Persistent rumours grow legs in Cansdellgate

 

NSW Parliament Hansard 16 October 2012:

 

The Hon. MICK VEITCH: I direct my question to the Minister for Roads and Ports. Has the Minister received any information, verbal or written, suggesting that the former member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, may have falsely nominated other drivers to cop the blame for traffic offences committed by him on more than one occasion? If so, did the Minister refer that information to the police? If not, why not?
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY: No and no.

 

NSW Parliament 16 October 2012:

 

The Hon. HELEN WESTWOOD: I direct my question to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Minister for the Hunter. What action is the Minister taking to ensure that a full and proper investigation is undertaken into the handling of the Steve Cansdell matter after the lawyer for the woman who blew the whistle publicly contradicted earlier suggestions that Mr Cansdell had escaped justice because she had refused to be interviewed?

The Hon. MICHAEL GALLACHER: If the member has concerns about the conduct of that investigation and she has reason to believe that something untoward happened, I suggest that she refer the matter to the Ombudsman. I have answered the question fully.

 

NSW Parliament Hansard 17 October 2012:

 

The Hon. LUKE FOLEY: I direct my question to the Minister for Roads and Ports. Has the Minister's office or department received any information of advice that would suggest the former member for Clarence, Mr Steve Cansdell, may have falsely nominated other drivers to shift the blame for traffic offences on more than one occasion?

Obamba and Romney quipping away at the 2012 Alfed E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York as betting odds firm

 

 

http://youtu.be/NIHbe-aO6oI

 

http://youtu.be/S6g2YkTAYQ4

 

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is an annual white tie charity fundraiser for Catholic charities, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on the third Thursday of October (Smith died on October 4). It is organized by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in honor of former New York Governor Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate. The first dinner was in 1945, the year after Al Smith's death.

How the world rates this contest between two privileged men.

Paddy Power betting odds:

Centrebet betting odds:

Sportsbet betting odds:

 

Thanks to the reader who pointed me towards these bets.

"Suffer the little children" takes on a new meaning this month

 

What Victoria Police told the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations concerning the manner in which the Catholic Church deals with allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by those in religious orders: 
 

 

That the Catholic Church is seen as the principal offender against the rights of child victims is made clear:

 

http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/fcdc/inquiries/57th/Child_Abuse_Inquiry/Submissions/Victoria_Police.pdf

 

Brisbane Times 19 October 2012:

Following up the explosive police submission to the state inquiry into the churches' handling of sex abuse, the deputy commissioner unloaded more broadsides attacking the Catholic Church's obstruction of police investigations into paedophile clergy going back six decades.

He unleashed his shocking litany in calm, measured tones, seated at a venerable table opposite the six committee members, watched by framed dignitaries on the wall and a packed chamber of visitors.

He said the police had for the first time aggregated their sexual offence statistics by clergy and church workers since January 1956: 2110 offences against 519 victims, overwhelmingly perpetrated by Catholic priests and mostly against boys aged 11 or 12. Yet the church had not reported a single crime to police.

The Church's submissions to this inquiry insist that there has been an emerging awareness of the problem, it has been recognised and the bishops are now handling allegations of sexual abuse in an appropriate manner.

However, this assertion denies fact. The Catholic Church has long known about sexual abuse by clergy and others. It has been codifying responses since its early years:

Child sexual abuse has always been a scourge in our society and in our Church.
[Rev. Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti PhD DMin, undated]

The Council of Elvira, circa 306 AD - Canon Law

18. Bishops, presbyters, and deacons, once they have taken their place in the ministry, shall not be given communion even at the time of death if they are guilty of sexual immorality. Such scandal is a serious offense.

71. Those who sexually abuse boys may not commune even when death approaches.

[Catholic University of America]

While it was only the day before the Victorian inquiry began its public hearings that NSW Police arrested, charged with twenty-five offences and brought before the court a former priest who had allegedly abused children over a twenty year period before formally leaving the priesthood in 2005. A priest who had made certain admissions to the Church in 1992, but remained under its active protection for years until exposed in an ABC Four Corners program aired on 2 July 2012.

NASA livestreams the 2012 Orionid meteor shower

Streaming live video by Ustream

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/orionids2012.html

The law makes an ass of itself over Father F.

 

This was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 18 October 2012:

 

A former NSW priest who allegedly told three senior Catholic clergy a decade ago that he had repeatedly sexually abused children has been charged with 25 child-sex offences relating to three girls.

The 59-year-old was arrested at a home in Armidale this morning, and is expected to face court this afternoon in relation to the charges dating back to the 1970s and '80s.

Following his arrest, police urged anyone with information about an alleged cover-up by the Catholic Church to come forward…….

Father F, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was removed from public ministry after a meeting with three clergy in 1992, following continued allegations of abuse after he was moved from the Armidale diocese to Parramatta.

Readers will notice that for legal reasons the former Catholic priest cannot be named by the media.

 

However, on the very same day, the NSW court system only offered the pretence of a fig leaf to conceal his name in its online lists.

 

I received an email pointing this out to me and I’m sure that it was common knowledge elsewhere by the end of that day as I would not have been the only recipient.

 

Unfortunately, the unthinking court system also listed some other matters associated with these charges in such a way that the three girls (now women) were easily identified.

ACT Election 20 October 2012 - Virtual Tally Room live updates

 

Link to live results as they come in:

 

http://www.electionresults.act.gov.au/

Click on table to enlarge

 

Last Updated:21/10/2012 5:35:28 PM