Saturday, November 26, 2022
Friday, November 25, 2022
JUNGLEWATCH STATCOUNTER - 11/20/22
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Wednesday, November 23, 2022
FUNCTIONALLY KIDNAPPED - NOTE TO THE 37TH GUAM LEGISLATURE
Posted by Tim Rohr
The following is a Letter to the Editor to the Guam Daily Post which was published on 11/28/22. The following is the text of the article with supporting links.
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Despite the automatic rallying cry every election season of “Our children are our future!” Guam’s lack of concern for its children continues to worsen.
In 2012, a local news story labeled child abuse on Guam an “epidemic.” Ten years later, and judging by the almost daily news, it does not appear this atrocity has improved.
In the 36th Guam Legislature, two bills were introduced to address Guan’s shameful child abuse problem, Bill 299-36 and Bill 312-36). However - at least according to the published history of both bills - neither bill even made it to a public hearing. Maybe our children are not “our future” after all… at least not until the next election.
Substance abuse usually gets the blame for our battered kids. However, family fragmentation, a significant reality in Guam as well as the rest of the nation, is the more likely culprit. Following are some statistics published by Marripedia:
Monday, November 21, 2022
ACLU MYTHS RE ABORTION IN GUAM
The following letter to the editor was submitted to the Pacific Daily News on Sep. 16, 2022. To my knowledge, and after several follow ups to the editor, it was never published so I am publishing it here with the addition of links and references.
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By Tim Rohr
According to the ACLU, Guam’s informed consent law for abortion violates the 14th amendment and “causes irreparable harm and unnecessary shame in a community where the procedure is stigmatized.” (Pacific Daily News, Sep. 16, 2022)
That abortion is stigmatized in Guam is an ACLU myth. Compared to a study published by Americans United for Life in 2008, Guam, due to its lack of abortion regulation, was the easiest place in the nation to procure an abortion.
Since 2008, regulation has increased, but not through any effort by “stigmatizing” religious groups or pro-life lawmakers, but mostly via the efforts of The Esperansa Project which purposely steered clear of religious arguments, and in doing so, helped enact eight pro-life laws in eight years.
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Saturday, November 19, 2022
LONG BEFORE...
Long before there were any lawyers or legislators involved there were a very few who cared enough to stand up and say "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."
Today I came across an email referencing a post I wrote in 2017 in response to a johnny-come-lately lawyer. The fact is that it was the "regular Catholics" of this diocese - and NOT Lawyers nor Lawmakers - who brought (and BOUGHT) justice for the victims of the clergy they trusted and supported for decades, if not centuries.
Here is the post:
http://www.junglewatch.info/2017/05/response-to-pesch-legislation-not.html
COMMENTING ON PDN'S TAKE ON "BILL TO RESTRICT ABORTION"
PDN: Bill to restrict abortion was stalled until days after election
"Legislation to further restrict access to abortion on Guam sat idle until just days after this year’s general election.
Over a thousand people testified for and against the Guam Heartbeat Act of 2022, which would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected in the womb. The measure was unable to be debated by lawmakers and go to vote on the session floor without final approval from the Legislature’s Committee on Health — until Nov. 10, the day after the final, unofficial results for the general election were tabulated."
Bill 291-36 sat idle because the sponsors did not care to move the bill through the Legislature. Apparently they only wanted to get the credit for introducing said legislation and then ran and hid. Nothing new here.
For contrast, in 2012, and just days before the election, The Esperansa Project pushed then-Governor Eddie Calvo to call for a special session to debate a bill requiring informed consent for abortion - which had been languishing for nearly 2 years.
The session was held and it was quite a spectacle with certain lawmakers breaking into tears, leashing hell on Calvo, and attacking me personally (though not by name), NOT for the actual issue, but for actually requiring them to do their job before an election: which was to publicly take a stand.
A very smart pro-abort senator (BJ Cruz) publicly testified in favor of the bill and then later and quietly added a provision that would require the bill to go through the administrative rules process in the next legislature. Smart guy.
