The CBS 3 I-Team in Philadelphia reports that Thomas Harkins, a priest in South Jersey until 2002, is now working at a security terminal at Philadelphia International Airport.
Although his main duty is to screen baggage, part of Harkins' job with the TSA also involves screening passengers passing through body scanners and conducting pat-downs where necessary.
"The Diocese of Camden removed him from ministry because it found he sexually abused two young girls. Now, in a new lawsuit, a third woman is claiming she also is one of Harkins' victims." the CBS affiliate reports.
Details of the new lawsuit filed in a federal court against Harkins were revealed by the CBS team and they do not make for pretty reading. It says that he sexually abused an 11-year-old girl up to 15 times in the early 1980s when he was a priest at Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Hammonton, NJ.
The CBS team tracked Harkins down and confronted him over the allegations. He refused to answer questions and sought refuge in a restricted TSA security area.
"They should know who they're hiring," Karen Polesir, a Philadelphia spokeswoman with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) told CBS.
"As the public, we are screened to our underwear getting on a plane, and yet they hire a man like that." she added.
by Steve Watson
Source
Praised by Barack Obama as a model for the world, Australia's highly unpopular carbon tax, set to take effect from July 1st, is set to be policed by laws which forbid business owners from criticizing it for causing price rises -- with thought criminals who do so under threat of being hit with huge fines of over $1 million dollars.
"SHOPS and restaurants could face fines up to $1.1 million if waiters or sales staff wrongly blame the carbon tax for price rises or exaggerate the impact," reports the Daily Telegraph.
According to ACCC deputy chairman Dr Michael Schaper, the warning applies, "to comments made by staff over the phone, on the shop floor or in meetings. It also covers advertising, product labels, websites, invoices, contracts and contract negotiations."
This draconian measure will be enforced by teams of "carbon cops" who roam the streets conducting snap inspections of businesses to ensure they are not making any reference to the tax.
The characterization of dissent against the carbon tax as a criminal offense exemplifies how the measure passed last year goes way beyond merely forcing Australia's top 500 companies to pay an extra $23.78 per each tonne of CO2 emitted. The system will be rolled into a carbon trading system by 2015.
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