Check out “In defense of the Catholic Clergy ( or do we want another Reign of Terror?)“. Interesting argument. The author points to statistics showing most child sexual abuse victims are abused by a family member.

The brutal reality is that there are an estimated 39 million victims of childhood sexual abuse in the United States today. Of these, between 40 and 60 percent were abused by a family member (for the most part uncles, cousins, stepfathers and live-in boyfriends). Carol Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan have produced a study showing that 5 percent were molested by school teachers, while the New York Times published a survey showing that fewer than 2% of the offenders were Catholic priests. But to read the papers, it would seem that Catholic clergy hold a monopoly in child molestation.

Worth reading.

It was interesting to see polls yesterday measuring a bounce in public support for the health reform bill following the barrage of debate and final vote. NPR notes GOP over-the-top rhetoric and resulting actions are not likely to grab wavering voters.

The spitting and racial and homophobic epithets from protestors aimed at Democratic House members on the day of the vote have been widely reported, as was the shout of “baby killer” by Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) while Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was on the House floor Sunday night announcing he would drop his opposition to the bill over abortion. Not the kind of tactics that are likely to attract the moderates who had been leaning Republican prior to this week.

And the decision by a number of state AGs to file suit to block health reform is under attack. Horsesass.org, a blog on Washington State politics and media, reports that a Facebook group challenging that state’s participation in the suit had drawn over 10,000 members almost immediately. The Seattle Times reports on the political backlash from legislators and the governor.

Columnist Bob Herbert got the right of it, in my view.

Checking this morning, I found a number of editorials attacking the lawsuit in newspapers like the Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, and others. The Palm Beach Post makes the argument that “Republicans who claim to hate judicial activism want the judicial branch to overrule the legislative and executive branches.” Most point out that there’s nothing radically different about the health care “mandate”, as we already pay for things like Medicare and Social Security even if we get no immediate benefits from those systems. Paying for health insurance is not different in kind from those forms of taxation.

It’s unclear how all this is going to play out, but I certainly hope that the U.S. will finally become a civilized country that accepts health care as a right of all citizens and then continues to work to make that “right” a reality.