Ed Young addresses the WFAA report
One of my readers alerted me that Ed Young addressed the WFAA report in front of his church. I listened to a lot of it, and here are some notes in case you are interested:
- The plane is addressed around the 5:00 mark
- The house around 7:00
- Retirement and investments around 8:24
- His publishing company around 9:20
- Salary around 10:20
- Members of the board addresses the issue around the 12:00 mark
Even though he discusses his salary, he doesn’t mention exactly what the church pays him or if he is allowed a parsonage allowance, but then again I didn’t listen to the entire 25 minute clip, so maybe he or the two board members addressed it, and I think it would be something one could find on the church’s website.
U.S. soldier ‘waterboarded his own daughter, 4, because she couldn’t recite alphabet’
A soldier waterboarded his four-year-old daughter because she was unable to recite her alphabet.
Joshua Tabor admitted to police he had used the CIA torture technique because he was so angry.
As his daughter ’squirmed’ to get away, Tabor said he submerged her face three or four times until the water was lapping around her forehead and jawline.
Tabor, 27, who had won custody of his daughter only four weeks earlier, admitted choosing the punishment because the girl was terrified of water.
Ralph Lauren tailors Team USA for Vancouver Games entrance
Designer Ralph Lauren’s love of all things American is extending to Team USA once again.
When about 150 athletes walk in the opening ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games Feb. 12 in Vancouver, they’ll wear navy puffer jackets, winter-white tapered pants and Fair Isle knit hats from the Polo Ralph Lauren Olympic collection, which is inspired by the 1932 Lake Placid Games.
Turkey Cheese Fries
Beware, watch this video, and this song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
Heinz revamps ketchup packet to new dip and squeeze design
The ketchup packet has been around for more than 40 years, and complaints about it for nearly as long: too messy, too small, too hard to open. Now ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Co. is unveiling the first major packaging change to the to-go condiment. The new design has a base that’s more like a cup for dipping and also a tear-off end for squeezing, plus it holds three times as much ketchup than a traditional packet.
“The packet has long been the bane of our consumers,” said Dave Ciesinski, vice president of Heinz Ketchup. “The biggest complaint is there is no way to dip and eat it on-the-go.”
Heinz has long struggled to find a design that lets diners dip or squeeze ketchup that could also be sold at a price acceptable to its restaurant customers. For this effort, it bought its design team a used minivan two years ago to test if their ideas really worked while eating on the road.
Five Women Ten Vaginas
This reminded me of an old joke my father once told me, about the Hispanic that had two penises, he called one Jose and the other Hose B.
Bag of Randomness
- Congrats all Saints fans, especially to you Shawn and WifeGeeding II. Let this moment sink in.
- And just like that . . . football season is over.
- And to think that Super Bowl winning Coach Sean Payton once was a Giants’ assistant who got his play calling duties taken away by Jim Fassel. And to think he use to be a Dallas assistant. And to think the Dolphins had a choice between Brees and Culpepper, and went with Culpepper. And to think Saints owner Tom Benson use to get death threats.
- Former Southlake QB Chase Daniel ‘earned’ a Super Bowl ring last night.
- Somewhere in a place called Minnesota are a bunch of bitter football fans.
- Maybe the football gods took their vengeance out on the Colts for not going for that undefeated record. Doesn’t matter, Saints deserved this one.
- To be a coach and be carried off the field by your players must be one amazing feeling.
- I love how the NFL tries to connect the past with the present, having a Hall of Famer present the Lombardi Trophy.
- For the record, I was listening to the Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” before it was cool or even before it was on everything third Super Bowl commercial.
- I thought Emmit Smith was trying to hurt someone with that coin toss.
- That Letterman, Oprah, and Leno commercial was a big shocker. Probably the biggest surprise of ANY Super Bowl commercial I have ever seen. I want, no I need to know the story behind that commercial. Per some tweets, they were all in the same room. Amazing.
- Super Bowl commercials sure did have a lot of Lost themes.
