Today is the day of Governor Rick Perry’s crazy prayer rally in Houston. It’s going to fizzle: Reliant Stadium seats 75,000, and only 8,000 tickets have been sold (if you go, please get pictures of the sea of empty seats); he invited all 50 governors of the US to attend, only one said he would (Throwback Brownback of Kansas), and even he apparently hasn’t made travel arrangements, so it’s more like he said he would but won’t. And then it’s going to be populated with odious villains like Hagee and Dobson and Perkins on the stage, and is paid for by the gay-hatin’ American Patriarchy Association.
What’s really sad about this monstrous promise to violate separation of church and state and to pander to the most hateful lunatics of the extremist religious right is that it might just work…American evangelicals will just love Governor Godhair.
Here’s a nice little evangelical poll prompted by Perry’s folly.
Do America and its leaders need God’s guidance?
Without a doubt – 58.86%
Probably – 0.25%
No – 40.89%
You know, you’d think that, if we needed some god’s guidance, said god would hold a press conference — or, at least, invite the relevant leaders to a Camp David-style summit.
But, no…these gods only speak through the mouths of televangelists when they’re not too busy snorting coke off their underage prostitute’s cocks….
Cheers,
b&
Voted. Do these idiots put up Internet polls for shits and giggles, or do they really think they’ll get an accurate head count?
The scary thing is apparently Governor Perry seems to believe in psychic powers and the existence of magic. Where I come from, we call people like this, “gullible”. And gullible people are exactly who I do NOT want as political “leaders”.
Hang on, the gods or the televangelists? :)
It just might work out for him, but I’m still somewhat heartened by the amount of flack he has drawn for the event – not as much as it deserved, but still a lot more than I (and probably he) expected. Perhaps it might even turn into a net loss for his political aspirations – although in general I think his candidate is one of the more viable ones in the current GOP field, irrespective of that.
God doesn’t grant miracles to those that don’t sell enough tickets.
Was there a rain dance on the schedule for this event too?
In other news, though, it looks like Freethoughtblogs is running fine on the new server!
I remember getting the American Family Assocation’s newsletter at my home when I was a young fundamentalist, and snatching it up to read. Even then, I was fascinated and horrified at how bizarre it was. They had a whole section devoted to counting the number of inappropriate things in television shows. It was like, “On Miami Vice this week, five murders, seven instances of taking the Lord’s name in vain, three people smoking cigarettes, and one child disobeying his paretns.” I loved the idea that someone was watching television just to count them.
I was eight years old. I had spent every Sunday of my life in a fundamentalist church. I believed in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I believed that smoking, drinking, and watching R-rated movies were sinful. I didn’t know the words ‘gay’ or ‘atheist,’ and would have been confused if you had tried to explain those words to me.
And I still thought the AFA people were nuts.
For what it’s worth I voted no for you guys. From our side f the world, as we watch our markets get slammed around like a squash ball in game because the US Republicans (and Tea Party crud) seem hell bent on destroying the current Administration rather than helping anyone fix things, you seem to have enough on the plate without throwing in prayer meetings.
If you are voting from firefox:
Enjoy.
The way the poll question is worded assumes that those responding acknowledge that there is a god and that said god is capable of offering guidance. If I vote “No” then I’m affirming that there is a god but that America and its leaders don’t need the god’s guidance. So I guess I won’t vote. Too bad there isn’t an option for “fuck off and keep your religion out of my government!”
@ Quodlibet #11
Well, no-one can prove a negative. But we sure as hell don’t need sky-daddy anyhow.
………………..
Surely a simple script would not be to hard for teh web-gurus. Auto-No Poll Twister ™?
8000 people is still too much. To me it’s 8000 people that believe this bullplop and have the power to vote.
Come on, where are the PHARYNGULATIONISTS?
The Yes votes are still ahead 55% to 44%
The poll is kind of a rigged question. If I answer “No,” does that mean “they’re doing just fine on their own”? That’s not the right answer either!
