“Catholic” Joe Biden To Lead U.S. Delegation To Greet Staunchly Pro-Life Pope Francis

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Never mind that Vice President Joe Biden has been rebuked by his own bishop over his pro-abortion views, he will lead the U.S. delegation to the installation of Pope Francis, the White House said today.

Biden is the first Catholic to serve as vice president and he will represent the United States at the installation Mass for Pope Francis on March 19, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Tom Rosica confirmed today.

Biden’s own bishop has had to correct the pro-abortion politician on his misstating the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church.

In the interview with the Delaware News Journal, Biden continued to misrepresent the position of the Catholic Church on abortion in a way that has gotten him in trouble.

“But throughout the church’s history, we’ve argued between whether or not it is wrong in every circumstance and the degree of wrong. Catholics have this notion, it’s almost a gradation,” Biden claimed.

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Sequester Meat Shortages Months Away, Says USDA Secretary

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Photo Credit: AP

The sequester likely won’t cause meat and poultry shortages for a while—thanks, in part, to union negotiations and USDA inspectors’ lack of email access.

Furloughs to Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors at the U.S. Department of Agriculture could force meat and poultry plants to stop production–with no inspectors to approve products, they can’t be sold—but today Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Agriculture Committee that those furloughs probably won’t happen until later this year.

“We are looking at a several-month period, if you will, before a furlough will be imposed,” Vilsack said, depending on negotiations with the inspectors’ union. A drawn-out notification process will prevent the furloughs from happening right away, Vilsack said.

“This week we will send out notices to the union reps that a furlough is possible, and one of the challenges is that not every one of our workers in this particular area has email, so we actually have to hand-deliver a letter or written notification to those employees. That has to be followed up … with oral conferences to take place with any employee who requests an oral confirmation–that will happen at the local level,” Vilsack said. After all employees are notified, Vilsack said, USDA will negotiate with union representatives over how the furloughs will be implemented.

But if furloughs do happen, Vilsack warned their impact could be particularly severe.

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Doctors Confirm Unborn Babies Feel Abortion Pain At 20 Weeks

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

The Texas Pain Bill, which establishes a state interest in protecting the lives of preborn children who feel pain, has predictably been attacked by the anti-Life media, which challenges the scientific evidence.

The Dallas Observer called the evidence “medically questionable,” and cited a “fact” that “there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that fetuses actually feel pain.” The Observer ignores dozens of current peer-reviewed fetal pain studies that confirm the capacity of a 20-week child to feel pain in utero.

Numerous scientific studies and physicians recognize that preborn children feel torturous pain from abortion by twenty weeks gestation, if not earlier. Contrary to The Observer’s ludicrous claim that the reality of fetal pain is based on a study from 1987 that has been “debunked,” ample recent evidence from the scientific community supports the bill.

What we know is the nervous system is developed to a level of maturity where pain can be sensed. We do see physical reaction to stimulation, and not only with respect to movement of the child, but release of stress hormones and other responses such as elevated heart rate. These are all objective responses to pain. And that is superimposed on the knowledge that the circuitry is developed which enables a human to feel and experience pain.

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Holy Smoke! The “New World” Finally Gets Its Pope

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Photo Credit: Sebástian Freire

The white smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaled a changing of the guard for the Catholic Church. Acknowledging the almost half billion Catholics who live in Latin America, the council of Cardinals finally recognized the “new world” by electing Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as the next Pope.

The 76 year old Argentinian, will be the first non European Pope to be elected in over 1,000 years. He will be known as Pope Francis from now on, indicating he plans to model his life in the same prayerful and humble role as St. Francis of Assissi.

If it’s any indication of his future humility, Cardinal Bergoglio once went to a hospital where sick aids patients lay. He washed and kissed their feet as he said prayers, blessing and expressing his love for them…..He is also well known for his compassion and outspokenness for the poor and downtrodden

Another first is that he is from the Jesuit order, the Church has never had a Jesuit as Pope before.

