Why stop at Polanski? Extradite Cardinals Law & Levada as well; plus Capozzi play reading December 11th in New York

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By Kay Ebeling

"First indict Cardinal Roger Mahony for aiding and abetting about a hundred pedophiles in Central and Southern California." (Comment posted on a Hollywood Reporter story saying Roman Polanski may voluntarily be extradited.)

Note the cool graphic above the headline here at City of Angels announcing a performance of “For Pete’s Sake” in New York, as a benefit for Road to Recovery. Reading of the one-act play will be December 11th, 8PM in Manhattan at 2 West 64th Street, the NY Society for Ethical Culture ceremonial hall. Wow. Tickets are $15 and the show is a fundraiser for Road to Recovery, the East Coast nonprofit that provides direct support to survivors of pedophile priest sex crimes.

Somewhere in New Jersey there are likely more victims of Monsignor Pete Cheplic, namesake of "For Pete's Sake." Playwright Joe Capozzi talked to City of Angels recently: “I hear from people,” Capozzi said. “I know he’s had guys suddenly pull out of his life, guys he was close to all of a sudden once they get married, they cut him out, for whatever reason. I know he had relationships with a bunch of other guys. Was it the same with them, I don't know, unless they want to come out and say. They were the same age range, they would also go drinking with Cheplic and to dinner.”

Announcing the upcoming reading, Joey wrote: "For Pete's Sake" is a story of a young man who chose to keep a secret without realizing how it would affect the rest of his life. Twenty years later he's getting divorced, quit his job and is finally forced to deal with the truth about his life long relationship with his Priest. Dealing with the church, the press and his family was only the beginning. Being honest with himself would be his greatest challenge. "For Pete's Sake" is an honest and humorous look at his journey

City of Angels wrote about "For Pete's Sake" in the October 9th post.

Writing on the Web about Roman Polanski

At work I'm transcribing interviews regarding the film The Ghost, which will be released in 2010 if Roman Polanski is able to complete production from a Swiss prison. Often when I'm doing my TV job, I end up hearing something I need to hear for the project of writing these blogs.

Today’s job - well shoot, I'm not allowed to reveal anything from what I transcribe for TV shows while they are in production. But I can say that in one of the interviews I worked on, a cast member of The Ghost made a remark which I'm paraphrasing here:

"If your life depends on something, you make sure you are good enough, even if it’s something at which you're not natural." She said, "It’s amazing what skills you can acquire when it’s life or death.”

She's talking about the character she plays, but that quote stunned me today and lit my fire.

After the Illinois Supreme Court decision early last October, it seems people born before 1964 in Illinois are SOL as to the SOL, as far as civil lawsuits regarding pedophile priests in that one state.

So now that I know I'm probably not going to get a settlement from the Chicago Archdiocese, my life depends on doing something else to pull myself up, I mean poor people die young, so I’ve got to do something fast.

It is life or death, my life depends on it.

At City of Angels 2 I'm developing something.

Like the woman in the quote: I can’t be held back by the fact I don't know what I'm doing, my life depends on this, I have to create something that pulls me up,

So, stay tuned to City of Angels 2.

I hope 'Sunset Boulevard' will grow into an online book, or some new thing that because it's online, it has not really been invented yet, but it is sort of a living book.

I don't know what the end result will be but I'm posting it there, posting it every day

Like dailies.

Some of the scenes will be rewritten, some of the events described may never be referred to again. And as you will see at the top of the page, “This Story is Available for Sale to be made into a major motion picture."

MEANWHILE

With all the news about Roman Polanski, I recently went on a frenzy, going to every story I could find about the convicted pedophile on the lam, to put in a comment. If anyone wants to try the same project, here is a sample of what I’ve been posting. However, I'm not necessarily toting a party line here, and I'm sure others in the survivor community do not agree with me, here goes:

In the USA, pedophile Catholic priests performed worse crimes than Polanski’s, many with similar MO's - drugs, isolating the child from parents, etc. If the USA really wants to prosecute pedophiles, indict Cardinal Roger Mahony of L.A. Extradite pedophile aiding and abbettors who are now hiding out at the Vatican, such as William Levada and Bernard Law. It's easy to go after Polanski, let's see some real muscle in law enforcement, go after the real source of most of the pedophilia in the USA, the Catholic Church. . .

