Article from the National Catholic Register

National Catholic Register

The link above contains a link to the source article. A quick look at it will make the following comments more sensible.

I was hoping that the headline I read was a cruel joke, but the subsequent scrambling of the National Catholic Register to try and distance themselves from this article as fast as they could leads me to believe that the statements it contains by a Catholic priest are genuine.

Note to the magazine. There is something called Google Cache. Read up on it.

If you don't have time to read the entire article, at least look at the following quotes from it. I think you will see why the publication is running away from this faster than schoolgirl from a spider.

“People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath. But that’s not the case,” Groeschel explained. “Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.”

Groeschel called the abuse “an understandable thing,” and pointed to Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, who he called a “poor guy.”

“And I’m inclined to think, on their first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime,” he added. 

“The editors of the National Catholic Register apologize for publishing without clarification or challenge Father Benedict Groeschel’s comments that seem to suggest that the child is somehow responsible for abuse,” De Melo wrote. “Our publication of that comment was an editorial mistake, for which we sincerely apologize.” 

I really hope this picture was not taken from a tree.

Little Pig, Little Pig, come down from that tree.

You got nothing to fear, you can trust me.

Top BIA official resigns to take LDS Church post

Just ran across this this morning during my usual wanderings across the wilds of the Internet. It seems that a member of the Pawnee nation has resigned his post in the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take a position in the Mormon Church.

WHAT!!!!!!???

I thought I had seen sellouts before but this is over the top. Few groups in the modern era are more insulting to Native people than the Mormons. Their manufactured religion (OK, OK all religion is manufactured) and less-than-factually based visions of American History are a fecal log in the punchbowl of Native culture. Now we are faced with this? What the hell is next? Is Jesse Jackson going to join the Klan?

Cracker

Just read that the word "cracker" as a pejorative word for white people comes from the experience of slave owners cracking whips. Can someone in NC comment on this?

Wikipedia says:

Etymology

One theory is that slaver foremen in the antebellum South used bullwhips to discipline African slaves, with such use of the whip being described as 'cracking the whip'. The white foremen who cracked these whips were thus known as 'crackers'.

Letters From Our Readers

The following submission appeared in the Friday, March 30 edition of the Patriot High School Newspaper, The Charge, in the "Letters From Our Readers" section.

Friendly Criticism

[Your first issue] was a well-laid-out paper that was easily navigable. The title is very interesting and doesn't meet school stereotypes that are to be expected.

On a more serious note, the paper lacked readable content.

Maybe it is because the school is very young, but students want to read something either good or bad that happens in our community.

The paper consisted of lackluster facts that I could not focus on or take seriously. I mean no insult - just friendly criticism.

James Clark

Junior

I have lost my hope for humanity

Words escape me to explain how this woman managed to attend a SINGLE science or math  class in the high school that attempted to educate her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qhm7-LEBznk#!

Mountain Lion attack in Beg Bend National Park

As many readers know, in 2010 I took a motorcycle trip with my Dad to Big Ben National Park. During that visit, I took several excursions from the Park's lodge in the Chisos Mountains Basin into the surrounding area. We had hoped to see a mountain lion and we did see one that I got a picture of.

Needless to say, the news that a young boy was attacked while near the same lodge we stayed at was more than a little shocking and hit very close to home. Details can be found here. I have been on several on the trails that are now closed while they look for the cat. I think the fact that the smallest member of the party was the one attacked is significant.

Chinese Vistors

Last week, I posted an entry describing Austin's Chinese visit today, but it seems that I got a few of the details wrong. The visitors were not students, but rather were Chinese adults touring a number of educational institutions in the US. Austin did not have a speech but he did give them a tour of the school, a running commentary on the features of the school, and took a few questions. He told me tonight that the real-time translation of his words was distracting, but other than that, the tour was a smashing success. When asked to describe his Chinese visitors, his brief reply was 'short'.

One life lesson that he gained today is that we are all victims of an absurdity sooner or later and we might as well get used to it. After being selected by the school to represent the Model UN club and entertain his visitors, the school decided to take the club's yearbook picture WHILE HE WAS GIVING THE TOUR, so he will excluded from the yearbook. He is naturally upset about this, but I told him that people are dipshits and this will not be the first time something like this will happen to him.

Chinese Ambassador

Austin has been participating in high school extra curricular activity known as the 'Mock UN'. During their meeting they discuss/debate world events and propose their collective responses to world issues. It has made him very much aware of events that lie beyond our borders. His capacity in this endeavor is the ambassador/representative from China.

Next week, a contingent of Chinese students are stopping at Patriot High School on a tour of the United States. Young Austin has been chosen to speak to them and explain our educational system at a student-to-student level. The topics include discussions about the US high school experience and in particular the Spanish language programs. These students do not speak English and his speech will be translated in real time.

To say that he is excited/nervous/eager for next week is an understatement.