Child sexual abuse is a far larger social issue than just Sandusky and Penn State. It occurs on a scale that most of us do not realize. It occurs to boys as well as to girls, a fact often denied. The victims often deny it occurred.

Dr. George Reardon specialized in endocrinology, especially developmental problems of the very young. He was hired at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford in 1963 and became head of the hospital's endocrinology program in 1978. In 1987, a brother and sister, whom he had sexually abused at ages 5 and 7 while still practicing in Albany, filed suit against him. Two other charges were also filed by his victims, and the Hartford County Medical Association followed up in 1993 with its own charge on behalf of a fourth victim. Reardon's license to practice medicine and hospital privileges were suspended in 1993. Although his license and hospital privileges were reinstated later in the year, the child protection measures ordered by the State board seemed to have been so onerous that he retired from the practice of medicine in 1993. The FBI mounted an investigation; the hospital said the charges were without merit. Reardon died in 1998.

In 2007, the current owner of what had been Reardon's home opened a basement wall to discover thousands of items of child pornography, including nude photographs of Reardon's patients. West Hartford police tried to identify his victims. Thirty-two suits were settled in May, 2011, by the hospital and the Hartford Archdiocese.

It took years for his victims to come forward. It is certain that some of his victims have yet to come forward. That is because child sexual abuse is far too often a secret held by both the abuser and the victim.

The problem is in scope as well. I've heard that typicly a Pedophile (by the way I hate that term. It litterally means "lover of children" its what Pedophiles call themselves. I would prefer pedovore - meaning someone who consumes children) will go though 200 or so children before being caught. Its also like what I said before, Lions and Zebras. Any job or positions which gives power over and access to children will be a magnet for these people.

Plus they will play the system to protect themselves. Any institution, secular or religious, will be vunerable to covering this up, because there is literally no way that they will look good when the pedovore is exposed. No matter what, people will ask how you let this predetor get access to kids. Its easier to brush it under the carpet, believe the tearful perpetrator when he begs you to forgive him and that he will never do it again. Plus, its always a small number of people, so how much damage can they do? Better to just sit on it...

Remember, Pedovores want access to kids, and they will play the system anyway they can to ensure they get access to them again.

The Guardian November 10, 2011
"Joe Paterno, a legend undone by the culture of silence: Anger over the Penn State coach's firing is missplaced. It's the pattern of campus cover-ups of sex abuse that should enrage us."

Suranis said

Acworth Patch [a publication unknown to me] Penn State Scandal 'An American Problem' by Lauren Sausser.

Ehrmann said that the Penn State scandal is primarily a story about a university trying to protect its reputation and its football program. It is not clear what Ehrmann meant by "the next level." All of the actors known to us so far took things to their supervisors -- McQueary, Paterno, Curley, Schultz, Spanier. That proved to be insufficient, as none of those people acted responsibly. I would hope that Ehrmann meant "take it to the police."

Incidentally, what -- if anything -- the Penn State campus police knew and did is still murky. Schultz supervised the campus police, which may account for Spanier's actions regarding him. If it turns out that the campus police (or just their chief) also knew of McQueary's charges, that will prove to be a major problem for Penn State.

It is already an incredible problem for Penn State and will be more disgusting as the investigation goes one.

FoxNews "Penn State, Second Mile Not the First to be Embroiled in a Sex Abuse Scandal"

Examples:

Lon Harvey Kennard Sr., Village of Hope, 15 years to life in prison after confession of 43 counts of sex abuse and exploitation.

Douglas Perlitz, Project Pierre Toussaint School for Homeless Children in Cap-Haitien. 20 years in prison, found guilty of abusing eight homeless children in Haiti.

Donald Fitzpatrick, clubhouse manager Boston Red Sox, came to light in 1991 but happened in early 1970s and was reported to Red Sox management by a victim in 1971. Sox took no action except fired victims who came forward. $100,000 settlement. Pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual battery on a child in 2002. "In 2003, the team settled a $3.15 million lawsuit with seven victims in Florida."

Oh you have no idea. You would have thought that in Ireland after all the alligations of Cherical Sexual Abuse that they would be all over pedovors wouldnt you? Uh, No

http://www.sceala.com/phpBB2/irish-forums-24245.html



That was in 2008. What happened after that was a complete whitewash. The guy had Senetor David Norris, a noted gay campaigner, sprining to his defense. There was pages written about the great work he was doing educating poor boys in Nepal and how the sex was consentual. Yeah, I'm sure sex between you and a guy who is funding your education. He had the Irish Language lobby springing to his defense as he writes in Irish. Basically the story ran for 2 weeks and was buried.

