As Georgia descends deeper into drought, Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle and asked President Bush for help. On Tuesday, the governor will call on a higher power.
He will join lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.
While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient.
The foolish lead the ignorant. It’s what American politics is all about.
Let’s see. It’s cheap. It’s quick. It might be efficacious. If it’s not effective, then it certainly won’t hurt. So what’s the problem with it?
The problem is that the foolish do not lead the ignorant… the smart lead the ignorant and foolish, and the ignorant and foolish outnumber the smart by 10:1 at least. For the Republican party, that would be 100:1.
Occasionally, an ignorant and foolish person will be used by the smart in order to manipulate the ignorant and foolish, since the ignorant and foolish don’t like the smart. Hence the president that we currently have, and his great appeal to the ignorant and foolish, being ignorant and foolish himself.
Also sometimes the ignorant and foolish can pretend to be smart, by attempting to say important things with big words that they can’t pronounce. The smart can see right through that ploy and know that the person is ignorant and foolish, but the ignorant and foolish still see the person as one of them, excusing the ignorant and foolish person.
But now we have a special case in our presidency: an ignorant and foolish person taking his main advice from a smart mentally ill person. So we end up with an ignorant, foolish and deluded person. And then using Fox news to reinforce his delusions… such as “we have succeeded in Iraq because people are back to only dying at the same rate as a year ago.”
#3 Huh? Bush is making millions due to rising oil barrel prices.
Al Gore is making millions promoting Green Tech.
What are you doing about it #3? Personally? Yep, nothing.
Blind leaders of the blind… both will fall into The Ditch.
That is most of the world right now.
Cursor_
Wow Awake and Eideard, how do you guys get up in the morning with the world going to hell in a hand basket? Would you like some cheese to go with your wine?
Someone wants to pray and you think them an idiot. So much for tolerance, and understanding.
>>Someone wants to pray and you think them an idiot. So much
>>for tolerance, and understanding.
Yep. No Christian act goes unpunished here at dvorak dot org slash blog.
There are no atheists in foxholes.
Come on.
Can anyone explain to me why praying for rain is any less ridiculous than performing a rain dance.
Why I heard that if you get a stick in the shape of a ‘Y’ it will point you right to the water. So I think they should be praying for some ‘Y’ shaped sticks.
#6 – Thinker:
Someone wants to pray and you think them an idiot. So much for tolerance, and understanding.
I think that you should think more about the function of god, and not dishonor him by asking him to do you favors like some minor pagan deity.
When you are praying for rain, you might as well be praying to the “Great Rain God in the Sky” to send you some rain. You might as well be praying to the great god in the volcano to stop showering you with lava.
If prayer does not work, I suggest that you keep moving up the ladder of pagan rites: A blood ritual, then an animal sacrifice. If that does not work you can sacrifice a virgin and then a child. Just make sure that you kneel and pray fervently in a pious manner while you perform the pagan rites. Sprinkling holy water around to remind god what you really want is also helpful.
Handling snakes doesn’t work… it keeps the ‘rain spirit’ away because it is afraid of Quetzalcoatl ( <- use Google!).
I would have prayed for a huge lake full of clean water.
… oh, and a nude beach.
Since I’m personally convinced the US drought is linked with Global Warming, I present the following link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7074601.stm
Climate scepticism: The top 10
A well organized Sceptic / Counter about Global Warming.
He’d be more effective with a rain dance IMO
I think everyone in Atlanta should get out and wash their car this weekend. That would ensure a rainfall. Does for me anyway.
If it rains, they’ll say it was an answer to prayer. If it doesn’t rain, they can blame it on all the sinners, like Pat Robertson is fond of doing.
Unlike rain, religious people are fairly predictable.
#8 – There are no atheists in foxholes.
That’s always been a cute, but sadly false, statement.
Either that, or I’ve just never been in a foxhole.
You’ve never been in a foxhole, perhaps not even metaphorically.
RBG
Any atheist who prays in a foxhole is just as much an idiot as religious folk, because it’s not going to help him out anyway.
Trust me when I say that Purdue does not speak for all Georgians. He – nor the Republicans- certainly don’t speak for me or my partner.
As I posted to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, if the administration was serious, they would regulate area growth, mandate low-flow toilet/shower heads, replace all state/school urinals with waterless versions and other innovative measures.
[Duplicate comment. – Deleted. – ed.]
So, the message here is, “dvorak.org/blog” would rather die of thirst than let go of their bigoted attitude towards people of faith.
When you’re in a drought like that, the question is … WHY NOT? Why not cloud seed and then when you get down, pray for rain?
But the consistently BIGOTED COMMENTS this blog makes towards people of faith only serves to show you’re true colors, not theirs.
There is a competing prayer for drought and destruction to make way for the 2nd coming of the lord.
How will the conflict be resolved? Surely it’s not the flip of a holy coin, right?
#20, the problem is that praying will do ABSOLUTELY nothing to help the situation. As long as religious folk, who are equally bigoted towards atheists, continue to waste their efforts by praying, instead of actually doing something useful, we atheists are free to mock them.
OK, here’s the deal.
If God gives rain to Georgia, the atheists don’t get any of it.
#23, no problem, as long as you can prove God sent it. And saying, “We prayed, and it came, therefore God sent it” is not proof.
#23, Greg,
I can live with that. Besides, here in Indiana, we’ve had a couple days of rain already with more on the way.
No, No, No.
It’s the ignorant leading the foolish.
Here’s a suggested prayer for Gov. Perdue…
Dear Lord,
If you’ll only grant this prayer and end our drought, the legislators and I promise to make the supreme political sacrifice in return. We promise never to take another nickel from lobbyists for our re-election campaigns or to influence the way we vote on legislation. Although we’ve never followed this rule in the past, we’re willing to make this sacrifice for the children of the great state of Georgia. Strike anyone with lightning who breaks this promise we hereby make to you.
Amen.
And you guys just thought Kansas was an evolutionary dead-end.
If these money guzzling swine really wanted to DO anything about, oh I dunno, water shortages, insane traffic congestion, crap air quality, over crowded schools, crime and any of a couple three dozen problems associated with any big city, why maybe they’d start by not issuing any more BUILDING PERMITS!!!!! One group of local citizens in North Georgia near Dahlonega, have started a movement to place a moratorium on any new construction until the drought is over, and judging by the local yokel politician’s reactions, you’d think they’d suggested cannibalism in the school lunch programs.
Yep, The New South. Jethro’s got MONEY! And he’s a cipherin’ how to get more of it, Uncle Jed! YeeHaw!
#20. How is it, exactly, “bigoted” to ridicule the belief in foolish things? If someone believed in leprechauns or that the Earth was shaped like a frisbee, it would be perfectly reasonable (even expected) to deprecate those ideas. indeed, religious people very frequently ridicule religious beliefs that are contrary to their own (perhaps we should be grateful that it is just ridicule and no longer homicide, at least in the developed world)
anyway, belief that praying will bring rain is just as ridiculous as believing in leprechauns or that that the world is shaped like a frisbee.
just because the belief in the power of prayer is more widespread, does not make it off limits for ridicule.
“We need to try a different approach,” said Rocky Twyman, who organized the concert. “We need to call on God, because what we’re doing isn’t working. We think that instead of all this fussing and fighting, Gov. Perdue and all these others would come together and pray.”
Oh Lord! Please send us rain to save us from the drought you sent …
Hey, wait a minute! If God sends the drought, shouldn’t they pray to Satan to send water?