*YAWN* Good morning....
It's been quite a week - moving, followed by birthday and all the fun adjustment stuff that comes in between. So far, one week in, things are good. I intend that they remain so as long as possible.
But that doesn't excuse me from not providing incisive commentary on the World At Large, so here we go.
!) "We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature..."
Wait, what?
The Irish Catholic Church has been ripped open this week, revealing a history of child abuse that would make any human being sick. The Church ran workhouses and orphanages in Ireland for decades, and spent much of that time abusing, humiliating, and having sex with the children in their care. And, as with the reports in the US a few years ago, the Church knew what was going on and not only didn't try to stop it, but actively tried to cover it up.
The line at the top there is from retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his memoirs, he seriously claims that they didn't know that child molestation was a crime. In fact, he believed that the kids would either forget about it or grow out of it.
The Church, of course, is in full damage control mode. The victims in Ireland want justice, which no one can blame them for, and the Church and its apologists want to part of it. Bill Donohue, of the US-based Catholic League, writes a nauseating defense in which he claims that "only" 12% of the kids were actually raped, and the rest were just either fondled, kissed or stared at. Because y'know, that's okay. Hell, that's a morning subway ride for me. He also claims that because most of the abuse happened before 1970, and the victims are old now, it's not that bad. The past was different, you see. You could fondle boys to your heart's content back then and no one would say a thing! Ah, for the good old days...
Look - there is right and there is wrong, and telling the difference is not always easy. But in this case, it is. If even half of what this report is claiming is true, the Church in Ireland is seriously broken. Heads need to roll, and the Church as a whole has to stop trying to pretend that this shit didn't go down. I know there's this whole myth that the Church is an instrument of God, but unless God also likes to fiddle young boys (and who's to say that He doesn't?) the Church needs to adhere to human law and answer to its fellow human beings.
2) What's the problem with moving the Gitmo detainees onto the Mainland? The Senate collectively shat itself and denied funds to close Gitmo because no one wanted its prisoners in their backyards.
Look, none of these guys are Lex Luthor. They're not going to build a giant robot out of spare laundry equipment and rampage through the streets of the United States. They're not supervillains, they're just people. Bad people, sure, but still - people. This is what happens when you listen to your own hype - the government and the press have spent years trying to convince us that the guys at Gitmo are the Worst of the Worst, the most horrible human beings ever to have blackened our dear planet, and it is only in the shadowy netherworld of Guantanamo Bay that they might be held back from their dream of ruining your children.
Speaking of which, here's a guy who raped his daughter in a graveyard. Or a guy who's going to prison for murdering a mother of four. Or this woman who killed her husband while he slept. Or this couple who abused their infant son?
I could go on, but let me cap it with this guy - a man who not only planned terrorist activities but actually carried one out. A man who perpetrated the worst act of domestic terrorism prior to 9/11. Y'all remember Timothy McVeigh? He was a successful terrorist, and where did we keep him? On an island somewhere lest he somehow get out and resume his reign of terror? Nope. Good old federal prison. It was good enough for the guy who killed 168 people, I think it's good enough for the guys we only think are trying to kill us. Our prison system, overcrowding aside, is a good one. We build strong buildings with competent guards and security features. If they're good enough to hold mass murderers, drug lords and gang kingpins, they can handle the guys we've done our best to break for the least eight years.
I think the true fear here is not that they'll form a Legion of Evil on the mainland because they're all nascent supervillains, but rather that they are monsters we have created. The last eight years haven't been all that good on the due process front, and there is a chance that some of the guys in Guantanamo Bay - who have been held without due process for a long time now - might actually not be guilty. But that doesn't mean they aren't pissed off. Maybe they weren't terrorists before they were caught, but they certainly could see their way to becoming terrorists afterward.
3) Speaking of holding people indefinitely - You're Doing It Wrong, Obama. The President is considering holding on to the idea of keeping certain prisoners without charging them or bringing them to trial, one of the more vile relics of the Bush administration. These would be certain Guantanamo detainees (although the more freaked-out Leftie sites are convinced that it could be YOU!!) whose offenses, for reasons of national security or others, cannot be prosecuted in open court. They could be a threat to the US, but we can't explain why, so let's just hold on to 'em until, I dunno, they die.
Sorry, Prez, but that didn't wash when Dubya was in the White House and it isn't any more acceptable now that it's you. The Constitution is not a document of convenience, to be ignored when it makes things difficult - it's law. Fundamental law, even, and you know it just as well as I do. There is a moral principle at stake that will outlive the shorter-term security issues that you're so worried about, and that moral principle is that we follow our own rules. If we want to be respected as a leader of nations, then we have to be seen to deserve that respect. Doing the right thing - even if it's difficult (hell, especially if it's difficult) - is an important part of that. You told us that making America a better place wouldn't be easy, and you're right. But that applies to you too. Find a way.
It is an interesting chance for bias examination, though. When the previous administration pushed this, my first thought was, "You fuckers!" Now when it comes out of Obama, I think, "Well I'm sure he knows what he's HEY WAIT A MINUTE!" Because I couldn't stand Bush, you see, but I think Obama's a pretty stand-up guy. Let that be a lesson: pay attention to the words and the deeds, not to whether you like the person saying and doing them.
