India Strikes Down Sexist Pro-Male Adultery Law

The Supreme Court of India is on a role.  First it struck down the British colonial era law (Section 377) criminalizing homosexuality.  Now, it has struck down a law (section 479) dating from the same era that imposed unequal adultery penalties on women and which protected male infidelity.  Ironically, the ruling comes on the eve of male U.S. Senate Republicans making it clear to all that they view women as inferior, not to be believed and existing only for the control and gratification of men.  While India's Supreme Court is moving quickly to push that nation to enter into the modern world, America under Republicans and their Christofascist masters is rapidly going retrograde and rushing to reimpose inequality.   The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court would be a huge step backwards for America.  A piece at CNN looks at the ruling in India.  Here are highlights:

India's top court has abolished a colonial-era law criminalizing extramarital sex, in a landmark ruling campaigners have hailed as a victory for women's rights.

Under the 158-year-old adultery law, known as section 479, a man could be imprisoned for up to five years for engaging in sexual relations with a married woman without the consent of her husband. The Supreme Court struck down the law Thursday, ruling it retrograde and discriminatory towards women.  "It's time to say that (a) husband is not the master of (his) wife," Chief Justice Dipak Misra, read out from the judgment. "Legal sovereignty of one sex over the other sex is wrong."

The five-judge bench was unanimous in its decision, declaring the law a clear violation of the fundamental rights granted in the constitution.

The law allowed a husband to prosecute any man who engaged in sexual relations with his wife. In addition, it prevented a wife from prosecuting either her husband or woman in which he was engaged in extramarital relations.  "You exact fidelity from a woman but not from a man?" asked Justice D. Y. Chandrachud during the four-day long hearing. "It is a big victory for women's status and position within marriage and within families" said Jayna Kothari, an attorney and the executive director of the Center for Law and Policy Research in Bangalore. "The adultery offense was used really as a threat against women by their husbands," she said, adding that it was mainly used where marriages had already broken down and partners moved on. The controversial law had long been championed by family rights campaigners, who argued that it was necessary to preserve social stability. The Indian government, a coalition led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, had supported adultery remaining a criminal offense, suggesting that rather than scrapping the law, it was amended to be gender neutral, with equal punishment for both men and women. However, in its ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed concerns that the abolition of the law would result in higher rates of infidelity.  "Each partner to a marriage is equally responsible to keep the sanctity of marriage intact," said the ruling.

It is the second ruling favoring sexual liberation in India this month following the repeal of Section 377, a colonial-era law criminalizing consensual gay sex.

Missouri GOP Lawmakers Call On Embattled GOP Governor Amid Sex/Blackmail Scandal

"Family values" GOP Gov. Greitens accused of adultery and revenge porn blackmail

Time and time again over the years this blog has existed, there has been a cavalcade of "family values" Republicans caught in gay sex trysts (or in the case of former Speaker Dennis Hastert, sexual abuse), adultery scandals, and other sexual improprieties.  In the same interval, only a small handful of Democrats, if that number, have been swept up in sex scandals.  Now, the adultery and alleged blackmail scandal swirling around Missouri GOP governor Eric Greitens - he purportedly tied up his mistress naked and photographed her and then told her that he would spread the photos if she ever revealed their affair - is becoming so bad that his fellow Republicans are calling on him to resign from office. At least one episode of physical abuse is alleged to have occurred.  So much for true family values.  Here are highlights from Talking Points Memo:

Four Republican Missouri lawmakers have called for Gov. Eric Greitens (R) to step down over allegations that he attempted to blackmail a woman with whom he carried out a 2015 affair.

Reps. Kathy Conway, Marsha Haefner, Steve Cookson and Nate Walker separately issued statements Tuesday urging Greitens to leave office to avoid dragging his state into a protracted, messy scandal.

Walker’s call for the governor’s resignation is particularly significant since he was one of Greitens’ earliest supporters. . . . Former Missouri GOP chairman Ed Martin also called for Greitens to step down on his talk radio show on AM 1380 Tuesday afternoon, saying “the people deserve better.”

