This story is kind of interesting, because it’s the classic example of a story where the lede was chosen on sexiness, not because of what the story is really about. The hook is a “whodathunkit”.

Profit margins on gasoline sales are razor thin. Indeed, some gas stations are losing money on credit card sales, once the fees are factored in.

How do they stay in business? More and more a gas station’s bread and butter is, well, bread and butter — and the coffee and candy bars it sells in its convenience store. Most of these items generate much higher profits than gas…..

Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, estimates that gasoline accounts for 70 percent of a typical station’s revenues, but only 30 percent of its profits.

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(UPDATE: The latest flap is that Hillary hasn’t paid her staff’s health care premium to the tune of $292K. FEC filings show unpaid bills to provider Aetna for at least two months. Good lord, this PR problem is beyond the pale. Here is Clinton’s FEC filing, and Obama’s.)

The Clinton campaign is trying to keep its financial operation afloat as it hits the next slew of primaries, but this is bad PR any way you look at it. You can’t sell yourself as a president ready to give hope and help to working families when you stiff small vendors who have made you look good on the road. Even worse, when vendors have contacted the campaign to see when they might be paid, no one responds. (The Politico):

Event production is important to big-time presidential campaigns. It shapes how candidates look and sound, not just to the thousands of people who turn out to campaign speeches and rallies but also to the millions who catch snippets of them on television.

And word is getting around that Clinton’s campaign does not promptly pay those who labor to make her events look good, said an employee of the event production company Forty Two of Youngstown, Ohio.

…The Clinton campaign paid the company $16,500 to set up a stage, press riser, sound system and backdrops at a Youngstown high school last month for a raucous union rally, where an aggressive Clinton stump speech drew thunderous applause. But the Clinton campaign has yet to pay Forty Two for two other February events, and the employee said the campaign has stopped returning phone calls, e-mails and didn’t respond to a certified letter.

More below the fold.
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Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6 bln. That’s a megadeal to try and kill Google, since the House that Bill Built has had little success in the online ad world.

Online advertising sales will double from 40 billion dollars in 2007 “to nearly 80 billion in 2010,” it forecast.

Yahoo would offer Microsoft a search engine to compete with Google, a popular web portal for email, shopping and news, as well as one of the most recognized brands among online users.

…Yahoo has been hit by sluggish revenue growth despite launching a new online advertising platform a year ago and having hundreds of millions of users worldwide.

Under the Microsoft offer, Yahoo shareholders can elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft stock, with its total offer consisting of one-half cash and one-half stock.

I never use MSN/Hotmail or whatever they are calling it these days. I do have a Yahoo account as well as Gmail, and Yahoo’s webmail client is extremely pokey. This potential consolidation only highlights the possibility that “freemail” may not have much of a lifespan left. What do you think the impact of this may be if the deal goes through?

And the biggest question of all - when do we expect to see Ken Hutcherson’s mug again, bleating about his master plan to bring Microsoft to its knees by asking evangelicals to buy up enough shares of MS (buy 3, give him 1) to have a majority vote and run the software giant in the bible-based tradition they believe in? A flashback to his threat:

Ken at the MS shareholder’s meeting: “I am a black man with a righteous cause with a whole host of powerful white people behind me. I don’t care how big Microsoft is … “They are nothing but a feather in the wind of God. America basically got started with a tea party and Goliath, if I’m not mistaken, got taken down by David, who believed in the same cause I believe in. “I’m going to go after the new Goliath with one little rock called a share and I’m going to make them tremble before we get through.”

I guess Yahoo should start trembling right about now…

The Bush economy keeps chugging along because of the sub-prime mortgage debacle. And Citi is looking for a foreign bailout; ah, the $elling of America continues because of greed. (CNBC):

Citigroup could write down as much as $24 billion due to subprime and credit-related losses, CNBC has learned. In addition, the company could lay off as many as 20,000 workers as part of a comprehensive plan to slash costs and raise capital.

Citigroup also intends to raise as much as $15 billion from various foreign and domestic entities including Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Citigroup’s largest individual shareholder, as America’s biggest bank grapples with heavy mortgage market losses.

And by the way, in other, distressingly similar news:

Merrill Lynch Mortgage Losses Could Reach $15 Billion. Looks like the bull’s “boys” will get squeezed hard, and it’s looking for more money from friends abroad.

Merrill Lynch is expected to suffer $15 billion in losses stemming from soured mortgage investments, almost double its original estimate, prompting the firm to raise additional capital from an outside investor.

…To shore up its deteriorating finances, Merrill is now in discussions with investors in the United States, Asia and the Middle East, including American private equity firms, to raise about $4 billion in the coming days, these people said.

The developments underscore the rising toll that the mortgage crisis is taking on many once-proud Wall Street banks. In recent months Merrill and several other firms have grabbed financial lifelines from wealthy foreign governments. Further investments by so-called sovereign wealth funds could prompt scrutiny by Congress.

…Merrill is hardly alone in seeking capital from overseas. United States financial institutions have raised more than $29 billion from foreign governments and their related investment entities, according to the market research firm Dealogic.

Well word has it that it was insane. Mike Signorile went toe-to-toe with Seattle-area bible beating fantasist homophobe Ken Hutcherson on Sirius OutQ today.

Listen and learn about Pastor Hutch’s master plan to bring Bill Gates to his knees by asking evangelicals buy up enough shares of Microsoft to have a majority vote and run the software giant in the bible-based tradition they believe in. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and religious pundit Gary Bauer are already signed up for the effort!

[J]ust to gain a 1 percent stake in Microsoft, about 31 million people would each have to spend $104 to buy three shares. Microsoft has about 9.36 billion outstanding shares, and its largest holder is Chairman Bill Gates, with 858 million shares, or 9 percent of the total. Capital Research and Management Co. follows with nearly 557 million shares, or 6 percent.

Part of the master plan is, of course, a fundraising effort — Rev. Hutch wants his fundie flock to buy three shares and give him one to help support his selfless mission.

Here is the mp.3. You can also use the player below. Enjoy.

I was up getting dressed this AM and heard a report by Ali Velshi, CNN’s senior business correspondent, about the latest “bend over” practices by credit companies.

