Activist churches bait IRS, but agency won't bite so far

Handout via Reuters

Pastor Jim Garlow Garlow not only intends to break IRS rules for political endorsements by religious organizations, he also plans to spend the next four months recruiting other pastors to do the same.

By Nanette Byrnes, Reuters

?Pastor Jim Garlow will stand before congregants at his 2,000-seat Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, California, on Sunday, October 7, just weeks before the U.S. presidential and congressional elections, and urge his flock to vote for or against particular candidates.

He knows such pulpit pleading could endanger his church's tax-exempt status by violating IRS rules for a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. A charity can take a position on policy issues but cannot act "on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." To cross that line puts the $7 million mega-church's tax break at risk.

Even so, Garlow not only intends to break the rules, he also plans to spend the next four months recruiting other pastors to do the same as part of Pulpit Freedom Sunday. On that day each year since 2008, ministers intentionally try to provoke the IRS. Some even send DVD recordings of their sermons to the agency.

Last year, 539 pastors participated. This year organizers expect far more. Participants want to force the matter to court as a freedom of speech and religion issue.

"I believe we're on the early stages of the next great awakening," Garlow told his congregation last year. "We're going to see it just sweep across this nation."

The situation is fraught with peril for the IRS, which needs to be seen as apolitical. When it cracks down on political activities proscribed by the 501(c)(3) regulations, it is inevitably branded as partisan.

When the target is a church, mosque or synagogue, enforcement puts two fundamental American values at odds: freedom of speech and the separation of church and state. Although the agency has enforced the tax-exemption rules against churches in the past, it has so far ignored the provocations of Freedom Sunday.

The IRS has also been silent about the increasingly aggressive political activity of the U.S. Catholic bishops, who have called for their own Fortnight for Freedom this week. Masses, rallies, and parish bulletins are being mobilized against the Obama administration's healthcare regulations on contraceptives.

The result of agency inaction, according to tax experts and former IRS staffers, will be a lot more electioneering by leaders of the faithful, in local races as well as national, and to the benefit of Democrats as well as Republicans.

"It will get worse unless the IRS takes action, and they seem reluctant," said Nicholas Cafardi, dean emeritus and professor of law at Duquesne University and the longtime lawyer for the Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh.

Cafardi called the current state of affairs "toxic" in its mingling of the two worlds. Many religious leaders do not support the trend toward more political involvement by organized religion and worry it will undercut their moral authority.

The money involved is enormous. Combined, federal tax breaks on donations to churches and exemptions from state and local property taxes likely add up to something on the order of $25 billion in lost revenue each year.

Last year churches received $96 billion in tax-free contributions, according to estimates compiled by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Unlike other types of charities, churches do not have to file financial statements with the government. There are only rough estimates of church endowment or investment income, which is also tax-free and believed to be larger than annual contributions.

Using tax data from the U.S. Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation and data on giving to churches from the Indiana Center, a Reuters analysis found that tax breaks on church giving shaved $12 billion or so from total U.S. tax collections in 2011 and approximately $145 billion over the last decade.

The property tax break is probably even bigger. In their 2011 book "Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit," law professors Nina Crimm and Laurence Winer calculated that houses of worship received $12.7 billion in property tax exemptions on $685 billion of property in 2006, a figure large enough to have played a role in city and state budget deficits of recent years.

In big cities the numbers can be dramatic. New York City's 9,500 churches, synagogues, and mosques, for example, will avoid $626.9 million in property taxes this year thanks to their tax-free status, according to the city's Independent Budget Office.

Like most of California, La Mesa, where Garlow's Skyline Church is located, has suffered a steep drop in property tax collections, forcing municipal staff cuts and a sales tax increase.

Skyline's campus, which is assessed at $7.3 million and cost a reported $27 million to build, is almost entirely tax-exempt, according to the county assessor's office.

The IRS has not always been quiet. In 1992 it went after the Church at Pierce Creek in Binghamton, New York, which had bought full-page newspaper ads opposing then-Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton.

The church lost its IRS tax-exempt status but continued operating, changing its name to Landmark Church when it moved into central Binghamton several years ago.

