Hopefully this will help people understand that prayer is not a substitute for competence and planning.

nooooooooo...how could God ignore CARLA!!!

You realize, of course, that if it rains any time in, oh, the next month, they will claim their prayers were answered. *rolls eyes*

Bah, whatever. Next year, they'll totally forget this ever happened, and you'll have Georgians using half the water supply again to keep the lawns of Atlanta's suburbs unnaturally green.

Morons.

Something tells me you're not going to like the new Faith-based Climate Initiative currently being drawn up by the Cato Institute.

Yes, I totally like that we apparently have a government endorsed prayer vigil. Did they also include a government endorsed rain dance? Perhaps a bit of santeria?

Gah...

I'll bet the lawns don't even take 10%. Agriculture is the biggest user, just about everywhere. Farmers will howl, with reason, but they need to just shut down all ag irrigation, or people are going to start to die in large numbers.

Lest you gloat, consider that we'll be paying for it. We prop up Georgia with our tax dollars in the best of times, and that disaster money's going to be flowing out like a firehose in a month or two.

Would have been FUNNY if fire and brimestone fell from the sky during the prayer service.

But SDA in Sea is right, any rain in the next month will be attributed to the power of prayer.

atlanta's 10-day forecast is nothing but sunshine. weather.com

Hehe.

I was listening to the same story. They reported that Gov. Sonny (Sunny?) Purdue has been focused on this for weeks now. Weeks?! It appears he's a little late to the game.

I wonder what will happen once the water runs dry. I'm legitimately curious.

I don't know what you're talking about, Dan. My prayers to destroy Atlanta are working perfectly.

re Gomez @12;
I'm hoping for a Mad Max style post-apocalyptic Southeast Interior. In fact, I'm counting on it. My current 5-year plan includes moving there to become a ruthless and dominant warlord.
"Master Blaster runs Bartertown!!"

#14, you should be able to find a great deal on a 1974 Ford Torino.

There's a town named "Cumming" in Georgia? Cool.

Of course, Georgia is filled with mansions where people use 500,000 gallons of water a month - no, that is not a misprint.

And don't care if the media points this out.

At least in Seattle, when we have a drought and publicly shame people, like say CEOs of Starbucks or City Council members, they change their behavior ... a bit.

When I see people in Georgia and Florida letting the golf courses get brown and the yards get brown in the wealthy areas, I'll believe they have a drought.

not usually one to defend conservatives, i happen to have a bit of inside info on this as my sister and her family have quite close ties to georgia politics. saying that georgia officials haven't been planning for this isn't exactly fair. according to my sister, all sorts of plans have been introduced pretty much since that reservoir was put into use, but none of them have ever managed to pass the state legislature.

perdue, being the first georgia republican in the governor's office since reconstruction, i believe, inherited a DOA plan from his liberal rival. it's all political hooey, but to be fair, this wasn't a surprise to anyone, certainly not the governor. it's more a matter of the fact that georgia legislators couldn't agree that it was a serious, immediate, dire threat.

that said, the prayer for rain thing is totally silly. damn hicks.

"Cumming"... heh

All praise God, for He is finishing the job that General Sherman began.

(end snark)

@12 Watch some documentaries about the Dust Bowl. You'll get a pretty good preview of the South in a few years.

the sad thing is that now if it ever rains again they'll say their prayers worked- it doesn't even have to be this week- it could be in three months and they'll stand on thri soapboxes and shout- see- we told you so all you foolish unbelievers. GAG!

I believe the term is "fucktwits", not "fuckwits"

So these people will praise god if it starts raining and this will make them happy and rejoice and God had nothing at all to do with there being no rain. He must have a hand in that too. But I guess they just conveniently ignore it while waiting for god to be good. I guess he is just busy or having a long coffee break. But in the long run it is ok because everyone is going to heaven anyway where there is lots of water, unicorns and Ronald Reagan and loved ones.

LOL!!! General Sherman is laughing in his grave!!!!

Anyone want to bet someone will blame gays and unwed mothers for the drought?

Is your issue with NPR that they proposed the prayer session, or just that they reported it with snarking? The prayer thing is OK. The longer they stand around chatting with their imaginary friend, the less time they have to hunt down and kill the rest of us.

God's aim is a little off. It's been raining in N. Alabama for almost 24 hours. Nothing for the heathens over in Atlanta though.

Next time they'll do things proper and sacrifice a virgin. If they can find one.

Pray for odd/even lawn watering!

Dear Prayer Warrior,

Please begin praying now for showers with a friend.

Pastor Tutch

Stupid Bible Molesters!

