Why Is nebraska Senator Ben Nelson Taking Advice from Child Rapists?
Via Firedoglake, it looks like Ben Nelson is doing the bidding of child rapists:
But Nelson decided later Thursday to hold off after Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, said he thought that the measure was being rushed to the floor. Hatch had expected to be the lead sponsor of the amendment, and he said he thought it was “discourteous” that Nelson was preparing — apparently at the behest of his leadership — to call up the amendment without Hatch’s consent.
Nelson said that the amendment’s language was not finished, and that groups opposed to abortion — notably the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — needed more time to review it. Additional time, he added, might lead to greater bipartisan support.
Maybe you think it’s hyperbole when I call the Catholic church hierarchy “child rapists”, but that is EXACTLY what the Bishops are. And if they’re not raping children themselves, they are protecting child rapists and allowing the crimes to continue. Here’s Bishop Edward Egan:
[S]till it is hard not to feel a chill reading the testimony from two depositions given in 1997 and 1999 by Edward Egan, who was then bishop of Bridgeport and later named a cardinal and archbishop of New York. As he skirmishes with lawyers, he betrays a distressing tendency to disbelieve accusers and to shuck off blame.
He responds to accounts of abuse not with shame but skepticism, and exhibits the keen instinct for fraternal self-protection that reliably put shepherds ahead of the traumatized flock.
Referring to the Rev. Raymond Pcolka, whom 12 former parishioners accused of abuses involving oral and anal sex and beatings, Bishop Egan said: “I am not aware of those things. I am aware of the claims of those things, the allegations of those things. I am aware that there are a number of people who know one another, some are related to one another, have the same lawyers and so forth.”
Absent in those pages is a sense of understanding of the true scope of the tragedy.
For those who may have forgotten, here’s what the Bishops did (and didn’t do) in Philadelphia:
After reviewing thousands of documents from Archdiocese files and hearing statements and testimony from over a hundred witnesses — including Archdiocese managers, priests, abuse victims, and experts on the Church and child abuse — we, the Grand Jurors, were taken aback by the extent of sexual exploitation within the Philadelphia Archdiocese. We were saddened to discover the magnitude of the calamity in terms of the abuse itself, the suffering it has caused, and the numbers of victims and priests involved.
The Jurors heard testimony that will stay with us for a very long time, probably forever, We heard of Philadelphia-area priests committing countless acts of sexual depravity against children entrusted to their care through the Archdiocese’s parishes and schools. The abuses ranged from glancing touches of genitals under the guise of innocent wrestling to sadomasochistic rituals and relentless anal, oral, and vaginal rapes…
For any who might want to believe that the abuse problem in the Philadelphia area was limited in scope, this Report will disabuse them of that impression. The Jurors heard from some victims who were sexually abused once or twice, and from many more who were abused week after week for years. Many of the priests whose cases we examined had more than 10 victims; some abused multiple victims simultaneously. indeed, the evidence arising from the Philadelphia Archdiocese reveals criminality against minors on a widespread scale -sparing no geographic sector, no income level, no ethnic group. We heard testimony about priests molesting and raping children in rectory bedrooms, in church sacristies, in parked cars, in swimming pools, at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary , at the priests’ vacation houses in the Poconos and the Jersey Shore, in the children’s schools and even in their own homes…
Grand Jurors heard evidence proving that Cardinals Bevilacqua and Krol, and their aides, were aware that priests in the diocese were perpetrating massive amounts of child molestations and sexual assaults. The Archdiocese’s own tiles reveal a steady stream of reports and allegations from the 1960s through the 1980s, accelerating in the 1990s (with nearly 100 allegations in that decade), and exploding after 2001 In many cases, the same priests were reported again and again…
In the face of crimes they knew were being committed by their priests, Church leaders could have reported them to police. They could have removed the child molesters from ministry , and stopped the sexual abuse of minors by Archdioeesan clerics. Instead, they consistently chose to conceal the abuse rather than to end it. They chose to protect themselves from scandal and liability rather than protect children from the priests’ crimes.
THAT is who Ben Nelson is taking his cues from: child rapists and the people who protect them. And when I read this kind of stuff, as a parent my blood begins to boil.
I am glad that I’m not Catholic, because it would be REALLY hard for me to deal with the shame and anger. And I’m also glad I’m not from Nebraska, where a dirty old man like Ben Nelson is working to throw away women’s reproductive rights because a bunch of pedophiles told him to. Because if you ask me, the main reason the Catholic Church claims to be pro-life is because the priesthood needs a steady stream of children to prey upon.
The facts are that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has no business reviewing US legislation to make sure it conforms to their religious guidelines, and a US Senator shouldn’t be relying on a bunch of demonstrated sex criminals for advice and consent.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:45 am
The cross makes an excellent shield against vampires and truth tellers.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Sorry if the link post is a no-no, but I thought it followed the lines of the pro-life hypocrites using religion for cover.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/12/7/19276/1728
December 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
links are totally cool, kinmo, thanks for posting!