Pastor Dan Little said the church never lost its property tax break. At the end of the year, Landmark gives people a record of their giving just like other churches, he said, leaving it up to them and their accountants to decide tax matters. "We just never have made any big issue of it," said Little, who continues to preach about politics and morals.

In 2004 the IRS created a dedicated enforcement program focused on political activity by churches and other nonprofits.

Called the Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI), it investigated in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 election cycles 80 instances where church officials were alleged to have endorsed a candidate during services.

According to IRS tallies made public after each election, the majority of the PACI complaints were upheld and settled with a warning that the organization comply with the ban on political activity.

The IRS did not respond to Reuters questions about its enforcement activities in recent years, or explain why they seem to have ended abruptly in 2009.

IRS church audits seem to have halted entirely in January 2009. That was when Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, successfully appealed an IRS audit. In question were an endorsement of Republican Michele Bachmann for Congress by pastor James Hammond and financial deals that may have benefited him personally, a violation of IRS rules.

IRS audits of churches must comply with strict rules designed to prevent undue governmental pressure. One is that a high-level IRS or Treasury Department official must authorize the audit. In the Living Word case, the U.S. District Court in Minnesota ruled that the IRS staffer who authorized the audit did not qualify.

In July of that year, Minnesota's Warroad Community Church was told by an IRS official that it was closing its 2008 examination of the church "because of a pending issue regarding the procedure used to initiate the inquiry." (Reuters obtained a copy of the letter from the Alliance Defense Fund, which was representing Warroad in the audit.)

Other churches that had been under IRS review received comparable letters, according to their lawyers.

The IRS stopped publishing the results of its PACI initiative. Three years later the IRS has yet to come up with a new set of church audit rules, making it impossible, experts say, for the agency to pursue such examinations.

Former staff insist that being seen as weak on enforcement of the law would be more damaging to the IRS than any allegation of partisanship would be.

Still, tight budget may have made it easy to put off tackling 501(c)(3) disputes. Others argued the agency may worry it could lose a court case over revocation on constitutional grounds, and that by avoiding such a test they may preserve the deterrent power of having the law on the books.

Whatever the reason, IRS inaction has effectively thwarted the evangelicals' efforts to force the matter in court.

At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting last week in Atlanta, bishops vowed to keep up their criticism of Obama administration policies on employer-provided birth control and other controversies.

"The first principle is that American citizens don't lose their freedom of religion or their freedom of expression when they become bishops," said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago.

As to what is and is not acceptable to say about candidates for office, "the guidelines are broader than some may interpret them," George told Reuters at the conference. In follow-up email correspondence, he declined to say whether he thought the IRS rules constrained free speech or whether he would be willing to forgo the church's tax exemption so clerics could speak out without restriction.

The meeting offered no public discussion of an April sermon by Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky that has been vigorously debated in the local and the religious press and which many think violated the prohibition against opposing a candidate for office. The sermon has drawn a request for an IRS investigation by a watchdog group.

After asserting that Obama, "with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda" seemed to be on an anti-Catholic path similar to Hitler and Stalin, Jenky exhorted all Catholics to "vote their Catholic consciences" this fall.

Do the people in congregations follow such instructions? Only 18 percent of those polled by the Pew Research Center in January said the endorsement of a candidate by their minister, priest or rabbi would sway their vote. Seventy percent said it would make no difference.

A second Pew study this spring found that most parishioners would prefer their religious leaders steer clear of electioneering, with Catholics among the most adamant.

More money and business news:

Follow msnbc.com business on Twitter and Facebook

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

jennifer lawrence black panthers mauritania mark sanchez obama open mic jefferson county colorado extenze

Swiss chemical process makes eco-friendly jeans

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

safety not guaranteed lifehouse al gore la dodgers supreme court lawrence o donnell magic johnson

DNA used to identify deceased along Texas-Mexico border

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) ? In the small Texas town of Del Rio, about five miles from the Mexican border, lies Westlawn Cemetery, a place where the poor and lost are buried in unmarked graves, their identities unknown. A group of Baylor University professors and students hope to give those buried there a name and return them to their loved ones.

