Jeff Bondi, a youth pastor for Galilee Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was found guilty today of felony sexual penetration. Bondi had been previously accused of sex crimes for which he was not prosecuted.
The Virginian-Pilot reports:
In the end, it was the testimony of people who had been close friends or trusted colleagues of Jeffrey Bondi’s that led to the former youth minister’s conviction on a sexual assault charge.
There also were Bondi’s own words: played in the courtroom from two phone conversations recorded by police, one of which was between him and the victim.
On Thursday, Circuit Judge Thomas Padrick found the 48-year-old guilty of felony sexual penetration for assaulting the woman in October 2001. She was 18 and babysitting his children at the time.
Sentencing was set for Oct. 10. Bondi could get anywhere from five years to life. The judge, however, could choose to suspend prison time.
Of the seven witnesses called by prosecutors, three had been among his closest friends, all of whom he met while attending the University of Virginia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Two were former colleagues at Galilee Church at the Oceanfront, where Bondi was working as a youth leader when the assault occurred.
A crucial prosecution witness was the victim: Margaret Anne “Mav” Viola. The Pilot typically does not identify sexual assault victims, but Viola agreed to have her name published.
Viola had been a member of Bondi’s youth groups and was a frequent babysitter for his kids. She’s 34 now and lives in Los Angeles, where she is a successful stand-up comedian.
“I’m in a bit of shock right now,” Viola said as she stood outside the courthouse with prosecutors. “I feel that justice was brought and the truth was brought forward, and I feel very proud of that.”
Bondi, who has Parkinson’s disease, shook from tremors as the judge explained his decision. One of his daughters could be heard sobbing in the courtroom. The judge agreed to allow him to remain under house arrest until his sentencing.
The day began with closing arguments in a courtroom packed with supporters from both sides.
Among the spectators was a longtime Child Protective Services worker. She investigated Bondi in 1997, when he was accused of fondling a 15-year-old girl on a bus returning from a Young Life youth ministry camp in North Carolina.
The investigator determined then that the allegations were credible and that the chance he would offend again was high, according to a CPS report of the incident. But no charges were brought because it was alleged to have occurred on a moving bus, and jurisdiction could not be established, the report said.
The girl, now in her mid-30s, was interviewed by prosecutors. She did not testify during the trial, but could be called during sentencing.
Viola testified that she had just begun her first semester at James Madison University when Bondi called and asked if she could come to Virginia Beach for the weekend to babysit his three young children. His wife, who was expecting their fourth child, was going out of town to attend a wedding.
Viola said the children were asleep and she was watching a movie when Bondi came home. He lay down by her, fondled her breasts and penetrated her with his fingers, she said.
The experience severely traumatized her and caused an eating disorder she had battled in high school to flare up again, she said. Her grades plummeted, and she dropped out in her second semester. She later returned and earned her degree.
Sara Olsen, a former co-worker of Bondi’s at Galilee Church, testified that Viola told her about the assault the next day. Leigh-Ellen Rodriguez, who had been a close friend of Bondi’s since they attended the University of Virginia together, testified that she saw Viola at a Halloween party the next night and could see that she was upset. When she asked why, Viola told her what happened.
Two other college friends testified about dinners they had with Bondi, in which they confronted him about the allegations.
In a phone call with Viola recorded by police, Bondi apologized to her, but said he did not remember the events that night the same way she did. But he didn’t deny that her memory of it might be the correct one.
The judge said the most compelling pieces of evidence for him were three pictures prosecutors submitted of Viola as a teen. She had long hair and looked like a “very young, smiling and innocent girl.”
“She was very naive, very trusting, a really sweet teenager. She did all the things parents want their children to do,” Padrick said. “She looked up to you as a pastor, and you sexually abused her.”
The judge also was highly critical of the adults involved in the case and leaders of the church at the time, whom he said should have reported the allegations to police.
“It’s just shocking that the church abandoned her,” he said.
Recently, Bruce sent out the bat signal for anyone, even Christians, to write a guest post. I am a Christian pastor (Church of the Nazarene) who reads Bruce’s blog on a regular basis. I became a Christian in 1985 at the age of 25 when I was baptized in a Lutheran church. I remained a Lutheran for about 19 years, when my family decided to leave. Although we were fairly conservative (as was the church), we did not leave because of what we considered approaching liberalism in the denomination. Rather, the congregation had become cold and inward-focused.