PZ referred to Governor
ThrowbackBrownback of Kansas. I prefer to refer to him as Governor Brownshirt – but the reference is too obscure: Early Nazi Stormtroopers who played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s were called “brownshirts” for the colour of their uniforms. And yes, I know it’s a subtle Godwin.I disagree. It could just as well read “Do America and its leaders need Harry Potter’s guidance?”, and you could still honestly answer “No”. Any fictional character works.
Nice to see it was going so well already. Amazingly few votes for “Probably”.
Nemo, yes, I can see it that way – thanks!
*runs off to vote*
Whew. Poll Pharyngulated. iMacro for Firefox got us the lead, so my job here is done — at least until I double-check it a few hours from now.
—
Stan
No, but we need some guidance. Now that the American oligarchy downgraded the country in a consolidation of power emboldened by their tea party compatriots in congress. Looks like Rick Perry might be the new VP.
@ Paul Burnett,
Calling someone a ‘brownshirt’ is hardly subtle in those places that actually have an education system that works.
An exquisite but un-showy prize for Halcyon Dayz, please.
testtesttest
Q : Do America and its leaders need God’s guidance?
A : sure they do… they themselves are obviously not up to the task, so, any help should be welcome. Not sure however, which deity should guide them, especially because existing, or benevolent enough, deities are really hard to find :)
I voted. Here’s the latest results:
Without a doubt – 36.74%
Probably – 0.16%
No – 63.10%
18046 responses
The poll’s going in the right direction.
One of the major problems with a theistic worldview which includes an interventionist deity is that people will waste time praying and begging that interventionist deity to intervene on their behalf. So, rather than actually doing something to fix problems (at least what Perry sees as problems), Perry organizes a big pow wow to pray and beg for help. Which, to me, is a big fuck you to their own god. Who is Rick Fucking Perry to beg God to possibly change his mind in favor of Perry’s opinions? Either God will make things right in the end (right by Perry’s standards) or He won’t. Again, who is Rick Perry to beg God to change his mind?
PeteJohn,
You don’t understand the concept. If you suck Perry’s god’s dick hard and long enough, he’ll give you what you want. If you don’t get it, you didn’t suck hard enough.
This is some of that Sophisticated Theology™ us atheists are supposed to be ignorant of.
Brownback always makes me think of a poisonous spider.
He knows that if he panders to these morons, that he will get their votes. And there are quite a lot of them who vote in Texas to make it worth his while. In 2006, he won a vote with only 39% of the vote. Guess who provided 30 or more percent of the total votes cast for him?
Do you understand what the person who panders to the religidiots in Texas starts with a guaranteed 30 or more percent of any given electorate? That means he only needs to sway just enough more of the rest of the electorate to win.
Are so many of you really so naive that you don’t understand how much easier it is to sway 20.1% (or less!) of the electorate rather than 70%?
Seriously?
Don’t attribute to stupidity what can be better explained by blatant opportunism and downright savvy political instincts and acumen. He is a politician, after all. He knows where his votes come from in the state where he’s won office so often.
I keep telling all of you that Perry is not stupid.
You guys will underestimate this guy at your own peril. Philip IV is right: Perry has a real chance to win it all, if he decides to go for it. He’s not just able to morph into whatever voters need him to be, but, worse, he’s also lucky! Things turn his way when you least expect it!
Oops.
http://www.kutnews.org/post/rick-perry-speaks-response
Not as empty as you thought, eh, PZ? Perhaps it would’ve been funnier for someone to take pictures of the tiny, pathetic groups of protesters standing impotently against the throng of Americans.
Oops.
kutnews(.)org/post/rick-perry-speaks-response
Not as empty as you thought, eh, PZ? Perhaps it would’ve been funnier for someone to take pictures of the tiny, pathetic groups of protesters standing impotently against the throng of Americans.
Jinx said:
Because the protesters are not True Americans™?