Dr. Lori Baker, associate professor of anthropology at Baylor, forensic science lecturer Jim Huggins, and 18 students exhumed remains at the cemetery and are performing DNA analysis to help identify the deceased.

After exhuming the graves, students worked in teams to analyze the remains and are in the process of performing a full anthropological analysis to determine age, sex, ancestry, and stature of the deceased, measuring and completing 3D scans of the bones at laboratories at Baylor and Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

During the field school in Del Rio, the team unearthed six deceased to be identified along with the remains of a baby. "I am hoping that we will be able to go back and see if the mother was also buried in the cemetery near the baby," Baker said.

The DNA analysis will be included in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and shared with officials in Del Rio and the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs with the goal of positive identification and repatriation of the remains to their families in Mexico. For Baker, the field school is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have an impact on others.

"No one else in the United States is doing this right now -- taking students on a field school to identify the undocumented population that have died while crossing the border. This is unique," said Baker. "This field school has allowed the students to learn with hands-on experience how to locate and recover human remains in a forensic context. They are learning how to analyze the remains in order to learn all that they can from the deceased and how to look for signs of antemortem and post-mortem trauma. There is no better learning experience that we can provide for them. The field school also provided an opportunity for the students to work in a humanitarian effort that has the potential to significantly affect others."

Although this is Huggins's first field school of this type, his almost 30-year career in law enforcement has allowed him to experience exhumations as part of forensic criminal investigations. He believes experience is the best teacher for the students. "This type of project provides real-world experience for students who aspire to become anthropologists and forensic scientists as well as those who desire to serve in a worthwhile project," Huggins said.

Baker, who was recently featured in a four-part series on the National Geographic Channel called "The Decrypters," has examined the remains of roughly 300 unidentified, undocumented immigrants that resulted in 70 direct identifications and subsequent repatriations as part of her Reuniting Families Program. She hopes to help families heal after the loss of their loved ones.

"The families are left without knowledge of what became of their loved ones. These deceased individuals are buried without names and as long as they are buried, there is no further action to find their identities," Baker said. "We will do all we can to give them names and to get them back to their families. We hope that the closure will bring peace to the families."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Baylor University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

drew brees drew brees tim tebow jets katy perry part of me video photoshop cs6 beta nfl news tebow

Stock Market Investing Fundamentals ? Study the Basics of the ...

Do you want to be taught stock market investing fundamentals? Keep reading, in this article I am going to show the fundamentals of the stock market.

Stock market investing fundamentals

Listed below are the fundamentals of the stock market

? Investing = placing your money to work for you. There are many other ways of doing this similar to, placing cash into stocks, bonds, mutual funds or actual estate. These are known as funding vehicles.

? A long time perspective is important in the case of investing. The longer you are willing to take a position your cash for the more you will make. Investing your money for long time durations also increases the facility of compound interest.

? Stocks are shares within the possession of a company. Owning a stock is like proudly owning a piece of the company.

? Proudly owning stock doesn?t mean that you?ve a say in daily working of the company. It does nonetheless entitle you to vote when the board of administrators is elected, it also entitles you to receive dividends (a share of the businesses profits)

? Word that stocks have restricted liability, this means that should the company be unable to pay its debts you will not be held liable.

? There are two fundamental kinds of stocks; they are frequent and most popular stocks.

? Stocks are traded on exchanges, this is the place consumers and sellers meet and decide on a price. The most famous exchanges are the New York Stock change (NYSE) and the Nasdaq.

? Stock costs move up and down due to provide and demand, prices additionally move up and down primarily based on what investors really feel the company is worth. At the end of the day the most important issue affecting stock price is the amount of revenue that the company makes.

? To buy stock you will want a stockbroker. That is somebody who has the mandatory qualifications and is legally entitled to buy to purchase stock.

? A brokerage is a agency of stock brokers. There are sorts full service and discount. Full service prices extra and will give you professional advice in addition to personally managing your portfolio, low cost fees much less but offers far much less individualized attention. With the rise of the internet you now also have on-line brokers (the preferred selection right this moment)

? Bull and bear are terms used to indicate where the market is going. A bull market = an excellent economy, excessive ranges of employment and rising stocks. A bear market = dangerous economic system, high unemployment and falling stock prices.

