Saturday, March 19, 2005

Regarding that Hypocrite Bishop in San Diego

God Bless the New York Times
by John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.ORG in DC - 3/19/2005 01:33:00 AM

This is their coverage of the San Diego bishop refusing to perform a gay man's funeral. Note the next story they insert right after this one - and without even a hard-return between the two stories!
CALIFORNIA: BISHOP DENIES FUNERAL RITES The Roman Catholic bishop of San Diego has denied funeral rites to a man who owned a bar and a dance club popular with gays, saying his business activities clashed with church teaching. The owner, John McCusker, who was 31 and gay, died of congestive heart failure on Sunday, his family said. Arrangements had been made for services at his alma mater, the University of San Diego, until Bishop Robert H. Brom intervened. "The bishop concluded that to avoid public scandal Mr. McCusker cannot be granted a funeral in a Catholic church or chapel," the diocese said. A church official said the decision was not related to Mr. McCusker's sexual orientation.(AP) CALIFORNIA: ARCHDIOCESE LOSES ABUSE SUIT The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco knew or should have known that one of its priests was molesting boys in the 1970's, a jury decided. The jury now decides how much to award the victim, Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, who sued the archdiocese, accusing the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard of molesting him. Mr. Kavanaugh's was the first of more than 750 suits against California dioceses to go to trial since the state temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for sex-abuse claims. (AP)

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Some More Notes on the Bush Social Security Scheme

From the folks at The National Review:


GEORGE H.W. BUSH DISAVOWS PRIVATIZATION:

... back in 1987.

Crack TNR editorial assistant Ben Adler recently fished this H.W. Bush quote out of the TNR archives (from the November 23, 1987 issue):

I think it's a nutty idea to fool around with the Social Security system and run the risk of [hurting] the people who've been saving all their lives.... It may be a new idea, but it's a dumb one.

For those keeping score, the comment came in response to a question from fellow presidential candidate Pete du Pont during a presidential debate. Du Pont was an advocate of partially privatizing the program.

Sunday, March 13, 2005