Maybe it's time for Perry to pray for rain again. It worked so well the last time.

God wants them to be their own country again.

But Rick "good hair" Perry is going to refuse all Federal aid right?

Did somebody in Texas have sex with a sun demon?

Let it burn.

God is punishing the immigrants. He's big on collateral.

Your like-minded Austin brethren do NOT appreciate being lumped in with the type of psychos that might get Rick Perry elected. Nor do we appreciate humor at the plight of the 500+ homes that have been completely destroyed as a result of this fire that could get a lot worse before it gets better.

This joke wasn't funny the last time you told it, back when 300 people died in those May tornadoes.

I know, I know, you're just mocking those idiots who say God hates gay people and that's why he sent 9/11 and Katrina and blah, blah, blah. But it doesn't prove a point. It just makes you sound as hateful and petty as they do.

As a loyal reader from the South who's generally on your side, I'm asking you to cut it out. These disasters are killing actual human beings (conservative and liberal alike), not the redneck stereotypes you have in your mind. Don't be a jerk.

Perry had to take half a millisecond to decide where the best photo-op would be; with the other stooges, or playing the John Wayne character in his own starring role as the man in charge, bootstrappin' 'n gettin' er done.

I can already see his bust added to Rushmore.

It's articles like this that make you come off as a smug asshole, Goldy. Ya, I hate Rick Perry too but people are dying and losing their homes in these fires. You can call gov hairdo out without sinking to his disgusting level.

It's something to do with tucking suit pants into cowboy boots. There's your abomination.

Texas was having a bad drought, and Perry had a "pray for rain day". Then the drought got much, much worse. Recently Perry hosted that prayer thing at a stadium, and then Texas catches on fire. People need to tell Perry to stop talking to God, and maybe they can avoid an asteroid hit.

@8, I don't care if it makes me sound hateful. I'm not the one who believes (or claims to believe) that natural disasters are divine retribution for the sins of the victims. Mocking such hateful and insensitive rhetoric through emulation is an effective means of illustrating how hateful and insensitive it is, and thus a worthwhile endeavor... even at the risk of others accusing me of being equally hateful and insensitive.

Ron Paul should be made to carry buckets of water all over the state. What Texans are about to relearn is they are not an island, they are not special and they need more federal help. Arrogance is getting it's comeuppance.

@8 and others telling them to cut it out: if you think for even a moment that Goldy is serious- or is seriously mocking the disaster- then you are being willfully obtuse.

These disasters are tragic. They hurt a lot of people. Goldy's post isn't being directed at those people. The mockery is very clearly directed at Perry and the other religious zealots who think using tragic, environmental disaster as proof that gays/liberals are being punished for the crime of being gay/liberal is a good idea. It's so obviously ridiculous given the random nature of natural disaster and yet they continue to do so.

I think pointing out how ridiculous such a concept is by pointing out how everyone is subject to this potential for disaster is fine. He's not saying HE thinks the people of Texas deserve the wildfires- he's pointing out that by Perry's own logic PERRY thinks this.

@13, 15: That's a fair point, and I understand the importance of mocking hypocrisy through similar rhetoric.

But these posts never ask "What has PAT ROBERTSON done to piss off God?" or "What has RICK PERRY done done provoke the Lord's wrath?" They ask "What have TEXANS done?" or "What has the SOUTH done."

By doing that, you're lumping a whole lot of innocent people in with the hateful folks. I know you're not mocking the victims. I'm just saying that it sometimes comes across that way.

16, Goldy does not believe that any Texan, including Rick Perry, did anything to bring on God's wrath in the form of fires, or that God caused the fires at all. Droughts and fires happen, and it's not an act of God, it's an act of the weather patterns on Earth. Goldy's mocking people who claim that they can speak for God, and say why any particular natural disaster happened. (And blame it on gays, or whomever.) He shouldn't have to spell that out.

(Excuse me Goldy for speaking for you. Hopefully I got it right.)

@16, good point. I'm sorry for my dick comment.

My sweet young and liberal voting brother-in-law is battling stage 4 cancer in Austin, I hope Texas gets a break. Sad.

I wonder if there will be a question at the debate this week referencing God's wrath and its relation to the natural disaster.

I think more important that Texas recognizing it is not an island is that Austin needs to realize it is not an island. You may be liberal, but you add to the TX electoral vote, pay (some) taxes to the state and have not done a good job of convincing your fellow Texans to stop being absolutely crazy.

I'll believe Texas gives a shit about these fires when they build a pipeline to move water from the Mississippi. They seem to have no trouble building pipelines to move petroleum from Canada to Galveston.

@21, four times more people voted AGAINST Rick Perry in the last election than live in North Dakota, or Seattle proper. You work on getting that many people to do exactly what you think is right, and we Liberal Texans will keep trying to turn our political system as well.

@11: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/319462/TEXAS-P…

I lived in Houston for four years, and Austin for fourteen. The majority of Austinites are the same conservative folks that fill Houston/Dallas/Fort Worth/San Antonio/etc.

@25: The odd one out in that comment is Fort Worth, which IS conservative.