The bill was eventually enacted into law but not until The Esperansa Project had to fight the battle all over again and get the bill past the rules process.
BTW, the informed consent legislation is the law which is currently at issue relative to the ACLU lawsuit re "zoom abortions."
Note: As time permits, I will add links to the 2012 matter and the ACLU lawsuit later.
Friday, November 18, 2022
EVEN A DEGRADED BISHOP CAN ORDAIN
As we know, Apuron, while having been removed as Archbishop of Agana and prohibited from ever returning to Guam (by the Vatican), was never laicized and remains a bishop in the Catholic Church.
The bottom line is that Ordination, like Baptism, "imprints" an indelible mark on the soul. And thus even a priest who has been laicized (removed from active ministry) remains a priest for eternity.
Thus, Apuron will always be a priest, even if he is laicized ("defrocked"). Whether or not he will always be a bishop is beyond the scope of my present research, but for now, we know that the Vatican has not removed him from the episcopacy. So while he is not "Archbishop Apuron," he remains "Bishop Apuron."
Like most of us, I didn't know what that meant...and, at the time of his removal (2018), didn't really care. However, in listening to this...
The Holy Priesthood and the Cities of Refuge
...I think I have a better understanding.
At about 3:40 into the recording, the priest (name unknown) says:
Any consecrated bishop can validly ordain, even a degraded bishop can ordain…he has the power. And it’s valid. That’s why…they should be very careful who they choose as a bishop.
WHAT I TOLD CARDINAL BURKE
In February of 2017, the Vatican sent Cardinal Raymond Burke to Guam to get to the bottom of the Apuron situation.
Cardinal Burke presides over trial investigating Guam archbishop
Cardinal Burke sent to Guam to oversee sex abuse trial
Pope: Cardinal Burke sent to Guam because of terrible incidents
El Papa “destierra” a su máximo opositor a la isla de Guam
It was recommended to Burke that he interview me. He declined. I understood. I had no official standing and no position in the archdiocese. In fact, I was really just a "trouble-maker." Nevertheless, after Burke returned to the Vatican, his secretary requested that I send a notarized copy of what I would have told Burke if he had interviewed me. In a way, it worked out for the best. In writing, I was much better able to relate everything as I had come to know it.
It would be awhile before Apuron would be removed as Archbishop of Agana, and more than another year before the Pope himself would deny Apuron's appeal and officially and finally remove Apuron as Archbishop of Agana. For the record, I set out to do none of this. And my notarized testimony to Cardinal Burke makes that clear. The names of which I do not have permission to publish and whose record is not already public are redacted.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
I KNOW THERE WILL BE AN AVALANCHE
Yes, there have always been several others. They've known for years about Apuron, but now they have had enough. The stories coming out are simply horrid. BTW, I just received a phone call from the person who took the three gentlemen to meet with the attorney today. After the meeting my friend met with the attorney privately. The attorney advised that the three are willing to go "all the way," meaning they want to go public about their abuse. Once they do, I know that there will be an avalanche. I've been listening to the stories for many years. Feel free to advise me on anything I should know or do...
Sincerely,Tim
Saturday, November 12, 2022
HOW TO ANSWER THE ABORTION QUESTION
Posted by Tim Rohr
"If you're asking me if it is ever okay to kill a helpless, defenseless, innocent human being, the answer is no."
This is how to answer the abortion question. And here's why.
First, it puts you in control of the question. Your interrogator has most likely framed the question in the context of "choice," reproductive freedom, or even "health care." And your "pro-life" answer, such as "I am for life," I oppose abortion," I believe life begins at conception," etc. is easily translated into your being against choice, against freedom, against health care, against women, etc.