Some of these sharks are bumping the interest rates of customers up to 30% — even if they never miss a payment, never are late sending in a payment — simply because their credit score dips a few points.

What’s wrong with this? Your credit score can take a hit for simply opening a new card account with a retailer (Velshi cited a department store card as an example). It can also take a hit if your credit is checked by vendors too frequently in a short period.

This practice is so egregious that CNN reported that both Citicorp and Chase have announced that they will cease doing this; Congress is looking into the matter since it’s clear most credit card companies refuse to police themselves as they rape customers with otherwise good credit history. (AP):

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, is holding out the club of possible legislation to spur voluntary changes.

“Working people are being squeezed,” Levin told reporters Monday. In a call for “good, strong legislation” to be enacted next year, Levin said that “these abuses need to be remedied. … We have some real momentum for reform.”

On Tuesday, Levin’s subcommittee, which has been investigating the industry, will look at how credit-card issuers raise consumers’ rates — to as high as 30 percent — when their so-called FICO credit scores decline even if they’ve paid credit card bills regularly and promptly. In many cases, consumers have little notice of the increased rate, which are automatically triggered by declines in FICO scores for reasons left unexplained, the subcommittee found.

…Ken Clayton, managing director of card policy for the American Bankers Association, which represents the banking industry, said: “Costs for nearly every product can change, be it because consumer’s risk profiles change or because underlying costs change. Credit cards are no different.”

It’s pretty clear that the banking industry is roiling over sub-prime follies and want the responsible consumers out there to pick up the tab. It will be interesting to see what position Joe Biden, presidential candidate and a senator from Delaware and home to most of the credit card industry, will come down on all of this. He voted for the damn bankruptcy bill.

Tee hee — that’s the AP headline. The fundies are mad at the Mittster for not doing anything about Marriott Hotels offering in-room porn to its customers when he was on its board. (KUTV):

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, who rails against the “cesspool” of pornography, is being criticized by social conservatives who argue that he should have tried to halt hardcore hotel movie offerings during his near-decade on the Marriott board.

…”Marriott is a major pornographer. And even though he may have fought it, everyone on that board is a hypocrite for presenting themselves as family values when their hotels offer 70 different types of hardcore pornography,” said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an anti-pornography group based on Ohio.

…Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a leading conservative group in Washington, said: “They have to assume some responsibility. It’s their hotels, it’s their television sets.”

Burress, you might recall, also owns the web site CleanHotels.com, a listing service to alert travelers where there is no availability to order such pay-for-play content. Pay per view porn generates up to $500 million for the hotel industry,  so it’s not going away.

Never mind that a ChristiaNet poll last year found 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography. One assumes some of them are ordering up porn when they are on the road.

Romney brushes aside the criticism, apparently giving porn the thumbs up for adults — he’s just concerned about kids.

Romney said his current concern is not about pornography per se, but children unwittingly stumbling upon it on the Internet or television.

“I am not pursuing an effort to try and stop adults from being able to acquire or see things that I find objectionable; that’s their right. But I do vehemently oppose practices or business procedures that will allow kids to be exposed to obscenity,” the former Massachusetts governor said.

Well, I hate to tell him, but that answer isn’t going to appease the bible beaters, who don’t want any eyes on fornication on the idiot box.

Fixed that for you, Salon

Let me state up front that I love ads. Well not so much ads as what ads do for me. To wit: Advertising allows me to get shit for free.

I’m aware of the economic arguments that time spent watching ads is unproductive time, and therefore not, in fact, free, but if I’m already watching a television show that I enjoy, I’m not working. Would I spend eight minutes saved during a half hour sitcom developing a product or providing a service? I’m watching a sitcom, for crying out loud. My industriousness is already highly suspect. The same applies, I would argue, to Internet advertising. Ads can be annoying, but what’s the alternative? NYT-style paywalls? Pay-per-read? During the crest and early fall of the dotcom bubble, the concept of micropayments was really starting to pick up steam, and visions of hundreds of $1.00 charges danced in our heads. It frankly struck fear in my heart. Fortunately I didn’t need to worry; there’s a great article by Clay Shirky from December 2000 making the case against the micropayment system, and it sums things up nicely:

The Short Answer for Why Micropayments Fail

Users hate them.

The Long Answer for Why Micropayments Fail

Why does it matter that users hate micropayments? Because users are the ones with the money, and micropayments do not take user preferences into account.

In particular, users want predictable and simple pricing. Micropayments, meanwhile, waste the users’ mental effort in order to conserve cheap resources, by creating many tiny, unpredictable transactions. Micropayments thus create in the mind of the user both anxiety and confusion, characteristics that users have not heretofore been known to actively seek out.

Certain micropayment systems, of course, have been wildly successful - iTunes, for one - but they’re pretty much the exceptions. Membership-driven models also work - even the widely reviled TimesSelect appears to be fairly healthy - but it usually takes some superlative content to make people fork over their cash. A google search for “dropping HBO” reveals an exodus after last nights’ Sopranos finale, and given that HBO’s broadcast business model begins and ends with subscriptions*, this is pretty damn critical.

But advertising is still where it’s at, for radio, TV, and the internet, and I say fine. Given the choice between good** content for free, good content with a pipeline directly to my wallet, or no content, I’m going to choose column A.

Then again.

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Note: Shannon beat me to posting the link to the article that inspired this post. I read the hard copy of this article in the Wall Street Journal. It’s long and fairly involved, but I think it points to an alarming trend that we need to continue to watch and fight against.

The Wall Street Journal (hey! shaddup! I have to read it for my job) had an article about how subprime lending has pretty much gutted a middle-class Black neighborhood in Detroit. It’s pretty chilling.
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Yes. At least this story received enough attention to get this foul “artist” dumped.

You might recall that the singer, who has collaborated with Eminem and Gwen Stefani, told the crowd at a concert in Trinidad that he was going to have a dance off, and the winning young woman would receive a trip to Africa. The only prize the “winner” received was to be dry-humped all across the stage (see the video, which is hard to stomach, after the flip). Akon’s big problem, aside from the deception and treatment of women, is that the “winner” was an underaged teen.

