Josh Duggar, Alleged Child Molester

Meet the Bible quoting Duggar Family: Two religious, procreating parents, 19 home schooled, church going children whose names all start with “J.” Lots of rules including no hand holding on all chaperoned dates, no hugging and absolutely no kissing until the wedding ceremony is complete. Josh Duggar, the oldest son, and his wife Anna, never kissed until their wedding to maintain their purity . . . but then there’s this . . .

19 Kids and Counting turns to Five Victims and Counting. Twelve years ago, when Josh Duggar was 14 or 15, he molested five young girls several times, the police report indicated they were his sisters. From the report, “The alleged victims are [names blacked out] who live with their parents Michelle and Jim Bob.” His father found out from one of his son’s victims who told him she had been touched inappropriately. When confronted, he confessed to his father Jim, who waited over one year before turning his son into the authorities. Instead of calling police, Jim discussed the matter with Church officials and decided to send Josh to do manual labor for three months as a punishment. When Jim did report it over a year later, the officer investigating the case was himself arrested for child pornography and the investigation was derailed. Eventually the statute of limitations’ for prosecution expired. Josh Duggar went on his merry way to marry, have children and accuse gay people of being child molesters. Go figure.

As I always say, the truth always comes out. Josh and his family, making tons of money on the reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” probably thought this was all behind them. So they continued having children and failed to protect their daughters from their oldest son, Josh, who was living in the household. Who really knows the number of victims that were harmed? Josh admitted to 5 victims when he was 15. He has had twelve years to continue along this path with no accountability. If in fact he is a child molester, we know that there is no successful cure for that. Therapy doesn’t fix this problem and he didn’t even see a therapist. He was sent away for three months to do manual labor as punishment. And then, his parents probably tried to instill the fear of God into him so he would stop. Who knows if that worked or if more victims will eventually come forward in the days and weeks ahead? He has resigned as Executive Director of the Family Resource Council, so as not to have his scandal impact their homophobic work against the gay community. Of course we wouldn’t want Josh’s scandal to taint this ignorant organization. I wonder if they will take a stand against Josh, one of their own and an alleged child molester? Or is it their mission to solely persecute gays people and accuse all of them of being child molesters?

This situation is disturbing on so many levels. All of the parents’ concern seems to have been directed solely at Josh and getting him back on the path of salvation. Poor Josh who made a “mistake” several times with several of his sisters. Poor Josh who apparently wasn’t chaperoned carefully enough. Poor Josh who was probably taking an active part in helping to “raise” his siblings, as Michelle was too busy getting pregnant every year to pay much attention to them. I’ve read plenty about this family the past three days. The mother, Michelle, is sorry. The father, Jim, is sorry. Josh’s wife, Anna, is sorry. Josh is sorry. They all came to Josh’s defense. He lost his way, but he found his path back to the Lord and the Family Resource Council. Halleluiah! Can I get an Amen? Guess who I haven’t read one word about? The victims. Not one word about any of them, except for one who asked that the police report, with her name in it, be destroyed so the media couldn’t have a field day with it. The judge agreed.

I have not heard of any counseling or therapy for the girls molested by their oldest brother several times. How are they coping? What were they told? Why wasn’t CPS called in? On what planet is it ever okay for the victims of a child molester to live in the same household as their molester? Who could these girls turn to? They were home schooled and only had contact with the church community. Are we supposed to take the word of these parents or Josh, that his perverted behavior stopped? How would they know? Even if it did stop, these girls are forever damaged, their innocence lost. We don’t know the details, however Josh is the oldest child and he was 14 at the time, the girls were all younger than that. It’s beyond disgusting. Now he has a daughter of his own and another daughter on the way (in addition to two sons). Are his daughters safe? Who knows?

And the network that airs their reality show, TLC, finally decided to pull the plug on their show. I guess the feedback from advertisers and viewers convinced them they could no longer continue with show. Comments on their page have been 81% negative. Well they got plenty of years out of this family. They shouldn’t complain. They will find another large family where all the kids names start with “J” . . . oh, wait a minute, they already have the singing Willis family. They only have 12 kids, but they are entertaining, and their names all start with “J.” So bye, bye Duggars. Hope to see you in court and a judge orders Michelle and Jim to put a big chunk of their money in trust for the victims, who will surely need it for therapy in the future.

Here is the article that broke the story In Touch Magazine

　

Bridgegate and Chris Christie...

For the first time in a long time, I finally saw something in a Republican politician that I liked. Chris Christie came across as a take charge, no nonsense, down to earth, calling it as he sees it, leader. I saw him in action during storm Sandy. He was impressive enough to sway my thinking into believing I could actually vote for him if he ran for president in 2016. Even our Governor Cuomo, who is a democrat and may throw his hat in the ring in 2016, was not the strong leader I thought he needed to be. These are hard times in every sense of the word. People around the country are struggling with so many issues and these constant bouts with extraordinary and devastating weather events are more than we can stand. Too many people are still not back in their homes due the the damage from Sandy. It's hard to believe.