Another comment on a Hollywood Reporter story saying Polanski may voluntarily be extradited:

First indict Cardinal Roger Mahony for aiding and abetting about a hundred pedophiles in Central and Southern California. Catholic priests preyed on parish families all over the state, and committed sex crimes against hundreds of children, much worse than Roman Polanski. Read City of Angels blog for more...

At another news outlet:

There are about a thousand pedophiles that have not been prosecuted right now in the USA. What these Catholic priests did to kids the last 40 years was 10 times worse than Polanski's crimes, and at least the director has admitted guilt. The priests, many of them serial felons, often live in luxury today and even continue to run schools and parishes.

Polanski's victim does not want him prosecuted or any more news coverage. Many of us priest victims WANT our stories told...

Another one at the Hollywood Reporter:

I posted a true crime story yesterday at City of Angels about two Catholic priests out of the five thousand who got away with serial pedophilia in the US in the last fifty years.

If we really want to extradite pedophiles, there are plenty felons involved with American pedophile crimes hiding at the Vatican or living lives of luxury around the country, with a news media that is afraid to run stories about their criminal activity. Please read city of angels blog for the truth, Roman Polanski's crimes are nothing compared to these guys.

Then at Los Angeles Times:

The news media refuses to run stories about the worst pedophiles ever to operate in America, Yesterday at cityofangels5 . blogspot . com I put up a story about two Catholic priests who operated in Louisiana. There were 5000 pedophile priests preying on parish families in the last 40 years in this country, (see bishopaccountability . org )

If the USA really was concerned about sex crimes against children, law enforcement would stop caving to Catholic Church pressure and prosecute felony bishops, monsignors, etc.

What Roman Polanski did was nothing compared to the epidemic of pedophile Catholic priests.

(Note: The L.A. Times did not post any of the comments I wrote on their site to any of the stories.)

ANOTHER COMMENT:

The issue here is rich & powerful people getting away with crime and crime victims not getting justice. What Polanski did is not half as bad as the 5000 Catholic priests who raped children in the USA and the bishops who let them do it. I'm one of the priest victims and what I see here is an imbalance of justice.

If we overlook the epidemic of pedophilia in the Church, we have no credibility prosecuting Polanski.

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NOTE THIS POINT:

As recently as this week, the victim has said she does not want Polanski extradited, shw wants the whole story to go away, the media frenzy is making her sick.

Roman Polanski's victim asks court to drop charge against director
October 26, 2009 2:19 pm
The victim of Roman Polanski’s 1977 sex charge has asked an appellate court to drop the charge against the film director, saying the unceasing publicity has disrupted her family, job and health.

Since the director’s arrest last month, Samantha Geimer and her attorney have received close to 500 phone calls from media as far as Germany, Israel and Japan, attorney Lawrence Silver wrote in a statement filed Friday.

Larry King and Oprah have beckoned, and photographers have been camped outside her Hawaii home, trying to take photos or video through holes drilled in their cars and offering gifts to her children in exchange for information, Silver wrote.

“This statement makes one more demand, one more request, one more plea: Leave her alone,” Silver wrote in the filing.
...

ALSO:

Free Polanski – the woman has spoken!
Times LIVE - ‎Oct 27, 2009‎
The woman raped by Roman Polanski when she was 13 yeard old wants the case against him to be thrown out for the sake of her “mental health”. ...

Polanski victim wants case to go away -- is she right?
Kansas City Star - ‎Oct 27, 2009‎
The teenage girl who accused director Roman Polanski of rape is now a grown woman with a family and a job. And she's officially asking the courts to dismiss ...

From Huffington Post this morning:

From the classical French point of view, the US is criminally puritanical about sex as opposed to France , with its own more "liberal" wink-an-eye espousal of affairs under the sheets. The extent of this prejudice is so great that most popular French papers -- such as "Le Monde" and Liberation -- have chosen to distort the facts when reporting on the case. Liberation described Polanski's crime as an "affaires des moeurs", a banal case of mores, rather than a convicted case of "illegal sex with a minor". Le Monde describes what happened as "Polanski's relations with a young girl," forgetting the word "illegal

Today a crime like Polanski's would receive a much harsher sentence than in 1978. Now, if Polanski returns for sentencing, legally the most he himself could receive is two years.

Read entire story

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BACKGROUND on "For Pete's Sake"

Friday, October 9, 2009

New one act play shows passion of going public about crimes of pedophile priest

*By Kay Ebeling

It's yet another case of a Catholic priest insinuating himself on a parish family then raping the children. Survivor Joe Capozzi of New York City is also an artist, so as he went public with his charges against Monsignor Peter Cheplic of New Jersey...

