Let's talk biased media, okay?

Ryan texts me to say that Bill Maher is going to apologize for his comments about the Pope on April 11.

I knew nothing about these comments, so I went to the sum of all human knowledge and watched the video of his comments on YouTube.

Now, I know Bill Maher, and I know how he operates. The man will say anything for shock-value. He's an eloquent Howard Stern... nothing more. His show on HBO is a poor stand-in for the old Dennis Miller shows that once actually said something. I rank the man right up there with Keith Oberman and Al Franken... bad comedic entertainment.

But Maher did take this one a bit far. Insinuating that the faith of more than one quarter of the globe is nothing more than a "cult" bent on the exploitation of children for the sexual gratification of a perverted clergy isn't entertainment, or comedy... its simply ignorant hate-mongering.

There are two aspects of this story that I find particularly disturbing. One is that the man has no concept of the actual facts of his statements, and the other is his demeaning attitude towards the one man that agrees with 90% of everything he espouses to believe.

First, the facts. Since 1950, there have been 4,392 priests or deacons accused of sexual abuse towards children. The total number of priests and deacons in public service (where they would have had access to children) since 1950 is 109,694. That means that almost exactly 4% of priests and deacons in the Church abused children (and that is assuming each case is guilty as charged... which they are NOT!). Four percent... that's 4,392 pedophiles too many, no question about it.

Maher's comments, however, were a general reflection on the entire Church. So, let's compare the entire Catholic Church to the rest of, say... Bill Maher's home state of California.

Since 1950, 3,644,600 women and 911,150 men living in California have been sexually abused. That's 4,556,000 case of sexual abuse of children. Of these, 9% suffered their abuse in the public school systems of California, 7% suffered at the hands of medical personnel, and 70% (that's right... 70%!) were sexually abused by their own relatives, in their own homes. What this tells me is that all three of these categories exceed the NATIONAL average of 4% of abusive priests and deacons... in California alone. California, the bastion of liberal, new-age, pro-choice, free-thinking policy and progressive life-styles. This is the state that provides the bench-mark of true, liberal mindset. Doubt my figures? Here are my sources: http://www.psych.org/, http://www.census.gov/, http://ag.ca.gov/cjsc/

I'm not making excuses for the crimes of these 4,392 predators, or for the men that hid their crimes or covered their tracks. These men are criminals, and if they are convicted of the crimes they are accused of, these men should face the harshest sentences that the justice system can enforce. But to blatantly label the Catholic Church as a cult that promotes and protects that kind of behavior as an institution? That is criminal in and of itself, in my eyes.

Add to this despicable conduct on the part of Maher the fact that he refers to Pope Benedict XVI as a "Nazi" and a pedophile himself, and I am simply at a loss for words. Here is a man or prominent stature and respect from one corner of the globe to another. A man that endorses the same social acceptance of the poor, the under-privileged, the sick, the dying all across the globe. A man that champions environmentalism as a way of life AND a matter of government policy. A man committed to the end of the death penalty. A man who fights day and night to end torture, war, assassination, terror and violence. A man who teaches and preaches the words "peace" "love" and "charity" with heart-felt conviction with nearly every breath he has.

In fact, the only possible positions that Maher and the Pope could NOT agree on are the defense of traditional marriage and abortion. Other than that, these two men probably agree whole-heartedly on every other topic. Yet, this is the man Maher referred to as a "Nazi".

There is no greater evidence that the far-left of the liberal movement is absolutely as bereft of brains as they are bereft of morals than Bill Maher.