We joined a Nazarene congregation in our area. I felt a call to ministry, and took classes for 8 years before being ordained at age 55 in 2015. I pastored a church out of town for a year that was 80 miles away. I am now an associate at a Nazarene church about 9 miles away from our home. I work full-time as a house painter.
I forget how I stumbled upon Bruce’s website, but found it to be interesting. Like many, I wondered how he could have left the faith. I read many of his posts, especially those that told his story. As far as I could tell, Bruce was brutally honest about his journey. I will admit, I didn’t care for his salty language, but it is his blog and if I let it offend me, I could just drive on by. No need to correct him or ask to tone it down. It is his site, and he can post whatever he likes.
I feel no need to argue with Bruce, or analyze why he is an atheist now. I’m willing to take him at his word about his story. There is no argument that will win Bruce back to the faith. This is between God (if God exists, which I believe He does) and Bruce. Besides, I don’t think I’d come out too well in an argument with Bruce. He seems to be a capable defender of whatever he believes, whether as a Christian in the past or an atheist at the present time.
Some Christians may not like this, but Bruce has done us a service by exposing some of the hypocrisy in the church. He has also posted stories about crooked pastors. To that I say “thanks!” Too many times, the church has excused bad behavior and criminal actions, sweeping them under a rug or passing the problem on to another unsuspecting congregation.
A lot of Christians have abandoned Bruce — people he used to call friends. That is too bad. If God is love, then why do we fail to love? I’m sure someone will find some scripture to say why we should treat Bruce like a leper, a tax collector, or some kind of apostate enemy of the faith. It’s easy to want to argue with him, feel superior to him, to be smug. But what if we Christians would just take him at his word, respect him as a fellow human, and treat him as we would want to be treated? I personally know some friends of Bruce that have not deserted him. Thankfully, they still care. But too many Christians are more worried about winning an argument, about being right, than loving a person just for who he is and where he is in his life.
Sorry to get a bit preachy, but we preachers tend to get out of control at times! I do want to thank Bruce for allowing me to share a bit about why I read his blog. I hope he keeps it up, even when I have to cringe a bit when I see the Songs of Sacrilege. I believe that if we don’t read things that challenge our thinking, then we can become lazy and rigid. I’m not in danger of losing my faith by reading ”The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser,” but it causes me to think.
John Mraz, pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty last week to possession of child pornography, illegal use of a communication facility, and obtaining obscene/sexual images.
A former Emmaus priest admitted on Thursday to downloading nude pictures of children for sexual gratification.
John Mraz, a monsignor and pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Emmaus before being removed from public ministry, pleaded guilty to all three charges against him: possession of child pornography, illegal use of a communication facility and obtaining obscene/sexual images.
He is slated to be sentenced at a later date, following a presentence investigation. Under the plea deal, Mraz’s minimum sentence is capped at 6 months in jail, meaning the judge could sentence him to less than that.
The 67-year-old Mraz has “serious medical issues,” according to prosecutors, and used a walker to walk into court and up to the judge’s bench. Mraz currently lives at Holy Family Villa for priests in Bethlehem while being free on $50,000 unsecured bail.
Lehigh County prosecutors said the images were discovered by a church parishioner and friend of Mraz’s, who was updating the priest’s computers in July.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt Falk said the dozen images would be described as child erotica, and depicted nude images of children between the ages of 10 and 15 performing everyday activities.
“The vast majority were not children engaged in sexual activity,” Falk said.
Search terms on the laptop included “little boy” or “young teen” performing a sex act, Falk said. Mraz told Judge Maria Dantos he did not recall the file names or descriptions of the images, but that if they were on the laptop, he downloaded them.
Today, The Kokomo Perspective released another episode in their ongoing coverage of the Temple Baptist Church sex scandal. Devin Zimmerman writes:
When the story first broke concerning allegations of sexual molestation by a Kokomo man, five victims relayed their accounts of painful childhood memories.
That was in April. Now, a little more than two months later, Dawn Price claims more than 10 individuals have joined her in claiming that they too were sexually abused as children by her adoptive father, Donald D. Croddy. Price said she suspects there may be more, and as such, she wants them to step forward in an effort to find justice.
