Khloe Fired, No Longer a Factor on 'X-Factor'

 Khloe Kardashian does not appear to be having a good week. First, reports surfaced that she and husband Lamar Odom have taken a trial separation from one another, and now reports claim that she has been fired from X Factor! Can things get any worse for her?

 As if battling all the marital trouble rumors surrounding Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom were not enough, Khloe has taken another blow, as sources came out today to reveal that she has been fired from The X Factor. According to The New York Post, a show insider told them: “They have asked Mario Lopez to come back (next season), but not Khloe.”

 Khloe Kardashian signed on to The X Factor with no prior hosting experience, and it showed as she often appeared to be a bundle of nerves. Kardashian is not the first person to get axed from the show, as Britney Spears was also let go. Rumor has it that the show is in talks with Cheryl Cole, who was fired by Simon Cowell in the past, but no one knows if that is for a hosting spot or to sit on the judging panel...More

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Ex-Cardinal Defends His Record of Pedophile Cover-ups

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony defended his tattered legacy in a sharply worded letter to his successor, a day after Archbishop Jose Gomez stripped him of his administrative duties and bowed to a court order to release thousands of pages of confidential files on sexually abusive priests.

 In a letter posted Friday on his personal blog, Mahony challenged Gomez for publicly shaming him and said he developed policies to safeguard children after taking over in 1985, despite being unequipped to deal with the molester priests he inherited.

Mahony had apologized two weeks ago after another release of similar files showed he and other top aides worked behind the scenes to protect the church from the growing scandal, keep offending clerics out of state and prevent public disclosure of sex crimes committed by priests.

Gomez was well aware when he took over in 2011 of the steps Mahony had taken to develop better clergy sex abuse policies and never questioned his leadership until Thursday, Mahony wrote.

"Unfortunately, I cannot return now to the 1980s and reverse actions and decisions made then. But when I retired as the active archbishop, I handed over to you an archdiocese that was second to none in protecting children and youth," Mahony wrote.

The letter was remarkable because it revealed infighting between two highly placed church leaders when members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy rarely break ranks publicly, said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer who worked for the Vatican's Washington, D.C., embassy who also has served as an expert witness for victims in clerical abuse cases....More 

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