Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called for dialogue and reconciliation in the Middle East as he prepared to visit war-torn Syria’s …

Social media has revolutionized the business world and has quickly established itself as the primary source of recruitment for companies worldwide, and with good reason – it’s cost-effective, fast and scalable, allowing organizations of all shapes and sizes to source potential hires and easily profile their characters.

Indeed, 92 percent of U.S. companies have used social networks to find new talent, and almost three-quarters (73 percent) of those surveyed have made successful hires through these channels.

As you might expect, LinkedIn leads the way, with 93 percent of socially-savvy employers using this platform for talent acquisition, ahead of Facebook (66 percent) and Twitter (54 percent). Companies listed professional organization membership and charity work as their preferred employee characteristics, with posts and tweets about illegal drugs, sexual activity and profanity being the top three no-nos.

This infographic from Intricate takes a closer look at social media’s effect on employee recruitment.

In authentically exercising the privilege to vote is required careful and reasoned moral discernment, which must always be guided by the light of faith and governed by a properly formed conscience. In this process of discernment, we must always remain faithful to the teaching of the Church on the full truth of the human person, which leads us to oppose intrinsic evils with maximum determination.

GLADE PARK, CO (Catholic Online) -- There was never a time in the U.S. when the privilege of voting was to be taken lightly. Through the democratic process of electing political leaders, the citizens of our nation take an active role in shaping not only America's future, but even its character. That is, the citizenry by its vote has a say in what America is about, what it means to live within her borders, and what our nation stands for as a people. The choices we make this November in the voting booth will in some way form America, and, additionally, they may even, perhaps to a very large degree, form our children in the future.
To say that voting choices will form our children, is not to refer only to economic, public debt, or tax burden concerns. As important as these are, they pale in comparison to the manner in which our children may be morally formed, either in a positive or negative way, as a direct consequence of our vote. The fact is, society acts as a moral teacher. What is legal is often deemed moral, whether it is or not. Accepted practices become the norm. The virtues and vices of a society imprint themselves upon the people who live within it. Whether a particular civil law is in sync with what is right and good or not, whether cultural norms are in accordance with the divine law and the natural law or not, is often inadequately considered by individuals until they have already fallen under their influence. The obvious example of such a tragic situation is legalized abortion.

The political opponents for the offices of President and Vice President in the election of 2012 stand in diametric opposition on crucial moral issues -- namely intrinsic evils. While it is true that both the Democrat and Republican candidates speak in some form or other of providing a positive socio-economic influence on the nation, their personal moral philosophies concerning human life and the dignity and truth about the human person could hardly be more radically divided.

(Catholic Online) - There has been a lot of brouhaha surrounding the 2012 Democratic Party platform and the removal of any reference to God from it.  Following the politically-embarrassing revelation in the media, and the clear hay the Republicans were making from it, the Democrat leadership engaged in damage control.

The effort was, like most democratic things, a little messy.  After Ted Strickland (OH) moved to change the platform language, there came the embarrassing vote on the floor, and the forced and plainly heavy-handed tactics of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who was chairing the convention. The vote to change the platform was thrice put to a voice vote, and three times to any objective observer there was a more-or-less even call of "Ayes" and "Nos."   A two thirds majority of "Ayes" was required for the platform to be amended, and--when it was apparent that it was not forthcoming--Villaraigosa exclaimed that, in the "opinion of the chair," two thirds had voted "Aye," and the motion carried. 

Whether Villaraigosa's defective hearing was the result of deafness or was result-driven, only he knows; but were I a betting man, I would say it was plainly the latter.  There were audible boos, cat-calls, and groans from the crowd.  Whether these were because of the amendment itself or the way the amendment was undemocratically foisted upon the Democratic convention, it is hard to tell.  Whether the complaints were more of Jerusalem being declared the capital of Israel or human potential being declared "God-given," it is hard also to tell.  Probably, what we witnessed was a combination of all these things. But as one might expect, the Republicans interpreted the booing as evidence of Democratic apostasy so they could capitalize on it.  If this be apostasy, I imagine they are thinking, make the most of it.