“We want as many victims as possible to get the justice they deserve, to stop him because people like him don’t just stop,” said Price. “He has probably stopped at the moment because of all this, but there’s no way people like him just stop. We know there’s more out there, and the more we have the better the case we have. I want as many people who are the victims to get in on this and get their justice because to me this is a one-time deal.”
At the moment, Price said she and the other alleged victims are considering moving forward with a civil case, although nothing yet has been done officially. This would be the mostly likely path of recourse since the statute of limitations has expired for most of the alleged victims. First, however, she said anyone who believes they were molested by Croddy should file a police report.
“We can’t get him criminally unless somebody comes forward who is still within the statutes, which is kind of what we’re hoping for,” said Price. “Not that we want there to be a victim, but nobody is after, really, money. We just want him exposed, and we want him punished. Right now, with the laws the way they are, the only way he can be exposed and punished is to take him to court civilly and get his money. Most don’t want his money; they just want him outed, and they want him punished. If we were to win any money, that would go towards helping the victims get therapy.”
….
According to Price, more than 10 individuals have contacted her claiming Croddy molested them as children. A common thread, she said, is that the majority came into contact with Croddy while attending Temple Baptist Church, of which Croddy was an active member. Price long has alleged that she told the church’s pastor, Mike Holloway, about her abuse at the hands of her adopted father during a confrontation in 1991 preceding her wedding. During this conflict, she said Holloway refused to hold Price’s wedding at the church she attended as a child, and Price continues to maintain that her father confessed to molesting his daughter during event. Holloway continues to deny this claim.
“I know there’s more people out there,” said Price. “People are scared, and I understand that. But this happened when they were minors, so their name doesn’t have to be out there publicly. They’re scared. I know two of them are deathly scared, and they won’t do anything because they’re scared of my dad and the church and the repercussions that they will get.
“To me, a church shouldn’t be that way. In my opinion, it’s supposed to be a safe haven and a place to help people like these victims. If they can’t be the safe haven, I would like them to reach out to me. I can do what I can to help them and be a safe haven. Even if they don’t want to be a part of the legal action, just to get them some help. That’s all I’m doing this for is to get them justice and get them help because I know how debilitating this kind of thing is.”
Gustavo Gómez Santos, a Roman Catholic priest with the Yakima, Washington Diocese, stands accused of fondling a teenager. Due to the statute of limitations, Gómez Santos cannot be prosecuted for his crimes.
A Granger pastor has been removed from his position in the Roman Catholic Church due to reports of sexual abuse of a minor.
Reverend Gustavo Gómez Santos, who was most recently the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, was permanently removed from all public ministry, according to a June 12 news release from the Yakima Diocese.
Gómez Santos, 51, was placed on leave May 5 after Yakima County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) detectives shared an interview from a 21-year-old former Mattawa resident with the Diocese.
The victim reported he was fondled by the priest while he was serving as pastor at St. Juan Diego Parish in Cowiche roughly five years ago.
The Diocese began an investigation after YCSO officials determined the incident could not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations, reports said.
Reports said the priest denied the allegations during the investigation but admitted to other violations including letting minors stay overnight alone in his residence in several parishes, serving alcohol to minors, messaging minors and giving them expensive gifts, including trips to Disneyland.
Reports were made by a friend of the victim confirming the abuse was disclosed to him when they were teens and reports from other men said they were the recipients of gifts, massages and other inappropriate attention from the priest when they were teens.
A new child sex abuse lawsuit is filed in Yakima County Superior Court on allegations that a Reverend sexually abused a parishioner when they were a minor.
The former St. Juan San Diego parishioner filed a civil lawsuit against the Diocese of Yakima that claims Reverend Gustavo Gomez Santos abused him, according to an Oct. 25 news release.
The plaintiff said Father Santos sexually abused him at the parish rectory.
The lawsuit claims the Diocese of Yakima knew or should have known about the danger the priest posed to children but did not take steps necessary to remove him from his position.
Father Santos was permanently removed from his position as of May 2017.
Ruben Garcia, associate pastor of Betania Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, was arrested on Monday and charged with ” two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact.”
An associate pastor at Betania Baptist Church in east Austin is facing charges of sexual assault with a child. Church members say Garcia has played a big role at the small church for many years, including his role as the youth minister.