A longtime GOP operative in the state told TPM that, based on his conversations with sources in the State House, he expects the number of Republicans calling for the governor to step down will be “up to 10 trickling in through the day.”

“I think people are believing that there’s more things to come out—that if he did tie her up, the likelihood of another incident or something, in their minds, is higher.”

Greitens is accused of tying the woman to a piece of exercise equipment in the basement of his home and taking a nude photograph of her, then threatening to leak the photo if she went public about the affair.

Greitens acknowledged last week that he engaged in an extramarital affair, but has denied the blackmail and slapping allegations.

“The current scandal is believable given all the other stuff that’s gone on, the way he treats the press, the way he treats other Republican lawmakers,” Dave Robertson, head of the political science department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, told TPM.

The Missouri Republican operative told TPM that GOP members of the state’s House of Representatives will meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss next steps, and are leaning towards launching their own investigation into Greitens’ alleged behavior.

City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced last week that she had launched a criminal probe. Al Watkins, an attorney for the woman’s ex-husband, told TPM he’d been contacted by Gardner’s office and the FBI.

Greitens and his wife, Sheena, made a round of calls to GOP lawmakers last week insisting that no further allegations would come out.

GOP "Family Values" Alabama Governor Resigns After Adulerous Affair Scandal

As I noted yesterday evening on Facebook, I lived in Alabama from 1977 through 1981 and since that time, the state has gone more or less insane. If one does the analysis, it becomes clear that the insanity tracks directly with the rise of the "Christian Right" as a political force in Alabama. Now former Alabama Governor, Robert Bentley represents the moral bankruptcy of this element of society.   Bentley campaigned as a "family values" Republican and, as seems to be always the case, the moral bankruptcy that defines the Christian Right has come into view as Bentley resigns from office to avoid felony convictions arising from Bentley's efforts to cover up his adulterous affair. If Alabama wants to prosper, the first thing it needs to do is vote all the "family values" Republicans out of office.  But I digress. Huffington Post looks at the much deserved fall of Robert Bentley.  Here are excerpts:

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) resigned from office Monday and pleaded guilty to two counts of violating campaign finance rules.

“I can no longer allow my family, my dear friends, my dedicated staff and cabinet to be subjected to consequences that my past actions have brought upon them,” he said at a Monday afternoon press conference.

Bentley’s resignation comes as the state’s House of Representatives begins hearings on his impeachment following allegations he abused his position as the state’s chief executive to cover up an affair with his former aide, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

A plea deal worked out Monday required Bentley to resign, serve one year of probation, perform 100 hours of community service as a doctor and forfeit the more than $36,000 in his campaign account. It also required him to repay nearly $9,000 his campaign spent on Mason’s legal fees.

Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey (R) was sworn in to office shortly after Bentley’s resignation. Ivey, 72, will be the state’s second-ever female governor following Democrat Lurleen Wallace, who served a 15-month term between 1967 and 1968. 

Members of Alabama’s GOP have been calling for Bentley to step down in the year since news broke of a salacious phone call caught on tape between the governor, 74, and Mason, 45. During the recorded conversation, Bentley ― dubbed the “luv gov” by political commentators and bloggers ― is heard professing his love for Mason and describes putting his hands on her breasts.

The governor’s ex-wife, Dianne Bentley, who filed for divorce in 2015 after 50 years of marriage, recorded the phone call in 2014 to determine if her then-husband was having an affair. Text messages Bentley sent Mason on his state-issued iPhone also appeared on a synced, state-issued iPad he gave to his wife.

Details pointing to a physical affair emerged in a damning report released Friday by Alabama’s state House Judiciary Committee. The report included accounts from the governor’s ex-wife and staff, who described suspicious text messages and encounters between Bentley and Mason.

