Priest Helped Other Priest's Cover Up Sexual Abuse of Children

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia is the first Catholic Church official to go on trial for allegedly covering up sexual abuse of children by priests. His lawyer told jurors he tried to isolate abusive priests while bringing the problem to his superiors' attention.

The first Catholic Church official to go on trial for allegedly covering up sexual abuse of children by predator priests was described by prosecutors Monday as more concerned with protecting the church than children.

Prosecutors in Philadelphia told jurors in opening statements that Monsignor William J. Lynn, who was in charge of reviewing complaints about abusive priests, tried to save the church from scandal by covering up child sexual abuse.

"You can’t protect the church without keeping the allegations in the dark,’’ said Assistant Dist. Atty. Jacqueline Coelho, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. "He kept the parishioners in the dark and he kept the faithful in the dark.’’

Calling Lynn "the keeper of secrets," Coelho said: "The protection of children is the furthest thing from defendant Lynn’s mind.’’
In a landmark case, Lynn is the first U.S. church official charged with endangering children by protecting abusive priests and covering up the child rape and sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church. Lynn, 61, supervised priest assignments as secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004.
Lynn’s co-defendant, the Rev. James J. Brennan, is charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Lynn is charged with failing to remove Brennan from the ministry despite complaints that he had abused children.

Lynn’s lawyer told jurors that the monsignor tried to isolate abusive priests while bringing the problem to the attention of his superiors, the Inquirer reported.
"There isn’t anybody in this courthouse who would deny that sexual abuse of children is awful,’’ said defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom. "The evidence will show that he -- and perhaps he alone -- is the one who tried to correct’’ the problem.

Lynn has said that he sent top diocese officials, including the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, a list of 37 accused priests in 1994, but that Bevilacqua ordered it shredded.

The defense case was undermined last week when a third defendant, defrocked priest Edward V. Avery, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy inside a church sacristy in 1999.

Under a plea deal, Avery will serve two and a half to five years in prison for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger a child’s welfare. Avery acknowledged that the archdiocese kept him on as priest despite knowing about the sexual abusive allegations against him, according to the Associated Press.

Two other men charged in the case -- a priest and a former Catholic schoolteacher -- will be tried separately.

In a blistering 2005 grand jury report, Philadelphia prosecutors said Bevilacqua and other church officials covered up evidence of rampant child sexual abuse by clergy for decades. Bevilacqua died Jan. 31 at age 88, but his videotaped deposition could be played at the trial.
In a second grand jury report filed last year, Avery’s accuser, now an adult, said he was in fifth grade when he was passed around among abusive priests, including Avery and a Catholic schoolteacher.

"When Mass was ended, Fr. Avery took the fifth-grader into the sacristy, turned on the music and ordered him to perform a `striptease’ for him,’’ the report said. "When they were both naked, the priest had the boy sit on his lap and kissed his neck and back, while saying to him that God loved him.’’
The report said the kissing was followed by oral sex and penetration.
Defense lawyers plan to argue that the two accusers in the case are motivated by money and have criminal records and histories of drug addiction, the AP reported.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-philadelphia-catholic-church-sex-abuse-20120326,0,1979259.story

BLOGshare!: Do You Want To Eat 'Pink Slime' In Your Meat???

BLOGshare!: Do You Want To Eat 'Pink Slime' In Your Meat???: The USDA is reportedly set to announce that schools will be able to opt out of serving burgers made with the additive nicknamed "p...

Do You Want To Eat 'Pink Slime' In Your Meat???

The USDA is reportedly set to announce that schools will be able to opt out of serving burgers made with the additive nicknamed "pink slime" (which does not look like soft-serve ice cream). (Beef Products Inc / Associated Press)

"Pink slime" -- the ground beef additive maligned by a celebrity chef and incorrectly depicted in an Internet image as a fluffy pink concoction resembling soft-serve ice cream -- may not be appearing on your child's lunch tray come fall.

And that would be news to celebrate were it not for a new study suggesting, as The Times recently reported, that all red meat is bad for you anyway.

A spokesman with the USDA'S Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed to The Times that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be making an announcement Thursday concerning the food additive and the national school lunch program.

An Associated Press report earlier in the day, citing an unnamed official at the USDA (apparently no one wants to be tainted by "pink slime"), said the agency would announce that schools will be able to choose between 95% lean beef patties made with the additive or bulk ground beef without it -- that is less lean.

Apparently, you can't have your non-pink-slime beef and have it be lean too.
Chef Jamie Oliver has said that what the USDA and the meat industry call "lean beef trimmings" really are "all of the bits that no one wants." Then ammonium hydroxide is mixed in to kill bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.

Steven Cohen, director of media relations at the International Food Information Council, a Washington-based nonprofit backed by food, beverage and agricultural companies, recently provided some information about the ammonium hydroxide process. Tidbits include:

--Ammonium hydroxide was affirmed safe by the FDA in 1974 after an extensive review.

--Ammonium hydroxide is used as a "direct food additive" extensively in items including "baked goods, cheese, chocolates" and more.