These are all the stock market investing basics you have to to know, if you discovered them laborious to understand just persist and remember ? the stock market is de facto not as onerous because it?s made out to be. Did you get pleasure from this article? For more stock market information identical to it please visit my web site by following the links below.

big game jeremy london jeremy london butterball turkey fryer butterball turkey fryer yale harvard dan henderson

5 Surprising Ways to Use Amazon to Further Your Content ...

Amazon.com is a Top-10 most visited website and the largest online retail site in the world. If a book, film or other information product is not available on Amazon, it probably isn?t available online from any store. But its reputation for low prices and vast selection overshadows yet another reality ? the richness and depth of its community, including:

  • A community of subject matter experts
  • A community of outstanding writers
  • A collection of product discovery tools developed for community members

Some could even make the case that Amazon is a social media platform.

A community of experts

Over the last several years, Amazon has built out a collection of tools and features that shoppers can use to promote themselves and their interests. Some are well known, like Amazon Associates, one of the first and most successful internet affiliate programs; others, like Vine Voice are less well known. The point is that these community tools add as much value to the Amazon shopping experience as does Amazon?s reputation for outstanding customer service.

What does this mean to you, the content marketer? There are two ways to take advantage of this community. One is to join it by actively participating. The second is to mine it as a source for experts, ideas, and product information.

Let?s look at five ways to do that:

1. Your public profile

Similar to what you do on other social networks, your public profile is an opportunity to add a photo and pertinent information about yourself and your business. You can choose to make it public or private, but I suggest public if you want to build credibility and increase the chance you will be contacted. Any review you write will be here, and when people click your name they can get more information about you, such as a link to your website or even your email address (should you choose to share it publicly).

Click login, go to Your Account and look under Personalization. Under the heading Community you will see a link to Your Public Profile.

2. Badges

Badges earned with Amazon.com, CMIBadges are short descriptions that display just below the user name that qualify and distinguish an Amazon user. Currently there are 17 types of badges in the Amazon system. Examples include ?Real Name,? ?Top 10 Reviewer,? ?Manufacturer,? and ?Help Forum Pro.? Many of these are assigned by Amazon based on user participation and contribution.

Amazon is slowly building a community of people who take pride in how they are perceived, and so earning a badge is like having an advertisement for your expertise ? it confers credibility on those that earn that badge.

3. Reviews

Have you noticed how some customer reviews on Amazon.com are incredibly detailed and thorough? Look under the reviewer?s name to see if they have a badge. Perhaps they do, or they could be striving to earn one of the six reviewer badges. And beyond these six, Amazon has yet another level called Vine Voice. This is an invitation-only program that gives these reviewers advance access to unreleased products for the purpose of writing a review.

Clearly these are good writers and subject matter experts. But you don?t need a badge to stand out ? helpful and insightful comments also get noticed. In a recent post, author and music fan David Meerman Scott talked about being contacted by the producers of the Bob Marley biographical film to use one of his concert photos.

Think of a review as a comment on a blog post. Make sure it is well written, fair, and helpful. The more votes it gets for being helpful, the more it helps your visibility.

4. ?Listmania? and ?So you?d like to??

These are user-curated lists of products to share with the community. They appear throughout Amazon?s website as a product discovery feature. Both are lists of items you recommend as a collection ? often they are books or movies, but they can be lists of any product Amazon sells. The key difference between these two site features is that So you?d like to? guides can have up to 5,000 words, while Listmania is simply a list of products.

Collectively, these live as tabs under Contributions on Your Public Profile. It is another way to build your presence, share your expertise, or discover new, relevant subject matter experts.

Learn about content marketing, CMI

5. aStore

What about putting the Amazon community to work on your website? The addition of a store that sells products related to your business may give your visitors a reason to spend more time on your site. You might also make extra money for your efforts.

