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by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth

It seems Pope Francis has the GOP is a twist. I can understand this because the Pontiff, being the head Theologian steeped in education and the pursuit of Mysticism really hasn't a clue when it comes to economics, business, or how to run anything other than the Church. Supposedly a purely altruistic and spiritual pursuit.

On the other hand we have the ex Randian (for political reasons he later denounced Objectivism) Representative Paul Ryan talking about capitalism and how the Pope, who hails from Argentina, doesn't understand capitalism because all Argentinians have known is crony capitalism. Fair enough. Let us take a look at the definition of crony capitalism and see how it all plays out shall we?

Crony Capitalism - An economy that is nominally free-market, but allows for preferential regulation and other favorable government intervention based on personal relationships. In such a system, the false appearance of "pure" capitalism is publicly maintained to preserve the exclusive influence of well-connected individuals. (Source)

Oops! Looks as though a future (well connected) potential Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States of America has just described, here it is... the U.S. economy and its crony "Capitalists."

Read the Article below the fold.

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

"We must meet one another doing good. 'But I don't believe Father, I am an atheist!' But do good: we will meet one another there." Pope Francis

The behemoth that is the Catholic Church, with all its unbending rigid dogmatic principles just might be undergoing historic changes. Pope Francis is continuing to signal a much greater openness and tolerance in general. He is looking more and more like the right Pope at the right time to attempt reform within the Church hierarchy. Read the full story at CNN.

Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny



The Catholic Cardinals elected a "new" 76 year old Pope, hereafter known as Pope Francis. Early indications are the "new" Pope will carry on the outdated doctrines of past religious dogma and bigotry. One would think sooner, rather than later, the Church, and by Church I mean the congregations of the faithful, would demand real ethical/moral change in the Church hierarchy.

However, when all is said and done, the Catholic Church is as close to a dictatorship as any statist nation ever was. I'm certainly not a Catholic, or even a "believer" in the conventional sense, but I feel safe in stating that unless the Catholic Church changes its dogma to reflect modern science and 21st century thinking it will, like the rEpublican party in America find itself becoming less relevant.

GAWKER - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now to be known forever as Pope Francis, sounds likeable enough, to people who are disposed to like high-ranking men of the cloth. The 76-year-old Argentine is reportedly marked by a devotion to the poor and a cultivated humility—he doesn't like limos or fancy palaces, you see, favoring public transportation and sparse apartments over luxury.

But anyone who was looking for a liberal reformer in the Vatican is probably going to keep waiting. The vast majority of American Catholics now find birth control morally acceptable, and 54 percent of American Catholics now support same-sex marriage. Optimists thought this might signal that the next supreme leader of Catholicism would himself—but certainly not herself! ha ha! that would be crazy—reflect the forward momentum of his adherents. Yesterday, Pope Francis looked down upon thousands of people gathered beneath his Vatican City balcony, and millions watching around the world, and effectively said, "Nope."

In honor of all of the papacy's cloak-and-dagger skullduggery, let's start with the rumors: Though he was never directly charged with aiding and abetting Argentina's murderous dictatorial regime during the country's infamous "Dirty War," years later a journalist would accuse Bergoglio of hiding imprisoned victims from human-rights workers. These allegations were detailed by Hugh O'Shaughnessy in the Guardian in 2011 (emphasis ours):

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If it's any consolation—and if you're gay it's probably not—the Guardian reports that, despite his many conservative stances (and possible war crimes), Pope Francis believes condoms "can be permissible" to prevent the passage of infection. It only took thousands of years, but there you have it: Condoms might possibly be OK in order to help prevent scores and scores of people from constantly dying of AIDS. Welcome to progress, Catholic style.

Via: Memeorandum