In my view, the $1.8 million study released last month by New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice about sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests was an effort to minimize the scandal.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the study, and it was based on surveys sent in 2003 to all dioceses and religious communities in the U.S.
However, researches did not have access to confidential Church files; on the contrary, steps were taken to protect the confidentiality of each priest and diocese.
This is what makes this study dubious.
Nevertheless, the study found that about 4.3 percent of all priests between 1950 and 2002 had allegations of abuse.
Incredibly, 6 percent of those abused by priests were younger than 7, 16 percent of the victims were ages 8 to 10, 27 percent, ages 11 to 14, and 51 percent, ages 15 to 17.
Males between 11 and 14 accounted for more than 40 percent of all victims.
Church apologetics argue that this pedophilia crisis was time-specific, that the incidence of abuse hit a climax in the late 1960s and continuously decreased to the mid 1980s. They argue that seven credible cases of abuse in 2010 is not a crisis in a Church that numbers over 65 million parishioners.
I’d say one case in a Church that proclaims the Word of God is one case too many.
The researchers argue that the reason why the incidence of abuse spiked dramatically from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s is because of the moral decay in those years and that the “sexual revolution” played a role.
Who of all people have the training to advice against a moral decay if not Church ministers?
I’d say that clerical pedophilia (a sexual attraction to adolescents, often boys) continues to be a serious problem in the Catholic Church.
According to the study, the bishops have tended to focus on the perpetrators of abuse rather than the victims, which led to psychological therapy and counseling for the perpetrators in the false belief that they could be “cured” and returned to active ministry.
This belief continues today, as the Church has not taken radical measures to rid pervert priests from its ranks.
If I were a parent with young children, I would never send them to a parochial Catholic school. Just imagine my teenage girl going to confession with one of these perverts.
One simple solution would start clearing the Catholic Church of priest perverts: Place them all in the hands of the U.S. justice system and send them to jail.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Businesses who hire illegals should be shut down
On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2007 Arizona state law punishing businesses that hire illegal aliens.
States can now shut down businesses that hire immigrants without legal documentation to work.
I agree with this, and here’s why:
Although immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, they make up about 15 percent of the workforce. They are over represented among workers largely because the rest of the population in the United States is aging.
Immigrants and their children have accounted for 58 percent of U.S. population growth since 1980.
It’s difficult to measure how much of this immigrant workforce is undocumented, but probably a good many.
Unscrupulous employers hire these workers because they know they have a workforce that’s loyal and hard working. Employers pay minimum wage with no benefits and workers have no recourse for labor disputes. These undocumented workers are the least likely to cause problems, and employers like that.
Poor immigrants in general have historically been the source of cheap, exploitative labor, but immigrants who do not have legal documents to work present a far better target for abusive employers as they are in a far more vulnerable position to be victimized.
That's why many businesses prefer to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, or at the minimum prefer to avoid any requirements that might be a financial burden to them.
This is why I welcome the U.S. Supreme Court decision to punish businesses that don’t comply with the law and hire workers who cannot work legally in this country.
Low U.S. fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in the prime age workforce — workers ages 25 to 55 — in the decades ahead.
Short of a major immigration overhaul, if businesses continue hiring undocumented workers, the illegal crossings at the border will certainly increase in the years ahead.
States can now shut down businesses that hire immigrants without legal documentation to work.
I agree with this, and here’s why:
Although immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, they make up about 15 percent of the workforce. They are over represented among workers largely because the rest of the population in the United States is aging.
Immigrants and their children have accounted for 58 percent of U.S. population growth since 1980.
It’s difficult to measure how much of this immigrant workforce is undocumented, but probably a good many.
Unscrupulous employers hire these workers because they know they have a workforce that’s loyal and hard working. Employers pay minimum wage with no benefits and workers have no recourse for labor disputes. These undocumented workers are the least likely to cause problems, and employers like that.
Poor immigrants in general have historically been the source of cheap, exploitative labor, but immigrants who do not have legal documents to work present a far better target for abusive employers as they are in a far more vulnerable position to be victimized.
