First speakers for GOP Convention announced; Palin not on list

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Sen. John McCain, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are among the first speakers named for this month’s Republican National Convention in Tampa.

The list, which was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times and later confirmed by the Associated Press, also includes four current GOP governors: Florida’s Rick Scott, South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, Ohio’s John Kasich and New Mexico’s Susana Martinez.

The keynote speaker and other headliners will be announced closer to the Aug. 27-30 convention, where Mitt Romney will officially become the party’s 2012 presidential nominee.

“Ours will be a world-class convention, worthy of the next president of the United States, and these speakers — and those that will be announced later — will help make it a truly memorable and momentous event,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus said.

Noticeably missing from Sunday’s list of announced speakers are the most frequently talked about vice presidential contenders, including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Read more from this story HERE.

Illegal alien students: pay $465, stay in the U.S.

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Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue

The Homeland Security Department said Friday that illegal immigrants will have to pay $465 to apply for legal status in the U.S. under President Obama’s administration Dream Act, with the fees going to make sure no taxpayer funds are used.

Illegal immigrants will be able to begin applying Aug. 15 under the program announced in June by President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, which will apply to illegal immigrants age 30 and under who were brought here before age 16.

In another key decision, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said the agency will generally not use the information from the applications to try to deport illegal immigrants who don’t qualify unless they lie on their application, have serious criminal records or are otherwise deemed threats to the country.

That move is likely to draw fire from critics who say the Obama administration is knowingly turning its back on illegal immigration, but an administration official, who briefed reporters on condition that he not be named, said they made that decision in order to try to convince illegal immigrants to come forward.

“Information contained in the request will not be used for immigration enforcement purposes,” the official said.

Read more from this story HERE.

China furious over interference in the South China Sea, tells US to “shut-up”

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By Ben Blanchard. China’s Foreign Ministry has called in a senior U.S. diplomat to protest against remarks by the U.S. State Department raising concerns over tensions in the contested South China Sea, further intensifying an already fraught territorial dispute.

In a statement released late on Saturday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng summoned the U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to make “serious representations” about the issue.

The State Department on Friday said it was monitoring the situation in the seas closely, adding that China’s establishment of a military garrison for the area runs “counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region”.

The South China Sea has become Asia’s biggest potential military flashpoint. Beijing’s sovereignty claim over the huge area has set it against Vietnam and the Philippines as the three countries race to tap possibly huge oil reserves.

Beijing and Washington are already at odds over numerous matters, including the value of China’s currency, Tibet and Taiwan. Read more from this story HERE.

China tell US to “Shut-up”

By Chris Buckley. China’s state-run media ramped up condemnation of the United States on Monday over tensions in the South China Sea, with the Communist Party’s top newspaper telling Washington to “Shut up” and charging it with “fanning flames” of division in the region.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s over the weekend condemned a U.S. State Department statement that said Washington was closely monitoring territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and that China’s establishment of a military garrison for the area risks “further escalating tensions in the region”.

The mosaic of rival territorial claims in the South China Sea has become Asia’s worst potential military flashpoint.

Beijing has said its disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines and other southeast Asian claimants should be settled one-on-one, and it has bristled at U.S. backing for a multilateral approach to solving the overlapping claims.

“We are entirely entitled to shout at the United States, ‘Shut up’. How can meddling by other countries be tolerated in matters that are within the scope of Chinese sovereignty?,” said a commentary in the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, an offshoot of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s top newspaper. Read more from this story HERE.

Tea Party Republicans sketch out Internet policy

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the son of libertarian Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, visited the conservative Heritage Foundation on Thursday to sketch out his agenda for preserving Internet freedom. In Paul’s view, this means opposing warrantless government snooping of private networks—and also opposing regulations intended to protect privacy and network neutrality.

The event follows last month’s announcement of a new “Internet freedom” initiative by the Campaign for Liberty, an activist group founded by the elder Paul. It appears that father and son see eye to eye on Internet issues, and the younger Paul used the Heritage event as an opportunity to explain his views.

Sen. Paul began by referencing Gordon Crovitz’s recent column in the Wall Street Journal, questioning whether the government launched the Internet. We’ve pointed out that Crovitz’s column was factually challenged; Paul offered a more nuanced version of the argument.

