Redneck Resort Mud Park opening in Sweetwater

Mud will soon make money in Sweetwater.

The Redneck Resort Mud Park is under construction.

It will offer primitive camping, a swimming hole, muddy trails for off-road vehicles, bands and more.

The resort will open on certain weekends beginning June 29.

Developer Jeff Darragh owns the land which is located at exit 60 off I-75. Darragh hoped to develop buildings on the property until construction slowed down.

ATV owners gave him the idea for the resort.

"There were people out here all the time trying to drive their ATV and motorcycles on it. They were jumping on those tracks over there and I'm constantly telling them, 'hey man, you can't do that'. Then it dawned on me, just charge them. Just tell all your friends to come," resort co-owner Jeff Darragh said.

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http://www.wbir.com/rss/article/221894/2/Redneck-Resort-Mud-Park-opening-in-Sweetwater

Georgia megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar arrested

By KATE BRUMBACKASSOCIATED PRESS – updated Saturday, June 9, 2012 - 1:39am

ATLANTA — Megachurch pastor and televangelist Creflo Dollar — who has drawn scrutiny for his flashy lifestyle and preaching that prosperity is good — was arrested early Friday after authorities say he slightly hurt his 15-year-old daughter in a fight at his metro Atlanta home.

Fayette County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call of domestic violence at the home in unincorporated Fayette County around 1 a.m., said investigator Brent Rowan. The pastor and his daughter were arguing over whether she could go to a party when Dollar "got physical" with her, leaving her with "superficial injuries," Rowan said.
The 15-year-old was the one who called authorities, and her 19-year-old sister corroborated the story, Rowan said.

Dollar faces misdemeanor charges of simple battery and cruelty to children. He bonded out of Fayette County jail Friday morning.

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http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2012-06-08/georgia-megachurch-pastor-creflo-dollar-arrested

Calif. megachurch Crystal Cathedral gets new name

The Associated Press

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Southern California's landmark Crystal Cathedral has been given a new name as the evangelical church transforms into a Catholic church.

The iconic, glass-paned megachurch founded by "Hour of Power" televangelist Robert Schuller was sold to the The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange last year. On Saturday, Bishop Tod Brown renamed it Christ Cathedral during a priest ordination and named Christopher H. Smith to the top post of the new church.

The Garden Grove cathedral's name came after more than 4,100 submissions from Catholics all over the world.

Schuller retired in 2006 after seeing his ministry that began at a drive-in movie theater evolve into a global televangelist empire. But after a botched leadership transition to his son, donations began to plummet and in 2010, the Crystal Cathedral sought bankruptcy protection.

The diocese bought the 2,900-seat cathedral and its grounds for $57.7 million. It will have to renovate the cathedral for Catholic worship before services can begin.

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http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/calif-megachurch-crystal-cathedral-1455265.html

Toon - It's Not Like I'm Trying To Vote!

"Being the presidential front-runner was the most exhilarating three hours of my life.”

FORT WORTH, Tex. – More than four months after withdrawing from the Republican presidential race, Gov. Rick Perry addressed thousands of conservative Texans on Thursday here at the state Republican Party convention, poking fun at his own gaffe-filled campaign and throwing his support behind his onetime rival Mitt Romney.

Last year, Mr. Perry soared to the top of the polls after announcing he was running for president, but then struggled to keep his early lead after a series of missteps, particularly during the debates. “Oops,” he famously uttered during a debate after failing to recall the name of one of the three federal agencies he said would eliminate if elected president.

Though he continues to wield influence in the state, his clout has diminished somewhat, and his fiery 22-minute speech Thursday at the Fort Worth Convention Center’s arena – and the standing ovations it inspired – were a sign of Mr. Perry’s continuing role as a marquee Texas Republican.

“I personally learned that $20 million may not earn you any delegates,” Mr. Perry said, referring to the money his campaign raised last year, “but it’ll give you a great tour of this country. I’ve been asked a number of times – people said, ‘What was it like running for president?’ And I tell you, being the presidential front-runner was the most exhilarating three hours of my life.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/rick-perry-back-on-stage/

Guy missed his calling as a clown. No wait, he has been one all his life...

