Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 29, 2011

My favorite story is turning water into wine. But hey, we all have different priorities.

Sounds about right. 30 years living there and sometimes a ‘native’ Texan could really make me wonder if we spoke the same language.

i would also mention he said “Feed my sheep.” and a number of churches in EVERY STATE and COUNTRY: take that as a serious part of their responsibility. Compassion. World Vision, Feed the Children. i am curious though. all the ultra liberal atheistic here seem to demand that Parry behave like a Christian in keeping with THEIR values, but don’t want him to behave like a Christian if it doesn’t match their values. If you’re not a Christian, isn’t a bit hypocritical to think he’ll behave in a way you can even begin to understand? Yet you cry when he doesn’t understand your non-Christian demands.

@freeholder1I’m just curious too: Please list who is Christian, who is atheistic, and who is ultra liberal. Feel free to mix and match categories. I’m not going to tell you which (if any) I am since you seem to have everyone here pegged.

Fill in the blank for Rick. “You’re not going to try to _________________________________________• deal with hungry/malnourished children in Texas?"• do what the Bible says (Matthew 25:35-40) and feedthe hungry?" • learn the REAL MEANING of the story of the loavesand fishes?" • keep me from getting one of those fish sandwiches?" • be rude and eat right in front of me?"

Freeholder1:

“If you’re not a Christian, isn’t a bit hypocritical to think he’ll behave in a way you can even begin to understand?”

I see the problem. You aren’t familiar with the teachings of Christ, and so you think that they would be hard to understand. They mostly came down to showing your love of God by acting on your love of others, particularly those in need. Most of the rest of what people often atribute to him, such as hating gays or oppressing women were actually “after market add-ons” that someone else tossed in.

As it isn’t all that hard to understand what Jesus said, it isn’t all that hard to see if Rick Perry follows it. And one of the cool things is that you don’t even need to believe Jesus is God, or even that God is real, in order to see if Perry acts upon the simple things that Jesus said.

But if you understood Jesus, you would know that.

There should be a Constitutional Amendment barring Texans from ever again occupying the White House!

Please, good people of America – with the dire state of western economies, we really need you to elect an intelligent, rational leader.

By renaming starvation and malnutrition to “food insecurity” during Bush’s administration, the Republicans have turned wine into dust.

Just what we need – another politician with a God complex.

Texas is eliminating hunger as fast as they can.

There was this texan that died…he was too big for any coffin, so they gave him an enema and buried him in a shoebox…

Just an observation, this is a CARTOON! It`s supposed to be funny, politics are not funny! (Yes, I know they are a joke, just not that type of joke.)

If you only like funny cartoons that aren’t political, then Doonesbury is a poor choice. It has ALWAYS been political.

Those of you making the lame jokes about Texas should be aware that it is being entered on your permanent record, and will have a negative effect on your next interview for that coveted Wal-Mart greeter position.

@roctor: You mean Texas is elimination the HUNGRY as fast as it can.

Liberal bigotry? For what it is worth, I find most “liberal” policies more in line with the teachings of Jesus than the “don’t tax the rich” Christians of the conservative ilk. And be aware that any number of true evangelical Christian leaders, like Jim Wallis, are calling out some of the conservative leadership for failing to act in a Christian way. This is less a caricature of all Christians as it is a caricature of certain pompous, self-righteous Christians. The rest of us try to do the right thing, even in the face of those “Christians” who simply do not really get the message.

Christians like Rick Perry make me proud to be an atheist.

People who got messages from god used to be called insane. Now they are called Republican presidential candidates.

What’s your point, jrmerm? That Trudeau is pointing up a phony issue here? That you know only people who are “doing so well” after moving to Texas? What makes them “do so well” there? Employing the parents of malnourished children under “slave wage” conditions?

I spent the first 8 years of my life in Texas, the first part of it along the Rio Grande. My father was a minister. I remember going on “pastoral visits” with him. Many of his parishioners were so poor they had dirt floors.

VOTE FOR PERRY. He’ll create the conditions that will give you a job that pays less than you can afford to feed your family. But don’t worry! You can go into debt at the “company store”. Meaning: you can’t leave. You’re a “wage slave”. Heh heh heh!

I’m neither a Christian or an atheist. (I know, hard for many to believe that there can be anything else since these factions have brought their long-standing war out in the open these last few years, acting as if they represent the totality of mankind.) I’ve said for years that I believe too much in Jesus to be a Christian. Remember, David Koresh and Timothy McVey were Christians. That’s the problem. You can do or say anything and justify it based on a passage or two from the bible. In the bible, God advocates mass murder, rape, killing your own children, and, quite easily, hating just about anyone you wish, starting with gays. I don’t think Jesus taught those kinds of values, but Christianity has hung those ideals about his neck.

