Vatican hit by gay sex scandal

Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waiting

• John Hooper in Rome
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 4 March 2010 19.59 GMT
• Article history

Pope Benedict XVI greets cardinals in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican. Photograph: Max Rossi/AFP/Getty Images

The Vatican was today rocked by a sex scandal reaching into Pope Benedict's household after a chorister was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.

Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, was caught by police on a wiretap allegedly negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Vatican chorister, over the specific physical details of men he wanted brought to him. Transcripts in the possession of the Guardian suggest that numerous men may have been procured for Balducci, at least one of whom was studying for the priesthood.

The explosive claims about Balducci's private life have caused grave embarrassment to the Vatican, which has yet to publicly comment on the affair.

While Catholicism does not condemn homosexuality outright, its teaching is that homosexual acts "are intrinsically disordered". The Catechism of the Catholic church states unequivocally: "Under no circumstances can they be approved."

Balducci was arrested on 10 February, suspected of involvement in widespread corruption. A senior Italian government official, he is alleged to have to steered public works contracts towards favoured bidders. He has not been charged.

It was during this investigation into corruption that wiretaps revealed his alleged sexual activity. In one conversation, Ehiem tells Balducci: "I saw your call when I was in the Vatican, because I was doing rehearsals … in the choir … in St Peter's." He then suggests Balducci meet a man who he describes is "two metres tall … 97 kilos … aged 33, completely active."

Balducci is also a senior adviser to the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the department that oversees the Roman Catholic church's worldwide missionary activities.

Since 1995, he has been a member of one of the world's most exclusive fraternities – the Gentlemen of His Holiness, or Papal Gentlemen, the ceremonial ushers of the papal household. In the words of a 1968 ordinance, they are expected to "distinguish themselves for the good of souls and the glory of the name of the Lord".

According to a report by the Carabinieri for prosecutors in Florence investigating the corruption scandal, there was a hidden side to Balducci's life. "In order to organise casual encounters of a sexual nature, he availed himself of the intercession of two individuals who, it is maintained, may form part of an organised network, especially active in [Rome], of exploiters or at least facilitators of male prostitution."

It named one as Ehiem, a professional chorister born in Nigeria. According to Italian press reports, Ehiem, a member of the choir that sings in St Peters when the pope is not officiating, lost his job on Wednesday after details of the Florence investigation became known to the Vatican.

In an interview to be published tomorrow by the news magazine Panorama, Ehiem said he had been introduced to Balducci more than 10 years ago. He claims: "He asked me if I could procure other men for him. He told me he was married and that I had to do it in great secrecy."

There were conflicting accounts of how the Vatican might respond. According to one source, there was no provision for the dismissal of a Gentleman of His Holiness. Another said: "We shall wait for the judiciary's definitive verdict."

The transcripts imply that over a period of around five months in 2008, Ehiem procured for Balducci at least 10 contacts with, among others, "two black Cuban lads", a former male model from Naples, and a rugby player from Rome.

Balducci's lawyer, Franco Coppi, said tonight: "I have no comment. First, because we have more serious questions to tackle. Second, if these claims are correct, they regard his private life. It is disgraceful that these transcripts, which have nothing to do with the case, should have been spread about."

In January this year, the Carabinieri recorded an exchange in which Balducci and Ehiem discuss a seminarian, or student for the priesthood. Balducci is said to have asked: "Listen, have you spoken with the seminarian by any chance?" Ehiem says he is "probably at mass or something". On 11 January, Ehiem calls again to recommend "a colleague, a friend" of the seminarian because the latter is unavailable. He says the colleague is "better, taller, a bit taller than you". Later, Ehiem asks: "Can I send [him] around straight away?"

He asks where Balducci is. The adviser says: "Up at the seminary … where the cardinal lives." Ehiem replies: "He could get there within half an hour … the time it takes to catch a taxi and get there."

But we're so, so afraid of where our society is headed.

By CARISSA DIMARGO

Updated 11:14 AM PST, Wed, Feb 24, 2010

 

Some things, you see and then you can just never unsee them. The images haunt you for the rest of your life.

This is one of those things.

The Pet Anti Breeding System -- otherwise known as a chastity belt for female dogs -- is "a new concept in Birth Control for Pets that specifically targets the external reproductive area of our four-legged friends," according to its sales site. (We'll just politely ignore the Random Capitalization.)

So if you don't want to spay your pet for whatever reason, you can still suit them up with, um, "birth control." The system sells for $65-$95, depending on size and whether the pet will need to protect its show-quality coat. The site also sells Sani-T pads, although the less said about those, the better.

We'd like to argue that this system is patently unfair. Girl dogs must be chaste and respectable, while boy dogs can just run wild, cavorting with those girl dogs of loose  morals who'll just breed with anyone who comes along? Tsk, tsk.

Maybe someday we'll live in a society where girl dogs and boy dogs can be treated equally. Until then... awwwwkward.

Funeral parlour man ‘violated three bodies’

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Image   of

2010/02/16

A MAN working at a funeral parlour in Mthatha was arrested after he was caught allegedly violating corpses.

The 41-year-old man had been employed by the parlour in Vulindlela Heights to clean bodies.

He was arrested after his colleague caught him allegedly having sex with one of the bodies on Sunday morning.

Later it was established that two other corpses had also been violated.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela said the man, who cannot be named, had been charged with three counts of “violating deceased persons”.

The owner of the parlour declined to comment when approached by the Daily Dispatch.

The suspect is scheduled to appear in the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court today.

By BONGANI HANS, Mthatha bureau. bonganih@dispatch.co.za

Cory Doctorow

A reader writes, "Australian Classification Board (ACB) is now banning depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. They banned mainstream pornography from showing women with A-cup breasts, apparently on the grounds that they encourage paedophilia, and in spite of the fact this is a normal breast size for many adult women. Presumably small breasted women taking photographs of themselves will now be guilty of creating simulated child pornography, to say nothing of the message this sends to women with modestly sized chests or those who favour them. Australia has also banned pornographic depictions of female ejaculation, a normal orgasmic sexual response in many women, with censors branding it as 'abhorrent.'"

The Board has also started to ban depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. This is in response to a campaign led by Kids Free 2 B Kids and promoted by Barnaby Joyce and Guy Barnett in Senate Estimates late last year. Mainstream companies such as Larry Flint's Hustler produce some of the publications that have been banned. These companies are regulated by the FBI to ensure that only adult performers are featured in their publications. "We are starting to see depictions of women in their late 20s being banned because they have an A cup size", she said. "It may be an unintended consequence of the Senator's actions but they are largely responsible for the sharp increase in breast size in Australian adult magazines of late".

Depictions of Female Orgasm Being Banned by Classification Board

(Image: 124, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from brittsuza's photostream)

Film director under house arrest and facing extradition to US 'overwhelmed' by worldwide messages of sympathy

• Lizzy Davies in Paris
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 December 2009 13.31 GMT
• Article history

Roman Polanski: 'How heartening it is, when one is locked up in a cell, to hear this murmur of human voices and of solidarity in the morning post.' Photograph: Roberto Pfeil/AP

Roman Polanski, the Oscar-winning film director under house arrest on charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl, has expressed his gratitude to his supporters in an open letter to the French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy.

In his first public comments on the case since he was placed in detention in September, the director said he had been "overwhelmed" by the messages of sympathy he had received from "across the world. I would like every one of them to know how heartening it is, when one is locked up in a cell, to hear this murmur of human voices and of solidarity in the morning post," he wrote in the letter. "In the darkest moments, each of their notes has been a source of comfort and hope, and they continue to be so in my current situation."

The 76-year-old, who jumped US bail in 1978 after admitting having sex with a minor, was finally re-arrested at the request of US authorities in September. Instead of picking up the lifetime achievement award he had been promised at a Swiss film festival, he found himself behind bars in Winterthur, near Zurich.

Earlier this month he was released on bail and has been spending the Christmas season with his family at his Alpine chalet in the ski resort of Gstaad. Authorities have indicated that a decision on his extradition to the US will be made in the new year.

In France, where Polanski spent much of his time as a fugitive, the arrest of such a luminary sparked horror among the artistic elite. A French petition demanding his immediate release was signed by hundreds of industry figures including Martin Scorsese and David Lynch.

While others have back-pedalled on their initial support in the face of mounting public revulsion, Levy, the Left Bank philosopher, has been one of the "genius director's" most vocal defenders.

"I have not moved one iota," he told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview on Saturday. "This arrest was a disgrace. This detention was, and still is, a disgrace. This climate of popular justice and lynching … is still a disgrace."

In his letter, the Franco-Polish director thanked Levy for having "supported [him] from the very first day". He asked for his message to be put up on the internet as a means of thanking all the "unknown friends" who, he said, had sent him words of comfort during his arrest.

by Tanya Macramalla on Friday December 25 2009

Apparently, yes.

Did you host Christmas dinner tonight? If so, that means there was tons of great food, but that also means there were tons of dishes. Did your hubby help you clean up? If he did, we would love to know if you found him sexier because of it. Why? According to a new study, the more time you spend doing chores, the more often you probably have sex with your partner.

In the study, published in the Journal of Family Issues, researchers looked at a sample of almost 7,000 married couples and found that people who work hard in one area of their lives tend to work, and play, hard in others.

According to Constance Gager, lead researcher and an assistant professor of family and child studies at Montclair State University, Montclair, N.J., the people who work hard make sure to set time aside for sex. "Rather than compromise their sex life, this group of go-getters seems to make sex a priority," she says.

This may not seem like too big of a surprise for men, as it has long been known that their participation in chores can lead to serious brownie points with the madame of the household. But it also turns out that the same applies to women.

Still, the researchers don't believe it's all about the chores. It's about the individual people.

"We're not saying that housework causes sex," said Gager, "rather there are groups who 'do it all' and other groups who do not."

Ballet by Javier de Frutos received rowdy reception when it premiered on the London stage in October

• Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 December 2009 17.31 GMT
• Article history

A scene from Eternal Damnation Of Sancho and Sanchez by Javier De Frutos. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

 

When Javier de Frutos's dance tribute to the great Russian impresario Diaghilev premiered in London on 13 October, the work – with its deformed pope, pregnant nuns and wild sex – received a mixed reception: walkouts and boos combined with an ecstatic response from its fans.

It was a succès de scandale, recalling the brawls at the premiere of The Rite of Spring in 1913, which Diaghilev famously commissioned. The following day, the BBC announced it would broadcast the piece, along with three other new dance works commissioned by Sadler's Wells in honour of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.

But last month it became clear that the BBC had decided pull the transmission of De Frutos's work, set for a pre-watershed slot on Friday on BBC4 – and now de Frutos is hitting back at a decision he believes is "silly as well as dangerous".

He said: "Obviously Jerry Springer the Opera [which elicited 55,000 complaints when broadcast on the BBC in 2005] was a watershed. It seems that we still live in a society where a small minority has the power to take away the right of the majority to see things. This seems absurd, especially in the case of BBC4. The knitting channel has marginally more viewers than they do."

According to the composer Thomas Adès, who saw the work at Sadler's Wells theatre: "To pull it from the programme is a shocking, terrible mistake, and shows a disgraceful, pathetic and worrying loss of nerve on the part of the BBC. I am abrim with disgust at the BBC's behaviour … all they needed to do was broadcast it later [in the evening].

"There should be much more outrage about this not being shown than there was about Jerry Springer's being shown. I thought the work was a masterpiece, a brilliant tribute to the showmanship and provocation of Diaghilev. In content there was nothing you would not see in South Park or Family Guy."

In the words of Guardian dance critic Judith Mackrell: "Cast with a hunchbacked pope, pregnant nuns and horny priests, [the work] is set in a crypt decorated with frescoes of priapic men. Its rituals climax in some of the most graphic scenes of sex and violence seen on the dance stage." She also praised it as "funny and tight … sharply structured and wittily referential".

De Frutos acknowledges that his piece – called Eternal Damnation to Sancho and Sanchez – is unsuitable for a pre-watershed broadcast. But he is angry at the "naivety" of the BBC for assuming that "they could broadcast it before the watershed just because it was ballet. People just simply assumed. And you should never assume in art."

The works were given a pre-watershed slot, according to a BBC spokesman, "because ballet at this time of year is a family thing. You sit down together and watch.

"At the time we commissioned the programme we did not realise that there would be this kind of material in the work."

The BBC announced the broadcast in a press release on 14 October, the day after the work's premiere. De Frutos said he was contacted by the BBC about five weeks ago to be told that the broadcast would be pulled.