“It may not be completely simple but it’s definitely not as simple as that the government invented it,” he said. “When you say stuff like, ‘Oh, the government invented the Internet,’ it sort of demeans the process of the individuals who were involved.”

For example, “There was Vinton Cerf. There was Tim Berners-Lee. There were individuals. But it wasn’t the faceless government that invented the Internet. It was individuals. Even if some of them did work for government, the mind of the individual is what should be extolled, not some faceless bureaucracy.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Clint Eastwood just made Mitt Romney’s day

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Photo credit: Siebbi

The Dirty Harry star and Oscar-winning director of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby endorsed the Republican presidential candidate Friday night during a Sun Valley, Idaho fundraiser.

‘I think the country needs a boost,’ Eastwood told The Associated Press as he joined other Romney supporters for the private campaign event.

In February, Eastwood told Fox News that he wasn’t supporting any politician at that time.

Some saw the ‘halftime in America’ ad he made for the Super Bowl as a nod toward President Barack Obama. Eastwood responded then by saying he was not ‘politically affiliated’ with the president.

‘Now more than ever do we need Gov. Romney. I’m going to be voting for him,’ Eastwood told Romney supporters Friday night.

Read more from this story HERE.

Homosexuals, others protest Chick-fil-A yesterday, create “chaos”

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Photo credit: Generic Brand Productions

A day of protest at Chick-fil-A franchises around the country ended in chaos yesterday as thousands of gay couples gathered to oppose the company’s stance on same-sex marriage.

One branch of the fast-food restaurant was vandalised with graffiti accusing them of spreading ‘hate’, while another had to call police after being flooded with protesters and media.

Reports were also received of a restaurant being evacuated after a bomb threat which was later deemed to be a hoax.

The unrest marred a day when thousands expressed their support of marriage equality with public displays of affection outside branches of the popular chicken restaurant.

One protester went to extreme lengths to show his disdain for the chain’s anti-gay marriage stance – and ended up losing his job over it. Adam Smith, the former CFO of an Arizona-based medical device manufacturer, decided to take matters into his own hands by targeting an employee at a drive-thru window, videoing it and uploading it on to YouTube.

Read more from this story HERE.

US black teen, Gabby Douglas, makes Olympic history, publicly praises God

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Photo credit: ClaraDon

By USWeekly Staff.  Gabby Douglas, 16, made history Thursday when the U.S. Olympic gymnast won the gold medal in the women’s all-around final competition. She became the first African-American to win the top prize.

“Someone mentioned that I was the first black American (to win the all-around gold), and I said, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot about that!’ I feel so honored,” she told reporters via The Associated Press after her win.

Gabby was raised in Virginia and began training at the age of 6. When she was 9, her father, Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas, went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I just had to pray to God just to keep him safe and tell the angels to keep my dad safe and come home,” she recently explained to NBC Nightly News of her father being away.

After having to miss many of her competitions, Gabby’s father was able to attend her U.S. Olympic trials on June 29. It was the first time he had seen his daughter for the first time since October 2010, according to USA Today. Holding an American flag with “Go Gabby Douglas, Love, Dad” on the front, Gabby was thrilled to see her dad in the stands.

“I’m like, ‘Who’s calling my name?’ And then I look up. It was my dad and his friend, and I haven’t seen him in a while,” Gabby explained. “They were holding up the flag. And I almost felt like bawling. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, Dad!”  Read more from this story HERE.

iTickets.com also reports:  Following her emotional win the 16 year old gave an interview with NBC and celebrated the moment by praising God and offering her thanks for an amazing blessing.

“It is everything I thought it would be; being the Olympic champion, it definitely is an amazing feeling. And I give all the glory to God. It is kind of a win win situation. The glory goes up to Him and the blessings fall down on me,” Douglas testified in the interview.

Later she also took to social networking site Twitter to continue her praise. She tweeted, Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me.

Douglas also stated on her Twitter account that she “loves my family, dogs & most importantly God.”

