Obama Calls on Boy Scouts to Welcome Homosexuals

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Photo Credit: tedeytanPresident Obama called on the Boy Scouts to open their ranks to homosexuals.

His response came during an interview ahead of Super Bowl XLVII. CBS News’ Scott Pelley asked the president if scouting should be open to gays.

“Yes,” the president replied. “Gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everyone else does.”

BSA national leaders are meeting this week in Dallas to discuss lifting a ‘no-gay’ ban on both members and leaders.

On Monday a group of 42 religious groups will publish a half-page ad in USA Today calling on the Scouts to resist political and economic pressures to lift the ban.

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Famed Navy SEAL Chris Kyle Murdered at Gun Range in N. Texas

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Photo Credit: G Laury PhotographyGLEN ROSE, Texas — A former U.S. Navy SEAL who gained recognition during the Iraq War was one of two people fatally shot southwest of Fort Worth on Saturday, KHOU 11 News has learned.

Sources close to the investigation identified the former SEAL as Chris Kyle, 39, author of the New York Times bestselling book, “American Sniper.”

Kyle was shot point-blank while helping another soldier who was recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome, officials said. The murders happened at a shooting range near the town of Glen Rose, about 53 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

The Erath County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert for the arrest of the suspect, who was later identified as Eddie Routh, 25. Officials warned that Routh was traveling in a Ford F-150 pickup with large tires and rims. They said he was believed to be highly trained with military experience.

Routh was reportedly later captured in Lancaster, south of Dallas.

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Obama’s Radical Friends: OFA 2.0 Considering Merger with Radical Left-Wing Groups

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The new Obama advocacy nonprofit Organizing for Action is reportedly considering a merger with a left-wing umbrella group whose financiers have ties to Palestinian terrorists and Central American Marxists.

The Common Purpose Project (CPP), an affiliation of left-wing activist groups, may merge with Organizing for Action, the new 501(c)4 iteration of the Obama campaign’s 527 group, Organizing for America.

The Common Purpose Project held periodic meetings attended by top liberal groups during President Barack Obama’s first term. Top White House officials regularly attended the meetings and the president himself has even attended one.

Erik Smith and Laura Burton Capps—CPP’s founder and the group’s managing director, respectively—have reportedly attended at least 50 “planning sessions” at the White House.

Among CPP’s donors are Sandor and Faye Straus, founders of the left-wing Firedoll Foundation. The couple has funneled money to a host of radical organizations through Firedoll.

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Senate Plan Would Give Napolitano Final Say on Border Security

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Under a bipartisan Senate framework, Democrats say, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano would have final say over whether the border is secure enough to put 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.

If Napolitano does not provide the green light for putting illegal immigrants on a pathway to citizenship, the responsibility for judging whether the metrics for border security have been met will be given to her successor.

The early debate over immigration reform has yielded two thorny questions: What metrics will be used to determine whether the goals for border security and other safeguards against illegal immigration have been met? Who will decide whether the metrics have been achieved?

Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the lead Democratic sponsor of the bipartisan immigration reform framework unveiled this past week, said Napolitano should decide.

“What we’ve proposed is that the DHS secretary, whomever it is, will have final say on [whether] whatever metrics we proposes are met,” Schumer said. “We think those metrics will be quite objective.”

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White House Petition Demands Secret Service be Replaced by Gun-Free Zone

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Photo Credit: Saul Loeb/Getty ImagesA petition demanding that the Secret Service be replaced by a floating gun-free zone has crossed the original threshold for White House action, a blog post at Weasel Zippers said Monday.

“Gun Free Zones are supposed to protect our children, and some politicians wish to strip us of our right to keep and bear arms,” the petition says. “Those same politicians and their families are currently under the protection of armed Secret Service agents. If Gun Free Zones are sufficient protection for our children, then Gun Free Zones should be good enough for politicians.”

As of this writing, the petition has over 31,000 signatures. Unfortunately, the White House recently increased the threshold for action from 25,000 to 100,000 signatures.

Since the Sandy Hook shooting, the concept of gun-free zones has come under fire. For critics, the designations amount to little more than a magnet for criminals with guns. The signs announcing gun-free zones, for them, are nothing more than an invitation to armed criminals.

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Source: Obama ‘Couldn’t Have Been More Uncomfortable’ at Skeet Shooting Event

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Photo Credit: jurvetsonIn a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama claimed that he goes skeet shooting “all the time” while at Camp David. But a source who said he has been to the retreat on a half-dozen visits with the president said that’s not the case, Fox News reported Wednesday.