Verizon Wireless has pulled its sponsorship of R&B/hip-hop artiste Akon, Jim Gerace, the company’s corporate strategy, policy manager, confirmed yesterday.

“We didn’t provide a statement or have one. I simply told Fox that we decided this week to stop sponsoring Akon. That’s all we have to say about it,” Gerace said.

When asked about the reason for the end of the Verizon/Akon partnership, Gerace told the Express: “We did not give them (Fox) a reason. We made the decision this week is all we are saying.”

…”We have music services on our cellphone service and we were promoting him as one of the artists. The other part of the sponsorship was the Gwen Stefani tour, of which he was an opening act. We are no longer sponsoring the tour.” Akon was scheduled to perform at Gwen Stefani’s tour, The Sweet Escape.

More coverage on Verizon’s action:

Verizon really didn’t want to see Akon “Smack That.”

The communications company scrapped its partnership with the 25-year-old rapper Friday after a video was released that shows him simulating sex onstage with an underage girl during an Apr.12 concert in Trinidad.

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[UPDATE: I didn’t have to wait long for the Freeper reaction. See after the flip.]

The Walt Disney Company has decided that it was time to do the right thing — it has changed its policy to allow gay and lesbian couples to participate in its “Fairy Tale Wedding” programs at Disney World and Disneyland. (Reuters):

“We are updating our Fairy Tale Wedding guidelines to include commitment ceremonies,” Disney Parks and Resorts spokesman Donn Walker said. “This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests.

…We are not in the business of making judgments about the lifestyle of our guests. We are in the hospitality business and our parks and resorts are open to everyone.”

This change occurred after AfterElton.com’s Michael Jensen ran at great investigative piece last month at sister news site 365gay about the Magic Kingdom’s discriminatory practices. It was no homos allowed regarding Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons — couples couldn’t purchase the packages.  At the Florida site, the Disney flack insisted in order to receive wedding services, the union would have to be recognized by the Sunshine State. This, of course is bogus, because all Disney is doing is offering the ceremony, not a license itself.

Not only was that ridiculous, but it was contradictory — Disney allowed gay couples to take part in its vow renewals program but excluded them from the lavish full wedding ceremony programs. The Disneyland location, however, actually did perform commitment ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples. Its problem was that it treated them like second-class citizens — homos got shuttled off to a Disney banquet hall or ballroom, not the Rose Court Garden where weddings with licenses are performed.

I blogged about it here and here.

So this left Disney with a PR mess, as well as a possible civil rights violation problem in California (its laws prohibit discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation), so it changed its policies.

The Reuters article cites Michael’s piece in its coverage of the story — who says one person can’t make a difference (even if Disney’s not willing to admit it). He made the discriminatory practices public.

So what prompted the change? Walker said it was because of a “an inquiry from a guest that asked about this service.” Walker then said he had to go have lunch with Tinker Bell and Goofy.

…I love the way they make themselves sound so reasonable, and who knows? Maybe there’s some truth to it. But, uh, when I inquired about the very same thing just weeks ago, Disney felt their policy was completely fair as it stood. Said Disney spokesperson Jason DiPietre before the announcement of this new policy, “The Walt Disney World Resort is open to everyone, every day. We extend our welcome to everyone to everyone and treat all of our guests with respect.”

I’m not trying to give myself too much credit, but I suspect our article had a fair bit to do with the change. That being said, I congratulate Disney on stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing. In fact, I think everyone should get in touch with Disney to thank them for making this change as I have no doubt at all that the homophobes will be out in droves screaming that Disney’s treating gay and lesbian couples somehow discriminates against their religious beliefs.

Here’s how you can thank the House of Mouse:

Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons at Disneyland Resort: 714-956-6527
Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons at Walt Disney World Resort: 321-939-4610

Web forms are here and here.

Here come the Freepi….
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We find solidarity in lining up to be evaluated as proper white fetish objects.

From Feministing, I found this article by Alexandra Robbins about the way that Delta Zeta at DePauw University threw out their members that were considered undesirable, if your measure of desirability is based on the standard frat boy version of ultimately fuckable. Ann at Feministing points out the most important critique of the article, which is that Robbins engages in a false dichotomy of stating that the real reason Delta Zeta threw out non-white and non-slender members (unfortunately, Robbins buys into the idea that this left behind the “attractive” members, as if the only measure of attractiveness is whiteness and slenderness) was not racism and sexism so much as a business decision. Like Ann says, racism and sexism are big business, and if you doubt that, take one gander at how racism and sexism are the favorite marketing ploys of porn movies and more mainstream sleazy businesses like Hooters. In fact, if anything, the fact that this was a business decision only works as more evidence for Twisty’s theory that Delta Zeta and many other sororities function like porn films or Hooters as a way to funnel female bodies to men for cheap thrills.

Still, the article is interesting. Robbins suggests that many sororities are all about selling merchandise and collecting membership dues, and so are beginning to run in the same amoral way that businesses tend to run, where sweet concepts like sisterhood are thrown under the bus if they get in the way of the bottom line. She suggests alternative strategies that sororities can take in order to maintain sisterhood without obsessing over profitability, noting traditionally black sororities do not have these sort of problems. It’s a pleasant idea, but I suspect that it’s not going to work. If other sororities are able to work better without the money motivations, it’s probably because they don’t view themselves as a business so much as a service club. Businesses are about delivering a product, so if a sorority is making the women the product, presumably consumed by young men as sex objects, girlfriends, or even future wives, then their product distribution goals are going to trump sisterhood, even if you do make minor fixes like eliminating the houses.

My mother told me this weekend that she heard this story about how the ice storm that was here in Austin created a situation where passengers were stuck in an airplane on the tarmac for more than 8 hours before the pilot finally freaked out and returned to the gate without permission. I was intrigued, because she said the horrible incident led to more agitation for Congress to pass a “passengers’ bill of rights”, and sure enough a quick Google search found that to be true.