- Hey Godaddy.com, I never had the urge to go online and check out the rest of your commercials. Your bit is old.
- The Who had one heck of a stage, but man, they looked and sounded old.
- I can’t help but think that the Jonas Brothers will be the halftime show entertainment for next year’s Super Bowl in North Texas.
- I like Sean Payton’s aggressiveness, goes for it on fourth and one on the goal and the onside kick.
- Sounds silly, but I like it when the NFL thanks the fans.
- Hey CBS, it’s perfectly OK to replay that Megan Fox commercial more than once. I’m just saying.
- I was happy to hear that former New Orleans Saint Rickey Jackson is part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2010. But the announcement made me sad, here he was waiting on pins and needles for his name to be called for perhaps the biggest moment of his life, and the announcer called him Randy Jackson, as in the American Idol judge. Sheesh.
- I was also a fan of John Randle, loved his story, and glad to see he made it. Of course I’m happy to see Rice and Emmit go, but I just don’t like how Emmit has gone all primadonna on us. Recently he was whining that he wanted to be the featured (last to speak) inductee come this fall.
- Tim Brown deserves to get in, but I have a feel it will be a while.
- A 13-year-old boy has made a verbal commitment to be the next QB of USC – from the sounds of things, he’s the Lebron of football, the kid is already six feet tall. ESPN Update: Here’s video of the kid.
- A toilet that reuses a sink’s wastewater
- More students are taking Advanced Placement tests, but the portion that fails them are raising, especially in the South.
- One image that sticks in my mind for some reason is when President Obama mentioned tax cuts during the State of the Union and all the Republicans just sat still and emotionless. I guess that image came back in my mind when I watched the entire O’Reilly/Stewart interview – which was fantastic.
- Best pizza in America tournament
- In all honesty, I don’t think I would like a transparent monitor.
- I had a dream where I was watching the candidates for Texas governor debate and Jeff Probst was the moderator. He wasn’t doing anything cheesy or survivor-ish, but was serious and very eloquent.
- Even though I feel like Sarah Palin is doing a bit of grandstanding with the whole r-word thing, I don’t know where I stand on that word. I certainly don’t think it’s as offensive as the n-word, but can understand those who are sensitive towards the r-word. It is interesting how she calls for a White House official to be fired for the use of the word, and then we learn that one of Gov Rick Perry’s staff used it as well as Rush Limbaugh’s frequent use of it.
- A very interesting drain for those that always get clogged sinks.
- It seems like women health issues get more attention than men health issues. The wear pink campaign sure is big, heck even NFL players are wearing pink, and recently people were suppose to wear red for women’s heart health awareness. Off hand, can’t think of one male health related campaign.
- The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien had an awesome set, here’s what’s left as of Feb 5.
- I’ve never hid the fact that I’m not very good when it comes to things grammar related, that being said, I’ve been having trouble trying to figure out if some words should be compounded or not.
- It’s been neat seeing North Texas get prepped for the NBA All-Star game. The buildings in downtown have NBA players on them, and there’s a bunch of hype about all the parties celebrities are going to throw.
- That show that came on right after the Super Bowl, Undercover Boss, seemed OK, and a bit heart tugging, but seemed a bit scripted.
- Mario Timeline
- A blog about putting weird things in your coffee.
At least she didn’t use a teleprompter
It’s like she’s staying one step ahead of any of the comedy writers. I really don’t think there’s anything this woman can do to surprise me anymore. Come on, Sarah, prove me wrong.
Talk to the hand, Sarah, talk to the hand.
Fellowship Church and Pastor Ed Young Luxury Cover-Up?
Of course the private jet is extravagant, and in my view so is a $240,000 a year for a parsonage allowance, which is not part of what sources say is part of his $1 million pastoral salary. I’m thinking the salary thing should be easy to find out, as just about all churches make staff salaries available, but I wonder if that salary is addition to work he does outside of the church, like writing books and speaking engagements.
