Bill Donohue comments on the fate of SB 131:

Tomorrow, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee will once again take up the issue of suspending the statute of limitations for cases involving minors who allege they are victims of sexual abuse. SB 131 would allow anyone who was 26-years-old in 2002, and claims to have been molested, one year to file suit. To those interested in justice, the bill appears to be fair. But there is just one problem: most of those who meet the criteria are not legally permitted to file suit. How can this be? Because it does not apply to anyone who was violated by a public employee, such as a public school teacher, aide, counselor or coach. For them—and they account for the lion’s share of abuse—it’s just too bad.

The purpose of this outrageous bill is to sock it to the Catholic Church. In California, lawmakers already suspended the statute of limitations for private institutions; they did so in 2003. But public school teachers have never been subjected to this condition. In other words, the bill is nothing more than a vindictive effort to punish the Catholic Church.

Leading the fight against this bill are the California bishops, and the California Catholic Conference; we are particularly taken by the aggressive leadership of Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez. We are proud to play a support role: The Catholic League has contacted well over 10,000 members in California asking them to weigh in on this issue.

If California lawmakers are truly serious about combating the sexual abuse of minors (most surely are), then they should a) not make exceptions for private or public institutions and b) concentrate on current cases of abuse. To do any less—to carve out a privileged position for some, or to focus on the past, not the present—is an exercise in grandstanding. It is not what leadership is all about.

Contact the chairman of the California State Assembly Committee on Appropriations,
Mike Gatto: assemblymember.gatto@assembly.ca.gov

Bill Donohue comments on CBS’ refusal to fire a contestant who promotes child porn on its reality-TV show, “Big Brother”:

One week ago today, August 5, on the live-feed program of “Big Brother,” reality-show contestant Spencer Clawson touted the virtues of child pornography. Specifically, he joked that he likes to masturbate to child porn, especially when it involves kids who are “3 or 4 years old.” He was back on the broadcast show last night.

It would be wrong to say that CBS has no standards: last month it issued a statement regarding “Big Brother” that said it was “weighing carefully issues of broadcast standards.” It did not say what it would take to fire a contestant, just that it has standards. Those standards, we now know, were obviously not violated by Clawson.

It would also be wrong to conclude that “Big Brother” is a free-fire zone where anything goes. In fact, contestants have been fired before. What does it take? Try throwing furniture or throwing food [click here].

Last month, a female contestant made anti-black, anti-gay and anti-Asian comments. The host of the show, Julie Chen, who is Asian, went on TV the next day to register her objections: it was “the Asian ones [that] hit me the most.” She objected to comments about “squinty-eyed” Asians, and a quip about “go make a bowl of rice.” Stuff like that upsets Julie. Delighting in child porn apparently does not.

Fortunately for Clawson he didn’t throw a box of child porn films at someone.

Contact Chen’s spouse, CBS CEO Les Moonves: lmoonves@cbs.com

Bill Donohue comments on the way CBS CEO Les Moonves is handling the controversy over Spencer Clawson’s remarks made during the live feed of “Big Brother 15” on August 5:

Les Moonves has had several days to fire Spencer Clawson from the reality show, “Big Brother 15,” but he refuses to do so. However, two other contestants were terminated [from their day jobs] for making racial slurs.

On the live feed of the last episode, Clawson joked how he likes to masturbate to child pornography. “I love it when they’re around 3 or 4 years old,” he said. “My favorite ones are when you can tell they’re in a basement.” He added that masturbating to child porn “is my favorite thing there is.”

Moonves’ wife, Julie Chen, is the host of this show. Moonves said the show was a “social experiment” and that his wife “would kill me if I didn’t” watch every show. “What you see there [in the show] unfortunately is a reflection of how certain people feel in America.”

In 2007, radio shock jock Don Imus made a racial joke on CBS. Moonves didn’t say that his joke was “unfortunately a reflection of how certain people feel in America.” He simply fired him.

Moonves explained his firing by saying Imus “has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people. In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our Company.”

Bottom line: CBS has infinitely more tolerance for those who joke about child porn than it does for those who tell racist jokes. Our culture cannot put up with the latter, but it must accommodate those who delight in the spectacle of 3 and 4-year-olds being sexually abused.

Contact Les Moonves: lmoonves@cbs.com

Bill Donohue comments on the appointment of Shaun Casey to head the State Department’s new Office of Faith-Based Community Initiative:

In the New York Times August 7 obituary on Robert Bellah, it credited the sociologist with inviting a discussion on the role of civil religion in American society. He described civil religion as “a set of beliefs, symbols and rituals” that date to the Founding; they represent “the obligation, both collective and individual, to carry out God’s will on earth.”

Last year, religion professor Shaun Casey said, “I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying.” On the same day that Bellah’s obituary appeared, Casey was chosen to head the State Department’s new Faith-Based Community Initiative. He did not say what he will do to hasten the death of our civil religion, nor did he speak to what exactly he would like to put in its place. Perhaps he will unveil a secular agenda, or a statist substitute, in the name of advancing religion, of course.

The White House Faith-Based director, Melissa Rogers, predictably gushed over Casey on Wednesday. It’s what she said at the end of her remarks that mattered most: she congratulated Mara Vanderslice Kelly for her yeoman work on faith-based issues.

In 2004, I exposed Vanderslice, who was working for presidential contender John Kerry, as a left-wing activist who had spoken at ACT-UP rallies; this gay group was responsible for busting into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1989 during Mass and spitting the Eucharist on the floor. She was immediately subjected to a gag rule. I was blamed for Kerry’s decision to silence her.

