The U.S. Supreme Court has backed a religious group in New Mexico that uses hallucinogenic tea in one of its religious ceremonies.

Said Chief Justice John Roberts, the Feds did not meet a burden of proof sufficient to ban “the sect’s sincere religious practice.”

So, will someone out there please devise a faith whose “sincere religious practice” somehow involves White Rhino? “

And please hurry. Bonnaroo is less than three months away!

From minds that brought you “Town Hall Meetings With the President” where the only people who are allowed to ask questions are pre-screened for friendliness by White House operatives comes . . .

BLOVIATE WITH BILL – An contest whose winners will get an opportunity to “sit on the set of “The Factor” and let Bill O’Reilly have it?!”

This week’s BLOVIATE WITH BILL contest winner is Suwanee, Georgia’s Christy Mellinger. The AJC describes her as:

A serious O’Reilly fan, she noted her 18-month son, Michael, always calms down when he hears O’Reilly’s voice. “I think it’s because he heard O’Reilly so much in utero,” she said.

I’m sure she’ll really “let Bill O’Reilly have it?!” Hats off to O’Reilly for having the courage to debate one of his fans.

And Christy, if you read this, remember to ask Bill about his falafel.

(Due to a glitch in the matrix, this post contains video clips that can’t be seen unless you visit andy2000.org )

Last week, I received an e-mail response to my recent comments in Creative Loafing about the North Dekalb Mall Idol karaoke singing competition.

The letter, written by runner-up Rebekah Stork*, takes issue with my less-than-flattering description of her singing. I think she was awful. Pardon my Simon-ness, but her pitch was wobbly and her tone and mannerisms sucked the life and charm from the song she chose.

Thanks to the miracle of modern video technology, you can judge Ms. Stork’s performance for yourself.

The first video is of winner Curtis Williamson singing “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Not my favorite song, or honestly, my favorite style of singing, but the guy’s got a strong, unique voice.

The video below is Ms. Stork’s performance.

Incidentally, Ms. Stork challenged me to a sing-off because, in her estimation, someone who doesn’t sing shouldn’t be judging people who do (an idea to which my father replied something like “You don’t have to be a hen to know if an omelette tastes bad.” I might take her up on the offer. I don’t think that I’d win. I just think it would be fun to be able to start sentences with the phrase “Remember that time I was in a sing-off . . .”

—————

(NOTE: I misspelled Ms. Stork’s last name in my column because I mistook her handwritten “o” for an “a”.)

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NOTE NOTE:You can download the two videos in Quicktime format by right-clicking and saving these links:

Curtis Williamson singing video.
Rebekah Stork singing video.

I’m gonna be on Channel 11’s (WXIA-TV) Atlanta & Company tomorrow (Wedsnesday, February 8, 11:00 A.M.) again. They like me. They really, really like me.

I’ll be doing the same thing I did last week, only with less slouching this time.

It’s about time someone in the federal government threw a bone to our nation’s struggling oil industry.

Government may waive near $7 bln in oil, gas royalties: report
Tue Feb 14, 2:13 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The government may waive up to $7 billion in royalty payments from companies pumping oil and natural gas on federal territory in the next five years, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing administration officials and budget documents.

The royalty relief would amount to one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in U.S. history, even though the administration assumes oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period, the Times report said.

The report cited estimates in the Interior Department’s recent budget plan that would allow companies to pump about $65 billion in oil and natural gas without paying royalties.

(Read more)

Those jerks are at it again.

I received this excellent spam via my Creative Loafing e-mail address

Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 19:36: 1 -0060
From: “Rudy Greenberg”
To: and1sheh@creativel0afing.com
Subject: Former President Bill Klinton uses Voagra!

Everybody knows the great sexual scandal known as “Klinton-Levinsky”.
After the relations like this Klintons popularity raised a lot!
It is a natural phenomenon, because Bill as a real man in order not to
shame himself when he was with Monica regularly used Voagra.
What happened you see. His political figure became more bright and more attractive.
It is very important for a man to be respected as a man!

See our Voagra shop to enter upon the new phase of your life.
http://esauratno.com/

In this week’s Scene & Herd, I go all weak-in-the-knees for The Selmanaires.

In this week’s Don’t Panic, I review the results of Iraq’s December 15 parliamentary elections.

And while I did not conduct any interviews for this year’s Valentine’s Lust List, I did write all but a small handful of the questions. Why I wasn’t credited, I’m not sure. Probably just an oversight.

Today:

1) We learned that on Monday, August 29, the White House learned that Hurricane Katrina had toppled NOLA’s poorly-built, under-inspected flood walls. The White House’s notification about the flooding came approximately 12 hours before President Bush went on TV and said that NOLA had “dodged the bullet.”

2) Yet another top former intelligence official has accused the White House of misusing intelligence to convince the nation to go to war in Iraq. He did so not in Mother Jones or The Nation, but in Foreign Affairs, a very, very, very sober, establishment publication.

3) Several newspapers are reporting that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby blew the cover of an undercover CIA operative (jeopardizing the lives and livelihoods of many of the people overseas who ever helped her/us) with the blessing of his higher-ups.

Hail to the chief!