According to court documents, 59-year-old Ruben Garcia, of Buda, has been wanted by authorities for the past two months. Garcia was arrested by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force on Monday, after investigations in Hays County and Nueces County resulted in charges.
“It took me and my family by surprise. It’s kind of heartbreaking if it’s true especially knowing he was around children at that time,” said one of the church members who asked to remain anonymous.
Garcia is being charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact. According to court documents, Garcia groped and assaulted a female child younger than 17 on three separate occasions in Hays County in 2013 and 2014.
“We just didn’t see it, that he would do something like that,” said the church member. “He was a nice guy, he was friendly. It’s kind of hard now knowing what he’s being charged with. Now I go back and question if he was true with who he was.”
This church member says Garcia was at the church as recently as last Sunday. He says the pastor was close with the children at the church, adding that he even attended summer camps as a counselor and invited the youth to stay at his home as a quick way to leave for camp.
“We had some of the families living down south. Some of the conversations were always an approval with the parents to allow the kids to sleep over at his house in Buda so that they could leave from there in the morning without having to face traffic and such for it,” he said.
Even though it’s unknown if the accusations are related to any church members or function, parishioners say it’s hard on everyone and hope no other families have been negatively impacted.
“We are all shocked and overwhelmed with what’s going on. From my understanding the conversation with those parents that had youth in the youth department with us at the same time, they have also talked to their kids and are asking them to step forward if anything inappropriate has ever happened,” said the church member.
“It was an individual that was taking advantage of a child and did some bad things and people shouldn’t hold the church responsible for the actions of that one individual.”
Guest post by Carol. For many years, Carol was a member of The Way. You can read Carol’s blog here.
What follows is an addendum to Carol’s story.
Why an Addendum
In the summer of 2005 my mental health therapist at the time asked if I would write my health story to be included in a book. She asked a few of her clients this same request. She had specific topics she wanted covered; thus the content of the narrative posted below. I have made only a few revisions since it was originally penned.
When I got involved with The Way in the fall of 1977 at the age of 18, I was in good physical health. But four years later, for the first time in my life, I developed asthma and other symptoms of an over-responsive immune system. My symptoms worsened during subsequent years and continued for the next two decades. They did not significantly improve until I began stepping outside Way doctrine and tapping into a more authentic path for my life.
The following was written a couple years before I wrote my Way story. I later decided to add it to my Way story as an addendum. I added it because my health story and Way story are intricately intertwined. Autoimmune illnesses can be triggered by, among other things, stress and trauma and suppression of emotions, all of which one experiences in a high-demand group or relationship and with indoctrination of a toxic faith.
I have no doubt that Way doctrine had a detrimental effect on my physical health, which includes my emotional and psychological well-being.
Healing the Soul, Healing the Body
At 46 years old, I sat across from my counselor. She looked into my eyes and stated, “Carol, I want you to start thinking like a well person.”
The statement stunned me. I felt nebulously lost within it, having no concept of what her words meant. Over the next few days I rolled the statement over and over in my head and heart. The ensuing story is part of the journey endeavoring to discover what it means to think like a well person.
I choose the 39th year of my life as the threshold for the following meandering, a snippet of my journey. It was in that year that I began to submerge myself in ink and page, writing my way toward wellness. Journaling changed my course from death to life, from despair to hope.
At 39 years old, I was married with two children, ages 8 and 10. For the last seventeen years I had suffered with severe asthma; numerous bouts of pneumonia; multiple sinus surgeries (1984, ’85, ’86, ’96); environmental, chemical, food, and inhalant allergies; hives, welts, and various skin disorders; systemic candida; depression; anxiety; mood swings; chronic fatigue; body aches; and a myriad of other symptoms that go with an over-responsive and depleted immune system. I had been pumped with intravenous drugs, swallowed or inhaled a host of pharmaceuticals (including thousands of doses of steroids), been pricked with needles hundreds of times for various reasons, and received a myriad of allergy antigens. Alongside with conventional treatments, I had utilized alternative therapies including homeopathy, oral and intravenous vitamin/mineral supplementation, strict dietary protocols, acupuncture, herbs, bodywork, prayer, and some psychological counseling.