*snicker* Yeah, look at all those empty seats:
Hey, Jinx. Even if the whole world showed up, it wouldn’t make it any less crazy or stupid.
And don’t embed videos, you inconsiderate asshat.
Cameron Reid said:
I’m afraid this wasn’t Jinx’s fault. WordPress is evil and likes to embed Youtube videos every time you write their URLs. Happened to me once at WEIT.
Well, Jinx is evil anyway, if it thinks Perry is anything other than a fuckwitted RWA idjit. In 2012, no rethugligan will get my vote, for the first time since I started voting back in ’72.
Goalpost moving noted.
Someone from your side already put you in your place, but I’ll say this: don’t automatically assume someone did something deliberately just because you hate them, you ignorant, foolish clod. Don’t worry. I won’t expect an apology because I know it’s too far above you to do so.
Ad banner at the top on this page view is for Liberty University. How so very very ironic.
30,000 people showed up to perform crazy voodoo rituals. That’s at least as funny if no one had shown up. What’s lost from schadenfreude is easily made up by the notion that these people actually think they’re anything other than useful idiots.
One has to wonder how many of those 30,000 were there because of free tickets. How many tickets were given to area mega-churches in order to boost the numbers.
Also have to laugh at Jinx, thinking that an event that was not half filled was a success. At least Jinx has YouTube videos to keep Jinx happy.
Janine! You’re here! *squees delightedly*
One has to wonder how many of those 30,000 were there because of free tickets. How many tickets were given to area mega-churches in order to boost the numbers.
Also have to laugh at Jinx, thinking that an event that was not half filled was a success. At least Jinx has YouTube videos to keep Jinx happy. Big sky daddy truly provided.
*Decides to hold back so that the Madrid fault isn’t blamed for jumping up and down.* Welcome Janine.
Janine! We missed you.
Sorry about that. Out! Out! Damned bugs!
Thanks for the welcome everyone. But I was never gone, I went into lurk mode, waiting for the dust to clear.
*whips out a feather duster*
Upon further consideration, can we strap someone to Patricia’s coach?
I love the moving goalposts here. Very entertaining.
Either that or throw them to The Patrol TM, they’ve only had one cheeto today. *evil smirk*
If you will be wielding the whip, yes. The truth, compared to their lies, will be out…
Okay, I was light on the grog soaked corn, but maybe the truth will out…*evil smirk*
Nice. Adults, standing with their arms up in a posture that any parent recognizes instantly. Pick me up Poofdaddy, pick me up!
That’s embarrassing.
Jinxcake, you are the one who came in celebrating an event that only reached forty percent capacity. And we do not know how many were give aways. You came in with the express purpose to move the goal post.
Janine:
Might I suggest abruti petit gâteau Jinx?
Patricia:
:falls over laughing: Perfect! I’m adopting Poofdaddy, btw.
It did not take me long to have an other really bad typo.
We were already on that. The Lilac Berets will see that the fuckwit is appropriately chastised, by them or us, *shows picture of deadbeat tab payer from the Pharyngula Saloon and Spanking Parlor*.
Given the number of Christians in Texas, Perry’s supposed popularity, and the fact it was a free* event, the place should have been full. “an estimated 30,000” is not a full 75,000 seat plus floorspace stadium. But that’s not the point. The point is, Perry, supposedly the governor of Texas, is supposed to serve all the people of the state, not just the evangelical Christians.
*Might have been free to get in the door, but you can bet your sombrero that “donations” would have been heavily encouraged.
Caine – sorry, I was reacting to the fuckwits video.
*Le smirk*
I remember attending a church when I was thirteen. The adults around started speaking gibberish and convulsing. This freaked me out. I never went again. Still, it took me about three or four years before I became an atheist. And I had not even entered my strange fundamentalist stage of belief.
