Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of covering up a priest who may have molested hundreds of school children. While many have a good idea of how to punish the perpetrators of these acts, few are providing a coherent explanation for their continued occurrence.

When sex-abuse scandals reach ascendancy in media, people all over the world clamor for justice, accountability, and punishment. Certainly, these goals ought to be sought to the full extent of the law. Furthermore, those allowing for or encouraging the cover-up of such abuses should be tried for obstruction of justice. However, this clamor often includes essentially ad hoc explanations for such disturbing behavior.

In order to be ordained as a Catholic priest, one must take a vow of celibacy, pledging full and unwavering commitment to Jesus Christ and avoiding sexual relations of any kind. This, as it was often explained to me throughout my childhood, represents a sort of marriage between the priest and Jesus.

If priests were simply allowed to marry, so the argument goes, then the Church wouldn’t have this pedophile problem. Humans, after all, are sexual beings, and men in particular are thought to have especially strong sexual desires. And because this problem is not at all prevalent among nuns, who likewise must take a vow of celibacy, it seems to bear some amount evidence.

However, this argument assumes two things about the nature of male sexuality. First, it assumes that men are more sexual than women. It is often backed up with some sort of biological claim that men are inherently more sexual than women, but many also bring in the role of social norms of masculine aggression and sexual dominance.

Second, it assumes that these functional needs for sexual pleasure are so powerful that they drive many priests to rape and molest children. These are not primarily children of both sexes, but mainly boys.

Logically, this stretch is too much. It would be remiss of us to accept these claims. They abdicate the priest of responsibility, instead attributing blame to the psychologically uncontrollable drives of men forced into asexuality. They do not explain why many celibate men do not molest boys, nor do they explain why men would choose same-sex children to molest.

More importantly, such claims are counterproductive for the execution of both justice and accountability. If priests are somehow less responsible for their actions because of innate natural or sociological forces, then they are acting less rationally and are therefore less accountable.

These actions do not originate in a psychologically fractured consciousness or innate human nature. If we wish to sufficiently address what is clearly a structural and individual problem within the Church, we have to cast our net elsewhere.

In the Catholic church, a priest has enormous power over his community – particularly over the impressionable minds of children. He distinguishes between good and evil. He alone is capable of communicating your sins to God. Likewise, he alone has the power to grant God’s forgiveness. He tells you how to get to heaven and how to avoid hell. At mass, he performs the miracle of transubstantiation – when the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ. In the classrooms of many dioceses, he or his subordinates teach you everything except sex education.

Priests understand the power they have over their “flock” very well, and so they act on it. They act deliberately and premeditatedly, and need to be held personally accountable. But until the Church examines the particular contexts in which these crimes are committed and the structurally encouraged disparities between priests and students, the Church will likely continue to be plagued by scandals.

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1.) Richmond Spiders (No. 7 Seed)

The Spiders of Richmond are one of three A-10 teams to make the tournament this year.  This marks the lowest seed for the Spiders in school history.  The Spiders showed that they are one of the A-10 teams on the rise beating every school in the Atlantic-10 at least once this year.  Led by junior Kevin Anderson and senior David Gonzalvez, this team will look to beat Saint Mary’s and most likely play a struggling Villanova squad.  Nova surprisingly received a 2 seed after losing five of their last seven games.  If Richmond and Nova advance, do not be surprised if the baldy Gonzalvez and company pulls a major upset.

2.) San Diego St. Aztecs (No. 11 Seed)

The Aztecs face a Tennessee team who recently got smoked by John Wall and the Kentucky Wildcats by 29 points.  San Diego St. won the MWC Tournament with wins over UNLV and No. 3 seed New Mexico.  A big part of their success has been their strong front court led by Kawhi Leonard, who could challenge Wayne Chism.  This will be a battle between two 25-8 teams.  If there is a No. 11 over a No. 6 upset, I would consider going with the Aztecs on this one.

3.) Siena Saints (No. 13 Seed)

Purdue is coming off a devastating loss to Minnesota in the Big Ten semifinals in which they lost by 27 points.  The Boilermakers are clearly not the same team without Robbie Hummel, who had a season ending ACL injury.  Purdue was once a projected No. 1 seed, but slowly fell all the way to a No. 4.  The Saints have only lost 2 games dating all the way back to December 23^rd of last year and added a MAAC conference championship.  Siena has the talent and confidence to pull a major upset here.

Man used penis to assault female police officer

A man who assaulted a female police officer with his penis has been fined.

Marium Varinauskas, 28, tried to strike the officer on the head with his penis when she was called out to his flat, but she got out of the way.

