Kiddy fiddling damn expensive for Catholic church

You’d have to wonder whether at some stage in the past, the Catholic church actively recruited pedophiles into the priesthood. Was sexual attraction to children actually a selection criteria? They could hardly have done worse if that had been their recruitment practice, than what has actually transpired.

The news that the Los Angeles Archdiocese of the Catholic Church has settled 508 claims of alleged sexual abuse by its clergy and lay people, totalling $660m, is a terrible inditement on the church, and its selection of priests and its subsequent management of misconduct allegations. This is on top of an earlier settlement last December of $60m to settle another 45 cases. The total cost of sex abuse claims against the church in the US now tops $2 billion.

And thats the US alone. We have a nice little case brewing here in Canberra, involving a teacher at a local Catholic college, Daramalan, between the years 1988 and 2000. Paul Joseph Lyons committed suicide in 2000 after being charged with indecently assaulting a 15-year-old student at the college in 1989. The plaintiffs’ lawyer said that while it has not been alleged that the college authorities were aware of the sexual abuse, they had been aware of complaints from early on by fellow teachers and parents that Lyons behaved in an overly familiar way with students. This involved regularly inviting three or four boys to his flat on Friday nights, sometimes for overnight stays, or for excursions or camping trips.

Something that staggered me is that the church could actually buy insurance policies to cover sex abuse claims. Thats how institutionalised and widespread the problem had become. Imagine how much better it would have been for the victims, and cheaper for the church, if those in positions of responsibility had acted with decency in dealing with abuse allegations against their clergy, rather than seeing their role as being to deny, cover up and protect the church at all costs.

Update (19/07/2007): For an amusing take on the question of insurance, see here. Picture these as taglines for insurance company advertising:

(”Prudential for Auto, home, fire, theft, penetrating a 10-year-old, with deductibles as low as $44 million.” )

(”At Aetna, we offer wrap-around coverage for everything from sodomy to fondling…”)

(”I accidently penetrated a red-haired six-year old girl and my State Farm Agent was on the scene within minutes.” [I’m State Farm agent Adrian Goodlove and this is a true story…])

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How unlucky can you be?

A local Canberra story, and an entry in the world’s unluckiest criminal stakes.  I’d thought dumbest, but on reflection I think its just bad luck not his own stupidity.

Justin Daniel Maliganis held up a service station in the early hours of Saturday morning, threatening the attendant with a knife.  However, while he was there, the attendant noticed that a police car had just pulled into the station, and stalled the would-be thief by telling him he could not open the till.

The police officers who had turned up for petrol saw the robbery in progress and arrested Maliganis on the spot.

We’ve got a terrorist of our own and we’re not letting go of him

Dr Mohamed Haneef. the Indian doctor who is risking Australia’s national security by giving his old mobile phone sim card to his relatives when he left England for Australia, was granted bail yesterday after having been charged with providing support to terrorists. However, his freedom was shortlived, as before he was released, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews cancelled his visa for residency in Australia on character grounds, meaning he will be taken into immigration detention. This apparently will last until his trial on the terrorism charge, but if found not guilty he will most likely be deported from Australia anyway.

So as well as the original charges, which I think are bullshit anyway, we now have the government using immigration powers to overrule (effectively) the court’s decision to release Dr Haneef on bail. The reason for this is simply the government’s determination not to let him go. I think its all to do with the government wanting to show everyone “look we’ve got ourselves a real live terrorist and we’re going to be tough on him” regardless of how spurious the charges are, how tenuous the doctor’s connection to terrorists, etc.

According to the magistrate who granted Haneef bail, the circumstances that justified him being released, included that he was not alleged to have been directly involved with a terrorist group behind last month’s failed extremist attacks in London and Glasgow; that the mobile phone SIM card he gave to his second cousin was not alleged to have been used as part of an attack; that he left it with his family member when leaving Britain; that he was a doctor studying with the Australian College of Physicians; that he had no criminal history and a good employment history; that his passport had been taken and that he was likely to be placed under surveillance if released.

But this was not the result the AFP and government wanted, so Mr Andrews got in on the act, and said that, after conversations with the Australian Federal Police, he was satisfied Haneef had an association with persons involved with criminal conduct, and as a result said he was satisfied the Indian-born doctor had failed the “character test”.

And of course this had nothing to do with any judgement that the minister or government is making about the merits of the criminal charges against Dr Haneef! Mr Andrews said he was not commenting on the legal charge, nor attempting to interfere in it, he was simply exercising his duties under the Migration Act. Sure, I believe you Kevin!

The government’s action in cancelling the visa has been met with outrage in legal circles. And quite rightly! Stephen Estcourt, president of the Australian Bar Association, could not believe the minister’s action. He said the minister was “usurping the role of the court” to take action now. He said:

“Usually this sort of visa cancellation takes place after charges have been laid against someone and they`ve run their course and they’ve resulted in a penalty being imposed … I have not heard of this power being used pre-emptively in this way.

