There is plenty about America that she refuses to condone: on global warming, for instance, she notes that it would be wrong to blame American intransigence on Mr Bush since it started, thanks to Congress, under Bill Clinton.
However, the rabbi realizes that Shira is acting to please her family and refuses to condone the marriage.
It's certainly understandable that Palestinians refuse to condone what they consider an objectionable aspect of Israeli governance as part of a peace deal.
On May 22nd, the same countries on the Security Council which had refused to condone the invasion ahead of time joined the United States in voting for a resolution giving retroactive legitimacy to the occupation.
So the next time someone maintains that they are defending traditional American values by denouncing the War on Christmas, remind them of our 17th-century Puritan forefathers who refused to condone any celebration or even observance of the holiday.
Thomas More, beheaded for refusing to condone Henry VIII's schism, was his great-grand-uncle; an uncle was imprisoned and exiled for being a Jesuit; his brother died in jail of plague for harbouring a priest.
If we'd been talking about, say, an Islamic hospital insisting that its employees bind themselves to sharia law, I imagine the "religious community" in the United States would be a wee bit more understanding if the Obama administration refused to condone the practice.
IGNATIEFF: This is a discussion about what has happened to us — all of us — since 9/11, and I am putting the issue of oversight into the frame, because we have all learned a great deal about our obligations to keep ourselves honest, to refuse to condone mendacity, as you put it.
"When Prohibition ended, some states and counties refused to condone the sale of alcohol.
Cathy's best friend, Eleanor — a delicious turn from Patricia Clarkson, prowling the borders of liberality — can just about handle the news of his secret life, whereas she refuses to countenance, much less condone, Cathy's dabblings with a man of another race.
But it does not acknowledge Israel's right to exist, condones terrorism and refuses to be bound by past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
