Susan Murphy-Milano...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Plans by a prominent Boston Jesuit school to award U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice an honorary degree are stirring protests by some students and faculty who say her support for the Iraq war contradicts Catholic teaching.  I'd like to know what her JOB has to do with receiving an honorary degree.  How disrepectful of school adminstration to behave in this manner.  

Boston College theology professor David Hollenbach and Kenneth Himes, the department's chair, issued a petition to the school's president objecting to a planned commencement address by Rice on Monday when she will receive the honorary degree -- a custom for commencement speakers.

One faculty member, Steven Almond, resigned in protest.

"We'll be turning our backs during the honorary degree ceremony," said Sasha Westerman, a graduating student at the college who plans to distribute 1,000 protest armbands along with placards reading: "not in our name."

"No one asked me if I wanted (Rice) to speak and no one asked me if I wanted (the country) to go to Iraq," she said.

Support for Rice was also strong. Some students said a recent rally organized to protest Rice's visit drew only a few hundred of the school's 9,000 students.

Boston College said it had no plan to change its commencement schedule. "There is much about her life that is admirable and worthy of emulation and we expect that she will be respectfully received," said spokesman Jack Dunn.

At nearby Harvard University, the assistant professor of Christian history, Patrick Provost-Smith, said the Roman Catholic Church issued a statement specifically citing pre-emptive strikes as acts that are not part of the Catholic catechism.

"Of course, Catholics can and do differ from such statements," Provost-Smith said. "But it was indicative at the time of what concerns that the church did in fact have."

Hollenbach said 223 of 600 faculty had signed his petition, which he began circulating on May 2. Two student online protest petitions had 961 and 1,643 signatures respectively.

NEW YORK (AP) - After writing an autobiography that sold millions of copies and earned him a hefty advance, former President Clinton has struck a deal to write another book.

The book publisher announced the deal today, saying the book would come out in late 2007 or early 2008, when his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, may be starting her own run at the presidency. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The book would discuss the work of the philanthropic Clinton Foundation, which Clinton founded after he left the White House in January 2001, and similar work performed by famous and unsung people around the globe, Knopf said.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Clinton is said to have received a staggering advance of $10 million to $12 million for writing "My Life," the 957-page memoir that Knopf published in 2004.

His inspiration for the second book, expected for release late next year or early 2008, was borne from the experiences he has had during his work and travel in the six years since he left the White House, Clinton said. It does not yet have a title.  (I have a title how about "I only have sex with my wife")

Clinton, 59, plans to tell the stories of those he has met - and in some cases he will go back and interview them - to make the point that ordinary people can set forth change.

"He is writing about people who are using their time and expertise to solve problems and save lives," Mehta said. "This book will offer a blueprint for companies and individuals to make meaningful contributions to the world."

BERLIN, Germany -- A brothel has become the first in Berlin to offer special deals for virgins with prostitutes trained in the delicate art of catering for customers who have never had sex, a German newspaper reported on last week.

The brothel in the red light area of the Kreuzberg district of the city charges 60 euros for a half an hour of sex and works within the laws of Germany where prostitution is legal.

"These are men who either never had sex before or have never been in a brothel before," the brothel's operator was quoted as saying in a Berlin's newspaper. "It's the first house of love in Berlin that specializes in taking care of beginners," wrote the daily on its front page.

Prostitutes are given "sensitivity training" for first-time clients, who the brothel operator said are not necessarily young but often 40 or older: "They need to be aware of how much courage it takes to go to a brothel the first time."

 I realize companies have a right to make a profit, but, I am offended that an online game based on the Columbine High School massacre that went onto store shelves across the country last year and people are actually still buying it, in fact sales are increasing.  In my opinion, I don't think the stores should even be stocking the game. You've got a creater who won't identify himself and he's gives some lame excuse as to why he even decided to do this project. Now it's drawing criticism from relatives of those who died in the 1999 attack, including a father who says it trivializes the actions of the two teen killers.

The game, Super Columbine Massacre RPG, was posted on a Web site last year, but is becoming more popular now. It draws on investigative material, including images of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.

According to the AP--Players are told it is "ultimately up to you" how many people Harris and Klebold kill that day. Each time Harris and Klebold kill someone in the game, a dialogue box pops up that says: "Another victory for the Trench Coat Mafia."

The game also includes crime scene photos of the killers and images of students running and crying, though it does not have photos of any victims.

"We live in a culture of death, so it doesn't surprise me that this stuff has become so commonplace," said Brian Rohrbough, whose son, Daniel, was among those slain that day. "It disgusts me. You trivialize the actions of two murderers and the lives of the innocent."

The site's creator, who identified himself in an e-mail interview only by the name "Columbin," told the Rocky Mountain News he wanted to make something that would "promote a real dialogue on the subject of school shootings." He said he was inspired to make the game because he was in Colorado at the time of the attack.

"I was a bullied kid. I didn't fit in, and I was surrounded by a culture of elitism as espoused by our school's athletes." He added that he considered the killers, at times, "very thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent young men." 

So that makes it all right? I am very confused.  Every store and site who sells this game should be listed and boycotted by the public.