America hasn't got a prayer. 2011/8/16 michael gurstein <[email protected]>: > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Portside Moderator [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 5:44 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [SPAM] Rick Perry’s Unanswered Prayers > > > Rick Perry’s Unanswered Prayers > > By TIMOTHY EGAN > Opinionator > The New York Times Blogs > August 11, 2011, 8:30 pm > > http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/rick-perrys-unanswered-praye > rs/?emc=eta1 > > [Timothy Egan on American politics and life, as seen from the West.] > > A few months ago, with Texas aflame from more than 8,000 wildfires brought > on by extreme drought, a man who hopes to be the next president took pen in > hand and went to work: > > "Now, therefore, I, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, under the authority > vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do > hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, > April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas." > > Then the governor prayed, publicly and often. Alas, a > rainless spring was followed by a rainless summer. July was > the hottest month in recorded Texas history. Day after > pitiless day, from Amarillo to Laredo, from Toadsuck to > Twitty, folks were greeted by a hot, white bowl overhead, triple-digit > temperatures, and a slow death on the land. > > In the four months since Perry’s request for divine intervention, his > state has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Nearly all of Texas is now > in 'extreme or exceptional' drought, as classified by federal > meteorologists, the worst in Texas history. > > Lakes have disappeared. Creeks are phantoms, the caked > bottoms littered with rotting, dead fish. Farmers cannot > coax a kernel of grain from ground that looks like the skin > of an aging elephant. > > Is this Rick Perry’s fault, a slap to a man who doesn’t believe that > humans can alter the earth’s climate - God messin’ with Texas? No, of > course not. God is too busy with the upcoming Cowboys football season and > solving the problems that Tony Romo has reading a blitz. > > But Perry’s tendency to use prayer as public policy demonstrates, in the > midst of a truly painful, wide-ranging and potentially catastrophic crisis > in the nation’s second most-populous state, how he would govern if he > became president. > > "I think it’s time for us to just hand it over to God, and say, �God: > You’re going to have to fix this,’" he said in a speech in May, > explaining how some of the nation’s most serious problems could be solved. > > That was a warm-up of sorts for his prayer-fest, 30,000 evangelicals in > Houston’s Reliant Stadium on Saturday. From this gathering came a very > specific prayer for economic recovery. On the following Monday, the first > day God could do anything about it, Wall Street suffered its worst one-day > collapse since the 2008 crisis. The Dow sunk by 635 points. > > Prayer can be meditative, healing, and humbling. It can also be magical > thinking. Given how Perry has said he would govern by outsourcing to the > supernatural, it’s worth asking if God is ignoring him. > > Though Perry will not officially announce his candidacy until Saturday, he > loomed large over the Republican debate Thursday night. With their denial > of climate change, basic budget math, and the indisputable fact that most > of the nation’s gains have gone overwhelmingly to a wealthy few in the > last decade, the candidates form a Crazy Eight caucus. You could power a > hay ride on their nutty ideas. > > After the worst week of his presidency (and the weakest Oval Office speech > since Gerald Ford unveiled buttons to whip inflation), the best thing Barack > Obama has going for him is this Republican field. He still beats all of > them in most polling match-ups. > > Perry is supposed to be the savior. When he joins the > campaign in the next few days, expect him to show off his boots; they are > emblazoned with the slogan dating to the 1835 Texas Revolution: 'Come and > Take It.' He once explained the logo this way: "Come and take it - > that’s what it’s all about." This is not a man one would expect to show > humility in prayer. > > Perry revels in a muscular brand of ignorance (Rush Limbaugh > is a personal hero), one that extends to the ever-fascinating history of the > Lone Star State. Twice in the last two years he’s broached the subject of > Texas seceding from the union. > > "When we came into the nation in 1845 we were a republic, we were a > stand-alone nation," says Perry in a 2009 video that has just surfaced. "And > one of the deals was, we can leave any time we want. So we’re kind of > thinking about that again." > > He can dream all he wants about the good old days when Texas left the nation > to fight for the slave-holding states of the breakaway confederacy. But the > law will not get him there. There is no such language in the Texas or United > States’ constitutions allowing Texas to unilaterally "leave any time we > want." > > But Texas is special. By many measures, it is the nation’s most polluted > state. Dirty air and water do not seem to bother Perry. He is, however, > extremely perturbed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement > of laws designed to clean the world around him. In a recent interview, he > wished for the president to pray away the E.P.A. > > To Jews, Muslims, non-believers and even many Christians, the Biblical bully > that is Rick Perry must sound downright menacing, particularly when he gets > into religious absolutism. "As a nation, we must call upon Jesus to guide us > through unprecedented struggles," he said last week. > > As a lone citizen, he’s free to advocate Jesus-driven public policy > imperatives. But coming from someone who wants to govern this great mess > of a country with all its beliefs, Perry’s language is an insult to the > founding principles of the republic. Substitute Allah or a Hindu God for > Jesus and see how that polls. > > Perry is from Paint Creek, an unincorporated hamlet in the infinity of the > northwest Texas plains. I’ve been there. In wet years, it’s pretty, the > birds clacking on Lake Stamford, the cotton high. This year, it’s another > sad moonscape in the Lone Star State. > > Over the last 15 years, taxpayers have shelled out $232 > million in farm subsidies to Haskell County, which includes Paint Creek - a > handout to more than 2,500 recipients, better than one out every three > residents. God may not always be reliable, but in Perry’s home county, > the federal government certainly is. > > ___________________________________________ > > Portside aims to provide material of interest to people > on the left that will help them to interpret the world > and to change it. > > Submit via email: [email protected] > > Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3 > > Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq > > Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe > > Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive > > Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate > > > !DSPAM:2676,4e4b0fab217011146610169! > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >
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