Irish priest resigns over sexual abuse

This priest has got some conscience among priests working in Nigeria. Poor guy.

"Nigeria is not left out of the wave of child sexual abuse sweeping across the Catholic Church worldwide, as a serving Irish Bishop and Archbishop of Benin City, Richard Burke, yesterday resigned over child sexual abuse he allegedly committed while serving as a priest in the Warri Diocese.

According to the Irish Catholic website, the Pope accepted the resignation of the Tipperary-born Archbishop, on Monday, saying “the reason for his resignation was his failure to observe his vow of celibacy.”"
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Why did the FT pull Amnesty's Shell ad?

Just why did the Financial Times pull our Shell advert so late?

I'd find it hard to believe that Shell lent on them. Did the Financial Times get cold feet about upsetting this British blue-chip company? Who knows, but there are many out there who are suggesting something stinks about this – and it is not just the air that the people of the Niger Delta are forced to breathe. Certainly, by pulling the ad at 4.58pm on Monday, with Shell's AGM taking place at the Barbican in central London on Tuesday, the timing was awkward for Amnesty.
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Ending the Slavery Blame-Game

Henry Louis Gates undertakes a keen analysis of African's moral culpability in the Trans Atlantic slave trade: Here's an example of what could get a morally conscious African thinking:
How did slaves make it to these coastal forts? The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred.

ENJOY the rest of the essay.

Should There Be an Inquisition for the Pope?

I love the Catholic church - well I was born into it; it formed me. I'm thinking though that Maureen Dowd has got some important issues in her opinion essay. Here she goes:
"It doesn’t seem right that the Catholic Church is spending Holy Week practicing the unholy art of spin."
It is easier to teach others to engage in a ritual of mea culpa than to do it yourself. If only the church would humbly repeat: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, that could bring some sanity to its community.
One of my friends replied to his article. See #106. Interesting.
ENJOY.

Shell apologises

Isn't this funny?

"Today, Royal Dutch Shell is holding back the tears no more. Shell apologises to all inhabitants of Nigeria’s Niger Delta for the many years of human rights violations, for which Shell takes full responsibility.

Confronted with massive evidence of human rights violations that can only be attributed to its operations in the Niger Delta, Royal Dutch Shell is extremely proud to be the first international petrochemical company to publicly say:

We are sorry.

For Years, Deaf Boys Tried to Tell of Priest’s Abuse

This is very troubling:
"They were deaf, but they were not silent. For decades, a group of men who were sexually abused as children by the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin reported to every type of official they could think of that he was a danger, according to the victims and church documents."

What I personally detest in the Catholic church is the persistent attitude of not listening to people in pains and eventually turning to blame the victims. I am ready to pardon all human weaknesses; in fact, no one expects people to be perfect all the time, but at least one should acknowledge one's mistakes. Criticize a Catholic priest and he would ask his faithful to pray for you. I detest this with my whole heart.
Anyway, this is one of the torrents of scandals rocking the church. I hope that the church wakes up. It has so much to lose, and we wouldn't be better served if the church becomes that weak.
ENJOY.

The Niger Delta Mess

I thought you might want to know some of what is happening in the Niger Delta. These photos document the Environmental pollution in the Niger Delta thanks to the Western oil companies.
ENJOY!

The New Face of American Imperialism

How sweet it is to know that my people are better than your people, my God better than your god, my wife better than yours, my everything better than your everything. Take my way of life and be redeemed from your damned life. This is what the West has consistently done to the rest of us. This is also what the rest of us do to the rest of us. Anyway, besides the historical facts of economic and cultural conquests orchestrated by the West, there is now a new wave of religious influence emanating from the US and spreading to Africa.
This article details how the horrible Ugandan anti-gay initiatives are being sponsored by the American religious right.
See the article.