That's about all the steam I have. I'll try to do more evenly-paced harangues from now on so as to avoid superposts....
But that doesn't excuse me from not providing incisive commentary on the World At Large, so here we go.
!) "We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature..."
Wait, what?
The Irish Catholic Church has been ripped open this week, revealing a history of child abuse that would make any human being sick. The Church ran workhouses and orphanages in Ireland for decades, and spent much of that time abusing, humiliating, and having sex with the children in their care. And, as with the reports in the US a few years ago, the Church knew what was going on and not only didn't try to stop it, but actively tried to cover it up.
The line at the top there is from retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his memoirs, he seriously claims that they didn't know that child molestation was a crime. In fact, he believed that the kids would either forget about it or grow out of it.
The Church, of course, is in full damage control mode. The victims in Ireland want justice, which no one can blame them for, and the Church and its apologists want to part of it. Bill Donohue, of the US-based Catholic League, writes a nauseating defense in which he claims that "only" 12% of the kids were actually raped, and the rest were just either fondled, kissed or stared at. Because y'know, that's okay. Hell, that's a morning subway ride for me. He also claims that because most of the abuse happened before 1970, and the victims are old now, it's not that bad. The past was different, you see. You could fondle boys to your heart's content back then and no one would say a thing! Ah, for the good old days...
Look - there is right and there is wrong, and telling the difference is not always easy. But in this case, it is. If even half of what this report is claiming is true, the Church in Ireland is seriously broken. Heads need to roll, and the Church as a whole has to stop trying to pretend that this shit didn't go down. I know there's this whole myth that the Church is an instrument of God, but unless God also likes to fiddle young boys (and who's to say that He doesn't?) the Church needs to adhere to human law and answer to its fellow human beings.
2) What's the problem with moving the Gitmo detainees onto the Mainland? The Senate collectively shat itself and denied funds to close Gitmo because no one wanted its prisoners in their backyards.
Look, none of these guys are Lex Luthor. They're not going to build a giant robot out of spare laundry equipment and rampage through the streets of the United States. They're not supervillains, they're just people. Bad people, sure, but still - people. This is what happens when you listen to your own hype - the government and the press have spent years trying to convince us that the guys at Gitmo are the Worst of the Worst, the most horrible human beings ever to have blackened our dear planet, and it is only in the shadowy netherworld of Guantanamo Bay that they might be held back from their dream of ruining your children.
Speaking of which, here's a guy who raped his daughter in a graveyard. Or a guy who's going to prison for murdering a mother of four. Or this woman who killed her husband while he slept. Or this couple who abused their infant son?
I could go on, but let me cap it with this guy - a man who not only planned terrorist activities but actually carried one out. A man who perpetrated the worst act of domestic terrorism prior to 9/11. Y'all remember Timothy McVeigh? He was a successful terrorist, and where did we keep him? On an island somewhere lest he somehow get out and resume his reign of terror? Nope. Good old federal prison. It was good enough for the guy who killed 168 people, I think it's good enough for the guys we only think are trying to kill us. Our prison system, overcrowding aside, is a good one. We build strong buildings with competent guards and security features. If they're good enough to hold mass murderers, drug lords and gang kingpins, they can handle the guys we've done our best to break for the least eight years.
I think the true fear here is not that they'll form a Legion of Evil on the mainland because they're all nascent supervillains, but rather that they are monsters we have created. The last eight years haven't been all that good on the due process front, and there is a chance that some of the guys in Guantanamo Bay - who have been held without due process for a long time now - might actually not be guilty. But that doesn't mean they aren't pissed off. Maybe they weren't terrorists before they were caught, but they certainly could see their way to becoming terrorists afterward.
3) Speaking of holding people indefinitely - You're Doing It Wrong, Obama. The President is considering holding on to the idea of keeping certain prisoners without charging them or bringing them to trial, one of the more vile relics of the Bush administration. These would be certain Guantanamo detainees (although the more freaked-out Leftie sites are convinced that it could be YOU!!) whose offenses, for reasons of national security or others, cannot be prosecuted in open court. They could be a threat to the US, but we can't explain why, so let's just hold on to 'em until, I dunno, they die.
Sorry, Prez, but that didn't wash when Dubya was in the White House and it isn't any more acceptable now that it's you. The Constitution is not a document of convenience, to be ignored when it makes things difficult - it's law. Fundamental law, even, and you know it just as well as I do. There is a moral principle at stake that will outlive the shorter-term security issues that you're so worried about, and that moral principle is that we follow our own rules. If we want to be respected as a leader of nations, then we have to be seen to deserve that respect. Doing the right thing - even if it's difficult (hell, especially if it's difficult) - is an important part of that. You told us that making America a better place wouldn't be easy, and you're right. But that applies to you too. Find a way.
It is an interesting chance for bias examination, though. When the previous administration pushed this, my first thought was, "You fuckers!" Now when it comes out of Obama, I think, "Well I'm sure he knows what he's HEY WAIT A MINUTE!" Because I couldn't stand Bush, you see, but I think Obama's a pretty stand-up guy. Let that be a lesson: pay attention to the words and the deeds, not to whether you like the person saying and doing them.
That's about all the steam I have. I'll try to do more evenly-paced harangues from now on so as to avoid superposts....