Nearly 4,500 priests accused of abuse

Nearly 4,500 Roman Catholic priests have been accused of sexually abusing a total of 11,000 children in the United States between 1950 and 2002, CNN reported yesterday, citing a draft of a study scheduled for release at the end of the month by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Those figures are two to three times as high as previously reported, but senior Catholic officials have warned for weeks that the study’s findings could be “startling” if viewed in isolation.

What’s not startling at all is the Catholic hierarchy still trying cover their sorry craven butts, rather than deal with it honestly, openly, and with actual compassion for the victims.

And in local news

L.A. to disclose clergy abuse (How thoughful of them)

A report to be released today says 244 priests and others have been accused since 1931. It acknowledges ‘woefully underreported’ cases.

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War inna Babylon

Prosecutor in terror case controversy sues Ashcroft

A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.

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Crunch time in Haiti

Haiti rebels seize town; Aristide appeals for help

Aristide’s slumland army of enforcers prepares to defend ‘people’s revolution‘

Hmm, I wonder who could be arming the rebels???? Hint: When Colin Powell says the US doesn’t want ‘regime change’ in Haiti, that means they’ve been thinking about it, right?

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The fix is in

President Bush pardoned a former mayor of Plano, Texas, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 1996, the Justice Department announced Monday.

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Diamond star thrills astronomers

Twinkling in the sky is a diamond star of 10 billion trillion trillion carats, astronomers have discovered.

The cosmic diamond is a chunk of crystallised carbon, 1,500 km across, some 50 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

Astronomers have decided to call the star “Lucy,” after the Beatles song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Somewhere John Lennon, who wrote the lyrics, is smiling…

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