Come on, people. Instead of praying for lower gas prices, you need to v-o-t-e out all the Rethugs who rubber-stamped the current administration’s policies and warmongering that got us here.
Rocky Twyman has a radical solution for surging gasoline prices: prayer.As one commenter at my pad said:Twyman - a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs - staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation’s Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.
Yes, it’s come to that.
“God is the only one we can turn to at this point,” said Twyman, 59. “Our leaders don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring.”
…”God, deliver us from these high gas prices,” Twyman said. “That’s all they have to say.”
I wonder how God rates Twyman’s suffering from high gas prices as compared to the suffering of someone, say, raking through garbage on a steaming trash heap in the outskirts of Lagos, searching for something edible, or of someone who has lost his legs or eyesight from a bomb dropped last week on Sadr City.Since Americans are God’s chosen people, perhaps Twyman’s suffering is paramount.
On the other hand, perhaps Twyman will go to Hell for paying taxes to the government that drops the bombs and enforces poverty in the Third World.
58 Responses to “Pray-in for gas prices”
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Instead of praying for lower gas prices, you need to v-o-t-e out all the Rethugs who rubber-stamped the current administration’s policies and warmongering that got us here.
And there in a nutshell is what’s wrong with this country
asking God for cheaper gas
*thunk*
[THE OPOPONAX picks head up from edge of coffee table (doesn’t have desk)]
Where will it end?
Where?
Where, I ask you?
Why do all evangelical preachers have the intellectual abilities of your average 4 year old? Why do their followers share in this?
Seriously, I was pissed when, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit, Governor Blanco declared a statewide “day of prayer” rather than, you know, any real effort at evacuation.
But praying for oil prices to magically go down?
Really?
OK, I think Amanda and all the rest of the atheists officially win now. Because I’m sorely tempted to abandon belief in God simply to distance myself from people like this.
Instead of praying for lower gas prices, you need to v-o-t-e out all the Rethugs who rubber-stamped the current administration’s policies and warmongering that got us here.
Alternately, stop wasting fuel by jetting around from one city to another for pointless publicity stunts.
(Though, voting out the Republicans would be a good start.)
Hell, the man that sits in the Oval Office thinks that the way to address failing policy is to keep clapping for Tinkerbell, as it were, why not pray too.
OMG… so it is true…
The Saudis are God!
This isn’t “pray away the gas prices” so much as “a complete break with reality.”
Along slightly similar lines, I just saw a commercial for the new Chevy Tahoe, in which the actors were going on and on about what “great gas mileage” it gets.
The new Chevy Tahoe gets 20 miles per gallon.
this made my night. what a hoot. i know it isn’t really funny, but after a couple mint juleps, well…
Then again I don’t think we’ll ever see gas prices drop below $3.75 a gallon n our lifetime. As far as denial goes, praying for lower prices is about as useful as all the other possibilities. The hard choice is not for cheap gas, but for alternatives to gas that won’t keep going shooting up until it’s completely gone.
So it’s not really that they’re pro ‘free market’ policies, just that they believe the only sort of interference with the free market that they approve is God’s?
I just saw this earlier and laughed my ass off. The guy Fox News interviewed was ultimately mostly happy about the press they got from the whole exercise. I wonder if they all drive to each location in which they pray…
Actually, we need to start trying to convince people that gas is way to cheap. We aren’t paying nearly enough for the external damages caused by using a gallon of gas. We needed to listen to Jimmy Carter and conserve and develop renewables 30 years ago. Now we need to elect people who understand the magnitude of the crisis and who will act quickly and decisively to move to sustainable sources of energy that won’t destroy the climate. Praying won’t help that either though.
shweet. baby. jeebus. are. you. SERIOUS?
It’s events like these that make me wonder if some of those super-zealous godbag types aren’t actually, deep down, doubting this whole crazy godbag gig that they’ve bought into. Perhaps, when they have a big Pray-in For Cheap Gas, they are, on some unconscious level, telling us “Look! Look! At this! This is CRAZY! We’ve got it all wrong! Run, run away!”
And if Jesus does exist, I’m sure events like this pain him. With all the suffering in the world, all these alleged Christians can think of is the great of suffering of their wallets when it comes time to juice up the Hummer. Sick.