In case anyone missed this, Cuttlefish pegged it a few days ago:
A Call to Prayer (Not You Pal)
God Urges Rick Perry Not To Run For President
God Urges Rick Perry Not To Run For President
These things over there in the US make me sigh. We have trouble here in Oz with xtian nationalists infiltrating the power corridors, but over there in the states its so overt.
From Jinx’s link at
http://www.kutnews.org/post/rick-perry-speaks-response
“An estimated 30,000 people poured into Reliant stadium ….”
Note the loaded language. “poured” rather than, more accurately, “attended”.
You can also learn some things from the related photostream:
1. Jesus loves fast food.
2. Kansas governor was there, and the Florida governor attended by teleconference.
3. It is permissible to use Bible as pillows.
An estimated 30,000 people poured into Reliant stadium for Rick Perry’s call to pray and fast for the nation, known as The Response.
The stadium seats 41,000, fuckface.
And that’s if they put NO ONE on the fucking field.
Sit down and shut up, scumbag.
Argh. It seats 71,000, and they were 41,000 short.
I love the moving goalposts here. Very entertaining.
It’s not moving goalposts you lying sack of shit.
Your buddy morons were the ones who thought they could fill a 71,000 seat venue and failed to do it. You morons act like filling less than half a stadium is something to be proud of, rather than having the intelligence and sanity to realize how fucking pathetic you look when you can’t get 71,000 people into a stadium to celebrate your emo scumbag zombie deity–in Texas.
Sit down and shut up, you worthless scumbag.
This is just so depressing. “Turn to God for answers to the nation’s problems” because the politicians that have been elected are clueness, incompetent and too cowardly to offer solutions for fear they might offend either the voters or campaign contributors.
Why would anybody vote for someone who says right up front he has no clue what he’s doing and only heavenly intervention will keep him from turning a time of troubles into utter disaster?
Amazing. Some snake-oil salesman thinks he can fill a stadium with a capacity of over 70k; only gets about 30k people even though tickets were free – and somebody wants to cry victory because 30k (if it really was even that much) is a bit more than even less?
Shorter Jinx: “eat shit like I do, 30,000 flies can’t be wrong”.
The really sad story is that even this many people, many of whom appear to have reached physical adulthood, actually believe talking/singing/jabbering/shouting at a non-existent entity is an appropriate and meaningful response to the state’s problems.
Why not address their prayers to, say, the family dog if they have one? It’ll have exactly the same effect – i.e. none – but at least dogs actually exist.
Also worth asking who did the estimating, what with Perry being a lying sack of shit, and most of his supporters unable to count past 10.
Nice video. So it looks like about 30,000 people showed up–and God didn’t.
Typical, isn’t it?
Nothing brings out your hate like undeniable facts and the truth. Yep. Oh, and completely ignore the fact that PZ obviously was expecting to see pictures/videos of only about 8000 people. How embarrassing! Even more embarrassing: PZ has scrubbed this post from his blog. ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!
Hey, PZ — why’d you scrub this post from your blog? Embarrassed by your failed hope for photos/videos of only 8000 people showing up?
Ha! You put it back after getting caught! I love it!
Jinxcake, please answer my question. How could you have commented to a post that has been scrubbed?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Simple, Janine. It’s likely a “quirk” (read: glitch/bug) of this crappy host. I tried going to the base URL, but it was kicking me to the homepage. However I discovered that by using my history to go to one of the comments (e.g. add #comment-4115 at the end of the URL), I could still access the post and comments. Hilarious!
Four out of the last five posts by Jinx. I think he has a problem. What that problem is, remains to be seen. Doesn’t seem to intelligent to me.
Jinxcake, keep telling yourself that PZ edited this out. You have shown that you love your godshite bullshit. You cannot even get it through your dense head that the prayer gathering was a failure. 40 fucking percent capacity.
Call this one bullshit artist swallowing the pablum of an other bullshit artist.