That's why many businesses prefer to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, or at the minimum prefer to avoid any requirements that might be a financial burden to them.
This is why I welcome the U.S. Supreme Court decision to punish businesses that don’t comply with the law and hire workers who cannot work legally in this country.
Low U.S. fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in the prime age workforce — workers ages 25 to 55 — in the decades ahead.
Short of a major immigration overhaul, if businesses continue hiring undocumented workers, the illegal crossings at the border will certainly increase in the years ahead.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tea party nut for president
Sarah Palin seems energized by the latest events in Republican politics. She’s touring historic sites on the East Coast this weekend in a big bus tour, and it’s being rumored she will announce her presidential candidacy.
Funny, if she runs, she might face Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota who is just as nutty a tea party holler as she is.
Poor GOP!
Party members are scrambling to get out from under tea party kidnapping.
Remember the Christian Coalition, the arm of the Religious Right organized to further their anti-abortion agenda? It effectively ruined the Republican Party and helped elect Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.
The very same thing is happening today.
Not that I care.
I’m actually glad some lunatics are going to run against Barack Obama, assuring his victory at the polls in 2012.
I thought it amazing that Newt Gingrich outright rejected Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan on NBC, although he later recanting his objection.
Yet, a few Republican senators voted against “Ryancare” this week.
In a special election for a U.S. House seat, in a predominantly Republican district in New York, voters rejected GOP candidate Jane Corwin and voted for Democrat Kathy Hochul. Corwin campaigned in favor of the Ryan Plan.
Now, while one could finger the Ryan Plan as the culprit, what really happened is that Independent candidate Jack Davis (tea party proponent) came in with 9 percent, stealing votes from Corwin, who got 43 percent.
Florida Legislature Republicans are scrambling with these same divisions in open challenge with their own tea party governor, Rick Scott.
I’ll say, let ‘em fight. This is the only way the tea party’s real agenda — make abortion effectively illegal — will never advance.
Funny, if she runs, she might face Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota who is just as nutty a tea party holler as she is.
Poor GOP!
Party members are scrambling to get out from under tea party kidnapping.
Remember the Christian Coalition, the arm of the Religious Right organized to further their anti-abortion agenda? It effectively ruined the Republican Party and helped elect Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.
The very same thing is happening today.
Not that I care.
I’m actually glad some lunatics are going to run against Barack Obama, assuring his victory at the polls in 2012.
I thought it amazing that Newt Gingrich outright rejected Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan on NBC, although he later recanting his objection.
Yet, a few Republican senators voted against “Ryancare” this week.
In a special election for a U.S. House seat, in a predominantly Republican district in New York, voters rejected GOP candidate Jane Corwin and voted for Democrat Kathy Hochul. Corwin campaigned in favor of the Ryan Plan.
Now, while one could finger the Ryan Plan as the culprit, what really happened is that Independent candidate Jack Davis (tea party proponent) came in with 9 percent, stealing votes from Corwin, who got 43 percent.
Florida Legislature Republicans are scrambling with these same divisions in open challenge with their own tea party governor, Rick Scott.
I’ll say, let ‘em fight. This is the only way the tea party’s real agenda — make abortion effectively illegal — will never advance.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Serious attempt to turn Florida into a Taliban-like state
With the passage of the Religious Freedom Act (HJR 1471) by the Florida Senate on May 6, a proposal to amend the state Constitution to allow the state government to allocate taxpayer money to religious organizations will be on the ballot November 6, 2012. The House passed HJR 1471 in April.
The amendment essentially removes Article 1 Section 3 of Florida’s Constitution, known as the Blaine Amendment.
The Blaine Amendment refers to amendments that exist in 40 state constitutions that forbid direct government aid to educational institutions that have any religious affiliation.
In 1875, Republican Congressman James G. Blaine proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prohibit government funding to sectarian schools run by religious organizations. The amendment passed by a vote of 180 to 7 in the House of Representatives, but failed by four votes to achieve the necessary two-thirds vote in the Senate and it never became law.
But some states, including Florida, decided to incorporate the language of this amendment into their own constitutions.
