Sunday, July 30, 2006

Mel Gibson

"What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?"- drunk Mel Gibson to female cop

Mel, Mel, Mel. It is better to be thought an anti-Semite and a lout than to open your mouth and prove it. When I read that Mel Gibson was arrested for DUI in Malibu, California I didn't think twice about it. Drunk celebrity arrests seem to take place every day. Boring!

Well, Gibson's arrest has proven to be far from ordinary. It seems that not only was the actor/director wasted out of his mind, but he blamed Jews for "all the wars in the world." When I first saw a headline about his rantings I thought it must have been April Fools Day.

I wrote about The Passion of the Christ back on March 2, 2004. At the time, the film directed by Gibson was a box office hit and the cause of a controversy that lasted for months. Most of the controversy was the result of Jewish complaints of anti-Semitism in the film.

I thought that Gibson made the Jewish religious leadership greater villains than Pilate, but so it was in the gospels. I also felt that Christians received a bum rap, considered incapable of seeing this film without starting pogroms at the local multiplex.

Christians were as annoying as some of their Jewish brethren, treating Gibson as if he were their church pastor. There was nothing in the movie that Christians didn't know, yet the movie was treated as divine revelation.

Gibson sucked up to the Christian and political right to market his movie. He certainly needed the political muscle because his father's history as a holocaust denier certainly didn't help him.

I was willing to give Gibson fils the benefit of the doubt about his own beliefs. He couldn't very well publicly condemn his own father. Well, I should have followed my own dictum and been cynical about him.

He apologized for his behavior and the comments made during his arrest. He admitted to being an alcoholic.

"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said."
One can only hope.
Bring on Armageddon!

I am not making this up. You are not reading the Onion. You are not reading a transcript from Saturday Night Live. This interchange actually took place on Good Morning America between Robin Roberts and Tim LaHaye.

ROBERTS: As my mom often says, you better get right -- better get right in these times that we're living in.
LaHAYE: Amen.
ROBERTS: You see what's going on: the bombing in Haifa and Israel, and it's so close to the valley of Armageddon. And when you think about that and people see this and think about -- is it indeed Armageddon?
JENKINS: Well, we feel Armageddon comes later.

Too bad. When Armageddon comes we'll be rid of Good Morning America.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

George Bush, Sex Harasser

"In other words, he is indeed That Guy, like the best man at the wedding party, the one standing out in the center of the room, casually and cluelessly telling off-color jokes that offend everyone but which he thinks are gul-dang hilarious and, hell, if you're offended then you're just some gul-dang hippie liberal. Haw." Mark Morford

That G8 meeting certainly created a hostile work environment for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. See for yourself.

I feel your pain Angela, Bush creeps me out too. A leader of one of the world's most powerful nations was treated like a secretary working for a moronic, sexist, clueless boss.

The scary thing is that Bush thinks he is just swell, as Mark Morford points out.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Israeli Genocide of Palestinians

The Death March, as the Palestinians call it, along with the massacre at Deir Yassin, represent two of the central traumas that form the Palestinian catastrophe. Countless thousands fled from their villages, many because of "whispering campaigns" by Israeli military intelligence agents, which, following Deir Yassin, were designed to spark Arab fears of another massacre. Tens of thousands more were driven from their homes by force.
The Palestinian Catastrophe, Then and Now

Did you know that the Israelis sent thousands of Arab men, women and children on a death march through the desert? Don't be ashamed, I didn't know about it either. Read the above link and then weep.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Father Michael Jude Fay is Gay

"Jude was always chasing after him."

Today's New York Times has an article about a Catholic priest who was fired from his Connecticut parish for stealing money. Father Michael Jude Fay had highlights in his hair, directed musical productions, and owned property with a male friend.

In other words, he was gay. The New York Times seems to be coy about saying so, however. I copied the article below. (You will have to pay for it if you look it up on the Times site.) Decide for yourself about Fay, and why the Times won't state the obvious.


July 9, 2006
Before the Downfall of a Priest, a Fondness for the Good Life
By
ALISON LEIGH COWAN
DARIEN, Conn., July 8 — The Rev. Michael Jude Fay had his hair highlighted each spring at a local salon at prices of $85 or more, his hairdresser said. His vacation getaway was an ocean-view condominium in Florida that he owned with a close friend from Philadelphia. And he repeatedly spent thousands of dollars on luggage, jewelry and designer clothes, even though his salary was a modest $28,000 a year.

To many of his parishioners at St. John
Roman Catholic Church in Darien, Father Fay's lavish ways came as a shock nearly two months ago when the Diocese of Bridgeport demanded his resignation because of questions about his suitability for the priesthood, his lifestyle and his financial stewardship of the church.