Even though I’m not a believer, I’m almost inclined to thank God for peak oil and to pray that peak coal is just around the corner. We’re going to need God or good fortune to save us, because it doesn’t look like we’re smart enough to do it on our own.
(How can I hit the “Blaspheme!” button when, for once, I’m not blaspheming?)
Actually, gas isn’t any more expensive than it was a few years ago. It’s just that the dollar is weak and so it’s 3 euro/gallon (plus taxes) in Europe, just like it was when the dollar was the same as the euro.
And when Obama becomes President gas will gush through our faucets for free
While they’re at it, maybe they can pray the Pirates to a pennant, too.
The stupid…it burns!
Our leaders don’t seem to be able to do anything about it, so let’s pray to god?
Eating chocolate pudding doesn’t seem to make me get any thinner, so I should pray to god so that it will?
Fuck. Our leaders caused the high gas prices and the high gas prices are doing the job of making their friends richer. Now that the effects are really going to trickle down and the shit is going to hit the fan, they’re going to leave office.
High gas prices are not a bug, they’re a feature.
Sorry, couldn’t work “all your bases are belong to us” into it.
Oh, and double fuck b/c Twyman isn’t a ‘radical”, he’s a reactionary.
Dumb MSM.
I’m conducting a test based on this. While Twyman is praying to Jehovah to lower gas prices, I’m praying to the ghost of Norman Fell (Mr. Roper from “Three’s Company”) for them to increase. If the prices continue rising, I’ll know that Norman Fell is more powerful than God.
Please join in the experiment!
My favorite bumper sticker ever:
PRAYER. It’s literally the least you can do.
“We needed to listen to Jimmy Carter and conserve and develop renewables 30 years ago.”
If we’d listened to Carter, we wouldn’t have had the last 28-years of Rethug bullshit either.
Oh well. Cassandra was doomed to never be listened to, and Carter/Gore/etc. apparently received the same curse…
Our leaders caused the high gas prices and the high gas prices are doing the job of making their friends richer. Now that the effects are really going to trickle down and the shit is going to hit the fan, they’re going to leave office.
Bingo.
Petition the lord with prayer
You cannot petition the lord with prayer!
Can you find me soft asylum
I can’t make it anymore
The Man is at the door
-”The Soft Parade”, The Doors
“My favorite bumper sticker ever:
PRAYER. It’s literally the least you can do.”
Runner up:
“20,000 children died of hunger today.
Why should God answer YOUR prayers?”
Instead of praying for lower gas prices, you need to v-o-t-e out all the Rethugs
In fairness to the prayer squad, you have to drive a long way from San Francisco to find a Republican office holder to vote out. Cindy Sheehan is running against Nancy Pelosi for Congress because Nancy’s too conservative for San Francisco. So maybe in this one case prayer is the only thing left.
you have to drive a long way from San Francisco to find a Republican office holder to vote out.
So there’s this guy. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. He’s certainly been keeping a low profile lately.
He’s a Republican, and even though we can’t specifically vote him out of office anymore, we can certainly work to make sure he isn’t able to hand it down to a fellow Republican come next January. We can also work to make sure that his legacy does not seem particularly attractive to whoever steps into his shoes next year, regardless of political parties.
His name is GEORGE W. FUCKING BUSH, and he is the president of our country (of which San Francisco is a part).
Tell Christian fundies that there’s an “invisible hand” controlling the market, and whose hand do you expect them to imagine?
Why educate yourself when you can pray?
During all these gas-guzzling flights back and forth from Cali to D.C. did this guy ever take out a book and read about algae farms or battery life or hybrid cars? Probably not. For every second he wastes his time praying, he could have actually been getting results by protesting outside the headquarters of auto manufacturers that refuse to design cars and trucks that get more than 26 miles to the gallon. Did he at any point encourage people to buy locally grown food in-season to make a statement against the excessive costs of transporting food across the world? Probably not.
It’s people like this that hold us back. If the world’s population spent less time praying for a decent life and more time educating themselves so they could procure it on their own, I’m convinced we’d be light years ahead technologically and ethically.
encourage people to buy locally grown food in-season
But what would they eat after harvest is over? My ancestors would fatten a pig on scraps for slaughter each fall, then make hams and sausages to eat all winter. I guess we could go back to that, but it doesn’t sound healthy.
