3/25/10

cultures of impunity

You have heard the phrase "a culture of impunity?"

Australian police have come under fire for their "culture of impunity:"

More than 100 police have been caught up in the scandal over the distribution of racist, homophobic and pornographic emails, described by Mr Overland as "offensive" and "shocking".

Two officers received section 68 notices from Mr Overland, in which they were asked to explain why they should not be sacked.

One of the officers facing the sack, Sergeant Tony Vangorp, responded by resigning last Friday. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot on Monday night at the Healesville police station, where he had gone to collect personal belongings.

The most offensive emails are believed to include a graphic image of an ethnic man being tortured and another featuring bestiality, police sources told AAP.

Hot on the heels of that, some police officers have been captured on video using excessive force.




Interestingly, their defense seems to be something about having to deal with the "culture of impunity" of all those people who show up in their community to drink and misbehave. Who on earth approved all those liquor licenses anyway, and what were they thinking!?

All this chaos, the NWO at work, the poison of NWO ideas corroding the social fabric. Mix up the people, send them all over the place. Put them under stress, economic stress, emotional stress. Encourage them in licentiousness. Let them provoke each other and send in our cops.

The "culture of impunity" surrounds us. We live inside it. Each group has reasons to justify their own "culture of impunity" because each group feels assailed by some other group or groups. Division reigns. Chaos reigns. Violence reigns. This has not happened by accident.

Trust has been destroyed on purpose, because people must be divided before they can be conquered.

^^^^^^^

Meanwhile, the Vatican continues to twist in the wind for overlooking their own "culture of impunity." And this time, there's no defense. No defense. Well, this is the defense:


The following is part of a statement from the Vatican Press Office to the New York Times regarding the child sexual abuse cases involving Fr. Lawrence Murphy, which a report says then-Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland communicated to now-Pope Benedict XVI in 1996:

"The tragic case of Father Lawrence Murphy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, involved particularly vulnerable victims who suffered terribly from what he did. By sexually abusing children who were hearing-impaired, Father Murphy (1) violated the law and, (2) more importantly, the sacred trust that his victims had placed in him.
Notice how the defense proceeds, focusing on that law violation...

"During the mid-1970s,
a long time ago...

some of Father Murphy’s victims reported his abuse to civil authorities,
some people said something to some other people, maybe some police officers, who have nothing to do with us...

who investigated him at that time;
and they looked into it...
however, according to news reports, that investigation was dropped.
and hey we're just going by the news reports too, and yeah uh looks like the whole thing was dropped.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was not informed of the matter until some twenty years later.
REGRETTABLY, our special office that handles this stuff knew nothing about it until twenty years later. REGRETTABLY, it was too late to do much about it then.

"It has been suggested that a relationship exists between the application of Crimen sollicitationis and the non-reporting of child abuse to civil authorities in this case.

 1962 Vatican document on the manner of proceeding when a priest solicits sex from a penitent, ie: crimen sollicitationis, click to enlarge

"The Instruction specifically states that those involved in processing cases under these norms are bound by the Secret of the Holy Office. Violation of the secret resulted in automatic excommunication, the lifting of which was especially reserved to the Holy Father. In fact, this represents the highest degree of Vatican secrecy which is imposed for the most serious processes and situations."
(source)

So um maybe some people are saying that this was covered up or dealt with internally in the church, you know, because there was a procedure for that, and this suggestion indicates that the church knew and covered up this priest abusing all those deaf boys in Milwaukee for two or three decades.
In fact, there is no such relationship.
That never happened. That is a scurrilous suggestion. We did not cover this up internally.

Indeed, contrary to some statements that have circulated in the press, neither Crimen nor the Code of Canon Law ever prohibited the reporting of child abuse to law enforcement authorities."
Somebody should have told the police.

This is not our fault.

^^^^^^^

Here's the story.

Shared secrets reveal much suffering in silence, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 25, 2006

Thirteen-year-old Arthur Budzinski hid under his bed crying. Born to hearing parents who did not speak sign language, he could not tell them of the terror he faced back at St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis. It was 1962. When the truth was told decades later, they all would weep....Sometimes it was during confession, and often it was in the dead of night. 


