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It seems Pope Francis needs to brush up on his Tertullian!

It has been reported (in The ChristLast Media, I must note) that the current Pope does not like the phrase "lead us not into temptation...

"Let no freedom be allowed to novelty, because it is not fitting that any addition should be made to antiquity. Let not the clear faith and belief of our forefathers be fouled by any muddy admixture." -- Pope Sixtus III

Friday, April 28, 2006

I guess Congress can now resume using its constitutionally mandated investigative power...

Ha! I knew I couldn't type that with a straight face.

AP: Independent counsel era to come to end

The post-Watergate era of independent counsels, the investigators whose criminal probes affected the fortunes of Republican and Democratic administrations alike, is officially coming to a close.

A two-paragraph order signed by a federal appeals court clerk on March 31 marks the demise of the last of the court-appointed prosecutors.
Independent counsel David Barrett, who spent a decade and $20 million investigating former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros, must complete his duties "on or before May 3," the order states.

Cisneros pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor of lying to the
FBI about payments to a former mistress when he was answering questions following his nomination for the Cabinet-level post. But Barrett kept investigating, contending in a final report in January that the Justice Department and IRS blocked his efforts to probe possible Cisneros tax violations.

The duration of Barrett's probe is an illustration of why many in Congress grew disenchanted with a process designed to protect prosecutors from political interference in inquiries into high-level administration wrongdoing.

Independent Counsel Ken Starr's probe of the Monica Lewinsky scandal led to the impeachment of President Clinton by the Republican-controlled House. Starr and his successor were on the job for 6 1/2 years of Clinton's eight years in office.

Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh spent seven years investigating the
Iran-Contra scandal, which led to the indictment of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, Lt. Col. Oliver North, former National Security Adviser John Poindexter and others in the administration of President Reagan.

The first President Bush, who probably would have had to testify at Weinberger's trial, pardoned him weeks before the case was to begin.
And in the Cisneros probe, Clinton pardoned his former housing secretary.

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First of all, the word is SEX, not GENDER. If you are ever tempted to use the word GENDER, don't. The word is SEX! SEX! SEX! SEX! For example: "My sex is male." is correct. "My gender is male." means nothing. Look it up. What kind of sick neo-Puritan nonsense is this? Idiot left-fascists, get your blood-soaked paws off the English language. Hence I am choosing "male" under protest.

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