“It has got to be seen as a threat to the rule of law if a ministerial discretion is used to effectively reverse, or to reverse for practical purposes a decision of the court. And it’s sophistry to say that one’s got nothing to do with the other.”

Yep, but lets not let the rule of law get in the way of bignoting ourselves about being tough on terrorism …those sim card givers away are a serious threat to the Australian way of life.

Tanked

Drugs, vengeance and a tank are a dangerous mix, especially on the streets of western Sydney.

John Robert Patterson, 45, of the Sydney suburb of Dharruk, has been charged with predatory driving and six counts of malicious damage. He was arrested early yesterday after police encountered an armoured personnel carrier destroying an electricity substation in the suburb of Minchinbury. In the next 90 minutes, the tank brought down four Telstra mobile phone towers and damaged three Optus towers. The rampage continued until the vehicle stalled on the way to another phone tower.

Patterson’s neighbours said he had been a technician for Telecom, now Telstra, who received a compensation pay-out about 15 years ago after a head injury. He was also believed to have worked on tanks in the army in the past, as well as for the company he stole the tank from, A-One Lift Truck Services, which hired the tank out … it was popular with school formals (rolling up in a tank beats a limo I guess?)

The full list of charges against him includes malicious damage; breaking, entering and stealing; predatory driving; possession of a prohibited drug; use of a weapon to avoid apprehension; and driving in a dangerous manner.

So there you go, a grudge against Telstra, drugs, and access to the tank all combined to make it a wild night.

80k now

The visit counter hit 80 000 this morning. That last 10k took 40 days, slightly more than 60-70k.

What drew people here? Let’s check the biggest hitters from my stats:

• vagina - no, I don’t have one (also someone wanted to see “girls vagina” - as opposed to boy’s?)
• various people nude - Harry Potter, Hermione, Daniel Radcliffe, Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears
• pedo sex - 15 in the last week …you sick fuckers, I could be sending your IP details to the cops
• small dicks and “men with small dicks” - still seems to have a strong niche following
• women crapping, pooping etc - coprophiliacs are alive and well on the net
• the “men of interest” in the Dianne Brimble inquest have a following - Luigi Vitale, Letterio Silvestri, Mark Wilhelm in particular
• breast size
• wanking - always a popular topic
• 10 year old pussy - is someone (well 3 people actually) interested in old-ish cats or is this a combination of points 1 and 3 above?

Why is it that things to do with sex, and in particular, various fetishes and out of the ordinary things to do with sex, are what people are looking for on the net, as opposed to my incisive opinions on politics, observations on sport, movies or music?

Like Al Capone being charged with tax evasion

When I read about Dr Mohammed Haneef having been charged with a terrorism offence this morning, it struck me that its a bullshit charge designed to (a) give the AFP a reason to hold him longer, and (b) save face after having held him in custody for questioning for a week and a half and not having anything to charge him with till today.

He has been charged with recklessly supplying a mobile phone sim card to a terrorist organisation.

According to AFP Commissioner, Mick Keelty:

“The allegation is that Dr Haneef provided support to a terrorist group, the specific allegation involves recklessness rather than intention, the allegation being that he was reckless about some of the support he provided to that group in particular the provision of his sim card for the use of the group,”

Dr Haneef, who came to Australia from Britain last year to work in a hospital on the Gold Coast, is a distant cousin of Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, two of the suspects being held in Britain who allegedly drove a Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow airport. Haneef was arrested after his mobile phone’s SIM card was found in the possession of one of the British suspects, later identified by media reports as Sabeel Ahmed. Official documents cited by The Australian newspaper yesterday said Haneef gave the SIM card to Sabeel Ahmed before he moved to Australia from Britain last year so that his cousin could take advantage of free minutes left on his mobile phone plan.

For this, he could get up to 15 years in prison.

Now, I don’t know whether Dr Haneef is involved in the terrorist plot in the UK that his cousins allegedly were, or if he is, as his family claims, innocent. But, the only charge laid against him seems laughable to me, and as I said above, looks like a bullshit one to allow the police to hold him longer. Given all the effort that has gone into the investigation, its hard to believe that he’s a serious threat if giving a sim card away is all the police can find to charge him with.

Its sort of like jailing Al Capone on tax evasion charges, when the authorities couldn’t prove the real crimes.

Update (15/7/07): Another thing about this case is that the running commentary from Philip Ruddock, John Howard and Mick Keelty is hardly conducive to Dr Haneef getting a fair hearing when his day in court comes. Its not exactly the norm for such regular commentary to be made on criminal cases. I’d have thought, “a man has been arrested and is being held under anti-terrorism laws while inquiries continue” would be the usual expectation. But no, I think the thrill of having a real live terrorist, even if his connnection might be fairly tenuous, and the desire to bignote ourselves about how tough we are on terrorism, has easily won out over considerations of a fair go for the doctor. No doubt also its good to whip up a bit of a national security storm in the leadup to the election later in the year.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 The kids and I saw this movie today … second time for the kids, they had already seen it first session on opening day on Wednesday (and got free tickets out of that due to some projector problems during the screening).  While the kids thought it great, I’m a bit lukewarm about it, just like I have been with book 4 onwards.  At least the movie didn’t drag like the book of Order of the Phoenix …I thought this to be the worst book, long and drifting about for no real purpose, with a lot of fat that could have been edited out (clearly JK Rowling’s editors don’t have the will to tell her to tighten up her writing).  Don’t know if either the book or the movie really advances the story that much, although I suppose that will become clearer after the last book, Deathly Hallows, is released next Saturday and we see how some of the threads from the earlier books get tied up.

