The Pope [Pope Francis] is starting to sound like a socialist dictator each time he confronts the issue of poverty.

There are parts of this that sound strangely like a speech from Hugo Chavez.

Lent is the solemn period leading up to Holy Week and Easter, when the faithful recall Christ's death and resurrection. It's a time when Christians often fast, and Francis urged the faithful to deny themselves certain things this Lent "to help and enrich others by our own poverty."

"When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth," he said in the short message. "Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing."

He said it's not enough to just make charitable offerings. "Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt," he wrote.

"How much pain is caused in families because one of their members - often a young person - is in thrall to alcohol, drugs, gambling and pornography!" he lamented.

Sometimes "unjust social conditions" like unemployment lead to this type of destitution by depriving people of the dignity of work and access to education and health care, he said.

"In such cases, moral destitution can be considered impending suicide."

His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, however, espoused the exact same concerns, writing an entire encyclical in 2009 in which he denounced the profit-at-all-cost mentality blamed for bringing about the global financial meltdown and called for a new world financial order guided by ethics and the search for the common good.

I take what what the pope is saying as very misguided. The Bible speaks of people giving of their own will. Nowhere in the Bible does it speak of, or make reference to government intervention on behalf of the poor. The Bible does not support Central Planning, or "a new world financial order," as mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI.

This is very strange and seems more like something a dictator would say.

And who calls for a “new world financial order?” This sounds like conspiracy stuff -- from The Pope.

Now a brief message from Hugo Chavez at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit.

Then President Chavez brought the house down.

When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.

But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation.

Should people do more to help each other? Of course they should. Should helping others be mandated and directed and controlled by government? NO!

People forget that when any government tries to act as a charity that government will determine how "wealth is redistributed." Wouldn't it make sense for a government, consisting of those in power, to distribute wealth based on maintaining that power?

The Pope said, "When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth," he said in the short message. "Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing." Do most politicians have "justice, equality, simplicity and sharing" as their guiding principles? Think about that for a moment.

When governments redistribute wealth it is not based on peoples' neediness, it is based on the best interests of those who control the redistribution of wealth. When neediness is not the driving force behind charity, it's not charity anymore, it's tyranny.

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce president yesterday announced that 2014 is going to be the year of immigration reform. Keep in mind that The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying group.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Immigration

CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Thursday, April 25, 2013 - 8:00pm
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Immigration Summit

Washington, D.C.

Good morning everyone, and thank you for coming.

We are here today to address one of the compelling challenges of our time—ensuring that our great country can compete and win in the global race for talent … that we can secure the lives and livelihoods of all Americans … and that we can reaffirm our proud and honorable legacy as an open and welcoming society.

Immigration reform has been a top priority of the Chamber’s for years—and it is a deeply personal priority of mine.

We can take great encouragement in the fact that this time, so many groups and individuals from across society and across the political spectrum have joined forces to build support for reform.

But, we must take nothing for granted. Immigration is a difficult issue. It encompasses a complex bundle of impacts, interests, and emotions. We must respect all points of view in this important debate—even those that differ from our own. At the same time, we should have little patience for those who decide to prey on fear and misunderstanding—or those who put their own short-term political interests above the national interest.

This is proof that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not looking for reform, they are looking for cheap labor. There is nothing more to this. A valid argument cannot be made that immigrant workers protect the wages of American workers. If business interests are wanting immigration reform, it can't be because businesses want more overhead. This is a very simple issue.

The Tea Party is the target of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce now. The statement, "...we should have little patience for those who decide to prey on fear and misunderstanding—or those who put their own short-term political interests above the national interest." means that anyone who is against Chamber of Commerce backed immigration legislation for any reason is a target. This kind of language is designed to put everyone who wants to debate proposed immigration policy on the defensive.

The danger in more open boarders is obvious. The Democrat leadership in Washington are bad for the economy and the future of this country --as exemplified by the current economic situation. A large immigrant voting base for Democrats is the end goal here.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is willing to aid the Democrat party as long as they can get the cheap labor the businesses they represent want. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is truly representing their constituency --not The American People's interests.

