I just read on Yahoo that Leilani and Dale Neumann of Wesont, Wisconsin are to blame in the death of their daughter Madeline. Her death was caused by "diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that left too little insulin in her body."

When the girl was in the early stages of sickness, her parents decided to pray. They believe healing comes from God. The girl's aunt revealed that the option of taking her to a hospital had come up, but the mother had refused.

After the girl died, an investigation began. "Leilani Neumann said she and her husband are not worried about the investigation because 'our lives are in God's hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do.'"

The best they could have done was take her to the hospital and pray. They knew how to do that.

Initially, when I'd only seen the headline link to the article, I assumed it was only in the news to further propagate the notion that individual rights need to be limited. Like, "Look what these idiots did. Let's have the state run things, ok?" Then your parents, friends, and spouse wouldn't have any say about taking you off life support or saving you from suicide or administering common sense medical treatment. It would all be up to the state.

But once I read the article, it really seems like there are circumstances where a child's life is put at risk for the wrong reasons.

What if the parents were using religion to justify a completely different belief system? What if they want low-maintenance children? I mean, what if they want to produce offspring that are self-sufficient to the point where the don't get sick and never need medical attention? It seems like leaving it "in God's hands" is a way to allow evolution and natural selection to run their course. When that happens, only the strong survive.

But really, it just seems stupid to ignore the whole idea of, "God helps those who help themselves," especially when we've got a decent grasp of the whole "medicine" thing.

I am amassing quite a fortune. I should really think about looking into Swedish banking!

[Begin Email]

Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:20:28 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Hello!
From: "Multi-State Lottery Association"

Draw Details:
Ref Number: PW 9590 ES 9414
Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2006
Ticket draw Number: 2, 19, 22, 26, 32,
"Hot Ball: 16" WINNER ONLY

You have won one of our Jackpot prizes. You have won yourself a cash
prize
of $2.490 Million USD (Two million Four Hundred And Ninety Thousand
United States Dollars)

An e-mail address attached to Ref Number: PW 9590 ES 9414
Batch Number:573881545-NL/2006
Ticket draw Number: 2, 19, 22, 26, 32,

Contact our claims officer:
Mr.Roland White Email: vwd033@strompost.net
_________________________________________
Send your information for immediate payment: Name In Full,Address In
Full,Telephone/Fax number In Full,Nationality, Age,Country,Occupation

Yours faithfully,
Online co-ordinator
Donald Baldwin.

[End Email]

What a weird name for a claims officer: Mr. Roland White Email. Who names their kid Email? Anyway, I'm glad I won the full $2.490 Million. That's 2 million, plus 400 thousand, plus ninety thousand, plus zero thousand. It's a good thing they kept that zero on there, otherwise I might have missed out on all that "extra" cash! In order to contact them, I plan (no, not really) on sending them my Name In Full, my Address In Full, my Telephone/Fax number In Full, but then only part of my Nationality, the "tens" digit of my Age, the first three letters of my Country, and an abbreviation of my Occupation!

Hey wait, did this come from a Baldwin Brother?