Amazon aStore is a tool that enables you to build a professional-looking online store that can be embedded within your website or linked to from your website. It does not require any programming skills, and it is part of the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Put the Amazon community to work for you

It is surprising how much content on Amazon gets indexed by Google. Not just Amazon product content, but community-contributed content, as well. Consider participating in and mining this community for your benefit thusly:

  • Embrace your Amazon presence and treat it like you would any other social media platform.
  • Need a subject matter expert or writer? Look for books that match your subject and then scour the reviews for good writers, or even reach out to the author. Many will have a public presence that makes contacting them easier.
  • Contribute. Add your comments to product reviews just like you would to a blog post. And as with any comments, be thoughtful about what you say because it will live forever on the Amazon site.
  • Participate in discussion groups. Amazon?s discussion boards are active, and I recently launched an open group on Linkedin called Marketing on Amazon.

These are powerful tools and site features that do not require you to write a book. Use them yourself, but also use them to discover other experts.

Want more content marketing inspiration? Download our ultimate eBook with 100 content marketing examples.

colorectal cancer metta kashi neil diamond orange crush harden nor easter

Veep Beat: The VP Tangle for Romney and Rubio

ROMNEY QUIETS RUBIO RUMORS: Mitt Romney was forced to clarify Tuesday evening whether his campaign was vetting Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., ABC News' Emily Friedman reported. "There are only two people in this country who know who are being vetted and who are not, and that's Beth Myers and myself," Romney told reporters in Holland, Mich., Tuesday. "The story was entirely false. Marco Rubio is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process."

RUBIO STAYS MUM: As he made the rounds on television interviews to promote his new book, "An American Son," Rubio remained quiet about the VP question as he was hounded by reporters asking for his response to Tuesday's reports. "I've made a decision a long time ago not to discuss the process, and that's not going to change today," Rubio said on CBS "This Morning" Wednesday when asked about the vetting.

SO, WHAT HAPPENED WITH MARCO RUBIO: ABC News' Jonathan Karl explains where things stand with Rubio's vetting. "First, my sources stand by what they told me: Before today, Rubio had not been asked by the Romney campaign to turn over any documents related to the vice presidential search, and he had not been asked to fill out any questionnaires. But a top Romney campaign official emphatically told me that Rubio was, in fact, asked for vetting materials before today. "Your source is lying to you," the Romney official said. Now, Rubio is the only candidate who the Romney campaign has definitively said is being vetted," Karl wrote. "I am told by several Republican sources that Romney came under intense pressure today from top Republicans who argued it was crazy to take Rubio out of consideration so early. Some argued for Rubio's appeal as the party's most effective and charismatic conservative voice. Some argued it is dumb politics to not consider the party's top Hispanic conservative. But senior officials of the Romney campaign said emphatically that they were not under pressure from conservatives, and that Romney never changed his mind. They insisted that Rubio was always under consideration."

THE 'BAIN WAY' OF DECISION MAKING IN VP SELECTION: The AP's Philip Elliott reported how Romney would employ a familiar method in his selection of a running mate - the "Bain way." "A businessman at his core, Mitt Romney was legendary in the private sector for his reliance on reams of information and extensive research to decide which companies to take over. When interviewing potential employees, he favored question-and-answer sessions designed to make recruits think on their feet and provide clues about how they approached situations," Elliott wrote. "'I like gathering data and information so that you don't just have people just expressing their opinions, but you actually have numbers and facts and figures and people to look to and to find out what's really happening,' Romney told C-SPAN recently. 'And then with the information you have, you make the decision.' Now, as the Republican presidential candidate weighs a running mate, it's a good bet that he's relying on that same methodical approach and interviewing style that he honed at Bain and Co. and the private equity firm he helped start, Bain Capital. The style even has its own name: the Bain Way."

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

PAWLENTY RISING: Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty's VP stock is up among some Romney insiders, Politico's Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei reported. "Tim Pawlenty has jumped to the top of the vice presidential shortlist of several Mitt Romney advisers after emerging as the most effective -and well-liked - surrogate for the GOP nominee-to-be, according to several Republicans familiar with campaign deliberations," Allen and VandeHei wrote. "The former Minnesota governor has impressed top Romney officials with his winning onstage presence at a grueling roster of Republican events throughout the country and with his low-maintenance personal style that has made him a favorite with the campaign's tight-knit inner circle at the Boston headquarters. Pawlenty is strong where Romney is weak -with the regular-guy, working-man connection with voters in casual settings. 'Pawlenty will walk up and put a supporter in a headlock,' said a Republican consultant who was startled to witness just that. 'He provides a nice yin and yang to Romney.'