To those parishioners, he was the dutiful son of a New Jersey police officer and an advocate for the poor in wealthy Fairfield County. At times aloof, he was also sensitive in dealing with grief-stricken parishioners and showed flair in producing Broadway-style plays with local talent.
"People loved him," said Richard Manegio, a Darien businessman whose ex-wife relied on Father Fay when she was battling cancer.

But a handful of parishioners, current and former employees and local merchants had nursed suspicions for years about the longtime pastor. In interviews, they — and investigators, lawyers and church officials who came into the case more recently — said Father Fay's taste for the gilded life seemed to have spun out of control in recent years.

"He was the most high-class priest I've ever seen," said Frank Colandro, the owner of a deli across the street from the church, mentioning Father Fay's expensive-looking shoes and watches. And the more Father Fay spent, his critics say, the more autocratic and secretive he became about the church's finances.
Parishioners say there were warning signs about his spending, such as a black-tie bash he threw for himself at the Pierre Hotel, one of the premier hotels in Manhattan, in May 2003 to commemorate his 25th anniversary in the priesthood. But the Bridgeport Diocese did not pressure him to step aside until this year, after private investigators hired by the parish's bookkeeper and associate pastor documented at least $200,000 in questionable spending by Father Fay.

Now,
F.B.I. agents are investigating his case, and parish officials have been passing the plate at services with extra pleas for offerings to ease the parish's debt load. The diocese, which violated its own policy by not auditing the parish's finances for more than five years, has said it will not comment on Father Fay until its own investigation is done.

Father Fay has not commented publicly, nor have the two lawyers who have told investigators they represent him. Attempts to obtain a comment from Father Fay were unsuccessful. His 85-year-old mother, Mildred Fay, said in a brief interview, "He's a wonderful person, and he's been wrongly accused."

Even people who thought they knew him well now say Father Fay, 55, has become a riddle to them. "This is a shock," said Ken Bruno, a building inspector in Palisades Park, N.J., whose children were confirmed by Father Fay about eight years ago. "I'm still trying to make sense of it."

Father Fay's story begins in Palisades Park, a tight-knit, working-class town that barely covers one square mile. His father, Martin Terrance Fay, was a co-captain of the football team at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, N.J., just as a new assistant coach, Vince Lombardi, was taking the team to new heights.
Martin Fay served in the Marine Corps during World War II and played minor-league football briefly until an injury sidelined him. Joining the Palisades Park police force in 1946, he ultimately became its chief. And when he died 10 years ago, the borough mourned, according to Frank A. Patti, a mortician who doubled until recently as the town historian. Father Fay "comes from good stock," Mr. Patti said.
Michael James Fay, the third of the Fays' five children, attended the local parish school, was active in Catholic youth organizations and appeared in a school play.

None of Father Fay's siblings responded to requests for interviews. After a stint at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa., he earned a degree from St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore in 1977, adopted the middle name Jude and earned a Master of Arts degree in 1986 from
Manhattan College, according to school records.
After being ordained in 1978, he worked as parochial vicar at some of
Connecticut's most prosperous parishes, including St. Paul in Greenwich and St. Aloysius in New Canaan.

In 1991, he was put in charge of another wealthy parish, St. John, Darien's oldest Roman Catholic church. Parishioners say he urged them to show compassion to the needy, and they obliged by putting $10,000 or more a week into the church's collection baskets.

Parishioners also appreciated the spirited theatrical productions he helped direct at the church, including "Nunsense," "Guys and Dolls" and "Fiddler on the Roof." Starting in 2000, Father Fay's star seemed to rise. Sacred Heart University honored him for community service in 2002, and the Bridgeport Diocese appointed him to a sexual misconduct review board that year.

For all his outward success, it was evident that Father Fay had an appetite for little luxuries, such as the blond highlights his Darien hairdresser said he put in his hair. A small bridal shower he threw for a Sunday school teacher had a three-piece combo and jaw-dropping flower arrangements, a person who attended said.
Parishioners said he spent thousands of dollars sprucing up the church and expanding the house where the priests lived. When one parent questioned the cost of a tapestry, Father Fay cut her off by saying, "What makes you think it wasn't a gift?" said Regina Damanti, a parishioner who heard the exchange.

Investigators say that friends and family of Father Fay seemed to receive special privileges or favors from the parish. For instance, the church paid last fall to fly another priest from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Father Fay owns a condominium, parish records show.

Father Fay also asked the church's caretaker to paint his mother's home in New Jersey and to repair the bungalow he once owned in western Connecticut, on church time, the investigators said.
Ellen Patafio, who was the parish's secretary from November 2004 until she quit in February, said Father Fay "really changed a lot over the time I worked there."