He said that his intentions with the work were clear from May, when he started creating the 25-minute piece. "There was access to all this. My studio was open."

The BBC was not involved until relatively late in the process, when it decided to acquire footage that had been created by an outside company for a Sadler's Wells DVD.

However, according to De Frutos: "If you have a piece about the Marquis de Sade, then obviously you don't put it on CBeebies, because it's the wrong slot."

The fact that the piece, like Jerry Springer the Opera, contains material critical of religion, also contributed to the BBC's decision.

"The fact that it's Advent and the programme was essentially part of our Christmas schedule was relevant," said the BBC spokesman.

Jan Younghusband, the BBC's commissioning editor for music and events, said: "It is not my commission so I cannot speak about why a post-watershed work was commissioned for a pre-watershed slot … normally we would edit round anything inappropriate but in this case we can't, because it would destroy the work.

"But obviously it would be good to show Javier's work at some point, which is why I have asked to see him to talk about how we might do so in the future."

The Sexbots are coming, and we will cum with them. Three times a week or whatever our physician / longevity coach recommends. Because orgasms -- particularly the hormone-exploding O's we'll enjoy with carnal cyborgs -- are excellent for our mental and physical health.

Remember the most convulsive, brain-ripping climax you ever had? The one that left you with "I could die happy now" satiety? Sexbots will electrocute our flesh with climaxes twice as gigantic because they'll be more desirable, patient, eager, and altruistic than their meat-bag competition, plus they'll be uploaded with supreme sex-skills from millennia of erotic manuals, archives and academic experiments, and their anatomy will feature sexplosive devices. Sexbots will heighten our ecstasy until we have frothy, shrieking, bug-eyed, amnesia-inducing orgasms. They'll offer us split-tongued cunnilingus, open-throat fellatio, deliriously gentle kissing, transcendent nipple tweaking, g-spot massage & prostate milking dexterity, plus 2,000 varieties of coital rhythm with scented lubes -- this will all be ours when the Sexbots arrive.

 

A.I. expert David Levy. Photo: Teri Pengilley

When will they get here? Henrik Christensen, founder of the European Robotics Research Network, predicts we'll be boinkin' 'bots by 2011. Dr. David Levy, author of the recent book, Love and Sex with Robots, believes by 2050 these robots will be nearly indistinguishable from humans. So -- is this perverted or valuable? Here's my medical analysis:

Orgasms reduce stress, insomnia, heart attacks, migraines, depression, addictions, aches, pains, menstrual cramps, endometriosis, type-2 diabetes, cervical & urinary tract infections, and risk of prostate cancer, plus they improve the immune system, heart rate, blood pressure, brain chemistry, skin health, pelvic floor strength, and they clean out carcinogenic toxins. Celebrity Dr. Michael Roizen, founder of RealAge.com, frequent Oprah guest and chair of Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Institute, claims 4-8 years of additional life can be garnered if we have 350-700 orgasms per year. (A stiff challenge, but fun to pursue) Other studies report 2-3 orgasms per week can make us look 7-12 years younger. Orgasms flood our flesh with healthy hormones (oxytocin, DHEA & others). Dedicated Sexbots with inexhaustible stamina can give us bigger O's than forgetful, fatigued, self-concerned humans, and Big Orgasms = Big Benefits. Longevity seekers eat fiber, exercise & play Sodoku. Boosting orgasm rapture & quantity is equally valid.

 

Photo: Harry Campbell

Are Sexbots icky? Are humans pathetic if we don't just mate with each other? Truth is, we're already mostly "solo" when it comes to orgasms. "Masturbation," noted Hungarian psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, "is the primary sexual activity... in the 19th century it was a disease, in the 20th it's a cure." Sure, we generally prefer sex with live partners, but the desired one is often unavailable or inadequate. Sexbots will never have headaches, fatigue, impotence, premature ejaculation, pubic lice, disinterest, menstrual blood, jock strap itch, yeast infections, genital warts, AIDS/HIV, herpes, silly expectations, or inhibiting phobias. Sexbots will never stalk us, rape us, diss us on their blog, weep when we dump them, or tell their friends we were boring in bed. Sexbots will always climax when we climax if we press that little button on their butt.

