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Everybody knows the big problems that the Catholic Church has with pederasty.
Worrying information: in the last 8 years the Vatican has investigated 3,000 priests accused of pederasty.
What do they do with them?
If pederasty is a crime for everyone, why don´t priests go to jail?
Why does the Vatican try to hide all these cases of child abuse?
The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was “busy cleaning its own house” and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.
In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.
The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that “available research” showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse. He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.
He added that sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbours, and male children were quite often guilty of sexual molestation of other children. The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would “be more correct” to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
“Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17.”

OBAMA´S NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN

The debate over health care reform in the United States centers on questions about

- whether there is a fundamental right health care,

- who should have access to health care and under what circumstances,

- who should be required to contribute toward the costs of providing health care in a society,

- whether the government should support health care commerce by forcing citizens to buy insurance or pay a tax,

- the quality achieved for the sums spent,

- the sustainability of expenditures that have been rising faster than the level of general inflation and the growth in the economy,

- The role of the federal government in bringing about such change concerns over unfunded liabilities.

According to the Institute of Medicine of the United States National Academies, the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage". Americans are divided along party lines in their views regarding the role of government in the health economy and especially whether a new public health plan should be created and administered by the federal government. Those in favor of universal health care argue that the large number of uninsured Americans creates direct and hidden costs shared by all, and that extending coverage to all would lower costs and improve quality. Opponents of laws requiring people to have health insurance argue that this is against their personal freedom and that other ways to reduce health care costs should be considered. Both sides of the political spectrum have also looked to more philosophical arguments, debating whether people have a fundamental right to have health care which needs to be protected by their government.

GARZÓN ON TRIAL

Spain has spent a long time fighting with the events of the Civil War and the Franco era. The trial against Judge Baltasr Garzón is the latest response by those who prefer the myth of the victors to reality.

It is ironic that Garzón, who has worked to recover historical memory Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Guatemala is now in danger of going to jail for doing the same in his own country. A Spanish judge admitted a complaint by ultraconservative groups and charged Garzón with overstepping his authority for wanting to investigate where he has no jurisdiction.

Garzón started an investigation by requesting documentation to conduct a census of those who disappeared during the war and the Franco dictatorship. It is estimated that tens of thousands were executed and buried in mass graves, among other places.

The right wing claim that Garzón has no right to conduct the inquiry and in doing so violates an amnesty law brokered in 1977.

Meanwhile, the Spanish people are divided on the benefits of digging into the past. Nonetheless, the Historical Memory Act was passed in 2007. This law, for the first time, acknowledges, expands rights and establishes measures for those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the dictatorship. Garzón’s activity is covered under this law.

Garzón’s aggressive style has earned him many enemies who are now seizing the opportunity to settle old scores while protecting the Spain of the victors.

This is absurd. The ones who should be on trial are those responsible for the human rights violations during the Franco era, not the investigator trying to find out what happened. The people are entitled to know where their family members are buried.

VEIL IN CLASS

Some weeks ago, there was a polemic in Spain about a girl who was not allowed to wear Islamic veil (hiyab) to go to school. The headmaster has made an interpretation by which if the little girl goes to class with the hijab she will be discrimnated by his colleagues and that will cause problems of coexistence.

There were critics to the measure, for example from the Democratic Union of Students.

What is the problem we are facing?

Some say that Hijab is not a crucifix or any other religious symbol. Hijab is a symbol of male domination and at the same time, of the consideration of men as simple sexual predators who can’t dominate themselves if they see a woman who is not veiled. This is not only ridiculous, but it is an insult to the dignity of women, who must subdue to the sexual insticts of men, whether they want or they do not. But also to the dignity of men, who are not human beings with reason and will, but only a kind of monster animals who cannot hold back any time.

We are facing problems that will become very important in the future years. Shall veil be prohibited as in Begium?

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OBAMA´S NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN

GARZÓN ON TRIAL

EDITOR

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