This is an idea whose time has come. The vast majority of the time that I fly, I am absolutely made miserable by delays, cancellations, and other problems. You can just tell that the poor airline employees are told that they have to be able to keep as many butts in seats on a plane when they’re running late and going to cause you to miss your connecting flight, amongst other things. Which means, much to my dismay, that you have to be aggressive with airline employees in order to make sure that you get home in a reasonable amount of time. Which I hate, because it’s not their fault at all. They’re just having to do dishonest things (like tell you that you’re totally going to make your connection or telling you the flight is going to leave any minute now when it’s definitely not going to) in order to get you to stay on. Bullying your passengers is a really not cool way to make a profit. Putting the responsibility to bully passengers on the shoulders of service employees is particularly horrible. So if Congress could step in and pass this passengers’ bill of rights, it would not only help passengers, but be a huge, honking relief to the service employees who are currently tasked with the thankless job of giving people the runaround at the airport in order to make sure the airline doesn’t lose their fare because they aren’t providing the proper service.

Plus, both Republican and Democratic politicians fly a lot, so I’m sure they see their own self-interest here. Thoughts?

The press release from the American Family Association should be out shortly, blaming the automaker’s problems on pressure from the fundies:

Ford posts worst loss in its history.

Don will credit God for punishing Ford for its inclusive and gay-supportive employee policies and marketing instead of the obvious:

* Ford mortgaged its assets to borrow up to $23.4 billion to pay for the restructuring and to cover losses expected until 2009.

* 38,000 hourly workers have signed up for buyout or early retirement offers from the company. That costs money on the front end

* Ford’s business plan relied heavily  on truck and SUV sales for much of its profits; we’re now seeing the impact of 2005’s $3+ per gallon gas, which caused customers to buy smaller, fuel-efficient cars — all to Toyota’s benefit.

Toyota passed Ford for the country’s #2 sales slot. I wonder how Dapper Don squares the success of Toyota, which, along with Ford is on GayWheels’ list of gay-friendly automakers.

In fact, if the AFA’s followers want a non-gay supportive set of wheels, it looks like their only options are Acura, Hyundai, Suzuki, BMW, Kia, and Honda.

Apple’s Steve Jobs unveiled a new Apple product today during the Macworld Conference & Expo at San Francisco’s Moscone Center (here’s live blogging at CNET and at MacNN).

The rumors were swirling that it was some sort of convergence device, marrying the iPod with a cell phone. Additional speculation was that the company will pair it with service from Cingular, or that it will be an “unlocked” phone that can work on different service providers (it turned out to be the former).

The Apple Store went offline as Jobs delivered his address, displaying “We’ll be back soon,” indicating that when it comes back up, the mystery device would be prominently featured.

Jobs:

AP
“It’s a video iPod and a regular iPod, plus a phone. And it’s widescreen when you hold it in landscape mode, on its side.”

There are touch controls on the video iPod as well–play, pause, etc. The phone is a candy bar shape. There don’t appear to be any moving parts; all the buttons are touch-screen except for the home button.

“It’s the best iPod we’ve ever made,” Jobs says.”

[CNET notes that while Jobs refers to it as the iPhone, Cisco owns the trademark.]

The phone is 11.6 mm thin, making it, thinner than the q and BlackJack, according to Jobs, and includes a 2 megapixel camera, SIM tray, speaker, mic input, and an iPod connector.

Do you think Apple can crash in and make a dent in this market?

Microsoft is already pooh-poohing Apple’s phone, lol.

[BTW, I don’t use a Mac or an iPod (Kate has a video iPod), so I have no vested interest in this announcement, but I am curious.]

Getting that cash in the coffers from customers clearly was more important than whether they were blown up. Nice to see that corporate commitment to safety. The bean counters decided against the advice to evacuate given by the SWAT teams swarming the building after a bomb threat was called in. Nice. (Argus Leader):

Last Saturday afternoon, Eva Voorhees heard the clatter of feet on the roof of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Mitchell where she works in the photo department - but it wasn’t the pitter-patter of reindeer.

It was the police looking for a bomb. Up front, police officers, the SWAT team and others were busy searching the store next to customers who were browsing for gifts. The police looked in jewelry counters, wrapping paper rolls, freezers, the back room where trucks unload and closets at Tire Lube Express.

…Voorhees has worked at the Mitchell discount chain for about four years. Her daughter, Charlotte Goode, 36, said Voorhees called her Sunday, crying and upset as she relayed the story.

“It’s right before Christmas. They were swamped with people,” she said. “To me, they endangered the community, customers and associates. They put making a buck ahead of public safety.”

Yes, the store estimated that $400K in sales was expected that day, so now folks know what the price is on their heads as they stop by for those falling prices.

This effort is particularly feeble, because there’s no way on earth SunTrust, Bank of America, or Wachovia are going to turn away the gay market.

I hate to break it to Flip, but his peeps just can’t accept that they’ve lost their grip on corporate America when it comes to The Homosexual Agenda.” He should hook up with Don Wildmon and his action alerts.

OSA director Philip L. (Flip) Benham said Bank of America, Wachovia Bank and Sun Trust Bank have bankrolled “celebrations called ‘Gay Pride’ events … in public parks across our nation. These public lust fests promoted homosexual sodomy” in defiance of God’s laws.

Benham said corporations in America “feel under no obligation to do what is right. Their bottom line is making money, and their sometimes immoral actions carry no direct accountability.” That is why OSA is challenging Christians to consider whether they should do business with banks that support the homosexual agenda.

“Should a person, business or church who believes the Bible to be the Word of God deposit their money in banks that use the return on our money to support immoral agendas?” Benham asked. “Are we aiding and abetting immorality?

It might be more helpful if Flip produced a list of banks that support his homophobic agenda in order to direct the money to the right place. At this point, I’m sure the list is quite short.

I’ll give Flip some free advice. It looks like the Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minnesota (pop. 6,500) fits the bill. The Christian Examiner article says bank founder Duane Kropuenske had a vision of opening the business based on Christian principles…

[Senior vice president Chuck] Ripka told religionjournal.com he believes a revival is happening at Riverview Community Bank.

He and at least two other employees, including one who opens checking and savings accounts, regularly pray for customers when they feel God prompting them to do so. Ripka, who approves or disapproves the bank’s individual and business loans, often prays during meetings with customers, including those he turns down for loans.

God has opened people’s hearts through the prayers, Ripka said. As a result, 31 people—customers, employees, employees’ spouses, and a few neighborhood waitresses—have become Christians, he said, and two employees have been healed of diseases.