Josh Duggar Cheated on Wife with a Second Porn Star

Duggar with Virginia Queen of Hate, Victoria Cobb in 2014

This morning's posts focus on hypocrisy and duplicity largely because there seems to be an unlimited supply of stories unmasking hypocrites ranging from Pope Francis to GOP elected officials and members of the professional Christian crowd.  In the latter category, yet another story exposes Josh Duggar - a former leader at Family Research Council's - appetite for rough sex with women other than his wife.  Over the years in the legal field I have found that attorneys who constantly talk about their "faith" are usually the ones that will rob their clients blind and/or screw over employees and co-workers.  So too with folks like Francis, Duggar and Kim Davis.  In Touch has details on Duggar's latest transgression against the "sanctity of marriage."  Here are highlights:

In Touch magazine is exclusively reporting in its new issue — on newsstands now — that Josh Duggar had an affair with another porn star. The shocking revelation comes barely one month after porn star Danica Dillon revealed that she and Josh had “rough sex” twice last spring while his wife, Anna, was pregnant with their fourth child.

“A second porn star is saying she also hooked up with Josh and had a bad experience, too,” a source told In Touch magazine, adding that the woman plans to go public with her story.

In August, after Josh admitted to having an account on Ashley Madison and cheating on his wife, Danica shared explicit details about how during two hotel room encounters in March and April, Josh was “verbally abusive” and “grabbing my hair and calling me names.”

According to the source, “The second porn star had a similar experience — Josh was also rough with her. He’s a monster with what he did to these women and the embarrassment he’s caused his family.”

For more on the Josh Duggar scandal, pick up the latest issue of In Touch magazine, on newsstands now!

What a douche bag!!!

Anti-Gay Indiana GOP’s House Leader Resigns in Sex Scandal

Indiana GOP House Leader Jud McMillin has proven yet again that when it comes to hypocrisy and false religiosity it is almost always the "family values" Republicans who win the prize.  McMillin, who pushed Indiana's falsely named religious liberty bill has resigned after a sexually compromising video him cheating on his wife was sent to all of the people on his cell phone “Contacts” list.  I swear to God that one could not make up stuff this good if you tried!  Salon looks at McMillin's much deserved political death.  Here are highlights:

The controversial House Majority Leader in Indiana — he cosponsored the state’s “religious freedom” law — resigned suddenly on Tuesday after a sexually compromising video was sent to all of the people on his “Contacts” list, the Advocate’s Bil Browning reports.

After news of the mass-texting began to circulate, Representative Jud McMillin (R) claimed that his “phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours. I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received.”

ADVERTISING

But his “Canadian girlfriend stole my phone” defense apparently didn’t convince many of his “Contacts” — or at least, not the ones who mattered — and so Tuesday night he released a statement in which he said that the “time is right for me to pass the torch and spend more time with my family.”

During his five years in the legislature, McMillin has crusaded to “protect the integrity of the institution of marriage,” but the Advocate reported that the woman on the video he texted was not, in fact, his wife. According to his campaign website, he claimed that “the family has always been the foundation of our strength of community” and that “[i]n these times of turmoil the rest of the country could learn something from our example.”

It’s unclear what the rest of the country could learn from his example at this time, other than — perhaps — opposing LGBTQ rights across the board could have karmic implications for conservative Republicans with a proclivity for taking videos of themselves cheating on their wives.

Kim Davis and Robert Bentley - Poster Children for Chistofascist Hypocrisy

Time and time again the Christofascists who campaign against LGBT equality and same sex marriage in particular prove that it is they, not gays, who are the real threat to the "sanctity of marriage."  As the four times married Rowan County clerk faces a contempt of court hearing tomorrow, new bomb shells are underscoring her rank hypocrisy on the issue of "Biblical marriage."  U.S. News & World Reports has some of the salacious details.  Here are highlights:

The Kentucky county clerk facing potentially stiff penalties for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses has been married four times, raising questions of hypocrisy and selective application of the Bible to her life. 

The marriages are documented in court records obtained by U.S. News, which show that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis divorced three times, first in 1994, then 2006 and again in 2008. 

She gave birth to twins five months after divorcing her first husband. They were fathered by her third husband but adopted by her second. Davis worked at the clerk's office at the time of each divorce and has since remarried.

Davis has described her desire to strictly adhere to the Bible in stark terms and thus far has shown no sign of bending to court orders on same-sex marriage. She said Tuesday she fears going to hell for violating "a central teaching" of the Bible if she complies with the orders.

