• I’m not sure how I missed this one, but in late October, KFC’s Colonel Sanders actor bypassed UN security and met with UN General Assembly President Ali A. Teki. It was all part of KFC’s promotional UNFry Day, as it sought UN member status for its fictional Grilled Nation.
• Republican Rep. Anh Cao of Louisiana was the sole Republican voting for the health care reform bill in the House. He defeated former Congressman William “Cold Cash” Jefferson in a special election earlier this year. The district is highly Democratic, and Cao is unlikely to be reelected.
• Luzern County, Pennsylvania, will start to tax closed churches because they do not meet the exemption as places of worship.
• Pakistan’s fashion industry made a symbolic gesture of defiance against the Taliban by holding a four-day fashion event with models in racy outfits on catwalks.
• A gay film was banned in Thailand not because of the gay sex scene, but because it showed government troops beating Muslims.
• Texas Rep. Pete Sessions compared female-related health conditions to restrictions placed on smokers by insurance companies as a way to explain why some people should pay more for health care.
• The House health care reform bill imposes a 2.5% tax on those who do not have health insurance, but you can get a religious exemption if insurance is against your religion.
• Every five years, Nepal hosts the world’s largest animal sacrifice fair. This year 500,000 animals are expected to be sacrificed to the gods.
• The Vatican does not want gays or lesbians as tourists because it is a “provocation and abuse” of the Vatican. Pedophile priests? Now, that is a different matter…

On Saturday, less than 100 Nazis held an hour-long anti-immigration rally at the state capitol, even though National Socialist Movement Commander Jeff Schoep promised 200.

While the Nazi’s goose stepped on the south side of Washington Street to the chants of “No reds, No Jews, the Mexicans must go too,” about 150 anarchists walked the sidewalk on the north side of the street. They had their own catchy slogan too. “No racists, no classes, no motherfucking fascists.”

Down the middle of the street, separating the two groups was 100 Phoenix cops. Sharpshooters mounted the roofs.

A time like this should be a celebration of the First Amendment. However, it is a little hard to celebrate anything with the signs and slogans both sides presented, especially with the smell of hate in the air.

Some of the Nazis tore up Mexican flags and wiped their rears with them. I guess there is no need to let one’s rhetorical skills or lack of them to get in the way of making a political point.

One particularly irate Nazi yelled to a man in the crowd, “You would make a good lampshade.”

What purpose the Nazis think a rally filled with these grade school antics will serve is beyond comprehension. They are obviously not doing this to recruit members.

The anarchists did not sit quietly and let the Nazis dominate the war of words. With cries like, “Follow your leader and kill yourself” or the old-fashioned but direct “Fuck you, Nazis,” the anarchists made the simple point that they were there and not welcoming the Nazis to Phoenix.

Amazingly, there were no injuries or arrests, except for the Nazis in a small white (what else) car that hit a red truck, sending one of the Nazis to the hospital.

“I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country,” Foxx said, earning herself “Fool of the Week” honors.

The absurdity of declaring that terrorists, who want to destroy American society and the Constitution, are less a threat than a bill reforming health care is a bit hard to fathom.

If Foxx really believes this, then she needs to present a bill redirecting the resources of Homeland Security.

Foxx is concerned that health care reform will bring about a tax increase. That is right. She fears a tax increase more than al-Qaeda slipping a nuclear weapon into the United States, massacring hundreds or thousands of Americans or destroying iconic American landmarks and institutions.

While the rest of us are concerned about what terrorists will do to America, Foxx is concerned what health care reform will do to her wallet.

Dishonorable Mention: Oakland Mayor and former Congressman Ron Dellums deserved “Fool of the Week” honors for running up a $239,000 tax bill with the IRS. Much of that debt was acquired as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

The small town of Wakita, near the Oklahoma-Kansas line, plans on building a Christian-only prison in 16 months. Wakita has only 380 people and hopes for a prison of 600 on a 150 acre site.

