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To: Tom Clarke who wrote (16606)	5/30/2000 12:12:00 PM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Re: Any conspiracy theory worth its salt has to have a factual basis to start with. This one seems manufactured out of whole cloth. First, I'm afraid that "conspiracy" is too bombastic a word to fairly describe my blackmail scenario.... After all, there's nothing conspiratorial in claiming that the Catholic Church is routinely smeared with pedophile stories or smooching sessions with young seminarians, etc. --especially in North America, where the Church's grip on the justice apparatus is not as ironclad as it is in (Latin) Europe... I mean the U.S. is probably by far the most expensive market for the Church when it comes to sex-scams involving bishops, priests,.... and resulting in costly judicial settlements. So, to get back to my "scenario", I agree that all my "evidences" so far are purely circumstancial.... Yet the whole story does conceal an intriguing hitch, that is the age gap between Col. Alois Estermann, 43, and Vice-Caporal Cedric Tornay, 23. The official story that there was a miff about Tornay's promotion is ludicrous: that kind of problems does happen BETWEEN POTENTIAL RIVALS, but not between, say, an admiral and an ordinary seaman! Anyway, I have the feeling that Estermann and Tornay were nevertheless "associates".... Then again, why would a seasoned elite officer, such as Estermann, join with a rookie whom he could be the father?? Did Tornay possess some special skill? Tornay was no whizzkid --he was a mechanic, not an engineer. Yet, was Tornay a reliable tough guy whom Estermann could use to intimidate some cute eminence? Nope, the fellow wasn't a street urchin from Palermo.... So, what are we left with as a plausible reason for the unlikely "Estermann-Tornay" partnership? So far, I see only one good explanation: Estermann needed Tornay as a bait to frame some Vatican topsider. After all, a sexy Swiss guard was the safest best for both parties: the "customer" could easily access his resume (including his medical record) and the "pimp" had all the time to brief his "junior partner" on his very special mission....

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (16606)	5/31/2000 11:25:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 17770

Footnote to my post #16609: The Case of Father Jerry In 1996, a senior official in the Catholic church confided to a friend of CounterPunch, the Catholic church in America had thus far paid out $500 million to settle priest abuse cases. On July 24, 1997, a Dallas jury imposed a $119.6 million in overall damages - the largest penalty ever levied on the Catholic Church - for what was described as "grossly negligent handling" of the sexual abuses perpetrated by one priest. If the Dallas verdict holds up on appeal, the National Catholic Reporter reckons the estimated amount of pay-outs related to clergy sex abuse will approach $1 billion. Many of such cases never reach the court filing stage and of those that do, the vast majority never go to trial. Often the testimony of the victims is so powerful that Church officials move immediately to negotiations for a settlement. We've also been told that the go-ahead for pay-outs often amounting to millions of dollars comes from Rome. [...] counterpunch.org