Georgia governor leads prayer for rain

Hundreds gather for the vigil on the state Capitol’s steps, hoping a miracle could end the drought. But others aren’t so sure.

By Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 14, 2007

ATLANTA — Bowing his head outside the Georgia Capitol on Tuesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue cut a newly repentant figure as he publicly prayed for rain to end the region’s historic drought.

“Oh father, we acknowledge our wastefulness,” Perdue said. “But we’re doing better. And I thought it was time to acknowledge that to the creator, the provider of water and land, and to tell him that we will do better.”…

Oh boy, this is comedy gold.  The governor didn’t say, “If you give us rain, we’ll be good,” but he came close.

Wasteful for years, then ask god to send rain, we will do better!     The governor of Georgia offers religion as a solution to the governments greed in developing acres and acres of land per day.

On the other hand, Pat Robertson might claim that they “deserve” the lack of rain for their sinful ways.

I wonder if god is a republican?

“It’s got to be worth a shot,” said David Mais, 34, an Atlanta resident who is worried his carpet cleaning business could suffer from the drought. “I do think we need to do a lot more, but hopefully prayer will unite us.”

As metropolitan Atlanta’s water supplies drain to record lows, many across the Southeast have criticized Perdue and other Georgia officials for failing to introduce more stringent conservation measures.

Georgians, he said, had not done “all we could do in conservation.”

While many hoped that a miracle could end the drought, repentance was a recurring theme.
Great God, this is your land. We till it for you. We are entrepreneurs for you, dear God.”

More than a few people who attended seemed skeptical that prayer would end the drought.

“You couldn’t make this up,” he said. “You can’t make up for years of water mismanagement with a prayer session. It’s lunacy!”

“God is not an ATM machine you can go to and get whatever you need whenever you ask for it,” said one reader. “Stop developing, seed the clouds, think of some other useful solution.” Another said: “I’m praying for a new GOVERNOR!!!!!”