My God can kick your God's ass

Some might take the fact that this Iowa preacher wasn't immediately reduced to a smoldering, burned-out husk by a bolt of lightning as evidence that there is no God. Others might see it as a sign that God has a limitless amount of patience with braying jackasses who invoke His name for petty purposes.

Me, I see it as an opportunity to help bail out the economy. Not by asking God to purchase shares in banks or to yea, verily restore value to default credit swap instruments.

Nope -- I see this as yet another sign that we should stop pretending that religious institutions have a First Amendment right to tax exemption. We should stop pretending that they are apolitical organizations that do not enrich their leaders and use the massive piles of booty they take in solely on providing spiritual succor to their flocks.

I have no idea how much taxing the value of religious institutions' property, assets and income would bolster the US Treasury. But around here, you can't swing a cat without knocking down a preacher or hitting the marquee of a church, so I'm guessing it would be substantial. That's my bail-out plan for the ailing economy.