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A source close to the matter says the Dutch government must take responsibility for how Lilianne Ploumen, a militant pro-abortion politician, abused her Order of St. Gregory medal, and that her award was actually meant as a ‘slight.’ Edward Pentin The Vatican currently has no plans to change the procedure of exchanging honors during historic official visits of heads of state to the Vatican, and believes that the responsibility for any subsequent abuse of such decorations rests with the visiting delegation.

In an interview with GQ earlier this week, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby dodged the question of whether gay sex is sinful. He admitted to acting like a politician and to "copping out" on the answer, despite the fact that most Anglicans in the global church agree that gay sex is wrong, as it has been consistently condemned by the Bible and church tradition. GQ's Alastair Campbell asked Welby point-blank: "Is gay sex sinful?" After balking at the question, the archbishop gave a very telling answer. "You know very well that is a question I can't give a straight answer...

Mystery Is Deep and Yet Vertical – A Brief Meditation on the Christian Meaning of Mystery By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the secular world, a “mystery” is something which baffles or eludes understanding, something which lies undisclosed. And the usual attitude of the world toward mystery is to solve it, to get to the bottom of it, or to uncover it. Mysteries must be overcome! The riddle or “whodunit” must be solved!In the Christian and especially the Catholic world, “mystery” is something a bit different. Here, mystery refers to the fact that there are hidden dimensions in things, people, and situations that...

WASHINGTON – We may never know whether the government's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry worked, according to a new report from congressional auditors. That's because it will be impossible to sort out which of the government's spending and other tinkering has made a difference, according to the report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office. The report covers Treasury's administration of the bailout, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, through Jan. 23. Nearly $294 billion had been released by that date — almost $200 billion of it through a program to inject capital directly into financial institutions. The...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A boycott of Olympic ceremonies by world leaders over China's crackdown in Tibet would be an evasion of responsibility and less effective than quiet diplomacy, the U.S. national security adviser said on Sunday. The remarks by White House adviser Stephen Hadley come as a challenge to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has said she will not attend the opening ceremony of this year's Beijing Olympics, and to those calling for President George W. Bush and other leaders to do the same. "I think unfortunately a lot of countries say 'well, if we say we are not going...

Friday, August 17, 2007 Nix That [Kathryn Jean Lopez] From Team Thompson: I'm afraid CNN story you linked mischaracterized Thompson's comment on gay marriage. They've since altered the story....without noting the change. For the record, the Thompson camp has officially noted that "Fred Thompson does not support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage." He supports the rights of States to choose their marriage law for themselves. The Thompson camp issued this statement: In an interview with CNN today, former Senator Fred Thompson’s position on constitutional amendments concerning gay marriage was unclear. Thompson believes that states should be able to...

A former Marine convicted of trying to contract his wife's murder says he deserves a light sentence because she squandered his money and wouldn't give him sex, dinner or clean laundry. "Like an ivory tower princess, her delusional attitude seemed to be that it was my duty, my obligation, my purpose, alone, to work off these debts she created,'' Harold Stonier said in a 50-page filing in federal court in Boston, seeking leniency as he awaits sentencing. Stonier, who was caught on tape plotting various scenarios for his wife's murder, called her a ``spiteful, conniving, vengeful lunatic who creates her...

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History has withdrawn its co-sponsorship of a showing later this month of a film that supports the theory of "intelligent design." The museum said it would not cancel the screening of the film, "The Privileged Planet," but would return the $16,000 that the Discovery Institute, an organization that promotes a skeptical view of the Darwinian theory of evolution, had paid it. Proposals for events at the National Museum of Natural History are reviewed by members of the staff, and it shares sponsorship of all events. After the news of the showing caused controversy,...

For years, retired police officer Jack Cole arrested people for having marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Now he wants to make it legal to smoke, snort a line or shoot up, regardless of whether it's medically necessary. Cole is among five police officers who three years ago started an organization aimed at legalizing all drugs. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, one of several groups calling for drug policy changes in the U.S., says it has grown to include more than 1,700 people in 45 countries. About half of LEAP's members are current or former law enforcement agents. "We were created to give...

TO: Republican National Committee Cc: Butler Co. Republican party Ohio Republican Party George W. Bush Subject: Sitting this one out As a conservative, I have become increasingly disappointed at the leftward drift of the Republican Party under the leadership of George W. Bush. His monetary and immigration policies are prime examples. I have come to the conclusion that he is, quite simply, unacceptable. Furthermore, the overall position of the Republican Party is too far to the left to suit me. The argument that "the other guy is worse" is invalid. There is now such an indiscernible difference between the Republican...

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin Powell emphatically said yesterday that if the incoming Iraqi interim government ordered the departure of foreign troops after June 30, they would pack up without protest, but emphasized he doubted such a request would be made.

Mail arrives, telling me that by going to Mexico I have sold out, fled, abandoned the United States. I’m a coward, some of my correspondents say, and a traitor, just like Lord Haw Haw, Kim Philby, Jane Fonda. I’m probably a devotee of Quisling. (Actually I’ve never quizzled in my life.) (OK, OK, I’m sorry.) Anyway, they’re upset, which is irrational. They think that just because I went to Mexico, I left the US. They don’t understand. I didn’t leave the United States. It left me. It was a bait-and-switch operation. I signed on to one country, and they slipped...

February 8, 2004 TEN REASONS FOR REPUBLICANS TO SIT OUT THE 2004 ELECTION: Conservatives are in a lather over various domestic policies of the Bush administration, and many are threatening to sit out the 2004 election and not vote at all. And who can blame them? After all, it’s been a decade since New Gingrich and his merry band of reformers won control of the House from the democrats who dominated that body for the previous 40 years. In the decade that republicans have controlled the House (and most of that time, the Senate also), our federal government has grown...

MIAMI (Reuters) - An elderly Vietnamese monk set himself alight in a Buddhist temple in the United States to protest at the lack of religious freedom and demand democracy in his communist homeland, a follower said on Saturday. Thich Chan Hy, 74, killed himself in front of a statue of Avalokita Bodhisattva, a figure of compassion, before daybreak on Christmas Eve, said Phuong Huynh, a youth group leader at the Lien Ha temple in Charlotte-Mecklenburg in North Carolina. "He left a letter to his master on a scroll...with three wishes that he had given up his life for," Huynh told...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis and key Democrats in the state Legislature appear to have agreed on a political fix for the California Coastal Commission. Unfortunately, they've settled on the wrong one.</p> <p>This commission teeters on edge -- OK, over the edge -- of constitutionality. That's because the Legislature appoints eight of its 12 board members. The board members decide on coastal development proposals up and down the state.</p>