So why are so many people appalled by its use in food?

Likely because ammonium hydroxide is also used as a "sanitizer in many household and industrial cleaners."

Yep, that'll do it.

So, which is worse -- leaner beef with the FDA-approved additive? Or the alternative?

The Times has calls and emails out to several food industry sources and is awaiting opinions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-pink-slime-usda-announcement-20120315,0,6500521.story

BLOGshare!: New Study Says ALL Red Meat Is Bad For You

BLOGshare!: New Study Says ALL Red Meat Is Bad For You: Eating red meat — any amount and any type — appears to significantly increase the risk of premature death, according to a long-range study...

New Study Says ALL Red Meat Is Bad For You

Eating red meat — any amount and any type — appears to significantly increase the risk of premature death, according to a long-range study that examined the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for more than 20 years.

Eating any amount and any type of red meat increases the risk of premature death, a new study says.

For instance, adding just one 3-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat — picture a piece of steak no bigger than a deck of cards — to one's daily diet was associated with a 13% greater chance of dying during the course of the study.

Even worse, adding an extra daily serving of processed red meat, such as a hot dog or two slices of bacon, was linked to a 20% higher risk of death during the study.

"Any red meat you eat contributes to the risk," said An Pan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and lead author of the study, published online Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Crunching data from thousands of questionnaires that asked people how frequently they ate a variety of foods, the researchers also discovered that replacing red meat with other foods seemed to reduce mortality risk for study participants.

Eating a serving of nuts instead of beef or pork was associated with a 19% lower risk of dying during the study. The team said choosing poultry or whole grains as a substitute was linked with a 14% reduction in mortality risk; low-fat dairy or legumes, 10%; and fish, 7%.

Previous studies had associated red meat consumption with diabetes, heart disease and cancer, all of which can be fatal. Scientists aren't sure exactly what makes red meat so dangerous, but the suspects include the iron and saturated fat in beef, pork and lamb, the nitrates used to preserve them, and the chemicals created by high-temperature cooking.

The Harvard researchers hypothesized that eating red meat would also be linked to an overall risk of death from any cause, Pan said. And the results suggest they were right: Among the 37,698 men and 83,644 women who were tracked, as meat consumption increased, so did mortality risk.

In separate analyses of processed and unprocessed meats, the group found that both types appear to hasten death. Pan said that at the outset, he and his colleagues had thought it likely that only processed meat posed a health danger.

Carol Koprowski, a professor of preventive medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine who wasn't involved in the research, cautioned that it can be hard to draw specific conclusions from a study like this because there can be a lot of error in the way diet information is recorded in food frequency questionnaires, which ask subjects to remember past meals in sometimes grueling detail.

But Pan said the bottom line was that there was no amount of red meat that's good for you.

"If you want to eat red meat, eat the unprocessed products, and reduce it to two or three servings a week," he said. "That would have a huge impact on public health."

A majority of people in the study reported that they ate an average of at least one serving of meat per day.

Pan said that he eats one or two servings of red meat per week, and that he doesn't eat bacon or other processed meats.

Cancer researcher Lawrence H. Kushi of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland said that groups putting together dietary guidelines were likely to pay attention to the findings in the study.

"There's a pretty strong supposition that eating red meat is important — that it should be part of a healthful diet," said Kushi, who was not involved in the study. "These data basically demonstrate that the less you eat, the better."

UC San Francisco researcher and vegetarian diet advocate Dr. Dean Ornish said he gleaned a hopeful message from the study.

"Something as simple as a meatless Monday can help," he said. "Even small changes can make a difference."

Additionally, Ornish said, "What's good for you is also good for the planet."

In an editorial that accompanied the study, Ornish wrote that a plant-based diet could help cut annual healthcare costs from chronic diseases in the U.S., which exceed $1 trillion. Shrinking the livestock industry could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the destruction of forests to create pastures, he wrote.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-red-meat-20120313,0,565423.story

'Cars Land'---Opening June 15th at Disney California Adventure!

Yesterday, Disney President and CEO Bob Iger and I stepped behind the construction walls at Disney California Adventure park for a hard-hat tour of Buena Vista Street and Cars Land, two of the most significant elements that will cap off our multi-year expansion of the park. Led by the extraordinary team of Imagineers working on this project, Bob and I were completely blown away by the level of artistry, creativity and attention to detail of the work done so far and can’t wait for all of our Disneyland Resort guests to finally experience it firsthand.

Our day started on Buena Vista Street where we rode the iconic Red Car Trolley, explored the storefronts that line the street and then continued on to the Carthay Circle Theatre, the new icon of Disney California Adventure park. This new entrance to the park will transport guests to a romantic, idealized version of 1920s Hollywood when Walt and Roy Disney first arrived in California to begin their careers as filmmakers. Buena Vista Street will be the perfect place for guests to shop and eat, watch the parade, or just sit and soak up the atmosphere.

