Nothing to blog about.
Anyone who surfs the net knows this stuff already, but these are some news items that caught my eye today. (And there is nothing else to blog about.)
Internet addiction:
A couple severely neglected their kids - infants - because mom and dad were constantly on the computer. Dungeons and Dragons was their big obsession. Check out the story here. The kids were dehydrated and malnourished - the Gen-Y parents had food in the house - they were just too busy. (I wonder if there should be an investigation into those blogging Catholic moms?)
Jackpot!
The lawyers are doin’ good with the LA sex abuse settlement - a whopping $666 million - or there abouts. I feel kind of sorry for Roger though - he apologized to the victims - but I wonder how that next Bishop’s Appeal thing is going to work for him? He had this to say in response to the settlement:
“Sometimes I honestly had reached the bottom. I didn’t know what to do next. It seemed like everything I tried to do was wrong, somebody thought it was wrong. I think spiritually … when you are totally empty, the only way up—without your resources—is God. Spiritually, it’s been an enormous time, times of frustration but also times of great spiritual strength, knowing that I don’t have all the answers and relying on God to show us the way forward.” - Mercury News
Serial priest?
One of the accused in the settlement was a Fr. Sutphin - which made me think - is he related to Beverly Sutphin?- you know, Kathleen Turner’s character in “Serial Mom”. (I wonder if John Waters would ever consider doing a film on the sex abuse crises? Something light-hearted of course.)
“Why, you little slut!”
The stories coming out of the LA court proceeding are revealing to say the least - but nothing we haven’t heard before:
“Lawyers representing victims of sexual abuse released new information Sunday detailing alleged misconduct by a handful of clergy members, including a nun who slapped a girl after she accused a priest of molesting her.” - LA Daily News
That sort of reaction wasn’t all that unusual in the past. A childhood friend once revealed to me that when she told her mother how her brother-in-law was having sex with her, her mom slapped her into the next room and warned her never to talk like that again. When my little brother revealed he had been molested, my dad beat him and told him he had asked for it - the sexual abuse - not the beating. It has always been more convenient to blame the victim anyway - they are already so demoralized, it can’t hurt to pound them harder into the ground.
Paper ass.
When I was little, and I said something stupid, my dad always yelled at me saying, “You’re talkin’ like you have a paper ass.” I never got that, but today I could use the same words to Keith Ellison, the black, Democratic congressman from Minnesota. (Liberal Minneapolitans pretty much elected him to that office.) He’s an interesting character, born and raised Catholic, turned Muslim - now embracing crackpot conspiracy theories. Speaking to a group of athiests, he recently had this to say:
America’s first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.
Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of
Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers.
“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that,” Mr Ellison said. “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”
To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because “you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box - dismiss you”.
Vice-President Dick Cheney’s stance of refusing to answer some questions from Congress was “the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship”, he added.
Mr Ellison also raised eyebrows by telling his audience: “You’ll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want.” - Telegraph
More great political leaders of the 21st century.
There is just no accounting for politicians is there - no, that wasn’t a question. It will be interesting if Hilary becomes president and Obama her vice-president. That is probably what is going to happen if the Republicans can’t come up with anyone trustworthy. Not that Hilary is trustworthy, but America’s love for novelty and firsts will most likely be a prime motivating factor for that winning ticket.
Christian kitsch.
Lastly, News of the very, very tacky: Christian businessmen want to erect the world’s tallest cross in the city of Nazareth, to attract pilgrims and tourists. Oy! I hope the Israelis put a stop to that nonsense - talk about desecrating the landscape! (But there is $$$ to be had in the God-business.)
That’s all - on a day when there is really nothing to blog about.
