Feel the love! Atlanta 30,000-member Megachurch Pastor Creflo Dollar punched, spanked, beat with a shoe and choked his daughter

Did you hear about the Atlanta Megachurch pastor who punched and choked his daughter over something as evil as wanting to go to a party?

Well, now you have.

I’m posting the entire article on this one. The entire Chicago Tribune Article here.

Atlanta megachurch leader Creflo Dollarchoked and punched his 15-year-old daughter, then spanked her with a shoe, during an argument over whether she could go to a party, according to a police report.

Dollar told deputies he tried to restrain his daughter when she became disrespectful. When she began hitting back, the report said, he wrestled her to the floor and spanked her.

Dollar, 50,  is one of the most prominent African American preachers in Atlanta, a well-known exponent of the prosperity gospel, which teaches followers that God will bless the faithful with material rewards.

His church, World Changers Church International, has nearly 30,000 members. The church has 10 satellite churches in half a dozen states.

“As a father I love my children and I always have their best interest at heart at all times, and I would never use my hand to ever cause bodily harm to my children,” Dollar said in a statement. “The facts in this case will be handled privately to further protect my children. My family thanks you for your prayers and continued support.”

Dollar’s wife, Taffi, said she saw her daughter lying on the floor, but did not see a fight.

The church leader faces misdemeanor charges of simple battery and cruelty to children. He has been released from jail and his lawyer told the Associated Press he was expected to preach Sunday.

At 1 a.m. Friday, Dollar’s 15-year-old daughter called 911. She told a Fayette County sheriff’s deputy that she and her father argued about whether she could go to a party the following night. She left the room with her 19-year-old sister.

When Dollar followed her and asked her why she was crying, she responded, “I do not want to talk right now,” according to the report.

“He charged her, and put his hands around her throat and began to choke her,” the report reads. “…He then slammed her to the ground and began to punch her and took his shoe off and started whooping her with it.”

Deputies noted a scratch on the right side of her neck.

Dollar said his daughter could not attend the party because of bad grades. Then he said she became very disrespectful when he asked her why she was upset, according to the report. He tried to restrain her. They wrestled. He spanked her. Then, Dollar told deputies, she began to calm down. He sent her to her room.

The 19-year-old daughter initially gave two statements, a verbal one that corroborated her sister’s story, and a written one that corroborated her father’s story.

When asked about the discrepancy by deputies, she said her parents were with her when she composed the written statement. When separated from her family, she wrote a second statement that matched her verbal statement, deputies said.

Thanks, Tina, for the mind-boggling crazy story that pissed me off. 

Please stop judging Christianity by its enlightened, converted, holy, righteous, exemplary followers

How many times have you heard the following line:

Don’t judge Christianity by her followers, who are fallen, sinful and make lots of mistakes based on the same things they preach against.

Many say that accepting Yeshua magically transforms the human into a super-person with super-person abilities.

Well, check out what these super-people did to transform a 13-year-old kid … with shovels and pliers.

The pastor of a Riverside County storefront church and two of his followers were charged with assaulting a 13-year-old boy who authorities said was disciplined by being pinched with pliers, beaten with a shovel, forced to dig a grave and threatened with death.

Suspect Lonny Remmers, 54, of Corona pleaded not guilty Wednesday to assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a child. Nick Craig, 22, and Darryll Jeter Jr., 28, pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, assault and other felonies, prosecutors said.

They were arrested on Friday and remained jailed Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether they had obtained attorneys.

If convicted, Remmers could face up to seven years in prison. The other men could face up to 19 years and fours month each, said John Hall, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Remmers is the pastor of Heart of Worship Community Church in Corona. There was no phone listing for the church.

The Associated Press called the phone listing for a Lonny L. Remmers in Corona on Wednesday, but no message could be left because the mailbox was full.

Read more:

You know what? When you say that there’s transformation in belief, you can’t say your Christianity is exemplary whilst the followers aren’t.

I mean, I guess you can say it. But no freethinking, evidence-based mind is going to believe it or accept it.

Then you say, “Well, what about Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot … look at all their abuses and human torture in the name of atheism!”

So I guess you’ve won, this time. And this discussion has kicked dead horses all over the internets. We’ll constantly battle with, “My thoughts are better than your thoughts!”

We’ll say, “The crazy people in our camps aren’t nearly as crazy as the nutters in yours!”

Let’s all draw swastikas on each others foreheads and get on with it.

Phew, I’m on a roll this morning.

Via

Pulling our troops out of Iraq

The Internets are abuzz with news of the American military finally leaving Iraq.

How awesome is that.

What a great Christmas present for our military’s friends and families.

I loved this line from an article at NPR from the Associated Press:

The last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border to neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday, whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and relief.

But the writer couldn’t leave well enough alone. The very next line reads:

Their exit marked the end of a bitterly divisive war that raged for nearly nine years and left Iraq shattered, with troubling questions lingering over whether the Arab nation will remain a steadfast U.S. ally.

The article explains that we lost 4,500 troops during the war and over 100,000 Iraqis. Not to mention the over 500 private military contractors.

It also says America spent over $800 billion from the US treasury. $800 billion?

Between dead and injured troops, dead and injured Iraqis, a price tag of $800 billion, and the toll the war took on American (and international) morale, goodness gracious alive I hope we made the right “investment”.

I’m having trouble, because my immediate reaction to this story was to post a big old shot of President Bush with the “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging behind him.

But I refrain. Our military deserves and demands our support. We should give them that respect.

 

Bristol, say it ain’t so

From Think Progress (which probably means it’s a bunch of hooey):

In 2009, Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol joined a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit called the Candie’s Foundation. Today, the Associated Press reported that the Candie’s Foundation released its 2009 tax information, revealing that Bristol was paid a salary of $262,500.

But a closer examination of the tax form by ThinkProgress shows that the group disbursed only $35,000 in grants to actual teen pregnancy health and counseling clinics: $25,000 to the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center and $10,000 to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. View a screenshot of Bristol’s exorbitant salary below:

 

 

View a screenshot of the Candie’s Foundation charitable disbursements below:

 

 

Thus, the nonprofit paid Bristol over seven times what it paid to teen pregnancy prevention groups. In addition, the Candie’s Foundation spent $165,000 on advertising, including this spot with Bristol and “The Situation” of MTV’s Jersey Shore:

Notably, Bristol’s Candie’s Foundation group is run by Neil Cole, an executive at the teenage clothing company Iconix Brand Group. Many critics have pointed out that the Candie’s Foundation appears to be geared towards improving the public image of Cole’s company rather than reducing teen pregnancy.