Friday, November 11, 2022
REDACTED...FOR NOW
Posted by Tim Rohr
For several years I have been urged to write a book about the happenings in the Archdiocese of Agana from approximately 2013 to the present. As the ugliness is still ongoing (the archdiocesan bankruptcy, settlement with the victims, and Apuron's personal trial - which is yet to happen), I am holding off. However, as I sort through old communications that led up to the present "ugliness," I see no reason not to share some of it now. Following is an email from 2016 between myself and a Vatican official. Redacted for now:
From: Tim Rohr [mailto:timrohr.guam@gmail.com
]
Sent: Montag, 27. Juni 2016 21:33
To: [REDACTED]
Subject: [REDACTED
I believe [VICTIM] emailed this you earlier but she wasn't sure if she sent it correctly and asked me to email to you.
I spoke with [VICTIM] after her meeting with Archbishop Hon today. His advice was just to forgive and that "everybody makes mistakes." She also related the account of her friend who was raped by [NAME OF PRIEST REDACTED]. Hon told her the same thing.
I believe [NAME OF PRIEST REDACTED] rape victim will have a statement soon and may be going public.
Sincerely,
Tim
Thursday, November 10, 2022
THERE'S NOBODY THAT'S REALLY WILLING TO FIGHT FOR IT
Posted by Tim Rohr
Catholic blogger Tim Rohr, who equated abortion to killing babies, said that regardless of the outcome in the legislative race, a local abortion ban won’t find its legs “because there’s nobody that’s really willing to fight for it.”
37th Guam Legislature's path on abortion unclear, by Joe Taitano II, Pacific Daily News, Nov. 9, 2022
MY NOTE: This is a demonstrable fact. Which candidate made abortion the war cry of his or her platform? None. Where have the sponsors of the Heartbeat Bill been after they introduced the bill? Who is willing to put their face on the news time and time again and call out the baby killers? Nobody.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
WELL, THAT'S WHO YOU VOTED FOR, GUAM
Posted by Tim Rohr
That an unborn child is a human being is no longer the issue. Science has long demonstrated that the unborn child is not "potential life" as Roe termed it, but a real, living, growing human person.
The issue now is who can kill that child and when. That's the only issue. And the Supreme Court has said that it's up to you, i.e. the states.
In Guam, given who we just re-elected, apparently Guamanians support not only killing an unborn child all the way until birth, but even after the child is born to a mother who doesn't want to be a mother. (Per the now-governor's testimony to in opposition to a bill mandating normal medical care for a child who survived a failed abortion.)
This is not to say good or bad. This is to say this is Guam: one of the world's most "Catholic" populations per capita. We need to stop lying to ourselves. Guam is NOT "pro-life." Guam is pro-death. Over and over again the majority has voted for death. And we just did that again yesterday.
But not only are the majority of Guam voters "pro-death in the womb," they are pro-self-extermination since nearly 2/3 of abortions are of Chamorro children while the Chamorro population of Guam has sunk to less than 30%.
Well , that's what and who you voted for.
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
TOO BAD HE DIDN'T TAKE IT
Posted by Tim Rohr
In 2014, several well-respected lay members of the Church attempted to avoid the catastrophe that would come upon the Guam Catholic Church in the very near future - a catastrophe that we are all being made to pay for. The PETITION was signed by many. As expected: it was ignored.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
LETTER TO LLG: YOUR PEOPLE ARE DYING
Posted by Tim Rohr
In 2012, I publicly engaged now-Governor Lou Leon Guerrero on the abortion issue. After she called in to K57 to try and take me out I wrote her the following letter. However, before I copy the letter, I am copying a comment from another very prominent person of CHamoru heritage (name withheld):
"This is so powerful and I pray that this fact will wake her up, at least that part in her regarding her ethnicity as she is so vocal and in the vanguard about saving our Chamorro heritage! It is ironic that in her zeal to protect the right to abort, she is aborting her own race to extinction!"
THE ESPERANSA PROJECT
October 25, 2012
RE: WHERE ARE HIS FACTS?
Dear Former Senator Lou Leon Guerrero,
This morning on K57 you asked "Where are his facts?' in reference to my earlier comment that there is abortion on Guam almost every day.
