[Atlantic]

Our guest columnist is The Most Not Reverend Rick Perry.

At twenty-seven years old, I knew that I’d been called to the ministry. I’ve just always been really stunned by how big a pulpit I was gonna have! I still am. I truly believe with all my heart that God has put me in this place at this time to do His will.

On Aug. 6 of this year, 2011, we are going to have a day of prayer and fasting. And it’s going to be the real deal. It’s not going to be some program where we line up a dozen political figures to come in and talk. It’s going to be people standing on that stage, projecting and proclaiming Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior at Reliant Stadium in Houston…

Our founding fathers understood that [property] was a very important part of the pursuit of happiness. Being able to own things that are your own is one of the things that makes America unique. But I happen to think that it’s in jeopardy.

It’s in jeopardy because of taxes; it’s in jeopardy because of regulation; it’s in jeopardy because of a legal system that’s run amok. And I think it’s time for us to just hand it over to God and say, “God, You’re going to have to fix this.”…

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“Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised over $1.6 million in the first half of 2011, according to a report set to be released Thursday. She now has approximately $1.4 million cash on hand despite having spent almost $1.6 million over the same period, according to Sarah PAC. But the funds raised cannot be used for a potential run for the White House in 2012.” [CNN]

“The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, a law enforcement official said Thursday.” [AP/MSNBC]

[via ThinkProgress]

First Governor Goodhair, now Crazy Eyes:

Michele Bachmann is practically synonymous with political controversy, and if the 2008 presidential election is any guide, the conservative Lutheran church she belonged to for many years is likely to add another chapter due to the nature of its beliefs — such as its assertion, explained and footnoted on this website, that the Roman Catholic Pope is the Antichrist.

So, the governing body of a church that Bachmann once attended has some unkind things to say about the Pope. This is relevant, how?

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Texas secession sympathizer Rick Perry may have warbled the Song of the South a decade earlier than we thought:

A 1998 voting guide published by a leading neo-Confederate group and obtained by Salon not only endorses Perry for lieutenant governor but also describes him as “a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.” Perry’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the governor’s possible membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

However, there’s a catch in the Salon story — we’re talking about two groups, only one of which was openly secessionist in 1998. And Perry didn’t join that group.

But what the heck, let’s see what the secessionist group is about:

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