Making life difficult, on principle

The headline this morning:

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retiring

Prediction (an easy one but a prediction, nonetheless): The Right-wingers, especially the "far right", extremists, Republicans, likely even Libertarians are going to do their best to raise ten kinds of cane about President Obama's selection of a replacement for Justice Stevens and make it extremely difficult to get this done, virtually completely regardless of who the choice is. They will put themselves and their Party first, not the country.

As usual.

Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100409/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_stevens

Fun quote of the day

"Last I checked, Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on nuclear issues."

--President Barack Obama to ABC's George Stephanopolous on "Good Morning America" when asked about her criticism of him and his development of a nuclear arms treaty with Russia.




Good on ya', President.

Let's have a great weekend, y'all.

Link to original post: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002109-503544.html

This is what needs to start here, in the US, regarding Catholic molestation cases

German diocese files complaint against priest

BERLIN — "A German diocese said Friday it has given prosecutors the case of a priest accused of sexually abusing four boys several years ago, and he was suspended from his current post at a home for retirees."

"One of the men who claims to have been abused by the priest asked the diocese at Easter to go to prosecutors, diocese spokesman Peter Weidemann said. When questioned by church officials this week, the priest admitted to three other cases, Weidemann said."

Now, could we have such things happen here, in the US now, if/as needed?

Please?

Link to original post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100409/eu-church-abuse-germany/

Proof this pope stalled a molestation case

LOS ANGELES — "The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including 'the good of the universal church,' according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature."

"The correspondence, obtained by The Associated Press, is the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican's insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office."

"The letter, signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was typed in Latin and is part of years of correspondence between the Diocese of Oakland and the Vatican about the proposed defrocking of the Rev. Stephen Kiesle."

To the leaders of the Catholic Church:

Own up to your mistakes. You've apologized. Now, perform the investigations that are so badly needed and overdue. Find out--truly--who did what, where, when and to whom. If people need to be turned in to the police, do so.

Then, please, for the love of all that is good, create structures within your organization so this stops happening and it doesn't happen into the future.

Haven't you had enough?

To the lay people of the Catholic Church:

Require the above of your leaders. They owe it to you. They owe it to all of us.

Link to original story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/pope-benedict-stalled-chi_n_532073.html

Quote of the day

"It is too easy for politicians and political commentators to treat our increasingly incendiary political atmosphere as a product merely of disparate extremist individuals and groups on the fringes of our political system. Treating the problem as the product of a relatively few misguided individuals with bizarre violent fantasies misses a far more troubling reality. What we are seeing is the acting out of an ideology of violence as a tool of political power that has long had a home on the American right - particularly in the "gun rights" movement dominated by the National Rifle Association."




Complete original post, here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-a-henigan/gun-rights-and-political_b_530253.html

Follow up to iPad: HP's reputedly better version

The first wave of the flood of pads begins.

You can see more about the purported pluses and minuses of HP's Slate here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100406/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1480

And remember what I said about the proliferation of backpacks, due to the new "pads"? I saw these advertised on Facebook, to go in said backpack: http://www.case-mate.com/Apple-iPad-Cases/Apple-iPad-Cases.asp?utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=ipadcases

You don't know all you need to know about the Catholic sexual and physical abuse

I'd love to copy and paste the entire entry from After Downing Street today but I won't. It's long and it would be tedious.

What I will do is tell you you owe it to yourself, particularly if you're Catholic, to go to the following link and read the entire column today, telling of just some of the broad history of the sexual and physical abuse the Catholic Church has been inflicting on its members, for decades at least:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/51277

Corporations win again. America? You lose

It's happened again.

First it was the Supreme Court handing over the capability to flood government election campaigns with unlimited amounts of corporate cash, now, yesterday, a federal court ruled in favor of corporations, this time regarding internet access :

"A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that regulators had limited power over Web traffic under current law. The decision will allow Internet service companies to block or slow specific sites and charge video sites like YouTube to deliver their content faster to users."

"The court decision was a setback to efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to require companies to give Web users equal access to all content, even if some of that content is clogging the network."

I've written here before how, years ago, it used to be the government's job to protect both the "little guy"--you and me out here in the country--as well as the broader interests of the country, against the corporations.

