Posts made by leatherbear

This is not a debate forum but it is one choice for some of us. If it is not your preference then I respect that choice for yourself.

Google, Inc. (GOOG) has pretty much conquered the PC as the default search and information service for the majority of internet users. It's also taking on Apple, Inc. (AAPL), as it wants to become the provider of the next-best-thing wireless platform from the iPhone (a fight that's just now getting started). It's YouTube internet video service is being embedded in millions of new Blu-ray disc players and internet-enabled televisions. Where else does Google has aspirations? How about actual Google TV?

Google's Android software is not just a mobile device operating system. It can be used for television set-top boxes and tablet computers among other things. That's the uniqueness of it: it can expand Google's universe beyond the wireless pocket device, even as strong as that segment is among consumers right now. Although Google is calling the possible Google TV "rumor and speculation," it makes sense. Google needs to find a few hardware partners – like it did with Taiwan's HTC for the Nexus One handset -- and design a plus-in box that will bring Google to your television as easy as possible.

There are already many boxes that bring internet content to the couch potato: Roku and the Wii are just two examples. TiVo recently got in the game by providing traditional television content and information next to web-based video content and information (something television networks need to have embraced, as in yesterday). So, it seems natural for Google to get in the game here. The company's propensity for user-friendly interfaces and simplified interaction should serve it well if when it finally releases a product to plug into your boob tube.

(March 20) – Pope Benedict XVI sent an impassioned and unprecedented pastoral letter  to the people of Ireland Saturday, apologizing for decades of clerical sexual abuse but placing the blame squarely on Irish bishops.

The Pope said Irish bishops "failed, at times, grievously," and "serious mistakes were made" when confronted with clerical sexual abuse. He called the abuse, which was outlined in devastating detail in two investigations released last year in Ireland, "sinful and criminal."

Surprisingly, the Pope also put some of the blame on Ireland itself, for becoming more secular and abandoning old-school Catholicism.

"The church in your country has had to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularization of Irish society," he wrote.

"Fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people's traditional adherence to Catholic teachings and values."

But Benedict made it clear that he understood the misery endured by victims of abuse and asked them to forgive the church.

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," the Pope wrote. "I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated."

Thousands of Irish children were raped, molested, beated and otherwise abused by parish priests and by nuns and brothers in Catholic-run schools and orphanages, according to investigations between 2005 and 2009 by the Irish government.

No bishops ever reported the abuse to police until the first victims sued the church in 1996.

Benedict acknowledged the horrors faced by the victims and said he understood their anger.

""Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen," he wrote. "Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape for your sufferings."

"It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church," he continued. "In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel."

The highly-anticipated, 4600-word letter, which will be read at evening masses Saturday and Sunday all over Ireland, promised a Vatican probe, called an "apostolic visitation," into certain dioceses in Ireland. The Vatican ordered a similar probe in the U.S. after 2002.

There was no mention of the Vatican bearing any responsibility for the abuse in Ireland and no indication that any immediate disciplinary measures were planned for Irish church officials involved in covering up child sexual abuse.

The Pope's harshest words were aimed at the clergy who abused children.

"You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents," he wrote. "You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonor among your confreres."

Though the Pope wrote that " the problem of child abuse is peculiar neither to Ireland or the Church," his tone in the letter sounded oddly at times as if Ireland were the only country to be facing the results of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.

The U.S. faced a massive Catholic sexual abuse scandal in 2002 and similar scandals are now erupting in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Brazil.

The Pope cited the country's long history of "persecution" and "recent decades of secularization" as some of the many cultural and societal factors that left Irish Catholics more vulnerable to "the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse."

Maeve Lewis, director of the Irish abuse survivors' group, One in Four, said she was "astounded at the Pope's assertion that that the roots of clerical sexual abuse lie in the secularization of Irish society, the falling off of religious devotion and failures to adhere to canon law."

"This shows a complete misunderstanding of the dynamics of sexual violence, and creates little hope that the Church will ever respond effectively to the problem," Lewis said.

Lewis added that the Pope blamed the Irish church without mentioning the Vatican's role.

"If the Church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial," she said.

In contrast, Irish Cardinal Sean Brady, under fire himself for his role in indirectly helping cover up the sexual abuse of Ireland's worst pedophile priest, Brendan Smyth, said he "welcomed" the letter during a Saturday address in Armagh.

"It is evident from the Pastoral Letter that Pope Benedict is deeply dismayed by what he refers to as 'sinful and criminal acts and the way the Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them,'" Brady said.

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A few More…..

Loving the Big Pics!!!

FROM : 365Gay Agenda

BY : James Withers, contributing editor, 365Gay Blog 03.19.2010 8:32am EDT

Please take this advice: put down that tasty beverage before you continue. If you have children and don’t won’t their ears assaulted by you cussing, send them outdoors. You ready? Gen. John Sheehan, a former NATO commander,  said at a Senate DADT  hearing the Bosnia massacre was caused by gay Dutch soldiers.

Stop cursing and don’t blame me for the coffee all over your computer screen. You were warned. The general’s argument goes like this: when the Cold War ended  European military leaders decided “there was no longer a need for an active combat capability.” This led to “open homosexuality” and the next step was “a focus on peacekeeping operations because they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back.” Quick translation: Nancy boy soldiers make a military weak.

The retired  general said  he was told all of this by a former Netherlands army chief of staff.  Before moving on let’s do some quick history. In 1995, Srebrenica was a UN safe haven, protected by 400 Dutch peacekeepers. Bosnian Serb forces attacked the town and massacred approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

It should come as no surprise officials from the Netherlands don’t think much of Sheehan’s history lesson.

