Sexual Abuse of CHILDREN by PRIESTS?!? All Over The World?!? ENOUGH!!! Oh...And Happy Easter!!!
By the time this blog is finished and posted, it will be April Fool's Day. Is that what we have running the Catholic Church? A bunch of "fools"? Here's a news flash, guys. You ain't funny!
There are a lot of people here in the Los Angeles area who think that Cardinal Roger Mahony should be in prison. There's a Cardinal who used to be in the St. Louis area who seemed to imagine himself to be a John Wayne type, but all he really was/is a bully with a fancy title. In fact, the Catholic Church seems to have a lot of guys like that who are in "power" positions. Guys like Pope Benedict XVI, a guy, who while a Cardinal, knew a lot about pedophile priests and seems to have done nothing about them except to maybe suggest that these priests go somewhere else and do a lot of praying. One assumes that would be praying for forgiveness, but because a lot of these pedophile priests ended up going to different locations where they could sexually abuse other children, one wonders if the praying they were doing had to do with hoping that a new "assignment" would be sooner rather than later.
WHOA!!! Am I being too HARSH, here?!?
I don't think so.
We have been hearing about these renegade priests who have been sexually abusing children for YEARS!!! And yes, every once in a while, one of these priests gets convicted of something, but if we're honest about this, REAL punishment...Punishment that FITS this horrendous crime...
Is seldom what happens.
Okay...Let's take a deep breath (we'll start with me), calm down and take into account what we're really talking about.
Catholic family. Kids in that family. Being raised as Catholics. Some of them become altar boys. Some of them want to be altar boys. Some of them become altar boys because their parents want them to be altar boys. It doesn't matter how they became altar boys. What matters is, the people they would be working with (priests) are people who represent God! If I'm a parent of one of those alter boys or if I'M one of those alter boys, I'm figuring my kid is in good hands or I'm in good hands.
Sadly, in too many cases, we've learned that the hands on many of these priests were whacha call, "straying hands". Hands that are used to probe. Under the underpants that children were/are wearing.
And in many cases, that was just the beginning of what those "straying hands" would do.
Can you imagine the humiliation that must have been felt by these children? We have read countless numbers of stories that were made public 20, 30 and 40 years after the humiliation they experienced because they were too "embarrassed" to tell anyone.
ORRRR...In many cases when a child would try to tell their parents what happened, their parents wouldn't believe their children because in their minds, nice Father Freddy is a man of God, for crying out loud and when did my kid become a liar?
Yes, things are different now. I think it's safe to say that most parents are "on guard" these days because of all the horrible stories everyone has heard about these rogue priests. But think of all the children who have been mentally damaged because of these priests. And how about the Catholic Bishops and other leaders who did virtually nothing about this problem except for the terrific job they did of KEEPING IT QUIET for who knows how many years?
It's not quiet now. In fact, the Catholic Church is very much on the defensive. So much so, they're sounding like a bunch of right wing talk show hosts who blame the media for the problems they're having.
What can be done about this? Well, if the Pope isn't going to do anything except tell priests and Bishops to pray more, maybe the Pope should be fired. And if firing the Pope is something the Catholic Church doesn't allow, some good prosecutors should put together a case that could result in jail time for the Pope. I mean there seems to be evidence that if anyone wants to look at it, that shows Pope Benedict XVI (when he was a Cardinal) knew about priests who were child abusers and he seems to have done (virtually) nothing about it.
But there are a lot of current Catholic Cardinals who seem to be guilty of the same thing.
Is it time to seriously consider putting a broom to much of the leadership of the Catholic Church?
And I want to go back to the punishment issue. Punishment for these child abusing priests. REAL punishment! Punishment that involves these creeps disguised as men of God being put into prison. And when they arrive at prison, they are given a cell mate. A big cell mate. A big cell mate who is in prison because he was convicted of multiple brutal rapes.
If nothing else, that punished priest would now/then have something to seriously pray to God about.
And speaking of GOD....
Where does he, she or it play into all of this sexual abuse of children by priests?
True believers believe that God, Jesus, Allah or whatever other name you want to attach to what is believed to be a Supreme Being, is in fact (or we believe) someone who is Our Creator, The One Who Watches Over Us, etc., etc.
You see, if I'M this Supreme Being who is watching over everyone and I see a whole lot of priest people who claim they are representing ME, I would be making it my business to see to it that these priests (or anyone else who was claiming to represent me) were doing their best to make me look good.
I mean, isn't that what a CEO of a company does? And if you're a believer, isn't it safe to say that the CEO of the UNIVERSE is GOD?!?
Just askin'...
OTHER SUBJECTS...
