Will Romney’s VP be Ayotte or Petraus?

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One view: Mitt Romney courting Gen. David Petraeus

By Michael Zinnie.  Mitt Romney is courting General David Petraeus, the hero of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, to be his vice presidential pick, it was claimed today.

In spite of speculation on The Drudge Report which cited an unnamed source who overheard President Barack Obama talking about the Republican candidate’s desire to name Petraeus as his running mate, Petraeus released a statement denying the rumor.

‘Director Petraeus feels very privileged to be able to continue to serve our country in his current position, and, as he has stated clearly numerous times before, he will not seek elected office,’ CIA spokesman Todd Ebitz told Reuters.

It remains to be seen whether the four-star general, who is currently the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, would even agree to such a proposition. In previous interviews he has said he has no interest in jumping into the political arena.

If Petreaus were tapped to be the Republican vice presidential nominee, it could shift the entire balance and momentum of the election — electrifying Romney’s campaign by picking a man regarded by most of the nation to be a war hero.  Read more from this story HERE.

Another view: Wikipedia proves Kelly Ayotte will be Romney’s running mate, page updated 153 times in one day

By Meghan Kenealley.  Political junkies are chomping at the bit for the latest insights into Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick, and there was a glimmer of hope Tuesday morning when it was suggested that the public could turn to Wikipedia for answers.

A site called Tech President made a compelling case by arguing that interested parties could look at the number of recent edits made to the pages of potential nominees and use the volume of those edits as a gauge for how likely it is that said candidate will be Romney’s choice.

The article examined the trend that started in the days leading up to the announcement of vice presidential candidates in the last presidential election: shortly before Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were revealed as their respective parties’ vice presidential nominees, there was a major spike in the edits to their pages.

The jump in that traffic presumably came from members of their campaigns who added more information to their profiles in the hours before their names were going to be searched thoroughly by Americans hoping to learn more about the candidates.

For instance, Sarah Palin’s page had 68 edits the day before her nomination was announced, while other prospects- which, at the time, included Romney himself- had far fewer changes on that fateful day.  Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Obama PAC blames Romney for Woman’s death; CNN says, “not true”

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An outrageous ad from an Obama Super PAC states that Romney was the cause of a woman’s death from cancer. Surprisingly, CNN cries foul, labeling the ad “not true.” See it all here.

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43% of US immigrants still on welfare after twenty years

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Immigrants lag behind native-born Americans on most measures of economic well-being — even those who have been in the U.S. the longest, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, which argues that full assimilation is a more complex task than overcoming language or cultural differences.

The study, which covers all immigrants, legal and illegal, and their U.S.-born children younger than 18, found that immigrants tend to make economic progress by most measures the longer they live in the U.S. but lag well behind native-born Americans on factors such as poverty, health insurance coverage and homeownership.

The study, based on 2010 and 2011 census data, found that 43 percent of immigrants who have been in the U.S. at least 20 years were using welfare benefits, a rate that is nearly twice as high as native-born Americans and nearly 50 percent higher than recent immigrants.

The report was released at a time when both major presidential candidates have backed policies that would make it easier to immigrate legally and would boost the numbers of people coming to the U.S.

Steven A. Camarota, the center’s research director and author of the 96-page study, said it shows that questions about the pros and cons of immigration extend well beyond the sheer numbers and touch on the broader consequences of assimilating a population defined by tougher socioeconomic challenges.

Read more from this story HERE.

Unlike Obama, Romney Comes Out in Support of Homosexual Boy Scout Leaders

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By Heather Clark.  A spokesperson for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has advised that the former Massachusetts governor disagrees with the Boy Scout’s current policy prohibiting open homosexuals from serving as members and leaders.

According to The Associated Press, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told the news outlet in an email that Romney still stands by his beliefs that homosexual men should be able to serve in the organization. She specifically noted that Romney had outlined his views in 1994 during a political debate, and that his stance has not changed.

“I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to do on that issue,” Romney stated during the debate. “I feel that all people should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation.”

As previously reported, last month, the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement reaffirming its policy prohibiting open homosexuals from joining the organization.

“The committee’s work and conclusion is that this policy reflects the beliefs and perspectives of the BSA’s members, thereby allowing Scouting to remain focused on its mission and the work it is doing to serve more youth,” the statement said. “The review included forthright and candid conversation and extensive research and evaluations — both from within Scouting and from outside of the organization.”  Read more from this story HERE.

Advocates: Romney backs gay scouts, Obama is silent

By Stephen Dinan. There is one social issue on which Mitt Romney is more liberal than President Obama — that of urging the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to accept gay scouts.

Mr. Romney said in 1994 that while it was up to BSA to set its own policy, he thought the scouts should allow gay boys in, and this week his campaign reaffirmed that stance to the Associated Press. The 1994 comments came as he was running to unseat then-Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.

“I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to do on that issue. I feel that all people should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation,” Mr. Romney said during a debate at the time.

Now Scouts for Equality, a group pushing for the national scouting group to allow gay boys to join, said it’s time for Mr. Obama — who as president is the honorary president of the scouts — to take the same stand.

“I’m happy to hear that Mitt Romney’s campaign confirmed his support for the participation of my family, and families like mine, in the Boy Scouts of America,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, a former cub scout den leader who is lesbian, said in a statement. “I think President Obama should also let the public know what he thinks about a cultural institution like the Boy Scouts banning gay Americans.”  Read more from this story HERE.

