Posted 9:51 PM by Scoobie Davis

Scarborough's Boner
It seems that Joe Scarborough and his producers didn't do their homework for tonight's show. Scarborough had Lawrence O'Donnell and Congressman David Dreier to discuss current affairs. One of the segments was titled, "Clinton's Heart Health." O'Donnell had a lot to say about the former president's heart condition and impending bypass surgery; Dreier didn't have a thing to say about Clinton's health. The probable reason: Dreier is a member of the Christian Science Church, which doesn't believe in disease, doctors, or death--which founder Mary Baker Eddy viewed as manifestation of "mortal mind."

The reason I know this obscure factoid is that a while ago--out of curiosity--I wanted to know the religion of the member of Congress who represents Chick Publications. When I found out that it was Dreier, a Christian Scientist, I was amused (though I would have been more amused if Chick Publications were represented by a Roman Catholic). While Dreier shares Jack Chick's right-wing political views, a fundy like Chick believes that Dreier is of the devil because Christian Science denies the deity of Jesus. I found this out when I was at college and somehow the subject came up with a guy who had previously attended the fundamentalist Circleville Bible College (whose cart at the Circleville Pumpkin Show had Chick tracts when I saw it in the 1990's). Anyhow, the fundy guy told me that Christian Science was neither Christian nor scientific (he probably didn't know that George Bernard Shaw first expressed this thought). He also passed off as fact the urban legend that when Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy died, her followers expected her to wake up from the "illusion" of death--until her body began to rot (ironically, this is true about Jack Chick's fellow fundy and Catholic-basher Tony Alamo whose adherents held a vigil for his late wife Susan for several months; this prompted local DJs to play the song "Wake Up, Little Suzie").

Back to Chick, he has a new tract: "The Devil's Night" which warns about the evils of Halloween. Also, the other day, I found about a couple Chick tract spoofs in Raisin Pie #2 by Ariel Bordeaux and Rick Altergott (the entire book was tight and weirdly amusing; if you're into comix, check it out).

One final thought in this stream-of-consciousness post: Does David Dreier believe in the reality of Lori Klausutis' death? Just curious.