Then you must have an excellent sense of humor!

It is said that a small boy was faced with an examination question: 'What is rabies and what can you do about it?'

He wrote as his answer: 'Rabies is Jewish priests, and there is nothing you can do about it!'
 

Humor is all one is quite often left with. One of Russia's most popular comedians, Mihail Zadurnov who has been a public figure for a few decades and who makes parody and fun about the most difficult topics in the present day society was interviewed by a French TV-channel and he was asked how it was possible that he could maintain his optimism and deal with the most heart wrenching topics light-heartedly  and optimistically?

His reply was (freely quoted), that "...pessimism is a luxury product which can be afforded only by economies and countries who already have a basic societal order, if in Russia we become pessimists - we will simply die."

A funny historical diversion: During the Yeltsin era, when Russia faced financial breakdown and currency crises, there was a Finance minister with the same last name "Zadurnov" as the famous comedian. In the year 1998 or 1999 when the crises was most serious, there was small booklet published in Washington titled "who is who in Russia" and the story tells that pictures between the comedian and finance minister were accidentally changed so with the picture of the Finance Minister was a text that said something like "One of Russia's favorite nationally loved comedians appearing weekly in the television...."

....through the Holy Land Experience of giving in order to get

Brian Blanco for The New York Times

The Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Fla., is part of the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s operations. More Photos »

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — For 39 years, the Trinity Broadcasting Network has urged viewers to give generously and reap the Lord’s bounty in return.

[snip]

The Gospel of Prosperity

On the air, the Crouches combine uplifting talk with encouragement to give to the Lord, and so be repaid. This “prosperity gospel” is shared by several televangelists who appear on TBN. But many conventional Christian leaders regard it as a sham.

“Prosperity theology is a false theology,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. ..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/us/tbn-fight-offers-glimpse-inside-lavish-tv-ministry.html

First I thought wrong authorities are at work, these people run a good business and employ others, never mind their few peculiarities in business, it's tough being religious and executive, nobody mentions drugs and pedofilia and most of the income consists of donations so let them be, in a way they are pillars of good society.

Then I was struck by something awful.

Pink stroller for dogs was suspicious.I don't care about price but forcing any living being to spend time in something pink is downright evil, cruel and inhumane and clearly points out to an unnatural behavior. As the animal rights activists often so aptly ask: "How would you feel if you were treated that way?"

I realize the authorities can often see past the rest of us. Hope justice will run its full course.

Good points, which I had completely overlooked.

Apologies for being frivolous, but I was quite taken back by the woman's very frothy, pink hair, which made me think of fluffy cotton candy.

Actually, what initially caught my attention was the true-to-life but very incongruous entrance to the Holy Land Experience.

Last, the idea of giving to get doesn't strike me as all that harmonious with its greedy tenor...

You are not being frivolous at all Nanna, there is definitely something suspicious about the Pink connection, my instinct tells me so and this matter should be pursued seriously by the investigators.

But to give to get, may not be all that bad... let me make perhaps a different kind of point:

We are all motivated by something - a person lying on a couch is, even if it sounds paradoxical, motivated to do exactly that. He or she gets something from the act.

A person doing a donation - also gets something from the act. Take away the enjoyment of giving to get and you remove all the powerful human motivations for doing anything.

This couple got something (a few million perhaps), people donating got something. And to top the list, she got her pink hair - whatever drove her to such a choice.

The difference between getting more than necessary is not so serious, if it were - we would all need to cut back on our diets but we are motivated to go on mostly eating more, making more money than necessary, doing more and having more than necessary.

So the only difference between us and the pink haired lady is that some of us (including the government) feel annoyed that she had a pink hair and way more than the others. We are not that different from her but cutting her out, is to cut out something that has provided to many people something for a long time.

Just please someone - save the poor dogs, how would you feel being pushed in a pink stroller by a pink haired lady in public several times a day? Have mercy please, the crime is not in avoiding taxes and using religion as a tool for making money, those are the oldest things in the world but never have I heard anything so irresponsible and nauseating as what is happening to these dogs... truly heart-breaking.

Just for now, Antti, here's a photo of my dog, a GSD Post #139530 not the least bit pink.

How wonderful - my parents had two alsatians when I grew up and I loved them to bits, now I quite fondly remember how one of them was awfully keen on carrots and cucumbers, didn't make much of an impression as a guard dog with carrots in her mouth) Great to see the photo)

Proudly introducing a real Catholic from Poland in Austria, Father Gerhard Swierzek:

Austrian Priest resigns after overruling by cardinal on homosexual in parish council

Coming only a few days after Easter, the resignation of Father Gerhard Swierzek, the pastor of a parish in the Archdiocese of Vienna, has been hailed by homosexualist activists in the Catholic Church as a victory. Fr. Swierzek had refused to allow an active homosexual, Florian Stangl, who is living in a legal registered partnership with another man, to sit on the parish council in the town of Stützenhofen.

More: http://www.catholicintl.com/index.php/latest-news/817-priest-resigns-over-cardinal-shoenborns-homosexual-favoritism