This was written in august this year. The context was David Norris running for president and saying that when he was young he would have loved for an older man to come and show him the sexual ropes, as it were.

http://www.ionainstitute.ie/index.php?id=1599


More at the link.

The hypocracy and double standard has been right up my nose for 20 years.

There may be salient differences in how boys and girls react to child sexual abuse. Among other things, most abused boys do not come forward with their story until later in life. This article repeats the one-in-six boys statistic that I have used elsewhere; it is not a well-documented statistic. The fact is that we really do not know, because the boys will not tell us. For girls, the statistic is one-in-four.

"Sandusky case triggers pain well beyond campus: As adults, victims suffer nightmares, anger, anxiety from childhood abuse"

It also has a lot to do with the viciousness shown homosexuals by people in general. While molested boys may and probably won't be homosexual...there is a real reluctance to admit to having participated in homosexual behavior even though it was a rape and not their desire. The fear of being labelled a homosexual or a molested boy many times is larger than the feeling toward the crime.

It is damn embarrassing for a young man/boy to be placed in a situation where there are so many heavy religious and social overtones toward same sex behavior. The child gets labelled as tainted property or "queer" even though IT IS NOT HIS FAULT!

In the late 60's the Boy Scouts didn't screen very well. A molester ended up being the scout master and molested a couple of boys in the troop. We found out after one of the kids on his baseball teams (Coach, nach!) complained to his parents. He got 20 years, but the boys have to live a lifetime with the emotional damage from the attacks. We knew who was molested - none of them became homosexuals and all have had lives that are peppered with mental issues and some went to crime acting out. Some families moved out of town & not seen again (left coast to Florida) to escape the gossip and publicity.

I am sure the devil has a special place in hell for molesters something about bending over to receive a pineapple you know where (ala "Little Nicky") (Adam Sandler movie where Hitler was getting "his".)

In addition to priests, coaches and boy scout leaders, here is another category we have to watch carefully. This child psychiatrist was appointed to evaluate large numbers of 'troubled children.' If they weren't troubled before his 'therapy,' they were troubled even more afterwards. It is amazing how these predators get away with it for years before discovered or reported to someone who does something about it.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/bay-are ... g-patients

It is well-established that many of the residential "Indian Training Schools" in Canada were places of child abuse. The number of Indian children who were taken from their parents and have never been seen again is uncertain but is likely to be in the tens of thousands. Suits have already been filed, and settlements have been reached in some cases. However, the story continues to unfold. It has not been volunteered by the government of Canada or by the churches. It is being uncovered by the First Peoples themselves.

The oldest school in Canada was at Brantford, Ontario. It was operated by the Anglican Church. A tribe of the Mohawk people released yesterday a statement that human bones, bones of children, have been found on the school's property in a single 20 sq. ft. test dig. The tribe is barring representatives of the Canadian government and the Crown or Church of England from entry onto the site of the former school.

A 2002 CBC program sheds light on the early stages of what is now a sweeping investigation.

This was the work of teachers, missionaries, and clerics from at least four major Canadian denominations. Their crimes may dwarf the number of reported cases of clerical child abuse and child sexual abuse in the United States in the 20th century. I do not think that sexual perversion is going to be very helpful in explaining what appear to be mass murders. This is turning out to be a case of genocide perpetrated on the most vulnerable members of the tribes, crimes worthy of the Nazis.

I fully recognize that the "International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State" is not an internationally recognized investigative or judicial body. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has provided very similar findings. The churches themselves have apologized, while fighting law suits that could have bankrupted them. This is the 25th anniversary of the apology of the United Church of Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in 2008. There is no doubt whatsoever that crimes were committed under the auspices of the churches and the government. What remains to be discovered is how deeply the savages cut into the heart of the First Peoples.

Oh wow - I remember seeing that a few years ago when the whole Jeff Gannon thing was going on, and some people were trying to connect him to the sex scandal referenced in the article. There was a point where some people were claiming he was some little kid that had been kidnapped from Iowa, I think, (in particular, the missing kids mother) and that the kid had been taken so he could be one of the kids used in the sex ring or something like that. It was so surrealistic!

