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An Israeli Cabinet meeting has authorised a commission of inquiry into the failures of the war with Hezbollah. Defence Minister Amir Peretz says Israel will examine the mistakes it made during the month-long offensive. A government official briefing reporters on the weekly Cabinet meeting quoted Mr Peretz as saying everything would be put on the table at the inquiry because it was a duty to prepare for the next round. He said Israel would prevent the Lebanese Army from deploying within two kilometres of the border before the multinational peacekeeping force was in place. The Lebanese Army has already deployed...

For Cindy Nooney's 3-year-old twin boys, playing with the Thomas the Train set at their local bookstore in Southern California is a major thrill. Jack and Sam push Thomas, Arthur and friends down the track, they run around the table, jump up and down — and, of course, they squeeeaal. Nooney expects as much in the children's section of the store. But on a recent afternoon, she was surprised by an employee who confronted her, calling her darling Jack a tyrant. "He was a little loud but this is a children's section," says Nooney. "They run a noisy, cavernous bookstore...

Merit Abridged by Annalex FOREWORD This is an abridgement of long and detailed Catholic Encyclopedia article on Merit where I condense the necessary definitions and distinctions in a more concise manner, omitting discussion that seemed to me too arcane. I follow the same subtitle structure as the original and invite the reader to study the original sections for deeper understanding. Much of this abridgement is directly copied from the original, but for the ease of reading I do not use quotation marks. None in this is my own thoughts; my only input was in shortening and paraphrasing. MERIT Merit (meritum)...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - University of California President Robert C. Dynes told a state Senate committee Wednesday that he made mistakes in overseeing the compensation awarded to top university administrators and pledged reform. The system is facing several investigations into its compensation practices, which included spending millions of tax dollars on bonuses, stipends and other cash benefits to employees without publicly disclosing the payments. Dynes promised senators that policies would be changed and accountability would be improved. "We need to correct these things and reinstall the trust in the University of California," Dynes said during an appearance before the Senate Education...

Even U.S. presidents can make mistakes. The University of Louisville’s McConnell Center has launched a survey to determine the biggest blunder ever made by an American commander-in-chief. The winner will be announced Feb. 18 at noon in the first-floor conference room in Belknap Research Building, said Gary Gregg, McConnell Center director. The survey, organized to commemorate Presidents Day on Feb. 20, is part of “Presidential Moments,” a conference at U of L on Feb. 18-19 that will feature talks by some of the nation’s leading scholars on the U.S. presidency. “We’re ranking presidential mistakes and analyzing the impact they’ve had...

An indulgence is an action of the Church which spreads her treasure of merits to the suffering members of the family of God. Indulgences: Spreading the wealth By Dermott J. Mullan I. Introduction Indulgences have to do with how God handles evil and good. To God, sin is always horrible, but humans do not always think so. The Church’s teaching on indulgences is meant to impress on us some of God’s horror of sin. The Church says sin is never an isolated event: rather, each sin has after-effects, not only in the person who sins but also in other parts...

Terror Suspect: 'Everyone Makes Mistakes' Thursday November 3, 2005 12:01 AM By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - After confessing to FBI agents that he joined al-Qaida and discussed plans to assassinate President Bush, an American student wrote a letter to his parents saying that ``everyone makes mistakes.'' ``I know this will be difficult for you ... but I've been detained here in Saudi Arabia for some charges of terrorism,'' wrote Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, who is on trial in federal court for conspiracy to assassinate the president, providing support to al-Qaida and other charges. ``It...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed confidence Tuesday he can persuade voters to approve several "reform" measures in the special election he called for Nov. 8, although he acknowledged making mistakes in his effort, starting with a widely publicized comment last year calling nurses a special interest group whose "butts" he is always kicking. In an interview with The Associated Press, Schwarzenegger discussed a wide range of matters pertaining to the special election and his own decision to pursue a second term next year. Among other things, he said that, "in principle," he supported Proposition 73, a ballot measure requiring...

SOME KATRINA LESSONS: We're going to see a plethora of commissions and inquiries (most about as useful and non-partisan as the 9/11 Commission), but here are a few lessons that seem solid enough to go with now: 1. Don't build your city below sea level: If you do, sooner or later it will flood. Better levees, pumps, etc. will put that day off, but not prevent it. 2. Order evacuations early: You hate to have false alarms, but as Brendan Loy noted earlier, even 48 hours in advance is really too late if you want to get everyone out. 3....

