The Texas governor believes in a god. Not one of the ancient gods; his god is only a few thousand years old. The Texas governor is a clown. Or one could say that his actions give reason to question his sanity. One could say the same thing about the Repugnicans in the Texas legislature.
Bill McKibben, in an article at AlterNet, notes that Texas governor Rick Perry has called for the people of Texas to pray to his god that the deity might ease the drought that is of historic proportions; worse, even, "than at the height of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s."
McKibben says the drought is no "great mystery." We've got trouble all over the world because "We're heating the planet: the CO2 we've poured into the atmosphere means that we now trap about 3/4 of a watt extra solar energy on each square meter of the earth's surface. That's enough to throw our planet out of balance. The science is simple: as a NASA team put it three years ago, above 350 parts per million CO2 we can't have a planet 'similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.' And right now that number is 390 and rising two parts per million per year, simply because we're burning so much coal and gas and oil.
"A lot of that fossil fuel gets burned in Texas. In fact, its carbon emissions are higher than the next two states (California and Pennsylvania) combined." One might think this would make the guv of Texas and his Repugnican cohorts take a closer look at the situation, but Perry, being an "evangelical" christian of the fundamentalist ilk, thinks global warming is a laughing matter. God wouldn't let us destroy the earth and all this global warming talk is liberal goofiness. Ha, ha, ha!
When Perry took office "he signed legislation to try and speed construction of 11 new coal plants for the state. As recently as January--in the middle of the drought--his attorney general argued in federal court against even the most modest EPA restrictions on greenhouse gases. Perry's GOP holds 23 of Texas's House seats, and 22 of those Representatives voted earlier this month [April 2011] to deny the fact of global warming (the 23rd abstained)."
To deny something for which there is incontrovertible scientific evidence is further evidence of insanity!
So, Perry, not caring to understand why this terrible drought, tells his people to pray. But he did not specify which god. Doubtless it was his god of fundy christian understanding but it ultimately doesn't matter. They could pray to Zeus or Buddha - no one's listening! And even if there was a god who had his hearing aids in, he or she is paying no attention.
As we've noted on several previous occasions, scientists and clergy have studied the problem of prayer and have found it does not work. In fact, sick people who were prayed over and knew they were the subject of prayer became sicker!
That won't stop the stoopids in Texas. And the drought will continue. And things will get worse.
When the Repugnicans get control, the world goes to hell. Always has and always will!
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