Category Archives: Ranting

Thoughts on the Sexual Abuse Crisis in San Diego

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On September 14, 2007 the Catholic Diocese of San Diego and Bishop Robert Brom agreed to pay $198.1 million to more than 150 survivors of sexual abuse from priests. This is (hopefully) the final chapter of a long and painful story. Unfortunately it’s a story that does not reflect well on either Bishop Brom or the Diocese.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone does not know that many dioceses are struggling with this. The biggest struggle they and the courts face is how to compensate the victims. We can’t turn back time and frankly the only way anyone is compensated is financially. That said, it’s probably reasonable to see how other dioceses have compensated their victims. In 2003 the Archdiocese of Boston paid out $85 million to cover 552 lawsuits (that averages slightly over $150,000 per person). The settlements have been increasing: last July the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to settle 508 cases (or just under $1.3 million per person).

Last February the San Diego Diocese was facing the first of the trials and Bishop Brom decided to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the hopes that a fund would be dedicated to settle the cases. It was a good try but it backfired. Everyone I know who knows the bishop says that he does not like being told what to do. I don’t know how this happened but apparently it never occurred to Bishop Brom that he would be answerable to the bankruptcy judge. Things began to spin out of control when the Diocese was accused of hiding assets. Accounts had been set up in many places for many reasons and it never occurred to anyone that they would be subject to judicial scrutiny. The accountant appointed by the bankruptcy judge called this “byzantine;” I would call it disorganized. The upshot was that the judge threatened to pull the diocese out of bankruptcy and begin the trials. It was probably the push the diocese needed to come to a settlement.

The Diocese agreed to a settlement that averages $1.375 million per person. In March the diocese offered a settlement of $95 million (a little over $600,000 per person) and insisted that this was the most they could afford without adversely hampering the church’s mission. Now they have agreed to pay out nearly double that; we’ll see what happens.

On September 7th Bishop Brom released this letter. It is, hopefully, the end of a long and painful journey.

Six Years Out, and Could It Be Worse?

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I hardly need to say this, but six years ago today we were all riveted to our TV’s not believing what we were seeing. Our president, elected in what can only be called a disputed election, was just back from a month long vacation in his 8th month in office. Many of us worried that he would not be up for the job, healing and leading a country that had entered a whole new world. Even the most cynical among us could not guess how badly this new president would manage. A few thoughts on this:

  • Despite offers of support from Iran after 9/11 (see the CNN report from September 14, 2001) President Bush grouped them with North Korea and Iraq in the axis of evil. Interestingly, Afghanistan (who was hiding Osama Bin Laden) was not included in the axis.
  • It didn’t take long after the attacks to realized that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks. In a briefing at the Pentagon on September 17, 2001 President Bush declared we will get bin Laden “dead or alive.” He’s still alive and apparently coloring his hair.
  • The terrorists who planned 9/11 were given refuge in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We consider both of these countries allies even though it’s become clear that they are unable or unwilling to hand them over.
  • President Bush has repeatedly claimed that the terrorists hate us because “we love freedom.” But since 9/11 we have held people in Guantanamo Bay without charging them or allowing them access to counsel. Even though the President insists that we are at war, he refuses to give them the status (and protections) of criminal suspects or POW’s. Instead the administration has invented a term, “enemy combatants,” that allows them no rights or protections. Additionally, Jose Padilla, an American citizen, was arrested on American soil and held without his Constitutional protections for 3 1/2 years. We were told that he was being held because he was trying to set off a “dirty bomb” but that was nowhere in the indictment. He was tried and convicted on a charge of attending a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. Perhaps this carelessness with our Constitutional freedoms will, in the end, “let the terrorists win.”
  • Even though it was clear that neither Sadam Huessin or Iraq had anything to do with the attacks of 9/11 we have been at war with them for 4 1/2 years. Even though President Bush had a clear exit strategy for Vietnam, he has none for this war.
  • Last winter with the newly seated Democratic majority in Congress it became clear that there was diminishing support for continuing the war. President Bush ordered a surge, or increase in the troop levels with the promise that they would show clear and obvious results. Out of this a series of 18 benchmarks were developed to evaluate this success. You can see from my post of July 13th that by then President Bush said 8 of the 18 benchmarks had been achieved. On September 7th the GAO announced that only three have been met, 4 have been partially met, and 11 have not been met. As I write this it’s hard to find anything that gives us reason to believe we can ever achieve our objectives in Iraq.

Simply put, six years ago the world rallied around us in our grief, shock, and determination to ensure this will never happen again. Today it’s hard to imagine a scenario that could have gone worse. We have alienated our allies, embolden our enemies, trashed our freedoms, and made the world more unsafe. President Bush, it’s time to admit that few of your policies are sound and start listening to those who elected you.