Douglas, a Virginia native, earned her spot on the U.S. Womens Gymnastics team after she defied expectations at the American Cup in March. She initially only competed in the cup as an alternate, but she outscored the favorite in the U.S. Gymnastic team, Jordyn Wieber.  Read more from this story HERE.

Chick-fil-A “Appreciation Day” results in unprecedented sales; CFO fired for protest (+videos)

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By Jacques Couret.  So just how much did Chick-fil-A Inc.’s sales skyrocket on “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day”?

“While we don’t release exact sales numbers, it was an unprecedented day,” Chick-fil-A Executive Vice President of Marketing Steve Robinson said in a statement. “We are very grateful and humbled by the incredible turnout of loyal Chick-fil-A customers on August 1 at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country. Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was not a company promotion; it was initiated by others.”

The Atlanta-based chain is private and therefore doesn’t reveal its bottom line. It discloses annual sales figures, with last year’s record haul hitting $4 billion. There are 52 weeks in a year and Chick-fil-A isn’t open on Sundays. So it operates roughly 312 days of the year. Sales of $4 billion divided by 312 is about $12.8 million a day.

One can only guess how much more than $12.8 million Chick-fil-A considers “unprecedented” for sales on Aug. 1.

In other daily Chick-fil-A controversy news, the Newnan [Ga.] Times-Herald published a guest column from Lawrence Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, N.Y., and Atlanta. Reed comes out swinging in defense of Chick-fil-A, calling public figures who have come out against the chain “smug, self-righteous, power-wielding, small-time Nazi-types.”  Read more from this story HERE.

In a related story, the CFO of a major Tucson, Arizona company was fired for the following Appreciation Day “protest” against Chick-fil-A:

 

Finally, if you’re a Tim Hawkins fan, here’s his hilarious Chick-fil-A music video:

Obama Campaign & Democrats sue to prevent soldiers from voting

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President Barack Obama, along with many Democrats, likes to say that, while they may disagree with the GOP on many issues related to national security, they absolutely share their admiration and dedication to members of our armed forces. Obama, in particular, enjoys being seen visiting troops and having photos taken with members of our military. So, why is his campaign and the Democrat party suing to restrict their ability to vote in the upcoming election?

On July 17th, the Obama for America Campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Ohio Democratic Party filed suit in OH to strike down part of that state’s law governing voting by members of the military. Their suit said that part of the law is “arbitrary” with “no discernible rational basis.”

Currently, Ohio allows the public to vote early in-person up until the Friday before the election. Members of the military are given three extra days to do so. While the Democrats may see this as “arbitrary” and having “no discernible rational basis,” I think it is entirely reasonable given the demands on servicemen and women’s time and their obligations to their sworn duty.

The National Defense Committee reports:

[f]or each of the last three years, the Department of Defense’s Federal Voting Assistance Program has reported to the President and the Congress that the number one reason for military voter disenfranchisement is inadequate time to successfully vote.

I think it’s unconscionable that we as a nation wouldn’t make it as easy as possible for members of the military to vote. They arguably have more right to vote than the rest of us, since it is their service and sacrifice that ensures we have the right to vote in the first place.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama administration released illegal aliens who went on to commit thousands of crimes

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By Stephen Dinan.  The Obama administration released illegal immigrants who went on to commit more crimes, including charges of 19 murders, 3 attempted murders and 142 sex crimes, the House Judiciary Committee said in a report Tuesday.

All told, 16 percent of the nearly 47,000 illegal immigrants the administration was notified of but declined to deport between 2008 and 2011 under its Secure Communities program have gone on to be charged with other crimes, the committee said.

They were part of the nearly 160,000 immigrants — most of them here legally — who were flagged by Secure Communities during the three-year period and who were later charged in nearly 60,000 more crimes, according to the committee and the Congressional Research Service, which looked at data the committee subpoenaed from the Homeland Security Department.

The Secure Communities program was designed to identify immigrants who end up in state and local prisons and jails who the administration decides it wants to deport.

While hundreds of thousands of aliens have been sent back home under the program, 159,286 were not put in deportation proceedings during the period under review, CRS said.  Read more from this story HERE.

This story comes on the heels of DHS’s Janet Napolitano’s admission that terrorists are entering the US through the Mexican border.