It is certainly less and less so lately.

With this ruling yesterday, a couple of things have come out.

First, it effectively strips the power of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the internet and all our access to it. If a corporation finds it in their best interest to slow internet access down, according to this ruling, they can do it.

That's bad for you and me but it's also bad, truly, for business.

In the rest of the world--Japan as an example, in particular--fast computer access is more of a given. The US is already known for having slower computer downloading and access.

This gives the companies the ability to give fast loading to those who can and will pay for it. Quick internet access to the highest bidder.

Typical, right? Computer capitalism. It's the "American Way", even if it is, at its core, unfair, imbalanced and, again, bad for the country, let alone bad for you and I--and small business.

It's clear this is what it's come to--more and more, the courts rule for the corporations and against the broader interests of the country, as I said above.

In this latest case, Comcast won while you and I and the US lost.

Let there be no doubt--the corporations are in control.

We need to take our country back from them.

Ralph Nader has been warning us for decades.

Yet another protected Catholic pedophile priest

This time, in Alaska:

"Alaska Natives are accusing the Catholic Church of using their remote villages as a dumping ground' for child-molesting priests—and blaming the president of Seattle University for letting it happen.

"According to the allegations, Father Joseph Lundowski molested or raped James Does 29, 59–71, and 73–94, plus Janet Does 4–7—a total of 40 children—giving them 'hard candy, money he stole from the collection plate, cooked food, baked goods, beer, sacramental wine, brandy, and/or better grades (silver, blue, or gold stars) on their catechism assignments in exchange for sexual favors.'"

I needn't go on here, about this. If you want more information and to read more of the story, go to the link at the bottom of this post.

My points here, now, are the same as I always post:

--The Catholic Church needs to own up to its wrong doings;

--It needs to explore what happened, where and to whom;

--It needs to see if anyone is guilty of any laws;

--If anyone is guilty of these laws, they should be put up for possible trial;

--They need to see if anyone in the church is guilty of cover up;

--Catholics themselves need to demand response and responsibility from the church leaders--priests, bishops, cardinals, even up to and including the pope himself--to respond to these problems;

--They need to make clear that covering up any abuses in the future will not be tolerated;

--Finally, the Catholic Church needs to put structures into place so that any abuses do get reported so they don't happen again.

A "hat tip" to America Blog (Americablog.com) for today's post, bringing this to my attention.

Link to original post: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-pedophiles-paradise/Content?oid=1065017

The number of Iraqis killed in this war?

Yesterday, I was watching the Sunday morning replay of "The McGlaughlin Group" (hey, I was relaxing and taking in all the news programs on a Sunday morning, sue me) when Mr. McGlaughlin showed statistics that 100,000 Iraqis died in this Iraq War, since 2003 since "W" and Co. began it all (arbitrarily).

I took note, obviously.

At the time I remember thinking two things.

First, "that's a lot of people to die" and second, "I wonder if I/we can trust that number."

Well it seems it's a good thing I was paying attention.

Check this out.

A report out today I just saw on the After Downing Street blog (AfterDowningStreet.org) tells the following:

"The former head of the UN’s chief nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, said in an interview with the British newspaper Guardian Wednesday that those who launched the war in Iraq were responsible for killing a million innocent people and could be held accountable under international law."

A million.

A million Iraqis killed in this war since 2003.

Hmmm.

Sure gets you to thinking.

And I have to tell you, I'm inclined to trust the former head of the UN's chief nuclear agency before I do right-winger, flag-waving John McGlaughlin. He seems to always be sticking his right-wing opinions on his show lately, in particular. (Or maybe I just wasn't either paying attention or that aware, before now).

With 4,385 American Soldiers being killed to date, this 100,000--or a million--Iraqis killed, 2 to 4 million Iraqis displaced (McGlaughlin figures yesterday, again) and $700 billion American dollars spent so far on this debacle/quagmire/clusterpuck, how can anyone conclude that attacking Iraq in 2003 was a good idea? (Even Pat Buchanan has said--several times--that it was a bad idea).

But they do.

Tragic in so many ways.

And we're still deeply engaged, with no end in sight.

The Royals? Seriously?