UNKNOWN CONTENDERS: ABC News' Gregory Simmons highlights a new Gallup poll that shows the country's unfamiliarity with Sens. Rob Portman and Marco Rubio. Sixty-two percent of those polled said they'd never heard of Portman, while 41 percent said they were unfamiliar with Rubio. The Florida senator drew a 26 percent favorability rating, and Portman received 12 percent favorability. But in Rubio's home state of Florida, a new Quinnipiac poll finds 51 percent of pollees approved of the job Rubio is doing as senator.

PORTMAN'S OHIO NETWORK: Even if he remains relatively unknown among voters, Portman can offer Romney a link to his strong political network he's cultivated in Ohio, Roll Call's David Drucker reported. "Sen. Rob Portman could help put Mitt Romney over the top in Ohio, a potential boost that has nothing to do with him joining the Republican ticket as Romney's running mate," Drucker wrote. "Since launching his first statewide campaign three years ago, Portman has built a strong political network throughout Ohio, including in the rural counties rich in conservative voters that could be crucial to Romney's success this fall. Perhaps more importantly for Romney in his bid to oust President Barack Obama, Portman has credibility with a broad cross section of the party sufficient to activate this network on behalf of others."

PORTMAN'S SPOOKY CONNECTION: Sen. Rob Portman's family has a haunting tie to the supernatural world. NBC News' Andrew Rafferty reported on the Portman family-owned hotel, which houses a ghostly resident. "There is something haunting a top contender for the Republican vice-presidential nomination. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, along with his brother and sister, own the Golden Lamb, a landmark hotel in the southwestern part of the Buckeye State, where scores of historical figures have spent the night," Rafferty wrote. "It is the oldest continuously run business in the state and has housed the likes of Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Ulysses S. Grant. Twelve presidents have visited, and it has served as the backdrop for multiple campaign events, including a McCain-Palin rally in 2008. But it is in a small room on the hotel's fourth floor that houses its spookiest lodger. Through a glass encasing in the room, there is a plastic doll lying on a child-size bed surrounded by toys from the late 19th century. It is here, where, 'the restless spirit of a young girl materializes in this small room,' at least according to a letter posted outside the door."

PRESIDENT DANIELS ? OF PURDUE: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has a new calling that won't lead him to the White House. WISH-TV first reported Tuesday that the Indiana governor will become the new president of Purdue University. The board of trustees will vote on Daniels' appointment Thursday. Daniels rejected a bid for the presidency under pressure from his family, and the Indiana governor has made no secret of his lack of interest in the No. 2 spot, even suggesting that he would "disconnect the phone" if Romney came calling.

VAMPIRE DEMOCRATS IN NEW JERSEY? N.J. Gov. Chris Christie doled out a new name for Democrats in his state, calling them "Corzine Democrats" and compared them to vampires, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. "Gov. Chris Christie today trotted out a new moniker for the lawmakers considering making a tax cut contingent on revenue numbers, calling them 'Corzine Democrats,' Jenna Portnoy wrote. "'Here we are 12 days from the end of the session,' he told a town hall crowd at Cedar Grove High School. 'Two and a half years into my term, you thought the Corzine Democrats were dead. Well they're back.' The Republican governor never took a position on the proposal, instead comparing them to vampires: 'We thought we'd taken a wooden stake and put it through this type of Democrat's heart.'"

RUBIO'S TOP 100: As of Wednesday morning, Rubio's book "An American Son," which came out Tuesday, sits at No. 29 on the Amazon 100 Best Sellers List.

