during the economic downturn, putting a huge strain on states scrambling to come up with the money.  

Oh, they are TRYING TO SAVE MONEY on the BACKS of the JOBLESS (at this point I don't even care about drug use; who can blame them?) while tens of millions of dollars a month roll out the door for debt interest payments, and tens of millions of dollars a year cut in checks to profitable, well-connected concerns.

But cash-strapped agencies can’t afford to test people - and are not allowed to do so under federal law.

Supporters say cutting off the cash for drug users would not only ease pressure on the state’s bank account, but also prevent what they say amounts to fraud.  

Unless the drug is cash, then they are tossed trillions of dollars to correct the crooked schemes they concocted.

“The commissioner feels it is unconscionable for people to defraud the system when so many people need it,’’ said Tom Krause, a spokesman for Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.

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The state is NOT YOUR FRIEND here in AmeriKa. 

I guess that explains the protests:

"Tens of thousands protest in Georgia" Associated Press, May 28, 2012

TBILISI, Georgia - Tens of thousands of people thronged the streets of Georgia’s capital on Sunday to show their opposition to President Mikheil Saakashvili in the largest antigovernment demonstration in three years.  

Why is it all our installed or elected allies are so unpopular, 'murkn?

The protest was seen as a test of public support for the opposition ahead of a parliamentary election in October.

It also was a political coming-out party for organizer Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman who is Georgia’s richest man and leading philanthropist. He made his entry into politics in October, announcing that he was forming a political party with the aim of winning the parliamentary vote and assuming the post of prime minister.

Saakashvili’s second and last presidential term ends in January, and his future plans are unclear. He has not excluded becoming prime minister, a position that will gain additional powers under a 2010 constitutional reform that his opponents said was designed to allow him to remain a political force after leaving the presidency. That would bring unwelcome comparisons to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who spent the past four years as prime minister to accommodate a constitutional ban on two consecutive presidential terms.  

But hey, when it's our guy it's okay 'cuz he's a good guy.

As the participants marched to join the rally on Freedom Square, they carried Georgian flags but also the flags of the European Union and NATO, indicating that support remains high for the goals set under Saakashvili for Georgia to one day join the Western organizations....  

I'm having a hard time believing that these days. 

Who buys a ticket for the Titanic after it's hit the iceberg?

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Also see: Georgia on My Mind