Fast forward to Bridgegate. I did a lot of reading about this scandal and I watched the very long, televised press conference that Christie had after the scandal broke. He sure seemed sincere in his apologies and his insistence that he didn't know anything about it's planning or execution. I hoped he was telling the truth. Surely, he would not compound the stupidity of this whole mess by adding his denials of any knowledge, especially if there was evidence out there that he knew something or even gave the orders to close the lanes on the George Washington Bridge. If there is proof he knew anything about it at this point, he could kiss his political career good bye.

A couple of things bothered me though. First, he said he had just learned of the fact his staff was involved the morning before the press conference, but later said he had lost TWO nights sleep. I caught that, but then the media highlighted it and questioned it. Everyone was asking why, if he only found out the day before, did he lose two nights sleep? That in itself isn't so incriminating. I'm sure there are many reasons why he could have lost an extra night's sleep. But now there is a second thing weighing on my mind. David Wildstein. Wildstein is the person who ordered the lanes of the George Washington Bridge closed based on an email from Bridget Kelly saying, "time for traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein answered "got ya," as though he had understood her short command and had done this sort of thing before.Wildstein knew Christie in high school. Someone at the press conference asked Christie about their "friendship." Christie downplayed the relationship, saying they went to high school together, they passed each other in the hallways, they haven't seen each other in 20 years or more. Really? Because this doesn't have the ring of truth to it. Why? Well, a special position was created for Wildsten in the Port Authority by the request of Christie, namely Director of Interstate Capital Projects paying over $150,000 per year. A position that never existed before and is being done away with now that Wildstein resigned on the heels of the scandal. Who believes Christie would ask for a position like this for a guy he barely knew existed in high school? I don't. I have some serious concerns about it. To top it off, Wildstein, in an effort to save himself from prison time, is offering up evidence that Christie didn't tell the truth on some matters during his press conference, for immunity. Bridget Kelly and Bill Stepien were subpoenaed to submit documents for the investigation and I heard she refused.

Lastly, Rachael Maddow pointed out something interesting on her show. We all have a hard time thinking Christie would condone wrecking havoc on Fort Lee just because the mayor there didn't endorse him, especially since he admits they didn't ask for his endorsement. But Maddow looked closely at the timing of the event and what happened just before the lane closure went into effect. it seems that Christie, for the first time in I don't know how many years of NJ history, decided not to give a supreme court justice a lifetime appointment after he had served seven years with a very good record. This angered the state senate because there was no reason for it. So in retaliation, every appointment Christie made to fill that seat, was rejected. The night before the traffic jam, another candidate had been rejected and Christie was pissed. The president of the senate lives in Fort Lee. Maddow's theory is that the lane closures were in retaliation for this situation and had nothing to do with the mayor. It seems to make sense. Does that mean Christie knew what was about to happen or did his staff orchestrate the whole thing without his knowledge? Did the governor tell them to do what they have to do to get back at whoever, but he doesn't want to know the details? I don't know. I imagine that happens all the time. Of course, when he asked them about it they lied and/or said nothing. That may be the way it is done to protect the reputation of the leader, so he can say he knows nothing, and the underlings become totally responsible and the scapegoats. Heads have to roll. Some key people close to Christie lost their jobs. But that didn't end things and subpeonas are going out. If there is anything incriminating out there it will surely come out. Its just a wait and see game.

I don't know what to think or believe. The whole idea was asinine from the get go.

St. John’s University President "Retires"…

St. John’s is my alma mater and that of my younger daughter, so it pains me to see that yet another “Catholic” scandal has been perpetrated at the university. I really did love my time at St. John’s and my daughter was very well prepared for her career in medical technology. However, I am very disappointed in the latest news that president, the Rev. Father Donald J. Harrington, is retiring due to a scandal.

The back story is that a dean of the university, Cecilia Chang, was arrested and tried for stealing/embezzling over a million dollars from the university for her own personal use. Chang took the stand in her own defense, but committed suicide, by hanging herself, the following day, November 6th, 2012. However, while she was stealing the money, she was giving Father Harrington lavish gifts such as expensive suits, luxurious hotel rooms on trips, watches, etc. all which he accepted. I don’t know where he thought she was getting the money to purchase those items, but clearly he didn’t care. So now, students and their parents have been petitioning for his resignation. After all, when you are paying over $36,000 a year for an education it is more than a little irksome to learn that a dean and the president of the university are benefiting personally from that money. Money that came from loans, with interest, which will take a lifetime to pay back.

