Sound Policy Idea

Sonny Perdue is a major-league rainmaker.

What to do when the rain won’t come? If you’re Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, you pray.

The governor will host a prayer service next week to ask for relief from the drought gripping the Southeast.

“The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that is from a higher power,” Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said on Wednesday.

To quote Steve Benen: "It’s the 21st century. I just thought I’d mention that."

If the rain prayer doesn't work, I believe next week Gov. Perdue will paint half of his body blue to ward off evil spirits.

Dependent upon a statement of support from the legislature, of course.

(Just to make this a little bit about politics and not mockery, conservative ideology is so bereft of solutions that a "faith-based initiative" like this is about the only thing they can manage)

Pray For Rain

Really, the GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA wants you to pray for rain.

With the state's weather forecasters not delivering much-needed rain, Gov. Bob Riley on Thursday turned to a higher power. The governor issued a proclamation calling for a week of prayer for rain, beginning Saturday.

Riley encouraged Alabamians to pray "individually and in their houses of worship."

"Throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for his blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty," Riley said. "This drought is without question a time of great difficulty."

So much for that separation of church and state, ay?

This proclomation comes days before an expected storm front with scattered showers in Alabama in the next couple days, proving that PRAYER WORKS!

I guess praying for weather is better than being afraid of it, at least if you're some maroon named Emily Yoffe, and you spend valuable Washington Post real estate criticizing Al Gore because all that talk about climate change is making you feel bad. Either way, it's anti-scientific, and actually I'd prefer the praying for rain, because at least that won't HARM the planet the way that complete and total denial will.

UPDATE: Via LGM, greatest Washington Post chat comment ever:

Silver Spring, Md.: I think Copernicus, Galileo and the modern astronomy community are all wrong about the sun-centered solar system. I don't have any data, or any particular expertise in the field. All I know is that it bothers me to have people saying we orbit the sun, when I can clearly see it moving across the sky. Plus it is scaring the children to hear people talk about it. Could you tell me how to get an op-ed piece published at The Post? I hear they have no standards for this anymore. Thank you!

Eugene Robinson: I think there must be a Bush administration science panel that has a spot for you!"