Staver says “it’s not really relevant, it’s something that happened in her past” and that her conversion to Christianity about four years ago wiped her slate clean. “It’s something that’s not relevant to the issue at hand,” he says. “She was 180 degrees changed.”

Davis' selective application of the Bible is akin to that of Maggie Gallagher who seems to have never gotten over her unwed mother status in college.  As blogger friend Bob Felton notes:

It doesn’t need much imagination to understand how that string of bad marriages and relationships, and the complicated paternity of her children, might have had a debilitating effect upon her judgment, her self-esteem, her sense of self and worth.

And then she encounters a predatory cult that targets the insecure and the damaged, and fastens on to it like a lamprey — because her ‘church family’ and the love of an Invisible Friend are all that she has.

Maybe that’s how it happened, and maybe not; obviously, I speculate. It’s a familiar progression, however.

Gov. Robert Bentley and
Rebekah Caldwell Mason
(From HBTV.us)

Davis, however, isn't the only hypocrite when it comes to marriage.  The wife of anti-gay Robert Bentley, Governor of Alabama, has filed for divorce?  Why?  Because of her husband's affair with a staffer.  Like Davis, Bentley is a complete hypocrite.  Here are details from Legal Schnauzer:

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley engaged in an extramarital affair with his former communications director, leading First Lady Dianne Bentley to file for divorce last Friday after 50 years of marriage, sources tell Legal Schnauzer.

Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a married mother of three from Bentley's home base of Tuscaloosa, was the governor's mistress in an affair that sources say raises a number of possible legal issues--including use of the state jet and a state trooper's services for personal reasons that had nothing to do with Bentley's official role.

According to Dianne Bentley's divorce complaint, the couple separated in January 2015 because of a "complete incompatibility of temperament" and a "conflict of personalities which destroys the legitimate aims of matrimony." In fact, sources say, Gov. Bentley's affair with Mason destroyed the matrimonial bonds.

The 72-year-old Bentley, a Republican serving in his second term, repeatedly has touted his Christian faith and conservative "family values" to attract voters. He long has served as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. Bentley made national headlines in 2011 when, shortly after his inauguration, he said, ""Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister. And I want to be your brother."

Rebekah Caldwell Mason, sources say, quickly became more than just a communications director to Bentley. Their affair became so widely known that it diluted any moral authority the governor might have had. 

Josh Duggar Had a Ashley Madison Account While The Head Of FRC Action

I swear that there are days that the hypocrisy of the "godly folk," professional Christians and, of course, GOP politicians, truly seems to know no limits.  Josh Duggar, former head of hate group Family Research Council's FRC Action has already been revealed to be a sexual predator with victims that included some f his sisters.  Now that hackers have revealed information on members of infidelity website, Ashely Madison, we now learn that Duggar (pictured above with Virginia's own queen of mean, Victoria Cobb, and the, in my view, utterly insane "Bishop" Jackson outside of the Norfolk Circuit Court) had a paid up account while he was a member of Ashley Madison.  Like so many of the "godly folk,"  Duggar preached "family values" to the ignorant, gullible and down right stupid, even as he seemingly was looking to have an affair with a woman not his wife. One has to wonder what the next Duggar scandal will be.  Meanwhile, based on Duggar's track record, one can't help but wonder when Victoria Cobb will be revealed to have been convicted former Gov. Bob McDonnell's maîtresse-en-titre!  Here are highlights from Gawker:

In 2013, conservative reality TV star Josh Duggar—of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting fame—was named the executive director of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobbying group in D.C. which seeks “to champion marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society.” During that time, he also maintained a paid account on Ashley Madison, a web site created for the express purpose of cheating on your spouse.

In May 2015, Duggar was forced to resign after In Touch Weekly reported that he had molested five young girls (four of whom were his own sisters) beginning in 2002. When the accusations became public, the family went into crisis mode, insisting that Josh had reformed and that the media covering the claims was intent on “exploiting women.”

