Against gay marriage? Check.
Against gay adoption? Check.
Invokes God and morality whenever it suits him? Check.
Cheats on his wife, humiliates the children he claims to love, makes a mockery of his supposed religious beliefs? Check.
Yes, indeed, we’ll be posting a main entry in the much-loved, traditional (heh!) “Claims to fame / Moral apex” format after the dust begins to settle, but for now, news is coming in so fast and furious, let’s just get to get to the headlines for Marshall Clement “Mark” Sanford, Jr., Republican Governor of South Carolina since 2003 — and probably ex-Governor, 2009.
The Reader’s Digest Condensed Version: He disappeared for five days, and after a media frenzy, admitted he was shacking up with a woman in Argentina (who, of course, wasn’t his wife).
And that’s only the beginning of the story.
Read the rest of this entry »»»
Filed under: Sanford, Mark
June 21, 2009
Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair spent Father’s Day in jail after his arrest early Sunday on charges that he punched his two sons.
Blair, 52, was arrested shortly after 5 a.m. after an altercation at his family’s home in the Forest Hills area of Tampa, sheriff’s Deputy Larry McKinnon said. Blair and his wife, Toni, have two sons, Brett and Bradley, according to his campaign Web site.
Blair, a former professional wrestler who is 6 feet tall and weighs 235 pounds, pushed his older son Brett, 17, in the chest about 4 a.m., according to an arrest report.
The teen tried to walk away, but Blair grabbed him and punched him in the face with a closed fist, leaving a red mark and swelling, the arrest report said.
Blair then put the 17-year-old in a choke hold, causing him to have trouble breathing, according to the report. …
More from the St. Petersburg Times.
What’s this about being an anti-gay bigot? See NGBlog.
Filed under: Blair, Brian
See all entries for David Cerullo
June 20, 2009
INDIAN LAND, S.C. — A serious blow to a local Christian television network could bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a struggling county.
For the past eight months, the I-Team has been investigating the Inspiration Network in Lancaster County. We’ve learned the State of South Carolina has rejected the Christian network’s tax-exempt status for its headquarters in Indian Land.
A dazzling display of architecture called the City of Light was paid for with millions of dollars in donations given to the Inspirational Network.
Despite appeals, the State of South Carolina rejected the network’s request for tax-exempt status meaning this fall, the land, buildings and equipment in Indian Land will all be taxed.
The I-Team looked at tax records of the Inspirational Network. In 2007, the network revenue was more than $69 million.
CEO David Cerullo was paid more than $1.5 million. His wife Barbara was paid $150,000 and their kids Ben and Becky are also on the company payroll. …
More, including the story of a couple who got snookered, at WCNC.com.
Filed under: Cerullo, David
June 17, 2009
Stephen L. McPherson, the former Regent University law school assistant dean convicted of sex acts with underage girls, has been ordered to serve 16 years in prison. …
McPherson pleaded guilty in January to charges of forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration. …
In court Monday, McPherson apologized to his victims, whom he and his wife, Melina, had adopted from Hope Haven Children’s Home in Virginia Beach, prosecutor Karen Brown said. …
McPherson and his wife were indicted by a Virginia Beach grand jury in January on charges of indecent liberties stemming from allegations of illegal sexual acts with three girls while the couple served as house parents at Hope Haven between August 1996 and August 2000. Both were scheduled for trial Tuesday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, but the cases were continued to Sept. 2. …
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Filed under: McPherson, Stephen L.
June 16, 2009
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign. … In a press conference moments ago, Ensign admitted the affair but seemed resolved to remain in political life. “Last year I had an affair,” said Ensign. “I violated the vows of my marriage.” …
More at WaPo, and much more to follow here, as this story… is fleshed out (*smirk*).
Filed under: Ensign, John
See main page for Todd Alan Blodgett
See all entries for Todd Alan Blodgett
June 11, 2009
Todd Blodgett, a former White House aide to President Ronald Reagan who later became affiliated with extremist groups, said he spent a lot of time with Von Brunn in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“Von Brunn is obsessed with Jewish people,” Blodgett told the Post. “He had equal contempt for both Jews and blacks, but if he had to pick one group to wipe out, he’d always say it would be Jews.”
Von Brunn went so far as to say he fought on the wrong side of World War II, according to Blodgett.
“You’d get the impression that he was intelligent and a bit off,” said Blodgett, who worked as a paid FBI informant on white supremacist groups.