The Kansas City Royals have been playing lousy baseball for just too many years, I think most of us can agree on that.

So today is "Opening Day" and the weather sure hasn't helped out in this respect, being cool, gray and rainy but additionally, they're playing the "Other Worst Team in the MLB", the Detroit Tigers.

Ugh.

So I'm thinking if you're out at the stadium today, for opening day one of a few things can be said about you. You're there for one of the following reasons:

1) You REALLY love the game of baseball (and if so, good for you) or

2) You have "more money than God" and what the heck, you don't need to be at the office anyway, or

3) Someone gave you their ticket so what the heck, or, finally,

4) You love the Royals stadium and the whole baseball experience and it's been a long, cold, ugly, gray winter so what the heck.


Play ball!

Yet another Catholic Priest being protected

I swear I'm not trying to find these stories.

Word out this morning, just within the last hour, that yet another Catholic Priest accused of "sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota is working in his home diocese in India and has no plans to return to the U.S. to face the courts, he and his bishop told The Associated Press on Monday."

I won't harp on this. I only want to say, again, we need a few things to happen here:

--We need for the Catholic Church to stop stalling and protecting any priests accused of sexual abuse or physical abuse of any parishoners;

--We need for the church to examine these cases, see if there is any merit to them and, if so, see if anyone is guilty of any misconduct;

--If anyone is found guilty of misconduct, they should be turned over to the appropriate authorities;

--Finally, the church needs to put in place structures within the organization so these things get reported, if they should happen, and so they are much less likely to happen and continue to be repeated as they have been now for decades.

It needs to stop and the Catholic Church, from the Vatican out, across the world, needs to see to it that it does.

What's ironic is that the church studied the sexual abuse issues in 2002 through the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

They didn't do much, apparently, if anything with the information but they studied, by golly.

To the Catholic Church: please do these simple, right things.

To Catholics: appeal to your priests, bishops, cardinals and your pope to see to it the children are protected first and last.

Thoughts on the iPad Weekend (amended and updated)

First, is it not the computer/television/phone we've wanted and predicted the last few decades?

Second, this really does change everything. It changes what we think of a computer. It changes how we use it. It changes where we compute, freeing us up far more. It changes what computer manufacturers will now be trying to create. It's almost endless, the changes it initiates.

It will change how we work with computers.

It will change how we play with them.

It will reduce, at least, the need for other resource and reference materials even further. It will all be at the tip of our nearby pad.

If you thought there a lot of backpacks in the past, get ready. They are going to explode in usage. Everyone will have one, to carry their pad. (I'm calling them pads here because that's what they'll be referred to in the future, once all the other companies start making similar products). As if this week, you have approximately 700,000 potential clients for your new backpack. And that's just the beginning, of course.

If you own a backpacking manufacturing plant, good for you. If you don't, it might be a good idea to start one up. Go to the drawing board right now and design one so the iPad slips right in, in one slot, and all the other, peripheral stuff goes in the rest of the pack. And of course it will have lots of little, additional pockets on it, for accessories and your other personal things.

"Man purses"? Outta here. You won't hear that term any longer, since we'll all have some kind of pack for the soon-to-be ubiquitous pads.

The more shallow trend of leather and other fancier backpacks--that wouldn't have lasted otherwise because it was just that, a fashion trend--will be replaced with all kinds of upscale--and downscaled and more casual--backpacks, all so we will have our pad with us at all times, along with all our other stuff.

The theft of these backpacks will explode, too, in the short term. But then, a tracking device will, very shortly, be put in the pads, along with identification so they can be located and returned to their rightful, original owners, unlike the iPhones and iPods, which is unfair and a rip but Apple hasn't addressed it yet. Now, they'll have to.

If you're Garmin, you know the iPad spells an even faster decline of need for your products.

Still work for Blockbuster? Same thing. Get the heck out, now. (You should have know this at some point in the last 5 years, already, truth be told).

Remember the big, recent hoo-hah about making texting in cars illegal? Sure you do. Well, that's going to be nothing in short order. With the new iPad--and the coming of other "pads"--we'll need to make computing in cars illegal. And quickly. It would be that easy to do, otherwise.

