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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (78870)	6/27/2010 12:34:33 PM
From: manalagi	Respond to of 149317

I am a Catholic, but I cannot agree with the current Pope. What if a moslem clergy declares that Sharia Law should instead be applied because the alleged sex offender is a moslem? Pope deplores Belgian sex raids, stresses autonomy By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 45 mins ago .VATICAN CITY – The pope on Sunday called the raids carried out by Belgian police investigating priestly sex abuse "surprising and deplorable" and voiced his support for the Belgian bishops who were held during the searches. In a message of solidarity to the head of the Belgian bishops' conference, Pope Benedict XVI said justice must take its course but also asserted the right of the Catholic Church to investigate abuse alongside civil law enforcement authorities. It was first time the pope himself had commented on the June 24 raids, and his message to Monsignor Andre Joseph Leonard capped a daily ratcheting up of the Vatican's criticism. On Saturday, the No. 2 Vatican official said the raids were unprecedented even under communism. In the raids, police searched the home and former office of former Archbishop Godfried Danneels, taking documents and his personal computer. The raid came as the country's nine bishops were starting their monthly meeting; the men were held for nine hours and — along with diocese staff — had to surrender their cell phones. Police and prosecutors have not said if Danneels is suspected of abuse himself or simply had records pertaining to allegations against another person. Separately, police seized the records of an independent panel investigating sexual abuse by priests, some 500 cases in all. The head of the panel called the raid a huge violation of the privacy of people — mostly men now in their 60s and 70s — who have lived with the shame of abuse. Benedict said he wanted to write to Belgium's bishops "at this sad moment" to express his solidarity "for the surprising and deplorable way in which the searches were conducted." He noted that the monthly meeting of the bishops was to discuss precisely clerical abuse. He stressed that such crimes are handled by both civil and canon law "respecting their reciprocal specificity and autonomy." "In that sense, I hope that justice takes its course, guaranteeing the fundamental rights of people and institutions with respect to the victims, recognizing without prejudice all those who are committed to collaborating with justice and refuting all that which seeks to obscure its noble goals," he wrote. The Belgian justice minister, Stefaan De Clerck, stressed that the procedures used in the raids were correct and that the bishops were treated normally, according to the Belga news agency. He bristled at the criticism by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican No. 2, saying his suggestion that the raids were unprecedented even under communism had been excessive, based on false information. news.yahoo.com

To: stockman_scott who wrote (78870)	6/27/2010 12:48:25 PM
From: ChinuSFO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

Obama's decision to bring in Petraeus has been criticized by the left and right alike. But there is a point he made when he announced that he had accepted the General's resignation. And in their mood to criticize Obama, no matter what, the folks, particularly the MSM missed the point. He made it very clear that he wanted Administration folks to stop bickering and start working as a team. IN saying so, he tacitly admitted that he folks were warring with one another. General Petraeus not only has a good record of success in Iraq, but he also was one who proved to us that it is not just the military that wins the war. He was very successful in getting the co-operation of the locals, particularly the critical Sunnis. That was very important. And the same is the case with the Taliban. The Taliban is to Afghanistan what the Al Qaeda was to Iraq. So those who opine that the General's appointment is another assertion by Obama that war is the solution are dead wrong. On the contrary it is one more step in Obama's search to bring this conflict to an end through the right blend and co=operation of the military and the civilian groups, here in the US and also in Afghanistan. No more bickering between the US Ambassador and the General, is what I understood Obama to hint at during his speech in the Rise Garden on that day.