Mike and I picked two items. He's in a hurry tonight due to a date and I've got plans as well. So what we decided was we would continue to note Democracy Now! in our entries because we believe in this news source and want to do our part to make sure it is noted. But on busy evenings, we'll post them and if we have something to add to them, we will. If we don't, we'll talk about something else.
73-Year-Old Held w/ $50K Bail for "Looting" Sausages (Democracy Now!)
More information is emerging from New Orleans over how the police are treating people accused of looting. A 73-year-old woman remains in jail on a $50,000 bond after police arrested her for looting sixty dollars worth of sausage. At the time of her arrest, the woman -- Merlene Maten -- was staying in a hotel with her 80-year-old husband. She said they had followed orders to stock up on food and had stored some sausage in her car. After she took the sausage from the car, she says police handcuffed her and threw her in jail. A judge then set the bail at $50,000 -- 100 times the maximum $500 fine under state law for minor thefts.
See, above, you learn what's important. Not life. Not humanity. It's all about ownership. Even in a national disaster, that's what it comes down to. The judge, the prosecuter and the police should all be ashamed.
Vatican Orders Review of Homosexuality in Nation's Seminaries
The Vatican has ordered a crack down on homosexuality at seminaries in the United States. According to the New York Times, the Vatican is sending teams of investigators to all 229 seminaries in the country in order to interview every faculty member and seminarian as well as everyone who graduated in the last three years. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien is supervising the review. Last week he told the National Catholic Register that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary. He said the restriction should even apply to men who have not been sexually active for a decade or more. The investigators will also be on the lookout for any faculty members who dissent from church teaching. The last such review began about 25 years ago and took six years to complete.
Few witches burning, gets a little toasty. (That's from Tori Amos' "God.")
Rebecca's okay. She appreciates the concern and said to say that if I wrote about this, but she had a cold and found the John Roberts Jr. hearings very depressing.
Kat's already helped her by recommending some good music and Rebecca's feeling much better.
I really do have to run. Not even the time to add a peace quote. So I'll offer my own.
Hope is what we wish for ourselves and others. Peace, itself, requires more than wishing.
