Reckless Religion 

Once again Stinky, the wonder cat, digs up the doo-doo. This time she sniffs out the omnipresent religious rubbish that undermines progress and peace. Even though it’s serious stuff, it makes Stinky laugh at us humans’ lack of logic.

First up we have child molesting, defrocked priest, John Geoghan, formerly of the Boston area. He met his maker on August 23^rd, by virtue of strangulation by a fellow felon.

Good riddance I say, one less prisoner to waste tax money on, even though some people feel that if he had lived he would have been able to testify at his upcoming trials for similar offenses. Yeah, like that old pervert was going to admit to anything or offer an apology for his dalliances.

Hopefully Geoghan’s executioner will now be executed.

Next up we have Terrance Cottrell, an 8-year-old autistic boy who died during a prayer service that was meant to heal him of "spirits."

The incident occurred at Faith Temple, a church in a north Milwaukee strip mall when a group of adults formed a circle around him and placed their hands lightly, they claim, on him, as they prayed. They were just praying for him and asking God to deliver him from the spirit that he had. The little boy had spirits in him, and we was asking God to deliver him," one of the faith healers was quoted as saying.

A spokesperson for this looney group went on to say that the prayers were in accordance with Matthew 12:43, which says, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it."

What the hell does that mean anyway? Yo, Matt, what were you on when you wrote that passage? Did your fellow apostle, Luke, the doctor, give you a little too much Demerol?

At the end of the prayers, one of the women noticed that Terrance was not breathing and 911 was called, but when emergency services arrived around 11 p.m. the boy was dead. Phew, I thought my HMO was rough!

Milwaukee Police Captain Linda Haynes said an autopsy was being conducted. Police are investigating whether the boy had been restrained or hurt in some way.

One of the witchdoctors defended the group’s actions by stating, “All we can be charged with is doing what the word of God said.”

What? I thought this group of heavy-handed phsycochiropractors was following Matthew’s gospel. They better get their story straight before the trial, when only tangible matters count.

"We don't know of any kind of medical issues that he had that would have caused this death," Haynes said, "his mother didn't say that he had any kind of medical issues. It's really odd for someone that young to just die."

What the hell is wrong with people? Must everything relate to the spirit world? Why can’t people just accept reality and stop trying to correct problems by appealing to a higher power whose existence is still unproven? The battle between blind faith in the unknown, and factual science rages on.

Meanwhile, a few days later, in always-peaceful India, 39 faithful Hindus were stampeded to death by other cow and rat worshippers when alms for the poor were distributed by the holiest of Hindus, the Sadhus.

This incident occurred in Nashik City during the Kumbh Mela holy festival while the practitioners were working their way to the sacred Godavari river for a once every 12 years purifying bath.

If Mennen Speed Sticks were tossed at these people rather than coins the stampede probably would have been avoided.

Next stop on our religious roundup is the Alabama State Judicial building in Montgomery Al. This center of progressive intellectual enlightenment is still playing host to the madness instigated by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who is defying a Federal judge’s order by refusing to remove his self-designed, and paid for, illegal monument of The Ten Commandments.

I have no gripe with the Ten Commandments, they’re good rules to live by but they have a religious connotation and connection, and therefore no place in any government building. 

Well, wait a minute. I’m not too nuts about one of them, but I’ll let you figure out which one that is.

Followers of this judge’s views have taken to reading scripture, banging on drums, and sounding trumpets while parading around the courthouse in defense of their imagined right to be pains-in-the-ass.

Why is it necessary for people to break the law and cause a commotion, at the taxpayer’s expense, in order to practice their religion? No one is preventing these extroverts from praising their chosen Lord, in their chosen way, in private. Instead these clowns insist on demonstrating their devotion in public places while casting supercilious glances at normal people going about their business.

These would be carnival performers don’t want to praise the Lord. They want to be observed engaging in their brand of religious behavior so they can feel superior to those who don’t act as they do, and simultaneously garner a bit of attention in their otherwise non-noteworthy lives.

Stop interfering with people’s progress and engage in your rituals and so forth in non-public places, away from those of us who are neither impressed nor intimidated by your actions. If someone wants to pray it isn’t necessary to be seen or heard by other mere mortals. Your words after all, are for God’s ears and not the general public. Right? I guess this is a form of a mosh pit for the boring.

