D.A. DESCRIBES HOUSE OF HORROR FUNERAL PARLORS, ILLEGAL SKIN TRADE
District Attorney Lynne Abraham said the men operated funeral homes and a crematorium in which body parts were taken and sold to various tissue banks, which, in turn, sold the parts to hospitals in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York for tissue transplants. The tissue was used in operations in which patients required connective tissue replacements for arteries, joints, and dental work. The parts — bones, cartilage, and skin — were taken from 244 people in the Philadelphia area, she said. She said the bodies were “sometimes stacked in the alleyways outside the funeral homes exposed to the decaying elements.” She said the embalming rooms of the funeral homes looked like “butcher shops.” [via the INQUIRER]
BLACKWATER WILL NOT BODYGUARD FBI WHILE IT INVESTIGATES BLACKWATER
Some farces, it turns out, can be avoided. The FBI team traveling to Iraq at the behest of the State Department to assist in the investigation of Blackwater’s September 16 shooting at Nisour Square was supposed to be guarded by… Blackwater. (Shades of Darrell Issa’s threat hover over that one.) However, the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security realized yesterday that the ensuing conflict of interest would be just too egregious. [via TPM MUCKRAKER]
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CATHOLIC CHURCH EVICTING NUNS TO PAY OFF PEDOPHILE PRIEST VICTIMS
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — In Southern California, where the Roman Catholic Church has agreed to pay victims of pedophile priests $660 million, the archdiocese is ordering nuns out of convents so the buildings can be sold to fund the out-of-court settlement. Among those being forced to move is Sister Angela Escalera, 69, who, diabetic and able to get around only with a walker, had hoped to live out her days in the Santa Barbara convent. “This is how the archdiocese is going about getting the money to pay off the victims,” said her younger sister, Rosemary Escalera Gutierrez, 64, a former nun in the order. [via WASHINGTON POST]