How many deaf children Murphy molested remains unknown. He was at St. John's for 24 years. The victims who have come forward, who said they saw many of their classmates being abused, think he molested more than 100 boys. Murphy admitted to molesting at least 30, according to Alisa Cohen-Stein, a clinical social worker in the Chicago area who has worked with several of Murphy's victims. She said she was told of Murphy's admission by an employee of the archdiocese.

The children were uniquely isolated. Note the abuse and bad advice of authorities.

Murphy, who was fluent in sign language, became a key link to the hearing world for the many deaf children who, like Budzinski, were unable to talk with their hearing parents...."When you had a deaf child, the public health nurse would say, 'Send them to some school.'"
The church falls back on confidentiality.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese has acknowledged that Murphy abused boys at the school, which was at 3680 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in St. Francis, but has provided few details. The residential school closed in 1983 for financial reasons.
The archdiocese denied requests for church records regarding Murphy's offenses, citing victim confidentiality.

Pompous and patronizing to the end, the church knows what's best. The church believes it's best for these victims to pour their little hearts out. Digging up arcane facts that might make us look bad? Um no thanks. The church believes that's really not for the best.

"We firmly believe that these individuals have suffered so desperately in their lives that it is far more appropriate to listen to them - hear their stories of pain, grief and suffering - than it is to dig through our records for arcane facts and data, which we believe must be held in confidence," Kathleen Hohl, communications director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, wrote in her response to the newspaper.
Murphy did so much good, raising money, making people feel like a million bucks, schmoozing with his powerful connected friends to help the deaf community...

At the center of the building frenzy was Murphy, a gregarious Irishman, short in stature with a smile that could melt ice. Yearbook photos and newspaper clippings show him as a whirlwind of activity, accepting thousands of dollars for the school from civic groups, coaching basketball and giving speeches all over town about deafness and why people should contribute to St. John's.

But it was Murphy's ability to speak American Sign Language so gracefully and beautifully that sealed his closeness to the deaf community. Parents and students loved to see him sign the Sunday Mass, which was described by some as truly spiritual.

...Murphy's well-connected friends contributed basketballs and baseballs and supported his push to replace the old, castle-like buildings. He established an athletic program and an alumni association.

...By all accounts, Murphy was enthusiastic and patient with the children.
Murphy abused his power to molest the boys. He left them horribly confused.

The men's stories are similar. Murphy would call them to his bedroom in the school, or visit them in their dorm beds late at night, masturbate them and leave. Sometimes he would go on to other boys. Often he would say nothing. Sometimes when the boys saw him molesting other boys in the dorm room, they would cover their heads with their blankets, hug themselves tightly and weep. At times, he would take their confession in a second floor walk-in closet in the boy's dorm and molest them.

"Murphy was so powerful and it was so hard," said Geier who was molested when he was in seventh grade and said he saw more than a dozen other boys molested. "You couldn't get out. It was like a prison. I felt so confused. Here I had Father Murphy touching me. I would be like, 'God, what's right?' "

Geier said the boys received no sex education and had no idea what was happening to them. Some, he said, believed it must be all right because it was being done by a priest.


And this is what happens:


Like other victims, Joe Daniels, 58, of Union Grove was not believed when he tried to quietly tell family members and other adults about the molestations when he was in his 20s. "It was an awful thing," Daniels said. "I felt anger and shame."

..."One person actually said: 'I would have to rebuild myself if I started talking about this. I would fall apart because all of the threads are so tangled.' "

^^^^^^^

Here's the "culture of impunity." Notice that somebody did, in fact, tell the police. And that accomplished nothing.

Staring abuse straight in the face, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 26, 2006


Murphy's dark side might never have surfaced if not for Bolger, Budzinski and Gary Smith, who began having flashbacks in their 20s about the sexual abuse and started sharing their experiences with each other. In 1974, they decided it was time to tell their secret. They wanted to save other deaf boys from being molested by Murphy.