Did you get your Census form filled out and mailed? If you didn't, we're told that Census people will be knocking on your door and if you refuse to fill the Census form out then, you could be fined up to $5000. If you're like me, when you saw the Census questions, weren't you tempted to answer none of the questions? And maybe what you were thinking about writing on the top of the page is what I was thinking about writing? Which was, N.O.Y.F.B. ?
Nah, I didn't do it, either. Just filled it out and mailed it.
Have you been following that Sandra Bullock story? Jesse James sounds like the same kind of dog that Tiger Woods is.
Speaking of Tiger Woods...He will be answering questions from reporters, Monday, April 5 at 2pm Eastern time. He will begin play at the Masters, Thursday, April 8. Will his wife be there? No one knows. The way all these publicity hound women he had affairs with are talking and talking and talking some more, you gotta wonder if Tiger's wife can find the strength or a real good reason to "forgive" him. Cheating with ONE person is something that most wives and or husbands aren't real thrilled about. But when you know that your spouse has cheated on you with what seems like (to use a military term) a battalion of members of the opposite sex, forgiveness is probably the last thing I'm thinking about. The first thing I'm thinking about? My damaged pride. Second thing? Murder.
Just keepin' it real...
It is now April Fool's Day and I don't know what made me think of this, buuuut....April Fool's Day is an "anniversary day" for me. This will be the first time I've ever written this and I know I never made mention of it all the years I was regularly on radio and or television.
April Fool's Day, many years ago, was the first day I worked as a professional radio broadcaster.
Happy Anniversary, Scott.
Thank you, Scott.
Just gettin' silly. True story, though.
THE 28th AMENDMENT!!!
I know. We don't have a 28th Amendment. This involves the idea of having a 28th Amendment.
This idea was sent to me by two people who are friends of mine. The first person who sent it was Patrick Emory, a guy I've known for more years than either one of us admits to being old.
Patrick was leaving a radio station to become a television star on the same day I was hired at that radio station. A number of years later our paths crossed again when he was hired to do television news in St. Louis and I was a radio talk show host in St. Louis. Patrick Emory also was a television news anchor here in Los Angeles, but he made his biggest mark as a long time television news anchor for CNN.
The other person who sent me this 28th Amendment idea was Edwin Craig, a long time stage, film and television actor who has been a friend of mine here for more than 20 years.
I could write an essay telling you why this idea is being proposed by these two men, but I won't because I've learned that people who read this blog are people who don't need an essay to explain the "why" of something that is "obvious" to you.
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; And...Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.
For the very few of you who might wonder about the possible redundancy of an Amendment like this, you would be wrong. People in Congress get better "arrangements" involving retirement, Social Security and Healthcare benefits and they are also exempt from some laws the rest of us would be prosecuted for. This 28th Amendment idea would put us all on a level playing field, which is where we should be.
Yo, Tea Party People! Get your teeth into THIS idea!!!
CHANGE IN PLANS...
I planned to write about questions regarding death and questions about Year 1. We are now in Year 2010. Year 1 was decided by what, whom and why? I now plan (hope) to be writing about these subjects when I write the next blog on April 7.
ENTERTAINMENT STUFF...
Have you ever heard of Travis McGee? He was a fictional detective type character that was created by the late John D. MacDonald. 21 books about this character were written by MacDonald. I read every one of them.
Almost 30 years or so ago, I interviewed MacDonald on the radio several times. He had a few conversations with mostly television people about doing a television series or movies of the week about the Travis McGee character. Because he had taken a liking to me, MacDonald wanted to try to include me as a regular character that McGee knew well and for the most part was friendly with.
I had conversations with MacDonald about two possibilities (for a series or movies) that didn't get finalized and he was still trying to make something happen when he died.
I bring this up because it looks like some Travis McGee films are going to be made. If everything works out, it will be a "franchise" situation involving several films based on several of MacDonald's books. In other words, like the Jason Bourne franchise based on the late Robert Ludlum books. As we all know, Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne.
If this Travis McGee thing works out, Leonardo DiCaprio will star as Travis McGee and Oliver Stone will be the Director and or Producer of all the films. Me? I'm now too old to play the character John D. MacDonald had in mind for me.
AND SPEAKING OF FRANCHISES...
If you care, I'm sure you know that it was recently announced that the television show, "24" will go off the air after this season of shows ends. I have seen every episode of "24", so needless to say, I'm sorry that the end is near. The end as far as television goes. We are told that a full length feature film version of "24" will be made after the series has ended and if the "24" film is a hit, then more "24" films will be made.
QUESTIONS AND OR COMMENTS? Write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you immediately. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me know your email address so I won't be able to respond to you. Again...write to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you immediately. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.
THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances, late Wednesday night, April 7 which means a posting of early Thursday morning, April 8.
HAPPY EASTER!!!
There are a lot of people here in the Los Angeles area who think that Cardinal Roger Mahony should be in prison. There's a Cardinal who used to be in the St. Louis area who seemed to imagine himself to be a John Wayne type, but all he really was/is a bully with a fancy title. In fact, the Catholic Church seems to have a lot of guys like that who are in "power" positions. Guys like Pope Benedict XVI, a guy, who while a Cardinal, knew a lot about pedophile priests and seems to have done nothing about them except to maybe suggest that these priests go somewhere else and do a lot of praying. One assumes that would be praying for forgiveness, but because a lot of these pedophile priests ended up going to different locations where they could sexually abuse other children, one wonders if the praying they were doing had to do with hoping that a new "assignment" would be sooner rather than later.
WHOA!!! Am I being too HARSH, here?!?
I don't think so.
We have been hearing about these renegade priests who have been sexually abusing children for YEARS!!! And yes, every once in a while, one of these priests gets convicted of something, but if we're honest about this, REAL punishment...Punishment that FITS this horrendous crime...
Is seldom what happens.
Okay...Let's take a deep breath (we'll start with me), calm down and take into account what we're really talking about.
Catholic family. Kids in that family. Being raised as Catholics. Some of them become altar boys. Some of them want to be altar boys. Some of them become altar boys because their parents want them to be altar boys. It doesn't matter how they became altar boys. What matters is, the people they would be working with (priests) are people who represent God! If I'm a parent of one of those alter boys or if I'M one of those alter boys, I'm figuring my kid is in good hands or I'm in good hands.
Sadly, in too many cases, we've learned that the hands on many of these priests were whacha call, "straying hands". Hands that are used to probe. Under the underpants that children were/are wearing.
And in many cases, that was just the beginning of what those "straying hands" would do.
Can you imagine the humiliation that must have been felt by these children? We have read countless numbers of stories that were made public 20, 30 and 40 years after the humiliation they experienced because they were too "embarrassed" to tell anyone.
ORRRR...In many cases when a child would try to tell their parents what happened, their parents wouldn't believe their children because in their minds, nice Father Freddy is a man of God, for crying out loud and when did my kid become a liar?
Yes, things are different now. I think it's safe to say that most parents are "on guard" these days because of all the horrible stories everyone has heard about these rogue priests. But think of all the children who have been mentally damaged because of these priests. And how about the Catholic Bishops and other leaders who did virtually nothing about this problem except for the terrific job they did of KEEPING IT QUIET for who knows how many years?
It's not quiet now. In fact, the Catholic Church is very much on the defensive. So much so, they're sounding like a bunch of right wing talk show hosts who blame the media for the problems they're having.
What can be done about this? Well, if the Pope isn't going to do anything except tell priests and Bishops to pray more, maybe the Pope should be fired. And if firing the Pope is something the Catholic Church doesn't allow, some good prosecutors should put together a case that could result in jail time for the Pope. I mean there seems to be evidence that if anyone wants to look at it, that shows Pope Benedict XVI (when he was a Cardinal) knew about priests who were child abusers and he seems to have done (virtually) nothing about it.
But there are a lot of current Catholic Cardinals who seem to be guilty of the same thing.
Is it time to seriously consider putting a broom to much of the leadership of the Catholic Church?
And I want to go back to the punishment issue. Punishment for these child abusing priests. REAL punishment! Punishment that involves these creeps disguised as men of God being put into prison. And when they arrive at prison, they are given a cell mate. A big cell mate. A big cell mate who is in prison because he was convicted of multiple brutal rapes.
If nothing else, that punished priest would now/then have something to seriously pray to God about.
And speaking of GOD....
Where does he, she or it play into all of this sexual abuse of children by priests?
True believers believe that God, Jesus, Allah or whatever other name you want to attach to what is believed to be a Supreme Being, is in fact (or we believe) someone who is Our Creator, The One Who Watches Over Us, etc., etc.
You see, if I'M this Supreme Being who is watching over everyone and I see a whole lot of priest people who claim they are representing ME, I would be making it my business to see to it that these priests (or anyone else who was claiming to represent me) were doing their best to make me look good.
I mean, isn't that what a CEO of a company does? And if you're a believer, isn't it safe to say that the CEO of the UNIVERSE is GOD?!?
Just askin'...
OTHER SUBJECTS...
Did you get your Census form filled out and mailed? If you didn't, we're told that Census people will be knocking on your door and if you refuse to fill the Census form out then, you could be fined up to $5000. If you're like me, when you saw the Census questions, weren't you tempted to answer none of the questions? And maybe what you were thinking about writing on the top of the page is what I was thinking about writing? Which was, N.O.Y.F.B. ?
