Day: December 30, 2008
What Was Up with Rick Warren’s Surprise Visit to West Hollywood?
Rick Warren, the right-wing meg-achurch preacher from Orange County, Calif., who is set to give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration next month, made a surprise visit last week to a thrift store in the heart of West Hollywood, southern California’s gay Mecca, that left a lot of us locals scratching our heads.
Obama’s invitation has catapulted Warren to fame. In just three short weeks, he has become the most famous conservative in California, bar none.
The store, which is a branch of a locally famous chain called Out of the Closet, a non-profit that benefits HIV services, is on Santa Monica Blvd., about three blocks from Pensito Review’s West Coast office. I did not find out about Warren’s appearance there until later, which is probably a good thing because Out of the Closet sells shoes.
TMZ, the television and internet gossip network that is also based nearby on the Sunset Strip, had an exclusive report on the visit, including a photo of Warren with the thrift store manager, Erol Sarabi, that was apparently taken on a cell phone:
[Warren] bought 8 to 10 books, two of which were his own (that doesn’t help with his Amazon ranking). Warren told Sarabi not to believe everything he reads, that he does a lot for AIDS research and was happy that Out of the Closet does free AIDS testing…
By the way, Warren gave a signed copy of his book to Sarabi. The inscription from the Bible, Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
What Warren was up to here is a bit hard to suss out. Out of the Closet is hardly a gathering place in West Hollywood — thrift stores are not usually hangouts — so if his intent was to make a show of his support for the gays, he would have done better by stopping next door at the Gold Coast, a bar catering to older gentlemen his age, including especially those with his body type.
Just What We Need, Another Conservative Rant Site
I received an e-mail today from something called the Conservative Society for Action. There’s no telling how I came to be on the mailing list, but really, do we need another conservative screed Web site? Especially one that makes Richard Viguerie sound like a level-headed intellectual?
The site has a conservative hall of fame containing, no joke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Howard Taft, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. See where they are going with this?
The editorial is pretty predictable. You know, the usual hints at creeping socialism, the failure of the press to be fair, i.e., report the hyper-conservative viewpoint and the typical near-hysterical tone.
But the site, which is run by a Stephen Flanagan out of Brightwaters, NY, does attempt to be a little snarky. You tell me if it works:
We are not kidding. This is REAL!
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to charge a “fee” for flatulence-producing cows and hogs. Farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs would pay a yearly fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head for beef cattle and $20 for each hog.
Where do you think this rule came from? This is part of of the environmental Marxist movement taking control of Washington. Imagine how proud these nuts are to finally get the Fart Tax passed.
This is pure extremism — the kind of extremism that I bet you never thought you’d see in America! But here it is — the Fart Tax!
BTW … YOU will be the one paying for this with an increase the cost of hamburgers! Imagine that! Capital Hill isn’t even afraid to attack the all-American hamburger!
WANTED: Inventor who can create an EZ-Pass device that will strap to a cow’s butt to charge by the fart. We will patent this devise as “EZ-Pass-Gas”. The market will be huge once the Environmental Marxists realize that people fart too! There’s six billon <sic> people out there!!!
Whew! Pretty funny, eh? I’ve sent Monsieur Flanagan a note suggesting that the CSA (rhymes with Confederate States of America!!) add a link to Pensito Review to foster dialog and understanding. Now that’s funny.
