| Sorry for the hiatus. It's murder trying to find a new ribbon for these things. Now where were we? Oh yeah: Item Should you find yourself among "the huddled masses yearning to breathe free" you can always rely on a helping hand from the Bush Administration...unless you're a Kurd. The geo-political geniuses of the Bush White House have assisted the Turkish Air Force in a recent raid on the Kurdish rebels in Northern Iraq. Although regrettable, this course of action was considered preferable to allowing a full scale invasion by Turkey of Iraq's northern provinces. Once again, the Kurds take it in the shorts. Screwing the Kurds is something of a family tradition among the Bushies. George's dad allowed Saddam Hussein to use what was left of the Iraqi air force to bomb the Kurds after the first Gulf War. Having encouraged the Kurds to overthrow the Hussein government at their earliest opportunity, the Kurds were understandably perplexed by the apparent mixed message. When George the Lesser decided to try his hand at nation-building in Iraq, his only allies in the region were the Turks and, of course, the Kurds. Do these guys know how to treat a friend or what? Apparently, the enemy of my enemy is my enemy. The Kurdish representative in the Iraqi government, Massoud Barzani, is naturally vexed at the treatment his people are receiving at the hands of Bush & Co. There was, however one note of solace. Condolences arrived this morning in the form of a cable from Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans. Ray wrote, "Massoud, keep your chin up. It could be worse. If Kurdistan is ever hit by a natural disaster, you'll find out how cruel this administration can really be." ____________________________________________________________________ Item Isitjustme has made a concerted effort to refrain from castigating the Catholic Church but, occasionally it is impossible to keep silent. As an organization committed to education, the leaders of the RCC seem incapable of learning anything from past mistakes. Attend the tale of Francis Eugene Cardinal George, OMI, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago. To paraphrase a line from Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws, "...I know that you are going to ignore the fact that there is a (pedophile) problem until one swims up and bites you in the ass". Cardinal George is about to become president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops. Among clerics in America, this is a big deal. The president of the CCB will have a large voice in the administration of the Catholic Church. He will be the principal representative of American Catholics in Rome and he will be front and center for the Pope's visit in the spring of 2008. Sadly, Cardinal George is the poster boy for the Church's true feelings regarding pedophile priests; ignore the problem, blame the victims. The Catholic Church is running away from this issue as fast as possible; stopping only long enough to write enormous checks for compensation. Although zero tolerance for pedophiles is American Catholic policy since 2002, Cardinal George is on record as saying, "Are we saying that people with any kind of question in their past are not employable?" Holy underwear, Batman! Has this man never seen Law and Order? Pedophiles don't stop! They don't get better. Allowing a man to function as a priest after a conviction as a child molester is the worst kind of irresponsibility. But there is a new spin coming from the archdiocese of Chicago. (It's just possible that we've discovered what happened to Karl Rove.) In a sermon during a Mass celebrated for lawyers and jurists in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Bishop Thomas Paprocki from Chicago explained who the real villain is. In his legal opinion (Bishop Paprocki has a a law degree and a license in Cannon Law) the Church is under attack. "We must use our religious discernment to realize that the principal force behind these attacks is none other than the devil." Really? And here I was thinking that the "force behind these attacks" was a small army of people who had their trust in the clergy repaid with a lesson in sodomy. Who knew that, it was actually a red guy with a tail. Well, at least Bishop Paprocki got the horns right! Bishop Paprocki wasn't clear about the devil's actual role in the play. Was he whispering in the ear of the pedophile priests? Was he advising the victims to come forward? Perhaps the bishop was scanning his audience of lawyers to see if an exorcism was in order. When the devil and an attorney get together, bet on the lawyer. The Catholic Church has been settling claims all over America for five years and they still can't admit to the problem. Until Rome faces this issue head-on, no Catholic should drop a dime in any collection plate. When Benedict XVI arrives in America, Catholics should stay home. The Church doesn't belong to a bunch of men in dresses. It belongs to the faithful and until parishioners throughout America are prepared to stand up and make the Church admit the problem, the alienation between people and priests will continue. Vote with your feet folks, and with your wallets. ____________________________________________________________________ |
Item
Sean Taylor, defensive back for the Washington Redskins, was shot and killed in his home in Florida two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, December 5th, eight people were killed in a shooting at an Omaha, Nebraska shopping mall.
There are almost 200 million guns in private hands in the United States. 65 million are hand guns.
Any questions?
