A CORNUCOPIA OF DEATH

  By Arianna Huffington

  Paint the last month black. It's been an orgy of mourning; a cornucopia of death. We've had Terri Schiavo,
  Pope John Paul, Prince Rainier, and Charles and Camilla's wedding--which felt as grim as any funeral.
  All brought to us in no-longer-living color. If nothing else, the media have outed themselves as the
  ultimate necrophiliacs. I expect CNN and Forest Lawn to announce a sponsorship agreement any day
  now.

  The pope's interminable interment was the magenta-colored cherry on the death sundae. The TV
  coverage was so over-the-top and utterly uncritical, it was as if John Paul had been, well, the Second
  Coming of Jesus Christ. Or, at least, Jim Caviezel.

  Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that the last week should have been spent trashing the late pontiff. His
  many achievements--taking on communism, embracing the Third World, speaking out for the poor, and
  standing up against war--surely deserved recognition and praise. But you'd think the wall-to-wall
  coverage would have included some serious discussion of the two tragic failures of his reign: his woeful
  mishandling of the church's child molestation scandal, and how his archaic position on condoms
  contributed to the deaths of millions of people, especially in Africa.

  The molestation outrage is a black mark that can't be whitewashed.

  Over 11,000 children were sexually abused and close to $1 billion in settlement money has been paid
  out, but the pope did not go much beyond decrying "the sins of some of our brothers." He never met with
  any victims, he never offered practical solutions to dealing with the problem, he never addressed the
  decades-long cover-up of the abuse. He even rejected a "zero tolerance" policy calling for the immediate
  removal of molester-priests, concerned that it was too harsh.

  Too harsh?! This is a man who wouldn't allow a priest to become a bishop unless he was unequivocally
  opposed to masturbation, premarital sex and condoms. So, in his perversion pecking order, you had to
  be dead-set against "self-love" but when it came to buggering little kids, there was some wiggle room.

  And let's not forget that the Pope appointed Cardinal Bernard Law, who was one of the architects of the
  sex scandal cover-up, and who even faced potential criminal prosecution for his role in the concealment.
  But instead of making an example out of Law, the pope gave him a cushy sinecure in the Vatican. Adding
  insult to the grievous injury suffered by the abuse victims, Law was one of the nine cardinals specially
  chosen to preside over the pope's funeral masses. It is a disgrace--and an indication of how detached
  the Vatican became under this pope.

  The other stain on the pope's legacy is his tireless opposition to the use of condoms--even in places like
  Africa, where AIDS killed 2.3 million people last year alone, and where the disease has driven life
  expectancy below 40 years in many countries.

  But even in the face of that kind of suffering, he fought tooth and nail against condoms. Any time a church
  official even suggested that people infected with HIV should use condoms, they were either removed
  from office or censured by the Vatican. We were told again and again last week about how committed
  John Paul was to promoting a culture of life. I guess the 20 million people who have died from AIDS are
  the exception that proves the rule.

  On the other hand, the pope's passing might have saved the political skin of one of his culture-of-life
  cohorts, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. If you have a series of looming ethics scandals about to
  come crashing down on your head, having the media focused 24/7 on something else is a very lucky
  break indeed. But, in the end, it's going to take a huge celebrity dying every three days for the next few
  months to keep The Hammer from going down.

  The presence of DeLay at the pope's funeral in Rome, along with President Bush, the First Lady,
  Condoleezza Rice, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Bush Sr., was a stark reminder of our perverted
  priorities. The pope dies and it's Must Holy See TV; 1,547 American soldiers die in Iraq and President
  Bush and Laura have yet to attend a single one of their funerals. Not a single one. Maybe the president
  only goes to funerals of people whose death he wasn't involved in.

  © 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.
  DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

Arianna Online: 1158 26th Street, P.O. Box 426, Santa Monica, CA 90403
   © 2004 Christabella, Inc. All rights reserved. Web site designed and hosted by Ottenhoff Consulting

Note added 2007 : To see the current writings of Arianna, and her blogger's sharings, visit the Huff Post : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

     Note added 20070425 : The Drumbeat of Impeachment is Resonating Across America.

We invite you to read, Bushes in the Hood, Arianna's article of April 6th, 2005.

We invite you to read Arianna's article entitled, A Tale of Two Leadership Styles,  dated 2 March, 2005.
   "And so that's exactly what he (Andy Stearn) does, shaking things up with his reform-or-else threat to break up the AFL-CIO;
    with a campaign to bring Wal-Mart to its knees; and with his pledge to "pay back" politicians, "no matter who they are
    or what party they come from . who looked us in the eye and said they were for us--but then went out and betrayed us."

We invite you to read Rummy On TV, Arianna's article, dated February 23rd, 2005.

We invite you to read another article by Arianna, regarding the book, Disney War and more, dated 16 February, 2005.

We invite you to read Arianna's words on the Enronization of American Corporations, and our Corporate Executives.

We invite you to read an older article of Arianna's, dated March 12th, 2003 : Tax Havens: Are You With Us Or Against Us?

Current Star Arts Researches

acdeehrst .. the sacred tree - date of entry is lost to time : the Mayan's knew where the galactic equinox and
    the exact middle of the Milky Way lay: they called this crossing "the Sacred Tree."
    ^ the above line was entered a long time before the below names for John Flinn's photograph name ideas in October 2004. ^
acdeehrst ... the sacred tree : idea for john flinn's faith of the mustard seed moving a mountain  photograph  2 votes
acdeehrst ... the sacred trees : idea for john flinn's faith of the mustard seed moving a mountain photograph 1 votes

"In the beginning is the Word ..
  prior to the word is the Breath ....
  with the breath is the Still Quiet Love .....
  Unformed and Unnamed."

We as Goddess and God have created a sacred language in such ways
  that it provides us hints to Our Love sOurce being Our Us.

In the beginning is sound ....