A prophet's profits, dirty deeds, and glory holes...
There's this guy who comes to town several times a year and stays at a local hotel. He's a celebrity of sorts. Not one that I would have ever heard of since I do not watch Total Bullshit Network. He makes regular appearances on said network. He's a televangelist of sorts, an inspirational speaker, a musician, and a self-proclaimed prophet. I will not mention any names as I do not wish to be smited by whacko religious types or his giant-ass bodyguard (a really nice guy actually). Said prophet hails from the southern hemisphere and I'll leave it at that. I will also make it known that M, one of his assistants, is a total hottie. I'm not one to be taken by his mumbo jumbo, but he's a decent enough guy on a personal level. He likes wine. He likes wine a lot. He likes good wine. He likes expensive wine. I don't make any commission so it really doesn't matter what I sell him. But I always like to sell him something special without going mega-expensive. He could be considered a cherry-picking ratings whore, but he always allows me to sell him whatever I recommend as he has come to trust my palate. He said that I've never done him wrong yet. Maybe he's just being polite, but I think he's truthful here (don't mind his toupe, colored contacts, and lifts). He was in yesterday. It's been a while since he's been in town. I sold him some really nice stuff yestereday, but that's okay...he can afford it. Apparently prophets/TV evangelists aren't afraid to drop some major coin on Jesus juice (that's what Michael Jackson calls it when he gives it to little kids). But then again prophets are in the profit business. If that's what it's going to take to boost the wine business then "Yay God!" I'm not sure what his other extravagances are, but he's not quite at the Benny Hinn level...
More scary shit in political news here from "The Briefing" segment of Rolling Stone magazine (issue #998) by Tim Dickinson.
There's a great article in the same issue that's not posted on the site yet called "The Pentagon's New Spies" on domestic spying. Scary shit! Look for it.
In "More Scary Shit" news from Rolling Stone magazine...
The new RS also has an "Environment Watch" segment penned by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. entitled "Good Riddance, Gale Norton". I'm going to reprint it word for word as it's short enough and not posted on the site yet...
Gale Norton stepped down as Secretary of the Interior on March 31st, ending her ferocious five-year assault on the lands and wildlife she was charged to protect. A former lobbyist and lawyer for the mining and timber industries, Norton made it her goal as secretary to give away as many of our publicly owned resources as she could to the energy, timber, and mining interests, often for free or at fire-sale prices. She opened tens of millions of acres of key wildlife habitat to oil and gas tycoons, industrial logging barons and reckless developers. She blocked hard-won plans to control the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park and campaigned tirelessly to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. She suppressed dozens of scientific studies and punished scientists when their findings challenged corporate profit-taking. She put polluters and their lobbyists in charge of virtually all of the agences that are supposed to protect American from polluters. She even refused to reprimand her deputy, the former mining and oil lobbyist Steven Griles, after an investigation by the Interior Departments's inspector general found that he had doled out multimillion-dollar favors to his former clients.
Now that she is leaving, Norton says she is setting her sights on "the private sector." Her record suggests she has been working for the private sector all along.
Norton may be getting out just in time. Federal prosecutors are investigating GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who bought top-level access to the Interior Department by gulling Indian tribes into paying $500,000 to the head of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a phony green group co-founded by Norton with funding from the timber, chemical and oil industries.
Unfortunately, Norton's departure isn't likely to end such corporate piracy at the Interior. President Bush's choice to replace her is another industry toady- Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne, who earned a zero rating from the League of Conservation Voters during five of his six years in the U.S. Senate. As governor, he repeatedly slashed Idaho's environmental budget, cut air-pollution inspections by thirty-eight percent and fought to increase logging in national forests- a record that has led environmentalists to dub him "Gale Norton in pants."
Be afraid...be very afraid! Thank goodness there are still Kennedys around to care and fight for what's right. There are obviously lots of people out there who care, but the Kennedy name still carries some weight. Bob Jr. and the NRDC are doing a hell of a job. Help them out!
In other news...
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is still a good movie. I saw it at the theater and I watched it again last night on DVD. Great stuff, but I did love the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a kid.
There's talk of putting up border walls between the U.S. and Mexico. How about putting "glory holes" every twenty feet or so? It would be fun for both sides. I'm sure it would have made Cold War-Berlin more enjoyable... (sorry for the visual)
Two of my favorite waitresses are leaving "the restaurant job". That sucks! Good luck to both of them!
ITMFA!
Cheers,
Jason
More scary shit in political news here from "The Briefing" segment of Rolling Stone magazine (issue #998) by Tim Dickinson.
There's a great article in the same issue that's not posted on the site yet called "The Pentagon's New Spies" on domestic spying. Scary shit! Look for it.
In "More Scary Shit" news from Rolling Stone magazine...
The new RS also has an "Environment Watch" segment penned by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. entitled "Good Riddance, Gale Norton". I'm going to reprint it word for word as it's short enough and not posted on the site yet...
Gale Norton stepped down as Secretary of the Interior on March 31st, ending her ferocious five-year assault on the lands and wildlife she was charged to protect. A former lobbyist and lawyer for the mining and timber industries, Norton made it her goal as secretary to give away as many of our publicly owned resources as she could to the energy, timber, and mining interests, often for free or at fire-sale prices. She opened tens of millions of acres of key wildlife habitat to oil and gas tycoons, industrial logging barons and reckless developers. She blocked hard-won plans to control the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park and campaigned tirelessly to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. She suppressed dozens of scientific studies and punished scientists when their findings challenged corporate profit-taking. She put polluters and their lobbyists in charge of virtually all of the agences that are supposed to protect American from polluters. She even refused to reprimand her deputy, the former mining and oil lobbyist Steven Griles, after an investigation by the Interior Departments's inspector general found that he had doled out multimillion-dollar favors to his former clients.
Now that she is leaving, Norton says she is setting her sights on "the private sector." Her record suggests she has been working for the private sector all along.
Norton may be getting out just in time. Federal prosecutors are investigating GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who bought top-level access to the Interior Department by gulling Indian tribes into paying $500,000 to the head of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a phony green group co-founded by Norton with funding from the timber, chemical and oil industries.
Unfortunately, Norton's departure isn't likely to end such corporate piracy at the Interior. President Bush's choice to replace her is another industry toady- Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne, who earned a zero rating from the League of Conservation Voters during five of his six years in the U.S. Senate. As governor, he repeatedly slashed Idaho's environmental budget, cut air-pollution inspections by thirty-eight percent and fought to increase logging in national forests- a record that has led environmentalists to dub him "Gale Norton in pants."
Be afraid...be very afraid! Thank goodness there are still Kennedys around to care and fight for what's right. There are obviously lots of people out there who care, but the Kennedy name still carries some weight. Bob Jr. and the NRDC are doing a hell of a job. Help them out!
In other news...
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is still a good movie. I saw it at the theater and I watched it again last night on DVD. Great stuff, but I did love the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a kid.
There's talk of putting up border walls between the U.S. and Mexico. How about putting "glory holes" every twenty feet or so? It would be fun for both sides. I'm sure it would have made Cold War-Berlin more enjoyable... (sorry for the visual)
Two of my favorite waitresses are leaving "the restaurant job". That sucks! Good luck to both of them!
ITMFA!
Cheers,
Jason
posted by Jason at 12:53 AM
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