For every second he wastes his time praying, he could have actually been getting results by protesting outside the headquarters of auto manufacturers that refuse to design cars and trucks that get more than 26 miles to the gallon.
There’s a part of me that thinks half the reason the Rethugs are so deeply on board with this kind of stuff is that, if your religion says only God has any real control over anything, and God is a total micromanager who would be happy to jam his fingers into the well-ordered swiss watch that is His universe if only you pray for what you want, people will be way less likely to try to engage politically with the world. After all, what’s the point? God’s will be done, right? Except when I say the magic words, of course…
On the other hand, in the Democratic worldview, even if one believes in a higher power, it’s generally understood that the best way of getting what you want is to actually do something about it.
I’m confounded by theists who believe in intercessory prayer but imply that praying for lower gas prices is uncouth, or just not done.
If God is infinitely powerful, then it’s no skin off Her nose to knock a dollar off the pump price. Doing so would not impede her ability to end poverty.
If you think God is a friend who cares about you, then what’s wrong with asking for a personal favor or ten? I ask my human friends for favors all the time. If I had a friend who could lower gas prices for me, I’d probably mention it over lunch this Wednesday.
It’s silly to think that anybody else is listening when you talk to yourself, but it’s no less silly to ask for a winning lottery ticket than to ask for world peace.
When I’m confused, I study the Gospel of George:
Seriously though, if it’s uncouth to pray for petrol, then isn’t it just as bad to pray for an end to hunger? If God is all-powerful, then She wants the world to be just the way it is, or else She’d change it and She wouldn’t wait for you to ask. She wants thousands of children to die every day from diarrhea and dehydration. “Everything happens for a reason,” and all that crap. Who are you to ask for more?
But what would they eat after harvest is over?
That’s what root vegetables are for. Not to mention canning, drying, salting, cheesemaking, and other methods of food preservation.
There’s plenty available to eat in winter if you know what to do with it. Especially nowadays, when we have refrigeration and tons of labor-saving kitchen gadgets.
Not to mention, of course, that even if for some reason none of that stuff was an option, even eating locally during fruitful times of the year saves more fossil fuels than buying apples flown in from New Zealand in the middle of apple season, when you live in Washington or New York.
Oldie but goodie,
average gas price vs. Bush approval rating
http://pollkatz.homestead.com/files/gasindex-long_files/zzzBUSHINDEX_24497_image001.gif
pollkatz.homestead.com/
I’m confounded by theists who believe in intercessory prayer but imply that praying for lower gas prices is uncouth, or just not done.
Not all theists believe in intercessory prayer. I think it’s generally only Catholics and these sorts of fringey jokers. Though I don’t know much about what Islam believes.
Of course, you then have other more pagan-based religions where people believe they can make offerings to petition the gods, which is where Catholicism got the idea in the first place. But I don’t know that more sophisticated modern-day Neo-pagans, Animists, Hindus, etc. actually believe that you can ask for a laundry list of complex human-controlled things — I think the idea is that you are petitioning certain spirits for the things they have specific control over. Like asking the rain god to send enough to grow the crops, but not too much, or asking the childbirth goddess not to take your wife.
And then, of course, there are Cargo Cults. Which would actually be right on board with performing rituals in order to ask God to send cheaper gas.
I think I used the wrong term. I guess “intercessory prayer” is praying on behalf of another person, which is a little more specific than I’m thinking of.
I’m talking about praying for anything at all, ever.
Anything from “God, grant me the strength…” to “pleaseohplease make me president.”
I realize that there are plenty of Fundies who pray for all sorts of things, but what caught my eye from the article is the background of the organizer. He’s not a minister or spiritual leader.
It sounds to me like this might just be a media stunt to draw attention to the issue of high gas prices. After all, the MSM doesn’t give much coverage to regular protests, but adding the religious spin makes it a more unique story. It also pretty much guarantees that Fox will cover it.Oh, Hector, you make me laugh.
While I would not recommend hunting for wooly mammoth, surely in 2008 we have enough refrigeration technology that you’d be able to save enough raw fruits and veggies to get you through the cold months. Heated greenhouses can work too. Or you could go really old school and actually jar or pickle veggies.
