Rick Perry Still There Still Batshit

A little something from my library of one-liners.


“A mind may be a terrible thing to waste, but if you waste 15 million of them, apparently you get Texas.” - Keith Olbermann

Rick Perry's Own Private Alamo, as He Brings Together Some of the Most Hate-Filled Christian Right Groups

By calling for a day of fasting and prayer, Texas Governor Rick Perry is bringing together some of the most hate-filled Christian right groups in the country. Is this the type of headlines a possible presidential candidate really wants?

No matter what they may call it, when conservative Christian evangelicals stage a prayer meeting/mass rally at a big stadium, if you're gay, you'd be advised to stay away. And that warning goes for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Atheists as well. Despite what organizers may publicly proclaim, these mass rallies praying for Jesus Christ's guidance through hard times, have a tendency to turn towards the dark side for those outside the faith.

And when the initiator of the event is a governor of a big state looking to make national headlines, the main sponsor of the event is the wholly un-cuddlesome and anti-gay American Family Association, branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and key organizers of the event are closely linked to TheCall, Lou Engle's unambiguously anti-gay organization, that's a prescription for a decidedly partisan, and, dare I say it, un-Christian gathering.

Governor Perry's program

The key figure spearheading "The Response" is Texas Governor Rick Perry. There is speculation that Perry is considering entering the Republican race for the presidency. He appears to be weighing whether he really wants to do all that it takes to get there; especially the part about subjecting himself and his family to broader media scrutiny.

By taking the lead role in organizing "The Response," Perry is getting all the headlines he may have envisioned, and a whole lot more. "Perry's Day of Fasting for Ballots" was The Austin Chronicle's headline of a Richard Whittaker piece about "The Response."............

..........As governor, Perry has made national headlines before; according to Think Progress, "while Texas was facing a historic drought and rash of wildfires, Gov. Perry extolled Texans to 'pray for rain,' as he tried to cut funding for the agency battling the wildfires." Perhaps even more memorable was when Perry seriously indicated that the state of Texas might consider seceding from the Union if the federal government kept up its intrusive ways.

Now, Perry is set to host "The Response" on August 6, an event characterized as "a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our troubled nation." Perry has invited fellow governors to join him at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Thus far only Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has accepted his invitation.

The event, which is free but requires registration - a way to gather data on potential supporters -- has been described by Perry as an "apolitical Christian prayer service" to offer "spiritual solutions to many challenges we face in our communities, states and nation."

At the event's website (http://theresponseusa.com/) Perry's invitation letter to his "Fellow Americans" explains that, "As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and than Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy."

The letter maintains that "Some problems are beyond our power to solve, and according to the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, this historic hour demands a historic response."

'The Response' dominated by the American Family Association

According to its website, "The Response is a non-denominal, apolitical Christian prayer meeting and has adopted the American Family Association statement of faith.

1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

2. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

4. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

5. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ."

It is worth noting that the American Family Association has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. SPLC calls the AFA "one of the most strident voices spreading malicious anti-LGBT propaganda." more