We recently moved from S Florida to a home on Zelzah Ave across from Newcastle Elementary. I’m looking forward to reading more about LA and the LAPD. The info on Warren Christopher was truly new to me. Would love to hear your rememberances of growing up in Reseda. What street did you live on?

Porto Alegre is the birthplace of one of my favorite Bossa Nova artists Elis Regina.

DG

When I see a doctor I want their full attention and honesty. What I don’t want is for doctors to treat me as though I’m looking for reasons to sue them. I know how damaging trial lawyers are to law enforcement and, like medicine, police officers who are preoccupied by litlgation don’t suffer nearly as much as the public that relies on competent and motivated officers.

But for those who ask whether socialized medicine is preferable, all anyone needs to do is ask someone from Eastern Europe or Canada.

My current hospital is one of America’s best, but the best hospital I’ve visited in DECADES was Bangkok Hospital in Phuket, Thailand two years ago where they have US-trained doctors, advanced medical equipment, incredible staffing and low prices. If they can do it there, why can’t we do it here? And if we can’t because of income scales, maybe outsourced medical care should become a prominent part of our medical care system.

Thanks again…

CB

Thank you.

The church’s dirty little secret is that homosexuality became rampant during and after the 60s. In the 1980s, when I was living in San Francisco, my introduction to the gay scene there was through a Catholic priest, who was so debauched that he gave me the creeps. He, like dozens of other priests that I knew who were ordained in the late 60s and 70s, later died of AIDS.

I recently watched the Irish movie, Conspiracy of Silence, which is about AIDS among Catholic priests.

re; Bennett - I’m sorry we couldn’t stop him. Saying that abortions affect lower the crime rate is cynical enough (even if its true), but to single out Blacks abortions was REALLY bone-headed. If there existed corraborative evidence of racial intolerance (which does not), his comments would’ve been diabolical.

re; Diane Feinstein: I look forward to Judge Brown’s nomination as well.

re; Leonce Gaiter: Thanks for corroborating his homosexuality. As I said in the that post, his sexual preference is irrelevant except when he blames his own bias on something else. But LIBERAL + HONESTY = CONSERVATIVE.

I had breakfast yesterday with two filmmakers who bemoaned the long hours spent verifying facts for their entry in the upcoming Liberty Film Festival. When I reminded them that they wouldn’t need fact verification if they were liberals they laughed and felt better! By the way, the fact that this blog doesn’t permit anonymous comments is probably why I get almost no criticism from liberals. Those who are still personal friends avoid politics with me altogether not because they think I’ll hurt them or dislike them, but because even they don’t think much of their arguments. It must be awful to have a belief system that is so weak that one is powerless to defend it - like having a healthy body that’s missing bones.

re; the Catholic Church: I met another seminary drop-out who’s now a financial advisor. He mentioned an incident when he was called to a professor’s apartment where two of his instructors invited him in to watch gay porn with them. His complaints were ignored by the president and he left shortly thereafter.

Although there’s no way for me to confirm the preponderance of gay molestions, I sense you’re correct. The (global) Catholic Church scandals demonstrate the hierarchy’s decadal (if not longer) acquiescence to sexual misconduct. The priest-alter boy stories got so bad that I was ALMOST relieved by the anomalous handful of priest-girl stories!

That molesters exist in society is not the story. That the management of the Catholic Church permits the serial misconduct of known child molesters throughout the world makes it a criminal enterprise. America’s refusal to take action under the Rico Act makes us all somewhat acquiescent as well. Don’t get me wrong: I am convinced of God’s existence as a Christian, but I believe that The Church is as (or more) despicable as the Judaism of Jesus’ day. But as corrupt as it is, I think our reliance on the stabilizing effects of the Catholic Church threatens democracy the same way Wahabis do – except that The Church’s contempt for humanity seems a bit more subtle. The Catholic Church is long overdue of its own inquisiton.