Good evening. We'll get things started with Democracy Now!
73-Year-Old Held w/ $50K Bail for "Looting" Sausages
More information is emerging from New Orleans over how the police are treating people accused of looting. A 73-year-old woman remains in jail on a $50,000 bond after police arrested her for looting sixty dollars worth of sausage. At the time of her arrest, the woman -- Merlene Maten -- was staying in a hotel with her 80-year-old husband. She said they had followed orders to stock up on food and had stored some sausage in her car. After she took the sausage from the car, she says police handcuffed her and threw her in jail. A judge then set the bail at $50,000 -- 100 times the maximum $500 fine under state law for minor thefts.
The big bad looters, remember? This is disgusting and more so if you read Ruth's Morning Edition Report where she talked about the law professor CounterSpin had on discussing human necessity.
Vatican Orders Review of Homosexuality in Nation's Seminaries
The Vatican has ordered a crack down on homosexuality at seminaries in the United States. According to the New York Times, the Vatican is sending teams of investigators to all 229 seminaries in the country in order to interview every faculty member and seminarian as well as everyone who graduated in the last three years. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien is supervising the review. Last week he told the National Catholic Register that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary. He said the restriction should even apply to men who have not been sexually active for a decade or more. The investigators will also be on the lookout for any faculty members who dissent from church teaching. The last such review began about 25 years ago and took six years to complete.
Cause we can't have any priests who are gay in the Church. All our priests have to have sex with women and only women. Oops! No sex for priests at all.
This is one of the things the Church works itself into a tizzy over that I just can't grasp. We got some serious issues in the world and what a priest desires isn't one of them. If he breaks his vow of celibacy with any adult, he should be disciplined. If he breaks a vow with any child, strip him of his collar.
We worry about the biggest nonsense. I like a lot of stuff about my religion but this is not one of them.
On that story, I want to include something C.I. put in from it at The Common Ills (I won't link to NYT):
Experts in human sexuality have cautioned that homosexuality and attraction to children are different, and that a disproportionate percentage of boys may have been abused because priests were more likely to have access to male targets - like altar boys or junior seminarians - than to girls.
There have been a number of e-mails about the Zogby poll I posted earlier this week. I'm going to wait on those and let everyone see the latest. It's called "'06 Mid-Term Zogby Poll:"
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. We have questions on a variety of topics and really appreciate your input.What state do you live in?
Select from list
[. . .]
Are you registered to vote in the United States?
How likely are you to vote in statewide elections?
In the 2004 presidential election, the candidates were Democrat John Kerry, Republican George W. Bush, and independent Ralph Nader. For whom did you vote?
In which party are you either registered to vote or do you consider yourself to be a member ...
Please tell me if your overall opinion of George W. Bush is very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable, or you are not familiar enough to form an opinion.
[Now they ask state questions, not national ones. Who would you vote for in this race with various candidates listed. I'm editing that out.]
Thanks. I just need some statistics.What is your age?
Are you currently employed full-time?
Do you work for a not-for-profit company, government agency, or in education?
How often do you shop at Wal-Mart?
A few times a month
A couple times a year
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education?
Less than high school graduate
High school graduate
Which of the following best represents your race or ethnic group?
Which of the following best represents where you live?
Large city (100,000 or more residents)
Small city (less than 100,000 residents)
Which description best represents your political ideology?
Which of the following best represents your religious affiliation?
Protestant/other non-denominational Christian
Are you or is anyone in your household a member of a union?
Are you a parent or guardian of a child under 17 who is living at home?
Which of the following best describes your marital status?
Single, never married
Civil union/domestic partnership
Are you or is any member of your family a member of the Armed Forces?
Would you consider yourself to be a member of the "investor class?"
Do you own any stocks, including mutual funds or 401K plans?
Which of the following best represents your household income last year before taxes?
Less than $15,000
$75,000 or more
Are you male or female.
Thanks to C.I. and Common Ills member ___ for passing that on to me.
To make up for rushing me tonight, Nina's agreed I can post her "poem" up here so look for that.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope I get some time to blog again. Don't miss The Third Estate Sunday Review.