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MEATLESS  FRIDAYSand  theOfficial  Church  Law The National Conference of Catholic (American) Bishops - NCCB Studies Returning Meatless Fridays        The vast majority of Catholics today do not know that there is an existing obligation to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. While it is true that the Code of Canon Law allows for the substituting of another penitential practice, authorized by the NCCB, one has not been defined. As a consequence the abiding custom of the Church has been set aside. Neither bishops nor priests, with rare exception, inform the faithful of their obligations....

After lowering infant mortality rates among Arabs in western Galilee through the reduction of neonatal infections, early detection and encouraging abortions of fetuses with major and lethal congenital defects, public health experts are now focusing on the last main cause of babies' deaths in this population: inbreeding. Dr. Avshalom Strulov of the University of Haifa's Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies and of the Health Ministry's Northern District health office reports in the August issue of the Israel Medical Association Journal about efforts to discourage Arab first cousins and other close relatives from marrying. Such consanguineous marriages, he writes,...

PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin expressed confidence that French voters would back the EU constitution in a national referendum this year, saying the government's low popularity ratings should not taint the debate. "I do not doubt the success of the 'Yes' (vote). I am confident in the good sense of the French," Raffarin told the daily newspaper Liberation in an interview due to be published on Saturday. President Jacques Chirac has said the referendum on the EU constitution, which aims partly to make it easier for the bloc to take decisions following enlargement last May, would...

These books were all on the list and considered some of the most notable of 2004: "Against All Enemies", "Chain of Command", "My Life", "Plan of Attack", "STRANGERS: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century" and "THE SURRENDER: An Erotic Memoir." Not one positive book about President Bush. Most obvious is the omission of "Unfit for Command" the book that influenced the election more than any other book that came out in 2004. It is yet another example of the liberal bias that stifles the truth in the MSM.

In wartime, U.S. needs Bush as leader Oklahoman Editorial IN THE presidential election of 1864, Americans buffeted throughout the summer by accounts of horrific battles and staggering casualties re-elected Abraham Lincoln. They did so despite awful carnage at places like the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, each of which cost thousands of Union soldiers killed and wounded. They did so despite charges from Lincoln's opponents that he was incompetent and that his top general was a butcher. Hesitant to change course in the middle of the Civil War, voters stuck with Lincoln and launched a tradition of Americans supporting incumbents...

Barry Bonds' personal trainer says in a secretly recorded conversation that the record-breaking slugger used an undetectable performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 season, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In an article published Saturday, the Chronicle reports that Greg Anderson, Bonds' boyhood friend and a defendant in the BALCO steroids conspiracy case, provided Bonds with steroids that could be taken the day of a test and still not be detected. The Chronicle reports that it received the recording from a source familiar with Anderson who asked not to be indentified, and that two people who know Anderson listened to the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Illinois Republican candidate Jack Ryan intends to abandon his Senate bid after four days spent trying to weather a political storm stirred by sex club allegations, GOP officials said Friday. A formal announcement was expected within hours, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ryan conducted an overnight poll to gauge his support in the wake of the allegations made by his ex-wife in

The UN chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has said "loose ends" must be sorted out with Iraq before arms inspections resume. Mr Blix was speaking after briefing the UN Security Council on his talks with Iraqi officials in Vienna on Tuesday. "There are minor matters and some loose ends that need to be solved before we go to Baghdad," he said. The United States and Britain want a robust new UN resolution carrying a clear threat of military action if Iraq fails to meet its obligations. Mr Blix said the inspectors might delay their return to Iraq pending new instructions...