Pope: Some U.S. Cultural Trends ‘A Threat Not Just to Christian Faith, But Also to Humanity Itself’

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(CNSNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI warned a group of Catholic bishops from the United States in a speech at the Vatican last week that some cultural trends in the U.S. are “a threat not just to Christian faith, but also to humanity itself.”

The pope made the observation Thursday, Jan. 19, as he addressed a group of bishops from the mid-Atlantic region, including Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Archbishop Timothy C. Broglio, who leads the archdiocese for the military services. The bishops were in Rome for their “ad limina” visits, which they are required to periodically make to the Vatican to meet with the pope.

The U.S. Catholic bishops have been in an escalating conflict with President Barack Obama and his administration over a number of administration efforts that curtail religious freedom in the United States. Among these are the argument the administation is making in federal court likening opposition to same-sex unions to racial discrimination and the Obamacare regulation recenlty issued by the Department of Health and Human Services that requires all health insurance plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and artificial contraceptives, including those that induce abortions. Because the Obamacare law also requires all American to buy health insurance, the new HHS regulation presents Catholics with the choice of either acting against the law or against the moral teachings of their church.

“For her part, the Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering,” the pope said.

“To the extent that some current cultural trends contain elements that would curtail the proclamation of these truths, whether constricting it within the limits of a merely scientific rationality, or suppressing it in the name of political power or majority rule, they represent a threat not just to Christian faith, but also to humanity itself and to the deepest truth about our being and ultimate vocation, our relationship to God,” said the pope.

Read More at cnsnews.com By Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News

L.L. Bean heiress backs Paul

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Freeport, Maine (CNN) – Linda Bean, an heiress to famed Maine outfitter L.L. Bean, came out in support of Ron Paul on Saturday as the candidate made a campaign swing through the state.

Bean, who is a part owner of her family’s company and sits on its board, said she is a longtime supporter of the Texas congressman. She backed his 2008 presidential bid, but hasn’t made a public endorsement in the current race until now.

“I’ve been for Ron Paul for years,” Bean said. “I watched his House races in Texas, and he’s just true blue. He doesn’t waver from the Constitution and I like that very much.”

Bean made her endorsement at the lobster restaurant she owns in Freeport, situated across the road from L.L. Bean’s large flagship store. She singled out Paul’s appeal across the political spectrum as a reason for her support.

“He’s very electable, he crosses all ideological lines because of his strong message,” Bean said. “He’s for the gold standard. I think people want stability in this country. He’s for helping America domestically, and staying out of aggressive wars. We’re just spending ourselves down the drain in these countries year after year with occupation.”

Read More at CNN By Shannon Travis, CNN

CARDENAS: Obama embraces default amnesty

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President Obama’s State of the Union address – coupled with recent troubling decisions by his administration to expand a pattern of de facto amnesty for illegal immigrants – cemented the unfortunate reality that this president continues intentionally to abdicate a responsibility to advance serious immigration reform. Empty rhetoric, repetitive platitudes and continued support for the already-rejected Dream Act do not make up a comprehensive proposal to this complex policy issue.

These remarks follow the administration’s decision to ease certain regulations on the visa program and move to release some deportation cases by focusing solely on whether a person poses “a national security threat,” only the latest addition to a list of blatant unilateral White House orders intended to curry favor with Hispanics.

The politics is conniving: Portray reform-minded Republicans and conservatives as unsympathetic to this fastest-growing demographic sector and bolster the president’s re-election chances in swing states with significant Hispanic votes, such as Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, Colorado and Arizona.

This scheme is not only misguided, but to someone who legally entered this great nation as a youth, it’s appalling.

I join most Americans, especially fellow Hispanics, across the political and ideological spectrum who understand the importance of legal immigration as vital to sustaining the greatness of America’s economic and cultural fabric.

Read More at The Washington Times By Al Cardenas, The Washington Times

The Fed’s Men Behind the Curtain

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The debate about the Fed is under way, and thank goodness. But as with many policy debates, there really shouldn’t be a debate at all. That’s because, if you think about it, the idea of central banking makes no sense.

We don’t have a government-created central repository that plans and manages shoe distribution. The market takes care of that. We don’t have one for cabbage, keyboards or curtains. Somehow, we get books, clothes, tree-cutting services and everything else we need and want without a central planning agency that manages the quantity available, fixes the prices of the products and bails out the firms when they overextend themselves.

Why should money and banking be any different? Money is a commodity. Banking is a business. They both originated in the market, not the state. They should have been left that way, so that the quality of the product could be subject to market discipline. In a market economy, things work themselves out. There is supply and there is demand. Entrepreneurs take notice of profit opportunities and jump in to pull the two together.

This is how the world works for us. This is how it has always worked. This is how we get our software, coffee, sheet music and beef. It’s how we get our cars, the parts that keep them running and the gas that fuels them.

The world is man-made in every respect, and the hands that made it productive, efficient, dynamic and socially beneficial operated within the market matrix. The simple relationships of learning, exchanging and competing gave rise to a glorious system that manages to sustain a global population of 7 billion people.

Read More at Whiskey and Gunpowder By Jeffrey Tucker, Whiskey and Gunpowder

Drive-by Scanning: Officials Expand Use and Dose of Radiation for Security Screening

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U.S. law enforcement agencies are exposing people to radiation in more settings and in increasing doses to screen for explosives, weapons and drugs. In addition to the controversial airport body scanners, which are now deployed for routine screening, various X-ray devices have proliferated at the border, in prisons and on the streets of New York.

Not only have the machines become more widespread, but some of them expose people to higher doses of radiation. And agencies have pushed the boundaries of acceptable use by X-raying people covertly, according to government documents and interviews.

