The 1960s is the culprit behind the neverending barrage of clerical sex abuse incidents plaguing the Catholic Church, writes retired Pope Benedict XVI. Apparently, the 1960s is a Manson-like monster that brainwashed innocent Catholic clergy to commit unspeakable acts under its command. The 1960s must be captured and brought to justice. The 1960s should be punished for victimizing the clergy under its spell, perhaps by subjecting it to strappado, interrogatorio mejorado del agua, or one of the many other benevolent forms of treatment invented by the Catholic Church to encourage sinners to see the light.

From BBC:

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has published a letter which blames clerical sex abuse on the "all-out sexual freedom" of the 1960s.

He said that cultural and historical change had led to a "dissolution" of morality in Catholicism.

The sexual revolution in the 1960s had led to homosexuality and paedophilia in Catholic establishments, he claimed.

Some allegations of child sex abuse by priests that have emerged date back to decades before the 1960s.

The only solution to the problem, the former Pope said, was "obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ".

Image by Rvin88 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link Read the rest

This TV commercial for prunes (directed by Stan Freberg) stars Ray Bradbury, who keeps insisting he never mentioned prunes in any of his stories. I like the futuristic home with the people-moving tubes and the giant television screen, though I was nervous that Malcolm McDowell and his droogs were going to waltz into the front door at any second and cause trouble.

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Our friends at Dangerous Minds have a piece about a new book coming out called Swim Through the Darkness: My Search for Craig Smith and the Mystery of Maitreya Kali by Mike Stax.

Craig Smith, born in 1945, was part of The Good Time Singers, the house pop-folk group on The Andy Williams Show in the 1960s. He went on to become a successful songwriter (“Country Girl” for Glenn Campbell, “Salesman” for The Monkees, and “Hands of the Clock” for Heather MacRae). But in 1968 he took a trip to the middle east, and his life unraveled.

From Ron Kretsch's Dangerous Minds story:

He started his trek in Turkey, intending to make his way to India, merrily smoking hashish and dropping acid along the way. But fatefully, when a group of fellow travelers he’d befriended was ready to move on from Kandahar to Kabul, Smith remained behind. He was to meet up with his companions in just a few days, but two of them, Ann Dignan and Mary Hurley, recall in Swim Through the Darkness not learning what had happened to him for months:

Dignan: "I ran into some people and asked about him and they said they heard about this American named Craig who went crazy. The rumor I heard was that he was hallucinating on LSD and went running through the market with a knife, threatening people or being threatened, and then just disappeared into insanity."

Hurley: "The details that they gave were sketchy, but they mentioned seeing Craig in a marketplace in Kandahar looking over the fruit.