25 Years for Faith-Healing Father

A sentence comes down for the death of 11 year-old Madeline Kara Neumann, whose parents chose prayer instead of medical care for their daughter.

Associated Press:

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

Sitting straight in his chair, Neumann stared at the jury as the verdict in a nearly empty courtroom was read. He declined comment as he left the courthouse.

Defense attorney Jay Kronenwetter said the verdict would be appealed. He declined further comment.

Appeal? Why not just trust in the Almighty and pray? I guess when it's his ass that's on the line...

Neumann faces up 25 years for second-degree reckless homicide. He deserves that.

Assistant District Attorney LaMont Jacobson told jurors in closing arguments Friday that Neumann was "overwhelmed by pride" in his interpretation of the Bible and selfishly let Madeline die as a test of faith.

Neumann knew he should have taken his daughter to a doctor and minimized her illness when speaking with investigators, Jacobson said, calling Neumann no different than a drunken driver who remarks he only had a couple of beers.

Doctors testified that Madeline would have had a good chance of survival if she had received medical care, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing.

Her mother, Leilani, was convicted earlier this year.

Armey's Climate Creationism

Monday, I wrote a post titled Climate Creationism," where I outlined exactly this sort of thing. Because some magic book tells us how humanity ends and since said book doesn't mention global warming, global warming can't possibly be a problem. At a Republican hearing on climate change, Dick Armey made the following statement:

Think Progress (emphasis theirs):

DICK ARMEY: What I’m suggesting is we have a sort of an eco-evangelical hysteria going on and it leads me to almost wonder if we are becoming a nation of environmental hypochondriacs that are willing to use the power of the state to impose enormous restrictions on the rights and the comforts of, and incomes of individuals who serve essentially a paranoia, a phobia, that has very little fact evidence in fact. Now these are observations that are popular to make because right now its almost taken as an article of faith that this crisis is real. Let me say I take it as an article of faith if the lord God almighty made the heavens and the Earth, and he made them to his satisfaction and it is quite pretentious of we little weaklings here on earth to think that, that we are going to destroy God’s creation. [...]

SEN. ORRIN HATCH: Mr. Armey it’s great to have you here. Great to see you again and we appreciate all you’ve done throughout the years and your work on Capitol Hill. Great job.

Armey is also one of the people behind the tea party nuts. What's amazing to me is that the right isn't embarrassed by these arguments. It's like saying, "Yeah, those X-rays look pretty persuasive, but the witch doctor says it's not cancer -- it's a fairy living in your ear."