I forget

Why does Luigi Vitale get blasted by the Coroner for not being able to recall things about the events surrounding Dianne Brimble’s death, when it seems to be a perfectly legitimate excuse for politicians and public servants - eg in the AWB inquiry, forgetfulness was contagious, businessmen - eg Alan Bond (not only did he have memory loss but supposedly some brain damage to go with it, from which he’s made a remarkable recovery post his legal troubles), Jodee Rich and others, football players - who seem to regularly forget that someone punched them when it comes tribunal time?

Vitale is one of the 8 men of interest over the death of Mrs Brimble.  He repeatedly answered “I don’t recall”, even after counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, had told him there was no evidence to date to implicate him in the death.   The coroner got sick of this, and told him:

“You are answering questions as if you have got something to conceal - whether personal or trying to protect someone else, I don’t know,”

Spot on there, Ms Coroner!

The inquest should get interesting when recordings of intercepted phone calls between the 8 men discussing their evidence (thats polite for getting their stories straight) get played to the court.  That will be revealing … wonder if it will get one or more of them to break ranks and rat on whichever ultra-sleazy subset of them actually drugged Dianne Brimble to death.

Confession time - our trains are broken

 NSW Railcorp CEO Vince Graham today admitted that Sydney’s rail network is beset by big maintenance problems and that last week’s chaotic Harbour Bridge breakdown was due to human error.  Mr Graham told a news conference today that the network is struggling to overcome a “lack of quality processes” in its maintenance regime.

The solution - of course - Graham and Minister John Watkins announced an audit of Railcorp maintenance yards.  (Surprising, isn’t it, that at a time of crisis, what better thing to do than have an inquiry).  Of course, we bring in independent experts, too.  To do the jobs of a reasonable number of pretty well paid managers who are clearly failing to do the things they are supposed to be accountable for, and of staff paid to do a proper job of maintenance who are clearly not doing it.  (I’ll leave alone for now the non-performance of other Railcorp people who are responsible for things like customer service).

Mr Graham said the breakdown last week, and the far more serious incident on the bridge in March, during which commuters were trapped in carriages for hours, were “symptomatic” of a wider workplace culture that needs to be reformed.  So why does this seem to be a revelation?  And what have Mr Graham and his team been doing during their time there to fix the culture?  Isn’t that precisely what they are paid to do …fix the things that are broken there? 

Now, trains in Sydney were stuffed when I lived there 20 years ago, so its not like its management hasn’t had plenty of warning that things are broken.  Vince Graham has been there for about 3 1/2 of those years in his current role, and has been in and around Sydney’s trains for a lot longer than that.  So I’m staggered to hear that he’s only just discovered that their maintenance processes lack quality.  It just beggars belief, especially in an engineering led organisation like Railcorp is.  Sounds to me like a major cleanout of management and other people in maintenance is desperately overdue.

Asked whether he believes he will keep his position, he admitted his was a “tough job”, but said he had achieved important success in improving the on-time running of the city’s rail network.  I’m cynical about this, because largely it has been achieved by redefining the standards for what is “on time”.

What is it about Australian cities that prevents decent train systems?  I’ve travelled in Asia, and places like Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo and Busan have great subway systems, that are clean, cheap, run on time, etc etc.  So why do Sydney and Melbourne trains run so shabbily?

Stella sucks her way to success

 Stella Marie Thompson has earned millions from the aftermath of a blowjob she was giving in 1995.  Stella, you see, worked under the name, Divine Brown, who was caught in the act in actor Hugh Grant’s car. 

It turns out that Grant was caught out largely because he was being a tightarse with his money. Ms Brown reveals that the pair were caught by police because Mr Grant did not have the $117 required to purchase hotel services from her and instead had to settle for the $70 “in car” option. She said Mr Grant attracted attention because he had not turned his ignition off during the encounter and had continued to press the brake peddle, causing the light to flash on, off, on, off.

Hugh Grant went through a lot of public humiliation after being busted.

For Divine Brown, the money she earned from interviews and endorsements has allowed her to put her children through private school and buy a four-bedroom house.  Says her manager (pimp), Alvin “Gangsta” Brown:

“I love Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant put my kids through school, gave us a chance of the life we probably would’ve never reached,” Gangsta said.

“We had a chance to travel on private jets. If I can meet him and shake his hand all I would like to say is: ‘Thank you. I appreciate you, and if there is anything I can do in return I would love to be a friend’.”