It's not like the tap is just going to run dry one day. Long before that, they'll start having pump and filter failures as the water gets more and more brackish. You won't have to worry about the lawns at that point, because if you did water them, the mineral concentration will kill the grass. People will start to complain about the foulness, the smell and the gunkiness. And the tanker trucks will start rolling in, a hundreds of thousands of them, all paid by FEMA and you and me.

Georgia's a good Bush state, and has a functioning infrastructure, they'll get all the relief they need.

The poor people will die though.

Come on, this is Sonny Perdue we're talking about here....the guy who said that people should be allowed to vote for or against gay marriage, but then refused to let them vote to change the Sunday alcohol laws (he's a teetotaler).

However, if the Governor attened a native american indian dance for rain(like in the Southwest) this wouldn't be a story. It's only because of Christianity that this is a story.

Since it's raining here tonight, I guess that God loves Blue States and our core values of Truth, Justice, and the American Middle Class more than the Liars, Torturers, and Ultra-Rich Tax Cut people in the Red States.

In other words, I don't see anything wrong with public displays of spirituality especially since other religions were invited.

I live in Atlanta.

There has been no attempt to educate the public about what's happening--you'd think they could do a radio PSA, a TV spot, maybe a billboard. Atlanta has a very "this is so not my problem" attitude towards all issues environmental, from plastic bags to public transit to water conservation. I have no doubt that this will not be addressed to the public until the water is literally gone; the first time I anticipate passively receiving a message about the water shortage is when my apartment complex sticks a note on my door, telling me that the water is turned off.

I drive past Sonny Purdue's mansion every day on my commute. His vast lawn's sprinklers were running literally every day this summer, until three weeks ago.

Oh Lord,

We pray that you continue to deliver your just wrath to the deep south. Bake it into dust. For verily, it is a shithole.

Let them succeed

Do you smell that? That's the smell of drought, and when I am elected to city council, I will give the power of water back to the people. It is time for a change in our reservoirs.

Apparently god is floating around in heaven watching Georgia dry up, just waiting for someone to ask him to do something. He just likes to feel needed.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=19816

Cormac McCarthy is a prophet. "The Road" is coming true in Georgia.

And bottom line: will this make my Coke Cola taste funny?

Georgia's governor is a heartless bastard, typical "Christian" hypocrite. In an interview about SCHIP, when asked about the fate of a diabetic Georgia girl not able to get coverage for her insulin, he was crass and defensive. See http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/345/index.html and watch the video.
This stunt is nothing but grandstanding by a vile cracker.

The California droughts of the 70s changed skateboarding forever.

We need to beef up our borders if we want the desert southeast to be a Mad Max style post-apocalyptic Southeast Interior.

Otherwise they'll be coming here to steal our precious fluids.

As someone wise once said, "God always answers our prayers. Sometimes the answer is no."

They must've forgotten to dance.

So Im from Athens, Ga, and I don't know whats happening with the idiots in Atlanta, but I know Athens has been enacting increasingly strict water conservation measures since the drought started. People are rightly worried, and are trying to do everything they can, but at the moment theres very little to do besides try and use the least amount of water possible and pray. Even if you don't beleive in any higher power (I could care less if you do), praying gives comfort and hope to those who do beleive in one. Admittadly, the government publicly indulging in such things is sketchy, but really theres no need to criticize people for praying when theres nothing else to do. (FYI there is a total outdoor watering ban in Athens, despite the complaints of landscapers and the like.) So yea, if nothing else don't veiw all of N. Georgia as being like the idiots in Atlanta.

I went to Alabama last August. I lived there as a kid and I have NEVER seen so many utterly clueless and compliant sheep in my life. When I asked my step-mom about how she felt about the impending eco-apocalypse all she could say was "...well, if it's God's will...". Amazing! Nobody wants to do a anything, nobody seems to really care and the government is useless. I am sorry for the liberal-minded conservationists who live there, but the other 90% maybe can take their heads out of their *sses and do something. God helps those who help themselves.

I dunno if prayer had anything to do with it, but it looks like rain:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/schoolday/wxdetail/USGA0028?from=36hr_fcst_school

"Perdue" means "lost" in French. No wonder he's asking for directions from above.

Will PRI counter-program and offer the Satan Perspective?

Praying for rain in the middle of November. How daring!

I just prayed for it to get dark at 4:15 pm and look what happened.

I remember years ago when Vegas had a bad drought (I know, big shock), and we got heavy rain. The weathermen reminded us that just because we got a deluge doesn't necessarily mean there will be enough runoff to offset the drought.

Yes, Vegas rainfall isn't as significant as other regions, but I'm not so sure despite that that Georgia's out of the woods unless the sky spends all week raining (as it did in San Antonio back in 2000: we went from drought so bad the grass was grey, to having the ground so saturated that floods broke out everywhere, in less than 2 months).