TaterSalad: VAT in the United Kingdom increases to 20% 4 Jan 2011. The total UK tax rate will then be 70%!

Friends, Romans, fellow conservatives, I, too, would like Faulkner to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. With his possible faults (no one is as good as their resume) and outright weirdness (there -- I said it, to quote Mark Levin), he still may be better than Rangel.

But let's not be fooled again. We are all in danger of seeing what we want to see, rather than what is actually there. Most of you commenting here actually know only what the author was spoon fed by the PR folks. Until you have more data/evidence, curb your enthusiasm, please.

How about this: I have seen Faulkner in action when visiting the church he pastored for many years. I am referring to Central Baptist, the church he left (or was he kicked out?) before forming his current church. On the multiple occasions I saw him in action as "The Pastor," including shaking his hand after the church service, he gave off a very strange vibe and it was not positive, loving, or Godly. My opinion. YMMV (your mileage may vary).

I was not a member of Central Baptist or associated with its governing bodies in any way, so I will try to be careful and fair in what I say. It may be the case that Faulkner left Central Baptist in much worse financial condition than he found it. It may be the case that he misused church funds to make unauthorized trips to Africa while he was associated with World Vision. A little resume-padding, Reverend?

I know someone who reported directly to Faulkner for years. My friend was deeply unhappy in his highly responsible position at Central Baptist because Faulkner was an outrageous control freak. The not-so-funny joke was that staff needed permission to go to the bathroom. (Not my opinion -- my friend's reports.)

Nice halo, Reverend Faukner! Nice PR (even if its all true!) There was a similar writeup at American Thinker. You authors sure write like-sounding pieces when you're fed the same PR handout!

Does anyone commenting here (or authoring the article) actually know Faulkner? Is anyone here aware that nearly any Pastor or Reverend in Harlem would fit the above hagiography? Harlem pastors all have an office wall full of framed certificates for working with various "NYC task forces", the mayor, City Councilpersons, even New York State Representatives. They can all claim to be "working to help the economically disadvantaged, assisting those with HIV/AIDS, etc" since many of the folks who live in Harlem and attend their churches fit that description.

Faulkner looks great on paper. But do any of you understand what it might mean to do some actual "due diligence" research on a candidate?

I am glad that this topic is now being exposed on Big Government. Much better late than never, but we are all so late to this party.

These types of activities were exposed in 2005 in David Kupelian's book, The Marketing of Evil, published by World Net Daily.

And who do you think Mass Resistance (http://www.massresistance.org/), the source of all the info in these articles, is? From what little I can tell from their website it is perhaps as small as one man with a video camera. Sheesh! Its about time we are all waking up to this evil in our midst.

I am glad that this topic is now being exposed on Big Government. Much better late than never, but we are all so late to this party.

These types of activities were exposed in 2005 in David Kupelian's book, The Marketing of Evil, published by World Net Daily.

And who do you think Mass Resistance (http://www.massresistance.org/), the source of all the info in these articles, is? From what little I can tell from their website it is perhaps as small as one man with a video camera. Sheesh! Its about time we are all waking up to this evil in our midst.

I am glad that this topic is now being exposed on Big Government. Much better late than never, but we are all so late to this party.

These types of activities were exposed in 2005 in David Kupelian's book, The Marketing of Evil, published by World Net Daily.

And who do you think Mass Resistance (http://www.massresistance.org/), the source of all the info in these articles, is? From what little I can tell from their website it is perhaps as small as one man with a video camera. Sheesh! Its about time we are all waking up to this evil in our midst.