Josh himself took to his family’s Facebook page to absolve himself of his past indiscretions and assure the world he was back on a righteous path . . . But data released online in the wake of the hack on Ashley Madison’s servers certainly seems to show otherwise. Someone using a credit card belonging to a Joshua J. Duggar, with a billing address that matches the home in Fayetteville, Arkansas owned by his grandmother Mary—a home that was consistently shown on their now-cancelled TV show, and in which Anna Duggar gave birth to her first child—paid a total of $986.76 for two different monthly Ashley Madison subscriptions from February of 2013 until May of 2015.

According to the data, Josh Duggar was paying Ashley Madison in order to find an extramarital partner for the following acts:

“Conventional Sex,” Experimenting with Sex Toys,” One-Night Stands,” “Open to Experimentation,” “Gentleness,” “Good With Your Hands,” Sensual Massage,” “Extended Foreplay/Teasing,” “Bubble Bath for 2,” “Likes to Give Oral Sex,” “Likes to Receive Oral Sex,” “Someone I Can Teach,” “Someone Who Can Teach Me,” “Kissing,” “Cuddling & Hugging,” “Sharing Fantasies,” “Sex Talk.”

The two accounts overlap by a period of a few months. When he launched the second account, Duggar paid an initial fee of $250 that appears to have gone toward the purchase of an “affair guarantee” . . . .

There's more if readers want to be totally disgusted.  Loving, committed same sex couples are daily denigrated and maligned by "godly folk" like Duggar who claim to want to "protect the sanctity of marriage when meanwhile it is they who are making a mockery of marriage and marriage vows.   These people need to become total social and political outcasts.

Click image to enlarge

The only thing that would make all of this more fun would be if Victoria Cobb was also revealed to have had an account!

 

Christian Values Congressman Caught on Video Kissing a Staffer

Speaking of hypocrisy, why is it that 99 out of 100 times it is Republicans, especially "family values" Republicans who are the ones caught in infidelity?  The latest "Christian values" Republican to get caught is Louisiana Congressman Vance McAllister (pictured above) who campaigned on a platform of "defending our Christian way of life" and on the "defense of natural marriage."  McAllister was caught on video making out with one of is staffers proving yet again that the self-proclaimed defenders of "traditional marriage" are usually the biggest threat to the institution.  As Joe Jervis notes, "McAllister has issued the usual statement asking for privacy while his family gets through this extremely fucking embarrassing time."  Here are highlights from The Wire:

Rep. Vance McAllister, who ran on a "faith, family, and country" platform for his freshman term in the House, was caught on video kissing a member of his staff. McAllister, a married Republican from Louisiana, was elected to replace Rep. Rodney Alexander in a special election last November. The video was first posted to the the Ouachita Citizen's website on Monday. Later on Monday, McAllister released a statement "asking for forgiveness." 

Although the video does not contain a clear close up of McAllister's face, reporter Zach Parker at the Citizen explained to the Wire that "we know McAllister. We know what he looks like. I believe he spoke to the Monroe Chamber of Commerce in that same shirt and jacket, too." The Ouachita Citizen notes that they obtained the video through an anonymous source, and identified both McAllister and the aide in question as its subjects. They also recognized the office shown on the video, which previously served as former Rep. Alexander's Monroe district offices.

Here's the rest of McAllister's statement in response to the video, according to the Monroe News-Star: 

There’s no doubt I’ve fallen short and I’m asking for forgiveness. I’m asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff and my constituents who elected me to serve. Trust is something I know has to be earned whether you’re a husband, a father or a congressman. I promise to do everything I can to earn back the trust of everyone I’ve disappointed.

McAllister will likely be under pressure to reconcile his alleged actions with the pro-family, Christian values campaign he ran to get into office in the first place. McAllister as a candidate had endorsements from the Duck Dynasty family, and ran a series of ads emphasizing his family and his 16-year marriage.

You do have to wonder about the intelligence of voters who regularly fall for this kind of crap time and time again. 