You tweet? Like Facebook? It just got a whole lot easier to put many more little thoughts and blurbs out on the 'net for all to see because of the iPad. I'd predict the further explosion of social sites on the internet and in our world, at least for a while, as it's still new. Whether we keep doing that, in the long run, is harder to say and forecast. For now, it will continue to grow.

Hear that sound? The world just shrank a whole lot more. Have a friend who went to Europe (or Japan or anywhere on the planet) for a vacation? Job? Anything? Pull them up on your 2 "pads" and have a face-to-face conversation. Business trip to talk over details? iPad. Done. No hotels. No flights. No days wasted in travel. No big, expensive conferencing system that has to be purchased for a big conference meeting. All in the past.

This will hasten, still further, the decline in need or desire for the newspaper and books. Their sales will shrink and at a faster pace. Sure, some people will still want them but there will be an even faster decline in the purchase of paper media. If you think about this, it's great for the forests and planet and so, in the bigger picture, humankind. On the flip side, if you work for a lumber company, retrain now. Get into computers. Or health care. Or teaching or something. Else.

I have to check but I hope the iPads already have compatibility with TV sets. If they don't, the next version needs to. Entertaining family and/or friends will be terrific, being able to plug our pad into our set and being able to play whatever. If, again, they don't already have this capability and you're Apple, I'm thinking the partner with a huge TV manufacturer quickly, to develop and exploit this capability.

Then, again, for the average schmuck on the street--that would be you and me--quick, think of a cool way you'd like to use one of these things. Something you'd love to do but that isn't yet possible. Write a software program (or two or three) and write your meal ticket for, possibly, the rest of your life, almost no matter your age. Think. Get creative. Have some fun. Then make it happen.

It has to be an incredibly exciting time to work for Apple. Wouldn't you love to already be working for them, now, and show up at work tomorrow morning? The excitement must be nearly palpable. If you were part of developing the pad, I'm thinking they've already got a nearly limitless number of ideas for the next version.

Another big salute and thank you from all of us to Steve Jobs.

Has anyone compared him to Thomas Edison yet?

Live long and prosper, Mr. Jobs. We love your work.



Links to related stories:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/03/11-ways-the-ipad-could-ch_n_523828.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/ipad-sales-estimate-600-7_n_524653.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/ipad-features-what-you-ca_n_439232.html

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1977687,00.html?xid=rss-business

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

http://www.tuaw.com/tag/ipad

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/188013/the_ipads_five_best_surprises.html

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either.html

The Chinese failure (amended/updated)

First the Chinese gave us toys laced with lead and poison for our children to play with, be exposed to and quite likely harm.

Of course, part of that is our own fault for having the adult-child George W. Bush in the White House where he denuded our EPA which was supposed to protect us from such things but that's another story.

Then, the Chinese poisoned their own children because some greedy idiot put melamine in their infant's formula food.

Better them than us, right?

All this time, they're poisoning their own water and air, horribly, but, hey, they want to be a wealthy superpower fast.

And of course they have the worst mines and mining accidents on the planet.

Sure, I'd like to see them raise their people out of the abject poverty they've experienced for hundreds of years, sure, but not at any price. Not at the price of unbridled, poisoning capitalism and consumerism.

Next, they poisoned lots of Americans recently in the South with their drywall products which virtually immediately sickened the residents who were exposed to it.

"But it was a bargain!"

Sick.

Now, check this out--a Chinese freighter is sitting on the Great Barrier Reef, down in Australia, about to foul that incredible, unique, magnificent and fragile ecosytem.

You know what? The world needs to tell the Chinese "enough!" "We've had it. We aren't taking this crap any more."

But wait.

That's what they should tell us, the US, too, given our near-destruction of the world economy, given the banking and mortgage mess we inflicted on the world.

Never mind.

Update on the stranded tanker at the G.B. Reef: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100405/ts_nm/us_australia_ship;_ylt=AiOEm81ILnRvmW47WjbF48as0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNscDhraDYxBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwNDA1L3VzX2F1c3RyYWxpYV9zaGlwBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDNgRwb3MDMwRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3N0cmFuZGVkc2hpcA--

Okay, it has to be said: Michael Steele is an idiot

From The Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - In what appears to be a reversal of a long-standing GOP position, RNC chair Michael Steele said today that he considered same-sex unions 'incredibly hot, especially when the girls are getting it on in a glass case.'"