“Capitulation to Lawlessness”: Obama’s new plan to protect illegal alien criminals

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President Obama’s new immigration plan will provide safe harbor to criminal illegal immigrants and will lead to a “capitulation to lawlessness” that could threaten public safety, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said.

Fox News has obtained an internal document detailing how the Department of Homeland Security plans to implement what critics say amounts to an amnesty policy for what could be more than one million illegal immigrants.

According to the documents, illegal immigrants convicted of felonies or misdemeanors under “state immigration laws” may be granted deferred action. Those who have repeatedly entered the United States illegally will also be eligible. And traffic violations would not be considered a misdemeanor.

“It is a direct threat to the rule of law and to the demonstrated desire of the American people for a lawful system of immigration,” Sessions said. “I believe this administration has utilized this policy to basically undermine and negate the ability of the law officers to do what they have been hired and paid to do.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Liberal tyranny and the cluck heard ‘round the world (+video)

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By Matt Barber. Writer Sinclair Lewis is credited with saying, “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross.”

Close, but not quite. Truth is, fascism has come to America; but it’s wrapped in a rainbow flag and waving, well, let’s just say it sure ain’t waving a cross. With its latest wave of scorched-earth malfeasance, the radical left has awakened freedom-loving America to this reality.

Liberals learned a hard lesson on Wednesday. While the generally silent majority was showing exuberant support for free speech, the institution of true marriage and Chick-fil-A, “progressives” were gorging themselves on crow sandwiches doused in bitter hate. While Chick-fil-A was eating at liberals, millions of God-fearing Americans were eating at Chick-fil-A.

It was glorious. Those who would silence free speech were shouted down through an unprecedented – dare I say miraculous – show of unity in the body of Christ. Millions of God-fearing Americans took part in the “buy-cott” as Chick-fil-A’s cup runneth over.

It was a beautiful thing to behold. It made you proud to be an American. Most of the characteristically cocky “progressive” blogs and “news” sites observed radio silence as left-wing elitists – media, activists, politicos and pundits – sat in stunned disbelief.  Read more from this story HERE.

Of course, some of the media weren’t stunned. Rather, their failure to report arose out of overt bias, as admitted by this CBS affiliate:

Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea triggers alarm over ‘superbug’

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On Thursday, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are scheduled to release new treatment guidelines to slow the growth of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea in the United States.

These guidelines are coming none too soon, said William Smith, executive director of the National Coalition of STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) Directors.

“It is pretty clear that we have already seen significant resistance to the existing [gonorrhea] treatments, and internationally, we have seen complete treatment failures,” he said. “So right now is the time to be just ahead of this, and to try and figure out how we can control it a bit longer with the existing resources that we’ve got.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama: Hollywood is the November 2012 “tie-breaker”

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President Barack Obama on Monday told gathering of wealthy donors – many from Hollywood — “you guys are the tie-breaker” in the upcoming presidential election. “You and the American people,” he added.

Obama made the comment at a fundraiser in upscale Westport, Conn., just hours after he accused Romney of being “Robin Hood in reverse” at another fundraiser in Stamford, Conn. Dubbing the former Massachusetts governor “Romney Hood,” Obama said Romney wants to take from the middle class and give to the rich.

The Westport fund-raiser was held in the home of movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Actress Anne Hathaway was seated closest to Obama at his table. Screenwriter and producer Aaron Sorkin, whose NBC show “West Wing” was about a Democratic president, was also in attendance as well as talk show host Jerry Springer and actress Joanne Woodward, according to the White House press pool reporter.

Obama paid tribute to the stars in the audience.

“I want to thank Anne Hathaway for taking the time to host us. She’s spectacular,” Obama said, according to the official White House transcript. “And I did get a chance to see Batman and she was the best thing in it. That’s just my personal opinion. Aaron Sorkin — who writes the way every Democrat in Washington wished they spoke. Aaron, thank you.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Trump lets it rip on Fox-Romney should give up tax returns when Obama gives us college, passport records

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I certainly don’t agree with Trump on everything, but this particular Fox interview was a home run. In it, Trump asks the question that every rational American should be thinking: why should Romney give up any additional tax returns when Obama is hiding virtually everything, spending at least $4 million to keep much of his past from public view?

White House considers circumventing Congress again, leaves Internet takeover through exec. order a possibility

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The White House has left open the possibility of enacting its Internet agenda via executive order after the failed effort to bring the Democrat-supported cybersecurity bill to a full vote in the Senate last week.

In response to a question from The Hill, a Washington, D.C. political newspaper, about whether President Obama was considering advancing his party’s cyber-plan through an executive order, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney didn’t rule out the possibility.

“In the wake of Congressional inaction and Republican stall tactics, unfortunately, we will continue to be hamstrung by outdated and inadequate statutory authorities that the legislation would have fixed,” he said via email.

“Moving forward, the President is determined to do absolutely everything we can to better protect our nation against today’s cyber threats and we will do that,” added Carney.

The failed cyber security bill, which could be revived by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid when the Senate comes back from recess in September, would have given federal agencies in charge of regulating critical infrastructure industries like power companies and utilities the ability to mandate cybersecurity recommendations.

Read more from this story HERE.