My reaction to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement was almost as positive as my reaction in 1981 was negative when the Reagan administration announced that they were going to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court. It wouldn't matter if all nine Justices of the Supreme Court were women, if these were the nine best people available. But to decide in advance that you were going to appoint a woman and then look only among women for a nominee was a dangerous gamble with a court that has become dangerous enough otherwise. The recent outrageous Supreme Court decision making anyone's...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Investigators found no fraud, but blamed an accounting scandal at the Democratic Party on poor hiring decisions by former state chairman Scott Maddox, who is seeking the party's gubernatorial nomination. "The comptroller ... was in over her head," said former statewide prosecutor Melanie Hines, who was hired by new Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman to investigate how the party missed federal tax payments in 2003 and lost track of more than $900,000. Maddox, the investigation found, played no direct role in the mistakes, but was also unaware of the problems. The party's former executive director, longtime Maddox...

Ever since Brown v. Board of Education, liberals have used judicial activism as a substitute for political persuasion. But we shouldn't ask judges to make laws. It is difficult to imagine a more fundamental assault on the separation of power than this spring's shameless attacks on the judicial appointments process. With their threats to end the right of filibuster and to measure judicial nominees by political standards, Republicans like Rep. Tom DeLay and Sen. John Cornyn brought partisan warfare and violation of basic principles to a new low. Either they do not understand the essentials of our constitutional system, or...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The state elections director testified Tuesday that he believes the problems in Washington's incredibly close 2004 gubernatorial election were innocent mistakes. "I saw inadvertent mistakes and errors of human beings who were working their hearts out," said Nick Handy, who was appointed to the post. He said he disagrees with his boss, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, who has called the problems in heavily Democratic King County "appalling." Handy testified as a trial to determine whether the results of the election should be thrown out entered its second week. Democrats are trying to defend the...

* There are a couple of issues which attend to this Newsweek thing. First, there is the First Amendment to the Constitution. For those of us who haven't actually read the First Amendment since 8th Grade Social Studies, here it is: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. * This is a pretty big bag of freedoms in one Amendment. Religion, speech,...

Sometimes I get the idea that my daily newspaper, the L.A. Times, is cutting a few too many corners. I’m getting the feeling that in a desperate attempt to save a few bucks, they’ve slashed not only editors, copyreaders and fact checkers, but even reporters with junior high diplomas. I mean, it’s one thing to put out a newspaper while keeping an eye on the bottom line and quite another to hire a bunch of people who can’t spell bottom line. Having studied the paper closely for the past several months, I’d say that the mistakes fall mainly into three...

IT'S ONE THING to read about the "Summer of Threat," as we do in the government's new WMD report. That's history. What's unnerving is to discover that Washington, D.C. has neglected to spend even half of the $145 million it's been allotted for counterterrorism by the federal government. The Washington Post solemnly reports that $120 million received by the national capital region between 2002 and 2004 remains unspent. The money in question is "earmarked for such critical items as hospital beds and protective gear for rescue workers." Admittedly, this isn't quite as shocking as Camilla Parker Bowles' wedding hat, but...

As a rule, when I write a piece about all the mistakes my newspaper, the L.A. Times, makes, I have to wait a week or even two to compile a selection large enough to make it worth our while. It’s not that they don’t come up with a ready supply on a daily basis. Heck, UPS doesn’t deliver the goods with such regularity. But some of the goofs are simply too boring to mention, as when they get the days and times of certain events wrong or when they simply misspell someone’s name. Sometimes, too, the corrections run even longer...

February 21 No Use Pretending For we all stumble in many things. James 3:2 We commonly make two mistakes with respect to life in Christ. Either we ourselves underestimate the value of what is truly good about it, or we misrepresent that goodness to others, portraying the Christian's life as something other than what it is. The great gifts available in Jesus Christ -- the forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven -- are of incalculable worth. It took the death of the Son of God to make these gifts possible, and we err greatly if we ever undervalue...

Beware not the ides but the start of March – and April and May and every month. In the first few days of each month, fatalities due to medication errors rise by as much as 25 percent above normal, according to new research by University of California, San Diego sociologist David Phillips. Published in the January issue of Pharmacotherapy, the journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the study is the first to document a beginning-of-the-month spike in deaths attributed to mistakes in prescription drugs. The primary suspect, Phillips says, is a beginning-of-the-month increase in pharmacy workloads and a...

Yes, the election is behind us, but it is not yet time to heal the wounds. We cannot let the Democrats forget the vitriol they spewed during the campaign. Their ugly tactics are part of history. Forget history and we repeat our mistakes. Remember Bob Woodward’s charge that President Bush and the Saudis had a secret “deal” to keep oil prices low in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election? (See also here). There is no documentation showing that such a deal was ever made. Historical oil and gas prices in 2004 provide empirical evidence that no such deal was...