It’s the same with the Queran and Islam. Any interpretation is possible.

I don’t think I have to be a Christian to understand Jesus. He was a great man who preached love and compassion and was killed for it. Not as unusual as the Christians would like us to believe, but worthy none-the-less.

As to the politics of it all, I don’t believe for a second that the any of the evangelist Christian candidates believe a word of what they say. They’ve just figured out that if they get in front of a microphone and spew “Christian” values, they can raise money and run for office and, if elected, get richer. The only Republican candidate with a shred of sincerity is Ron Paul. While I disagree with him on most things, at least I believe that he believes what he’s saying, not just looking for a fatter paycheck.

I’m no longer an Obama supporter either. I campaigned for him in ‘08, and now wish I had backed Hilary. She has more balls and would have stood up to the insanity of the Tea Baggers. At this point, none of the candidates represent the people of the US in any substantial manner. It really doesn’t help that Obama is such a great speaker, he just can’t back it up. Eyeball to eyeball, where it counts, he’s a coward.

After the Yankees moved down here in the mid-80s, seems like everyone turned Republican. Gone are the good old days of LBJ, Ann Richards, HB Gonzales, Molly Ivins, et al.

Interestingly, Sylvia Maden, who wrote a very popular biology textbook for colleges used nationwide asserts in one chapter of her book that evolution is an established fact while in another section of her book states that evolution is an unproveable theory. Not only do evolutionary “scientists” want it both ways, they are allowed to have it both ways. By the way , the science of molecular biology stands well without evolution, which is not the basis for that science.

By the way, God also said that if a man doesn’t work, he shouldn’t eat. I’d also be careful about the “Food insecurity rate”, which refers to the ability to purchase food rather than its total availability. Total availability refers to free food distribution routes, which are available in every county in the United States undoubtedly. The United States may be the best at providing nourishment to those in need through food banks, food stamps and what in Illinois is called WIC or Women Infants and Children, which provides for healthy food purchased at the local grocery store. Perhaps it is the wealthy Gary Trudeau who needs an education.

Texas joins the battle of third-world countries.

Hey Rasczak, I thought we wen’t talking about Mallard Fillmore! (see your reply from yesterday) Good to know that you finally got my point, even if it took a while. BTW-Hadji sends his regards…

I really wish that, after the Civil War, the North had said to the South, “OK, now that we’ve proven that we can take you back any time we want to—we don’t want to. Have fun being an agricultural economy in an increasingly industrialized world.”

Oh, Christ. Why can’t you guys get over all of this “Christian” crap? L’Shana Tovah!

I think GBT should represent Perry with a floating Bible.

Texas Cheney ethical lesson?: “Teach a man how to rob a 7/11 and he can feed himself forever.”

I know I promised to take the rest of the day off but I had to respond to this one:

Please check out the Atheists for Jesus website, http://www.atheists-for-jesus.com/

Here is also a link to an article by the world’s most famous atheist, Richard Dawkins, praising Jesus: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/20-atheists-for-jesus

Perry is a good reason for letting TX secede. He wouldn’t be able to run for president then.

Perry apparently understands the Bible better than his liberal interviewer does. When Rick says, “I’m familiar with [that scriptural miracle],” Perry mocks Jesus’s magic by having “Darlin” conjure up bread and fish right now, in his campaign bus tooling down the highway.The governor is giving Rick a lesson in what we may call the politics of faith. After Jesus fed the crowd and crossed over to Capernaum (walking on the water to calm the seas), the mob came in search of him.“To tell you the truth,” said Jesus, “you’re looking for me not because you recognized miraculous signs but because you liked filling up on the bread” (John 6:26).Rick tries to quote Perry to the effect that “the Lord” will take care of the state’s “food insecurity.” In response, the governor demonstrates to Rick that the only hunger that matters is in one’s belly, not in the imagination of Christian liberals concerned for starving people they never see.Perry’s next line could be “Shut up and have a fish sandwich.” Rick had to visit Texas to see how “the politics of faith” work.

@jimpow; tika saivu!

If you really think Perry is a Christian, look carefully at his record. He’s just a politician, trolling for votes. If we Texans decided tomorrow that we were all Wiccans, he’d be drawing down the moon before you can say “blessed be.”

Yes, I’m aware of Jefferson’s letter to the Baptists, but I didn’t know he didn’t write it. Who did?

The thought just hit me: If Rick Perry is really all that concerned about Jesus Christ, then if he would quit politics and devote the rest of his life to feeding the poor children, not only would I believe him, I would urge him to re-enter politics and vote for him. Right now, though, he just disgusts me.

Didn’t anybody notice the “Perry” poster cut off by the table?