The proposed language to repeal the Blaine Amendment reads as follows:
“Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to provide that no individual or entity may be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious identity or belief and to delete the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”
The Florida Legislature sought to overturn the Blaine Amendment because they claimed it was an attack on “religious freedom.”
What were they thinking?
This is a blatant attempt to incorporate religious dogma into public affairs in total disregard of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
Anyone who thinks the Blaine Amendment is antiquated is wrong. The antiquated ones are the members of the Legislature who are trying to make Florida a Taliban-like state!
On November 6, 2012 vote NO to this amendment.
The amendment essentially removes Article 1 Section 3 of Florida’s Constitution, known as the Blaine Amendment.
The Blaine Amendment refers to amendments that exist in 40 state constitutions that forbid direct government aid to educational institutions that have any religious affiliation.
In 1875, Republican Congressman James G. Blaine proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prohibit government funding to sectarian schools run by religious organizations. The amendment passed by a vote of 180 to 7 in the House of Representatives, but failed by four votes to achieve the necessary two-thirds vote in the Senate and it never became law.
But some states, including Florida, decided to incorporate the language of this amendment into their own constitutions.
The proposed language to repeal the Blaine Amendment reads as follows:
“Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to provide that no individual or entity may be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious identity or belief and to delete the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”
The Florida Legislature sought to overturn the Blaine Amendment because they claimed it was an attack on “religious freedom.”
What were they thinking?
This is a blatant attempt to incorporate religious dogma into public affairs in total disregard of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
Anyone who thinks the Blaine Amendment is antiquated is wrong. The antiquated ones are the members of the Legislature who are trying to make Florida a Taliban-like state!
On November 6, 2012 vote NO to this amendment.
Friday, May 13, 2011
2011 Florida Legislature Review
We have learned in the 2011 Florida legislative session that Republicans being the supermajority in both houses doesn’t really amount to much in regards to “conservative” legislation, except in what relates to abortion issues. That’s why they were elected. At least they were true to their tea party constituency.
The biggest loser of the Republican fiasco was Gov. Rick Scott. He didn’t achieve many of his top priorities. The Legislature only passed $308 million in tax cuts - hardly the $1.7 billion he asked for at the beginning of the session.
The biggest loser of the Republican fiasco was Gov. Rick Scott. He didn’t achieve many of his top priorities. The Legislature only passed $308 million in tax cuts - hardly the $1.7 billion he asked for at the beginning of the session.
Gov. Scott’s wrestling with public employee unions didn’t go anywhere. He did not even get a plan to ban automatic payroll deduction of union fees from public employees.
Issues like increasing health-care costs for state workers, a wage freeze and the 3-percent paycheck deduction for retirement were hardly winning issues for Gov. Scott. These issues have been on the legislative agenda for a while. Most public employees knew what was coming regardless of who was governor or what political party for that matter. This was simply economics.
It’s funny. The only job that legislators have in the 60-day legislative session is to pass a balanced budget. Yet, it was in the wee hours of the 60th day that legislators got down to a debate and actual confrontation between the House and Senate members in order to pass the $70 billion budget with no new taxes. It would have been much better for Florida voters to watch this confrontation throughout the 60 days instead of waiting till the last minute.
The Legislature actually passed several “liberal” issues like SB 1446/HB 449, allowing some ex-felons to apply for an occupational license and public employment before having their rights restored. SB 450/HB215 protects from civil litigation people who offer temporary housing, food, water or electricity to an emergency first-responder or immediate family member of an emergency first-responder.
The Legislature also dealt with several housekeeping issues. SB 1886/HB 1039 bans bath salts, HB 125/SB 344 bans abuse involving sexual contact with an animal. HB 61/SB 228 prohibits students from wearing saggy pants in school. SB 888/HB 75 decriminalizes sending sexually explicit text messages, photos or video via cell phone or other device by minors. SB 408/HB 803 allows insurance companies to offer comprehensive sinkhole coverage. SB 722/HB 4075 classifies as not dangerous dogs found as part of an animal-fighting ring. SB 476/HB 883 forbids local governments from treating “vacation rentals” differently than other homes. SB 818/HB 7095 limits ability of doctors to dispense prescription drugs. SB 330 makes it illegal for a candidate to falsely claim military service.
