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AG of the United States should prosecute those who covered up child rapes in the Roman Catholic Church

Why this is important

There is absolute, irrefutable proof, that Cardinals like Timothy Dolan, Roger Mahony, Justin Rigali, Bernard Law, and many, many other Cardinals and Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church knew about the children being raped in their parishes by priests and did nothing but moved these priests around, without warning the communities they moved them into, and then they raped even more children. They feel they are above the law. This is a crime punishable by Federal Laws.

18 U.S.C. § 2241– Aggravated sexual abuse
18 U.S.C. § 2242– Sexual abuse
18 U.S.C. § 2243– Sexual abuse of a minor or ward
18 U.S.C. § 2244– Abusive sexual contact

It is time to show the Cardinals and Bishops they are not above the laws of the United States and they should never escape prosecution for their crimes simply because they are from a religious organization.

TIME FOR PALESTINE

This is huge -- In days, the UN could vote to recognize Palestine as a state -- helping to end 40 years of repression and violence. And we could tip the balance for the vote.

A “yes” vote could lead to two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security. But leaked memos show the US, captured by extremist right-wing groups that spend up to $100M per year on lobbying and elections, is quietly bullying Europe to crush this vote.

Polls show massive public support for a Palestinian state, and leading experts say it might be a last chance for peace, but weak European leaders are actually considering selling out both peace and their own democracies rather than stand up to extremists in the US. They think the public won't care if peace and the Palestinians are sacrificed one more time. Let's show them how wrong they are.


Petition Text:

To European leaders and all UN member states:

"We urge you to endorse the legitimate bid for recognition of the state of Palestine and the reaffirmation of the rights of the Palestinian people. It is time to turn the tide on decades of failed peace talks, end the occupation and move towards peace based on two states."

Tell Massachusetts Don't Give Rapists Child Visitation Rights

A MA man who admitted to raping a 14-year-old now wants the right to be involved with the child born after the crime.

Jamie Melendez filed a petition for visitation rights after the judge hearing his criminal case remanded him to Family Court, which ordered him to pay child support. Melendez claims that would be unjust if he were denied visitation.

The victim’s attorney is now trying to get that judge to reverse this insensitive decision and instead rule that Melendez pay criminal restitution fees to cover child support. She also wants the MA Supreme Court to decide whether a Criminal Court judge can “create a Family Court case out of rape.”

A rape victim should be the only one deciding if or when a rapist has rights to see the child born of that crime. She should never be forced to send her child off with a man who criminally assaulted her, and it’s absurd for any judge to even consider putting her in that position.

Tell Massachusetts Don't Give Rapists Child Visitation Rights!

MSU Student's Mouth Stapled Shut In Horrific Hate Crime

Zachary Tennen, a 19-year-old sophomore at Michigan State University, was at an off-campus party when two college-aged men approached him and demanded to know if he was Jewish.

When Zachary said he was, the men made a Hitler salute, said they were part of the Ku Klux Klan, and beat him unconscious, breaking his jaw in the process.

While he was knocked out, one of them stapled the boy’s mouth shut while guests at the party watched. No one intervened or called the police – instead, the other guests kicked Zachary out of the house the moment the 19-year-old came to.

Zachary is scheduled for surgery this week, but his trials are far from over. As East Lansing police try to find the men who assaulted him, department spokesmen claim they don’t believe the attack was a hate crime, and are refusing to investigate it as such.

Zachary’s father Bruce is trying to contact the Anti-Defamation League and the FBI regarding the attack, to see if their intervention can make East Lansing take the assault seriously. Please, join us in calling on ADL Director Abraham Foxman and the Bureau’s Civil Rights Division to look into this case, now.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE AND FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: We urge you to investigate the anti-Semitic attack on Zachary Tennen, and to determine why East Lansing police refuse to view the assault as a hate crime.

Imagine an America in which the government can deny protest in any public space it deems fit. Where wearing a dissenting shirt around an elected official could be construed as a felony. Where First-Amendment protections become privileges subjectively doled out by the state. Sadly, that America is pretty much here.

