Victims, Palestine: Show Me The Money

Sometimes it's good to throw money at problems. Like the Bush administration pledging support for Mahmoud Abbas' government in Palestine - the message is simple: stop engaging in terror, we'll feed your people. What's even better, we're not going at it alone this time either. Instead of plowing through the Middle East with a sense of entitlement, we're reaching out to other moderate nations in the region -- Jordan, Egypt -- and are inviting them to sit at the table to, for the one billionth time, discuss the mess that is the Israeli-Palestinian situation. And for the bargain price of $190 million, it's worth it to this tax payer just to stop hearing about another series of bombings on both sides of the Gaza strip. It's a commendable step in the right direction and I won't even grit my teeth while giving President Bush his due kudos.

There are times, however, when throwing money at a situation just makes matters worse. Case in point, the record $660 million settlement awarded to the plaintiffs in a case against the Archiodcese of Los Angeles for the alleged cover up of child molestation. Does anyone think this is the last we're going to hear of blood-thirsty pedophile priests? Psssh! As we've seen over the years, claiming molestation has become quite lucrative. Which begs the question, what's the cost of a child's innocence? I mean, that's really the issue here, that children were violated by authority figures they were taught to trust. Fine. These priests belong in jail and the families belong in therapy -- not at Club Med doing aquarobics and sipping Mai Tais.

I'm very put off the by money lust going on in these cases against the Church. I'm not a Catholic nor was I raised one, but as an impartial observer, it just looks like anybody can cry rape these days and collect a pay check. It's kind of hard to take pity on someone who can ascribe a dollar amount to their suffering.