Then we headed to Cars Land, and when we got to the entrance of this all-new, 12-acre land, Bob and I both stopped to simply take in the stunning view before us. From the majesty of the Ornament Valley Mountain Range in the distance to the craftsmanship of each of the buildings in Radiator Springs, Cars Land is going to be a truly spectacular addition to the park.

We wandered down Route 66 looking at all of the familiar hot spots from the films that are just about complete – Ramone’s House of Body Art, Flo’s V8 Café, the Cozy Cone Motel and Luigi’s Casa della Tires, just to name a few. We ended the tour with a test ride on two of the new attractions in Cars Land, Luigi’s Flying Tires and Radiator Springs Racers, which are both going to be huge hits with our guests.

As we approach the finish line of our expansion of Disney California Adventure park, I am extremely proud of the passion, creativity and innovation that have gone into this entire project over the last several years. When we’re done, this park will be a testament to what we at Disney Parks do best – connect our guests to the iconic stories, characters and music they love…making memories that will last a lifetime.

And now for some big news – I’m pleased to officially announce that the grand opening of Cars Land, Buena Vista Street and Carthay Circle Theatre will take place on June 15, 2012!




http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/03/taking-a-tour-of-cars-land-buena-vista-street-and-carthay-circle-theatre-opening-june-15-at-disney-california-adventure-park/?CMP=SOC-DLRUSENFY12Q2FBDM0283

Would Piers Morgan have thought Kirk Cameron equally brave if his comments were racist instead of homophobic?

Kirk Cameron: GLAAD's Campaign Against His Antigay Remarks

As a response to antigay remarks made by former teen idol Kirk Cameron during a talk show appearance last night, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has launched an online action for people to show their disapproval.

During an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan last night, the former Growing Pains star-turned evangelist said he views homosexuality as being "unnatural... detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization." Cameron spoke out against same-sex marriage, saying, "Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don't think anyone else should either."

Herndon Graddick of the media watchdog group immediately issued a statement, saying “With an increasing number of states recognizing marriage equality, Americans are seeing that marriage is about committed couples who want to make a lifelong promise to take care of and be responsible for each other and that gay and lesbian couples need equal security and legal protections. That’s not ‘redefining’ anything.”

A page titled Where Are They Now is now on GLAAD's website and encourages readers to make their disagreement with Cameron's comments known. The page includes link to a petition to sign, notifying Cameron that he is no longer your idol and it's time for him to grow up.

GLAAD also lists actors who once costarred with Cameron on Growing Pains, but who support LGBT equality, including Brad Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio, Hillary Swank, and Joanna Kerns. The site also includes information from a Field Poll released last Wednesday that reveals 59% of California voters now approve of same-sex marriage.

Watch Cameron's interview here.

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/03/03/Kirk_Cameron_GLAAD_Campaign/

Marine kiss: Photo called both a beginning and 'closure'

Sgt. Brandon Morgan, right, is embraced by his boyfriend Dalan Wells in a helicopter hangar at a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii upon returning from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan in this photo shot Feb. 22. It's gone viral after first being posted to a Facebook page. (David Lewis / Associated Press)

In just under a week, a photo of a Marine sergeant kissing his boyfriend after returning from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan has been "liked" on Facebook more than 42,000 times and garnered more than 10,000 comments -- most of them supportive.

Sgt. Brandon Morgan, a 25-year-old from Oakdale, Calif., returned to Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Feb. 22 from his third deployment in four years and was met by his boyfriend, Dalan Wells.
A friend snapped the photo, which depicts Morgan with his legs wrapped around Wells, an American flag in the background.

It was later posted on the "Gay Marines" Facebook page; from there, the photo went viral.
"It's a homecoming picture -- gay, straight, lesbian, no matter who you are, love is love," Morgan told Hawaii TV station KHON. "We haven't fought for more rights or better rights than others. We fought for equal rights, and now we have them."
Homecoming photos of military members are common, but Morgan and Wells' photo is among the first showing a gay couple expressing affection since the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy five months ago.

In December, two female sailors in Norfolk, Va., shared a homecoming kiss that landed on the front page of some U.S. newspapers, including the Seattle Times and the Virginian-Pilot. The two had been chosen by raffle for the Navy's "first kiss" honor, and the ship's commanding officer said at the time that the crew's reaction was positive.

That media coverage led to a barrage of commentary -- both positive and negative. But in Morgan's case, the photo was circulated largely without the help of print media, with thousands of people sharing the photo and with blog posts calling attention to it.

Morgan told the Associated Press he didn't intend the photograph to go viral and that he looks forward to such homecomings becoming commonplace.
“We all know this will die down and become the norm. It is the norm — everyone is allowed, no matter who you are, to have a homecoming now,” he told the wire service.

The founder of the Facebook page, Brett Edward Stout, a former Marine, posted a video message after the photo began circulating. He explained that the page, created while the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was still in place, was intended to give gay military members a voice.
"What I didn't expect was that the page did have one last role to play in the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' fight: closure," Stout said. The photo of Morgan and Wells, he said struck "close to home" and gave gay military members "catharsis."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-gay-marine-kiss-20120302,0,2473199.story