In America we have separation of church and state, and for good reason. These moralistic morons insist however, that the law does not state that we have freedom from God, and that justifies their claim that religion and government need not be separated.

Moore and his supporters claim that the Ten Commandments form the foundation of the U.S. legal system and that forbidding the acknowledgment of the Judeo-Christian God is in violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion.

Their reasoning for co-mingling religion and politics is also based on the fact that it says “In God We Trust,” on our currency. OK, let’s add the letter “L” between the “O” and the “D.” Why not, it’s close enough, our monetary system is based on it, and many people worship gold.

Religion is a private matter, and it’s optional, the same as membership in a bowling league or a bridge club, and one need not feel as if they are less of a person for not belonging. Only one’s right to practice their religion should be government endorsed. Government sanction of a specific religion is forbidden by The Constitution, as it should.

What these troublemakers want is something akin to the old Church of England, under the auspices of a king or queen. They are pushing for acceptance of the USA as a Christian country, which tolerates the practice of other religions.

Isn’t it obvious that all the faith based countries, Ireland, Israel, and the Arab states for example, have nothing but trouble because of religion? Is this what Americans want? No, except for a few, who use religion as a crutch.

They are a sad bunch. What an embarrassment these religious fanatics are, and they cause the waste of copious amounts of public funds on trials.

On Friday, 090303, Paul Hill, an ordained Presbyterian minister, was rightly executed. Hill, in the name of God, had gunned down freedom-of-choice doctor, John Bayard Britton, and his bodyguard, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Herman Barrett, outside the Ladies Center in Pensacola, on 07/29/94.

The blissed out on the bible Hill stated that he expects a “great reward in heaven” for his life saving actions. Uh-uh. Adios asshole.

Next the Church Chartered bus stops at Boston where the Roman Catholic Archdiocese just announced the settlement of hundreds of child molestation cases for 85 million Boston Baked Beans. If these guys had acted normally and frequented hookers it would have cost The Vatican a whole lot less.

Every time I try to end this piece other items of significance surface, such as: The bombing of Mosques by rival Islamic groups continues in Baghdad, the suicide bombings of innocent Israelis by the militant Islamic faction, Hamas, occur at a nearly daily rate, more tapes of scumbag Osama Bin Laden urging the murder of U.S. military forces in Iraq are aired on Mideast television stations, etc.

Religious leaders are supposed to set an example for their flocks, or herds, or whatever, and they expect to be emulated. But how far does all this go? Monks for example, seemingly pray all day. Is this normal? If so then shouldn’t everyone do it? If everyone did, then who would do the non-praying things such as making sure my cable TV signal is first rate?

Yo-yos like them exist on donations. If everyone did what they did, pray exclusively, who would be left to donate money to them so they could buy the things that no one is producing anymore because they’re all busy praying. See that total lack of sense and logic in all this?

Priests and nuns can’t marry or have sex. So, if ultimately, the Catholic Church had its prayers answered and everyone on Earth converted to Catholicism and liked it so much that they became priests and nuns wouldn’t that eventually spell the end of mankind?

That’s a funny kind of a thought too because if the world’s religious loonies get their way the whole world will be at war until every one is killed off. Sometimes it seems that the ultimate goal of all religions is to put an end to all human life.

And where is God during all of this? How come God doesn’t come on down once in a while for a chat over some cappuccino and biscotti? I think he’s tired of having his ears bent by all the sanctimonious claptrap being spouted by the world’s self-appointed religious authorities.

Cultists awake, and smell the incense. Do your thing in private with others of your ilk, and realize that most of the people of the world aren’t like you.

For that I thank God.

Stinky's back from her vacation in The Catskills and she's mad as hell. She's clawed up some congressional crap that she wants you to know about. Stinky says:

LET’S OUTSOURCE CONGRESS! You need higher profits; in fact you should reap some profits from your employees labor. What, you say don’t have employees? Sure you do, it’s just that they’ve done so little for you, that you forgot about them. Your Senators and congresspersons are your employees. They are very well compensated and have a retirement and benefits package to die for, all compliments of your federal tax contributions. Capitol Hill is a busy place though and somehow these hard working folks manage to work on a few items that pertain to the general populace, us common folk, between their personal pork projects and corporate welfare packages. Hell, they’ve been working on the health care problem for years, but they just can’t seem to get Medicare or Medicaid to truly benefit the persons these programs were designed to help. These programs are quite profitable for those who administer and provide for them however. Despite all the rhetoric on the subject, congress just can’t seem to provide prescription drug coverage for the country’s citizenry either. Of course our representatives enjoy the best health care in the world, without having to battle an HMO’s lawyers and accountants to obtain treatment. "Yes sir, Mr. Senator, your replacement set of gonads is on the way by Air Force jet. We’ll have them installed by this evening and we’ll send a centerfold caliber girl to your office next week to make sure they function properly.” Meanwhile the eight-buck an hour secretary is told that her carpal tunnel problem is imaginary and would she please pay the thirty-buck co pay in cash so her HMO doesn’t have to spring for the credit card fee. Congress needs an incentive to provoke them to provide proper health benefits for all Americans. I suggest our representatives and their families receive health care no better than the worst of what the rest of us are provide. Fat chance that would happen since congress would have to vote such a change into law. The countries that lost World War II, namely Germany and Italy, as well as the countries that took a pounding, namely England and France, perhaps have better health care than us, and, at no, or very low cost to their inhabitants. Isn’t it great that we won that war? In those countries if you need medical attention, you get it. The doctors are allowed to say yes or no to a procedure or medication, without consulting a goddamn lawyer or accountant. Opponents of that kind of medical care often say, “Yeah, but you have to go to the doctors the country tells you to go to.” So what? Here you go to the doctor your insurance company tells you to go to. You get a list of providers, most of whom aren’t accepting new patients, and then you’re forced choose from those remaining. They’re all just names in a book; you can’t go to Dr. so and so, on recommendation of your Aunt Hattie or Uncle Hester because he or she isn’t a member of your HMO. So what the hells the difference? Congress’ objective is to find ways to provide us with the services we need, and write the laws we want. They are not supposed to engage in constant political squabbles, Democrats vs. Republicans, the Left vs. the Right. They’re supposed to work together to help as many Americans as possible, not just the privileged few. Our elected officials are not in office to be moralists and to try to impress their own religious or other beliefs on us. These people are supposed to work together, despite their differences, the same as non-elected employees. You and your co-workers, if you’re lucky enough to have a job, must cooperate and work together, regardless of your personal political beliefs and various likes and dislikes, or you get your ass tossed out. Since our current employees, the congress, can’t seem to work together, I propose that we can the lot of them. Why wait for the next election to replace them with another group of self-serving dullards hell that will act the same as their predecessors? Why not do to them what has been done to the rest of us? Let’s have our laws made somewhere else, like our shoes, and cars, and a lot of our food. Remember when your best friend Remus lost his job because the work was exported to San Shlockovania, a country halfway round the world, because the people there would do it for six cents per day rather than the overwhelming six bucks an hour he was getting? And, we won’t have to provide any benefits either. Let’s outsource the congress, and get a better deal. How about the Swiss? They seem pretty smart and efficient. They make loads of money by doing nothing more than warehousing other people’s money. They sell $50,000.00 watches to those who can afford them, and cheap wood cuckoo clocks to those families who can’t afford individual watches. It’s a small country but they use their natural resources wisely. They have a limited number of trees so they use the wood to fashion expensive guitars, violins and cellos. I’ll bet they can provide a better congress at a much lower cost to us. Maybe Japan can do it? The Japanese provide most of our electronic devices and cars, in a very cost effective manner. Other countries now produce many of their products for them, so perhaps we can contract Japan to provide a more efficient congress for us, and they in turn will outsource the task to yet another country. If we’re lucky, that country might then hire some Americans to do the job, possibly Union people. Try as it may congress just can’t seem to find a way to do anything for those who don’t contribute, big time, to their campaigns. National Health Insurance, “Ooh, that costs a lot,” congress says, but it’s de rigueur for them to regularly give undeserving countries with dictatorial leadership 100 billion a year to do with as they please, under the guise of humanitarian aid. Congress routinely throws a few billion at fat-cat research companies, whose directors contribute heavily to their campaigns. These companies conduct research on matters such as health care in America. That way congress can have confirmation of the fact that we have problems so they can continue debating the issue until the next election and make more promises that will never be kept. It’s all or nothing, straight down party lines, which is why the average Joe or Jane gets nothing.  STOP THE PRESS! Holy Cow! Now that Arnold Schwartzenneger and Arianna Huffington, immigrants from Austria and Greece respectively, have filed to run for governor of California, the USA is now, for all intents and purposes, importing politicians!