Lithuanian Varinauskas admitted a charge of assault at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and was fined £600.

The court heard he had been drinking heavily and could not remember committing the offence at his home in Aberdeen.

Police were called to his home by his girlfriend, who had complained about him being drunk last November.

They arrived to find the self-employed engineer sitting on the sofa wearing a pair of underpants.

Fiscal depute Elaine Lynch said: “The accused got to his feet and was standing over the police officer exposing his penis and thrusting it in her face, forcing her to take evasive action to avoid getting struck.”

Defence solicitor John Hardie said: “He was sitting on the couch drunk with his pants on.

“He can’t remember anything but accepts that if that’s what the police say then that’s what happened.

“He has never been so drunk before that day and accepts he has to take full responsibility. He apologises profusely and is extremely embarrassed.”

His not guilty plea to committing a breach of the peace by uttering offensive and sexual remarks was accepted by the Crown.

Sheriff Annella Cowan was told that the Lithuanian had now quit binge drinking because of the incident.

Drunk, high dad leaves baby in oven overnight, police say

Larry Long, 33, is charged with first degree wanton endangerment.

(CNN) – A Kentucky man high on marijuana and drunk on whiskey put his 5-week-old son in the oven Sunday and left him there overnight, police said.

The oven door was slightly ajar, and the oven was not turned on.

After smoking marijuana at the restaurant where he works as a cook, Larry Long, 33, returned home to share a fifth of whiskey with the baby’s mother, Brandy Hatton, McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden said in a statement.

Hatton had four or five shots and went to bed while Long finished the bottle, Hayden said.

At 5:30 the next morning, Hatton awoke to the sound of the baby’s cries coming from the oven. He had been in it for several hours, police said.

Emergency crews responding to the scene transported the infant to a local hospital, where he was found to be unharmed.

The incident was reported to authorities by a psychiatric facility that Long turned to when he learned what he had done, officials said.

“He actually called a mental health crisis line immediately thereafter and told them that he had done this. And they contacted us,” Hayden said.

Police arrested Long and charged him with first degree wanton endangerment. He is being held on bail of $10,000.

Long blamed his actions on the marijuana, which he believes was laced with a hallucinatory agent, officials said.

Authorities have removed the baby from its mother’s care and awarded emergency custody to members of her family.

Wal-Mart probing racist NJ store announcement

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. officials are reviewing security tapes to try to determine who used a southern New Jersey store’s public-address system to tell “all black people” to leave.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday at the Washington Township store, a male voice calmly announced: “Attention Wal-Mart customers: All black people leave the store now.”

Witnesses say customers and store employees looked stunned. Management later apologized.

Company spokeswoman Ashley Hardie says the incident was “unacceptable.” The retailer is looking to prevent it from happening in the future.

Washington Township police and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office also are investigating.

Savasana
Position of total relaxation.

Balasana
Position that brings the sensation of peace and calm.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

This position calms the brain and heals tired legs.

Marjayasana
Position stimulates the midirift area and the spinal column.

Halasana
Excellent for back pain and insomnia.

Dolphin
Excellent for the shoulder area, thorax, legs, and arms.

Salambhasana
Great exercise to stimulate the lumbar area, legs, and arms.

Ananda Balasana
This position is great for massaging the hip area.

Malasana
This position, for ankles and back muscles.

So lets start drinking!!!

> >> In pharmacology, all drugs have two names, a trade name and generic name.

> >>

> >> Example, the trade name is Tylenol and it’s generic name is
> >> Acetaminophen.. Aleve is also called Naproxen.
> >>
> >>  Amoxil is also called Amoxicillin and Advil is also called
> >> Ibuprofen.
> >>
> >> The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra.
> >>
> >> After careful consideration by a team of government experts, it
> >> recently announced that it has settled on the generic name of
> >> Mycoxafloppin.
> >>
> >> Also considered were Mycoxafailin, Mydixadrupin, Mydixarizin,
> >> Dixafix, and of course, Ibepokin.
> >>
> >> Pfizer Corp. announced today that Viagra will soon be available
> >> in liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power
> >> beverage suitable for use as a mixer.
> >>
> >>
> >> It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff
> >> one.
> >>
> >> Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new
> >> meaning to the names of ‘cocktails’, ‘highballs’ and just a good
> >> old-fashioned ’stiff drink’.
> >>
> >>  Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of: MOUNT & DO.
> >>
> >> Thought for the day: There is more money being spent on breast
> >> implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer’s research.
> >>
> >>  This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly
> >> population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no
> >> recollection of what to do with them.