Boy who refused treatment on religious grounds dies

This is just a sad story.

A few hours after a judge ruled that a 14-year-old Jehovah's Witness sick with leukemia had the right to refuse a blood transfusion that might have helped him, the boy died, a newspaper reported.

Dennis Lindberg died from leukemia. Doctors gave him a 70% of surviving another 5 years with the help of transfusions. His aunt who is also his legal guardian is a Jehovah's Witness and raised him as one too. The judge ruled not to force him to accept the transfusion.

"I don't believe Dennis' decision is the result of any coercion. He is mature and understands the consequences of his decision," the judge said during the hearing.

"I don't think Dennis is trying to commit suicide. This isn't something Dennis just came upon, and he believes with the transfusion he would be unclean and unworthy."

He may have understood the consequences of his actions and he may not have been directly coerced. He just made a deadly decision based on ideas that were planted in his head by his aunt and their religion. He refused a routine life saving procedure based on groundless garbage. And this was the result. He was stripped of critical reasoning abilities at an early age that otherwise would have prompted him to accept the transfusion to greatly improve his chance of survival.

Jump.

Ignorance abounds in Texas

First off I have to say that I don't mean all Texans are ignorant. In fact I feel bad for them because I believe most of the inanity comes from their government. Either way they've shown me that on two issues there are people who aren't fit to lead or teach in Texas.

I don't have a lot to contribute for editorial but I'll provide links to the stories. The first problem Texas seems to have is understanding that global climate change is real and that humans are causing it.

Texas emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other state. And if Texas were a country, it would be the seventh-largest carbon dioxide polluter in the world.

Jump.

The other problem they have is understanding what constitutes 'science'. This story is ugly.
PZ Myers says it best over at the Pharyngula blog with several postings on the story. Basically the Texas Education Agency forced Chris Comer to resign.

So, why would TEA do that? Comer forwarded an email from the National Center for Science Education announcing a talk by Dr. Barbara Forrest to several people...

If you don't know who Barbara Forrest is she was one of the leading witnesses for the plantiffs in the Dover trial over Intelligent Design.
Fear Barbara Forrest
The Letter that scared the TEA
And finally the real scoop

Saudi's to Review Rape Case

Prince Saud al-Faisal has expressed outrage that this case is being used against the Saudi government following an international outcry. Excuse me but you don't get to be upset that people around the world are decrying your barbaric practices. In case you're not familiar with the case it sounds complicated but essentially a Saudi woman gets gang raped and she is sentenced to be flogged and imprisoned for being alone with a man who is not her husband or family member.

This is just disgusting. The men were sentenced but I think that's more because this particular case got so much attention. In many rape cases the women are punished and the men are not sentenced or they get off with a few months in jail. They certainly aren't given 200 lashes.

And has the United States condemned the case? Of course not. If this happened in Iran or North Korea or any country from whom we didn't buy oil, you wouldn't be able to go five minutes on the news without seeing a replay of Condi or Dubbya condemning them.

This is a very political issue and I know international politics are dicing at best in the Middle East and we need all the allies we can get. This is where years and years of tolerating the intolerant, bigoted, sexist, and often violent religion of Islam has gotten us.

Jump.

Church rejects interfaith service on its property

When the Hyde Park Baptist Church found out that non-Christians might pray at an interfaith event hosted on their property they were heartened and gave the muslims and jews their blessing. HA HA HA... How funny would it be if they really said that?

Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, the city's largest interfaith organization, announced Thursday that its annual Thanksgiving celebration Sunday had to be moved because Hyde Park Baptist Church objected to non-Christians worshipping on its property.

The event was booked back in July at which time it was made clear that it was an interfaith event. I guess Hyde Park never considered the possibility that this might included non-christian faiths. They released this statement.

"Although individuals from all faiths are welcome to worship with us at Hyde Park Baptist Church, the church cannot provide space for the practice of these non-Christian religions on church property," the statement said. "Hyde Park Baptist Church hopes that the AAIM and the community of faith will understand and be tolerant of our church's beliefs that have resulted in this decision."

Excuse me but did they just ask for the community to be tolerant of their decision?

Jump.

Legislators hear global warming disputed

Kentucky continues to set an example as a backward, pseudo-science supporting state. This infuriates me to no end.

Global warming is a myth concocted by former Vice President Al Gore, the United Nations, Hollywood and the news media, Kentucky lawmakers were told yesterday... Chairman Jim Gooch, D-Providence, a longtime ally of the coal industry, said he purposefully did not invite anyone who believes in global warming to testify.

So if Gooch didn't invite any scientists to testify, who did he invite? How about a lawyer working for a think-tank that's funded by Exxon. And for good measure let's bring in a British journalist who is of the opinion that anyone with HIV or AIDS should be locked up forever. This is the Democrats' chief environmental strategist we're talking about.

That's right, he invited two people with no scientific credentials to speak in opposition to one of the most important and complex scientific issues of our history. Nice job Gooch. It's also nice to see that breathtaking ignorance crosses party lines.

When criticized for not inviting any scientists, Gooch said he didn't want to, "get into so much science today." He went on...

Before the hearing, Gooch said he called the Heartland Institute once he decided to address global warming and asked for any skeptical experts it might send. Scientists weren't necessary, he said.

"Well, I mean, where are we going to get scientists?" Gooch asked. "We're limited here in Kentucky to what we can do. I don't know how we'd necessarily get scientists to come here."

Where indeed? Surely he couldn't have found anyone with experience in climate/environmental science at UK or UofL.

Jump