Jinx is so pleased that only half the people Gov. Goodhair wanted at the Jebus Wankfest showed up. Jinx was so sure only a couple of hundred would be there but his fondest hope was granted. They managed to get a few thousand to come. Of course, the price was right. It was free. Otherwise Jinx’s fears for only a couple of hundred would have fulfilled.
Janine, could you please point me to a reliable source which states that they expected to fill the arena to capacity?
Because I see this:
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/06/3060668/texas-gov-perry-opens-religious.html
8,000 expected. Arena configured for 50,000. That would put the attendance at 3.75 times what was expected and 60% of what the arena was configured to host for the event. Not quite the flop you all are falsely claiming it to be, but then that’s to be expected of atheists.
Gee, another two posts by Jinx showing he is not discussing anything, but rather preaching. Discussing requires two things. The first, is the concept that Jinx can be wrong. Don’t see that at all. The second, is that somebody actually talks to it. Not happening, so a boring sermon results
So, they were paying for the use of a facility that could handle a crowd much bigger then what they were expecting. Sound planning.
Spin, Jinxcake! Spin!
Also, you exceedingly silly fuckface, there is a simple reason why this post was not on the front page. There has been enough new posts that this got pushed to an other page. Wow!
I always find it hilariously ironic when a Christian uses the term ‘reliable source’…
Jinx:
Jinx, earlier:
Fucking hypocrisy, how does it work?
Don’t worry, Jinx. We won’t expect an apology because we know it’s too far above you to do so. Also because you already (sorta) acknowledged your mistake… and yet failed to apologize and continued your dull-witted yapping.
@Janine: So I guess that’s your way of saying you actually can’t produce anything that says they were expecting to fill the stadium to capacity. That’s what I figured would happen.
Actually, yes, it is. Talk to any large-scale event planner (or even small-scale ones). Just because you think it’s daft doesn’t mean it is.
No, that would be you. You all listened to PZ and were also fully expecting only 8000. When almost four times that number showed up, you all started in with the spin. First is was “it’s still funny that 30,000 showed up for this voodoo ritual.” Then it was “I bet the extra people were all given free tickets at mega-churches.” Then it became “It was only 40% of capacity.” Then it was “Only half of what they wanted showed up.” And now it’s “They rented the place for way more than they expected.” To everything: spin, spin, spin. It’s the atheist motto!
No, I never said it wasn’t on the front page. I said it had been completely removed, at least until PZ realized that I caught him red-handed. It no longer appeared in the August 6th posts between “Episode CCXLI: Squidgirl” and “Brazil needs your help.” The title was even gone from the bottoms of those posts for the next and previous (respectively) posts. And when I tried to access the post’s URL, it redirected me to the homepage. Honestly, Janine, you are either a really bad reader or a really bad liar. I can’t decide which.
And I always find it hilariously typical when atheists can’t back up their smears against Christians and resort to logical fallacies.
Ooo! Quick! Now post: “I always find it hilariously ironic when a Christian complains about others using logical fallacies…”
No hypocrisy, no mistake and no apology necessary. The post was gone from the list of previous posts and the base URL redirected to the homepage. That is, until PZ realized I had discovered what he had done and restored the post to the list. Obviously, this crappy host still retains posts people like PZ try to hide out of embarrassment.
That word doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Oh, I most certainly can be wrong. In fact, I briefly thought that PZ had removed comments as far back as the 6th, but it just turned out to be yet another “feature” of this crappy host system and how it works with Firefox. I checked again in Chrome and saw the posts remained, then tweaked my Firefox a little to get the more recent posts to appear.
You don’t know much about things around here if you think PZ is a)that petty b)that insecure c)that stupid to think he wouldn’t be called out on such behavior by his very own minions. You know, the ones you hate and the ones you probably think form the chorus of the “echo chamber” I keep hearing about.
Jinx wrote:
How is what I wrote a logical fallacy?
