Ireland Home to Extraordinary Abuse by Catholic Church

What's amazing about this story is the extraordinary scope of abuse against children the Catholic Church has been directly responsible for.

Tens of thousands of Irish children were regularly sexually and physically abused by nuns, priests and others over a period of decades in hundreds of residential institutions that housed the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted, according to a report released in Dublin on Wednesday.

“A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys,” the report said, adding that sexual abuse was “endemic” in boys’ institutions.

The 2600 page report accuses over 800 priest & nuns (anonymously) of abuse between the 1930s and 1990s. The report was delayed because the "Christian" Brothers, the order many of the accused belonged to, successful sued to keep the priest and nuns (to clarify: who raped and terrorized kids) names private.

The church has paid out more money to cover-up child abuse than Michael Jackson.

In 2002, the Catholic Church in Ireland agreed to pay $175 million to compensate victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. A separate group has paid out some $1.5 billion so far to more than 10,000 people who have claimed they were abused in state and church-run institutions.

Wikipedia lists other bribes payed by the church:

January 15, 2007 Diocese of Charleston Bishop Robert J. Baker agreed to pay $12 million to settle numerous cases concerning abuse by priests.

In December 2006 the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (its archbishop was Roger Cardinal Mahony) agreed to a payout of $60 million to settle 45 of the over 500 pending cases concerning abuse by priests.[75] In July 2007 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay a $660 million settlement to hundreds of people who claimed to have been abused by clergy.

In September 2003 the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay out $85 million to 552 victims.

In 1997 the Diocese of Dallas negotiated a $31 million settlement with victims.

In June 2003 the Archdiocese of Louisville made a $25.7 million settlement involving 240 victims of sexual abuse.

On January 3, 2005 Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange apologized to 87 alleged victims of sexual abuse and announced a settlement of $100 million following two years of mediation.

In December 2006 the Diocese of Phoenix agreed to pay $100,000 to William Cesolini, who claimed he was sexually assaulted as a teenager by a priest.

In Canada the Christian Brothers have paid out approximately $35 million (Canadian) in compensation.

In May 1994 the Diocese of Lincoln (Nebraska) agreed to pay Rob Butler, FKA Adam Butler, $40,000 after he claimed he was abused weekly for two years.

Clinton Doubts God Paints Pictures On Earth

I feel sorry for U.S. Politicians who walk the delicate balancing act of being committed to reason and pragmatism, while also believing that paranormal forces govern Earth from a Celestial Kingdom. Lord knows, I could never do it.

Hillary Clinton got herself in some trouble last Thursday when she was in Mexico, while visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Catholics believe: "The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531."

Clinton asked Msgr. Diego Monroy, the rector of the Basilica, "Who painted it?" He replied "God!" I wish I could have been there to see the look on her face!

Important Things with Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin's new show Important Things with Demetri Martin is really funny. I always thought he was good on The Daily Show, but he's really come into his own with this series.

The below video is of this amazingly funny sketch titled Creedocide, which I laughed very hard at.

Important Things with Demetri MartinWed 10:30pm / 9:30c

Power - Creedocide

Joke of the Day
Stand-Up Comedy

Get Funny Ringtones
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I look forward to many more laughs. New episodes air on Comedy Central on Wednesdays at 10:30EST.

(Please note the Comedy Central website is extremely clunky and this video may take forever and ever to load, but it's worth it.)

Odds & Ends

This morning was my first in Bloomington, sadly the local coffee shop doesn't have Wi-Fi, so I'm late blogging. Rehearsals start tonight for Vote! and I'm excited to finally meet finally meet the cast. Last night Eric Anderson, the producer, took me out to Mother Bear's Pizza near IU, it was fantastic and is ranked fourth in the nation by whoever ranks pizza places.

-- Norm Coleman is such an asshole. Not only is he trying to force a revote by continuing to legally challenge the election results, he lost to Comedian Al Franken, and running negative ads like there is still a campaign - now he's saying Jesus is on his side. On Friday, he gave an interview to conservative radio host Mike Gallager - Coleman said he starts every day with a prayer and that he knows “God wants me to serve.” God hates Al Franken.

-- John Glover, who comes from my hometown of Salisbury, MD, is joining the cast of Waiting for Godot on Broadway. Glover is replacing David Strathairn and joins the star-studded cast featuring Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, and John Goodman.

-- Atheists in London have bought ads on buses proclaiming, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." This has upset Christians so much, that they are buying their own ads that say, "Psalm 53: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." The Christian group is apparently spending over $50,000 on the ads. I bet Jesus would rather see that 50k go to the poor instead of boosting the ego of David Larlham, the assistant general secretary of London's Trinitarian Bible Society, who payed for the ads. But, that 50k bought him a few quotes a paper, so finally his life may have some value.

-- The almost bankrupt New York Times published an article on how hard it is to live in NYC for less than $500,000 a year. Fuck you.