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- Thanks
Kay Ebeling

POST SCRIPT:

Phillip Garrido, who held Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years up in Lake Tahoe, was also a self-described Fundamentalist Christian pastor.

Garrido was passing out flyers shortly before his arrest last summer, to round up people to come hear him give a sermon.

I got to see one of the flyers on a video, again because of my job. The flyers said:

Brand New

The first time anywhere in the world, right here at J&M enterprises.

You can witness what the world believes it’s impossible to produce. Look for date and time in your local newspaper coming soon.

DON'T MISS OUT

God has allowed me to speak in the tongue of angels in order to provide a wake up call that will in time include the salvation of the entire world.

A demonstration of this ability had already taken place during the month of July.

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Ah, that wonderful confusing connection between sex and spirituality that thrives in the backwoods of America.

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"For Pete' s Sake"

A play by Joe Capozzi

Staged reading to benefit Road to Recovery

Friday, December 11th at 8pm
NY Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th St @ CPW, NYC
Ceremonial Hall, 4th Fl.

Tix: $15
Reservations:
email: forpetessaketheplay@gmail.com

For more information about Road to Recovery go to road-to-recovery.org

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Boycott Polanski, says pedophile priest victim advocacy group, and more reporters show up for a media event than have in years

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By Kay Ebeling

Usually SNAP sends the media a notice about pedophile priests and bishops who commit felonies and one or two reporters show up. Wednesday they put the name Roman Polanski in a press release and about seventeen news reps arrived - early - the majors: CNN, ABC, KNX Radio Los Angeles, Fox LA, two Spanish TV crews, one French.

I have to beat down an urge to be Killjoy here and point out to these news hounds that a story of bishops who for decades aided and abetted crimes similar to the one Roman Polanski committed should at least arouse some curiosity in a journalist. But no, here, I see SNAP is right again, just play the way they play, and maybe along the way some reporter with a budget will notice this incredible story of thousands of serial sex crimes against children, and point the cameras away from the celebrities for a few hours.

If you can’t lick ‘em join ‘em. So here thanks to the SNAP event today about Roman Polanski I’ve added three videos at YouTube, with Roman Polanski in the title. So as we speak, people typing in Polanski’s name in the YouTube search engine might find the videos and then from there City of Angels Blog. (The videos from today's event in L.A. are embedded below.)

Even though it strikes me at the very craw of everything I believe about journalism, I’ll use the name Roman Polanski to try to drive up readership at City of Angels Blog too. I’ll use the name Roman Polanski if it helps get this message out.

SNAP calls for boycott of Roman Polanski products:



The audio is bad, so here is what the West Coast rep for SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Joelle Casteix is saying:

JC: We are first of all urging the State Department to move without delay to extradite Mr. Polanski back to the United States. We are also begging urging and pleading with all the Hollywood dignitaries and luminaries who signed a petition supporting Mr. Polanski to talk to a victim of child sex abuse.

Ask if they would allow their child to go to Mr. Polanski’s home and be given champagne and a Quaalude and be left alone with a child molester.

This is egregious.

And we want all of these people who are standing up in the national media and asking if Mr. Polanski be given special treatment, because he’s rich and because he’s powerful, and because he’s talented, to seriously reconsider. You know, child molesters can be rich and talented, but they also need to be fully accountable.

Q: You are asking for a boycott?

JC: We are asking for a complete boycott of all Polanski’s films, as well as a complete boycott of any of the luminaries, including Mr. Scorsese, Mr. Allen, and anyone else who signed that petition, to ask for Mr. Polanski’s release.

Q: What about the prosecutorial misconduct?

JC: Well if there was prosecutorial misconduct, really I'm not a lawyer, but why not stand up for yourself.

City of Angels piped in with a question:

While we're extraditing pedophiles from foreign countries, why not go after Cardinals William Levada of San Francisco and Bernard Law of Boston, who are both now living in the Vatican?

Since both bishops oversaw the sex crimes of dozens of pedophile priests on hundreds of children in parish families, why don't we extradite them?

THud KillJoy was HeRe--

Alas, I no sooner said the word "Cardinals" and the reporters around me started packing up. The sounds of their clamping shut camera gear and wrapping up microphones drowned out my question.

As I tried to bring up the subject of church hierarchy crimes, these starry eyed news guys started looking for somewhere else to find someone else to make some new comment about Roman Polanski.

Why isn't the U.S. extraditing the bishops from the Vatican?