"When asked if his comment meant that the GOP now favored same-sex marriage, Mr. Steele clarified his position: 'If we're talking about two hot lesbian girls simulating marriage in a glass case, yes, I am very much into that sort of thing.'"

No, Mr. Steele. That is decidedly not what we're talking about.

I'll tell you, Michael Steele is not doing himself or his political party any good service, as nearly as I can tell.

I thought the big spending was going to be his worst enemy and possible downfall but I'm not sure if it's going to be that or his mouth.

When I saw this story, I swear I thought it must be a late April Fool's joke.

Idiocy. Truly.

To the leaders of the Catholic Church on this, your most "Holy Day" of Easter

From The New York Times, yesterday, on the priest, one Father Murphy, who sexually abused hundreds of deaf boys and young men in Wisconsin:

"...interviews and documents suggested that Father Murphy, who is accused of molesting as many as 200 boys at the school near Milwaukee, also used his family’s lakefront cottage as a lure in his sexual advances, bringing youths from the school into his home beginning at least in the early 1960s."

It's bad enough this happened at all, of course, but this is the additonal indignity added to this that makes it all so outrageous and such an indictment of the Catholic church:

"Father Murphy interacted freely with children until his death in 1998, never having been punished by the church or local criminal authorities in Milwaukee, according to documents and interviews with people in the area."

As if that, alone, weren't bad enough, there's this:

"In the two years before Father Murphy died, the bishops in Milwaukee and Superior tried to have him defrocked but were dissuaded by Vatican officials who had received a letter from Father Murphy asking for leniency. The Vatican said Father Murphy had shown “apparent good conduct” in the 24 years since he had been removed from St. John’s and sent to Boulder Junction."

"...dissuaded by Vatican officials..."

That's the travesty of this.

This is a terrific, horrific example of what has apparently gone on in far too many places in the world in the Catholic church.

And this is just one person, having sexually abused at least hundreds of boys and young men--these being deaf, additionally--but who was never disciplined by the Catholic Church, apparently in any way.

And there were more, many more, worldwide, from Ireland, we know, to Germany and Switzerland and elsewhere.

That is why we're upset, folks (read: Catholic leaders), and for no other reason.

To the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and priests of the current Catholic church: Don't cloud this with other excuses. Do the research. Found out what happened. Punish the guilty and, most importantly, put into effect--immediately--structures to make certain these things don't happen again.

Enough with the stalling and obfuscating.

_________________________________________
Update: From The Huffington Post, just now (late Sunday morning): "More Evidence Emerges That Pope Benedict Helped Shield Pedophiles Before He Became Pope"

And please don't anyone say "they're out to get him" or the Catholic Church or any such nonsense. It's just the facts, period.

Link to this post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/03/more-evidence-emerges-tha_n_524192.html

First they fought us on health care reform, now it's financial reform

Yeah, first the Republicans fought this Administration's wanting to give the American people some relief in the form of health care reform.

Natch.

They wanted to protect their wealthy buddies in the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, etc.

Now, they're at it again..

Now they want to fight this White House--again, so they can protect their wealthy banking friends--on getting any financial reform.

Forget that the banking and mortgage industries almost brought the nation--and world, in reality--to complete, total and utter financial and economic devastation within the last year or two.

No, no, they have to rush to protect the lobbyists, corporations and all the rich people in whose pockets they are so they can keep their money coming in.

Let's not give it to 'em, folks.

We need to re-regulate our banking industry the way it was after the Great Depression so we have our safety nets, for the good of everyone.

Especially if the bankers don't like it.

Ayn Rand be damned.

A couple notes on local government

Did you see or hear the story in the news about this guy, Clayton Dunlap, who had 16--that's sixteen--different charges from the past for driving while impaired, one way or another?

Yeah, sixteen times he drove while either drunk or high or something.

The previous one, before having just killed a 12-year-old boy and seriously injuring his Mother, was only last month. He had driven while high on PCP and lead the police on a high speed chase.

Did you see how long he stayed in jail for that? It was in the newspaper this morning, on the front page.

According to the Star "He served only a few days..."