*throws Pokeball*
*Ing has caught Wild-Jinx*
The post, for whatever reason, failed to appear on the front page, though it wasn’t deleted. You assumed that it was PZ cowering before your mighty intellect (that’s a laugh…) and not a glitch in the software (though you are obviously fully aware that glitches are abundant). In other words, you assumed the worst on insufficient evidence, which is exactly what you yapped* at another commenter for, and therein lies your hypocrisy. This is true regardless of whether your laughable accusation is correct. Try and wrap your little brain around that.
*by the way, doesn’t your religion have some sort of problem with people calling others “fool”? I’m struggling to remember…
Listen up, fuckface! I do not give a flying fuck if there were over 80,000 fools there, lapping up the pablum of Guv’nor Goodhair. I still think it would have been a foolish waste of time for all involved. And I do not need PZ Myers to tell me so.
Wait! I form my opinions regardless of what PZ has to say? How can that ne?
Jinxcake, you are a sad and delusional fool.
Sigh. You know what, jinx? Even if – IF – everything you said on this thread about attendance and even about PZ and the original post were true (which it ain’t, but you won’t hear that over your own loud chant of la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you) it would still be pathetic and downright sad that these supposed grownups are deluded enough to make a big day out of addressing their prayers to an entity for whose existence there is not one single solitary shred of evidence. That’s evidence, jinx, you know – the stuff subject to corroboration, as opposed to wishful thinking laced with quotes from a book of myths most of which are repugnant to any civilised human being. And that they are crazy enough to think that this is a good way of addressing actual problems in the real world.
The Texas Rangers counted the attendees and have reported an official figure of over 40,000. That would put it at 80% of the capacity the stadium was configured for at the time.
It’s cute to watch all of you who mindlessly listened to PZ and were fully expecting this event to be a flop scramble to backtrack and find excuses to dismiss its success. Typical atheist mentality. You can’t admit that it was a success or that PZ was wrong. You’re like Homer Simpson chasing after the pig he was roasting: “It’s still good! It’s still good!”
Bah! I’m through with your nonsense. Your deluded foolishness and mewling sycophancy has ceased to be amusing and has moved into the realm of pathetic.
Stick the flounce, Jinx.
Do you really think we feel repudiated by the fact that 30,000 idiots showed up to beg Jesus to fix America?
I hope he does flounce. Regardless, 30 or 40 thousand morons coming out to try to pray to an invisible, unanswering deity rather than take responsibility is still depressing and pathetic.
Was it more of a success than expected? Perhaps.
Does it make it any less depressing and pathetic? No.
30,000 people go to the Oregon Country Fair every year.
More than that go to the Burning Man Festival.
There’s some sort of deeper meaning in all of this, if I were more skilled at magical thinking then perhaps I could divine it.
I wonder how many free tickets were given out, or paid for by local churches.
Poor widdle Jinxcake, not able to show how a piss poor showing of fools begging a non existing deity is actually a success because it was not even more piss poor, emits a most rightious whine.
Repeating myself here, fuckface, because you do not understand this point; I do not need PZ Myers to tell me that Guv’ner Goodhair’s tent revival was a pathetic display of delusional people. But you are too thick headed to realize that we are not just blindly following PZ.
Now, find a decaying body of a porcupine and ram up you ass, repeatedly. Unlike you, I do not need 8,000, 30,000 or 40,000 people doing to make it valid. Just you, dim bulb.
So, Jinx spent this whole thread gloating because PZ was wrong about one point in his original post?
How many governors attended?
Is this not a violation of church/state separation?
I did enjoy the interlude where Jinx proved xir inability to use xir own computer.
And of course, by success, Jinx absolutely does not mean that gods answered any prayers. Even the dumbest theist knows that ain’t gonna happen.
Of course, by Christian standards, every horse race and trip to the casino is a success, not because all of the participants win, but because they show up hoping to.
Jinx must love Las Vegas.
Just think of all those prayers, Jinx. Why, I’ll bet you just wish you had a fraction of the faith and hope that goes on in the Golden Nugget.