Comments on: Less than 0.5% of Houston Show Up For Rick Perry’s Rally

By: Qwerty

Qwerty — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:55:26 +0000

Well, I’m sure the prayer rally sponsors have set up some sort of criteria to measure their success or lack thereof. Right? Isn’t that the normal thing to do? I mean, wouldn’t you want to know if your prayers were answered?

I can give you the answer: the same as any other prayers. Cheesus, why are you allowing these frauds to do this? Oh, because you don’t exist maybe?

By: TwirlyGirly

TwirlyGirly — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:12:03 +0000

Rick Perry is *dangerous*. Read this: http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-god

By: Stefano A

Stefano A — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:18:19 +0000

No shows to this rally doesn’t mean that his agenda can’t bleed enough into everything that it won’t set back what progress has been made.

Indeed, if for no other reason, their might have been more in attendance if it weren’t for long distances needing to be travelled coupled with admission pricing.

I’ve been saying since the late 1990′s that the far religious right in the US poses a far greater threat to US freedoms than does Islamic extremist militancy. The rise of Christian Dominionism is but a mirror reflection of how the Taliban merged into government minus the radical violent overthrows.

By: Regan DuCasse

Regan DuCasse — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:41:08 +0000

We are in times of serious economic downturns. Older Americans have been laid off with little hope of regaining their salary levels that sustained them, or perhaps the health insurance more vital to them in middle age.

It’s true that banks, large industries and the in sourcing of foreign competition have badly influenced our economy and foreign policy, but ultra conservatives, and the religious right make no bones about blaming feminists, homosexuals and liberals on the crisis in our nation and conjecture over and over again, worse is yet to come if the same were seen as more than abstractions.

It’s during times of economic and political helplessness that the virus of scapegoating can spread like wildfire. You might think that the more moderate and fair minded might ignore the rhetoric and concentrate on more pressing matters in their individual lives, but even the most compassionate person might rethink that if plausible blame is put before them.

And as the anti gay keep reiterating: 31 states have voted to keep gay people from marrying. The death of DADT has moved at a snail’s pace.
And yet, how easily these same populations won’t see that gay people ARE dealing with the same economic insecurity, but have less personal freedom to deal with it.

There might never be concentration camps, or wholesale slaughter again.
But the dynamics of blame and punishing who is perceived as the cause can still stir up hostility and distrust that is still very dangerous.
These times are scary, and decent and thoughtful people either will either do nothing to help or support their gay fellow citizens, if not work actively against them.
And even when good people do nothing, as we know. That’s still a bad thing.

No shows to this rally doesn’t mean that his agenda can’t bleed enough into everything that it won’t set back what progress has been made. The Perry’s and Buchanans and so on of this country are very persistent people. And the harder it gets for them, the nastier their tactics will become.

By: Wharton Sinkler

Wharton Sinkler — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:32:53 +0000

Those out-stretched arms remind me of the Fascist salutes….

By: Mary in Austin

Mary in Austin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:05:30 +0000

Please be ready, all y’all people in the states smarter than my own Texas (which is of course most of them).
This assclown will probably be running for president. Even if you share my disappointment with the incumbent, the prospect of this Bu$h-on-steroids does not bear thinking about. Perry is a hateful crook. We have to get out the vote of people of good will next year.

By: Jay King of Gay

Jay King of Gay — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:12:11 +0000

What’s with the feel-good “Heil Hitler” salute?
Not that I’m calling those folks Nazis, I’m sure they’re perfectly friendly. But you’d think groups that regularly DO get compared to Nazis would want to find a different hand gesture.

By: elaygee

elaygee — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 10:52:05 +0000

Ironic how Sam Brownback and his alter ego, Sam Brownshirt, are getting closer and closer to being one. What a lovely Nuremberg rally they had.

By: Jonathan Oz

Jonathan Oz — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 06:20:57 +0000

I think we do a disservice when we underestimate the appeal of the evangelical movement, and attempt to explain it away as simply brainwashing. Many folk find the prospect of organizing and making sense of their lives in a world where so many potential choices exist daunting. They lead rudderless lives buffeted by economic and political forces they neither understand nor control. For such folk, groups like the Promise Keepers seem to offer a very desirable fixed point of reference to serve as a working model of how to live an honorable life. We need to understand this dynamic, and to develop means for people to deal with life choices more effectively without having to diminish the life choices of other or alternatively giving up on decisions altogether and drifting meaninglessly at the whim of unsavory market forces. Simply dismissing these groups as neo-Nazis misses and underestimates their appeal, and ignores the need to explore alternative approaches.

By: jpeckjr

jpeckjr — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 05:01:07 +0000

TJ, I think you have made some very astute observations. I, too, think the very poor attendance at this event suggests some change is happening in evangelical circles around political involvement. I agree it has roots in the presidency of GWB and his failure to implement the “evangelical agenda.” I wonder if the McCain – Palin debacle, with all of the “moral” issues their personal lives raised for pro-family evangelicals, contributed to a growing disillusionment with politcal religion.

One other aspect of “The Response” is telling: it was fed to 1,100 churches around the country. The Southern Baptist Convention has over 40,000 churches, the Assemblies of God has over 12,000. Yet, out of 300 – 400,000 local churches of all brands in the USA, only 1,100 hosted local feeds of this event. That’s not very many. I wonder how attendance was at the remote locations. It all suggests the AFA is not as influential as it is loud.