Nah, I didn't do it, either. Just filled it out and mailed it.
Have you been following that Sandra Bullock story? Jesse James sounds like the same kind of dog that Tiger Woods is.
Speaking of Tiger Woods...He will be answering questions from reporters, Monday, April 5 at 2pm Eastern time. He will begin play at the Masters, Thursday, April 8. Will his wife be there? No one knows. The way all these publicity hound women he had affairs with are talking and talking and talking some more, you gotta wonder if Tiger's wife can find the strength or a real good reason to "forgive" him. Cheating with ONE person is something that most wives and or husbands aren't real thrilled about. But when you know that your spouse has cheated on you with what seems like (to use a military term) a battalion of members of the opposite sex, forgiveness is probably the last thing I'm thinking about. The first thing I'm thinking about? My damaged pride. Second thing? Murder.
Just keepin' it real...
It is now April Fool's Day and I don't know what made me think of this, buuuut....April Fool's Day is an "anniversary day" for me. This will be the first time I've ever written this and I know I never made mention of it all the years I was regularly on radio and or television.
April Fool's Day, many years ago, was the first day I worked as a professional radio broadcaster.
Happy Anniversary, Scott.
Thank you, Scott.
Just gettin' silly. True story, though.
THE 28th AMENDMENT!!!
I know. We don't have a 28th Amendment. This involves the idea of having a 28th Amendment.
This idea was sent to me by two people who are friends of mine. The first person who sent it was Patrick Emory, a guy I've known for more years than either one of us admits to being old.
Patrick was leaving a radio station to become a television star on the same day I was hired at that radio station. A number of years later our paths crossed again when he was hired to do television news in St. Louis and I was a radio talk show host in St. Louis. Patrick Emory also was a television news anchor here in Los Angeles, but he made his biggest mark as a long time television news anchor for CNN.
The other person who sent me this 28th Amendment idea was Edwin Craig, a long time stage, film and television actor who has been a friend of mine here for more than 20 years.
I could write an essay telling you why this idea is being proposed by these two men, but I won't because I've learned that people who read this blog are people who don't need an essay to explain the "why" of something that is "obvious" to you.
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; And...Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.
For the very few of you who might wonder about the possible redundancy of an Amendment like this, you would be wrong. People in Congress get better "arrangements" involving retirement, Social Security and Healthcare benefits and they are also exempt from some laws the rest of us would be prosecuted for. This 28th Amendment idea would put us all on a level playing field, which is where we should be.
Yo, Tea Party People! Get your teeth into THIS idea!!!
CHANGE IN PLANS...
I planned to write about questions regarding death and questions about Year 1. We are now in Year 2010. Year 1 was decided by what, whom and why? I now plan (hope) to be writing about these subjects when I write the next blog on April 7.
ENTERTAINMENT STUFF...
Have you ever heard of Travis McGee? He was a fictional detective type character that was created by the late John D. MacDonald. 21 books about this character were written by MacDonald. I read every one of them.
Almost 30 years or so ago, I interviewed MacDonald on the radio several times. He had a few conversations with mostly television people about doing a television series or movies of the week about the Travis McGee character. Because he had taken a liking to me, MacDonald wanted to try to include me as a regular character that McGee knew well and for the most part was friendly with.
I had conversations with MacDonald about two possibilities (for a series or movies) that didn't get finalized and he was still trying to make something happen when he died.
I bring this up because it looks like some Travis McGee films are going to be made. If everything works out, it will be a "franchise" situation involving several films based on several of MacDonald's books. In other words, like the Jason Bourne franchise based on the late Robert Ludlum books. As we all know, Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne.
If this Travis McGee thing works out, Leonardo DiCaprio will star as Travis McGee and Oliver Stone will be the Director and or Producer of all the films. Me? I'm now too old to play the character John D. MacDonald had in mind for me.
AND SPEAKING OF FRANCHISES...
If you care, I'm sure you know that it was recently announced that the television show, "24" will go off the air after this season of shows ends. I have seen every episode of "24", so needless to say, I'm sorry that the end is near. The end as far as television goes. We are told that a full length feature film version of "24" will be made after the series has ended and if the "24" film is a hit, then more "24" films will be made.
QUESTIONS AND OR COMMENTS? Write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you immediately. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me know your email address so I won't be able to respond to you. Again...write to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you immediately. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.
THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances, late Wednesday night, April 7 which means a posting of early Thursday morning, April 8.
HAPPY EASTER!!!
posted by Scott St. James at 11:08 PM
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