“The only time he shot skeet was for President’s Cup,” the unnamed source told Fox News, referring to a shooting competition tradition involving the president’s Marine guards. “I was there. He stayed for about five minutes, and couldn’t leave fast enough.”

The source told Fox that shooting skeet “is very hard.”

“Especially for someone not used to guns … He couldn’t have been more uncomfortable,” the source said.

Complicating matters is a report at the Washington Post fact-checker that noted Obama’s silence on his alleged fondness for the sport.

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Obama Faces Tough Sell With Sheriffs on Gun Control

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Photo Credit: Washington ExamerPresident Obama will travel to Minnesota on Monday with hopes of building support in the law enforcement community for his set of gun control initiatives.

However, public safety officials outside urban pockets are increasingly hostile toward a sweeping set of proposals they say would do nothing to curtail violence.

As the details of Obama’s gun plan emerged — a ban on assault weapons, a prohibition on high-capacity ammunition clips and universal background checks — urban law enforcement officials were among the most vocal proponents of the blueprint. However, over time, police officials in suburban and rural areas have expressed misgivings, with some becoming outspoken critics of the president’s ideas.

That cultural gap has remained, and some analysts said it has become imperative for Obama to at least partially bridge it. ,/p>

“It’s essential for advocates of gun control to have the support of the law enforcement community,” said Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of the book “Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America.” “Americans are willing to give so much deference to first responders, but the problem is that many in law enforcement don’t think the president’s ideas are aimed at crime.”

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Biden Does Damage Control With European Leaders After Hagel’s Policy Flub

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Photo Credit: marcnVice President Joseph R. Biden assured European leaders Saturday that the U.S. is not pursuing a policy of “containment” toward Iran, two days after U.S. Defense secretary-nominee Chuck Hagel mistakenly characterized the Obama administration’s policy.

“As President Obama has made clear to Iranian leaders, our policy is not containment — it is not containment,” Mr. Biden said at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany. “It is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

During his confirmation hearing Thursday, Mr. Hagel told the Senate Armed Services committee that the administration had a policy of “containment” toward the Iranian regime. After an aide slipped him a note minutes later, Mr. Hagel corrected himself and said, “We don’t have a position on containment.

That comment prompted Chairman Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, to remind Mr. Hagel that the U.S. does indeed have a position on containment — “we do not favor containment.”

Mr. Biden didn’t mention Mr. Hagel’s stumble to the Europeans, but he did try to set the record straight. Addressing international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear ambitions, Mr. Biden said the Obama administration has “also made clear that Iran’s leaders need not sentence their people to economic deprivation and international isolation.”

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Biden Raises Possibility Of Direct U.S.-Iranian Talks

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Michael Dalder(Reuters) – The United States is ready for direct talks with Iran if it is serious about negotiations, Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday, backing bilateral contact many see as crucial to easing a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Biden said Iran – which says it is enriching uranium for peaceful energy only – now faced “the most robust sanctions in history” meant to ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons.

“But we have also made clear that Iran’s leaders need not sentence their people to economic deprivation and international isolation,” Biden said. “There is still time, there is still space for diplomacy backed by pressure to succeed. The ball is in the government of Iran’s court.”

To date, fitful talks on Iran’s nuclear program have been between Tehran and the EU’s top diplomat representing six world powers including Washington. But analysts have suggested that with his re-election behind him, President Barack Obama might have more leeway to take on direct negotiations with Iran.

That makes the year ahead critical for chances of overcoming a stand-off which, if left to fester further, could see Iran approach nuclear weapons capability, possibly provoking military action by Israel that could inflame the Middle East.

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Supreme Court Wants Answers After Soldier Jailed for Killing Suspected Terrorist Who Attacked Him

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The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the federal government to explain its punishment for a U.S. soldier convicted of shooting and killing a suspected terrorist who was attacking him.

The word comes from the parents of Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, Scott and Vicki Behenna, who have been raising awareness of their son’s case through the Defend Michael website.

Lower courts have concluded that since Michael Behenna was holding the terror suspect at gunpoint, he gave up the right to defend himself when the suspect allegedly lunged for his service weapon.

The suspect, Ali Mansur, was thought to be involved in a series of attacks on American troops. The judges determined Behenna was conducting an “unauthorized” interrogation when Mansur lunged for Behenna’s weapon and he fired.

Behenna, an Army Ranger, was given a 15-year sentence and now is in Fort Leavenworth.

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