… Another unusual aspect of the bank is its loan-collection policy. If a customer were struggling to make payments on time, the bank would not send out collectors. Instead, it would call the customer “to ask how we can pray for their situation,” said Ripka, adding that that situation has not yet arisen.

“Sam Walton was such a moral man, he wouldn’t even allow music to be sold in his stores if it had bad language. When it comes to moral values, first of all they started selling smutty magazines, then they brought in nasty music and videos, even ones others refused to sell, like ‘Brokeback Mountain.’”
– former worker Janet Baird, who loved Wal-mart so much in the past that she married at one of its events — but then our agenda corrupted the big box retailer

The WingNutDaily subhead says the worker “urges Christians to take stand because most people ‘unaware.’”

The Ohio woman, after hearing the shocking confirmation directly from the mega-corporation’s international headquarters that the company is, in fact, contributing to the financial and moral agenda of the nation’s “gay” chamber of commerce, she quit. And she’s not a bit worried.

“I got God backing me. That’s where I stand on it,” she told WND in an interview.

Baird initially contacted corporate HQ, concerned about the evil Brokeback development and the partnership of Wal-mart with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. and didn’t get the answer she wanted to hear.

She called the corporate office for its response. “The lady said, ‘Yes.’ When I asked if the money I spent shopping at Wal-Mart would go to support same-sex marriage, she simply responded, ‘Sales are sales.’”

“I let her know how long I had worked at Wal-Mart and told her that I would no longer work for this company and never spend another dime there. She replied, ‘I hope you don’t mean that.’ I did mean it. The next day I went to the store and quit. The manager that signed my exit papers had no idea about what had been going on in the leadership of Wal-Mart.”

……”Today Wal-Mart is not the same company Mr. Sam started. I think he would rather see it go under than to see what it has become. Mr. Sam loved God – the store he began does not!”

The swamps of Freeperland nearly boiled over as a couple of them went at it over values of marketing to embracing the pink dollar.
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This makes me think back to the good old days, the quaint “hailing a cab while black” phenomenon. Now people in the Twin Cities have to worry about whether their cabbie will be allowed to refuse service based on gender identity or orientation, for instance, because it conflicts with the driver’s religious beliefs.

This is insanity. The first example is the refusal to transport someone carrying a bottle of wine. (Star Tribune):

But when the driver spots your wine, he shakes his head emphatically. The Qur’an prohibits him from accepting passengers with alcohol, he tells you. OK, so you’ll take the next cab. But the next driver waves you off, and the next.

Scenes like this have played out hundreds of times at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport over the last few years. About three-fourths of the 900 taxi drivers at the airport are Somali, many of them Muslim. In September, the Star Tribune reported that one flight attendant had been refused by five drivers, because she had wine in her suitcase.

How to solve this problem? Those who refuse a fare have to go to the back of the cab line, resulting in a long wait for an “acceptable” fare. A proposal by the Metropolitan Airports Commission to provide color-coded lights on cab roofs to indicate whether they would accept people with alcohol was proposed, but that didn’t fly with the public.

What has already come to pass in other cities is that cabbies now use the excuse of religious beliefs to justify rejecting a potential fare for all sorts of reasons.

Muslim cab drivers elsewhere, for example, have refused to transport blind customers with seeing-eye dogs, which they say their religion considers unclean. On Oct. 6, the Daily Mail of London reported that two cab drivers had been fined for rejecting blind customers. In Melbourne, Australia, “at least 20 dog-aided blind people have lodged discrimination complaints” after similarly being refused service, the Herald Sun reported.

In Minneapolis, Muslim taxi drivers have repeatedly refused to transport Paula Hare, who is transgendered, KMSP-TV, Channel 9, reported this month.

You can see where this is going, right? Any fundamentalist Christian cabbie could also cite similar justifications for refusing service to a “group” it deems objectionable to their beliefs as well. In this case the concern is about the state endorsing accommodation that is discriminatory.

Government sanction of a two-tiered cab system would amount to an acknowledgement that Shari’a, or Islamic law, is relevant to a routine commercial transaction in the Twin Cities. The MAC, a government agency, would be officially approving a signal that differentiates those who follow Islamic law from those who don’t.

And what if Muslim drivers demand the right not to transport women wearing short skirts or tank tops, or unmarried couples? After taxis, why not buses, trains and planes? Eventually, in some respects, our society could be divided along religious lines.

I hate to break it to the Star Tribune’s Katherine Kersten, but we already are divided. “Christian” pharmacists in some parts of the country are allowed to refuse filling a prescription if they object on religious principles to the use of the drug.

These kinds of battles can only escalate if we don’t nip it in the bud.

Hat tip, Autumn.

Some laughable outfit called the American Decency Association is bleating away, telling good “Christians” to pull money out of mutual funds that invest in Abercrombie & Fitch to punish it for risqué ads.

A pro-family organization that once led a campaign against suggestive images used in advertising by specialty retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) says the company is once again crossing the line. This time the American Decency Association (ADA) is recommending to its supporters that they send a message that will hit Abercrombie & Fitch where it hurts.

ADA President Bill Johnson says while A&F’s catalogue images and in-store advertising are not as sexually provocative and erotic as several years ago, “some of the displays that they now have in their stores are concerning.” This includes in-store wall displays depicting male and female models that are either partially or completely nude.

“One is a bare-chested male with no underwear, with pants unzipped,” Johnson recalls. “That is certainly one of the great concerns. And another is that there’s a life-sized poster of a young female with hands over her bare breasts,” he says.

..”On our web page at AmericanDecency.org, we do actually have a list of the large ten mutual funds of Abercrombie & Fitch,” the pro-family group’s leader notes. “So that, of course, is our hope here, that people will pull their moneys away from the mutual funds that are attached to Abercrombie & Fitch and place them with clean investing.”

That’s fine. They are entitled to do that. I just think they are getting way overheated about nothing. But that’s what these folks do best, huh?

“This is an unprecedented attack against the family. We are going to fight this tooth and nail…I think Sam Walton, being the family-oriented man he was, would be rolling over in his grave about this. I’m really disappointed in Wal-Mart as a company.”
– the Rev. Ronnie L. Frankens, pastor of Homer Pentecostal Church in Diboll, TX, to cries of “amen” and “praise Jesus.”

