News round up - April 22nd

Here are several news stories you may have missed:

• At least 9 people were killed and 35 people were wounded (including 5 children) in Chicago of the Easter weekend.

• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - a.k.a. Obamacare - may be responsible for a drop in sales at the Quincy Mall.

• Kenneth and Helen Felumlees were married for 70 years and died 15 hours apart. Not that long ago, doctors would have said that Kenneth, who died after Helen, died of a broken heart.

• Government waste is worse than you thought: The Department of Health and Human Services has spends $123.2 million each year on e-mail for its employees.

• Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood whom President Obama asked God to bless, called for "no more babies" because it is "more practical and more humane" for women not to have babies. And still people support Planned Parenthood.

• More than 50% of babies in France and Sweden are born to unborn mothers; in the U.S., 41% of babies are born to unwed mothers. The percentage is better, but it is still far from good.

•  The Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, has been accused of fostering divisions after he called Britain a "Christian country." Similar accusations will soon be made within the United States of America.

•  Two school districts in Illinois are being sued for failing to protect a child from sexual abuse.

• Michael Egan, previously a child actor, has filed lawsuits alleging sexual abuse when he was a minor against director Brian Singer and Garth Ancier, Gary Goddard, and David Neuman. Egan says there is a "sex ring" in Hollywood through which minors are abused. You may recall that Corey Feldman made the same claim some years ago. Egan says additional lawsuits will be filed in the coming weeks.

It's not just a Catholic problem

Back in August I posted an article describing a conference aimed at normalizing and de-criminalizing pedophilia on the part of psychologists and others who argue pedophilia is not immoral but only a way of showing love:

The August 17 Baltimore conference is sponsored by B4U-ACT, a group of pro-pedophile mental health professionals and sympathetic activists. According to the conference brochure, the event will examine “ways in which minor-attracted persons [pedophiles] can be involved in the DSM 5 revision process” and how the popular perceptions of pedophiles can be reframed to encourage tolerance.

Lest anyone think this group acts alone, the government of Greece has now added pedophilia to its list of "disabilities".  Where is the public outcry about this?

In related news, officials in Australia are reporting an increasing number of cases of children sexually abusing children which is believed to be a result of pornography:

VICTORIAN children as young as five are being referred to specialist programs to address sexually abusive behaviour - and the number of minors exhibiting such behaviour is exploding.

The availability of pornography through portable devices drastically affects a child's understanding of acceptable sexual behaviour, according to experts, and is being blamed for the rapid escalation in cases.

No doubt the scope of this serious problem extends far beyond Victoria.

Child sexual abuse: It's not just a Catholic problem

The other day Deacon Kandra linked to an article by the Los Angeles Times about pedophilia in Hollywood (with my emphases and comments):

Advocates and professionals who work with victims of child sexual abuse say predators exploit the glittery lure of Hollywood to prey on aspiring actors or models. They assert that the problem is more widespread than the industry is willing to acknowledge and have called for tougher laws and better screening of those who represent or work with children (where is the author's - and society's - outrage about this?).

"Unlike other settings, such as Little League, Scouts, day care and school volunteers, where adults who have unsupervised access to children are required to comply with fingerprinting requirements, there are no such standards in the entertainment industry (this is simply shocking and inexcusable)," said Paula Dorn, co-founder of the BizParentz Foundation, a nonprofit group for families of child actors.
.... 

The recent arrests prompted a bill, expected to be filed this month with the California Assembly, that would require licensing and criminal background checks for those who work with actors under age 16 (why is the age not under 18, so as to cover work with all minors?  Clearly, Hollywood has learned nothing from what the Church has done). It would prohibit registered sex offenders from serving as child managers, photographers, career counselors or publicists.Experts say addressing the problem is overdue. 

.... 

"This is just like the Catholic Church pretending that priests never molested people in the past," said Dr. Daniel D. Broughton, a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic and expert on child sexual abuse. "What's surprising to me is why it hasn't come out even stronger and sooner."

Dr. Broughton is right: it's very surprising and inexcusable that this scourge in Hollywood has not yet been addressed, particularly considering the news stories that circulated when Corey Feldman described pedophilia as "Hollywood's biggest problem" in August of 2011.  Curiously, Feldman was not mentioned in the LA Times' article.

Carl Olson isn't surprised that Hollywood has until now done nothing to address the scourge of the sexual abuse of childen:

Part of the problem is obvious: journalists and writers who cover Hollywood rely on connections and relationships with insiders to get scoops, exclusive information and special access. That means, um, cozying up to those who control the doors and corridors of Tinsil Town. Researching stories on abuse, molestation, and related evils surely raises red flags on the part of those with a vested interest in keeping such filth under wraps. There has been much written over the years about the secrecy and stonewalling within the Catholic Church. But that is hardly a trademark of Catholics; covering up sin is the natural instinct of sinners who refuse to admit their sins. The surprise, really, is that any sane person might think Hollywood is somehow free and clear of such sickness. 

Normalizing pedophilia?

Several decades ago there was a movement to decriminalize sexual contact between adults and children.  Believe it or not, such a movement still exists, even among phsychiatrists and health professionals.

One of the push advocating for pedophiles held a conference last week in Baltimore:

If a small group of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have their way at a conference this week, pedophiles themselves could play a role in removing pedophilia from the American Psychiatric Association’s bible of mental illnesses — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), set to undergo a significant revision by 2013. Critics warn that their success could lead to the decriminalization of pedophilia.


The August 17 Baltimore conference is sponsored by B4U-ACT, a group of pro-pedophile mental health professionals and sympathetic activists. According to the conference brochure, the event will examine “ways in which minor-attracted persons [pedophiles] can be involved in the DSM 5 revision process” and how the popular perceptions of pedophiles can be reframed to encourage tolerance.

Researchers from Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Illinois will be among the panelists at the conference.

If you can stomach it, you can read more here.

Once again I ask: where is the outrage from the media and from society?

Corey Feldman: Paedophilia is Hollywood's biggest problem

The Daily Mail reports that in a recent interview with ABC's Nightline, actor Corey Feldman said, "Paedophilia is Hollywood's biggest problem."

Here are the first paragraphs of the article, with my comments:

Actor Corey Feldman has sensationally claimed that his Lost Boys co-star Corey Haim was the victim of a paedophile who was also a Hollywood mogul [sensational, or true?  No media reports have described the false allegations against priests with this word.  Why use it to describe Feldman's claim?  Has his claim even been investigated?].


The Lost Boys actor said he was 'literally surrounded' by paedophiles at the age of 14, but didn't realise 'until I was much older what they were and what they wanted.'

In a special report, 'Underage And Famous' for ABC's Nightline show, Feldman blamed former co-star Corey Haim's death at the age 38 on the abuse he suffered at the hands of a 'Hollywood mogul' he refused to name [more].

Reading Feldman's claim, I can't help but think of the case of Roman Polanski, who in 1977 raped a thirteen year old girl.  He accepted a plea bargain and the charges against him where dropped.  He has been living in France since 1978.

With both of these cases in mind, I ask again: where is the media's focus on the claims of pedophilia here?  Why are they not investigating these claims and demanding transparency?  And why is society as a whole not concerned?

If Feldman's claims involved a Catholic priest the media would be all over this story.  If Polanski were a Catholic priest the media would be all over his story, too.  As it is, because they are not priests, the media and society are quite content to ignore the scourge of sexual abuse of children present in all areas of society.  When will society and the media get serious about addressing this devasting societal problem?

Might pedophelia regain its cool?

That is the question raised yesterday by Matthew Schmitz at First Thoughts.  It's a must-read post.  Go read it.