BE AN ORGAN DONOR, SAVE A MURDERER

Stinky smells shit! It’s only her second day on the job and Stinky, the unique bullshit-sniffing cat again finds the festering feces. This time the aroma is wafting over from Oregon, and she’s outraged.

Shithead inmate, Horacio Alberto Reyes-Camarena, has been passing time on Oregon’s death row since 1996 when he was convicted of murdering an 18-year-old woman. Her 32-year-old sister, the lucky one, survived 17 stab wounds administered by Camarena and was able to testify as the eyewitness to Camarena’s butchery of her younger sibling.

Camarena’s kidneys are failing, but not fast enough, so the state of Oregon has to piss away more than 10 grand a month for this cretin’s dialysis treatments in addition to the usual cost of housing such scumbags.

Now, he has been proclaimed healthy enough, and eligible for a kidney transplant, and he wants it. He wants to continue to file appeals and attend his yearly parole board hearings in an effort to gain his release and no doubt commit additional murders.

Sadly this piece of shit may get some well-intentioned donor’s kidney based on cost effectiveness alone. It seems that the State of Oregon may opt to pay the monthly $500.00- 1,200.00 bill for post surgical anti organ rejection drugs Camarena will require rather than the aforementioned cost of dialysis.

Dr. Susan Tolle, director of the Center for Ethics in Health Care at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland said, “It is not the medical community's job to further punish an inmate.

I would tell people to steer away from talk about who's worthy and who's not worthy. Is it part of someone's sentence to not have their wounds treated and their tuberculosis go on untreated? No, I think not. Their punishment is their sentence. This man should not die for reasons of medical complications caused by neglect."

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center said, "It [a transplant] should be based on normal health-care criteria, not because someone's on death row." I don't think people should be penalized because they happen to be on death row. People in prison have the right to the same health care that is applied on the outside."

Stinky feels that this is "bullshit," and I agree.

This is not a case of the medical community “further punishing” an inmate. He’s not going to die of “medical neglect” if the state doesn’t provide a transplant for him. He’s not being “penalized” because he’s on death row, as his defenders allege.

And, as far as I’m concerned prisoners should receive the same medical treatment as persons not incarcerated, as Mr. Richard Dieter demands. I believe they should receive the same care that poor, out of work people without health insurance receive. Uh, that would be nothing.

This is a simple clear-cut case of right versus wrong. This is not a matter that the lawyers should be allowed to play with, at taxpayers expense no less.  This outlaw may technically be “entitled” to a transplant, but he does not “deserve” one because he’s an evil person who already took the life of one human being, and tried to kill a second.

This was a witnessed killing. There is no possibility that he did not commit the crime. Now, he may be allowed to kill again, with the State of Oregon’s blessing and assistance if he receives a kidney transplant that will deprive a deserving good citizen of said kidney.

In my court, The Court Of Common Sense, he’d be executed immediately. That would end the problem, the expense, and the air fouling horseshit from the lawyers.

Keeping Camarena alive so he can eventually be executed makes as much sense as swabbing the area of injection on a prisoner about to be put to death by lethal injection so he doesn’t develop an infection during his final seconds of life.

Sixteen people die every day in the United States because there aren’t enough organs for them. I’ve never harmed anyone and if I need an organ transplant I’m not eligible. That’s because of my age and the fact that I have serious health problems. Still feel sorry for Camarena?

Years ago when I was young, and organ transplants were still just a dream of the medical community the generous thing to do was to donate your body to science for research. I liked the idea and planned to do that and when organ transplants became a reality I felt even better about my decision. Now, I’m not going to be an organ donor because of Camarena and a California inmate who recently received a heart transplant.

I don’t feel selfish about it; I feel that I’m helping law enforcement. No way am I risking helping some God-less bastard to live. Don’t blame me; blame the lawyers.

I’m not risking having my privates, old as they may be, sewn onto some sex offender if his go bad. No one is getting a replacement buttock from me if they’re in prison, and I’ll take my corneas to the grave rather than have them go to someone who will be better able to aim a gun at an innocent person.