Mara never went away, and in 2006 she was named one of the 12 most important religious voices in the Democratic Party. Shaun Casey was also on that list. Looks like Kerry has chosen another religious superstar to join his team. Just think of it—if these are Kerry’s religion-friendly sources, imagine what his atheist friends at Martha’s Vineyard must be like!

Bill Donohue comments on the August 6 episode of the Comedy Central show, “The Jeselnik Offensive”:

Here is an excerpt from the “Worst Best Thing of the Week” segment that aired last night featuring Anthony Jeselnik, Dave Attell and Joan Rivers:

Jeselnik:   “Finally, the Vatican is giving gay priests the same respect they show pedophiles.”

Rivers:      “The pope, surprise, is the gayest. The man wears a dress, lives with all guys, you know.”

Attell:        “And the cool thing about it is I’m a Jew and I could really care less about the whole thing. I mean, you know, an Easter egg hunt is an Easter egg. If it ends in an ass, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care.”

Rivers:     “He’s bringing the church into the 21st century, and let’s be happy about that. I mean, ass-less altar boy costumes….We all have to kiss the pope’s ring. I love it now because he likes gays, and he says, fine now—lower, lower, lower, and, uh, don’t forget the balls.”

In June, Kevin Hermanson contacted our office several times trying to get me to go on this show. I never heard of Jeselnik, so I asked the staff to check him out. We quickly discovered he was a jerk. So I said no.

By the way, when Hermanson learned that our office was in New York, he said it wouldn’t have been possible to do the show anyway: he said they didn’t have a budget to fly me out.

It’s a wonder they have a budget to pay these fools whatever it is they are paying them.

Contact Jenni Runyan, VP, Communications: jenni.runyan@cc.com

Bill Donohue comments on a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that dismissed a federal lawsuit against the Holy See:

On April 3, 2002, Jeffrey Anderson filed suit against the Holy See claiming that it was responsible for the conduct of a priest who had allegedly molested a young man in Oregon in 1965. Anderson contended that the priest worked for the Vatican and that officials there knew about his sexual exploits. On April 4, 2002, I issued a news release stating the following: “Anderson’s crusade is malicious. He knows he will lose in court.”

I was right. On Monday, Anderson told the Ninth Circuit that he was withdrawing his appeal of a federal district court ruling that said the Holy See did not employ the priest and was not liable for damages.

Anderson knew from day one that he would lose. While his knowledge of the way the Catholic Church works is deficient, he had to know—unless he is truly a conspiratorial maniac—that his stunt would go nowhere. Moreover, his actions were exploitative: 2002 was the year the sex scandal hit the newspapers, so he thought he could cash in on it.

Maybe he is a conspiratorial maniac. Yesterday, he said “all roads lead to Rome.” That’s what he said before when he lost.

Bill Donohue comments on Bill Maher’s August 2 monologue:

Maher made much of the pope’s remarks about not judging homosexuals for who they are, but none of his quips were below the belt. However, he could not stop there.

Maher noted that he will be away for the next five weeks, and offered his predictions for what the headlines will be while on vacation. On the screen was shown a mock-up of the Fox News webpage, the headline of which read, “Pope Francis Moves to Massachusetts, Marries Longtime Companion.” Below this panel was a picture of the pope and an elderly man.

Ramadan started a month ago; it ends this week. Maher has had many chances to stick it to Muslims, but he demurs. His reticence is not based on ethics—he has none—it is based on fear. On the other hand, his hatred of Catholicism, which is pathological, continues to be expressed. That’s because he has no fear of being retaliated against.

Contact HBO chief Richard Plepler: richard.plepler@hbo.com

Bill Donohue comments on last night’s episode of Conan O’Brien’s show on TBS:

Unlike Leno and Letterman, we rarely have a problem with Conan O’Brien. But last night he took several shots at the Catholic Church, one of which was clearly below the belt.

In his monologue on Pope Francis, light fun was made of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Baptism. It was the one-liner subtitle about children being molested by priests that was a low blow: “Kids can opt out of fondling by texting #nothanks to the Vatican.”

Religious profiling—portraying all priests as molesters—is not out-of-bounds with late-night hosts. Now if Conan had said, “Kids can opt out of fondling by texting #nothanks to gay priests,” he may have been fired. But just smearing all priests is considered perfectly acceptable. These are the rules in liberal land.

Contact: pressroom@turner.com

Bill Donohue comments on an attempt by homosexuals to dictate to a Catholic school what its strictures should be:

An employee signs a contract with his employer to abide by certain house rules. Subsequently, the employee willfully violates the contract. After he is fired, he threatens to sue. Meanwhile, an online petition calling for his reinstatement emerges. Sounds pretty basic: the employer had every right to enforce the contract, and efforts by outsiders to bully the employer are unethical. But wait—this case involves homosexuality; to many this constitutes a game-changer.

A homosexual teacher at St. Lucy’s Priory High School outside Los Angeles was wed to another man on July 1. The school found out about it, and he was terminated. The school said that what its teachers do in private is not its business, but “public displays of behavior that are directly contrary to church teachings are inconsistent with these values.” They didn’t make up these rules on the fly. “These values are incorporated into the contractual obligations of each of our instructors and other employees.”

There are those who, like Republican gay activist David Lampo, think it is absurd to maintain that gay marriage threatens religious liberty. It would be instructive to know what in the world they think is going on in this case. The truth is that it has been known for years that gay rights and religious rights are on a collision course. Importantly, only one of those rights is enshrined in the First Amendment. Hint: it isn’t the one that deals with sex.