Summer rain in Texas; no prayer from Rick Perry — coincidence?

Rain? In the middle of Texas? In July? In significant amounts? With no hurricane or tropical storm in the mix?

"It's a miracle," right?

But, have you noticed that Gov. Helmethair hasn't been offering up prayers for rain, or encouraging his fellow Texans to do so, any time recently, unlike his actions three years ago, which were a huge failure. So much a failure that, at the evangelical wingnut "Response" event, risk and all, he decided to double down on his stupid, which led me to compare him to the false prophets of Baal in their rain-prayer battle with Elijah.

So, Rick Perry stopped praying in public for rain, actually, what, a few months ago, and May and June were above normal?

Coincidence? I think NOT!

Wait, wait, I have it.

He's praying to beat the grand jury rap on a possible felony indictment. (Feel free to vote in the poll at right.)

Hey, Rick, if that's the case? Given your strikeout percentage, somebody else should do the praying.

Rick_Perry_False_Prophet REALLY needs to pray

Why?

Texas' state climatologist (who might be fired if Tricky Ricky gets even more anti-science, eh?) says the current state drought could be part of a longer dry spell lasting until 2020. 


Here's part of why:

Forecasters predict dry weather to last long-term beyond the next decade from the La Nina phenomenon that continues to recur, including in the upcoming year, to cool the surface waters of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

John Nielsen-Gammon also notes something along the lines of what I've said ... as records get gathered, our baseline of information for "worst," "100-year events," etc. changes.

But, even he didn't mention why La Nina might be stronger ... climate change. Global warming.

#Rick_Perry_False_Prophet: Pray 9 more months away

Let's see if Rick Perry's prayers are stronger than the mix of global warming plus the return of La Nina.

The National Weather Service says there's a good chance of above-normal temperatures through the rest of this year and straight into next summer. At the same time, there's a good chance of below-normal precipitation for Texas for the rest of this year and into next spring. 


For the rest of this year, you can see the chances of above-normal temperatures. Note the lightest shaded area has a 33 percent chance of above normal temperatures, the medium shade 40 percent. (We won't talk about that angry red shade. Follow the top link to get a number of additional temperature and precipitation prediction maps for the rest of this year and next spring; Texas is looking high, or hot, and dry, for the foreseeable future.

#Rick_Perry_False_Prophet: Pray harder

Time for a new Twitter-hashtagged header, even as I await Google Plus adopting hashtags.

The story behind that? Predictions of a new La Nina for Texas right around the corner are getting more insistent. And, it's clear, nearly four months on, that Perry's first round of calls for prayer didn't work.

Ergo, per tea partier-level logic? He's a false prophet.

And, as Deuteronomy 13 tells us, false prophets are supposed to be stoned to death.

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder ...  you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. ... You must purge the evil from among you. ... Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone them to death.

Deuteronomy 18:20 makes this clearer and blunter:

But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.

Beyond that, Zecharaiah 13:3 says people aren't supposed to be prophesying in general today:

And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother, to whom he was born, will say to him, 'You must die, because you have told lies in the LORD's name.' When he prophesies, his own parents will stab him.

So, all good, bible-fearing Texans, you know what to do. Rick Perry has claimed to be a prophet, and used his call to prayer as an attempted sign. It's a false sign of the false god of the GOP and his ego.

So, start picking up stones. (And, contra John 7:53-8:11, if you accept the reality of climate change, you are without sin on this one.)

Meanwhile, back to the reality of science, not the false prophecy of making your ego a god.

Texas' peak wildfire season is in the fall. And, La Nina is supposed to return by November. For an already-parched state, that means more trouble. The National Weather Service is predicting a lot of gusty winds along with the increasing grip of the drought.

#RickPerry'sTexasMiracle: Criminal prayer #fail

Most Texans have already seen this news, I know. But, if you haven't, the Lone Star State turned in the hottest three-month period ever of any state in the nation.


But, it's not just the heat. Let's look at the latest issue of the state's drought monitor map:

Just about all the state is in the worst category of drought. All of the state has at least some level of drought.

And, we're at almost five months and counting since Rick Perry's three-day call for rain.

"Science will not be mocked," to riff on an old biblical statement. And, the combination of La Niña and human-caused climate change both have plenty of scientific documentation.

"Finances will not be mocked" either. Cutting the Texas Forest Service budget was foolish at least, hypocritical at most, especially as Tricky Ricky and his GOP wingmen wingnuts in the Texas Lege now are dependent on a federal firefighting bailout.

As you can see, more than 80 percent of the state is in the worst state of drought. With La Niña expected back (did "she" ever leave?) shortly, that budget-cutting by Perry and gang will turn out to be not just foolish, not just hypocritical, but criminal. And, the refusal of these folks to fix the franchise tax, the refusal that guarantees Texas' budget will continue to implode, is also now approaching criminal.

People have already died in the Bastrop area. There's no guarantee that a better-funded Texas Forest Service could have prevented that, but it's possible.

It will go into full-blown criminal if Perry refuses to come home from presidential debates and call a special session of the Legislature to address this. Let's see the arson commission investigate that.

#RickPerry'sTexasMiracle gets an Obama bailout

Part of the monstrosity called a budget that the Texas Legislature passed earlier this year included massive cuts to the Texas Forest Service. That agency, among its duties, is supposed to reimburse volunteer fire departments around the state for equipment purchases and other needs.

Well, despite wildfires like the massive 200,000 acre Rock House Fire, which started BEFORE the end of the legislative session, GOP wingnuts cut away, anyway.

And, so, now we're at the bottom line. Team Obama has to bail out firefighters in Bastrop. Rather, the feds have to bail out Tricky Ricky Perry and his wingnut minions. As for the more wingnut comments there, hey, TFS could have put out a request for volunteers, but, knows it doesn't have the money to really do that.

It is sad that volunteers got turned away, but blame Tricky Ricky, not the feds.

Of course, there will be no federal price tag attached to this, either today or tomorrow. Obama won't charge Perry's miraculous Texas government a dime for this, nor demand that Perry fess up as to the reality of his "miracle," stop his hypocritical bashing of the federal government, stop his antiscientific global warming denialism or anything else.

No, politics should not be played with disasters themselves.

But, if wingnuts are going to play politics with issues leading up to disasters, then politics should be played with post-disaster redress, too. Unfortunately, Preznit Kumbaya doesn't get it.

Sometimes, pun not intended, but pun accepted, you have to fight fire with fire, so to speak.

Rick Perry phone home, or are you a false prophet on rain?

The latest AP story on Texas' drought is out, and, as the graphic shows, it's even uglier than ever.

That graphic isn't ugly enough? Try this one, which shows how the current drought compares to past ones:

That said, rain over the last 12 months is its lowest ever. But, this is still, at this point, "just" a one-year drought, as the story just linked notes. But, hopes for potential Hurricane Lee aside, La Nina is expected back later this year and into next. And, that spells more trouble. Without serious rain soon, fall planting of Texas and Oklahoma winter wheat will simply have to be put on hold, intensifying the agricultural fallout. (Besides that, that storm is just an "invest," not even a tropical storm yet, and the heat dome looks like it will block it from every entering Texas.)

And, this just in. Both Texas and Oklahoma have set all-time records for hottest June-August periods. And, Texas has set both 10- and 12-month records for driest periods ever.

So, after more than four months of failure, self-proclaimed "prophet" Rick Perry needs to pray harder. As I've said before, he could slash himself, like the prophets of Baal. Or, Texans could stone him to death as a false prophet. God may not be mocked, if such a being existed, but Rick Perry will be mocked every bit he deserves.