Please follow this link for a copy of Guam Medical Records abortion report as required by law for the years 2008 through 2011. From 2008 to 2011 there were 1,157 reported abortions over 1,260 days. That equals one abortion every 1.089 days.
Also, Senator, please note the ethnicity data: 642 or 55.49% of those abortions were performed on Chamorro mothers. I am hoping that you see that there is a crisis here.
Also, the PDN reported recently that there are nine births per day on Guam which means that we are aborting one out of every ten children with more than half of them being of Chamorro descent.
Does this concern you? And if you do not support informed consent legislation to at least advise mothers with unwanted pregnancies about adoption, then what do you support? Or are these numbers okay with you?
Please check with CPS. They have reported that even though they have a waiting list of more than ten parents in waiting, they have not had a child available for adoption in five years.
Something is terribly wrong, Senator, terribly wrong. Your people are dying.
Tim Rohr
A citizen
FROM 2012. A LETTER FROM TIM ROHR TO THEN-SENATOR BJ CRUZ
Posted by Tim Rohr
From about 2009 to 2012, I (Tim) had many heated public battles with then-Senator BJ Cruz. However, during a vote re the Esperansa Project backed bill for informed consent for abortion, Senator Cruz did the right thing, and I told him so. Note: this bill, as enacted into law, is now at the root of the ACLU suit to permit telemedicine abortions.
THE ESPERANSA PROJECT
October 25, 2012
RE: BILL 52-31
Dear Senator Cruz,
There is probably no other senator with whom I have battled more in public than yourself. It is certainly no secret that you and I have been on very opposite sides of some very sensitive issues. And there certainly has been no love lost between us over the last few years.
The reason for the letter is to thank you for being the voice of reason yesterday. I'm sure you did not like the spectacle that Bill 52 had become any more than anyone else did. However, you put your feelings aside and spoke clearly about what Bill 52 was actually about, saying:
"It's not what anybody else thinks what it is. It's not going to affect whether or not one is pro-life or pro-choice. It's just allowing the women to be informed."
No clearer words were spoken yesterday. But beyond that, you said something even more true when you said at some point "this problem is going to have to be treated holistically."
You are so right. A society's abortion rate is a measure of its inner collapse. Informed consent legislation is really only a last gasp bandaid to try in some small way to slow the bleeding of a society that has already cut itself - as our newspapers so often remind us.
I believe your Bill 415, despite the reservations with some elements in it which I shared in my written testimony in support of your bill, is a large step in the right direction.
I admit, given our previous battles, I was suspicious of your intentions. I even said so on TV. Unfortunately, most of my relations with the Legislature have been immensely soured and my suspicions raised since the night of November 26, 2010 (the debate over Bill 54-30), and a six-month long battle to obtain a copy of the journal for that session.
However, your clear and reasoned approach to the issue at large yesterday, in the midst of so much emotion, was a true example of how personal feelings could be put aside and the true work of the legislature can actually get done.
Coming towards the end of the session as it did, your words brought a certain peace to a terribly turbulent situation. And I confess to being the one that probably started that turbulence. I make no apology. I have been fighting to have a fair debate on informed consent legislation since February of 2009 when Bill 54-30 was first introduced.
Whether Bill 52-31 would have ever seen the light of day had I not attacked those who attacked it, is anybody's guess. But we're beyond that now. And again I simply want to thank you for what you said yesterday and I want to express my support for Bill 415, at least in its intent if not in detail - something I would be willing to work with you on.
In fact, Senator Cruz, you have my vote. In fact, this is why I am sending this letter and making it public, and copying it to the press. In fact, Senator Cruz, if you had voted "no" on Bill 52-31 you would have still had my vote for simply being intellectually honest and saying what you said about it, which I repeat here:
"It's not what anybody else thinks what it is. It's not going to affect whether or not one is pro-life or pro-choice. It's just allowing the women to be informed."
I was so very impressed by how you rose above the personal and did the people's business and that deserves a vote. You will have mine.
God Bless You and Thank You,
A citizen