Instant Karma: Fundamentalists Pray for Rain at DNC, Get Hurricane at RNC

[garybeck]

August 12:

Focus on the Family is asking for "abundant, torrential" downpours to flood Denver and silence Senator Obama when he accepts the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on August 28.

"Would it be wrong to ask people to pray for rain of Biblical proportins," asks an umbrella wielding Stuard Shepard in a video put out by the ultra conservative evangelical group. He asks for the rain to start "two minutes before the acceptance speech begins."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4520147.ece

August 30:

Officials with the McCain campaign and the Republican National convention are considering changing the event's agenda as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast.

McCain had suggested to a Fox News interviewer that the convention could be suspended if it seemed that a festive gathering was inappropriate in light of the destruction the storm may bring.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/30/rnc.gustav/index.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Are the fundies praying to make the hurricane go away?

[garybeck]

4. Maybe they think the purpose of prayer is just to

wish bad things on other people

[depakid]

11. " wish bad things on other people"

and good things for them personally.

[kestrel91316]

13. Of course not. Katrina didn't kill enough of those BAD people down there.

They want Gustav to finish the job.

[think4yourself]

2. My thoughts exactly!

They're getting reigned on alright.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. It's hardly "karma,"

and if you think a hurricane is hitting St. Paul, well, you need new maps.

[garybeck]

5. blah blah blah....

it is karma when you wish something bad on another person and it comes back to you. how is that not karma?

And yes I know the hurricane is hitting the Gulf Coast and the convention is in Minneapolis. DUH. Since it seems you haven't been reading the news, regardless of where the hurricane is, it is affecting the plans of the convention and could even suspend the convention completely.

Karma is not simple. It doesn't mean if you hit someone in the face you will get hit in the face.

THIS is exactly how karma works, my friend.

And even if it's not karma per se, it is an incredibly ironic twist of fate.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. No, that is not how "karma" works

And, just so we can maintain some semblance of accuracy, the convention is taking place in St. Paul. Minneapolis is a whole different city.

Considering that it's hurricane season - remember Katrina? - it's hardly any kind of twist of fate. Someone urged people to pray for rain in Denver, and a hurricane comes up into the Gulf. You see that as an "ironic twist of fate"?

Hardly.

Now, go learn about karma - it'll take you a long time - and you're welcome for the geography lesson.

[garybeck]

15. that was a sad display of arrogance.

don't tell me i need a lesson on karma. you know nothing about me or what I know or what I've studied.

I was simply pointing out, I thought it was ironic, that they prayed for rain on the Democratic Convention and look what is happening. I obviously was not making any kind of a religious stand, and I was not saying anything about the people who live in harm's way. I was not suggesting that God (or Brahman) was punishing people. I guess you chose to take everything I said literally and reply with a very condescending tone and a very lame attempt at trying to give me a lesson on religion and/or geography.

The truth is, I don't give a crap if the convention is in Minneapolis or St. Paul, or anywhere else. I'm not going to waste my time watching it, as it will only make me angry. Anyway I don't have a TV anymore because I threw it in the trash last week. I just went to the website of the RNC to see where it is, and it says "Minneapolis-St. Paul." So maybe while you're giving me your "history lesson" you should call up the RNC and give them one too. Rather than calling it a history lesson, I would call it a sad display of arrogance. Geesh, don't you have anything better to do on a Saturday night than jump on people for speaking their minds?

And to answer your question, yes, I do think it is an ironic twist of fate. Not for the people on the Gulf Coast in any way. But for those people who were praying for rain in Denver however.... yes I do think it's ironic.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

16. Did you say "blah blah blah"?

Yeah, that's what you did - or, more specifically - typed.

Well, that's good enough for me not to read what you posted.

Now, consider karma while I laugh.

[theoldman]

6. No, the hurricane is not going to hit St. Paul but it will

make a big distraction. In my opinion, there is some poetic justice in the situation.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

14. News doesn't stop

because a political convention takes place.

It's hurricane season. It's to be expected.

I fail to see any kind of "poetic justice" in the fact of Gustav - I'm sure you don't mean to imply that the citizens of the Gulf Coast somehow deserve their impending meteorological fate.

It's more than likely that the Republicans might be relieved to have the spotlight away from their convention, the one no one was going to notice anyway?

[GoesTo11]

7. Bad taste. Please stop.

Many innocent people are probably going to lose their homes. Some people are going to die. That's not karma, that's just a disaster.

[thunder rising]

8. don't do this. Gustov is a killer storm and somebody is going to die.

it's just now at Cuba and we've had thunder storms from it's outer reaches all day in WPB.

[theoldman]

9. The pastor at my church always warned us to be careful

what we wished for. He said that God would always answer our prayers but sometimes we would not like the answer.

[seabeyond]

10. yup yup yup. sad for the people that are being hit... but a totally karmic thing

hear ya

poor area keeps getting got by those using god and karma....