Cinema has already depicted very desirable stars as Sexbots -- a "mecha gigilo" (Jude Law in "A.I.") and a "pleasure model" (Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner). Now tech is getting close to producing mainstream sexbots. "First Android" in Germany offers male & female models that breathe, are warm, and have heartbeats that thump louder with sex. In Toronto, inventor Le Trung has fashioned "Aiko" -- he claims she's not for sex, but she can have an orgasm, her name translates as "love child" and her measurements are 32" 23" 33". Japan has Repliee Q1 Expo, who flutters her eyelids and moves her hands. Male sex robots are lagging in development, but... vibrator sales are buzzing, dildo sales point skyward, and my prediction is that male Sexbot sales will rival female in the upcoming years.

More predictions: Sexbots with this option: do we want eye contact, or not? Sexbots that shower after we use them and put themselves back in the closet. Sexbots available in hotels, cruise ships, vacation homes, and convalescent hospitals. Sexbot booths in liquor stores that wipe out corner prostitution. Sexbots that are delicious when you lick them. Sexbot Packages for sorority parties, military camps, prisons. Parents buy their adolescent children Sexbots for Christmas to assist them in their passage through puberty. Gyms offer soundproof chambers where you work out with 15 minutes of XTreme Sexbot Cardio.  Sexbots that can tell you ten million jokes, because laughing also adds years to your life. Hollywood Sexbots with Vietnam vets buying the "Full Metal Jacket" model that says, "Me so horny! Me love you long time." Sexbot Teachers for humans who are shy and clumsy when naked; we practice with sexbots before exposing our new techniques to critical humans.

Sexbots will always climax when we climax if we press that little button on their butt.

Yes, I believe we'll still have sex with people. I also believe we'll only love & marry humans because we'll still need partners that share the "human condition" -- smart & vain, but scheduled to die, have horrible emotions, and make stupid mistakes. Longevity studies indicate long, gentle, happy marriages add seven years to your life, equal to the Big O benefits. Sure, the marriage bed might change when Sexbots arrive, and human couples can buy a Sexbot if they want an easy menage a trois. Even with lust directed elsewhere, people will still partner because they share hobbies, goals, verbal intimacy, family-building, commercial, intellectual and investment ambitions.

I disagree with Dr. Levy (the author mentioned above) who portrays and condones a future that has humans falling in love and marrying robots. Call me old-fashion... call me a "slaver" I want Sexbots as our servants, not equals. If UnFriendly AI appears, we don't want humans betraying us because they're emotionally tied to their android. I don't want Sexbots to inherit property, have bank accounts, or form parental bonds with our children. My advice is to program Sexbots to thwart non-sexual human affection by installing them with these verbal rejections:

"I don't love you; you're not my model"
"Stop cuddling me, your time's up"
"Get a human if you want a relationship; I'm just a fucking machine"

When robots are half-human and humans are half-robot, love between us will be acceptable, but not until then.

Resources: 

First Android --  Andy Droid: Your Sex Doll Has Arrived
http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/art-entertainment/andy-droid-your-sex-doll-has-arrived

AIKO (Video) 

repliee q1expo video

Let's talk about sex ... with robots, Guardian UK   September 16, 2009 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/16/sex-robots-david-levy-loebner

An Orgasm A Day Keeps The Doctor Away, Men's Journal   April 3, 2009
http://www.mensjournal.com/3-orgasms

Newly Discovered Physical Benefits of Orgasms  (with six sources enclosed)
http://five-minutestressrelief.com/Newly_Discovered_Physical_Benefits_of_Orgasm.html

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Wikileaks has published a copy of the UK media gag order that makes it a crime to publish real or Photoshopped images of "Eldrick Tont (Tiger) Woods... naked, or any naked parts of Claimant's body or of him involved in any sexual activity." So all you would-be UK slash-artists dreaming of hot Tiger-on-Klingon homo love tableaus in space can forget it. Right now. Forget it this instant, I say.

Plenty of publishers have jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, but the latest is Playboy - a surprise, given that a ban on nudity seems to be about the only rule that Apple seems to enforce consistently. That means the Hugh Hefner is having to make do without the naked women for the iPhone edition of his monthly magazine. Spokesperson Theresa Hennessey told Krapps.com that "the pictures are all non-nude or cropped".