VEEP TWEETS

@marcorubio: Will be offering up for a vote the ? # Raise? Act today in ? # Senate?. Urge your ? # senator? to support. http://bit.ly/McAUoF ? # sayfie? ? # tcot? ? # gop

@govchristie: 166 years ago today, the 1st officially recorded & organized baseball game was held in Hoboken, NJ!

@bobmcdonnell: Governor McDonnell discussed recent events at ? # UVA? in a press call from Stockholm today http://www.governor.virginia.gov/utility/media/ ? -staff

@kellyayotte: Ayotte offering ? # FarmBill? amdt to reform and improve oversight of USDA Value-Added Producer Grant program

@govmikehuckabee: A quick note regarding the Bristol Palin interview http://buff.ly/KKXlWL

@BrianSandoval: Read more http://bit.ly/LiPfme about the next step of job creation and how we're going to make it happen in our great state. RT for NV ? # jobs

@GovMaryFallin: Tough loss for the @ okcthunder today. They'll bounce back! ? # ThunderUP

Also Read

derek fisher lyrid meteor shower hippocrates andrew breitbart red wings willie nelson penguins

Goodell hears bounty appeals from players

FILE - From left are NFL football players Jonathan Vilma, in 2011; Anthony Hargrove, in 2010; Will Smith, in 2011; and Scott Fujita, in 2011. The appeals hearing for four players suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for their role in the Saints bounty program has begun. On hand at NFL headquarters Monday, June 18, 2012 are all four players: Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who is suspended for the 2012 season; Green Bay defensive end Anthony Hargrove, suspended for eight games; defensive end Will Smith, who has been docked for four games; and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita (three games). (AP Photo/File)

FILE - From left are NFL football players Jonathan Vilma, in 2011; Anthony Hargrove, in 2010; Will Smith, in 2011; and Scott Fujita, in 2011. The appeals hearing for four players suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for their role in the Saints bounty program has begun. On hand at NFL headquarters Monday, June 18, 2012 are all four players: Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who is suspended for the 2012 season; Green Bay defensive end Anthony Hargrove, suspended for eight games; defensive end Will Smith, who has been docked for four games; and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita (three games). (AP Photo/File)

New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma arrives at the National Football League's headquarters, Monday, June 18, 2012 in New York. Vilma and three other players are appealing their suspensions for their role in the Saints bounty program. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2011 file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch, left, says goodbye to Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, center, as New York Jets fullback Tony Richardson, right, loads his luggage in a car to leave for the airport, after a mediated labor negotiation between the NFL Players Association and the NFL, in Washington. The appeals hearing for four players suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for their role in the Saints bounty program has begun. On hand at NFL headquarters Monday, June 18, 2012, are all four players: Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who is suspended for the 2012 season, and defensive end Will Smith, who has been docked for four games; Green Bay defensive end Anthony Hargrove, suspended for eight games; and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita (three games). (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - This July 28, 2011 file photo shows New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma answering questions during a news conference at the NFL football team's training facility, in Metairie, La. The appeals hearing for four players suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for their role in the Saints bounty program has begun. On hand at NFL headquarters Monday, June 18, 2012, are all four players: Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who is suspended for the 2012 season, and defensive end Will Smith, who has been docked for four games; Green Bay defensive end Anthony Hargrove, suspended for eight games; and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita (three games). (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)

Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita arrives at the National Football League's headquarters, Monday, June 18, 2012 in New York. Fujita and three other players are appealing their suspensions for their role in the Saints bounty program. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

(AP) ? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell held appeals hearings Monday in the Saints bounty case for four suspended players, who complained that the process is unfair and the league hasn't proven anything.

Goodell met Monday at NFL headquarters with New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who is out for the 2012 season, and defensive end Will Smith, who has been docked for four games; Green Bay defensive end Anthony Hargrove, suspended for eight games; and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita (three games).

Vilma left first, after about an hour-long session in the morning.

The linebacker's attorney, Peter Ginsberg, said the NFL requested an adjournment to Monday afternoon, but he and Vilma refused. Ginsberg called the hearing "a sham" and said Goodell failed to present the evidence on which he based his decision to impose Vilma's penalty.

"Roger Goodell has taken three months to tear down what I built over eight years. It's tough to swallow. I have been linked to a bounty and it simply is not true," said Vilma, who is suing the commissioner for defamation.

