While she absolutely provoked the confrontation, with her actions, he had no business "stepping" on her. He was wrong. She was on the ground and seperated from Mr. Paul. He deserves any punishment he gets.

When is everyone going to realize that these Moveon "whack jobs" are going to and are doing anything they can to provoke a response. They know the media is just going to show the end results and not the precipitating actions. They pulled her away, and seperated her from the candidate, and it should have stopped there.

"Thousands of people, including film technicians and actors, staged rallies in New Zealand's main cities on Monday calling for the movies to stay. "

I find this a bit ironic as it was the actors that have put the filming in NZ in jeopardy, in the first place. Now all of a sudden, they see the effect of their action and they start crying.

I can see the producers point of wanting to move. What's to say they don't get a third of the way through filming and there is some sort of action by the union. Who wants to put up with that possibility.

If anything, it is Ireland. Much of the basis of Tolkein's "world" came from Irish and Celtic lore.

No Deapster, the "Chicago Way" would be to threaten and intimidate him ubtil he chose to leave. And if he didn't, it would be "chosen" for him (of course you know what that means........ he would never be heard from again).

Actually Ed, this came about more for the idea of control. If you have a pastor there for decades, as you did in past times, they were in charge. When you rotate pastors around, they can not have the control they once had and the real control lies with the "parish council". This was one of the things done to protestantize the church.

Actually, ATP, the "shortage" was actually man-made. I was in the seminary during the early 90's and I can tell you that they made sure to weed out anyone who did not agree with the modernist, liberal line. I know of at least 20 men who were literally driven out because they actually believed in what the Church has always taught, not what it has started to teach. I myself am one of them. They have lost, and are still losing some fine men.

Actually, if he continues to take this course, he can be defrocked (remember the idiot in Haiti some years back). It is against Canon Law for a Cleric to hold or aspire to a civil office for about 800 years. First will come the reprimand, then the censure and finally the excommunication and removal of office and privilidge (does not actually absolve him of his actual vows though).

What really gets me is that with all that he has said and done, he has been chastised and reprimanded for his disobedience, yet it will be a "procedural" issue that will ultimately remove him.

BTW.... You are correct about them still being a "priest". Ordination comes under Divine Law and therefore the character of the Sacrament can never be removed. The obligations of Celebacy (or chastity if you prefer), Obedience and the Divine office are still in effect. This was the big problem with what Paul VI did with the dispensations in the 70's. None of them were valid.

CL,
Don't joke about this. They have been trying to pass a "food safety" law for the last year or so that, if passed as written, would classify any grown produce as a commercial farm and would have to be regulated and inspected by the USDA. I am sure that the argument would be that this is not what was "intended" but we all know too well that there will always be some government idiot who will inforce the "letter" of the law.

Here's the deal folks......

Union employment in NY is down (pipefitters, steelworkers, ibew, etc...) and their members are upset. They are going to make sure that these projects are built as they want to keep their dues and kick-backs rolling in. There may be some members who will not work on this, out of principle, but not many, as they need the paycheck.

As to the inspections, the city will make sure to asign "special" inspectors that will be sure to pass them. The problem will occur when they have their first fire and it takes two hours for the FDNY to respond.

All you NY folks, it's your fault. You allowed these idiots to gain the power that they have. Growing up in NJ, I spent a lot of time in the city, and it breaks my heart to see what is happening. Some day, all of you normal Democrats in NYC will wake up and see what the socialist progressives have done to this great city and it will be too late.

Sorry folks, I have to disagree. I am a regular viewer of L&O:CI and watched the episode in question. There was never any insinuation that this "group" was in any way representative of the Church hierarchy or the Church in general. There are nut-job organizations within, and without the Church who are just as fanatical as this group was portrayed. Some are new, but some have existed for a millenia. We have got to stop seeing the "boogeyman" around every corner and coming off with the typical "knee-jerk" reaction. Of all of the L&O shows, CI actually has always been pretty fair to both religion and religous folks and conservatives.

BTW...... Before anyone says anything about me being a troll, or anything like that....... I am actually a Traditional Catholic Priest....... "Introibo ad Altare Dei"