The article from which yesterday’s quote was abstracted is here, thanks to tinymammoth.

Our local church for young, wealthy people is called Rock Harbor. I’ve never been to this church, because it seemed too much like the one I used to attend in West L.A. where everyone was kinda crazy and then the pastor had to have a time out because of the adultery and then the other pastor took all the money and well folks thanks for playing.

True to form, Rock Harbor’s pastor had to have a timeout about a year ago for the adultery. He’s actually done exactly what you’re supposed to do in this situation: quit, apologize, put his own marriage back together, and do things other than being a pastor. Good job, Keith.

Rock Harbor itself is growing, which is what churches are supposed to do nowadays. They’re moving out of their rented quarters in the Senior Center into a new building.

The article in today’s paper about this quoted an official at the church whose title was “Director of Involvement”. This sounds to me like a character from C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength but maybe that’s just me.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be passing a needle through the eye of a camel.

Vegas Casinos Cancel Super Bowl Parties
CHRISTINA ALMEIDA
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS – Casinos are canceling Super Bowl parties and handing out refunds to thousands of people after the NFL threatened legal action against some of the biggest hotels in Las Vegas.

Several hotels received letters this week informing them that their parties were “unauthorized use of NFL intellectual property.” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league recently became aware of these large-scale parties planned in Las Vegas and other locations around the country.

“These establishments were attempting to charge admission for something we are offering for free, and we believe that’s a violation of a long-standing NFL policy that specifically prohibits mass out-of-home broadcasts,” McCarthy said.

A Super Bowl party inside a movie theater at the Palms was scrapped after the hotel received a letter from the football league on Jan. 23. The gathering usually attracts several hundred people, who enjoy hot dogs and beer and compete in games and raffle drawings for $39.99.

The Aladdin hotel-casino had to cancel its bash planned at the hotel’s 7,000-seat Theatre of Performing Arts after receiving the letter Friday, less than 48 hours before the big game. Officials were scrambling to find small TVs that they could place throughout the casino for guests wanting to watch the Super Bowl.

McCarthy dismissed claims that Las Vegas was being singled out, saying the NFL had sent letters to several locations in Boston, Charlotte and Houston. He said the NFL sent a letter to a Boston aquarium just before the AFC Championship game advising them not to broadcast the game.

“When we become aware of a potential violation, we take action,” McCarthy said. “It’s not a city issue, its a copyright issue.”

The NFL’s letter was particularly devastating to promoter Todd Krohn, who had organized a party at The Orleans hotel-casino that was expected to draw some 6,000 sports fans at $45 a ticket. He estimated his company, The T & J Trust, lost more than $100,000 as a result

“Our biggest problem with this was the late notification. If the NFL had made this decision, why didn’t they give us 30 days notice?” Krohn said. “We wouldn’t have scheduled the event. We wouldn’t have spent the money.”

“Whatever the suffering is, it’s not to be endured, for God’s sake, not felt and never, ever accepted. It’s to be triumphed over. And because some things cannot be triumphed over unless they are first accepted and endured (indeed, some things cannot be triumphed over at all), the “story” must be told again and again in an endless pursuit of a happy ending. To be human is finally to be a loser, for we are all fated to lose our carefully constructed sense of self, our physical strength, our health, our precious dignity, and finally our lives. A refusal to tolerate this reality is a refusal to tolerate life, and art based on the empowering message and the positive image is part of this juvenile condition.”

–Mary Gaitskill

BLATT BLATT

Things are really going downhill for these guys, according to this AP story in USA Today Online:

screenshot, buck b’kaw

I only like stuff you haven’t heard of. Worship me.

Laughed myself silly. Of course we’re in it for the frontin’, baby. What else is there, now that being ironic about ironic postmodernism is a dead scene?

Is there a 15-day waiting period on ammunition before Valentine’s day?

You know, because of people shooting into the air. And stuff.

I’m just asking.

Fuck you.

I obtained medical care fully covered under my insurance plan. You, the insurer, made up insane reasons why you needed unavailable additional information to pay the claim. You, Hoag, dropped the ball. Now you, Hoag, have sold the $280 debt to a collection agency instead of collecting it from the insurer.

I pay my premiums and give you the card for a fucking reason. Do not trash my credit rating because some of you are dishonest and others of you are lazy.

Fuck you.

On the phone: “We just bill the insurance and if it is rejected it is your responsibility.”

This after the nurse said that California law requires the insurer to pay.