Katrina Revisted

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The news today is a reminder that two years ago Hurricane Katrine struck the Gulf Coast. The months after the hurricane I wrote a timeline that shows how this was a multiple system failure of government at every level.

The New Orleans Times Picayune has always been the best source of information and they did incredible work during and immediately after Katrina. The front page today discusses some of the ways people helped and the gratitude the city feels toward the rest of the nation.

Thoughts on Barry Bonds, Home Runs, and Steroids

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This past weekend Barry Bonds tied the home run record of Hank Aaron at 755. It appears that he will break Hank’s record; this is tarnished by the assumption that Barry used steroids from about 2000 until MLB started testing for steroids in 2005. I posted something on this on March 9, 2006.

It is interesting to look at the home runs over the careers of both players. One of the things that many of us notice is that Barry’s production of home runs increased at a time when they tend to slow down for other players. Here are the numbers:

Babe Ruth (age) Year HR’s Hank Aaron (age) Year HR’s Barry Bonds (age) Year HRs
19 1914 0 19 1954 13 23 1986 16
20 1915 4 20 1955 27 24 1987 25
21 1916 3 21 1956 26 25 1988 24
22 1917 2 22 1957 44 26 1989 19
23 1918 11 23 1958 30 27 1990 33
24 1919 29 24 1959 39 28 1991 25
25 1920 54 25 1960 40 29 1992 34
26 1921 59 26 1961 34 30 1993 46
27 1922 35 27 1962 45 31 1994 37
28 1923 41 28 1963 44 32 1995 33
29 1924 46 29 1964 24 33 1996 42
30 1925 25 30 1965 32 34 1997 40
31 1926 47 31 1966 44 35 1998 37
32 1927 60 32 1967 39 36 1999 34
33 1928 54 33 1968 29 37 2000 49
34 1929 46 34 1969 44 38 2001 73
35 1930 49 35 1970 38 39 2002 46
36 1931 46 36 1971 47 40 2003 45
37 1932 41 37 1972 34 41 2004 45
38 1933 34 38 1973 40 42 2005 5
39 1934 22 39 1974 20 43 2006 26
40 1935 6 40 1975 12 44 2007 21
41 1976 10
Totals: 715 755 755

Ruth’s most productive year was 1927 (age 32); Aaron’s was 1971 (age 36); Bond’s was 2001 (age 37). That seems to argue that Barry isn’t that unusual but on closer observation I’ve noticed a few things. In the years when we assume he was juiced (2000-2004) he hit 258 home runs. In the five years before (1995-1999) he hit 186 home runs. It’s hard to imagine that his body was strongest in his early late 30s and early 40s. Most hitters start off slowly either because they aren’t yet playing every day or because they are still learning the craft of hitting. Barry did very well for the first 10 years, hitting 292 home runs (Ruth hit 238 in his first 10 years and Aaron hit 342). For whatever reason he decided that wasn’t enough.

Since Babe Ruth, home run statistics have become the “gold standard” of baseball and power was king. Since this statistic has become tainted, perhaps other records will gain more popularity. There are records that would not be helped by steroids (and even hurt by them). I’m thinking of Cal Ripkin’s 2,632 consecutive game streak or Joe DiMaggio’s 56 consecutive games with a hit. There is also Cy Young’s 511 games won as a pitcher. This is just a guess but I’m hoping that endurance will unseat power. It would, in a sense, be the ultimate penalty for Barry: he abuses his body and the game to reach a record that garners less respect because of the way he went about it.

President Bush Grades on a Very Generous Curve

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Yesterday the White House released a report to Congress on how President Bush feels about progress being made in Iraq. Congress asked him specifically to report on 18 pre-arranged benchmarks. You can read the full report; in addition I have listed the 18 benchmarks and how they were assessed by the President. According to news reports only 8 of the 18 have been rated as “satisfactory.” President Bush says he’s pleased by the progress. I don’t know anyone else who would be pleased with a success rate of 43% but that’s what we have.
These are the benchmarks:
1. Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward forming a Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) and then completing the constitutional review.
2. Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Ba’thification reform.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward enacting and implementing legislation on de-Ba’athification reform.
3. Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources to the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shi’a Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in the equitable manner.
Assessment: The current status is unsatisfactory, but it is too early to tell whether the Government of Iraq will enact and implement legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources to all Iraqis.
4. Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.
5. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections.
Assessment: There are multiple components to this benchmark, each deserving its own assessment:

