When Faith Kills - Guilty? Or NOT Guilty?

You may think that the above picture has nothing to do with this post, but it does. Whether it's belief that someone will be healed by prayers, or a suicide because a person feels like a pariah, "Faith" kills.

I won't go into the implications of Faith killing by means of war. That's for another time (and a lot of posts), but to willingly let someone die because you think your prayers will heal them is: arrogant and stupid. To disciminate against someone knowing full well that such discrimination can cause the ultimate harm is also arrogant and stupid.

Faith Healing Parents Assert Religious Rights They Want Charges Dropped in Faith Healing Death of Their Toddler Daughter

By DEAN SCHABNER Dec. 10, 2008

A Clackamas County, Ore., couple accused of letting their infant daughter die by relying on prayer, rather than medicine, today asked that the charges be dropped, arguing that they infringe on their freedom of religion and their right to raise their children in their own way. Carl Worthington, left, and Raylene Worthington of Clackamas County, Ore., were charged with second... Carl Worthington, left, and Raylene Worthington of Clackamas County, Ore., were charged with second degree manslaughter and criminal mistreatment charges March 28, 2008, after their 15-month-old daughter died from what the state medical examiner said were easily cured illnesses. (KATU.com)

This is going to be an Oregon cause celeb. These people are part of a church whose members have been similarly charged. Children as well as adults have died because of their "faith". Oregon passed a law against such treatment partly because of this "church." The Worthington's case is testing that law.

Did their daughter die simply to test the law? Only the Worthingtons (and possibly some church members) know for certain. If you were on a jury, how would you vote?

Just a thought.

The Ones Who Helped Bush Do The Damage: Where Are They Now?

And People Are Criticizing Obama's Choices!

So many people helped Gorge W. B**h head down the path of demoralization and destruction of the U.S., that it would be impossible to name them all in one post. So lets take some of the top cronies/professional politicians/oddballs B**h chose first (back when we had morale and an economy) and see where they are now. In the future, we can compare them with the Obama appointments. Won't that be fun?

(Obama appointments are, of course, in blue)

Chief of Staff - Rahm Emanuel
Bush Chief of Staff - Andrew Card. Card nows sits on the Board for the Union Pacific Railroad, since he knew all about railroading.

Deputy Chief of Staff - Jim Messina
Bush Deputy Chief of Staff - Karl Rove. Rove has stated that he has written a vengeful tell-all book. Signed with Simon & Schuster, the title is not yet revealed. My Thirty Years Defending A Dimwit has been discarded.

White House Counsel - Greg Craig
Bush White House Counsel - Alberto Gonzales. Poor Alberto has tried to get a job with a law firm with no luck at all. Ongoing investigations can do at to your resume. He speaks at universities that will accept him (not many).

Press Secretary - Robert Gibbs
Bush Press Secretary -Ari Fleischer. Fleischer has gone from passing the buck to passing a ball - as consultant to the NFL

Secretary of the Treasury - Timothy Geithner
Bush Secretary of the Treasury - Paul O'Neill. O'Neill was the first cabinet member to get sacked because he saw the war in Iraq coming and wasn't afraid to say it. As far as we know, he's still Chairman of the Board of RAND Corporation.

Secretary of Commerce - Bill Richardson
Bush Secretary of Commerce -Donald Evans. Evans heads up The Financial Services Forum. He also has the dubious task of heading the committee placing George W. B**h's Library in Dallas (too bad Dallas isn't on the Gulf Coast!)

Secretary of State - Hillary Rodham Clinton
Bush Secretary of State - Colin Powell. Powell's hand has been stirring so many pots, it's difficult to keep tabs on him. As far as we know, he's still involved in Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Secretary of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano
Bush Secretary of Homeland Security - Tom Ridge. Tom Ridge is up to his armpits in chocolate and housepaint - Serving on the Boards of Hersey Chocolate and Home Depot.

National Security Advisor -James L. Jones
Bush National Security Advisor - Condaleeza Rice. We all know what Rice has been doing, but speculation as to what she WILL do after January 20th is very sketchy. If she becomes the concert pianist she was meant to be, she'll be playing a much different tune than the one she played for B**h.

Ambassador to the United Nations - Susan Rice.
Bush Ambassador to the United Nations - John Negroponte. After being Ambassador to the U.N., Negroponte was awarded the ambassadorship of Iraq. He's now Deputy Secretary of State and no telling what he'll be awarded next: maybe Ambassador to Swaziland, if he's lucky.

Attorney General - Eric Holder
Bush. Attorney General - John Ashcroft. When Ashcroft was governor of Missouri, it is said that he annointed himself with Crisco vegetable oil because holy oil was not available. As a lobbyist, he continues to annoint himself as the "anti-Abramoff" lobbyist. Whatever that is.

Secretary of Defense - Robert Gates
Bush Secretary of Defense - Donald Rumsfeld. Rummy couldn't get it right - even the second time around. He now serves as a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, University. Which Hoover, J. Edgar or Herbert, has not been determined.

Mistake? What Mistake? Rove Sends B**h Back To Neverland

It's an episode in American History that's a wry take on Peter Pan: The Little President Who Refused to Grow Up and Admit He Was Wrong!

B**h has been called an idiot, a fool, a jerk, a liar, a contemptuous cretin. This latest refusal to acknowledge reality now adds to all the negativity: spoiled and impetuous brat. A memo has gone from the Office of Neverland: in effect, it tells the entire B**H cabinet to stick with certain talking points.

(From Think Progress):

Titled “Speech Topper on the Bush Record,” the talking points state that Bush “kept the American people safe” after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained “the honor and the dignity of his office.” The document presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success.

