Cardinal Sins

I know it's fashionable to bash Catholic priests, but the vicious attacks that Brian Hickey leveled against the clergy via his fictitious clerics (deviants all) just fan the flames of anti-Catholicism and indicates to what extent your paper is willing to be a sycophantic mouthpiece for the so-called progressive secularists out there in readership land [Philly Blunt, "Bearing True Witness," Jan. 12, 2006]. I'm frankly sick and tired of having my faith ridiculed by every columnist (lapsed Catholic or not) who thinks it's fun to use "pervert" and "priest" (or variations thereof) in the same sentence.

Christine Flowers
Via E-mail

Hickey responds: Unfortunately, the clerics referenced in the column weren't fictitious; their stories were taken directly from the District Attorney's grand jury report on clergy abuse.

Having lived in the Norfolk, Va., area, I'm puzzled by Philip Harris' assessment of The Pines Residential Treatment Facility as "professionally run, and clinically competent" [Cover, "Custody Battle," Doron Taussig, Jan. 12, 2006]. From a 1997 Virginian-Pilot article: "State officials have issued a scathing report … citing repeated assaults as evidence that the center cannot keep residents safe and under control." There may soon be more trouble for The Pines [as] a male counselor was [recently] charged with having sex with a female patient. It's laudable for a facility to attempt to tackle the often thankless job of providing a secure facility for kids who are mentally ill, substance-dependent, and/or convicted of violent crimes, but such facilities should be judged according to the highest possible criteria. It's a shame that Philadelphia can't do better by its youth than to send them to a supposedly top-notch institution that is so far away as to be inaccessible to their families.

Susan M. Waskey
South Philadelphia

[News, "Hang Elsewhere, Chad," Bob Finkelstein, Jan. 5, 2006] was far too generous toward electronic voting machine companies. Electronic voting machines and the companies that manufacture them have only one purpose: to rig elections. With a little research, this becomes abundantly clear, and it becomes clear that the last two presidential elections were fraudulent. All three major companies that make the machines are owned and run by Republicans, and quite a few of those companies' executives have substantial criminal records. Yet, these companies are collecting and tallying 70 percent of the votes in the U.S.A. If ever there were a sign that our democracy is under attack from within, that is it.

Even the U.S. Congress knows it. In 2004, they produced a 100-page report on vote rigging in Ohio before, during and after the Nov. 2 election and during the recount. The corporate media have perpetrated a virtual blackout on vote fraud. That is to the great detriment of the country and our democracy—and carries very negative consequences for our collective future.

Zack Sorensen
University City

I do not see much of a parallel between Michael Hollinger's play and the Audubon String Quartet case [Arts, "Cut Strings," Steve Cohen, Jan. 12, 2006]. While Cohen implies that the judge would require a "unanimous" decision, the facts are that first violinist [David] Ehrlich was squeezed out by his colleagues without any process or hearing, let alone due process.

Michael Renardy
Blacksburg, Va.