Afghanistan "Government" Proves U.S. Mission Has Been a Fool's Errand

Remember how America invaded Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and end its Medieval theology and abusive rule?  And in this process, America has expended over a billion dollars and sacrificed thousands of American lives.  Now, if it wasn't already perfectly clear that Afghanistan is a war that should never have happened (only Iraq was a bigger disaster), the so-called government of Afghanistan - a snakes nest of corrupt individuals and organizations that have stolen incalculable amounts of U.S. funds - is considering adopting amendments to the penal code to revive Taliban  penalties, including stoning of adulterers.  For centuries Afghanistan has been a foul backwater yet America in its typical hubris - best exemplified by the cretin George W. Bush  and the evil Emperor Palpatine Cheney - thought it could impose American values when no other nation has been able to do so.  The Guardian has details.  Here are highlights:

Afghan government officials have proposed reintroducing public stoning as a punishment for adultery, Human Rights Watch said, even though the practice has been denounced both inside and outside the country as one of the most repugnant symbols of the Taliban regime.

The sentence for married adulterers, along with flogging for unmarried offenders, appears in a draft revision of the country's penal code being managed by the ministry of justice.

There are several references to stoning in a translated section of the draft seen by the Guardian, including detailed notes on judicial requirements for handing down the sentence.

"Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death]," article 21 states. The draft goes on to specify that the stoning should be public, in article 23.

News that the government is contemplating bringing back a much-reviled punishment is unlikely to go down well with the western governments that back Kabul.

"It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The penalty violates international human rights standards that ban torture and cruel and inhuman punishment, the rights group said in statement.

Some take away thoughts: (1) My heart goes out to families who lost loved ones - their lives were thrown away ultimately for nothing.  Thankfully, my son-in-law escaped with only serious injuries.  Far too many were not as lucky.  (2) Bush and Cheney need to be tried for war crimes.  (3) As with so much evil in the world, this move in Afghanistan traces back to religious belief, the root of so much death, misery and broken lives. 

Ken Cuccinelli Backed Anti-Adultery Laws - Does He Still?

Frighteningly, most Virginians do not seem to grasp the full extent of Ken Cuccinelli's religious extremism and desire to police their bedrooms and personal lives.   In this effort, he is furthering the agenda of The Family Foundation which seeks a far right Christian theocracy in Virginia and which would inflict its fear and hate based religious views on all citizens.  In addition to wanting to continue to make oral and anal sex - even between married couples - a felony ( a good article can be found here), Kookinelli has in the past supported enforcing the anti-adultery law still on the books in Virginia.  Have an affair, be charged, prosecuted and go to jail.  That's the agenda of Kookinelli and most assuredly the utterly insane GOP Lt. Governor candidate "Bishop" Jackson.  Politico looks at Cuccinelli's past support for criminally prosecuting adulterers.  Here are highlights:

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli once suggested that society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws, according to a report dating to the Republican’s days as a state senator.  Speaking to Richmond’s Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions “ought to stay on the books.”

“Frankly it wouldn’t hurt to enforce them more,” Cuccinelli is quoted saying. The magazine paraphrased Cuccinelli drawing a comparison to “perjury inasmuch as the occasional prosecution or two would get people thinking twice.”

Cuccinelli went on to be elected attorney general of Virginia the following year and he is now the GOP nominee for governor. At issue in the race is his history of hardline social conservative stances, which Cuccinelli has de-emphasized in the current campaign in favor of economic issues.

In response to an email from POLITICO, Cuccinelli spokeswoman Anna Nix said the question of adultery was not a major issue in the 2013 election.

“Ken Cuccinelli is someone who believes in and supports the institution of marriage. The campaign for the governorship in Virginia is about the concerns of voters, which include first and foremost creating jobs and growing the economy,” Nix said.

Note how Cuccinelli merely dodged the issue and did not disavow his past positions.  The man is insane and dangerous.  He needs to be defeated in November.

Who Is Really Destoying Marriage

The illustration above needs little explanation. It speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of the opponents of marriage equality - especially white evangelicals in the South who have the highest divorce rate of any group.