Somehow homo sapiens did survive in northern climates during the winter. This whole I-must-have-my-bananas-in-Maine-in-January thing is a relatively recent accomplishment of human agricultural and transportation technology.
I’m talking about praying for anything at all, ever.
As to how you can believe in prayer, but think that praying for something like lower gas prices is ridiculous, it has to do with specifically what you think prayer is for and how it works. A lot of theists I know think of prayer (and similar rituals) as sending good vibes, or soul searching, or deep contemplation, or thanking God for the blessings you’ve been given (which I think is what prayer is really supposed to be, if you’re a non-heretic Protestant). It’s not writing a letter to Santa Claus.
Not to mention that a lot of theists believe that prayer is much more about the person praying than about a literal God out there in the world, doing humanity’s bidding. In that sense, praying for gas is gauche for the same reason it’s gauche to be shallow, materialistic, and greedy. You’re using your special time of contemplation to ask for a way to get to Sam’s Club a little cheaper?
That reminds me of Sonny Perdue. I keep thinking that at some point, the human ability to realize mistakes and change priorities will ramp up, such that conservatives will realize it’s their own lack of initiative in *conserving* and *planning* and *scientific development* that’s contributing to these massive resource issues.
But it never happens. Instead, even now I hear educated northern conservatives speak of sustainability and resource management with contempt, as if encouraging people to buy less crap and take public transit more is part of some big conspiracy to make everyone live like it’s 1833.
To be clear, I’m talking about the aspects of rain that actually are outside of human control.
Though I think most pagan/animist derived religions that survive in modern society have made this sort of thing a lot more abstract. I happened to be in India for Saraswati Puja, for instance, which is the festival dedicated to the goddess of wisdom and learning. All the school kids get a day off to participate in rituals meant to bless them and help them do well in the coming term. I’m pretty sure most people don’t think about this as simplistically as “ok, eat this magical lump of sugar and you will get straight A’s this year!”
On the other hand, though, less educated people in India have a tendency to believe in things like magical amulets, so maybe I’m giving Hindus too much credit.
Most people who pray for specific gifts from the Good Lord are plagued by rickets, bad teeth, and mental retardation.
It is, of course, still entirely possible that prayer works wonders and they’re just doing it wrong somehow.
Well, if this is to be believed, and multiple communities in Northern India are worshipping this girl as a goddess, I’m not so sure the magical lump of sugar is far off. Or maybe this is more akin to the xtian the-virgin-mary-appeared-on-my-toast phenomenon.
Hector @ 29:
No, but it does sound tasty.
Yeah, that’s kind of what I meant, above. Hinduism is interesting because, on the one hand, you still have an uneducated rural population that literally believes in things like incarnate goddesses and magic charms. But then you also have a growing urban middle class which has a much more abstract way of understanding religion. And of course there are infinite variations in between. Amazingly, none of these people tend to be in conflict with each other — the yuppies are cool with the villagers hiring fakirs and worshiping rocks, and the rural folk don’t feel threatened by a more complex understanding.
You really only get conflict when the rich or powerful try to speak for the others and tell them what they ‘traditionally’ worship. That tends to piss people right off, even in India.
Or so the food pantry’s van can be operated on a budget. Even from a “selfish” perspective, there are people out there struggling to buy both gasoline and food.
I guess I just feel that someone capable of real magic tricks might be morally obliged to come through in some cases.
or none at all, perhaps. But it seems odd for believers to judge the worth of each others entreaties.
But it seems odd for believers to judge the worth of each others entreaties.
I certainly don’t think there’s anything unfair or upsetting about judging someone who’s issuing press releases and telling Fox News what they’re praying about. If you want to pray for a pony or some Taco Bell in your private time, far be it from me. But when you start acting all sanctimonious about it, you invite ridicule.
Yes, Rocky Twyman is an opportunist, hoping to get into a parasitic relationship with new recruits. I’m thinking of the majority in the pews (or the folding chairs). And I’m betting if you count all the people out there praying for cheap gas, most of them need the money.
I understand that this post was directed at Twyman.
And I’m betting if you count all the people out there praying for cheap gas, most of them need the money.
Yeah, that’s the grey area. On the one hand, it’s easy to feel superior and think “boo hoo, stupid fundies just want to fill up their hummers while people in Haiti are rioting over food!” On the other, we’re getting to a point now where prices (for everything) are going up, and even relatively affluent Americans are starting to feel the squeeze.
