westboro

Religious extremeists can be very dangerous because many honestly believe that they have some sort of divine mission to assert their own religious ideology on the rest of the world. Given the fact that the bible specifically calls for execution for such offences as sleeping with a menstruating woman, wearing blended threads and same sex relationships, this is a pretty scarry concept. This kind of mind set is what leads people such as Fred Phelps to belive that they are morally right to condone the brutal gay bashing that resulted in the death of Matthew Shepard. Westboro Baptist Church is hate group, headed by minister Fred Phelps and it is notorious for running godhatesfags.com and other websites expressing its condemnation of homosexuals and american soilders. The groups bases most of it's work on the belief that "god hates fags" and claims that nearly every tragedy in the world is linked to homosexuality ,specifically Americas tolerance and acceptance of gays and lesbians. They believe God hates homosexuals above all other kinds of sinners. They often protest schools, any gay themed event and military funerals with signs such as "thang god for dead soilders" "america is doomed" and "fags burn in hell".

screw woodford.

Woodford Reserve was at one time one of my favorite bourbons. It is slightly sweet with a hint of honey and vanilla with a smooth finish. Although Woodford reserve costs much more than my usual Jim Beam I would still spring for a bottle from time to time, that is until I learned that Woodford Reserve is essentially re-bottled Old Forester Bourbon. Thats right, anytime you buy Woodford you are essentially paying for the pretty bottle and brand.
I had heard the rumors before that Woodford Reserve is really Old Forrester in disguise but never gave it much thought -- atleast until a buddy insisted I have a side by side comparison of the two. I belive that I have a pretty keen palatte for KY bourbon and I was shocked to learn that they tasted the same. I wasn't necessarily convinced that they were the same bourbon but the fact that Old Forrester was $20 cheaper was enough to make me a fan. A few months later my curisoty finally took me to the Woodford Reserve Distillry where I finally got a satisfactory answer. When I asked our tour guide if it's true that Woodford is really rebottled old forrester she calmly pulled me aside and explained that its true that they use Old Forrester but they "blend" it from their own recipe. She then smirked and said to me, "you're right, it is a 97% blend. I love it!

Dear Bonnaroo

Dear Bonnaroo,
This year of Bonnaroo was amazing. On second thought the shows were amazing and everything else pretty much sucked. Weezer was an awsome show except there were too many people to get within 10,000 yards of the stage. The Black Keys put on one hell of a show even though it was right next to 55 overflowing porter potties and John Forgety was as good as ever despite the shadless 106 degree weather we had to endure. Maby next year the whole event will be planned a little bit better so we wont have to sit on the highway for nine hours waiting to get in. To be honest I think it might have been too fucking hot to really enjoy any of the experience other than the actual shows. Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z were all wonderfull shows and they were also the only relaxing shows because they were all at night. Maby next year you could also put up a few tents at the shows for a little bit of shade, im sure with the $300 charged for admission ya'll could just go ahead and make that happen. I know that you cant please everyone but in my humblest opinion I would recommend a little more preperation on your part next year if you are planning for 100+ degree weather, a little shade and maby a complimentary bottle of water can go a long way. Anyway, thanks for atleast booking some great artists.
Sincerly, Jason

oil/water

The gay rights movement has gained significant progress in the unites states in recent years with same-sex partner benefits to government employees - legalization of gay marriage in Rhode island, Vermont, Idaho Main, and the push to repeal the governments “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” Although these are wonderful steps to equality for gay Americans it is still not enough. Unfortunately one of the main problems with the progression of “gay rights” is that we live in a country dominated by Christianity. I firmly believe that Christianity and religion as a whole are to blame for the nation wide discrimination of gays.
In this essay I plan to disscuss the “supposed” separation of church and state and and how anti-gay laws are based on "biblical principles of sexual morality." The thought that marriage for example, can only be defined as "between one man, and one woman" is based on christian values. I belive that the gay rights issue is really a civil rights issue and will not make true headway until people start to distance themselves from the oppressive religious views and adopt a more open and loving attitude towards their fellow man.
In my essay I plan to elaborate on the damaging effects that christian dogma has on homosexuals and can lead it's fowllers to a life of hate and discrimination. I plan to talk about extremist hate groups such as Fred Phelp's Westbro Baptist Church and how they and similar religous groups impact gay americans. I will also give several examples of various political and powerful public figures that have been caught in some major scandles,: Ted Haggard, Mark Foley,Larry Craig just to name a few. Besides the public figures caught in "gay" scandles, I want to mention some others caught is "straight" affairs (Spitzer,Edwards,Duvall,ect.) because it is important to point out their own hiprocicy of not living up to the same christian morals that they use to justify their descrimination on gays. Gay teen suicide is another issue that I feel is necessary to disscus because it is often a product of gay theists struggling to reconcile their sexuallity and their own religion.
Richard Dawkins is a prominent atheist scientist and author of the book "The God Delusion," and in it he talks about different aspects of atheism and how the very concept of religion is detramental to society as a whole. As an atheist myself, Dawkins is one of my favorite scholars and I will be incorperating some of his writings into my essay as well. And lastly, what good essay on gays and religion would be compleate without mentioning the current crisis of the catholic curch and it's gay pedo priests. I also plan to disscus how these issues affect me as a gay man in a long term relationship and how my views on religion have changed drastically, despite being raised as a catholic and then converted to christianity at age 15.

