Texas Governor Kisses Up to Hate Group

You have to wonder if Texas Governor Rick Perry would join a gathering of Neo-Nazis, the KKK or some similar racist hate group. He's shown no hesitance at joining in with the registered hate group American Family Association ("AFA") at a gathering of wingnuts and haters fraudulently called “a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our troubled nation.” The irony, of course, is that the bulk of the nation's current economic problems have less to do with any lost of "faith" than they do with the failed GOP policies that Perry and his Christianist supporters continue to back. Thus, if anything, we need LESS of the type of so-called faith being hyped by the coven of haters and religious extremists to whom Perry is playing whore. Perry's attendance at the gathering demonstrates that there are few limits if any as to how far the GOP will go to prostitute itself to the Christian Taliban elements in the USA. I continue to see AFA and its allied Christian dominionists as a clear and present danger to constitutional government in this country. Here are highlights from a New York Times story on Perry's prostitution of himself:
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When Gov. Rick Perry invited fellow governors to join him on Aug. 6 for “a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our troubled nation,” some speculated that he was trying to raise his national visibility for a possible presidential run.
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Whatever the goals, his plan has drawn strong protests from advocates for the separation of church and state, who say an elected leader should not be leading what looks to be, in effect, an evangelical Christian revival. Gay rights groups are also objecting because Mr. Perry placed the event in the hands of conservative religious groups that not only oppose gay marriage but also stridently condemn homosexuality.
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So far only one other governor, Sam Brownback of Kansas, who is a conservative Roman Catholic, has said he will attend.
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Here in Texas, the governor’s announcement of the prayer event provoked predictable scorn from Democrats and praise from some Republicans. But all sides raised eyebrows, noting the timing of his announcement and of the event itself, which is to occur one week before the straw poll in Iowa.
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Catherine Frazier, the governor’s spokeswoman, said the timing was coincidental. . . . She emphasized that no public money would be used for the event, which is being paid for by the American Family Association, a conservative evangelical group based in Mississippi.
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While the day of prayer will undoubtedly please many evangelicals — a powerful bloc in the Republican Party — it has provoked sharp criticism from other quarters, particularly because of its explicit evangelical Christian theme, which sets it apart from National Prayer Days and other events that normally include all faiths.
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The Web site created for the event, which is called The Response, says the meeting “has adopted the American Family Association statement of faith,” including the infallibility of the Bible, the centrality of Jesus Christ and the eternal damnation that awaits nonbelievers.
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“I have followed religion and politics closely for 35 years, and I have never seen a governor initiate and lead this kind of Christians-only prayer rally,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In a letter to Mr. Perry, Mr. Lynn called on the governor to cancel the event, which he described as “a sectarian gathering that excludes millions of Americans.”
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The Human Rights Campaign in Washington, a gay rights organization, accused Mr. Perry of “aligning with groups that, on a daily basis, seek to demonize” gay and lesbian people. Leaders of the American Family Association and of the International House of Prayer, a co-sponsor of the event, describe homosexuality as a moral blight. The family association, for example, links public acceptance of homosexuality to what it calls the “increasing ungodliness and depravity assaulting our nation.”
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Frankly, if we had more gays and fewer extremists groups like AFA injecting themselves into government, we'd be far better off as a nation. Perry has things totally ass backwards.