While airport scanners can show objects on the surface of the body, prisons have begun to use X-rays that can see through the body to detect contraband hidden in cavities. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is in the process of deploying dozens of drive-through X-ray portals to scan cars and buses at the border with their passengers still inside.

X-ray scanners have been tested at ferry crossings, for visitor entries at the Pentagon and for long-range detection of suicide bombers at special events. And drawing the ire of privacy groups, Customs and the New York Police Department have deployed unmarked X-ray vans that can drive to a location and look inside vehicles for drugs and explosives.

Most federal health regulations for medical X-rays do not apply to security equipment, leaving the decision of when and how to use the scanners almost entirely in the hands of security officials.

Read More at propublica.org By Michael Grabell, propublica.org

Discrepancies Found in Romney’s Finances

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Mitt Romney is being forced to revise his federal ethics forms after it was
pointed out that he had omitted several offshore accounts held in
Switzerland, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Ireland.

Interest from the accounts was listed on Romney¹s tax return which he
released on Tuesday, but was missing from his financial disclosure forms
that he filed with the Federal Election Commission last summer.

The former Massachusetts governor’s campaign admitted what it described as “trivial” and “a minor discrepancy” and said the disclosure would be
amended, reported the Los Angeles Times .

The campaign said it was making “some minor technical amendments” to the
multi-millionaire’s financial disclosure. It said the changes will not alter
the overall picture of his finances.

The Times says it discovered at least 23 funds and partnerships that were
listed on Romney’s tax returns that were not included in his disclosure
filings. Half of them were held in what the paper called “low-tax foreign
countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.”

Read More at Newsmax By Martin Gould, Newsmax

National Park Service Director: Enforcing Camping Ban Could Incite ‘Reaction’ at Occupy DC Protests

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(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) asked National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis on Tuesday why the Park Service’s own statute forbidding camping had not been enforced as it applied to Occupy D.C. protesters at MacPherson Square.

“There’s a statute I believe that says camping is illegal. Camping in MacPherson Park is against the law. Is that correct?” Walsh asked Jarvis during a subcommittee hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that focused on why the Park Service had not removed the Occupy protesters.

“That is correct,” Jarvis said.

“And in fact, you, I believe the Park Service handed out a document early on in the Occupy D.C. process to the folks at MacPherson Park that … spelled out the definition of camping that you and I both agree is not allowed,” said Walsh.

“And it says…that camping is defined as the use of park land for living accommodation purposes, such as sleeping activities or making preparations to sleep, including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping or storing personal belongings or making any fire or using any tents or shelter or other structure vehicle for sleeping or doing any digging or earth-breaking. Mr. Jarvis, based on your own definition of camping, are they camping at MacPherson Park?” Walsh asked.

Read More at cnsnews.com By Melanie Hunter, cnsnews.com

Is USDA’s New Planting Map Forcing A Global Warming Agenda?

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On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released an updated guide for the color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets. Half of the cities included on the guide are now in warmer zones, which many are saying reflects global warming.

The headline used by the Associated Press was “New map for what to plant reflects global warming”.

But AP reports later in the article that USDA spokeswoman Kim Kaplan, who was on the team that created the map, didn’t want the new zones on the to be associated with global warming. AP reports Kaplan as saying even though some areas of the country are now in warmer zones, the map “is simply not a good instrument” to be used to support global climate change. Kaplan says this is because the map is based on the coldest days of the year, not average temperatures.

On the flip side, AP goes on to report David Wolfe, a professor of plant and soil ecology at Cornell University, as saying that the map clearly reflects global warming:
The revised map “gives us a clear picture of the ‘new normal’ and will be an essential tool for gardeners, farmers and natural resource managers as they begin to cope with rapid climate change,” Wolfe said in an email.

According to USDA’s press release, which does not mention the words “global warming” or “climate change,” this update to the plant hardiness zone map comes two decades after the last update in 1990. The new version of the map includes 13 zones, with the addition for the first time of zones 12 (50-60 degrees F) and 13 (60-70 degrees F). Each zone is a 10-degree Fahrenheit band, further divided into A and B 5-degree Fahrenheit zones.

Read More at The Blaze By Liz Klimas, The Blaze

Why Is the RNC Sabotaging Its Own Candidates?

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It’s the most important election of our lifetime. Now, more than ever before, it is important to understand what the Presidential candidates believe, what their policies are, and the differences between themselves and the current administration. The Republican National Committee knows this, yet they have decided to turn over the entire process of informing the populace to the Democrat Media Complex. Rather than answering questions about job creation, executive orders, energy, or Fast & Furious, our candidates are spending precious time on the national airwaves discussing Terri Schiavo, sugar subsidies, and the Everglades Project.

Take a look at the questions from the past debate (just the questions). Is this really helping send the message the RNC must to deliver to win in November?

Read More at Big Government By Meredith Dake, Big Government

Romney Feeling Deja Vu

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He simply cannot believe it may be happening again.

Willard Mitt Romney, born to family with a CEO, Governor one-time Presidential candidate father and U.S. Senate candidate mother, grew up around politics. He’s entered into it throughout his career, first in 1994 when giving Ted Kennedy a run for his money, then again in 2002 when he won election as Governor of Massachusetts.

The 2008 campaign he ran for president was expertly built, by the most experienced hands, in the most methodical way, and with more than adequate resources (including major self-financing). But the product wouldn’t sell.

A stunningly parallel dynamic is unfolding in 2012, as it did in 2008.

Santorum is Huckabee. Gingrich is McCain.

Read More at Cagle Cartoons By Matt Mackowiak, Cagle Cartoons