Walmart unhinges the bible thumpers yet again, as the retail giant uses its muscle to turn dry counties into wet ones. Expect the press releases to fly soon from the AFA, Focus on the Anus and the rest of those folks over big box distribution of beer and wine. (NYT):

Wal-Mart, based in a dry county in Arkansas, forbids drinking at events held at corporate headquarters. But the giant retailer has made a push in the last year to sell more liquor, along with beer and wine, in its stores.

Attempts by Wal-Mart and others to allow alcohol sales in other places that remain dry — 415 counties in the South and in Kansas still prohibit such sales — are meeting fierce resistance from some church groups and religious leaders. They argue that returning to the days when liquor flowed will mean more family violence, under-age drinking, drunken driving and a general moral decay in the community.

But voters are increasingly likely to follow their pocketbooks rather than the words of their pastors. Alcohol proponents often make the case that liberalizing laws will increase tax revenue and reduce the need for property tax increases, an issue looming large in voters’ minds.

More dry-to-wet measures have passed than have been defeated in the last four years in Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kansas, the states where the battles are concentrated. “The communities who effectively make arguments about economic development and tax dollars typically win the votes,� said John Hatch, a political strategist based in Austin, Tex.

These fundies doth protest too much (after all, they are consuming an awful lot of porn; should Walmart or Sam’s stock that?). Any of these dry counties have a whole lot of drinking going on. As if these residents aren’t already driving to bordering counties to booze it up.

Phil Burress of the Cincinnati-based anti-gay Citizens for Community Values on Ohio has been all over pay-per-view porn on hotel TV “problem” for quite some time, establishing CleanHotels.com, a listing service to alert travelers where there is no availability to order such pay-for-play content.

Now the big guns — the American Family Association, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and Morality in Media are teaming up, calling themselves “The Campaign for Corporate Responsibility” and are placing an ad in USA Today urging the Justice Department to investigate the purveyors of pay-smut for “violating federal and state laws about distributing obscene material.”

Does someone need to tell these folks to simply not order the porn if they don’t want to watch it? (AgapePress):

Not only does the coalition of groups believe the movie content is illegal, they are convinced such hardcore porn leads to sex crimes against women and children. The ad quotes three individuals whose work supports that assertion, and also makes the case that financial gain is the primary reason why hardcore porn — which it refers to as a “toxic ‘drug’” — is readily available in virtually any hotel room in the country.

“It’s … time the producers, the distributors, and the hotels are held accountable for the tragic human and cultural expense from which they profit,” states the ad.

According to Wildmon, all the groups feel it is important the DOJ enforce those laws. “Much of what’s offered in hotel rooms in terms of the triple-x type material is the same kind of material that would be prosecuted were it sold down the street at a movie rental store,” he explains. “It goes beyond just sexually explicit into hardcore material, which makes it legally obscene in our estimation.”

A reader at my pad, Brad, pointed out that DIRELAND links to a release regarding a ChristiaNet Poll that shows all that praying to Jeebus isn’t stopping good evangelicals from ordering up and consuming porn, including way too many in the pulpit. As we say here all the time, these folks are fixated on sex to such a degree that it turns into a pathology. What a howler, these hypocrites.

If there could be one place protected from the cancerous infection of pornography and sexual misconducts, one would assume that the Christian church would be that sanctuary. But, recent research is revealing that no one is immunized against the vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors. The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy. And, to the surprise of many, a large number of women in the church have become victim to this widespread problem. Recently, the world’s most visited Christian website, ChristiaNet.com, conducted a survey asking site visitors eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct. (http://www.christianet.com)

Amazingly, there were one thousand responses to the poll conducted by ChristiaNet.com. ChristiaNet.com partnered with Second Glance Ministries in evaluating the poll responses and it seems the Christian community is struggling with many of the same “temptations” that the secular society is faced with.

“The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography,” said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries whose ministry objectives include providing people with information which will enable them to fully understand the impact of today’s societal issues. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.

An avid gardener who ordered from a Independence, OR-based company called Outsidepride.com, which touts that it “provides something for every person who enjoys taking care of the outdoors. From serious do-it-yourself landscapers to the novice homeowner, you will find what you are looking for at Outsidepride.com.”

What the customer found in his inbox from Outsidepride.com’s president, Troy Hake wasn’t what he was looking for. Mr. Hake decided to use his customer database to send out this missive (my emphasis), calling for action against one of the well-known institutions of The Homosexual Agenda^TM, CBS:

This is not your typical newsletter from Outsidepride.com, Inc. In fact, this is the first one in six years which is not business related. I apologize for cluttering your inbox with an unsolicited email; however you are free to unsubscribe just by clicking the link at the bottom.

I want to share with you my television viewing experience the other night on prime time television. I ask those of you who agree with me to go to www.cbs.com and go to the bottom of the page, click the feedback link and express your opinion. I know the vast majority of you will agree with me as all polls indicate. We are the majority, not the minority as the liberal media would lead you to believe.

My wife and I sat down to watch television the other night with our children. Cold Case was on which is normally a fairly enjoyable show to watch; however, the last half hour of the show dealt with a young man who wished he had asked his male friend to come with him (long story short). The show ended with the two men hugging and obvious intimation they had discovered their gay feelings towards each other. The very next show was Without A Trace. The whole last half hour of this show was about two lesbians who were struggling with their feelings of lesbianism. It ended with full acceptance from one father and the two lesbians making out. Yes, they were kissing right at the end of the show on public prime time television. So much for wholesome family television.

[Uh, oh, here comes the familiar fundie disclaimer and subsequent spewing…]

Now, I am NOT trying to bash homosexuals and I am not a bigot; however, I feel homosexuality is morally wrong and should not be “promoted” as what is the norm for society. Text books are being rewritten as I am writing this to “highlight” every homosexual who has made a contribution to society. There are teachers who have been asked to make sure students know that, “This person in history was a homosexual.” History is being rewritten to promote homosexuality and prime time television is doing its best to make homosexuality a “normal” behavior. If homosexuality was the norm, civilization would have ceased to exist thousands of years ago. Procreation takes a man and a woman. There was Adam and then there was Eve, not Adam and Steve.