Parishioners would call the office, wanting to discuss their problems with the priest, she said, and "every time Jude would get on the phone, he'd roll his eyes." Over time, she and others said, they noticed that he left more of the pastoral work to his parochial vicar, the Rev. Michael J. Madden.

Father Fay learned he had prostate cancer, but Ms. Patafio and other parishioners said he cited problems from the cancer to avoid duties he disliked. He called it playing his "cancer card," they said.
Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport told a recent gathering of parishioners that he may have given Father Fay latitude because he assumed the priest was in dire health. The severity of Father Fay's cancer problems is not known.

Father Fay did not relinquish his tight control over the church's finances, however, according to accounts provided by Ms. Patafio; the church's bookkeeper, Bethany D'Erario; her lawyer, Mickey Sherman; and the investigators she and Father Madden hired in May to look into possible improprieties at the church.
Father Fay typically kept donations to the church in his desk drawer instead of promptly depositing them in the church's bank account, making it difficult to track how the funds were used, said Vito Colucci Jr., one of the investigators hired by Father Madden.

In recent years, Father Fay also picked the members of the church's lay boards rather than let parishioners cast ballots, as they once did. None of the members of the parish's finance council returned calls seeking comment.

At least one member of the finance council, William Besgen, attended the black-tie event that Father Fay had at the Pierre Hotel in 2003, according to a seating list and Mr. Besgen's lawyer. In the spring of 2005, Father Fay and his friend from Philadelphia, Cliff Fantini, a wedding consultant, jointly bought a $449,100 condo in Fort Lauderdale, property records show. Furnishings and monthly cable bills were charged to the parish, church records show.

The two men are also listed as tenants of a luxury apartment on East 63rd Street in Manhattan, the building's staff said. Mr. Fantini, known professionally as Cliff Martell, also stayed at the rectory for extended periods, Ms. Patafio said. Ms. Patafio said Father Fay showered gifts, meals and trips on Mr. Fantini. "Jude was always chasing after him," she said. Mr. Fantini did not respond to multiple messages left at his home.

In April, the bookkeeper and Father Madden took their concerns to the diocese. Father Fay appeared before the bishop on May 9 to respond to the allegations but left without being relieved of his duties. Frustrated, the bookkeeper and Father Madden asked Mr. Colucci and Wendy Kleinknecht, another investigator, to review records the bookkeeper had copied. On May 17, the investigators took their findings to the Darien police. The bishop asked Father Fay to resign and to leave the premises that same day.

Parishioners say they have not seen him since, although his sister Kathleen showed up recently to retrieve his personal belongings, including a cabinet full of Waterford crystal he left behind.

Alain Delaquérière and Nate Schweber contributed reporting for this article.

Chat Room Terror

First there were terrorists in Miami who plotted to blow up the Sears Tower. OK, they hadn't been to Chicago, they had no explosives, and the only witness against them is a government informant.

Now we have terrorists plotting to blow up either the Holland Tunnel or a PATH train tunnel, no one is sure, but a big deal is being made out of it anyway. The would be terrorists were caught because they hatched their top secret plot in an internet chat room. None of the men had ever met one another, and all were captured abroad.

Here we go again. It is just 4 months before the elections and we are all being scared to help the Republicans stay in power. We haven't had any terror alerts since the last election. What a coincidence. Those terrorists certainly know when to scare us.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Ken Lay Checks Out

Ken Lay died of a heart attack yesterday. Life is hard enough, so don't swindle thousands of people, the state of California, the state of Rhode Island and the state of Connecticut. You may get caught, get convicted and start worrying. Stress is a killer you know.
Bush Homie Commits Rape and Murder

". . . conspired to rape a woman, and instructed SOI1 to monitor the radio while they went to the house . . ."
United States v. Steven D. Green

Steven D. Green is from George Bush's home town, Midland, Texas. He raped an Iraqi teenager and then shot her in the head.

He and his friends saw a young woman they thought was hot and decided to rape her. In the best tradition of thugs everywhere, they got liquored up first. They took off their uniforms and went to the girls home, raped and killed her and killed the rest of her family too. So much for Iraqi freedom and spreading democracy.

Green was arrested last week, but there has been no comment from the "stay the course" crowd or the "Iraqis need to get their act together" group either. Silence isn't golden in this case.

Iraqi PM Maliki hasn't been silent. He has spoken very eloquently against the immunity that the U.S. gave itself for crimes committed in Iraq. Sweet deal for Uncle Sam, hell for Iraq.

So, why do they hate us?