What Is it With Conservatives-- Religious And Secular, Americans And Canadian-- Always Preying On Native Americans?

Conservative lovebirds (Canadian variety)

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government collapsed Friday in a 156-145 vote holding the PM in contempt for several typically conservative maneuvers, not the least of which was handing out (more) corporate tax cuts without consulting anyone (other than corporate managers). There will be a new election-- the 4th in just 7 years-- in early May.

We are talking about conservatives here, so, of course, there's a sex scandal involved as well. One of Harper's closest cronies, Bruce Carson, a 66 year old disbarred lawyer who served time in prison for defrauding clients, has been using his influence to advance the prospects of a hooker, Michele McPherson, exactly one-third his age. Oddly, Carson-- not unlike American conservative icons Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Bob Ney, et al-- was preying on Native American tribes.

Easy prey; everybody's doing it-- at least every conservative who can is. Over the weekend, the NY Times revealed that the Jesuit Order is paying $166 million in an out of court settlement with hundreds of children in the Pacific Northwest who were raped and sexually abused by Jesuits over decades, "many of whom are American Indians and Alaska Natives who were abused decades ago at Indian boarding schools and in remote villages... 'There is a huge number of victims, in part because these Native American communities were remote and vulnerable, and in part because of a policy by the Jesuits, even though they deny it, of sending problem priests to these far-off regions,' said Terry McKiernan of Bishopaccountability.org, a victims’ advocacy group that tracks abuse cases." Wow, it would be easy to tie Scott Walker crony, David Prosser, into this too-- but read his own peculiar priestly child abuse story instead.

John Allison, a lawyer based in Spokane, Wash., represented many clients who were abused in the late 1960s and early 1970s while they were students at St. Mary’s Mission in Omak, Wash., near the reservation of the Colville Confederated Tribes, one of the largest reservations in the country. The Jesuits ran the St. Mary’s school until the 1970s, when federal policies began to encourage more Indian control. St. Mary’s is now closed, though its building stands beside a new school.

Mr. Allison noted that English was not the native language for some of the students at the time of the abuse. Some were 6 and 7 years old and came from difficult family situations. Some were orphans. At the same time, many Jesuit priests were not happy to have been assigned to such remote places.

“They let down a very vulnerable population,” Mr. Allison said.

Lawyers representing some of the victims initially suggested they would go after assets of some of the region’s large Jesuit institutions, including Gonzaga University and Seattle University. But the settlement does not involve them, and their future vulnerability is unclear. Mr. Allison said some of the accused priests, now in their 80s, live at Gonzaga under strict supervision.

Canadians are expected to reelect Harper. And Jesuits and other Catholic orders are expected to continue to rape children while the Church hierarchy continues to cover up for them and buy them out of trouble. It's a cycle. Tom DeLay still isn't in prison, by the way.