  • Establishing the IHEC Commission: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward establishing an IHEC Commission.
  • Elections Law: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward establishing a provincial elections law.
  • Provincial Council Authorities: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward establishing provincial council authorities.
  • Provincial Elections Date: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward establishing a date for provincial election

6. Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.
Assessment: The prerequisites for a successful general amnesty are not present; however, in the current security environment, it is not clear that such action should be a near-term Iraqi goal.
7. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq.
Assessment: The prerequisites for a successful militia disarmament program are not present.
8. Establishing supporting political, media, economic, and service committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward establishing supporting political, media, economic, and service committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.
9. Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.
10. Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions in consultation with U.S. Commanders without political intervention to include the authority to pursue all extremists including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions in consultation with U.S. Commanders without political intervention to include the authority to pursue all extremists including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
11. Ensuring that Iraqi Security Forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has not at this time made satisfactory progress in ensuring that Iraqi Security Forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law; however, there has been significant progress in achieving increased even-handedness through the use of coalition partnering and embedded-transition teams with Iraqi Security Force units.
12. Ensuring that, as Prime Minister Malaiki was quoted by President Bush as saying, “the Baghdad Security Plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation.”
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress in ensuring the Baghdad Security Plan does not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of their sectarian or political affiliations.
13. Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq–with substantial Coalition assistance–has made satisfactory progress toward reducing sectarian violence but has shown unsatisfactory progress toward eliminating militia control of local security.
14. Establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq—with substantial Coalition assistance—has made satisfactory progress toward establishing the planned JSSs (joint security stations) in Baghdad.
15. Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.
Assessment: The Iraqi Government has made unsatisfactory progress toward increasing the number of Iraqi Security Forces units capable of operating independently.
16. Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.
17. Allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.
Assessment: The Iraqi Government is making satisfactory progress in allocating funds to ministries and provinces, but even if the full $10 billion capital budget is allocated, spending units will not be able to spend all these funds by the end of 2007.
18. Ensuring that Iraq’s political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the ISF.
Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made unsatisfactory progress in ensuring that Iraq’s political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the ISF.
Conclusion: President Bush is telling us to wait until the final report on September 15th but it’s hard to imagine that the other 10 benchmarks will have made much progress, especially considering that the Iraqi Parliament is planning to take off the month of August. You can see Press Secretary Tony Snow’s remarks on this at his July 13th press briefing.

Q Is the Iraqi government and the Iraqi parliament taking the month of August off?

MR. SNOW: Probably, yes. Just not —

Q They’re taking the entire month of August off, before the September deadline?

MR. SNOW: It looks like they may, yes. Just like the U.S. Congress is.

Q Have you tried to talk them out of that?

MR. SNOW: You know, it’s 130 degrees in Baghdad in August, I’ll pass on your recommendation.

Q Well, Tony, Tony, I’m sorry, that’s — you know — I mean, there are a lot of things that happen by September and it’s 130 degrees for the U.S. military also on the ground —

MR. SNOW: You know, that’s a good point. And it’s 130 degrees for the Iraqi military. The Iraqis, you know, I’ll let them — my understanding is that at this juncture they’re going to take August off, but, you know, they may change their minds.

It’s going to be a long, hot summer.

Slamming Shut the Windows

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When Blessed Pope John XXIII opened the Ecumenical Council of Vatican II on October 11, 1962 he said he wished to open the windows of the Catholic Church and let in some fresh air. It appears that the current pope, Benedict XVI, is continuing the tradition of his predecessor and is slamming shut those very same windows.

Last week word came down that Benedict XVI has loosened the regulations on the Tridentine (Latin) Mass. Previously a priest was required to obtain the permission of his bishop to celebrate the Tridentine mass publicly; now any priest can celebrate it when he wants. For us liberal Catholics this was “much ado about nothing” as most places have a Latin mass somewhere if you want to attend. Here in San Diego it’s celebrated each week at Holy Cross Cemetery. Conservatives and those who like the Latin Mass have complained that some bishops have not been cooperative in allowing congregations to attend Mass in Latin but I don’t think that’s true. I think these folk are going to find that it’s hard to find a priest who knows the Latin Mass; I know I never learned it.