It would be a private prison run by Correctional Concepts out of Dallas, Texas, which has been trying to push this concept for at least twenty years. In 1996, it garnered the approval of Texas Governor George Bush who called religion “crime’s age-old enemy.” Despite years of pushing this idea in initially supportive communities, this is the first time the prison has been given the go ahead. 

However, the dollars and cents behind the proposal seem suspicious. In 1996, Correctional Concepts estimated that they could incarcerate prisoners at $38.90 a day. Thirteen years later, that figure has been upped to only $42.80 a day. How can a 10% inflation adjustment for 13 years be accurate?

At first, one might think this is not a bad idea. After all, whatever works to distract an inmate from a life of crime must be good. Imagine the details, however, and it quickly becomes a mountain of questions and problems.

The inmates will all be Christians, in the last 12-30 months of their sentence, who agree to participate in the faith-based program.

They would work in prison industries, gaining training and some money. The money would be available for a broad range of possibilities, including their families, restitution, prison care and personal savings.

The pay structure for inmates is an impressive proposal by Correctional Concepts. Unlike a lot of prison work that pays pennies to the hour, Correctional Concepts vows the prevailing wage. Even though the prevailing wage is the minimum wage in the low-income, rural  small towns approached for this prison, it is still an improvement for inmates.

Classes would be available and a Christian college, Wayland University, has agreed to setup a satellite campus.

The inmates will not be forced to attend church or other religious functions, but they will be required to participate in the prison’s programs, which are Christ-based.

All staff are required to be Christians.

“The staff, being all born-again believers, will see this as a mission,” said Bill Robinson, the founder of Correctional Concepts.

Private prisons have been on the rise, but they conduct a prison for profit and do not discriminate on religion or race or any other inmate characteristic.

This prison in Wakita will only take Christians, which gives a preferential path for some prisoners over others. In a state-run prison, Christian services are provided to prisoners, as are services of other religions. The problem with the Wakita prison is that the more successful it is, the more unfair it is to non-Christians. The taxpayer dollars going to the Wakita inmates would not be available for non-Christian inmates.

It is hard to imagine how the prison will not succeed since its organizers will be able to cherry pick the initial prisoners and point to wildly successful results. If these inmates are motivated enough to seek entry in a Christian prison, they are already motivated enough to try to make it on the outside.

Besides the possibility of an earlier parole, these prisoners would get other preferential treatment including more visits from family members and safer conditions.

All this may be moot, though. Section II-5 of the Oklahoma constitution forbids public money to be spent for religious purposes.

“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

That sounds like a straight forward edict not to spend tax dollars on religious programs, but I am sure the courts will have to work it out.

For the town of Wakita, the prison is a boon. In this economically depressed town, the project is seen as a financial opportunity. Besides the construction jobs to build the prison, 150 staffed positions will be in the prison and another 15-20 support positions in the community.

The supporters of the Christian-only prison have an explanation for why it has taken so long to build it. Dallas Attorney John Sheedy, who has known Robinson during the time he has pushed this idea, said that the opponents were more than just people supporting ”a separation of God and state.” Leading the opposition to the Christian-only prison concept is Satan, himself.

“He exists, he doesn’t want this project to succeed. He is doing everything he can to defeat this project and he is using good people with good intentions. Satan is much more powerful than anybody in this room, he will twist that person around where they think they are doing the right thing in fighting it,” Sheedy told the residents of Leonard, Texas, when it was proposed there in 2007.

• Hezbollah has banned “The Diary of Anne Frank” from its schools as Zionist propaganda.
• Barney Frank admitted that he was present when his partner was arrested for pot. Frank said he did not know that his partner had marijuana plants.
• Missouri is taxing yoga and Pilates.
• Welsh police wasted £20,000 on a psychic tips looking for “a lion, a horse and someone called Fox” in a murder investigation.
• A man was stoned to death in Somalia for adultery. His girlfriend has been spared until she gives birth.
• Parents of 15-year-olds and older will be fined in the UK if they take their children out of sex education classes.
• A New Zealand artist made a sculpture of that country’s environmental minister our of cow manure.