Father Harrington says he has prayed over what to do. The past six months have been very difficult for him. I wonder if he has been keeping track of the time on his Rolex watch? I guess, like all Catholic scandals, he expected that it would go away in time? Well it hasn’t. And now he, and his chief of staff, Robert Wile, will be resigning effective June 30th and his retirement will be effective July 31st, so he will still be getting a check. By the way, Wile received $370,000 in interest FREE loans from St. John’s and is being investigated. The loans were recommended by Father Harrington for a joint real-estate venture. It would be great if struggling students could get interest free loans too. Just saying.

Now what really irks me is that St. John’s prides itself on being a Vincentian University, started by priests of the order of St. Vincent de Paul. St. Vincent de Paul was known for his charitable works in helping the poor. Students are encouraged to do community service to follow his example. The virtues of St. Vincent de Paul include humility, meekness, simplicity and self denial. So how does one reconcile this lifestyle, and the commitment St. John’s has made to following the teachings of St. Vincent de Paul, with the actions of Cecilia Chang? Moreover, how is it that a priest like Father Harrington, who is so devoted and committed to those teachings in his own order, finds it okay to accept such lavish gifts? It’s really shameful and yet I am not surprised. It fit’s with the overall continuing hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. This is just a drop in the bucket compared to what has been probably covered up.

Another black mark of the Catholic Church, who supports Father Harrington, as do our Police Commissioner Kelly and our Cardinal Timothy Dolan. I don’t know how anyone can be okay with what he has done, but there you have it. St. Vincent de Paul must be turning in his grave to have his name associated with this scandal.

Pope Resigns, Scandal Suspected…

Ever since the child abuse scandal broke about ten years ago, I have written off the Catholic Church. I have not heard or read anything in the last ten years to satisfy me that the Church has taken this scandal seriously or taken the steps necessary to help victims, punish abusers, prevent future cases of abuse, or hand over their internal investigation documents to authorities.

So I became a little skeptical when it was announced that the Pope was “resigning” from his position because of health reasons. Since Popes are elected for life, they all die in office from old age or illness and no one ever saw the need to resign. Now, rumors are surfacing which the Vatican is denying. If you recall, several months ago the Pope’s butler was arrested for stealing papal documents that were published in a book. But then, after he was convicted of theft, he was later pardoned, and all was suddenly “forgiven.” Everything got quiet…till now. Suddenly, the Pope is going to resign. Something that has never been done before, since 1415. Why now?

Several online websites are reporting that a scandal involving gay priests, prostitutes and blackmail is brewing at the Vatican and it was hoped that it would be squashed if the Pope resigned. The allegations point to high ranking members of the Vatican who have had “ties of a worldly nature” with gay men who are now allegedly blackmailing them. The charges are made in a 300 page report which outlines how priests were being extorted by gay laymen, who allegedly have photographs to go along with their threats and accusations. The three cardinals appointed to investigate have reportedly found there has been an underground “gay network” and “sex parties.“ There is even a rumor that a European government has issued an arrest warrant for the Pope, though this is very questionable.

The reasoning behind the resignation is to elect a new Pope as soon as possible; one who has no ties to the Vatican, Rome or the current situation, and bring him in to clean house. And because the Vatican population is largely Italian, they may be seeking a non-Italian Pope to bring about the changes needed to restore order.

As usual, the Church is denying rumors and acting as though it is the victim of media attacks. However, I find it difficult to believe anything the Church says to explain away this or any other scandal. Eventually the truth will come out. Too many people are involved in this “gay network” for one or more of them not to divulge names, dates, facts, photos or other evidence of what has been going on. I’m sure more will soon surface to confirm or refute the allegations being made. The 300 page, two volume report, will not be made public, it will be handed over to the new Pope. Meanwhile, even as the Church is denying allegations of the scandal, the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland has been “accelerated.” Hmmmm, you have to wonder why. Well stop wondering. It has the do with allegations being made against him, dating back 30 years, by four priests. Of course, following the lead of the church, O’Brien is contesting these charges and is seeking legal counsel. And also in the news is another Cardinal, Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, who allegedly played a role in covering up sexual abuse by priests. And then, this past Friday, a Monsignor Balestrero, secretariat of state in the Vatican, was transferred to Columbia, who knows why? Everything is suspect and hush hush.

As for me, this is just another huge mark against a religion that fails to practice what it preaches and covers up its sins. Whatever happened to confession is good for the soul?

P. S. Meanwhile, the Pope changed the conclave rule to waive the customary waiting period of 15 days, so the Cardinals can get an early start. They can’t wait to get the new Pope in office so they can present him with the two volume, red covered, investigation into the aforementioned scandals, conducted by three cardinals. The new Pope is already going to be saddled with a huge headache, which the Church has been trying to contain instead of being forthcoming. Now where have we heard this before? I wonder what name the new Pope will take? I’d like to suggest Pope Jude, after the saint of impossible causes, because it seems where the Church is concerned, it’s mission impossible.

Since the Church is probably my biggest Pet Peeve, I wouldn’t be surprised f there is another blog in the near future.