8 p.m.

• And I’m supposed to feel sorry for these people?

Trent Charlton knew the risks when he borrowed $10,000 from his 401(k) and cut his retirement savings in half.

 

But Charlton, a 40-year-old account executive at an Irvine, Calif., trucking company, said he had little choice because he and his wife could not keep up with monthly expenses after American Express reduced the limits on three credit cards.

 

As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, more people are doing the same thing: raiding their retirement savings just to get by and spending their nest eggs to gas up SUVs, pay mortgages or put food on the table...

 

…Charlton and his wife used the retirement money and $7,000 from savings to pay down their credit card debt. They also cut monthly expenses by pawning a diamond ring and selling camera equipment he owed money on. And he's looking for someone to take over his $550 monthly payment on a gray BMW 335i he leased last April.

It gets better…

Meanwhile, jobs are harder to find, and consumers are getting pinched by higher food and fuel prices.

So let I get this straight. This guy leased a BMW, purchased jewelry and other luxury items (some of which he still owes money on) and has out-of-control credit-card debt. But the GAS and GROCERIES are what’s really taking a wallop on his bottom line.

Charlton's predicament arose as lenders are taking steps to rein in credit because more consumers are missing payments on mortgages, credit cards and loans…

Great. I’m contributing to all this gloom and doom because I forgot to make two monthly payments on time this month (the car payment and my school loan). I guess I could blame the fact my wife had a miscarriage and went in for surgery and that I had other things on my mind and forgot about these two bills (both were about a week late to get paid – I generally pay off bills at the start of the month and check about mid-month to see everything was paid in full; this time during the middle of the month, I noticed I forgot to make these two transactions). Nah. I'll just blame gas prices and expensive groceries (even though I saved $47 on this week’s bill, which totaled $83 after my coupons/Jewness kicked in).

8:30 p.m.

• Don't you know that making Abdul eat crocodile meat is one of the worst things you can do to a Muslim male?

Oh, wait. It's not anymore?

Iranian Shia religious authorities have issued a fatwa, or religious edict allowing crocodile meat to be eaten by humans.

Well, I guess allowing women to vote now tops the list. For now.

VOTING stopped at women-only polling stations in parts of northwest Pakistan after elders decided that women should not cast ballots, police and officials said.

Then again, considering women tend to vote Democrat, maybe the Muslims are on to something here.