In March, Congress passed HR 347, a bill that limits Americans' ability to protest in public and on government grounds. Mainstream media didn't raise peep, but now there's finally some anger building. The bill, passed almost unanimously, makes it a federal offense punishable by up to ten years in prison to "knowingly" protest in the vicinity of the Secret Service--that is anywhere the Secret Service "is or will be temporarily visiting."

It also makes many public events impervious to lawful protest. Any "National Security Special Event" (NSSE) requires Secret Service protection. NSSE-designated events have proliferated since 9/11 to include Super Bowls, concerts, campaign events, and now any public event that Very Important People want protest-free. 

Most dangerously, it criminalizes protest. Under the bill, "disorderly or disruptive conduct" or activities that "impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions" could warrant felony charges. What constitutes such "disruptive conduct" rests in the eye of the beholder--or the eye of Eric Holder. To put it plainly: the government can decide where and when free speech is allowed and severely prosecute any "disruptive" activity, while we're confined to "free speech zones." We can help fix it, however! Join our petition below to protect our speech rights!

PETITION TO CONGRESS: We treasure our first amendment rights of free speech and public assembly! HR 347 limits valid arenas of peaceful public protest, and broadens the government's ability to curtail civil liberties. We demand that Congress amend the bill to provide clearer language as to what constitutes "disruptions"; to allow for reasonable, peaceful protest at NSSEs and around Secret Service; and to ensure that no peaceful protest can ever be deemed a felony.

Stop Tennessee from executing Abu Ali

By Abu Ali Clemency Team (Contact)

To be delivered to: Governor Bill Haslam


Dear Governor Haslam,

We, the undersigned, ask you to please grant clemency to Abu Ali Abdur'Rahman. No court has ever ruled that Abu Ali received a fair trial. In fact, his own defense counsel admits his inadequacy in this case and has since surrendered his law license. Eight of the twelve jurors now say that they would not have sentenced Abu Ali to death had they been presented with all of the evidence. Abu Ali has a history of severe abuse and mental illness and should not be executed by the State of Tennessee.

Abu Ali has been denied his final appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court and now faces execution, even though no court has ever stated that he received a fair trial. Lionell Barrett, Abu Ali's defense counsel, and one of the most prominent criminal defense lawyers in Tennessee's history, has said, "Abu Ali is on death row because of me. I failed him."

The prosecutor lied to Abu Ali's attorney when he stated that a previous conviction of Abu Ali resulted from "a turf war in prison between two gangs as to who would control the drug trade in the prison." In fact, the previous conviction resulted from Abu Ali being victimized by sexual predators.

Mitigating evidence that was not presented to the trial jury includes Abu Ali's lifelong abuse by others which has resulted in his suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Abu Ali was wearing a wool black coat at the time of the murder. Even though copious quantities of blood were splattered in the vicinity of the victim, no blood was found on Abu Ali's coat by the TBI crime lab.

Abu Ali has an impeccable prison record, has pursued educational opportunities, and has excelled in leadership of other prisoners. The only hope for Abu Ali's life to be saved is for Governor Haslam to commute his death sentence.

To learn more about Abu Ali and his case, please visit www.abu-ali.org.

President Zardari: Save my daughter -- 48 hrs left!

Posted:  27 August 2012

[This is a message from Misrek Masih, of Islamabad, Pakistan.]

Last week, an enraged crowd threatened to burn my daughter alive, and in 48 hours a judge will decide whether she goes free or stays in jail. Rimsha is a minor with mental disabilities and often isn't in control of her actions. Yet local police here in Pakistan have charged her with desecrating the Koran, and we are afraid for her life.

Right now she is being held in a maximum-security jail, and in hours, she will face the court under Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws, which carry the death sentence. We are a poor Christian family, witnessing mob fury over my daughter's case, and many other families have faced similar intimidation forcing them to either flee or live in fear. But the international attention on Rimsha’s case has emboldened Pakistani Muslim leaders to speak out against this injustice and forced President Zardari's attention.

Please help me keep up the global outcry on my daughter's case. I urge you to sign my petition to President Zardari to save Rimsha and demand protection for us and other vulnerable minority families. Avaaz will share this campaign with the local and international media, watched carefully by all the politicians here.