Holy cow.

I'd love to find out who the rocket-scientist judge that was.

Great evaluation of character and danger to the society there, Judge.

Not.

So now, again, according to the Star "the county vows to do more to keep such drivers locked up."

Right.

I'll bet, don't you?

I'm not holding my breath.

Besides, the horse already left that corral.

Not that there aren't more instances where this can't apply but it's more than a little difficult to believe much will change.

As I so frequently say, here's hoping.

The other note: a small blurb in the paper from the "Around the Nation" column says that "Law enforcement officials in Newark, New Jersey say March was the city's first month without a killing in more than 40 years."

Quick, have the KCMO and KCK Police Departments get them on the phone immediately, at the very least.

Maybe it's worth someone from each staff going out and seeing what they're doing right and if we can apply any of it here.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

Bad branding: the Republican Party and now the Catholic Church, too

The Republican Party, like it or not, has gotten beaten up badly, as a "brand", ever since George W. Bush lead and de facto ran the Party for 8 years, it has to be admitted.

After spending like a drunken sailor, creating new agencies of at least questionable value--think Homeland Security Agency--and getting us into a chosen, unnecessary, selected war--and in the Middle East, no less--and then handing out favors to all his cronies and wealthy friends and corporations, well, let's just say he did a number on them.

Now, added to this history, the Catholic Church keeps racking up sexual abuse and physical abuse scandal after scandal, decade after decade (in the 90's, it was here in the States, of course and for example). Now, it's Europe. And by Europe, I mean Ireland, first, then Switzerland, Germany, even Italy and seemingly just all over.

The conclusion? At least for now?

Word out in the last 24 hours from the Archbishop of Canterbury of the Anglican Church is that "The Roman Catholic church in Ireland has lost its credibility because of its mishandling of abuse by priests, the leader of the Anglican church said in remarks released Saturday."

I couldn't agree more.

But you can imagine the uproar from the Catholic Church.

And I don't think this is so much lashing out at the Catholic Church, as some Catholics have apparently responded, but it's just a matter of fact.

And here's the "matter-of-fact", non-judgemental part of it, in the Archbishop's own words: "I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it's quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now."

You can just imagine how that would be true.

More, on the broader picture for the Catholic Church: "And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society, suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility — that's not just a problem for the church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland, I think."

For me, it's especially easy to see the Republicans "brand" be so beat up, since they've so obviously been for the wealthy and privileged in our society.

And while it's not as easy to see the Catholic "brand" beat up, I don't feel any real sympathy for their leaders. First, my concerns are for the people who were abused--again, either sexually or physically--and secondly, because, time and time again, the Catholic Church turned their heads, sometimes even blaming the victims--which is even happening again, now, in these instances. They've also been far more interested in both protecting the priests and the church and in trying to ignore the problems and, in effect "sweep them under a rug."

So, no, if you ask me, the Catholic Church is getting exactly the lack of respect it deserves right now and at their worst possible time-- their "Holy Week."

Forget the Catholic superstitious mumbo-jumbo for right now. That's a different reason to not respect them.

This is far more serious and ugly.

Scott Roeder's sentence

Thank goodness.

Sarah Palin: Not an April Fool's Day joke

Of course you heard that Sarah Palin is getting her own TV show on the Fox Channel, right?

But get this: Did you also know that she was starting this little enterprise today? April 1?

Yeah.

April Fool's Day.

That's too rich.

You'd have thought they would have avoided that completely.

No one ever accused the people at Fox for being that smart.

Shrewd, yes.

Smart?

Oh, hell no.

Scott Roeder's sentencing today:here's hoping

Let's hope he gets all the years they can pile on him, for assassinating Dr. George Tiller, in Dr. Tiller's church as he was volunteering on an otherwise quiet and peaceful Sunday morning, completely, totally and utterly premeditatedly.

Machiavelli had nothing on the Catholic Church

Whoever the person (persons?) was (were) that came up with the idea in the Catholic Church to tie church attendance to entrance into heaven was a bloody diabolical, brilliant, manipulative, abusive son of a gun, what else can you say?

Machiavelli had nothing on that guy.

Think about it.

How perfect a manipulative set-up is that?