More (on Von Brunn): “Holocaust Museum Shooting Suspect Had Been Growing More Hateful and Desperate“
Filed under: Blodgett, Todd Alan
Claims to fame: Church youth volunteer, Heartland Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; accused child rapist
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Filed under: Jernigan, Matthew
Claims to fame: Lawyer, prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; Chief Counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Communist witch hunts; member, John Birch Society; queer-baiter; closet homosexual; liar; tax cheat; evil incarnate
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Filed under: Cohn, Roy | Franklin Credit Union
Claims to fame: Radically homophobic, anti-equality, anti-feminist founder of hard-right Eagle Forum
Moral apex: Implicated in the Franklin Credit Union Child-Sex Ring Scandal. See also: Craig J. Spence.
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Filed under: Franklin Credit Union | Schlafly, Phyllis
Claims to fame: Former governor of Alaska; nepotist who appointed daughter Lisa Murkowski to his vacant U.S. Senate seat; ranked most unpopular governor in U.S. after losing 2006 gubernatorial race to Sarah Palin; radical anti-gay, anti-choice, hard-right Republican
Moral apex: Implicated in the Franklin Credit Union Child-Sex Ring Scandal. See also: Craig J. Spence.
Filed under: Franklin Credit Union | Murkowski, Frank
Claims to fame: Former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); top Korea expert; senior adviser, right-wing think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies; chair, Global Strategy Council (”a Ronald Reagan advisory group”)
Moral apex: Implicated in the Franklin Credit Union Child-Sex Ring Scandal. See also: Craig J. Spence.
Ironically: Arnaud de Borchgrave, former head of Sun Myung Moon-owned United Press International and editor-in-chief of Moon’s Washington Times — the paper that broke the Franklin Credit Union Child-Sex Ring Scandal — served on Cline’s Global Strategy Council.
Where he is now: Dead (1996).
Filed under: Cline, Ray | Franklin Credit Union
Claims to fame: Director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1981-87; Ronald Reagan’s campaign manager (1980); major Iran-Contra figure (who, just hours before he was scheduled to testify before Congress about the arms-for-hostages deal, was suddenly “rendered incapable of speech,” and died of a an alleged brain tumor)
Moral apex: Implicated in the Franklin Credit Union Child-Sex Ring Scandal. See also: Craig J. Spence.
Filed under: Casey, William | Franklin Credit Union
Claims to fame: USAF vet; Church youth group volunteer & religion teacher, Tri-City Baptist Church, Westminster, Colorado; longtime, worldwide Boy Scouts volunteer / assistant scoutmaster; accused child molester
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Filed under: McLees, James Gordon
June 4, 2009
An attorney said Wednesday that he plans to publish a notice in a newspaper as early as next week giving the man accused of being Tony Alamo’s “enforcer” 30 days to respond to a lawsuit or risk having a judgment entered against him.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Texarkana in November by Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna, both 18 at the time, against Alamo and John Kolbeck, who authorities say administered beatings on Alamo’s behalf.
Ondrisek and Calagna, who both left the ministry last year, say Kolbeck beat them with a wooden board at Alamo’s direction. But the teenagers’ attorney, W. David Carter of Texarkana, Texas, said he has been unable to find Kolbeck to serve him with a copy of the lawsuit.
Federal authorities can’t find Kolbeck either — he is wanted on a second-degree battery charge in connection with Calagna’s beating and on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. …
More at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Filed under: Alamo, Tony
June 6, 2009
PEMBROKE — A well-known local Roman Catholic priest has been accused of sexually assaulting three victims.
Twenty-five years to the day after his ordination as a priest, Monsignor Robert Borne, 60, was charged by the Ontario Provincial Police, Renfrew County Crime Unit, for incidents alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1995.
The charges were laid on April 20 of this year.
Monsignor Borne, a native of Pembroke, was charged with two counts each of gross indecency, indecent assault and breach of trust in relation to three victims.
He was arrested yesterday when he turned himself in at the Renfrew detachment. He has been released on conditions and is to appear in Pembroke court on July 7. …
According to police, they began their investigation in January 2008 after receiving a complaint that Msgr. Borne had sexually assaulted a then-teenage boy while visiting with Msgr. Borne. The statement issued by police said that the other victims were identified as a result of the initial investigation. …
More from the Ottawa Sun via Canoe.ca.
Filed under: Catholics Gone Wild
June 4, 2009
Priest accused of exposing himself
in restaurant is fined
A Catholic priest accused of exposing himself to a waitress while he sat at a table in a Mexican restaurant was sentenced today in 33rd District Court in Woodhaven to nine months probation and fines and costs of $595.00.
The Rev. im also was ordered to stay away from the Amigo’s Mexican Restaurant in Woodhaven and to have no contact with the waitress. …
Knapp, 57, of Gibraltar, pleaded guilty to being an disorderly person, a misdemeanor. An indecent exposure charge was dropped.
According to Woodhaven Police Chief Michael Martin, Knapp, pastor of the St. Victor Catholic Church in Gibraltar, exposed his genitals to a waitress a the Amigo’s restaurant in Woodhaven on March 26.
