Pope Benedict the Enabler.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican on Tuesday dismissed any notion that Pope Benedict XVI should take personal responsibility for the child sex abuse scandal rocking the church, defending his management of such cases and vowing the crisis would not interrupt what historians view as his conservative agenda for Catholics around the world. "This is not some multinational company where the chief executive is expected to take responsibility," Lombardi said. "The pope is not personally directing the actions of priests around the world. He is their spiritual leader, and he is one who has acted very clearly to confront this problem."

Green Man: So, the pope (Pope Benedict XXX-Rated) is the final word in everything in the church but somehow he doesn't direct what the actions of priests should be? That kind of explanation might work in a religious organization that demands unquestioning loyalty but not in the real world. And certainly not with the law in most countries. As Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC said today, "How is a religious institution exempted from the basic law that protects children from being raped?" How the pope doesn't have to take responsibility even though he personally presided over transferring some of these molesting monks to other places rather than punish them? Sounds to me like they are protecting their own over those poor deaf kids and others. I think Jesus would be siding with the deaf kids. Just a hunch.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Anti-Gay Politician, a DUI, a Gay Bar and a Child Prostitution Ring at the Vatican. Oh my!!

Early Wednesday morning, State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Calif.) was pulled over and arrested for drunk driving. Sources report that Ashburn -- a fierce opponent of gay rights -- was driving drunk after leaving a gay nightclub; when the officer stopped the state-issued vehicle, there was an unidentified man in the passenger seat of the car.

Green Man: Oh Senator Ashburn, me thinks thou doth protest too much!! Ranting and raving to no end about the "evils of homosexuality" is a classic sign of your own inner, sexual turmoil. I normally don't care about peoples' sex lives unless they themselves make a big deal about the sex lives of everyone else. This isn't very shocking but what would be shocking is if a gay, Republican politician proudly came out of the closet on his/her own rather than being exposed as a self-hating hypocrite. I'm not saying that there aren't hypocrites in the Democratic party because there are but when it comes to sexual hypocrisy? Especially when in-line with homosexuality? The Republicans nearly have a monopoly. Now, in other "news" a child prostitution ring has been exposed in relation to the Vatican:

A papal aide used an intermediary in an elite Vatican choir to solicit young male choristers and seminarians for prostitution. Police wiretaps are expected to result in charges against Angelo Balducci, 63, a Papal Gentleman, as lay attendant are called, and the former chairman of the Holy See's Public Works Department, which is itself caught up in a corruption investigation. According to police, Balducci regularly contacted Chinedu Ehiem Thomas, a Nigerian man who sings in St. Peter's Cappella Giulia, to engage the sexual services of young male members of the choir, along with seminarians and undocumented immigrants seeking residency status. Ehiem, 40, who goes by the nickname Mike, and his assistant Lorenzo Renzi, 33, allegedly arranged for prostitutes for Balducci several times a week. The two men are said to have operated a network of aspiring young priests, choir members and sometimes recruited foreigners seeking to secure their immigration status.

Green Man: I find it ironic that the Catholic church has so many sex scandals and yet has the temerity to get involved in telling other people how they should behave sexually!! What does a celibate person know about sexuality anyway?!! And then the Catholics think they have the credibility to weigh in on the gay marriage debate??? They are up to the eye-balls in priests and officials engaging in sex acts with children, yet they are going to lecture law-abiding homosexuals and heterosexuals on what is "correct sexual conduct???" Bullshit. That's like taking financial advice from Bernie Madoff. I'm so sick of the religious mafia going around and condemning everyone while they leave a trail of pain, abuse and hatred behind them. If these religious organizations are going to insist on involving themselves in political matters then it's about damn time to tax them!!

~The Green Man has Spoken~