With that, the church had their members by their collective throats.

To my knowledge, no other religious group had ever tied heaven (or some definition of it) or hell to mandatory church attendance.

To do this, to require church attendance in order to attain "heaven", tied also to the idea that we're all born "unworthy", "unholy", indeed, "dirty" and in need of baptism, just to be accepted, if only marginally, by their "god" and then to make them repeat it, at least every time they went to church is genius.

First the followers believe themselves to be "unworthy"--make them have low self-images--then, tie heaven to church attendance and voila'! You have automatons in the pews, along with automatic contributions to the church because you're sure going to guilt them into giving money ("we'll call it 'contributions'")to the church, too.

If you see this for what it is, you see that this--the Catholic church--is a horrific, abusive set-up that preys on the people.

And they've been doing it for centuries.

And that doesn't even include the sexual abuses and physical abuses they exposed the young boys to, or the "non-believers" they tortured and killed (e.g., Spanish Inquisitions, etc.).

Strange quote. Strange progression

David Brian Stone is the leader of the Hutaree (whatever that means) militia group, the one that was just arrested in Michigan as "an extremist group federal authorities say was preparing to 'levy war' against the US government by killing police officers."

Here's the crazy thing--a quote from Donna Stone, David Stone's wife:

“It started out as a Christian thing," Donna Stone told reporters at the preliminary court hearing Monday morning. "You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think David started to take it a little too far. He dragged a lot of people with him. When he got carried away, when he went from handguns to big guns, I was done."

Really?

From "Christianity" and the Bible?

To guns.

Nice.

Say, David, who would Jesus kill?

Specifically?

It really is "God, guts and guns", isn't it?

Sick.

Link to original article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100329/ts_csm/291267

For more information on this Hutaree militia, which is really freaky because they are described as a "radical fundamentalist Christian militia group..." (I can't get over that phrase, "radical fundamentalist 'Christian' militia group), go to this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutaree

A challenge for Sandra Bullock

 

Please tell me you're not completely surprised he cheated on you.

And these are the people you want back in Washington, cutting spending?

From the Open Secrets blog today:

"RNC's Strip Club Expense Just One of Multitude of Party-Related Travel and Entertainment Costs"

First there was George W. Bush, Mr. "I'm Conservative" (but not really), who boosted spending and debt absurdly, wrecked the economy with his Ayn Rand "let's not regulate business" nonsense, now this.

You're heard about this, right? It seems the Republicans just recently spent almost $2,000.00 of RNC (Republican National Committee) money "for expenses at this bondage-themed strip club where topless female dancers are reported to simulate sex acts, act out S&M scenes and dangle from the ceiling."

Man, I love these hypocrites.

Of course, after the fact, they're going to see to it the money is paid back and they're firing the staffer that okayed it but hey, the damage is done, boys.

It turns out, the $2,000.00 isn't the least of it.

"Entertainment- and travel-related costs aren't, however, unique to Republicans. Both the RNC and its Democratic counterpart, the Democratic National Committee, sometimes spend lavishly on travel, catering, resorts and hotel accommodations."

(See the associated data at the link at the bottom of this post.)

And the Washington insiders--of both parties--wonder why there's such an uproar in the country and why we're calling out for turning all these people out and starting all over again.

Get a clue, boys and girls.

Link to original post here:
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/03/rnc-strip-club-expense.html

And yet, still more guns

Mo. House OKs Bill Broadening Concealed Gun Rules

"Missouri House members have endorsed a bill allowing some legislative staff members to bring concealed guns into the state Capitol."

Great idea. "Disagree with me now, bitch!"

"The legislation would also lower Missouri's minimum age for getting a concealed-carry permit to 21. It's now 23."

"Lawmakers and local government officials who have permits currently can bring a concealed gun to meetings. The House approved an amendment Tuesday that expands that to cover lawmakers' staff. The provision was added to broader gun legislation."

I'm telling you, more and more guns is patently not a good idea.

This never ends well.