Exhaustion and depression were constant companions.
I was caught in a sticky, mucous-coated, stagnant, thickened, stringy web that felt like it morphed into every tissue and cell beneath my skin.
I felt trapped in my own body.
I craved to breathe freely.
I thirsted for fluid energy and to move without pain.
I dreamed of running like a deer, graceful and free through the woods.
I hungered for freedom.
I often felt like a complete failure as a believer, as a mother, as a person. Shame coursed through my veins. My suicide plan was foolproof, but I couldn’t leave my children with the legacy that their mother had committed suicide. My children were my saving grace, my reason to keep drawing one more breath, to keep trying.
Life was not always dreary. Alternative treatments had become my mainstay for recovery, and I had stretches of improvement and hope. But the improvement came in incremental bits.
Yet, now my hope was depleted; it was time to quit hoping. I had clung to the belief that God’s will for me was complete health. It was time to give up the dream that I could actually get well. Death seemed the only alternative for release. At that point, I took my pen to paper and began to write.
Emotions crystallized into words upon the page, detailing the self-loathing, the asthma attacks, the pain that racked my body, the exhaustion, the anger, the murky darkness of it all. I felt such deep, deep shame and self-hatred. Day after day I filled the pages; I held nothing back. I poured it all onto paper, including dreams and hopes.
I wrote because I had to. I did not know what else to do. I never imagined that by putting pen to parchment my circumstances would begin to change, but they did, in a most powerful way.
Within a few months of starting to journal I was hospitalized yet again (October, 1998) and connected with a doctor who discovered I was suffering with mercury toxicity, a typical cause for immune dysfunction. In January, 1999, I was again hospitalized and connected with a different doctor who confirmed the mercury toxicity. That same month I began an intense, yearlong detox regimen which included oral chelation therapy, intravenous and oral vitamin and mineral therapy, hydro-colon therapy, low heat saunas, and coffee enemas.
I continued to journal and began to re-educate myself on healing. I began to have hope again. Unknown to me at that time, I suffered my last severe episode of asthma attacks in January, 1999.
After six months from my last round of asthma attacks, I was able to start addressing more definitively other symptoms: fatigue, mood swings, hives, and pain. It was like my body continually pushed symptoms to the surface that were desperately crying to be released. Yet I was hopeful that these symptoms too could be ameliorated; the asthma was already curbed, and I had new treatments to try.
Maybe my body can get well if I can learn better how to listen to what it is trying to communicate to me, I thought to myself. Maybe I can allow it to heal itself. Maybe, maybe, just maybe…
The next regimen on my agenda was a treatment known as Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization (EPD), a complex allergy treatment that approached the reprogramming of miscoded T-helper cells. Every eight weeks, for 1-1/2 years, I would receive an injection containing over 200 antigens mixed with an enzyme to penetrate the miscoded cells. I would then go into quarantine for five days to limit my exposure to allergens and eat only venison, tapioca flour with water, and sweet potatoes, due to food sensitivities.
My health improved with EPD. A sore spot in my left lung, that had been present since my last bout with pneumonia, cleared. Some skin conditions improved. My sense of smell was restored. Allergic reactions and energy improved. Then the FDA abruptly stopped the use of EPD in the United States. My sense of smell was stolen again and some allergy troubles resurfaced. But I remained hopeful that other doors would open for me.
Shortly after EPD was taken away I was diagnosed with a herniated disc, confirmed with an MRI. A friend loaned me the book, Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno. The book was about how some people suppress emotional pain which then manifests as physical pain. I matched the profile. Within six weeks of applying what I had read, the back spasms were 80% better. After five months, they were completely gone.
Due to the improvements gained from applying what I had learned via Sarno’s work, I was prompted to delve more deeply into the relationship between my emotions and my physical illnesses. How many of my illnesses and symptoms could be due to suppressed emotions? Am I honest enough to be able to open up and see what really lurks in my soul?
In latter 2000, I began regular psychological counseling to see how much of this connection could be a cause for some of my ailments. Over the subsequent four years, I developed a support system which consisted of journaling, bibliotherapy, and relationships with a handful of people and professionals that I could call upon. I grew in my ability to open up, to peek within and see the ugliness and the beauty. I saw more ugliness than beauty. But I began to understand that even what I perceived as “ugly” was okay; I didn’t have to fear it.