There are literally tens of thousand of you reading this email right now. If you are tired of the way public television is going let CBS know! It will only take about 1 minute of your time. Again, just go to www.cbs.com and click the feedback link at the bottom. It is time the majority speak up and not let the minority run this country. The majority can bring back the Christian heritage this country was founded on because it is, “In God We Trust.”

Thank you for your time,

Troy Hake
President
Outsidepride.com, Inc.

That was quaint, huh? Mr. Hake made a blanket assumption that all the recipients of that email are as bigoted as he is. Perhaps this is a new marketing tactic to increase revenue. Somehow, I think this is going to backfire on him.

I love the irony of the company’s name, though — Outsidepride.com. That’s such a homo-friendly name.

CBS should be commended for those episodes. As Hake said, the feedback form as at the bottom of the network’s web page. I’m not sure if Hake is referring to the Cold Case episode A Time to Hate, but that was another excellent gay-positive show set in 1964 about a mother who seeks justice for her murdered son, who was beaten to death for being gay. Tidbit: one of the gay men was played by Brandon Routh (Superman Returns).

Hat tips to Loaded Orygun and Scott.

“That’s the guy who gets his salsa from New York City.”

Unreal. Augusto at Queer Beacon pointed me to this bone-headed ad for Pace Salsa (owned by Campbell’s Soup). Apparently, real cowboys eat salsa from Pace, and fey horsemane hairdresser cowboy fags get theirs from the Big Apple — you know, where all the queers are.
Hat tip to Queerty for the video.

The level of humor harkens back to the “silly little fairy” Dodge/Daimler Chrysler ad a while back.

You can let Pace know how you feel.

They aren’t making what we want to buy, plain and simple.

U.S. sales fell for all three big American automakers in June, led by a 26 percent drop at General Motors Corp. (GM), while Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. surged.

Higher gas prices, slower sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles and a lack of deep incentives compared to last summer — when GM rolled out employee-level pricing — hurt the Detroit-based automakers in a weaker U.S. auto market.

… Toyota has taken a bigger share of a weakening U.S. market on the fuel efficiency of its line-up, which trails only Honda Motor Co. in average fuel economy among major manufacturers.

…Toyota has only a 9-day inventory of the Yaris, and an even tighter 4-day sales inventory of its Prius hybrid, essentially making both vehicles sellout hits.

Meanwhile, sales of Ford’s Explorer, a best-selling SUV, dropped by 36 percent in June while sales of the larger Expedition were down 46 percent. “There’s no question that higher gas prices have hurt demand for these products,” said Ford sales analyst George Pipas.

Kate and I have been complaining how Subaru has been behind the curve on hybrids (we have an Outback wagon). It’s an otherwise smart — and gay-friendly — automaker, but it really missed the mark by going for the SUV market with the stupid, fuel-inefficient and ugly Tribeca. Last year we went to see one in the showroom out of curiosity and it was disappointing that they wasted development time on this instead of a hybrid. The automaker was obviously shooting for the upscale family SUV demo already targeted by the Big Three.

Incidentally, Subaru reported its best June sales in company history — even the Tribeca posted double-digit gains –and total sales are up 3 percent for the year so far. More pain for the U.S. car makers. Driving around town I never see any Tribecas on the road, but I see a ton of new Outback wagons, mini-SUV Foresters and Outback Sports (the 5-door hatchback) out there. And let me tell you, the number of Toyota Prius hybrids sailing around Durham is substantial.
Apparently Subaru is pairing up with Toyota to use its hybrid technology, though nothing is expected until 2008. All Subaru has now is a concept car, the B5-TPH:

This is inexcusable, but not surprising at all. A couple of weeks ago, Vincent Ferrari tried to stop the service, and the AOL rep (”John”) did everything in his power to keep him from terminating his account.

It was so bad that Ferrari recorded the conversation. The CSR actually asked to speak with his dad — Ferrari is 30 — to get him to change his mind.

Matt Lauer interviewed Ferrari.

A snippet of the transcript of the phone call:

AOL: Hi, this is John at AOL. How may I help you today?

Ferrari: I want to cancel my account.

AOL: OK. I mean, is there a problem with the software itself?

Ferrari: No. I don’t use it. I don’t need it. I don’t want it.

John disputes Ferrari’s claim that he never uses the account.

AOL: Last year, last month it was 545 hours of usage.

Ferrari: I don’t know how to make it any clearer. So I’m just gonna say it one last time. Cancel the account.

AOL: Well, explain to me what is wrong.

Ferrari: I’m not explaining anything to you. Cancel the account.

It goes on like this for 5 minutes.

Ferrari: Cancel my account. Cancel the account. Cancel the account.

Hell, when I called to cancel my mom’s account after she passed away, the rep still kept me on the phone 20 minutes to do that. It’s BS “customer retention” — though how one attempts to retain a dead customer is beyond me.

American Airlines, voted a “gold standard U.S. carrier for hospitality and service” by readers of Out Traveler magazine last year and recipient of a top score of 100 percent on HRC’s 2005 Corporate Equality Index, is celebrating Gay Pride Month. It’s noted on the company’s web site for LGBT employees, amrgleam.com.

Tomorrow, the company will feature a talk by Matthew Shepard’s mom, “Erase Hate: An Evening with Judy Shepard,” at the AA Training and Conference Center in Ft. Worth, Texas.

The airline, which was also the first major U.S. carrier to protect its transgendered employees, it has put a burr under the saddle of the Freepi. They are moaning about the losing battle on the culture war front and it’s not a pretty sight. Boo-freaking hoo…

Actual Freeper Quotesâ„¢

Thoughtcrime in the office. The liberals have won.

Don’t doubt that for a second. Rush may be right in saying this is primarily a conservative country, but the liberals have taken over control of government and society, and there is no going back.

The site where I am currently contracted is also celebrating GLBT month, in much the same manner. Lots of large companies do, to avoid pressure and bad publicity from GLBT advocacy groups and their willing helpers in the MSM.

They don’t get a freaking month! Already stole the rainbow and the = sign.

