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Texas Governor As E3 Keynote Speaker Causes Strife
Zonk pointed out a post on Joystiq highlighting a recent tantrum thrown by the ESA. Apparently the ESA didn't appreciate the framing GamePolitics chose to use for a story about E3's Keynote speaker and Texas Governor, Rick Perry. GamePolitics continues to call Perry into question as a choice for keynote speaker, saying: "While there are surely many Christians among E3 attendess, there are just as surely many who aren't. Aside from the fact that Perry was a bizarre keynote choice from the get-go, his divisive comments indicate that the ESA should rescind the offer. We have to ask again: why is E3 2008 being politicized? The answer, we suspect, has much to do with embattled ESA boss Michael Gallagher."
If you need to have your drug or toll road rail-roaded through the state legislature at the expense of hard working tax payers for no community gain, then you call Rick Perry. I can only imagine what conservative or money pocket lining initiative Rick Perry is up to in speaking at E3
No one is trying to exclude Perry from going to E3. They're simply point out that his endorsement of an extremist preacher make him a rather bizarre choice of E3 keynote speaker.
The article is quite bizarre though, since they could point out one of the many things that have made him incredibly unpopular in his home state (and led him to almost be defeated by a ridiculously underfunded Democrat in a red state). He's a completely incompetent governor who's best known in his state for trying to push through mandatory vaccines for his drug company friends, toll roads for his transportation friends, or vetoing bills he'd pledged to support only after the legislature had adjourned and could do nothing about it.
Which I suppose might make him a great E3 keynote speaker. Maybe they have a long history of incompetents.
I'm serious--left or right--one wants to control your bedroom and read your email, and the other one wants to control your pocketbook take care of you (and if you don't like it, screw off). Meh. I would have voted Kinky too had I lived in Texas!
Actually according to the 1st commandment it is acceptable. It says basically "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.", meaning that you can worship other gods, but that he is the formost or main god and any others are lesser gods. Many people disregard the "before me." but it is there.
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
The only way for Perry to get around it would be to flat out deny being a Christian, which is kinda forbidden by the religion itself (and not very good for getting elected). OK. Fair enough. People in the public eye have a hard time keeping private lives. But let's not pretend this is about Perry being hounded by the press while he's at church.
Perry has signed bills on evangelical church property, ratifying laws that evangelical conservative religious groups have been desperately campaigning for. Which is no surprise. Perry has openly supported and courted these religious political groups.
The issue here is not that the press has intruded on the Governor's private life and hounded him for being a good Christian. The issue is that Perry has intentionally mixed politics and religion. He has placed conservative Christian values on the political pulpit. He has made religion a political issue. Any political issue is open to scrutiny.
If you believe such scrutiny is religious persecution, you should take a moment to consider the source of the issue. It is not the press. It is individuals such as Governor Perry, Rev. Lawrence White, and Rick Scarborough and the political entities they lead and support.