Local News Covers Perry's Rally

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TEXAS: Perry Prayer Event May Flop

It looks like Texas Gov. Rick Perry's controversial Christians-only prayer rally may have dreadful attendance.

Openly and deeply religious, Texas Gov. Rick Perry organized what seemed like a slam-dunk event for a politician in a state where religion and politics walk hand in hand: He would fill Houston's Reliant Stadium with fellow believers in a seven-hour session of Christian atonement by some of the nation's most conservative preachers, exhorting believers to pray about the nation's moral decline. Since he set up the event scheduled for Saturday, however, Perry has become the most talked-about almost-candidate in the 2012 Republican presidential field. But with only 8,000 RSVPs for a stadium that seats 71,500 people, virtually no politicians planning to attend, and a slate of organizers who hold out-of-mainstream views on religious freedom, gay rights and even Adolf Hitler, the event has become a potentially risky gamble if Perry is serious about running for the White House.

This could be quite delish.

TEXAS: Prayer Rally Suit Dismissed

The atheist group suing to stop Texas Gov. Rick Perry's prayer rally have lost their case.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to stop Gov. Rick Perry from sponsoring a national day of Christian prayer and fasting, ruling Thursday that the group of atheists and agnostics did not have legal standing to sue. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller said the Freedom From Religion Foundation argued against Perry's involvement based merely on feelings of exclusion but did not show sufficient harm to merit the injunction it sought. The governor has done nothing more than invite others who are willing to do so to pray," Miller said. Rich Bolton, who argued for the group, said he is considering an appeal. "I wonder if we had a Muslim governor what would happen if the whole state was called to a Muslim prayer," said Kay Staley, one of five Texas residents named as plaintiffs in the suit. "I think the governor needs to keep his religion out of his official duties."

Perry says that the event's hate group sponsor, the American Family Association, have not yet given him his "marching orders" as to his role during the rally.

TEXAS: Another Anti-Gay Hate Group Joins Gov. Rick Perry's Prayer Event

"I am honored to be a national co-chair of The Response. [Our members] are invited to take part in whatever way possible, whether it's coming to actually be a part of the event, or just praying at home. We believe that it's just important that women of faith come together and pray for our country. How far have we come as a nation from the early days of George Washington calling people to prayer, to today, where a governor calls on people within his state and people around the nation to come together in prayer and lawsuits get filed?" - Penny Nance, head of Concernstipated Women for America.

NOTE: While Perry may say he has no issue with same-sex marriage (in the name of states' rights), through his prayer rally he has aligned himself with virtually all off the most virulently anti-gay groups in the nation. These are hate groups that have publicly advocated to have you imprisoned and deported. Remember that the next time somebody mentions Rick Perry's position on marriage.

Perry: Marriage Is A States Rights Issue

Yesterday Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that he considered same-sex marriage to be a states' right issue and that he has no problem with New York's move to legalize it.

Perry, who has been weighing a presidential run, said he opposes gay marriage — but that he's also a firm believer of the 10th Amendment. "Our friends in New York six weeks ago passed a statute that said marriage can be between two people of the same sex. And you know what? That's New York, and that's their business, and that's fine with me," he said to applause from several hundred GOP donors in Aspen, Colo. "That is their call. If you believe in the 10th Amendment, stay out of their business."

Perry is expected to formally announce his presidential run by summer's end.