Union decline and rising inequality in two charts

by COLIN GORDON


One hallmark of the first 30 years after World War II was the “countervailing power” of labor unions (not just at the bargaining table but in local, state, and national politics) and their ability to raise wages and working standards for members and non-members alike. There were stark limits to union power—which was concentrated in some sectors of the economy and in some regions of the country—but the basic logic of the postwar accord was clear: Into the early 1970s, both median compensation and labor productivity roughly doubled. Labor unions both sustained prosperity, and ensured that it was shared. The impact of all of this on wage or income inequality is a complex question (shaped by skill, occupation, education, and demographics) but the bottom line is clear: There is a demonstrable wage premium for union workers. In addition, this wage premium is more pronounced for lesser skilled workers, and even spills over and benefits non-union workers. The wage effect alone underestimates the union contribution to shared prosperity. Unions at midcentury also exerted considerable political clout, sustaining other political and economic choices (minimum wage, job-based health benefits, Social Security, high marginal tax rates, etc.) that dampened inequality. And unions not only raise the wage floor but can also lower the ceiling; union bargaining power has been shown to moderate the compensation of executives at unionized firms.

Over the second 30 years post-WWII—an era highlighted by an impasse over labor law reform in 1978, the Chrysler bailout in 1979 (which set the template for “too big to fail” corporate rescues built around deep concessions by workers), and the Reagan administration’s determination to “zap labor” into submission—labor’s bargaining power collapsed. The consequences are driven home by the two graphs below. Figure 1 simply juxtaposes the historical trajectory of union density and the income share claimed by the richest 10 percent of Americans. Early in the century, the share of the American workforce which belonged to a union was meager, barely 10 percent. At the same time, inequality was stark—the share of national income going to the richest 10 percent of Americans stood at nearly 40 percent. This gap widened in the 1920s. But in 1935, the New Deal granted workers basic collective bargaining rights; over the next decade, union membership grew dramatically, followed by an equally dramatic decline in income inequality. This yielded an era of broadly shared prosperity, running from the 1940s into the 1970s. After that, however, unions came under attack—in the workplace, in the courts, and in public policy. As a result, union membership has fallen and income inequality has worsened—reaching levels not seen since the 1920s.

http://www.youtube.com/v/QSYOedwIjMU?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0
By most estimates, declining unionization accounted for about a third of the increase in inequality in the 1980s and 1990s. This is underscored by Figure 2, which plots income inequality (Gini coefficient) against union coverage (the share of the workforce covered by union contracts) by state, for 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2009. The relationship between union coverage and inequality varies widely by state. In 1979, union stalwarts in the northeast and Rust Belt combined high rates of union coverage and relatively low rates of inequality, while just the opposite held true for the southern “right to work” states. A large swath of states—including the upper Midwest, the mountain west, and the less urban industrialized states of the northeast—showed lower-than-national rates of inequality at union coverage rates a bit above or a bit below that of the nation. More importantly, as we plot the same relationship in 1989, 1999, and 2009, those states move as a group towards the less-union coverage, higher-inequality corner of the graph. The relationship between declining union coverage and rising inequality is starkest in the earlier years (between 1979 and 1989). After 1999, union coverage has bottomed out in most states and changes in the Gini coefficient at the state level are clearly driven by other factors, such as financialization and the real estate bubble.
http://www.youtube.com/v/RtuTDldFGN8?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

http://www.epi.org/blog/union-decline-rising-inequality-charts/

(sorry, can't get the videos to load. Click to view)

Pennsylvania gives Shell a sweet, crude deal

By Philip Bump
Shell Oil wants to build an ethane processing plant in Western Pennsylvania. But: can a massive fossil fuels conglomerate possibly turn a profit on something as risky as a natural gas derivative?

"What the Hell's That Thing?"

Friday TOON Roundup 5- The Rest-

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