Schadenfreude: Cardinal Bernard Law

I'm not a religious individual. Even if I was, I'd have trouble with the concept of unending divine retribution, especially if it was merely for disbelief or being a worshipper of a different god. On the other hand, there definitely should be a place for people like Law. Three guesses where that is:

Boston’s eighth bishop and fourth archbishop, Cardinal Law was the highest-ranking official in the history of the US church to leave office in public disgrace. Although he had not broken any laws in the Commonwealth — clergy were not required to report child sex abuse until 2002 — his actions led to a sense of betrayal among many Boston Catholics that the church is still dealing with today.

The abuse scandal was “the greatest tragedy to befall children — ever” in the Commonwealth, the attorney general’s office said in 2003, and “as archbishop, and therefore chief executive of the archdiocese, Cardinal Bernard Law bears ultimate responsibility for the tragic treatment of children that occurred during his tenure. But by no means does he bear sole responsibility.”

The attorney general’s office said the abuse extended over six decades and involved at least 237 priests and 789 children; of those, 48 priests and other archdiocesan employees were alleged to have abused children while Law was leader of the Boston archdiocese.

I, of course, will be looking forward to Bill Donohue's usual illogical attempt to blame the victims, the media or anyone else except Law for all of this, but that's only because I appreciate unintentional absurdist humor. After all, it's not like he'd actually be making a real argument or something.

So maybe there's hope for American democracy yet

I don't think I need to continue to harp on the massive shortcomings of Roy Moore as a politician, much less a functional human being. There are plenty of examples of them here and here, but what's gratifying about his special election loss to Doug Jones is that he wasn't put in a position to have a hand in national policy decisions in the US Senate. However, what's equally irritating is that it took a sexual harassment scandal (and if true, a outright pedophilia scandal) to do him in.

Nobody bothered to pay much attention to the fact that he's been living in a squalid alternate reality for decades in which bullhorn-level advocacy of theocracy, racism, homophobia and xenophobia were considered actual virtues instead of reasons to cringe, or that his entire campaign for the Senate - with the likes of Steve Bannon and Louis Gohmert clapping for him like trained seals - was built on that toxic worldview. It's as if being a reject from the most clichéd comedy movie about a trailer park pol was somehow a ticket to beatification. Unfortunately, for some people, it still is.

And the worst thing is that he can always make a run for Richard Shelby's seat when Shelby quits. Shelby is 83, so it's unlikely he'll run again. And although Roy Moore is down and out now, I get the sinking feeling we'll still have him to kick around in a few years' time - just like most other landmines.

Now reading

Another Life by Andrew Vachss.

A few more reasons not to vote for Roy Moore

This is probably not going to influence the Alabama special election one way or the other, but Matthew Sheffield pointed out yet more creepiness about Moore in Salon:

Contrary to Moore’s denial, however, he has extensive ties to people who have been involved with neo-Confederate groups. Like Moore, his controversial associates have also claimed they are not racist. Beyond the racial views they conceal in public, one thing Moore and his allies have in common is their shared view that Christians should have more rights than non-Christians and that America should be ordered in accordance with their understanding of Biblical law.
 

Moore’s connection to the Christian supremacist universe has primarily come through the Foundation for Moral Law, a nonprofit organization he established in 2003. That was shortly after he was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to abide by a federal judge’s directive to remove a large Ten Commandments memorial from the state court’s grounds.
 

The foundation has become notorious in recent months for its duplicitous accounting (including off-the-books payments to Moore under the stewardship of his wife, Kayla, who is its president) and its willingness to receive a donation from avowed neo-Nazi Willis Carto. It also has long employed John Eidsmoe, a radical Christian attorney who has written extensively about how Biblical law as described in the Old Testament should supersede the American legal system.

 

Eidsmoe, who was the law school mentor of former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has also spoken at a “Secession Day” event and addressed a segregationist group called the Council of Conservative Citizens. Like Moore, Eidsmoe says he is not a racist. He has defended speaking to controversial groups by claiming he will speak “to anyone.”

There's more, of course - with Crazy Roy, there always is - but if the stuff I just quoted above doesn't creep you out you're probably reading the wrong blog - or just living in the wrong country. And the South Africa that existed during Apartheid is mercifully gone.

Now reading

Terminal by Andrew Vachss.

Roy Moore, Moral Arbiter of All That is Good in This World

You'd think that someone who has his share of publicly identifiable issues concerning outright wackjobbery and an alleged desire to spend some quality time with teenage girls just might learn to keep his mouth shut and let his political surrogates do the talking for him, but then you wouldn't be Roy Moore.

Lucky you if you're not him, though. From Business Insider:

Embattled Republican Senate candidate from Alabama Roy Moore is being accused of anti-Semitism after implying that business mogul and liberal fundraiser George Soros, who is Jewish, is going to hell.

"He's still going to the same place that people who don't recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going," Moore said Tuesday. "And that's not a good place."

Moore made the comments about Soros while speaking with radio host Bryan Fischer on his local Alabama show, The Ordinary People Society.

Conservative news source The Reagan Battalion tweeted that Moore's statements about Soros were "straight-up anti-Semitism."

Moore also said that Soros's "agenda is sexual in nature" and is "not American culture."

Moore's comments came on the heels of a Breitbart News report alleging that Soros is trying to register felons in Alabama to vote against Moore. While Alabama did recently pass a law allowing felons to vote, there is no evidence to back up Moore's and Breitbart's claims.

Well, then. He just doesn't stop, does he?

Notice that I didn't say stop and think; it's long been a foregone conclusion that Moore - who wears a cowboy hat for many of his photo ops - verbally shoots from the hip all the time even when it's obvious that (A) the gun is still holstered and (B) the only thing he's liable to shoot is his own foot, but that's hardly surprising; in fact, where he's concerned, it's inevitable.

(Helpful hint to Bryan Fischer: You might want to change the name of that show from The Ordinary People Society to something else. See, there's this book with a somewhat similar title and in this case it might hit too close to home. Just a suggestion.)