Link to original post: http://www.kctv5.com/news/23005319/detail.html

On the Catholic Priesthood--because more people need to see this

“Somewhere underneath all of this there is a root story that has to do with celibacy. The celibate status of its priests is basically the Catholic church’s last market advantage in the Christian religion racket, but human beings are not designed to be celibate and so problems naturally arise among the population of priests forced to live that terrible lifestyle. Just as it refuses to change its insane and criminal stance on birth control and condoms, the church refuses to change its horrifically cruel policy about priestly celibacy. That’s because it quite correctly perceives that should it begin to dispense with the irrational precepts of its belief system, it would lose its appeal as an ancient purveyor of magical-mystery bullshit and become just a bigger, better-financed, and infinitely more depressing version of a Tony Robbins self-help program.”

- Matt Taibbi

http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/03/27/the-catholic-church-is-a-criminal-enterprise/

And yes, if you know local Kansas City blogs, I took this from Matt Payton's blog because, as I said above, more people need to see it. Thanks, Matt!

Link to original post here:
http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/484741619

What bizarro (racist, anti-Semite) world is this?

What have we become as a nation and people?

News out yesterday from The Kansas City Star that "The program director of KMBZ radio in Kansas City says the station has no choice but to air commercials with racially biased and anti-Semitic claims from a write-in candidate for the US Senate from Missouri."

What?

What happened to the "march of progress"?

Apparently this is true.

Some racist and anti-Semite (read: Jew-hater) from Springfield, one Glenn Miller is paying for it and running for the Senate.

According to the article: "One of Miller's ads, aired during the Darla Jaye talk show program in the evening, urges whites to 'take their country back' and disparages Jews and non-whites."

More: "Under Federal Communication Commission rules and federal laws, a 'legally qualified candidate' must be given reasonable, uncensored access to broadcast airtime if he or she can pay the cost."

I hope that every Jewish person and every person of color--African-American, Hispanic, Chinese, Asian of any kind, Native American, heck, Irish, etc.--all turn out to make clear that we, as Americans, don't tolerate this kind of hate and ugliness any longer in this country.

Let's make this message clear, people.

We used to be better than this, as a country and a people.

At least some of us thought so.

Just out: The (Vatican) plot thickens

Vatican defends pope in US lawsuit

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield

VATICAN CITY – Dragged deeper than ever before into the clerical sex abuse scandal, the Vatican is launching a legal defense that the church hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him deposed.

In court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, Vatican lawyers map out a three-pronged strategy — to be formally filed in coming weeks — seeking to dismiss the suit before Benedict XVI can be questioned or secret documents subpoenaed.

"Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has immunity as head of state," that American bishops who oversaw abusive priests weren't employees of the Vatican,"...(why? because they aren't paid? that's laughable)..."and that a 1962 document is not the 'smoking gun' that provides proof of a cover up, the documents reveal."

"Three men claiming they were abused by priests brought the suit against the Holy See in 2004, accusing Rome of negligence in failing to alert police or the public about priests who molested children in Kentucky."

"The preview of the legal defense, provided to the AP by a person familiar with the case, was submitted last month in the U.S. District Court in Louisville. Vatican officials declined to comment."

The case is significant because it's the first among a handful of cases targeting Rome in the United States to reach the stage of determining whether the victims actually have a claim against the Vatican itself.

Previous cases attempting to implicate the Vatican have failed or are pending at more preliminary stages.

In the Kentucky suit, the men argued that U.S. diocesan bishops were employees of the Holy See, and that Rome was therefore responsible for their alleged wrongdoing in failing to report abuse.

What's really great, though, I think, is this "smoking gun":

They charged that a 1962 Vatican document mandated that bishops not report sex abuse cases to police. The Vatican has argued that there is nothing in the document that precluded bishops from reporting pedophiles to police.

________________________________________

Right. "Nothing to preclude the bishops from reporting pedophiles to police." Except a "Vatican document"--from their bosses, the ultimate boss--telling them not to do any such thing.

This is pretty smarmy for a pope, to be, in effect, dodging legal rulings with attorneys and obfuscations.

Oh, and the Vatican has "secret documents" it doesn't want released? Doesn't that smack of guilt? And if you're not guilty, why not release them?

Oh, and, just for good measure, "Vatican officials declined to comment."

Nice.

It's getting juicier and juicier.

Happy Holy Week, Pope Benedict.

Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100330/ap_on_re_eu/eu_the_vatican_s_defense