“It is astonishing that a man of his stature can utter such complete nonsense,” Netherlands defense ministry spokesman Roger van de Wetering said. “The Srebrenica massacre and the involvement of UN soldiers was extensively investigated by the Netherlands, international organizations and the United Nations. Never was there in any way concluded that the sexual orientation of soldiers played a role.”

Blaming gay soldiers for a massacre? That’s the tactic? Really? What’s next?

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(March 19) – A German archdiocese led by the future Pope Benedict XVI ignored repeated warnings in the early 1980s from a psychiatrist treating a pedophile priest that his patient should not be allowed near children, the doctor says in an interview published today.

"I said, 'For God's sake, he desperately has to be kept away from working with children,'" Dr. Werner Huth told The New York Times in a telephone interview Thursday from Munich. "I was very unhappy about the entire story."

At the time, Joseph Ratzinger -- who would later become the current Pope Benedict XVI -- was archbishop of Munich and Freising, where Huth filed several explicit warnings, verbal and written. The complaints were filed before Ratzinger left Germany in 1982 to take a Vatican position, though Huth said he did not have a direct conversation with Ratzinger and didn't know whether the future pope personally read his letters.

The case began in the German industrial city of Essen, where three sets of parents complained to the church that the Rev. Peter Hullermann had had "sexual relations" with their children in February 1979, according to a statement this week by the Essen diocese.

Hullermann did not deny the allegations, but the church told parents it would not file charges against him in order to protect their children. At the time, it was common practice for the church not to involve law enforcement in abuse cases. Instead, Hullermann was ordered to undergo therapy with Huth.

Huth said he recommended one-on-one sessions with the priest, but that Hullermann refused and took part in group therapy instead. He said Hullermann was "neither invested nor motivated" to get anything out of those sessions.

"He did the therapy out of fear that he would lose his post" and a "fear of punishment," Huth said.

The doctor, now 80, described conditions he set for treating Hullermann: that he stay away from young people and alcohol, and be supervised by another priest at all times. He said he shared his concerns with church officials frequently, but that his recommendations were only enforced intermittently.

Almost immediately after his therapy began, Hullermann was allowed to return to working unrestricted in a church, where he interacted with children, the Times said. Two years later he took a job teaching religion in a public school, and within a few years was accused of molesting more boys. Hullermann was convicted in Bavaria in 1986 of sexual abuse of minors.

Another psychiatrist commissioned by the court to examine him said "alcohol played a big role" in Hullermann's behavior. Dr. Johannes Kemper, who wrote an expert opinion for the 1986 trial, said the priest "drank, and then under the influence of alcohol he watched porn videos with the youths."

Hullermann's court file was sealed after his probation ended, but Kemper described the trial to the Times, saying the priest's victims lined up outside the courtroom and entered one by one to testify. He said he couldn't remember exactly how many victims there were, but "between five and 10" boys.

Hullermann was sentenced to a fine and five years' probation, according to the Munich prosecutor's office.

The decision to allow the priest to return to parish work was made during Ratzinger's tenure as archbishop. His then-deputy, Vicar General Gerhard Gruber, took the blame, admitting to what he called "serious mistakes."

The Times said the archdiocese did not respond to repeated attempts this week for comment. A spokesman would comment only generally on the topic of Hullermann's therapy, saying that 30 years ago, "the subject was treated very differently in society."

"There was a tendency to say it could be therapeutically treated," archdiocese spokesman Bernd Oostenryck said Wednesday.

After Hullermann's conviction, he was moved to a church in the German town of Garching an der Alz, where he worked for 21 years. The town's mayor told the Times on Thursday that he's angry at the church for failing to inform his community about the priest's criminal record, saying his townspeople were used "as guinea pigs."

"Had we known, we definitely would have done something," Mayor Wolfgang Reichenwallner said. "We just can't afford the risk that children in our community are put in harm's way.

"We got lucky that nothing seems to have happened," Reichenwallner said.

Okay, there is a more subtle name for this festival. How about, Hounen Matsuri? Celebrated every March 15 in Komaki, a town about 45 minutes north of Nagoya, Japan, this is the time of year where folks haul out a large wooden penis to give three cheers to fertility and renewal. The custom is an old one that is connected to bringing about a good harvest and having babies.

Each year in Komaki, a new two and a half meter penis is carved out of a cyprus tree, put on a float and carried from the Tajata Jinja Shrine (the male version) to the Tamahime-no-mikyo Shrine (female version) by 42 year-old men. Since forty-two is not a lucky number in Japan, the 42 year-old males have an interest in being up close to the big guy in order to turn their luck. Besides this very large phallus, other people carry phalluses in the parade too. Men, women, children, everybody gets in on the fun.

This Shinto shrine has been around for years and the festival that honors it is steeped in folklore. Although, the big phallus may make it seem like this is all fun and frolic, there is a serious intention to the activities. Renewal and rebirth is the aim here. However, serious as this may be, since drinking sake and catching the rice balls that are thrown into the crowd are part of the entertainment, fun seems to be a big factor. Catching a rice ball is supposed to bring good luck.

If it were true, then it would be all over the internet as homophobes would grab the bull by the horns and parade it it out in front of everyone.

Totally agree with this statement. I take this as a sign of just how truly desperate "THEY" are to prevent the end of DADT and find it highly offensive that Gays are now to be blamed for what was obviously a doomed Peace Keeping Mission from the start.

You would think that a Peace Keeping Mission would be equipped with all the necessary gear to "keep the peace" ,however, a bunch of Boy Scouts may have been better equipped for this task than the Dutch forces assigned this honor.

Good Post!!!! martini20

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