Impunity

This cheery news, from Yahoo:

"KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The top Roman Catholic official for the Kansas City Diocese agreed on Tuesday to have his actions monitored by prosecutors in order to avoid criminal charges for failing to turn in a priest suspected of creating child pornography.

Bishop Robert Finn, the leader of the 134,000-member diocese, is the highest-ranking Catholic official ever to face U.S. criminal charges in a child sexual abuse case."

Since he is, however, the "highest ranking Catholic official ever to face U.S. criminal charges in a child sexual abuse case,"  "facing" charges actually means not being charged.  So, he joins the Bush torturers and the Wall Street crooks in that august group "too big to fail."

As Glenn Greenwald has lately been pointing out, in the United States, we have more people in prison than anywhere else on earth, and harsher punishments than most anywhere else, too.  But, not for the rich and powerful.  In today's America, they are free to commit any crime they please, without consequences.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Penn State must've been at the meeting of the Cardinals...
November 17, 2011 at 1:17 PM
Murr Brewster said…
Or is he too big to be fallible?
November 17, 2011 at 11:16 PM
Magpie said…
Peter Hollingworth... Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years before becoming Governor-General in 2001. Had to resign after less than 2 years in office because he ‘failed to properly investigate’ – i.e. covered up - a case of underage sexual predation in a diocese that he oversaw. Actually blamed the victim in an interview. Still did not cease to have the support of the loathsome toad of our then conservative prime minister, and still enjoys all the perks of having held political office including a pension that has an annual value far in excess of the average middle class income.
November 18, 2011 at 3:32 AM
Dave Dubya said…
This is what makes America so great. We not only have the best congress money can buy, we have the best justice money can buy.

Rules apply to everyone but the rich and famous, because they are exceptional. This is called "American Exceptionalism", I think.
November 18, 2011 at 9:25 AM
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