One year earlier, a deaf boy went to the St. Francis Police Department to report that Murphy molested him, records show. The case was dropped after Murphy told police the boy was mentally retarded, according to a deaf teacher who was at the school at the time. 

How convenient is that? The ACCUSED tells the police the boy is retarded, and the police drop the case! Hey, do you suppose it might have something to do with all the powerful friends and all those nice things Murphy did all the time raising money for the deaf community, that encouraged the police to drop the case? No other interviews with other boys, other witnesses? Well anyway how could they talk to the boys? Murphy has to translate everything?!?

Now adults, the men go to the district attorney's office and the police to file statements.



Murphy denied the allegations, and the police investigation was dropped. No criminal charges were issued because the men were adults and the crimes were beyond the statute of limitations.
So to be clear, in 1973 a BOY reported abuse to police. The next year men in their 20s reported their abuse while boys, to police. Would that not justify re-opening the investigation, at the very least? What kind of police work is going on here?

Another had reported the abuse to priests, which also didn't accomplish anything.
He said he reported the abuse to three priests on three separate occasions through the years. Two indicated they did not believe him, and the other told him to forget about it.
Some other people, hearing people, get involved. They finally get 15-20 affidavits and secure a meeting with the archbishop for May 9, 1974.


..."There were at least a dozen people in the room. Some were other staff from St. John's.

...Conway said he was stunned when the archbishop began to explain that they had been aware of the problem for years.

"Then they proceeded to tell us that they understood our desire to have Father Murphy removed from the school, but they felt that Murphy was so important to the school, its livelihood and history that they did not want to remove him," he said. "Instead they said they would remove him from having any contact with the children. I was frankly shocked."

After faculty members and others described the good things Murphy had done for the deaf community, Conway, who served as an interpreter, said he, Quant and the victims who attended walked out of the meeting in disgust.
And there, I suppose you have it. The school's livelihood and history, the church's livelihood and history, Murphy's livelihood and history, outweigh the livelihood and history of all those boys who had their bodies raped and their minds fragmented and their souls crushed under the guilt and shame of Murphy's abuse.


The church JUSTIFIED sacrificing all these boys, deaf boys, trapped boys, powerless boys, to keep Murphy happy. Because Murphy brought home the bacon. And the police helped the church, because the culture of impunity for the powerful extends right through to various circles of authority, including the police of course. All it takes is for the order to come down from on high. You do what you're told or you lose your job, right? We all know this. It is the bane of working people everywhere, to play their little part in the machine, like it or not.


But the orders always come from on high. That's the point. Otherwise the cover ups could never happen.







12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am surprised all those Australian cops were not Knighted like Mick Jagger.

The dog poet's latest is a piece of work.

" You have to bob and weave in the opposite direction and not collide with the people going the other way. You have to know better than to tell them the bridge is out up ahead because at least you get the finger and maybe a beer can in the head."

A. Peasant said...

i'll check it out. he's been taking some crap lately i noticed.

Penny said...

Hey A !!!

your back, saw the comment you left yesterday, thought I would pop over hear and leave a message, but, your back in business, yeah!

I will have to come back to read through this one, I am super short on time today.

I am sure it will be enlightening.

ttyl

A. Peasant said...

hey pen, just sort of limping along here on my children's laptop. pfft. maybe another day or so of this...

i miss my five bazillion bookmarks.

james said...

Top post, AP. Just to back you up-

Former judge says Vic police are corrupt

A. Peasant said...

thanks James. well there is it then. the tip of the iceberg.

Anonymous said...

I guess things haven't changed much down under. It reminds me of the story of Ned Beatty. They made a movie of it.

The line that stood out was "Tell them in London that one more Irishman just got tired of the queen's men."

The dog has been the focal point of a Luddite attack lately. He is up for the challenge though.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Peasant I read sunglasses once in awhile myself.

I ran into a pretty decent site today. We can always use another campfire.

http://troutclancampfire.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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A. Peasant said...

dubs thanks for the links. you're a hoot. i was just on your profile page laughing about irishmen saving the world. roger that, dubs...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.

legal mumbo jumbo

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