oil/water = gays/religion

The gay rights movement has gained significant progress in the unites states in recent years with same-sex partner benefits to government employees - legalization of gay marriage in Rhode island, Vermont, Idaho Main, and the push to repeal the governments “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” Although these are wonderful steps to equality for gay Americans it is still not enough. Unfortunately one of the main problems with the progression of “gay rights” is that we live in a country dominated by Christianity. I firmly believe that Christianity and religion as a whole are to blame for the nation wide discrimination of gays.
In this essay I plan to disscuss the “supposed” separation of church and state and and how anti-gay laws are based on "biblical principles of sexual morality." The thought that marriage for example, can only be defined as "between one man, and one woman" is based on christian values. I belive that the gay rights issue is really a civil rights issue and will not make true headway until people start to distance themselves from the oppressive religious views and adopt a more open and loving attitude towards their fellow man.
In my essay I plan to elaborate on the damaging effects that christian dogma has on homosexuals and can lead it's fowllers to a life of hate and discrimination. I plan to talk about extremist hate groups such as Fred Phelp's Westbro Baptist Church and how they and similar religous groups impact gay americans. I will also give several examples of various political and powerful public figures that have been caught in some major scandles,: Ted Haggard, Mark Foley,Larry Craig just to name a few. Besides the public figures caught in "gay" scandles, I want to mention some others caught is "straight" affairs (Spitzer,Edwards,Duvall,ect.) because it is important to point out their own hiprocicy of not living up to the same christian morals that they use to justify their descrimination on gays. Gay teen suicide is another issue that I feel is necessary to disscus because it is often a product of gay theists struggling to reconcile their sexuallity and their own religion.
Richard Dawkins is a prominent atheist scientist and author of the book "The God Delusion," and in it he talks about different aspects of atheism and how the very concept of religion is detramental to society as a whole. As an atheist myself, Dawkins is one of my favorite scholars and I will be incorperating some of his writings into my essay as well. And lastly, what good essay on gays and religion would be compleate without mentioning the current crisis of the catholic curch and it's gay pedo priests. I also plan to disscus how these issues affect me as a gay man in a long term relationship and how my views on religion have changed drastically, despite being raised as a catholic and then converted to christianity at age 15. As an atheist i believe that Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you are told and religion is doing what you are told regardless of what is right."


As a gay man in a long term relationship, "anti-gay" laws seem extremly unfair, and as an atheist I belive that the entire country is hyprocital

Anyone that has ever seen a James Bond movie has more than likely remembers the classic phrase, "I'll have a martini, shaken not stirred." Every time I hear this it makes me cringe because as any good bartender will tell you, you should never shake a martini. You would think that such a sphoisticated "man's mans" like 007 would know that a shaken martini not only dillutes it but it also bruises the delicate spirits. When you shake a martini it breaks up the ice into tiny little pieces and therefore melting much more of the ice causing a very weak cocktail. Im sure he already knows this.
I've been a bartender for many years and after many conversations with other bartenders I've come to the conclusion that he orders them weak because he knows he needs to be sober enough to drive that aston martin in an intense high speed chase. I'll give him a pass and the benefit of the doubt because after all, he is a secret agent and needs to be ontop of his game. Also lets not forget that with all of those hot "bond girls" running around it might not be such a bad idea not to have too much to drink because Bond must Always be ready for a quick ropmp in the sack. Bond might be able to get away with it but unless you have a license to kill dont ever order a martini "shaken, not stirred."

yo barkeep!

On occasion I go out with with my father to bullshit and have a few cocktails, and our bar of choice usually depends on which of our favorite bartenders are working. Weather it's Mikey's Old fashioned's at Bluegrass Tavern or Brian's Martini's at Harry's we will go out of our way and even adjust our schedule to go and grab a few drinks with our favorite "barkeep". That kind appreciation and customer loyality is what I have always strived for as a bartender. I, like my father appreciate a good bartender and a good drink.
Making a perfectly balanced and well-rounded cocktail is a fine art and so is the challenge of building a strong customer base. You can make the worlds best Manhattan but guess what, if you're an asshole and don't have good people skills then you will never have a following of loyal customers and that is where you will usually get your best tips. Even though I dont watch many sports and couldn't care less about Kentucky basketball, I always make sure I know the players and scores because I veiw it as my job to be able to talk sports and relate to my customers. Aside from making the best Manhattans this side of the Mississippi I must admit that im a pretty damn good bartender. Weather its talking girls, sports or politics I can usually relate to each and every one of my regulars, or atleast pretend to!