As I was perusing the top news headlines this morning, I realized that the most interesting and by far the most depressing news topics ranged from a US Government shutdown to Jesuit pedophiles to a young man overdosing on soy sauce. And as I prepare to sum up these news stories for you, I think to myself yet again, What is the world coming to?
First up: The United States Federal Government is at serious risk of having to shut down for a few days. Why? Because we as a country are broke and our brave leaders can't sit in a room together long enough to figure out where to cut $60 billion worth of spending in order to continue to pay the outrageous salaries that we are providing for many of our government workers. Unless they come up with something by April 5 (so that they can have the bill publicized 72 hours before their deadline, April 8th), our government will literally be shut down because we cannot afford to run it.
Maybe they should just raise gas prices to try and scrape a little extra money together.
Oh, wait...
Or maybe they could sue the Jesuits of the U.S. Northwest for sexual abuse. Which is what about 500 former students of boarding schools run by the Society of Jesus are doing in exchange for a $166 million settlement. It will come as no surprise to you that the Jesuit Order is also in the throes of bankruptcy, due mostly to the fact that they had to dole out another $55 million in sexual abuse "reparations" not too long ago. Why the Roman Catholic Church does not have a more thorough screening process for priestly candidates continues to elude me. Not only do these pedophiles stain the reputation of Catholicism, but it's obviously costing the Church a great deal of cash. At least they have a good insurance policy. Although frankly, if they keep getting sued for sexually victimizing children, somehow I think it's going to become increasingly difficult for them to find a company that is willing to insure them. And honestly, I don't think sexual abuse charges should be something for which you can appeal to your insurance policy anyway. Sexual abuse isn't an accident, like a fire or a flood (even one brought on by the Almighty)--it's a purposeful act that the Church is enabling by placing psychologically ill men in situations where they have the opportunity to take advantage of children who trust them.
Speaking of trust issues and--while we're at it--a desperate longing for acceptance and a sense of belonging, our final news story tells the fate of a young man who was dared to chug a bottle of soy sauce. A pledge at the University of Virginia Zeta Psi fraternity, he took the dare no doubt in order to gain the respect and admiration of his potential brothers. That, or people just like watching other people nearly kill themselves. Apparently there are a surprising amount of people on this earth who do not realize that too much of anything will kill you. Even water. According to this story, too much soy sauce will cause you to fall into a fit of seizures and begin foaming at the mouth.
While most of the spectators probably thought that the young pledge was in the process of turning into a zombie, at least one of the frat brothers had the presence of mind to drive him to the emergency room. He was placed in critical condition after they realized he had ingested a dangerous amount of sodium, but he survived. Now authorities are speculating as to whether this U-Va fraternity is committing the misdemeanor of hazing its pledges. Their main reason for speculation? Meals fed to pledges that consist of dog food, matzo balls, gefilte fish, and soy sauce. Let's see, Virginia Police, if a fraternity is making its pledges eat something that makes one gag merely at the thought of the ingredients, I'd say that's hazing.
As I sit here trying to get the thought of soy sauce out of my mental mouth, the only thing I can think of to sum up this post is to wish America the best of luck.
Looks like we're going to need it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/odds-of-government-shutdown-increase-as-breakdown-in-budget-talks-leads-to-public-sniping/2011/03/26/AFvb6ScB_story.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/03/26/Jesuits-make-166M-sex-abuse-settlement/UPI-63381301158225/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031206201.html?tid=obinsite
No comments:
Post a Comment