As I stated earlier the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying group, they just happen to be lobbying against the will and best interest of The American People.

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It seems that every time something unfortunate happens Obama finds out at the same time that the public does. He didn't know anything about Benghazi, he didn't know about the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups, he didn't know that the Attorney General was running Fast and Furious. I just want to know when Obama finds out that he's President!

Now he claims that he didn't know that when he said numerous times, that you can keep your doctor and your current health insurance under my plan --even when this has been contradicted from the beginning by the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," --Obama's plan. ObamaCare is rightfully named. Obama constantly referred to it as "his plan."

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Camera Cluster

The government has the ability, through the NSA, to gather, catalog, compile and analyze data on just about every individual in the entire country and most of the world.

But, when it comes to a website to provide health insurance services to the American people; well, it's hard to find programmers that can get the job done!?

The people in charge of providing and analyzing health care data are clowns. Does anyone really trust these people to make the right decisions for you, or even provide accurate data?

"The website is unacceptable, and we are improving it," one senior administration official told CNN. "But the underlying insurance product is good, and across the country, people are getting access to affordable care on January 1."

The administration is still not releasing the numbers on how many people have taken the next step of enrolling: choosing a specific health care plan. The administration has said it will do that only on a monthly basis, so the first tally of enrollment numbers will come in November.

Obamacare rolled out on October 1st NOT January 1st. We missed our own deadline, nothing works correctly, but it's good, we promise.

The signup numbers are abysmal because even when the website does actually work; the prices are ridiculously high.

Remember, Obamacare is not supposed to actually fix anything. Obamacare is designed to cause a breakdown in the health care system, making it look like it's the fault of private industry. Obamacare's primary design is to cause a collapse in the private insurance market, leaving the government as the sole insurer. A "Single Payer" system, or Socialized Medicine as it's properly known. But Hey, Obama won the election, right?

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Money Printing Press

There was a debt ceiling deal signed into law today. The text of the bill was released to the press only minutes before the vote went down. I wonder why that was? So, this new debt ceiling increase does a bit more than you might expect.

“This amendment is a significant development for future debt ceiling negotiations as it will forever remove the uncertainties associated with prolonged and disruptive negotiations on this issue,” Millan L. Mulraine of TD Securities said in a note to clients. “By design, the amendment makes future debt limit increases automatic, removing the specter that this issue could again be used by a minority as a bargaining chip in the future.”

Well, actually no, both Republican and Democratic Senate officials said.

This procedural maneuver in question is called the “McConnell rule,” as it is the brainchild of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Indeed, if Congress put the McConnell rule into effect permanently, it would make it impossible for a small group of lawmakers to push the country into default. But the law puts it into effect only temporarily. Starting now, the Treasury Department is allowed to issue as much debt as needed through Feb. 7. There is no specific number for debt limit.

At that point, however, everything reverts to the previous rule, which requires Congress to raise the debt limit in some way for Treasury to increase the total amount of official borrowing. Mr. Obama would lose the ability to issue debt as needed. Treasury can still employ “extraordinary measures” to keep paying its bills. Eventually, unless Congress acts, another cash squeeze would set in.

The deal explicitly includes an option for Congress to object to the president’s increasing the country’s debt. And Mr. McConnell intends to introduce such a motion, an aide said. But because it would need to pass through Congress and then override a presidential veto, it is just a symbolic gesture. (Democrats, who control the Senate, would never go along with it.)

It's easy to see where this goes. The Treasury Department can just add more debt. The debt could be increased by enough to negate the issue for years to come. While that's not unheard of; congress will not be involved in determining what that amount should be.

Basically the Republicans did much worse than just give away their bargaining ability --they gave debt control entirely to their political opponents. This was done in a not so up front way. I bet that will do the Republicans a lot of good come primary season.

I predict that the debt will be increased by a modest amount right now. Then in when February comes around the Treasury Department will increase the amount of debt drastically to avoid another debate.

This is why I agree with the idea that there is a political class --ruling, not governing. This is why the Republicans attacked Ted Cruz, he is not ruling, he's representing. There must be a movement to vote out the "ruling" Republicans from office in the primary season.

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