Holy Week Or Holy Mackerel

Seven days from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday is Holy Week; that is unless you follow the Orthodox faith and therefore, march to a different religious calendar. This 2010 Holy week was a disaster for some establishments. Look what happened to the Catholic Church, Obama's national security apparatus, the Republican National Committee and the rambling wreck we call Healthcare Reform.

Holy Week is show time, BIGTIME for the Catholic Church throughout the world. The holy days are led by the Pope from the Vatican, filled with ancient pageantry and traditions – flocks of pilgrims fill Rome to renew the faith with the Pope as the super star; who is, according to the Church, Christ's vicar on Earth.

Except this year the Vicar has a big problem that seriously obscured his Easter duties. The Pope has been accused by the world press of covering up for pederast priests. It is an old story in the Church, but this is the first time in modern times it has touched the Papal cassock.

Like most secular establishments savvy on public relations, the Vatican counter attacked the press for the published story – stories that by now demonstrate an epidemic of pedophilia in the Church that was not staunched.

The current pope, in an effort to protect the Church, has been implicated administratively in this scandal. His counter attack as of today has backfired as the press bores in deeper justifying its criticism... The Vatican's maladroitness was compounded when the pope's private preacher, Rev. Cantalamessa defended the pontiff publicly at St. Peters Basilica on Good Friday. He compared those who attack the Vicar, to those who attack Jews...as a form of anti-semitism.

Despite the fact the Vatican leadership quickly sought to crush the story, the cat was out of the bag. For centuries Jews were known as Christ killers; bloody pogroms were launched against them in Eastern Europe, especially on Good Friday; the local religious populace was enraged by the passion of Christ dramatized in village churches during Holy Week.

The last thing the Vatican wanted was to insert angry Jews into the turmoil; they were apparently upset that the Vatican wanted to invite itself to its private pity party. Some Jews have complained that the Vatican wanted to involve them in its child abuse mess. That accusation is an exaggerated stretch by Jews who seem to enjoy the Vatican's problems.

It is still too early to predict the outcome for Pope Benedict XVI. His problem is that the Church forgives carnal sin, but Caesar adjudicates the crime of child molestation. The Pope appears to be involved in controversy since his election by the Curia. Even divine choices may be fallible. The Shoes of the Fisherman are easily filled.

Holy Week brought bad news for President Obama's national security establishment. The US puppet in Iraq, Maliki, is to be ousted by Allawi, a former US puppet under Paul Bremer. Allawi has both Sunni and non-secular Shiite support and at one time was a member of the Baathist Party. Personally he is tough – has pulled triggers to execute. He is also a relative of double-dealing Ahmed Chalibi.

You remember last week Obama visited Afghanistan. I figured he went there to relieve the US Ambassador to Kabul, General Eikenberry Ret. because the General was right about the hopeless situation there and Obama was wrong; or Obama went to relieve General McCrystal who is obviously in way over his head; or he went to depose that duplicitous Karzai. Obama stumped me when he returned without a severed head.

It appears that the president's target was Karzai. A few days after Obama's return, Karzai promptly blamed foreign powers for corruption problems and his woes. Karzai is officially now a puppet off the string and Obama must dump him soonest. With the Israeli Netanyahu thumbing his nose at him and now Karzai saying it is somebody elses fault, the time for pontificating is over in both cases. Netanyahu celebrated Holy Week bombing Gaza. Does Obama appear weak internationally? YOU BETCHA.

About the only thing that really brings joy to the Democrats' heart is the Republican National Chairman (RNC) Michael Steele. He has no clue when it comes to management – his fiscal house is in disorder as he shells out money for visits to strip clubs. Republican Tony Perkins, chairman from a powerful religious right organization, advised Republican donors to give directly to candidates, not to the RNC. Steele has not demonstrated his ability as a fund raiser to date. As a matter of fact, he is spending faster than donations are received.

Others in the Republican leadership want to hold on to Steele as he is black and appeals to minorities. If they keep him, they might want to work on his wardrobe. Right now his sartorial taste is between a pimp and a side show barker... not quite ready to join the refined Republican country club set.

This Healthcare debacle rattles on. During Holy Week we learned that there is no penalty if you do not buy healthcare insurance; it was written out of the bill. Republicans did not want to tell you because they wanted to continue to scare you; the Democrats did not tell because now there is no penalty to force you to buy the insurance and without it, many of the uninsured will remain so.

Hope your Holy Week went better for you than for the Catholic Church and the US Government; and, that of the Republican Party. Holy mackerel!! Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret