The hate in some of the victims groups scares me (as do their alleged links with trial lawyers). I gave the keynote address at the founding meeting of SNAP — in those days I was one of the few priests that publicly supported the victims. They shouted hate at me even though I was on their side. “If you attack your friends,” I warned them, “you won’t have any friends.” I was wrong. The tort lawyers seem to be their friends.

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The argument in the Capitol last week was about victory. Legislators such as Sen. John McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham believe, against all the evidence, that victory in Iraq is possible. They insist like puppets that “the surge has been a success” and see signs of victory. The president proclaims that we are winning the [...]

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I was swept away last week by an avalanche of hate mail, far more than I usually receive (and favorable mail usually outnumbers the contentious). The first letter asserted the pope was coming to America this month to dispose of priests like me. The second said the writer had left the church because of me [...]

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