"I don't know how I can get a fair process when he is the judge, jury and executioner. You're assuming it will be fair, but it's not."

Smith, Hargrove and Fujita had their appeals heard by Goodell at afternoon sessions, with their attorneys and lawyers for the NFL Players Association on hand at the league's Manhattan offices.

Those players and Vilma all were on the Saints roster when then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, by his own admission, ran a pay-for-pain operation that handed out cash bonuses for big hits on targeted opponents.

But the players dispute the league's contention that they were involved.

"The NFL's investigation has been highlighted by sensationalized headlines and unsubstantiated leaks to the media. I have yet to see anything that implicates me ... not in the last three months and not today," Fujita said. "The NFL has been careless and irresponsible, and at some time will have to provide answers."

The NFL turned over some evidence to the four players and the union on Friday, as required by the collective bargaining agreement. That information included some 200 pages of documents, with emails, power-point presentations, even handwritten notes, plus one video recording. But a ledger that reportedly documents payments of $1,000 for plays called "cart-offs" and $400 for "whacks," as well as $100 fines for mental errors, was not in the material.

Previously, Goodell suspended Saints coach Sean Payton for the season and assistant coach Joe Vitt for six games. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis got eight games, while Williams ? now with the St. Louis Rams ? was suspended indefinitely.

The NFL's investigation of the Saints found Williams ran a system for three years under which payouts were set on specific opponents, including Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. The program was in effect from 2009, when New Orleans won the Super Bowl, until last season.

Associated Press

jon huntsman bit coin huntsman w.e. episodes idris elba kelsey grammer

Looking forward to Lindau

In less than two weeks time I?ll be boarding a plane from London to Zurich and then zipping across the Swiss-German border to Lindau by train. I?m pretty excited about it ? it will be the first time I?ve stepped foot outside of the UK since before I started my Physics degree five years ago, and my first time at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

In its motto, the meeting promises to??educate, inspire and connect scientific generations?. With 27 Nobel laureates, lots of young researchers and a week?s worth of discussions about science its grand aim seems acheivable. I hope that, even though I?m technically no longer a young scientist myself (having quit physics for the somewhat muddy pastures of journalism a year ago), the week is going to be inspiring for me, as well as for the young researchers. Perhaps it will also inspire some of the Nobel laureates in attendence, too.

I?ve been perusing?the programme and am particularly looking forwards to the three lectures on Monday morning:?Brian Schmidt on the standard model of cosmology,?John Mather on new telescopes and?George Smoot on progress we have made so far in mapping the universe, and how far we might expect to come before the next Physics meeting at Lindau. Another session on a topic close to my heart is?James Cronin?s Wednesday lecture about the history of cosmic rays. His story ends, according to its abstract, with ?a remarkable conference organized by Patrick Blackett and Louis Lep- rince-Ringuet 1953 in the Pyrenees town of Bagneres de Bigorre.? Having spent four years at Imperial College in the Blackett Laboratory, walking past a?bust of Blackett himself on the way to and from lectures, I?m intrigued to learn more about his life and science.

But there are other sessions like?Sir Harold Kroto?s ?Science ? Lost in Translation?? and?Douglas Osheroff?s ?How Advances in Science are Made? that look at how science works that will be especially interesting to me too. And for the scientists at the meeting, it?s always good to take a step back from the nitty gritty of everyday lab work and think about science in a wider context ? these sessions look set to help them do just that.

But of course, I?m open to the possibility that something else that I haven?t anticipated will end up being a highlight. Having never been to a Lindau meeting before, I?m not entirely sure what to expect.?So, those of you reading this that haven?t attended before, what are you most looking forward to? And to those of you who have been in a previous year, do you have any tips for a first timer who wants to make the most of their time in Lindau?

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting takes place from 1st to 6th July. My posts from the meeting will be published on the official Lindau blog and cross posted here. To follow the rest of the meeting head over there and check out the other bloggers? posts too.

andy cohen mozambique oosthuizen great expectations jake owen oosthuizen louis double eagle