It’s easy to feel superior when you live in a city where you don’t drive and get most of your food from unorthodox sources where prices aren’t as connected to oil because they aren’t as packaged and don’t travel as far. Those are not options for a lot of suburban and exurban Americans.
And religious people wonder why sometimes we atheists can’t take them seriously.
Given how Jehovah acts in the Old Testament, the last thing I think a Christian would want to do is prayer. That’s some psychotic dude you’re asking to pay attention to you…..
Gasoline to cost $10 a gallon in US soon?
The New York Sun reports that the price of gasoline in the US will soon be in line with what Europeans pay.
Translating this price into dollars and cents at the gas pump, one of our forecasters, the chairman of Houston-based Dune Energy, Alan Gaines, sees gas rising to $7-$8 a gallon. The other, a commodities tracker at Weiss Research in Jupiter, Fla., Sean Brodrick, projects a range of $8 to $10 a gallon.
While $7-$10 a gallon would be ground-breaking in America, these prices would not be trendsetting internationally. For example, European drivers are already shelling out $9 a gallon (which includes a $2-a-gallon tax).
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/28/gasoline-to-cost-10.html
Hector B., re: seasonal food: Just because you cannot do it 100% is not reason not to do it at all. I’d hate to have no bananas or oranges ever (they do not grow local, no matter the season), but I’d wait for early summer for strawberries from the (metaphorical) instead of buying tasteless and overprices ones from Spain in February.
Grammar RWA: Maybe praying for lower gas prices just is so damn mundane.
squashed, re: Gas prices, internationally: You need to consider here that the dollar is as low as it ever was against stable European currencies. The current gas price at the next station would convert to USD 8.52 per gallon today — one year ago it would have been 7.27, eighteen months ago 6.81 (all taxes included). It’s hard to do a good comparision under those circumstances.
(Sorry if this posts double)
Hector B., re: seasonal food: Just because you cannot do it 100% is not reason not to do it at all. I’d hate to have no bananas or oranges ever (they do not grow local, no matter the season), but I’d wait for early summer for strawberries from the (metaphorical) instead of buying tasteless and overprices ones from Spain in February.
Grammar RWA: Maybe praying for lower gas prices just is so damn mundane.
squashed, re: Gas prices, internationally: You need to consider here that the dollar is as low as it ever was against stable European currencies. The current gas price at the next station would convert to USD 8.52 per gallon today — one year ago it would have been 7.27, eighteen months ago 6.81 (all taxes included). It’s hard to do a good comparision under those circumstances.
Paying for gas is pretty damn mundane too. Many (most?) people still have to do it, though. God is an Imaginary Friend, and sometimes we have to ask our friends for a few bucks until the next paycheck. I am really surprised that theists would mock each other for their taste in prayers. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given the inherently sectarian and competitive nature of religion. All the faux ecumenicism drops away when it’s time to point and laugh, doesn’t it? This certainly puts the lie to “all faiths are equally valid.”
I’m pretty sure the amount of locally produced food consumed in my city is zero. I’m trying and failing to imagine 2 million Las Vegans living on sagebrush, rattlesnake, and sand. Oh well, at least they’re all in season year-round.
FT: Oil could go to $200 a barrel:
Opec’s president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help.
The comments made by Chakib Khelil, Algeria’s energy minister, came as oil prices hit a historic peak close to $120 a barrel, putting further pressure on global economies.
His remarks suggest Algeria wants Opec to continue to resist calls by US and European leaders for the cartel to pump more oil to help ease prices. But Mr Khelil blamed record oil prices on the weak dollar and global political insecurity. […]
Some US senators have pinned the blame for high oil prices directly on Opec and Saudi Arabia, its largest and most powerful member.
In a letter to President George W. Bush last week, they said Riyadh had cut its oil production by about 2m barrels a day over the past three years, even though oil prices had continued to rise.
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007325.html
RobW:
And yet, once all that water has been pumped there, Vegas is
probably capable of growing a surprising amount of food as the
water drains away. There were carrot farms in the Mojave in the
1950s until the scant groundwater was consumed.
Food production isn’t likely to balance the energy costs of getting
water there, but it could moderate it a lot.