During these four years, my symptoms became less intense and then plateaued. I lived managing mood swings; hives and sneezing attacks a few times a week; and a hormone dysfunction that would manifest in severe aches, depression, and cognitive impairment at least five days per month. I continued my search for relief through conventional means (including medications for the depression), bodywork, nutrition, homeopathy, and energy medicine. I continued with counseling and journaling. I began to think that this was as well as I could get.
In latter 2004 I was introduced to a nutritional product that had more life-changing effects. Within nine months of consuming this product my hives completely disappeared. The mood swings and debilitating hormone dysfunction were probably 85% better. I was able to get off my daily psychiatric medications. My energy was more stable. I went from feeling like I was hit by an 18-wheeler at least five days a month to being hit by a bicycle a few days a month. I was beginning to taste freedom.
It was during this time that my counselor stated those unforgettable words: “Carol I want you to start thinking like a well person.”
My adult life had revolved around sickness – a science of schedules and charts and foods and pills and needles and tests and treatments. This new experience of wellness was scary. Oddly I found myself wanting to break down, but couldn’t.
I thought I would run free once liberated from this tyranny of entrapment. Yet, I was in new territory, unfamiliar, uncomfortable. What was I to do with myself now? It took me six to eight months to become comfortable with being “well.”
In the fall of 2005 I was well enough to make some major religious changes. After twenty-eight years of loyalty, I chose to leave an authoritarian religious organization. In hindsight, I have no doubt that certain doctrines and practices that I had embraced from this organization were major contributors to the chronic illnesses in which I had been ensnared. Without the wellness I had been granted by 2005, I don’t know if I could have made the break from that organization. It took much resolve and energy that I didn’t have prior to 2004.
Over time, after divorcing the organization, I was able to tap into my heart again, and I began to understand with greater clarity underlying emotional causes that contributed to the previous decades of illness.
What are my maintenance practices? Decent nutrition, medications as needed, rest. Movement, nature, play. Mindfulness, reading, writing. Music, movies, laughter. And authentic relationships with myself, my environment, and loved ones. When I experience physiological symptoms or tumultuous emotions I endeavor to seek self-awareness and then to listen and follow the paths that offer relief.
What does it mean to think like a well person? It means I recognize that I am significant, worthy of love, and fully human. I am a vital member of the human family. I am not an appliance that requires fixing; rather, I am a yearning individual with an innate need for love, acknowledgment, and to know my value.
(The book Healing Back Pain mentioned above, prompted me to dig deeper for a specific program to help guide me in uncovering emotional causes for physical symptoms. That search led me to this link, MindBodyMedicine.com. The originator, Dr. David Schechter, has a specifically designed journaling, reading, and education program that enabled me to better tap into emotional causes that had prompted certain physical symptoms.)
In 2008, at age 49, I had full, left hip replacement surgery due to degeneration brought on by years of high doses of steroids that I had consumed to keep me breathing. In 2010, the manufacturer of my implant announced a voluntary recall because some of the implants were defective. Through 2012, I went for yearly examines of that hip, and it appeared that my implant was okay. That status changed in 2016.
In December, 2009, I contracted MRSA, which erupted four different times within five months.
In late September, 2010, I made the difficult decision to file an official complaint against my then-mental health cult-recovery therapist. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. He was investigated, and his license was revoked in January, 2014. I was not the only client whom he harmed. (To read an overview of that experience click here.)
In May, 2011, I developed debilitating symptoms simultaneously in all my limbs and extremities while taking a medication for toenail fungus. In 2013, it was properly diagnosed as polyradiculitis, a rare type of peripheral neuropathy typically associated with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). But I do not have CIDP or GBS. With polyradiculitis, multiple nerve roots are swollen at the spinal cord. For me, that includes roots at my lumbar and cervical neck regions. Symptoms have spread to all my limbs and extremities, my back, my neck, and my jaws. I receive steroid lumber epidurals every twelve weeks and steroid cervical neck shots every six.
In June, 2016, we discovered that my recalled hip implant from 2008 had slowly been leeching cobalt and chromium into my body. Among other things, heavy metals can sometimes be a factor in nerve damage. On August 30, 2016, I had revision lateral hip replacement surgery replacing the 2008 defective recalled implant. It typically takes one to two years after removal of a leeching implant for metal levels to come down. We’ll then have a better idea as to how much of a role the metals might play in the nerve damage.