It is a mystery to me that I have been unaware of the Boys Town child sexual abuse scandal until now. In the 1970s I was a researcher at the Omaha facility of Boys Town. At that time, Boys Town was already expanding outside its Omaha home ("the richest square mile in the world") to provide services and homes nationwide. I was researching why kids ended up in Boys Town. By that time, the kids were mostly not orphans; they were runaway or throw-away kids.

While we were off across the lake in our own building, we did occasionally get news of happenings in the village, particularly from those research projects that were working with the kids at Boys Town. Apparently this all happened after the research program was shut down, but I remained sensitive to news about Boys Town for years because the administration (Father Hupp) did not like the results of some of the research being undertaken and forbade other research from being conducted. It was a disconcerting example of how freedom of speech can be abrogated by an employer.

Some of the news coverage of the time of the scandal refers to a cover-up of the Boys Town scandal. Father Hupp, who had retired prior to the reported events, began calling for an investigation. Nothing much seems to have happened. If all this is true, it is a larger scandal than Penn State. It was fairly successfully covered-up in the mainstream media.

It looks like there are a few books about both the Boys Town scandal as well as the whole Franklin scandal. Since it sounds like you know more about the situation, can you suggest a reliable book - or any ideas on how to estimate a book's reliability? For some reason, I've lately been fascinated with scandals, but I don't care to read stuff that's mostly speculative or based on wild-assed conspiracy theories (unless, of course, there's some reason to believe that the conspiracy might actually have existed - such as the Watergate cover-up.) Any guidance would be appreciated!

Yes, the Boys' Town scandal and also the DC scandal were successfully suppressed. How many people have ever heard of Lawrence King and the Franklin Credit Union scandal? Financial misdeeds are one thing, but this went far beyond into the trafficking of children for immoral purposes. And it reached to the highest levels of government. There were not too many people willing to stick their necks out after they saw what happened to those who were trying to report on it or do something about it.

I did some more looking at there seem to be two main books about the scandal - at least that are currently available. One is "The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal" by Nick Bryant and the other is "The Franklin Cover-up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska" by John W. DeCamp, which is the book written by one of the lawyers that you mentioned.

I'm leaning more toward the Bryant book, mainly because I usually consider accusations of satanism a big, BIG red flag - especially for anything during that era, when there were massive child abuse scandals fuelled by satanism around every corner. The tragedy, of course, is that all of those bogus cases ended up casting doubts on the real cases (almost always minus the satanic aspects, of course) that occurred. It may have been part of why it was easier for them to cover something like this up as well.

I have long been suspicious of this particular set of accusations, partly because it seemingly originated in the Moonie cult's front newspaper The Washington Times. Additionally, the allegations surrounding the case were absolutely extraordinary and involved vast degrees of corruption at every level of government. Weird conspiracy theories, like trying to claim that Jeff Gannon was actually the kidnapped Johnny Gosch, appear to be beyond ridiculous.

The fact that the prosecution apparently couldn't even get an indictment from a grand jury makes me most suspicious, considering that it is practically a maxim that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich.

I have never seen any convincing evidence for the vast, nearly ubiquitous conspiracy it would take to make this particular set of satanic cult sex allegations anything more than that, allegations.

That's the thing. It's probably partly truth and heavy fiction.

There is also a transcript on line of the trial Paul A. Bonacci (one of the youngsters) brought against Lawrence King. He was given a million dollar default judgement. Two hundred thousand of it was for punitive damages. One of the boys wrote an account of being brought to Bohemian Grove along with some other boys. He described one of the boys being ritually murdered. It didn't seem like Satanism was involved, but ordinary sadistic practices. Was it a true story? It's very hard to tell. What happens in Monte Rio stays in Monte Rio.

Wisconsin State Journal May 25, 2012 Black Earth pastor gets 2 years in prison in child abuse case

A Dane County, WI, pastor was convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse. He had been preaching to members of the Aleitheia Bible Church of Black Earth, WI, that the Bible prescribes corporal punishment for disobedient children. What preacher Philip Caminiti advocated was the use of wooden spoons or wooden dowels to "spank" children. This left persistent red marks or bruises, which is how Wisconsin differentiates between spanking and child abuse. Caminiti apparently advocated this concerning children as young as one-and-a-half months. Wisconsin police intervened in 2010 to put a stop to this practice.

In addition to his prison term, Caminiti will be on probation for six years, during which his contact with his own children will be limited. He is also ordered to have no contact with Aleitheia Bible Church and to have no leadership role in any church.

