Would you trust either of these men with your children?
Immunity laws definitely need a makeover:
ROME (AP) — The U.S. government has told a Texas court that Pope Benedict XVI should be given immunity from a lawsuit accusing him of conspiring to cover up the sexual molestation of three boys by a seminarian, court documents show.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler said in Monday’s filing that, as pope, Benedict enjoys immunity as the head of a state — the Vatican. He said that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would be “incompatible with the United States’ foreign policy interests.”
There was no immediate ruling from Judge Lee Rosenthal of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, who has been presiding over the case. However, the Supreme Court has held that U.S. courts are bound by such “suggestion of immunity” motions submitted by the government, Keisler’s filing says.
Isn’t it funny that the US government believes that the pope should get immunity on a case that involves child molestation? Don’t you think that Bush’s moral crusade should include punishment of sex offenders, no matter what their employment is? It’s almost as if Bush is agreeing to provide the pope (as head of state) with immunity in order to ensure his own immunity no matter what atrocities he participates in.
If a religious person is a criminal (or a politician), he should be tried as such… no matter what religion (or political party). I truly believe that each and every priest and pastor who molests children (and if you read the news regularly, there are a lot of cases), should be imprisoned for their crimes. In fact, why not give them some Texas justice and send them directly to the electric chair?
What is the point of religious immunity? It allows sex offenders to roam free and prevents innocent victims from getting justice. Well, this is the perfect time a change (”there’s no time like the present”)… if Bush weren’t off gallivanting on his war on terror and starting his war on porn, we could actually do something about it. But, alas, Bush is too concerned with establishing his own Theocracy and respecting other Theocratic leaders in order to gain their respect. How can we all stand by the sidelines and watch this so passively?
September 20th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
If there is undeniable proof that the Pope has anything to do with those child molestation cases, he should get what he bloody well deserves.
No matter what your social, political or religious status, if you did the fuckin’ crime, you do the fuckin’ time!!! No exceptions!!!
I remember many years ago there was the case of a young Toronto woman that was killed when she was hit by a car. The driver was a Russian diplomat who was DUI. He had diplomatic immunity, so of course, was able to get away with it. Talk about justice. And here we’re dealing with full grown men who take it upon themselves to rob children of their innocence, children that trusted them.
There’s something going around the net called ‘boylovers’ who pretend that a sexual relationship with a pre-pubescent child is harmless. BULLSHIT!!! It psychologically fucks them up. The child can’t be considered consenting, because he is totally oblivious to what sex is at such a young age.
Honestly, jail sentences (and the subsequent beatings they receive while in prison) are too good a punishment for such a crime. If you sexually touch a child, or in the case of the Pope, help someone cover it up, you should suffer!!!!
So, to answer the original question if I’d trust any of these guys with my kids, I’d say NO to the Pope, and YES to Darth Sidius… at least the Emperor has no sexual interest in the child… just turn him to the Dark Side (which is not necessarily all that Evil, depending on perspective…)
September 20th, 2005 at 2:08 pm
Space Monkey- EXACTLY the example I was going to use… the Russian diplomat. I have seen some of my colleagues drink and drive before… they all have diplomatic immunity, so they don’t bother worrying about it. My boss, however, DOES take responsibility and either takes the metro or a taxi after a night of drinking. Good man.
September 20th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
If we are going to talk about what the Pope having anything to do with the molestations, tell me how someone who wasn’t even pope, let alone in this country had anything to do with molesting someone. Fry the violaters, not the Pope. You know where I stand on things like this.
September 20th, 2005 at 6:12 pm
Covering up for someone who has molested a child is just as bad as molesting the child. It’s wrong wether you look at it from a moral, legal or human stand point.
Legislatively speaking, if you cover up for a child molester, if you become a false alibi, that takes away a lot of credibility for the victim. The child is scarred for life already. Letting the sexual predator go free beacause an untouchable individual of higher power says he didn’t do it, doesn’t do much for the victim’s self-esteem and self-worth. If these allegations are true, the pope’s hands are just as dirty.
There’s no way he should get immunity for this. In fact, there’s no way he should get immunity for ANY crime. He’s no better than any of us.