Jim Wright versus the mighty ayatollahs of Texas

Jim Wright, the best damn writer in 

the blogosphere. Go now and read 

this piece of his.

Sorry folks, but I’m currently wrestling with the angst of Blogger Burnout. That, I insist, is an authentic medical condition. Sooner or later it will surface in DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association. 

But while my writing muscle has gone more or less catatonic, I can still read. And never have I read a better, more fanatic-busting blog post than the current one by Jim Wright on Stonekettle Station, called the Camel’s Nose.

So head straight over to his post, sit down, and prepare to feel the outrage that will begin boiling up in your chest and eventually sizzle up through your brain, and make steam jet out of your ears.

Yes, it’s about Republicans. And about the religious right. And about what “freedom” means and doesn’t mean in the hands of power-hungry religious fanatics – to children, babies, the unborn, their mothers, and society. In the end, you'll want to toss the Texas ayatollahs in the same stinking sewage pit with the executioners from ISIS and the bombers from Al Qaeda.

Just go here now, and read the damn piece.

You don’t want to cheat death? You think it’s somehow immoral? Then drop dead.

You know this country is heading straight down the toilet when a hospital advertising slogan, designed to encourage better public awareness of what people can do to improve their own health and extend their lives, gets pounded into oblivion by the religious right.

Reuters is reporting that this is exactly what happened in Gastonia, North Carolina, where the Caromont Regional Medical Center was forced to drop its advertising slogan, “Cheat Death,” by political hacks kowtowing to religious crazies and know-nothings.

According to the Reuters report by Colleen Jenkins, calls were coming in from ministers and religious leaders “who thought the term was blasphemous,”  a county commissioner explained. The commissioner is also on the hospital’s board of directors.

There had been plans for the hospital to partner with athletic clubs and restaurants to offer “cheat death” workouts and healthy menu options. But hey, that might contradict "God's plan for you." You know what plan I'm talking about. The one where you die at the age of 60, coughing, spitting blood, and gasping for air thanks to lung cancer. And that would be only a few months after they amputate all the toes on your right foot, along with your left leg, thanks to diabetes. I won't even get into that paralyzing stroke.

The hospital is hunting around to find another way to get its message across. But don’t count on it having nearly the impact of “cheat death.”

Maybe the religious leaders would prefer that you “assist death.” Go stuff your face with fries and lard while you sit in front of the tee-vee. And while you're at it, smoke a few packs of cigarettes every day. Isn’t that exactly what God wants you to do, before you grab your automatic rifle and, avoiding any mental health assistance the hospital might offer you, blow away a few dozen children who would otherwise be “cheating death?”

Morons!