I wonder if these folks plan on being buried with this rainbow flag of theirs. I’m sure God will be amused.

Well, that settles it for me….I won’t be flying on a sex-deviate-supportive airline like American and American Eagle, and have told them so. Until the end of the extortion (threat of legal action against them) from companies with no backbone or principles occurs, I’ll take my business elsewhere.

…..Indeed….! I simply cannot understand the “pride” associated with what are basically un-natural and disgusting sexual activities….! but, again…. another sign of the sick times in which we live….Lord help anyone who might want to start a “Straight Pride” month…they would be branded as “homophobic” or something….!!

[ClearChannel radio station G-105 held a Straight Pride parade in Chapel Hill back in 2004 — I went to check it out — and it was a resounding, pathetic flop, lol. Here are some of the pictures. ]

It is extortion and should be recognized as such. The MSM is providing them with the power to push a protection racket.

This is nothing short of a terrorist flag displayed for all the gerbils of the world to see. These poor creatures already suffer from low self-esteem from having forced visits to the crap-shoot of the gay male community.

Sorry, but 90%+ of the male Stewards on all airlines strike me as seriously gay.

Heck, they all do it. You have to dislike each and everyone of them. I already can’t buy Bud anymore because they support this crap and so on and so forth.

The agenda of the liberal activists must be exposed. If that requires boycotts, so be it. Employees should not have to surrender their political and religious beliefs as a condition of employment. Agreed. But it will take a revolution of sorts to make this happen. Things are going to need to get a lot worse to shake enough people to stand up for what’s right. Most of us are still sleeping and completely unaware of the big picture.

Why don’t we just declare the whole year “Gay Pride Year” and be done with it? Certainly for the Mainstream Media, that already is the case. There’s also a LGBT history month some other time of year, and “days of silence” galore. Gay activism is indeed a religion and has its own liturgical calendar.

Someone should email this bit of business to White House Spokesbot and race expert Tony Snow, who declared that “racism isn’t that big a deal any more.”

The Center for Responsible Lending , based here in Durham, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy org which does great work to fight abusive financial practices that threaten homeownership and family wealth, just completed a study that reveals continued nationwide discrimination in mortgage lending experienced by blacks and Latinos. The information is contained in the report Unfair Lending: The Effect of Race and Ethnicity on the Price of Subprime Mortgages (PDF).

What makes the situation egregious is that the study showed that credit scores were comparable in this cases (50,000 subprime loans were studied).

Lenders say they charge more because African-Americans and Latinos on average have shakier credit histories, which makes lending to them riskier. But that explanation is simply wrong.

In the most extensive study of its kind, CRL found that African-Americans and Latinos are commonly almost a third more likely to get a high-priced loan than white borrowers with the same credit scores.

This kind of predatory lending goes on all the time. The effect of this nonsense is that this places the same minorities at risk of defaulting on those loans, damaging the very credit score that will then be used against them in other aspects of their financial lives. From the CRL’s release:

“When African-American and Latino families are steered into higher-cost loans, this path to security is made steeper,” said Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington bureau of the NAACP, the lobbying and public policy branch of the civil rights group. “That means that it’s even harder for families of color to build equity for their future; it’s even harder to send their children to college; and it’s even harder to build wealth for the next generation.”

So, what do you think the government is doing about this — and any guesses as to whether they are looking out for the little guy?

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is trying to get banks in his state to disclose more about their lending practices, but the banks and even federal regulators are fighting him in court.

…And on Capitol Hill a House subcommittee is debating whether a bill should include weak provisions favored by industry or stronger protections for borrowers in the vast sub-prime mortgage market, where people with blemished credit borrow and most mortgage abuses occur. The lending industry is lobbying subcommittee members heavily.

Disgusting. But doesn’t Tony know best? There’s nothing to see here…move along.

Hat tip, R. Neal @ Facing South.

***

I have to say, when I posted this over at my pad yesterday, I expected a fair number of comments, but the discussion got into a deep, emotional, personal and difficult discussion about race, white privilege, “the race card” and a the societal food chain.

We’re up to 123 comments and still going, as two conservatives, one gay (”Dan” and “North Dallas Thirty”), have contributed enraging and engaging opportunities to discuss race, which I post about fairly regularly, but readers seem to keep at arms length.

I highly recommend a visit to the comments.

95% of shareholders voted against it. Fundies, you lose big time on the PR front.

An attempt by a Ford shareholder to force the automaker to drop protections for LGBT workers from its human resources regulations was swiftly defeated on Thursday.

Shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in Dearborn voted 95 percent to reject the proposal.

The motion had been submitted by shareholder Robert Hurley of Alton, Ill. Ford attempted to keep the issue off the agenda for today’s meeting but Alton went to the Securities and Exchange Commission which ordered Ford to put it to a vote

The motion called for Ford to change its policy to exclude any reference to sexual interests, activities or orientation. Ford argued to the SEC that the proposal would hurt the company’s ability to recruit and could hurt sales to gays and lesbians. The SEC rejected the argument.

Ford then issued a recommendation to shareholders to vote against the measure.

I trekked over to the dark side, Agape Press. Take a look at the reaction of a shareholder who favored the bigoted proposal.

Ford shareholder Tom Strobhar, who is a pro-family activist from Ohio, publicly read the proposed resolution and spoke in its favor. He outlined several reasons why he felt his fellow shareholders should pass the resolution.

“Ford is paying domestic partner benefits while cutting retirement benefits. Our company is closing plants while building gay and lesbian centers,” he stated. In addition, he said, the company gives shareholder money — which Strobhar described as “the fruit of all our employees’ labor” — to the largest homosexual organizations in the country. “These organizations use it to aggressively promote same-sex marriage. In addition, we advertise in publications whose primary focus is gay sex.”

OK, now on to the hilarious pyrrhic victory quote of the day, from Don Wildmon:

Dr. Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of the American Family Association (AFA), says he is extremely pleased with the Ford shareholder vote. “The mere fact that five percent voted for this proposal came as a shock. I think it sends a loud message,” says the AFA leader. “And we’re very grateful that we got that five percent and that this issue can come back up again next year. We have a lot of time to work on it.”

What a buffoon.

H/t, Kevin