On the weird side, the Legislature tweaked Florida’s elections laws seemingly to favor the GOP constituency. (SB 2086/HB 1355). SB 155 limits instances when doctors can ask patients if they own firearms. SB 234 cancels the penalty for a concealed weapon permit holder if he/she shows a gun by “accident.” HB 45 prohibits local governments from legislating on firearms. SB 204/HB 30 outlaws synthetic marijuana.
On the Republican agenda, other than abortion, four main issues: teacher evaluations, tax cuts for businesses, local control of development and Medicaid reform.
SB 736/HB 7019 makes teachers’ evaluations based on student test scores. Administrators will be able to more easily fire teachers with weak evaluations. HB 7185 gives a tax break of $1,100 a year on average for 15,000 small businesses as the first step in an effort to cut the state’s annual $2 billion corporate tax. HB 7005 pays for a tax cut for businesses by cutting state benefits for unemployed Floridians. Instead of making the maximum $275 weekly benefit available for 26 weeks, the state would use a sliding scale based on the unemployment rate. Benefits would be available for no more than 23 week and no less than 12 weeks.
HB 7207 shifts review and regulation for development from the state to local governments with repeal of 1985 Growth Management Act. SB 1972/HB 7107, 7109 reforms Medicaid, placing the program’s 3 million recipients in managed care. HMOs and other large, managed-care networks will bid with the state on managing any of 11 regions in state. It also makes it more difficult for recipients to sue Medicaid doctors and hospitals. This law must get federal approval before implementation, which is probably unlikely under the current administration. Might have to wait until ObamaCare kicks in.
This session was surely a hands-on learning experience for Gov. Scott. I guess he’s realized government cannot be run like a business. The “let’s go to work” mantra didn’t amount to much. We’ll just have to wait and see if the tax cuts trickle down and create jobs.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Abortion politics is weakening America's democracy
Now here’s an interesting twist that would make sure pro-life Republican legislators win elections. I guess they figure the tea party vote won’t be enough now that redistricting is about to change their power entrenchment in Florida.
In this Legislative session, six abortion bills have passed in the Republican-controlled Florida House to place additional limits on abortion rights. We know pro-lifers won’t rest until they make abortion altogether illegal in the U.S. That’s why they have to make sure more pro-life politicians are elected to public office.
However, because redistricting might not work on their favor due to the Fair District amendments to the Florida Constitution passed last year, they have figure ways to curtail the vote of younger people, minorities and low-income residents who most likely would vote Democrat.
Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Ocala Republican who sponsored a bill to shift the revenue of Choose Life license plates’ from counties to the Ocala-based Choose Life Corporation is the same guy who has sponsored a convoluted bill geared at ripping apart election laws that in the past have made it easier for Floridians to vote, and replacing them with laws that could bring election outcomes in the Republicans' favor.
The “Election Transparency and Accountability” bill calls for far less time to vote as it cuts the two-week early voting to two days. Early voting enhances turnout, and usually greater voter turnouts can favor Democratic candidates.
The bill also makes it far more difficult to vote. For 40 years, Floridians who've recently moved have been able to update their addresses at the polls on Election Day. You won’t be able to do that anymore.
Rep. Baxley insists that obliterating the address-change option at polls would curb voter fraud. What? Has fraud ever been fraud tied to updating addresses at the polls?
It just so happens that college students, low-income and minority voters disproportionately fill the ranks of those who ask to update their addresses on Election Day. These tend to vote Democrat.
Voter registration will be more difficult. Vote registration organizations like the League of Women Voters will have to submit applications within two days instead of 10 — or get hit with financial penalties. What? Isn’t quite the opposite true — that everything should be made easier for people to register and vote?
This country is being held hostage by the pro-life crowd, and because of that Americans are facing a debilitating democracy.
In this Legislative session, six abortion bills have passed in the Republican-controlled Florida House to place additional limits on abortion rights. We know pro-lifers won’t rest until they make abortion altogether illegal in the U.S. That’s why they have to make sure more pro-life politicians are elected to public office.
However, because redistricting might not work on their favor due to the Fair District amendments to the Florida Constitution passed last year, they have figure ways to curtail the vote of younger people, minorities and low-income residents who most likely would vote Democrat.
Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Ocala Republican who sponsored a bill to shift the revenue of Choose Life license plates’ from counties to the Ocala-based Choose Life Corporation is the same guy who has sponsored a convoluted bill geared at ripping apart election laws that in the past have made it easier for Floridians to vote, and replacing them with laws that could bring election outcomes in the Republicans' favor.
The “Election Transparency and Accountability” bill calls for far less time to vote as it cuts the two-week early voting to two days. Early voting enhances turnout, and usually greater voter turnouts can favor Democratic candidates.
The bill also makes it far more difficult to vote. For 40 years, Floridians who've recently moved have been able to update their addresses at the polls on Election Day. You won’t be able to do that anymore.
Rep. Baxley insists that obliterating the address-change option at polls would curb voter fraud. What? Has fraud ever been fraud tied to updating addresses at the polls?
It just so happens that college students, low-income and minority voters disproportionately fill the ranks of those who ask to update their addresses on Election Day. These tend to vote Democrat.
Voter registration will be more difficult. Vote registration organizations like the League of Women Voters will have to submit applications within two days instead of 10 — or get hit with financial penalties. What? Isn’t quite the opposite true — that everything should be made easier for people to register and vote?
This country is being held hostage by the pro-life crowd, and because of that Americans are facing a debilitating democracy.
Monday, April 25, 2011
John Paul II beatification a disgrace
If there’s any dignity left in the Catholic Church, the beatification of Pope John Paul II, set for May 1, should have followed the church’s strict guidelines for sainthood instead of fast tracking it as a political move to continue the silence of the Church’s pedophile scandal.
In the Catholic Church, becoming a saint is a long and complex process that takes many years. In the case of John Paul II, however, Pope Benedict XVI waved a rule requiring a five-year wait to even start the process of beatification.
Pope Benedict XVI couldn’t wait the required time to beatify his predecessor yet it took him at least 25 years to convince the hierarchy in Rome to remove Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado from the priesthood.
Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican-born priest who worked mostly in Spain and Italy, was found guilt of raping an inordinate number of underage males, had two women and fathered six children dating back to 1956.
John Paul II was a close friend of Maciel, and he remained silent throughout his papacy. On John Paul II’s three visits to Mexico, Maciel stood at his right hand. Later, John Paul II referred to him as “an efficacious guide to youth” and he heaped praise on Maciel on the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2004.
It was not until John Paul II’s death that the Vatican finally followed up on the allegations, which resulted in Maciel’s removal from the priesthood.
The scandal of pedophile priests is not just the conduct of the priests themselves but also the cover up of the Catholic hierarchy, which not only failed to report abuse allegations to the civil authorities but also continued to reassign the offenders to other parishes.
So is the Catholic Church now naming John Paul II as the patron of pedophile priests?
In the Catholic Church, becoming a saint is a long and complex process that takes many years. In the case of John Paul II, however, Pope Benedict XVI waved a rule requiring a five-year wait to even start the process of beatification.
Pope Benedict XVI couldn’t wait the required time to beatify his predecessor yet it took him at least 25 years to convince the hierarchy in Rome to remove Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado from the priesthood.
Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican-born priest who worked mostly in Spain and Italy, was found guilt of raping an inordinate number of underage males, had two women and fathered six children dating back to 1956.
John Paul II was a close friend of Maciel, and he remained silent throughout his papacy. On John Paul II’s three visits to Mexico, Maciel stood at his right hand. Later, John Paul II referred to him as “an efficacious guide to youth” and he heaped praise on Maciel on the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2004.
It was not until John Paul II’s death that the Vatican finally followed up on the allegations, which resulted in Maciel’s removal from the priesthood.
The scandal of pedophile priests is not just the conduct of the priests themselves but also the cover up of the Catholic hierarchy, which not only failed to report abuse allegations to the civil authorities but also continued to reassign the offenders to other parishes.
So is the Catholic Church now naming John Paul II as the patron of pedophile priests?
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