Vatican Slams "Licentious Conduct" of Italian Elite

Hypocrisy has a name: The Vatican. After being implicated in a world wide plan of enabling and covering up the sexual molestation of tens of thousands of children and youths, the Vatican has slammed the behavior of Italy's political elite - including Benedict XVI's BFF Silvio Berlusconi- for their sexual improprieties. I'm no fan of Berlusconi who I consider to be a disgusting, nasty satyr (and homophobic bigot), but for the Vatican and/or the Catholic Church hierarchy to be casting stones in respect to sexual behavior is beyond ludicrous. Especially given the previous rumors about Benedict XVI and his personal secretary (pictured at right) who has followed Benedict everywhere throughout his rise in power. The New York Times looks at this Italian sh*t storm. Here are some highlights:

ROME — Over the last several years, the Roman Catholic Church in Italy has largely looked the other way as reports emerged of sex and corruption scandals among the country’s political elite, many of them centered on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But a recent published account of a party at Mr. Berlusconi’s home, where one female guest was said to have performed a striptease dressed as a nun, might have been more than the church could stand.

This week the church lashed out, issuing its strongest reprimands yet of Italy’s ruling class, deploring “behavior that not only goes counter to public decorum but is intrinsically sad and hollow.” Italians “look on their public leaders with consternation, and the image of the country abroad has been dangerously weakened,” Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference

Though Cardinal Bagnasco did not single out Mr. Berlusconi — who is in court fighting several corruption charges and accusations of having sex with a minor, and has lately become embroiled in a scandal involving prostitutes paid to attend parties at his villas — the cardinal spoke of “licentious conduct and improper relationships that damage society.” And he blasted a governing class preoccupied with itself while Italian citizens struggled to make ends meet.

Critics like Mario Staderini, a member of the Radical Party who has been fighting to eliminate fiscal privileges for the church, say that the church has treaded lightly in past years to avoid alienating a center-right government that has continued to offer tax breaks for church-owned properties and commercial activities, while supporting Catholic schools and Vatican positions on questions like common-law marriage, living wills and some forms of assisted fertility. All of those practices are illegal in Italy.

Officially, the government has not responded to the church’s criticisms. But on Wednesday, Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League and a crucial Berlusconi ally, said that instead of faulting the government, “bishops should say more Masses.”

I do not like either the center right government and Berlusconi or the Vatican. Hence, it's fun to watch the two factions go at each other. Neither faction, in my opinion, could give a damn about average Italians. The Vatican is pissed that the Berlusconi government hasn't delivered on promises and/or has set up conservatives and Vatican boot lickers for condemnation.

Ex-Baptist Pastor Fighting Extradition for Murder Charge

Other than the Mormon Church and the Roman Catholic Church probably one of the most homophobic U.S. denominations is the conservative and fundamentalist element of the Baptist Church. Much like the Catholic Church, these Baptists would be well advised to do some internal house cleaning as opposed to focusing efforts on demonizing and marginalizing LGBT Americans. Thus, from time to time it's nice - OK, outright fun - to expose just how rotten things are in some Baptist parishes. A story in the Los Angeles Times suggests that Albert Mohler and other pontificating Baptist preachers have far bigger things they should be doing besides being professional homophobes. Illicit sex and murder, plus embezzlement - sounds like an afternoon soap opera, but apparently that's what was the norm at New Hope Baptist Church in Independence, Missouri, under ex-pastor David Love. Here are some story highlights:
*
Former Independence pastor David Love, being held in a South Carolina jail on first-degree murder charges in the death of his lover's husband, is fighting his extradition to Jackson County. . . . Love was arrested on Tuesday in Spartansburg, South Carolina, where he moved not long after Stone's murder.
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On Wednesday, Love refused to waive extradition. Prosecutors say that they have obtained a governor's warrant that will force the former pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church to return to Missouri to face charges.
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According to Stone's relatives, Love had a 10-year affair with Stone's wife, Teresa Stone, and had confessed to the woman the day after Stone's funeral, in which Love gave the eulogy.
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David Love, a friend of Randy Stone who happens to share the same name as the suspected killer, says that he still can't believe that Love gave the eulogy at Stone's funeral. . . . David Love says that he's not sure what motivated the killing, but says that he heard rumors that Stone was the treasurer at New Hope Baptist Church and may have been about to blow the lid on financial shenanigans at the church. "He discovered that things were not all on the up and up," said David Love, who says that he was happy to hear that an arrest in the murder had finally happened.
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Yep, less Bible thumping and less gay bashing would seem to be in order at New Hope Baptist and many other Baptist churches.