Other “new world” Cardinals were mentioned as possible candidates for Pope as well, including Irish American Cardinals: New York’s Timothy Dolan, and Boston’s Sean O’Malley.

Cardinal Dolan, particularly would have been well suited to head the Church as he has a stellar reputation for accomplishing tasks, can maneuver through the world of secular politics and is a master at communicating with the media…Strengths necessary as the Church is besieged by a bevy of problems, including outside secular forces and competition from other sects of Christianity….But many other problems the Church faces, are of their own making.

Rumors swirled around the idea of having an American Pope. Some people think too much power is already vested in America and to have an American Pope would be too much. Others said they would be suspicious that an American Pope would be working for the CIA.

Although Latin America accounts for almost half of the population of Catholics in the world, it only has 22 Cardinals out of the approximately 125 elector Cardinals worldwide. So this new Pope signals the recognition that the Churches future growth, for now, lies in the developing parts of the world.

In spite of its problems the Catholic Church is the single largest religion in the world with 1.2 billion members. It is the wellspring of world charity in places where little of that exists and has brought education to millions who would have otherwise been denied a chance to be educated. The Church was also instrumental, under the helm of Pope John Paul, in bringing down the Soviet Unions Iron Curtain that had enslaved millions around the world.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Exoskeleton Allows Anchorage Man to Walk (+video)

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Photo Credit: Ekso Bionics

The idea of “wearable robots” may seem like something out of a movie, but this technology is already being used in real life.

Started as a project for the military, the exoskeleton has transformed from a device designed to allow soldiers to lift heavy loads and walk further to one that enables people with disabilities to step out of wheelchairs and stand upright.

The “Ekso” is a bionic exoskeleton developed by Ekso Bionics that gives paraplegics upright mobility. While the commercial version of the Ekso has recently been made available to hospitals and rehabilitation centers, the company hopes to make the technology more accessible so that people can use it at home and in their everyday lives, with a personal version releasing in 2014.

CEO Eythor Bender sat down with CNN to talk about Ekso, the bionic exoskeleton he helped develop.

CNN: How many years have you been working on exoskeletons?

Bender: We have been working on exoskeletons for the last 10 years. It started as a project with the military and it was funded by DARPA, the same people who funded the Internet and GPS systems. So it was groundbreaking technology, and in the year 2005 we had a breakthrough in terms of making sure that the weight of the exoskeleton transfers all the way down to the ground. So the user who is wearing it — it usually weighs up to 50 pounds — doesn’t feel the weight at all. And that’s so important because obviously you are trying to make their lives easier, not more difficult.

Watch video here:

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New Pope Francis Called Abortion the ‘Death Penalty for the Unborn’

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The archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has been selected to become the next Pope, leading the Catholic Church. Like his predecessors, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, he is a staunch pro-life advocate when it comes to abortion.

Last year, then-Cardinal Bergoglio stated, “Abortion is never a solution. We listen, support and understanding from our place to save two lives: respect the human being small and helpless, they can take steps to preserve your life, allow birth and then be creative in the search for ways to bring it to its full development.”

He once called abortion a “death sentence” for unborn children, during a 2007 speech and likening opposition to abortion to opposition to the death penalty.

In an October 2, 2007 speech Bergoglio said that “we aren’t in agreement with the death penalty,” but “in Argentina we have the death penalty. A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death.”

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‘I’m Ready To Rain Bullets On The Enemy’: Boy-Leader Kim Jong Un Gets ‘Hard Man’ Makeover As He Poses With Tanks and Threatens US

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

North Korea has issued yet another set of apocalyptic threats as the rogue state refuses to back down in the face of war games between the U.S. and South Korea. An official newspaper has quoted a war veteran vowing to ‘rain bullets on the enemy’ while leader Kim Jong Un urged his troops to ‘cut their windpipes’. The 20-something leader has been seen looking increasingly warlike in recent pictures posing next to tanks and guns, prompting speculation he is trying to project a ‘hard man’ image to shore up his authority ahead of a possible new offensive.