As I’ve written before, I’m often torn when it comes to the salary of pastors. Of course I don’t expect them to live in poverty, and I certainly want them to be compensated fairly, it’s just I don’t know how to define fairly. I remember once being asked if I thought a pastor that does the same amount of work as a CEO of a large corporation should get paid the same as that kind of CEO, since the work is about the same in terms of scope and managerial manpower. And I still don’t feel like they should, just as a generals and commanders in the military have similar roles as a CEO or a mayor and governor yet get paid well less, because they do it out of love for country.
I took at look at the church’s website and there is no official response, but Young did make an entry on his blog where he seems to be dismissive of the report he hasn’t even seen. Part of it is posted below:
A local reporter has spent what seems to be a great deal of time investigating me concerning my integrity as the leader of Fellowship Church. We have not seen the piece that was aired, nor will we give credence to it by watching. We do know that the report is scathing and creates the idea that I, along with my wife Lisa, have been dishonest in our business dealings and with our use of Fellowship Church as a means of obtaining personal wealth.
The reporter sent an email request for information, but refused to give us any details or information that he obtained from an anonymous source. He only said that he has spoken with former staff members about us. But we have no verification of who he has spoken with. We do not know his source(s) and it is irrelevant to us. What we do know is that this report was made based on fragments of information gathered out of context and anonymously, and that it disregarded documented information that the Board of Directors for Fellowship Church is privy to and that is known by legal counsel and accounting audits.
The piece insinuates that I keep secrets from the congregation of Fellowship Church and that I use Fellowship Church to create personal wealth. Let me say very clearly, Lisa and I have no secrets.
My life is lived in an aquarium, and I am not ashamed of that fact.
America’s Biggest Rip-Offs
- Text messages – 6,500% markup
- Movie theater popcorn – 900% markup
- ‘Free’ credit reports that’ll cost you
- Name-brand painkillers – 60% markup
- Wine at restaurants – 500% markup
- College textbooks – $900 a year!
- Super gasoline – 15% markup
- Hotel mini-bars – 1,300% markup
- Hotel in-room movies – 200% markup
Turkish girl, 16, buried alive for talking to boys
Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl they say was buried alive by relatives in an “honour” killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys.
The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.
Police made the discovery in December after a tip-off from an informant, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on its website.
The girl had previously been reported missing.
The informant told the police she had been killed following a family “council” meeting.
Caffeinated Maple-Bacon Lollipops
We invented the Maple Bacon Lollipop, and now we’ve improved it: we’ve made it the bacon-y equivalent of an energy drink, adding two cups worth of caffeine to the already time-tested wonder of organic, sustainably farmed bacon and delicious Vermont maple syrup.
‘Drunkest’ U.S. cities
“Drunkest” cities:
- Fresno, Calif.
- Reno, Nev.
- Billings, Mont.
- Riverside, Calif.
- Austin
- St. Louis
- San Antonio
- Lubbock, Texas
- Tucson
- Bakersfield, Calif.
“Least drunk” cities:
- Boston
- Yonkers, N.Y.
- Rochester, N.Y.
- Salt Lake City
- Miami
- Newark
- Durham, N.C.
- New York City
- Fort Wayne, Ind.
- Manchester, N.H.
Three Texas cities making the “drunkest” top ten didn’t surprise me, especially Lubbock because from what I hear, out of all Texas schools, Tech students loves them some beer.
But seeing Boston as the #1 least drunk city was quite surprising to me. While visiting a few years ago, it seemed like there were quite a few bars with lots of Red Sox fans drinking and enjoying the game. I guess they just know how to drink responsibly.
Rare ailment makes girl, 13, look like she’s 50
For some folks, turning 50 can trigger a midlife crisis. But due to a cruel blow of nature, Zara Hartshorn is forced to deal with it at the tender age of 13.
Though barely a teen, Zara has the appearance of a 50-year-old, something that saps her confidence just when most young people are striving for self-esteem. The Rotherham, England, teen suffers from lipodystrophy, a syndrome that causes the supporting fatty tissue under the skin to crumble even while the skin continues to grow, often at an alarming rate.