“He said he was cleaning a stain off his pants…”
More at the Detroit Free Press.
Filed under: Catholics Gone Wild
June 5, 2009
Lawsuit accuses Freehold priest of sex abuse
TOMS RIVER — A Roman Catholic priest, most recently the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Freehold, has been accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s, when the clergyman was assigned to St. Veronica’s Church in Howell.
The lawsuit, filed late last month in Superior Court in Ocean County by lawyer Robert R. Fuggi Jr., alleges that the Rev. Richard Milewski abused his client, an unnamed, 37-year-old Virginia man, between 1984 and 1985.
Fuggi said his client was 13 years old and a student and altar boy at St. Veronica’s, which has an elementary school, at the time. …
The lawsuit alleges that Milewski, on numerous occasions between 1984 and 1985, sexually assaulted the plaintiff and other unnamed victims, all either parishioners at St. Veronica’s Church or students at its grammar school, or both. …
In [one] incident, Milewski molested the boys under the guise of roughhousing, the lawsuit alleged.
It alleged that Milewski and two of the boys molested the plaintiff after Milewski forced the boy to strip naked. Then, Milewski and the two other boys threw the plaintiff outside in the cold, where he cried until he was allowed to come back inside and get dressed, the lawsuit alleged.
More at APP.com
Filed under: Catholics Gone Wild
See also: “2,600-Page Report Released on Endemic Abuse in Irish Catholic Schools,” May 21, 2009
June 4, 2009
Brothers sorry for ’shameful’ abuse denials
ORDER’S APOLOGY: The Christian Brothers have described its response to the abuse issue as “shamefully inadequate and hurtful” after it emerged that the order was denying allegations of abuse up to five days before the publication of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
Survivors of institutional abuse said it was “not surprising” that the order was denying abuse so recently.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said it “absolutely beggars belief” that the Christian Brothers could still have been taking this stance in May. “I find it just incredible,” she said. “Before the Ryan report, we had the Commission hearings and the Redress Board so it’s quite incredible that they would still be denying abuse with the information available to them.”
One in Four, which works with victims of abuse, said it was not surprised at the news as its clients had repeatedly been met with “suspicion and resistance” when they spoke about the abuse they endured. …
Former industrial school resident Oliver Burke said he believed the Christian Brothers had only apologised after the Ryan report because of the strength of public and church opinion. “That’s why they changed their tune.”
More at The Irish Times.
Filed under: Catholics Gone Wild
Brace yourself! It’s — gasp! — another Republican busted for trying to sex a minor!
How shocking… or not, considering the details. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has the story; “furry” details after the jump (and you might want to stop eating/drinking while reading them).
All we can say is: At least David Vitter knew he was of the human species.
Read the rest of this entry »»»
Filed under: Berlin, Alan David
Claims to fame: Republican; Lititz, Pennsylvania, Borough Council member (1994-2001); two-time loser for mayor; mayoral candidate, 2009; husband, father; youth group leader, Lititz United Methodist Church; Santa Claus “at Lititz Springs Park during the Christmas season”; accused child molester
Moral apex: Arrested May 27, 2009, and charged with on two felonies and two misdemeanors — “aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault and corruption of minors” — for initiating a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl, which lasted from October, 2002, to June, 2004.
Read the rest of this entry »»»
Filed under: Nies, Greg
See the main page for Bernard Kerik
See all entries for Bernard Kerik
May 26, 2009
Former NYPD Commish Kerik Indicted
Accused Of Making False Statements To White House Officials During Vetting For Homeland Security Position
CBS 2 HD has learned that former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of making false statements to White House officials during his vetting for the position of Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The new indictment was handed up Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Washington, and means Kerik will face trials in New York and Washington, D.C.
Similar false statement charges were brought as part of the larger case in New York but were dismissed and transferred to Washington, where the crimes allegedly occurred.
According to the new indictment, Kerik, in 1999 and 2000 when he was NYPD commissioner, spoke to city regulators on behalf of contractors who were seeking one or more permits to do business in and with the city.
The contractors then spent more than $255,000 renovating Kerik’s apartment in Riverdale. In 2004, when Kerik was under consideration by the White House for the Homeland Security position, he gave false and misleading answers to questions by White House officials about his relationship with the contractors. …
More from CBS 2 HD.
Filed under: Kerik, Bernard
Claims to fame: Pastor, Walnut Grove Baptist Church, Cordova, Tennessee; sexual abuser of teenage boys; rapist
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Filed under: Haney, Steven
Claims to fame: Pastor, Casa del Padre Church, Portland, Oregon; convicted sexual abuser and would-be rapist
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Filed under: Alvarizares, Sergio