His brother, church elder John Caminiti, was sentenced in 2011 to a year in prison and seven years of "extended supervision" for shunning his teenage son because the son had feelings that he described as "pressure and fear." He also struck with a wooden dowel other children, including those of other members of the church, for being grumpy or disobedient.

Eight members of the church face child abuse charges. No Longer Qivering discusses the case of Lori Wick, an author of "historical Christian novels," who supposedly provides substantial financial support to the church and is one of those accused of child abuse.

The right wing and the evangelical/fundamentalist press caught on yesterday to this matter and are aghast. Free Republic has a thread, as do Infowars and The Church Report.

I am at a loss as to what I think about this. The pastor was advocating what is legally defined in Wisconsin as child abuse. This resulted in incidents perpetrated by members of the church. Other pastors (e.g., Wiley Drake) have called upon god to strike down President Obama, with no results (yet). Is that why Drake still preaches, while Caminiti sits in prison?

Where does freedom of religion end and engaging in a conspiracy to violate the law begin? According to Christianity Today, a trial judge spoke to this:

I do not see why what the Bible specifies and does not specify is relevant to a decision to dismiss the motion. The Bible specifies stoning to death disobedient sons; would Judge Sumi have ruled in favor of a pastor who taught that?

Probably because those church members are real flesh and blood people who are following his instructions in abusing their kids.

As opposed to the imaginary being in Wiley Drake's imagination who seems to be ignoring him.

Yet Wiley Drake or one of his ilk could inspire someone to take it into their own hands to do the word of god. Rudy came pretty close yesterday to calling for such an action. Would either of them be guilty of conspiracy if someone tried to kill the President?

It strikes me that this is far more than a religious freedom question, but as a matter of the conflict between the triple rights of religious freedom and and freedom of expression and the right to protection under the law.

To put it further, what if someone from parts of Africa and the middle east was discovered to have practised female circumcision, and argued in court that that was part of his culture and religion? Where would you stand then? What if he argued that MALE circumcision is allowed because of Jewish and Muslim Religious beliefs, and argued that therefore female circumcision should be allowed because to do otherwise would be unfair and discrimination? What if he argued that male circumcision was accepted as it was commonplace but was just as barbaric?

(By the way I think the above argument is full of shit, I'm just throwing it out there)

And what if someone founds a new "church" with doctrine he made up based loosely on the bible that involves, I dunno, lets say feeding urine to children. Would his right to have his flock do that be protected under religious freedom even though his religion was only 2 years old? And would his right to say whatever he liked be protected under the 1st amendment? After all Human Sacrifice is in the Bible.

THis is why my European sensibilities are a little distrustful of the notion of total freedom of expression. When that comes anywhere near calling for harm to be done to people that freedom is over as far as I am concerned. Plus I see society as a unit, and wneh one part of the unit is deliberately telling lies, those lies poisons the whole society and will lead to the society fracturing eventually. And yes I'm looking at Fox News etc. The removal of the Fairness doctrine was Reagan's worst legacy.

I have the same feelings and concerns. I do think our society is being poisoned by beliefs that cause harm.

An example: yesterday I posted about a West Virginia pastor who died after a snake bit him in snake-handling religious ceremonies. His father had also died from a snake bite. West Virginia has no law against this, while the surrounding states have made it illegal. Did those states violate religious freedom? I think not, but I have no idea how to draw the line.

I wonder if what some of us now see as the "crazy turn" that American evangelicals have taken dates back to this kind of religious movement? Snake handling as a part of religion is, apparently, fairly new to the U.S. According to several sources, it began in the early 20th century in Pentecostal churches. Christianity Today. It is not restricted to the U.S.; there have been snake-handling Christian cults in Europe and Asia. The WSJ says that snake-handling is a centuries-old spiritual practice, but I wonder if they are confounding worship of snakes with the dare-devil practice of perhaps some 2,500 U.S. Pentecostals today.

Hensley was repeatedly arrested, partly because he was a moonshiner in addition to being a preacher. He preached that he was persecuted for following the Bible and that outlawing snake handling would soon be followed by outlawing speaking in tongues and, eventually, "the Bible itself." He was bitten about 400 times during his "ministry."

It seems to me that West Virginia is wrong not to have outlawed this practice. On the other hand, outlawing it does not stop it. It is supposed to be a "riveting" experience to witness and to join.

Permissible laws against snake-handling would prohibit it by all people, not just based on it being a religious ceremony. And according to current Free Exercise Clause jurisprudence, a "neutral law of general applicability" does not violate religious freedom. Employment Div. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 879 (1990).