Boy Scouts Shielded Pedophiles

Joe.My.God. reports:

According to a report published yesterday by the Los Angeles Times, the Boy Scouts have shielded hundreds of child molesters from prosecution.

A Los Angeles Times review of 1,600 confidential files dating from 1970 to 1991 has found that Scouting officials frequently urged admitted offenders to quietly resign — and helped many cover their tracks. Volunteers and employees suspected of abuse were allowed to leave citing bogus reasons such as business demands, “chronic brain dysfunction” and duties at a Shakespeare festival. [snip] In the majority of cases, the Scouts learned of alleged abuse after it had been reported to authorities. But in more than 500 instances, the Scouts learned about it from boys, parents, staff members or anonymous tips. In about 400 of those cases — 80% — there is no record of Scouting officials reporting the allegations to police. In more than 100 of the cases, officials actively sought to conceal the alleged abuse or allowed the suspects to hide it, The Times found.

Read the full article.

OWN reveals premiere date for ‘Becoming Chaz’

Los Angeles Times reports:

OWN announced a premiere date Monday for the documentary “Becoming Chaz.”
The first in the network’s upcoming monthly Documentary Film Club, “Becoming Chaz” will air at 8 p.m. May 10 and will follow Bono’s journey undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
The premiere will be followed by a special hosted by Rosie O’Donnell in which she will interview Bono, girlfriend Jennifer Elia, directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and other people who have undergone transgender operations.
Before its television airing, “Becoming Chaz” hit the circuit at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Here’s what what we had to say about it then.

Can’t wait!

Porn Star Derrick Burts Announces He’s HIV-Positive 

The Huffington Post reports:

Derrick Burts, the porn actor that tested positive for HIV, has revealed his identity and called for major changes to the industry, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Burts, who performed in both straight and gay porn under the names Derek Chambers and Cameron Reid, was previously cloaked as Patient Zeta after testing positive at Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation in Sherman Oaks on October 8. He called for mandatory condom use in porn and better sex disease testing.
The clinic announced that he had acquired it through personal intercourse, a charge he disputes. “There is no possible way. The only person I had sex with in my personal life was my girlfriend,” he told the paper.
Burts said the clinic told him that they traced the disease back to a “known-positive” gay cast mate. Before HIV, Burts said he had contracted herpes, gonorrhea and chlamydia in the business.

To come out and say that out loud is a very brave thing to do.

Atheists Beat Catholics on Religion

Do you want to know about religion? You better ask an atheist.

From this article in today’s Los Angeles Times:

If you want to know about God, you might want to talk to an atheist.

Heresy? Perhaps. But a survey that measured Americans’ knowledge of religion found that atheists and agnostics knew more, on average, than followers of most major faiths. In fact, the gaps in knowledge among some of the faithful may give new meaning to the term “blind faith.”Continue reading