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Catholic Church in Ireland releases study of sexual abuse by priests AP Dublin, Ireland, 12/4/03 Roman Catholic bishops, releasing a damning report on their handling of child sex-abuse scandals, apologized and promised to improve systems for protecting children. "The 332-page report released Thursday, the fruit of two years of work by psychologists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, detailed the damage the scandals have done to victims, the church and wider society in this overwhelmingly Catholic nation. "It tells of mistakes made in responding to those who came to the church seeking sensitivity and compassion." More than 100 Irish clergy have been convicted of sex offenses in the last decade. The scandals toppled a government in 1994 after the Irish attorney-general delayed extradition of a priest wanted on sex abuse charges in neighboring Northern Ireland. A compensation tribunal formed earlier this year is expected to pay up to $700 million to thousands of claimants who allegedly suffered abuse in church-run schools, workhouses and orphanages from the 1940s to 1980s. The government agreed to foot most of the bill because it had ultimate responsibility for supervising the institutions." http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap12-04-105134.asp?reg=EUROPE
A Little Perspective
By Michael Moore
If you can't get through this list without wanting to throw up, I'll
understand. But pass it around anyway. This is the nail in the Iraq
War's coffin for any sane, thinking individual, regardless of their
political stripe. (Thanks to Tom Paine.com and the Center for American
Progress.)
To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about what
$87 billion means:
$87 Billion is more than the combined total of all State budget deficits
in the United States. The Bush administration proposed absolutely zero
funds to help states deal with these deficits, despite the fact that
their tax cuts drove down state revenues. [Source: Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities].
$87 Billion is enough to pay the 3.3 million people who have lost jobs
under George W. Bush $26,363.00 each! The unemployment benefits
extension passed by Congress at the beginning of this year provides zero
benefits to workers who exhausted their regular, state unemployment
benefits and cannot find work [Source: Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities].
$87 Billion is more than double the total amount the government spends on Homeland Security. The U.S. spends about $36 billion on homeland
security. Yet, Sen. Warren Rudman (R- N.H.) wrote, America will fall
approximately $98 .4 billion short of meeting critical emergency
responder needs for homeland security without a funding increase.
[Source: Council on Foreign Relations].
$87 Billion is 87 times the amount the Federal Government spends on
After School Programs. George W. Bush proposed a budget that reduces the
$1 billion for after-school programs to $600 million cutting off about
475,000 children from the program. [Source: The Republican-dominated
House Appropriations Committee].
$87 Billion is more that 10 times what the Government spends on all
environmental Protection. The Bush administration requested just $7.6
billion for the entire Environmental Protection Agency. This included a
32 percent cut to water quality grants, a 6 percent reduction in
enforcement staff, and a 50 percent cut to land acquisition and
conservation. [Source: Natural Resources Defense Council].
There you go. In black and white. A few million of you will receive this
letter. Please share the above with at least a half-dozen people today
and tomorrow. I, like you, do not want to see another approval rating
over 50 percent.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Filmmaker
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120503B.shtml
nytimes
ACLU Says Patriot Act Unconstitutional ��The Associated Press
��Thursday 04 December 2003 ��DETROIT - The USA Patriot Act gives federal agents unlimited and unconstitutional authority to secretly seize library reading lists and other personal records, civil liberties advocates told a judge. ��A U.S. district judge in Detroit heard arguments Wednesday in the first legal challenge to the part of the Patriot Act that lets agents obtain such things as library lists and medical information.
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=031205~v4c.asp
Investigate and Punish Those Who Tried to Bribed Rep. Nick Smith
Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., says that sometime late Nov. 21 or early in the morning Nov. 22, somebody on the House floor threatened to redirect campaign funds away from his son Brad, who is running to succeed him, if he didn't support the Medicare prescription bill. This according to the Associated Press. Robert Novak further reports,
On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, [Rep.] Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=16041
I pledge not to shop at Wal-Mart. And I promise to tell all my friends, "Don't buy me Wal-Mart for the holidays!" Wal-Mart engages in some of the worst labor practices in the country: paying its employees substandard wages, forcing unpaid overtime on its workers and refusing to provide affordable health insurance.
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