North Korea’s army this week officially cancelled an armistice it signed with the South at the end of Korean War. The move makes it more likely that recent tensions, prompted by new UN sanctions as well as the joint military exercises which started yesterday, could bubble over into all-out warfare.

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of Kim’s Workers’ Party, quoted an 80-year-old veteran of the Korean War supposedly expressed the national mood.

‘I am still keeping a bullet that I failed to fire at a trench in the 1950s because the U.S. imperialists and their stooges signed an armistice agreement,’ he apparently said. ‘Send me to the trench. Give me a rifle. I want to rain bullets on the enemy to my heart’s content.’

Kim himself issued a direct threat to the U.S. and South Korea over their long-scheduled drills on the Korean Peninsula. ‘As the saying goes, a guy who is fond of playing with fire is bound to perish in flames,’ he told troops. ‘All the enemies quite often playing with fire in the sensitive hotspot should be thrown into a cauldron once I issue an order.

‘Once an order is issued you should break the waists of the crazy enemies, totally cut their windpipes and thus clearly show them what a real war is like.’

The leader’s martial attitude in recent photographs is in stark contrast to the laid-back image he attempted to project during the recent visit of former basketball star Dennis Rodman to the pariah nation.

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H&R Block Error May Delay Hundreds of Thousands of Tax Returns

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Photo Credit: cnycentral

If you haven’t received your tax refund, it could be due to an issue by the nation’s biggest tax preparer.

According to the Wall Street Journal, H&R Block “bungled more than 600,000 tax returns, delaying refunds by as much as six weeks.”

The website MarketWatch reports H&R Block “improperly filed Form 8863, leaving a mandatory field blank.” The form is used to claim educational credits. The error apparently impacts about 10 percent of the 6.6 million tax returns containing Form 8863.

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Biden: ‘I’d Rather Have An Ex-Felon Have Access To A Weapon’ Than A Fugitive

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Photo Credit: CNSNews

Vice President Joe Biden told city leaders in his pitch for new gun control laws on Tuesday that he would prefer an ex-felon over a fugitive have access to a weapon.

“The one person I don’t want to have a weapon is a fugitive from justice,” Biden said. “I rather have an ex-felon have access to a weapon than someone fleeing the justice system.”

Biden, speaking at the annual meeting for the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C., told attendees that he and President Barack Obama want Congress to pass a “universal background check” so that “every single gun sale must first go through a check to see if the buyer can legally have a gun.”

“And by the way, some of you know in your states – we’ve gotten into this – there’s somewhere in the order of 2 million people who’ve been adjudicated in your home state as not being able to own a weapon, Biden said.

“Yet their names are not in the national information system that people have to check when they sell you a gun at a gun show,” Biden said.

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‘Killing Jews Is Worship That Brings Us Closer To Allah’: Outrage Over Anti-Islamic Ad Campaign Launched In San Francisco

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Several anti-Islamic ads featuring the photographs and quotes of Osama bin Laden, the Times Square Bomber, and the alleged Fort Hood shooter have caused outrage in San Francisco after their release today.

The ads, which will run for the next month, are featured on 10 buses in the Bay Area and have caused a stir in the community, sparking a fierce debate between free speech and hate speech.

The ads were paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. One of the spots contains a quote attributed to Hamas, the militant Islamic group, and reads: ‘Killing Jews is worship that brings us closer to Allah.’

Another ad features Osama bin Laden’s explanation of why he decided to take down the Twin Towers on 9/11. ‘The first thing we are calling you to is Islam,’ the quote reads.

It is accompanied by a picture of the former Al Qaeda leader, who was killed in a covert operation a year and a half ago.

Yet another shows would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and says how jihad involving ‘weaponry’ is an ‘obligation and duty in Islam on every Muslim.’

San Francisco civil officials and Arab and Muslim leaders alike were quick to denounce what they said was ‘racist’ and offensive ads.

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