Last Saturday, Polly and I drove to Ontario, Ohio (near Mansfield) to meet her parents for a late lunch. While driving to Texas Roadhouse, we came upon a Donald Trump rally. The pictures that follow will clearly show that there is a symbiotic connection between Evangelical Christianity and the Trump presidency. These Evangelicals are certain that Donald Trump is God’s man, and only he can lead America to the Promised Land.
Last Saturday, Polly and I drove to Ontario, Ohio (near Mansfield) to meet her parents for a late lunch. While driving to Texas Roadhouse, we came upon a Donald Trump rally. The pictures that follow will clearly show that there is a symbiotic connection between Evangelical Christianity and the Trump presidency. These Evangelicals are certain that Donald Trump is God’s man, and only he can lead America to the Promised Land.
The U.S. war in Afghanistan is well into its 16th year. In 2014 President Obama declared it over, but it will remain a political, financial, security, legal, and moral problem unless you actually end it.
The U.S. military now has approximately 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan , plus 6,000 other NATO troops, 1,000 mercenaries, and another 26,000 contractors (of whom about 8,000 are from the United States). That’s 41,000 people engaged in a foreign occupation of a country 15 years after the accomplishment of their stated mission to overthrow the Taliban government.
During each of the past 15 years, our government in Washington has informed us that success was imminent. During each of the past 15 years, Afghanistan has continued its descent into poverty, violence, environmental degradation, and instability. The withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops would send a signal to the world, and to the people of Afghanistan, that the time has come to try a different approach, something other than more troops and weaponry.
The ambassador from the U.S.-brokered and funded Afghan Unity government has reportedly told you that maintaining U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is “as urgent as it was on Sept. 11, 2001.” There’s no reason to believe he won’t tell you that for the next four years, even though John Kerry tells us “Afghanistan now has a well-trained armed force …meeting the challenge posed by the Taliban and other terrorists groups.” But involvement need not take its current form.
The United States is spending $4 million an hour on planes, drones, bombs, guns, and over-priced contractors in a country that needs food and agricultural equipment, much of which could be provided by U.S. businesses. Thus far, the United States has spent an outrageous $783 billion with virtually nothing to show for it except the death of thousands of U.S. soldiers , and the death, injury and displacement of millions of Afghans. The Afghanistan War has been and will continue to be, as long as it lasts, a steady source of scandalous stories of fraud and waste. Even as an investment in the U.S. economy this war has been a bust.
But the war has had a substantial impact on our security: it has endangered us. Before Faisal Shahzad tried to blow up a car in Times Square, he had tried to join the war against the United States in Afghanistan. In numerous other incidents, terrorists targeting the United States have stated their motives as including revenge for the U.S. war in Afghanistan, along with other U.S. wars in the region. There is no reason to imagine this will change.
In addition, Afghanistan is the one nation where the United States is engaged in major warfare with a country that is a member of the International Criminal Court. That body has now announced that it is investigating possible prosecutions for U.S. crimes in Afghanistan. Over the past 15 years, we have been treated to an almost routine repetition of scandals: hunting children from helicopters, blowing up hospitals with drones, urinating on corpses — all fueling anti-U.S. propaganda, all brutalizing and shaming the United States.
Ordering young American men and women into a kill-or-die mission that was accomplished 15 years ago is a lot to ask. Expecting them to believe in that mission is too much. That fact may help explain this one: the top killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is suicide. The second highest killer of American military is green on blue, or the Afghan youth who the U.S. is training are turning their weapons on their trainers! You yourself recognized this, saying: “Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghans we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA.”
The withdrawal of U.S. troops would also be good for the Afghan people, as the presence of foreign soldiers has been an obstacle to peace talks. The Afghans themselves have to determine their future, and will only be able to do so once there is an end to foreign intervention.
We urge you to turn the page on this catastrophic military intervention. Bring all U.S. troops home from Afghanistan. Cease U.S. airstrikes and instead, for a fraction of the cost, help the Afghans with food, shelter, and agricultural equipment.
If you are so inclined, please add your name to the open letter here.