I called into the din...



ABOVE: Transcribed:

JC: We urge the State Department to work diligently to ensure that anyone who allows the sexual abuse of a minor is brought to justice, is extradited to the United States and brought to justice.

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Of course, I know that was another one of my former hippie hopelessly naive questions.

The bishops always high tail it to the Vatican. Always just hours before having to testify under oath they fly away, and once they are living in that "sovereign state" no one can touch them.

So many things are wrong here on so many levels, it's hard to figure out where to start. That's why I own City of Angels 1 through 30 and plan to keep writing these stories for years.

CHECK OUT THE PICS from Wednesday Sept. 30, 2009, SNAP event in L.A. about Roman Polanski:

Joelle Casteix (left) sent out the press release for SNAP about Polanski

Polanski? Polanski? Huh?


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One reporter knew what City of Angels is: Phil Shuman, at left, is on the Fox 11 Investigates team.

Below, Joelle talks to Fox reporter at left, Esther talks to ABC reporter at right.



At right, Esther, SNAP member and survivor, talks to Univision 34 in Spanish.

As adult victims of pedophile priests we know there are hundreds of thousands of crime victims in the United States, that dozens of bishops who still hold office in cities across the country flagrantly took part in coverup of sex crimes against children. Nothing has changed institutionally in the Church that will get to the real cause of the epidemic of crimes, so it will likely happen again.

And the news media of Los Angeles think the story is Roman Polanski and his drugged out assault on a 13 year old girl in 1977. Strange, since in the seventies, there were so many people in the Hollywood Hills romping around naked in hot tubs having anonymous orifice penetration with each other not even knowing what sex each other were let alone what age - you'd think it was orientation at the seminary.

So, today in L.A., Roman Polanski is a more important story than the thousands of adult victims of pedophile priests who have never seen justice in American courts or law enforcement.

Maybe one reason we've never seen justice is this numb-brained news reportage with which we have to deal.

And here I am doing it too.

Best Coverage on Roman Polanski and the Media Circus:

Word in Edgewise
Santa Monica Daily Press - Kenny Mack - ‎Sep 29, 2009‎
Realizing he was going to spend the next decade being treated the way he treated his victim, but without the Jacuzzi, booze, and pills, Polanski fled...

Why Robert Harris' NY Times Pro-Polanski Op-Ed Is an Offensive ...
Huffington Post (blog)
In his NY Times op-ed piece Wednesday, "Why Arrest Roman Polanski Now?," Harris desperately attempts, as have so many others in the past several days, ...

Some creepy coverage:
THE timing of Roman Polanski's arrest in Switzerland on Sunday on ...
New York Post - ‎Sep 29, 2009‎
"The family has forgiven [Polanski]. The victim has forgiven him. The rest of the world has forgiven him," said Ratner, who cast Polanski as a French ...

Steve Lopez from L.A. Times:

STEVE LOPEZ Polanski's defenders lose sight of the true victim
Los Angeles Times - Steve Lopez
I'd like to show all these great luminaries the testimony from Polanski's underage victim, as well as Polanski's admission of guilt. ...

Self explanatory:

Hollywood Burning
National Review Online - Jack Dunphy
The victim's grand-jury testimony should disabuse any reader of the notion that she consented to what Polanski did to her. A warning, though: It is indeed ...

Polanski a Victim of Circumstances?

Elitist Justice?
Germantown Now - Al Campbell -
And, Polansky must be compelled to stand trial, finally, so that we can learn whether he is guilty as charged or if he was merely the victim of circumstance ...

Above transcribed:

Q: What do you make of the woman’s forgiving Roman Polanski and in fact urging last year that the case be dropped?

JC: Forgiveness is the gift you give yourself. For her to heal and for her to move on, she has to forgive Roman Polanski. You know, you can’t live a life full of anger at someone that you have no control over. And many of us work a long time to find forgiveness. But at the same time, that's what she needs to heal. And every time the case comes up in the media, her name is dragged in there.

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Don't forget the PayPal High Five Campaign using Donate buttons on the left. After each post we pass the hat, that's how it works. - ke

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Peering into the future...

About the time the Federal Courthouse in construction above is finished in L.A., the U.S. Government may finally be willing to prosecute Bishops of the Catholic Church - for obstruction of justice, massive fraud, and conspiracy, among other crimes. I predict that some of the hearings will take place in this Courthouse, in construction at 1st and Hill Street downtown as seen Wed. Sept. 30, 2009, a work in progress...

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