Well, Jim Carroll, no matter what you think, I believe the truth is far more effective than all the dramatic posturing. Tell the truth, and tell it in proper context. Otherwise, I might begin to think that all you can do is spout propaganda.

There were comments made about the septic tank story just before the message I posted, and I felt it appropriate to respond. I'm glad to see you finally concede that the septic tank story is false.


You gave me a link to a Website, http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/. I went to the Website to find information about treatments of the residents of the laundries. I clicked four or five links, but didn't find any information about conditions in the laundries. I'd really like to see factual information, but please direct me to more specific locations.

Here (click) is a story about a Magdalene Laundry that closed in 1993. The story says, "When the laundry closed its doors in 1993, Madge and other women being held in the laundry were moved to a new building but remained under the care of the Good Shepherd nuns."

Seems to me that by the time these institutions closed, people realized that they were places of cruelty, so efforts were made to improve conditions at the end. I haven't found complete data on the Tuam home, but I have read several articles about the death rate, including this one. It appears that the death rate was very high during the early years of the institution, as high as 50 percent during one year. Then the death rate went down, and then went up again during World War II. And one report said that of the 796 deaths, 10 were due to malnutrition.

forbes.com has an interesting view of the perceptions of this whole story. It's worth a look.

I have no doubt that the actual data will determine that the conditions at Tuam and other institutions were unacceptable. But I want to see real data before I form an opinion.

I do have to say that it's entertaining to watch the moral outrage of all our born-again atheists/agnostics. The sound very suspiciously like born-again Christians with their outrage and their moral superiority. I guess they have the right to do that because they disowned their ancestors and covered up the skeletons in their closets and made sure they didn't have Jews or other unacceptable elements in their dart clubs. But they say the same exaggerated things about Catholics that the fundamentalists and snake handlers have been saying for years.

-Joe Offer-