May 2011

A long-awaited study on the “causes and context” of the priest child sexual abuse scandal, commissioned by U.S. bishops in 2006 and released Wednesday, blames the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, not celibacy or homosexuality, for the crisis that has rocked the Roman Catholic church.

While the report largely
 paints the crisis as a historical blip in the history of
 the church, “this in no way should lull us as a church into complacency,” said Diane Knight of Milwaukee, who chairs the bishops’ National Review Board.

The study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City found no single cause for the crisis, but said child abuse by priests increased in the ’60s, peaked in the ’70s, was in “sharp decline by 1985” and the number of new reports “continues to remain low.”

So what this report is saying is that the Catholic Church can't resist the temptations of society. Sure I'll buy that and then that ocean front property in Kentucky.

If this is all they are going to put into their "study" then we can be certain the problems will continue.

Just check out the anger that is brewing over at townhalls:

Of course my headline is totally misleading. Instead of Healthcare and Democratic Townhalls, it's actually Republican Townhalls and the issue of taxes, but my headline might get the media to actually notice that the Republicans are getting heat at townhalls over taxes and Medicare.

So, in this case, Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL) was confronted by many angry voters over the denial of raising corporate taxes or taxes on the wealthy. At one point he even threatened to kick out a voter, who kept pushing him on a question he refused to answer.

Where's the media outrage? Where's the flashing red light on Drudge or hours of "First Amendment violation" rhetoric on Fox?

Simple - the media don't care! Think about why. All the media people stand to lose if corporate taxes are raised or the top 2% end up having to pay their fair tax burden. They don't want people to know that there is a majority of Americans who are frustrated with the lower 98% paying for everything and getting more and more taken away.

If we can't get news of this outrage out in the open, then people will continue to be complacent and think they are in the minority. We really need to push these stories so that everyone can take notice and the Republicans are forced to change their tune.

Now comes presidential candidate and "enhanced interrogation" supporter Rick Santorum arguing on Hugh Hewitt's radio show that McCain simply "doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works." Yes, he's talking about the same John McCain who, in his five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, was interrogated during a program of beatings and torture.

Here's the full context of what Santorum said (via Salon):

HH: Now your former colleague, John McCain, said look, there’s no record, there’s no evidence here that these methods actually led to the capture or the killing of bin Laden. Do you disagree with that? Or do you think he’s got an argument?

RS: I don’t, everything I’ve read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation. And so this idea that we didn’t ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative. And that’s when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that’s how we ended up with bin Laden.

I wonder if this story will get the same media attention as say John Edwards:

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime member of their household staff.

Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

This really comes as no big shocker, except the fact that this happened ten years ago and Arnie kept it secret long enough to become the Governator. Once again, we have Republican family values in all their glory.