Good people can force their elected officials and the courts to do the right thing by creating common-sense laws that simply say that if you’re in prison you can’t have a transplant. What’s wrong with saying tough shit to the felons, and reminding them that they caused their own problems?

How can this be done? Simple, everyone revokes their organ donor card by tearing it up and mailing it to their elected official of choice. Maybe then the doctors will do the right thing and petition the lawmakers to exercise common sense and pass laws that protect the deserving, the people for whom organ donors want their organs to go.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Here we go again, this time Stinky sniffs out the bullshit in Florida, where a Muslim woman, Sultaana Freeman, is pissed off because she can't have a driver's license. It's not because she’s a shitty driver, it's because she will not allow a full-face photograph to be taken of her, as required by State law.

Stinky is signaling that something smells and that Sultaana’s allegation is "bullshit," and I agree.

In reality her exercise of her Federal right to religious freedom is interfering with the privilege of possessing a Florida state driver’s license. That’s tough shit; she brought this down on herself by insisting on playing The Mummy in public.

Her lawyer, and what self-righteous person, in the wrong, doesn't have one these days, says the photo requirement interferes with her religious rights.

He says that her right to be granted a driver’s license without having to submit to a full-face photograph is protected by Florida law, “as long as his client believes her religious beliefs prohibit it.” He goes on to say that, “it is not for the court to be an arbiter of religious scripture.”

I agree with that, but the court is the arbiter of civil law, and as such it has the responsibility of upholding these laws, including those that govern the issuance of driver’s licenses.

Now she wants the law changed, or an exception made for her in order to accommodate her desire to wear her laundry on her face for a State required driver’s license photograph.

Why should law enforcement personnel have to put up with this crap? Times are dangerous enough without the cops having to guess who the hell is behind curtain number one, two, or three.

What’s next, the Church Of The Deep Sea Diver, where members are required to wear official U.S. Navy hard hat diving gear at all times, or The Church Of No Graven Images?

How about the Church Of The Freddie From The Nightmare On Elm Street, which will require that members never take off their full-face mask? Who's going to drive them to worship? I guess the church hierarchy will hire a lawyer to argue that the Federal Government should be made to provide free transportation for the congregation or face a charge of hindering prayer.

I want to start my own church, The Church Of The Almighty Dollar. Everyone on Earth will belong to my church. That will be a World Law requirement. I’ll be the only priest/rabbi/minister, and the only other employee will be my wife, as The Nun Of The Treasury.

The various governments of the United States will uphold my right to operate it and the courts will force everyone to go along with it.

There will be only one church law. That law will require everyone I cast my eyes upon to give me a dollar. That’s all, one buck, and no other bullshit rules or clothing requirements.

What’s that, people will avoid me you say? So what? They already do that anyway, but under my religion’s rules they still have to give me a dollar when I see them. They don’t have to talk to me, just buck me, as people will probably say.

Makes more sense to me than wrapping up oneself in sheets and blankets in the heat and humidity of Florida.

Now I’m not suggesting that a Muslim would ever do anything deceptive or hostile in order to rid the world of the “infidels,” which is what everyone who isn’t one of them is considered. This definition is drawn from the peaceful Islamic, Koran, the same book that features its own special word, Jihad, for a war justified by religious reasons only.

But maybe, just maybe, some lunatic Muslim will hijack a plane and, oh excuse me, they’ve been there and done that haven’t they? Oh what will they think of next?

This is just another classic case of unnecessary ball busting, and testing of the courts with a frivolous lawsuit by a universal pain-in-the-ass. It’s waste of taxpayer money perpetrated by someone longing for attention and who wants to have her cake and eat it too.

United States law gives us the right to practice our religions as we see fit, but it does not grant someone the right to have the law tailored specifically to accommodate their idea of religious necessity.

I hope the Florida court does the right thing and tells her to take a hike.

The case should be tried in my court, The Court Of Common Sense. She’d either strip for the camera, or go buy a pair of sensible walking shoes. I’d also suggest to her that she move to one of the many enlightened Muslim countries and attempt to qualify for a driver’s license, even while wearing her peek-a-boo potato sack attire.

I think Sultaana should take off the facial Ace Bandages and get her picture taken to satisfy the same law that other religious groups abide by. Then, using her newly issued license, she should drive to a psychiatrist’s office on her way to the mosque where she can thank Allah for the wonderful, camel-less carriage.

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