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Many televangelists in the United States preach the "prosperity gospel," a doctrine which teaches that a religiously faithful person who continually donates money to church ministries can expect God to grant material improvements to their finances, health, and relationships. Americans who participate in prosperity gospel churches often donate thousands of dollars to these churches, despite their difficulty financing such large donations and the lack of the promised material improvement to their lives. Televangelists who preach the prosperity gospel secretly use these donations to finance their extravagant lifestyles, instead of using the funds to support the faithful masses who continue to donate. The U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise Clause makes it difficult to regulate this religiously-based scheme. This Note argues that to rectify the abuses of prosperity preachers, prosecutors and private individuals should work within the framework of existing criminal and tax law to seek convictions for fraud and tax evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of dimeric ReI(CO)3 compounds have been prepared by means of a one-pot reaction of [Re(CO)5X] (X = Cl, Br), pyridine-2-carboxyaldehyde, and o-, m-, or p-phenylenediamine. For the m- and p-substituted phenylenediamine reactions, phenyl-bridged bis(pyridine-2-carbaldimine) compounds of the formula [Re(CO)3X]2(μ-PPC) [ 3- 7; X = Cl, Br; μ-PPC = m- or p-phenylene bis(pyridine-2-carbaldimine)] were produced, with m-phenylenediamine forming a mixture of isomers. For reactions with o-phenylenediamine, multiple products formed (compounds 8- 11), which ranged from the desired o-phenylene bis(pyridine-2-carbaldimine) adduct to 2-pyridylbenzimidazole and bridging dipyridinylquinoxaline complexes. An example of each complex was structurally elucidated by single-crystal X-ray methods. The dimeric m- and p-phenylene-bridged Re(CO)3X compounds, including a sulfonate derivative designed to improve solubility, were investigated for possible photophysical applications through the use of UV/Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry; the study revealed coupling between the rhenium centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]