But today we received the truly bad news from the Vatican. Previous to Vatican II it was generally taught that the Catholic Church was the only true Church and Protestants were misled. There was no serious dialogue with other Christian Churches and any ecumenism was based on the belief that when they come crawling back to us asking for forgiveness that we’ll accept them back. Vatican II taught that while the fullness of truth “subsists” in the Catholic Church, there is truth in other Churches (called “communities” in the official documents). From this teaching many denominations began to talk about Ecumenism, and talks started in the hope that someday all Christian Churches would one day be reunited. Today we read that the Pope has a different agenda. Last week the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Office of the Holy Inquisition) released a document called Responsa Ad Quaestiones De Aliquibus Sententiis Ad Doctrinam De Ecclesia Pertinetibus, or “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church” that does nothing but make things more difficult. It claims that the Catholic Church is the only true Church and that other religions are “defective” or “wounded” (depending on how the Latin is translated). It doesn’t say anything new, but it didn’t need to be done. All this does is demand that other Christians reply that this will hurt any dialogue and move us back. It will, in short, slam shut the windows that were bringing in fresh air. It’s also embarrassing to many of us faithful Catholics who have deep and enduring friendships with our Protestant sisters and brothers.

Is "Scooter" Really a Good Name for Somone Going to Prison?

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Word came yesterday that Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for lying to the FBI and the Grand Jury. He was chief of staff for Vice President Cheney; during the investigation of the Valarie Plame leak he misled the investigators.

Many of us believe he has become the scapegoat and that the Plame leak was masterminded by the Vice President and Karl Rove. He is guilty of what he’s been convicted of but he was sacrificed to save his bosses. At this point the case is being appealed.

There is also the question of whether or not he will be pardoned by President Bush. Obviously I don’t think he should be pardoned, but it’s a question of loyalty with the President. Bill Kristol in his publication the Weekly Standard accuses President Bush of being disloyal. The article is worth a read. Message to Bill Kristol: on behalf of those of us who have never respected the President: Welcome aboard.

600 Days and Counting

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If you’ve been paying attention to the presidency counter (and most people tell me it’s the best part of the page) you know that as of today President Bush has exactly 600 days left in office. Or, more to the point, the world has to endure 600 more days of the Bush presidency.

Clearly the most enduring and most shameful legacy of this presidency will be the War in Iraq (and not 9/11 as he wants it to be). Word came yesterday that Cindy Sheehan has thrown in the towel and no longer wishes to be the face of war protest. Truth told, I was never comfortable with her in that role. I didn’t think she was that articluate and she often provided easy fodder for the nut cases on the right, but you can’t deny that she has suffered from this war and she has a place among the Gold Star Mothers. This raises the issue of exactly who is the face of the opposition to the war. The President has been incredibly successful in bullying Congress into approving stopgap war funding measures (while refusing to put the war costs into his annual budget and allowing the deficit to look as large as it is). He has done this by convincing our representatives that voting against war funding means taking food and bullets away from our troops.

And our representatives have rolled over. My senators split on the last funding bill: Barbara Boxer voted against it, but Diane Feinstein and my congressional representative Susan Davis voted for it. It’s hard to believe this but we who oppose the war have to hold the Democrats’ feet to the fire. We have to make them call the President’s bluff and somehow convince him that his “splendid little war” is not good for this nation or this world. He can continue to do significant damage in the next 600 days unless we make our voices heard. Write, call, or email your representatives. By the way, the number for the White House is (202) 456-1414.

Five Days Later, What Have We Learned?

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It’s been 5 days since the massacre at Virginia Tech and we’ve learned a great deal since then. We know now the name of the shooter and because of the material he sent to NBC we have heard and read his delusional thoughts. We’ve seen the pictures and heard about the lives of those who were killed and wounded that day.

We’ve also been debating some of the events of this past week. Most concerning for me was the packet Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC. They rightly forwarded it along to the FBI but not before the copied it and broadcasted it (which was, of course, picked up and broadcasted by nearly everyone else). The executives at NBC say they struggled before showing clips of the tape but I have a hard time sympathizing with them for their struggle. Had
they forwarded it to the FBI without keeping a copy we never would have heard of it and I don’t think we would be the poorer for it. Though they don’t say so I have to believe part of their decision was based on the fear that Cho had also sent packets to other media outlets.

We’ve also been talking about mental illness and how to deal with adult sufferers. We hear that Mr. Cho came to the attention of the police and mental health professionals because he was stalking young women. Unfortunately until April 16th he did not pose a danger to himself or others and there appears there was nothing anyone could do. I wish there would have been a way to predict this level of violence but we are not there yet. In generations past we could have institutionalized someone like this but we also institutionalized many people who did not belong in custody. This is perhaps a call to continue to learn about mental illness.

I also believe this is a call to re-examine laws about who may purchase and possess a gun. There is some debate over whether or not Mr. Cho bought his guns legally given his history, but even if he was there was no way to check on his mental health background. I guess the Commonwealth of Virginia depends on mentally ill people being honest and up front.