Slap Fight!

If you thought the tussle between the fake wrestlers and the eco-freaks over the "WWF" acronym was ridiculous, just take a gander at this:

[The] International House of Pancakes and International House of Prayer are fixing to throw down.

IHOP (pancake), based in Glendale, Calif., has sued IHOP (prayer), based in Kansas City, for trademark dilution and infringement. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, essentially said there was room for only one IHOP

On Tuesday, IHOP (pancake) spokesman Patrick Lenow said the suit was filed only after the church mission refused repeated requests to stop using the trademark.

“We are compelled to protect the 350 small-business owners who own IHOP franchises and the IHOP good name that’s been around for 52 years,” Lenow said.

Thus the question, why sue now? The church mission started calling itself IHOP a decade ago.

“They’ve expanded — and now some of the branches are serving food,” Lenow said.

I'm pretty sure the drunk twenty-somethings aren't going to mistakenly stagger into a church at two in the morning, Mr Lenow. Still, this is a bunch of genuine, 100% wacksauce loonballs we're talking about. In addition to being yet another "the end is NIGH!" cult, there's this:

IHOP (prayer) was started by a man named Mike Bickle, who by his own admission grew up in a Waldo bar and claims to have traveled to heaven twice.

Strange coincidence: I grew up next door to a chemical plant and I've traveled to hell twice -- though most people just call it New Orleans.

The ministry is now planning to build a $150 million world headquarters — including IHOP University and a 5,000-seat conference center — along U.S. 71 in Grandview.

Again, IHOP (pancakes) got there first. One of the restaurants is across the highway.

pwned!