From the London Independent comes word of a breakthrough in treating Parkinson's disease. The Catholic Church, predictably, does not like such fare.

Reports Steve Connor:

A potential cure for Parkinson's disease has come a significant step closer today with a study showing that it is possible to treat the degenerative brain disorder with cells derived from cloned embryos – a development condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

The right wing continues to complain that their new attorney general, J. B. Van Hollen, isn't enough of an activist. (They wanted a new attorney general, they claimed, because the last one, a liberal Dem, was too much of an activist.) Just because he's the attorney general doesn't mean he should be hamstrung by little things like the law or the Constitution, they say.

The latest flap is over a ceremony to honor and commemorate murder victims, held at the State Capitol and sponsored by the State Dept. of Justice, which Van Hollen heads. After some militant atheists, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, complained about some religious content in the event, a hymn and a prayer were eliminated.

It's just coincidence, probably, that the two wingnuts complaining the loudest about JBVH are people who wanted the AG job -- Jeff Wagner, a failed candidate in 1994, and Jessica McBride, who wanted it for her husband, Paul Bucher, an even bigger failure in 2006, losing to JBVH in the primary. (One conservative blogging lawyer, Rick Esenberg, demurs.)

McBride has now taken second swing at it, wondering why JBVH can't be more like Scott Walker and include "God Bless America" and "Thank You to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts" on the program, and apparently even Charlie Sykes, who has not run for AG (and isn't a lawyer) has joined the list of whiners.

Another Evangelical Mouth silenced.

The most influential Evangelical neocon, 'you've never heard of' is dead.

D. James Kennedy, the founder and leader of the Coral Ridge Ministry, whose biblical TV sermons often took a second seat to his political agenda, was a close ally to the neocons of Washington DC. Born of an alcoholic, and a teenaged indulger of 'every sin imaginable ( his own quote), he was a teacher at an Arthur Murray Dance Studio when God' indoctrinated him via a radio preacher.

WAR, RELIGION, AND IRONY:
Reflections on Lincoln, Bush, and American Leadership
By David R. Cook
From the earliest settlements on the American continent the image of this new nation-to-be was suffused with a providential ethos. Whether it was surviving privations or enjoying the fruits of abundant resources, Americans have tended to equate fortuitous circumstances with the blessings of God.
This is the source of our American exceptionalism. American interests, American actions, American power is always deployed on the side of “good”. Our wars are always moral and we always are fighting on the side of righteousness. As noted, this national sense of ourselves has a very long history which continues unabated in the 21st Century world of global commerce and the threat of terrorism.
That America is a very “religious” nation is an undebateable fact. Unfortunately, this aspect of the American character has too often been expressed without awareness of the ironic situations into which American religiosity so often propels us. The vices which are hidden in our virtues go essentially unnoticed, especially by our leaders. The great exception to this tendency was Abraham Lincoln.

- via Rob Kall

Jerry Falwell, one of the most despicable abusers of the teachings of Jesus and the earnest faith of religious Christians, a foul, mean-spirited power hungry Neanderthal who sought to set back civilization has been called to meet his maker. I have no doubt, he will join the other racists, bigots, homophobes, war mongers, greedy money-grubbing corporatists and holy-rolling religious hypocrites he supported, encouraged and empowered.

Falwell made his infamous, and perhaps signature statement after 9/11 on the 700 club, saying, "the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians," as well as liberal advocacy groups were to blame for the attacks, according to Fox news. He later made a weak, non-specific apology. This statement could well be the quote that he is and should be remembered by.