Gone are Abu Graib, FEMA and Katrina, Mission Accomplished, Gitmo, Valerie Plame, the housing market crash, weapons of "mass distraction" or the legitimacy of his first four years.

The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin writes, “The public has rejected him. The nation is in crisis — and eager for the massive course corrections promised by an Obama presidency. But none of this appears to have penetrated President Bush’s well-defended brainpan.”

In other words, B**h still doesn't have a clue.

Where's Captain Hook when we need him?

Just a thought.

HOW TRUE!

Senator Nanny? Imagine THAT VOICE In A Filibuster??

"Her voice alone would spur me to action with the hopes that she'd shut up."

Overheard on the floor of the Senate:
"Hey! Ev'rybody in dis room shuddup! I wanna tawk!"

Yes, dear reader, Fran Dresser wants to take Hillary's vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. And rumor has it that she's prepping herself for a run later if she doesn't get it now. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, somehow, she ran for election (of anything) against Sarah Palin? Now THAT'S entertainment!

Intelligencer
Senator Nanny? Fran Wants It!
Appoint her, or she’ll run.
* By Diana Scholl * Published Dec 7, 2008

Fran Drescher wants to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate. She says she’s qualified. “I’ve just been given the appointment of U.S. diplomat,” she said at a party for HBO's Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven at that restaurant on December 3. “My title is public diplomacy envoy for women’s health issues, and I just got back from a four-country European tour of duty. I believe next I’ll be sent to the Middle East.” Also an anti-cancer activist, Drescher has been considering a run for office. “I’ve been very successful in getting a bill passed in Washington,” she said. “I was thinking I’d take the next four years to lay some groundwork, but I’m throwing my hat in the ring.” What else makes her a good candidate? “I’m an authentic and honest person,” she said. “And I think Capitol Hill needs more of that.”

Recent Comments On This Article:

OMG The Nanny? Are you kidding? You damn skippy I'd vote for her.

And I'd take her over Sarah Palin any day.

The Annointing of the SUVs

(from Dan Savage, SLOG.com)

Pentecostal Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, who shared the sanctuary’s wide altar with three gleaming sport utility vehicles, closed his sermon by leading the choir and congregants in a boisterous rendition of the gospel singer Myrna Summers’s “We’re Gonna Make It” as hundreds of worshipers who work in the automotive industry—union assemblers, executives, car salesmen—gathered six deep around the altar to have their foreheads anointed with consecrated oil.

While Congress debated aid to the foundering Detroit automakers Sunday, many here whose future hinges on the decision turned to prayer.

Well, it's better than hundreds of autoworkers storming the CEOS' homes in the suburbs of Detroit. But if Hummers are wiped away from the roads because of people seeking cheaper, smaller, more maneuverable, less gas-guzzling or (heaven forbid) alternative fuel cars and the "concept men" run out of ,well, concepts... we'll see Detroit turn into a - what else? - museum of antique cars.

Bill O'Reilly Entertains Again: Going To War Against - Himself!

Merry Holidays!
Happy Christmas!
Merry Happy!

Oh, F**k! Just Have A Good One!

Taking potshots at Bill O'Reilly is, well, fun. There, I'll admit it! He's hypocritical, dogmatic and incredibly stupid. O.K., there I go again, having fun at someone else's expense. He, he! But I just can't help it. It's so damn...easy!

It's as natural as falling off a log! He tries to act "fair and balanced" (like FOX News, uh huh!), but he comes across as unfair and slightly unbalanced. As we've stated many times, there are two types of Christofascists: the Elmer Gantrys and the Elmer Fudds. O'Reilly has not yet evolved from Fudd to Gantry. And it looks like he never will:

(From News Hounds):

What? Bill O'Reilly Doesn't Drink His Own Kool-Aid?
(Reported by Melanie - November 18, 2008)

Bill O'Reilly's annual frontal assault on the (ahem) legions of bomb-throwing liberals out there who are waging a "war on Christmas" is just around the corner. But looky here: an alert reader found this on the gas bag's own website: "Bill's holiday reading list."

Now check out Bill O'Reilly's

“Great American Holiday Quiz” up on the Parade Magazine website:

That's the Great American HOLIDAY Quiz. I took the quiz and found out more about Hanukkah than Christmas. O'Reilly doesn't seem to get the fact that "Happy Holidays" was phrased so as not to offend Jews. It was, in fact, phrased to INCLUDE Jews, but Bill's covert anti-Semitism results in over-compensation.

His quiz also socks it to the ACLU. Apparently, knowing about nativity scenes in public places is as important as who was the first person to sing Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer (Gene Autry).

See what I mean? It's soooo easy to poke fun at this hypocrite!

Just a thought.

Warning: Pick Up Rove's New Book - But Have a Hernia Belt On!

If He's Going To Name "Bush Haters,"
It Might Be Very HEAVY Reading!

(From Think Progress)

Rove planning to ‘name names’ of Bush haters in his new book.

Karl Rove is reportedly one of the key architects overseeing the “Bush legacy project,” predicting that the President will be remembered as a “far-sighted leader.” In a new interview with Cox News, Rove rails against all the people in America who never “accepted the legitimacy of George W. Bush,” saying that he plans to call them out in his new book.

Simon & Schuster is publishing the book, and have been working on it for more than a year, but the title is not yet listed with Amazon and if you Google "Rove new book" you really don't get anything. Maybe "The Architect" is more difficult to work with than expected (or a worse writer than anticipated). Maybe his list of "Bush-haters" is too unwieldy.

How many pages would it take (in almost infinitesimal type) to list 300 million names?

We'll have to wait and see if Machiavelli's Guide To Presidential Advising ever comes out.