hands-- a $29 value, free. [click-click] [♪...] saturday morning." we want to get you back to the speech of mitt romney at liberty university. we were told from his campaign it's not a policy speech but he'll share life lessons that he learned with his audience there. let's go back and listen to a little more. >> his conclusion was this. culture makes all the difference.

what they believe, and what they value. central to america's rise is our judea christian tradition with the vision of the traditions and polktds of every human life. the american culture promoted personal responsibility, the dignity of work, the value of education, the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self, and at the foundation, the preeminence of family, t family. the power of these values, this culture, is according to a recent brookings institution statement from rick santorum. for those who graduate. get a job and marry before their first child, the probability that they'll be poor is 2%. but if those things are absent, 76% will be poor. culture. what you believe, what you

value, how you live matters. now, as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debates from time to time, so it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. [ applause ] >> the protection of religious freedom has also become a matter of debasement it strikes me as odd that the free exercise of religious faith is sometimes treated as a problem, something

america is stuck with instead of being blessed with. perhaps religious conscience upsets the designs of those who feel that the highest wisdom and authority comes from government. but from the beginning, this nation has trusted in god, not man. [ applause ] religious freedom is the first freedom in our constitution and whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there's no greater force for good in the nation than christian conscience in action. [ applause ] >> religious freedom opens the door for americans that is

closed to many others around the world, but whether we walk through that door and what we do with our lives after we do is up to us. someone once observed that the great drama of christianity is not a crowd shot following the movements of collectives or even nation. the drama is always personal, individual, unfolding in one's own life. we're not alone in sensing this. men and women of every faith and good people with none at all sincerely strive to do right and lead a purpose-driven life. and in the way of lessons learned by hitting the mark and falling short, i can tell you this much for sure. all that you have heard here at liberty university about truching in god and in his purpose for each of us makes for more than a good sermon. it makes for a good life. so many things compete for our attention and devotion. that doesn't stop as you get older, by the way. we're all prone at various times

to treat the trivial things as all important, the trivial things as important. and little by liter lose sight of the one thing that endures forever. no person i've met, not even the most right use and pure of heart has not gone when faith reseeds and the busyness of life is normal and sometimes the smaeflt glimpses of the lord's life can reawaken our hearts. they bring us back to ourselves. and better still to something far greater than ourselves. what we have, what we wish we had, ambitions fulfilled, ambitions disappointed. investments won, investments lost. elections won, elections lost. these things may occupy our attention, but they do not define us. each of them is subject to the vagaries and the serendipities of life.

our relationship with our maker, however, depends on none of that. it's entirely in our control for he is always at the door and knocks for us. our worldly success cannot be guaranteed, but our ability to achieve spiritual success is entirely up to us, thanks to the grace of god. [ applause ] >> the best advice i know to give is to give those worldly things your best but never your all. reserve the ultimate hope for the only one who can grant it. many preachers advise the same, but few as mem orably as dr. martin luther king jr.

he said starting early i decided to give my life to something permanent and slurks not to little things that are here today, gone tomorrow, but to god who is here yesterday, today, and forever. [ applause ] in this life, the commitments that come closest to forever are those of family. my dad, george romney, was a ceo, a governor, and a member of the president's cabinet. my wife ann asked him once, dad, what was your greatest accomplishment? without a moment's pause he answered, raising our four kids. ann and i feel the same way about our family. i never regretted missing a business opportunity so i could be with my children and grandchildren. among the things in life that can be put off, being there when

it matters most is one of them. as c.s. lewis said, the home is the ultimate career. all other careers exist for one purpose and that is to support the ultimate career. promotions often mark the high points in a career. i hope i haven't seen the last one of those. but sometimes the high points come in unexpected ways. i was asked to help rescue the 2002 olympic winter games in salt lake city. i'm embarrassed now to recall that when this opportunity was first presented to me, i dismissed it out of hand. i was busy, i was doing well, banld the way, my lakt of athletic prowess didn't make athletics a plausible step for me. in fact, after i accepted the position my oldest son called and said, dad, i've spoken to the brothers.

we saw the papers this morning. we can't conceive of a notion that would put you on the front page of the sports section. the olympics were not a logical choice, but that was one of the best and most fulfilling choices of my life. opportunities for you to serve in meaningful ways may come at inconvenient times, but that will make them all the more precious. people of different faiths like yours and mine sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose when there are so many differences in creed and theology. surely the answer is we can meet in service, in shared moral convictions about our nation stemming from a common world view. the best case for this is always the example of christian men and women working and witnessing to carry god's love in every light, people like the late chuck

colson. not long ago he spoke of his days when leaving the prison. he was sure a man with his prison record, a man with his connections and experience could still live very comfortably, they'd make some calls, get chuck situated, set him up once again as an important man. his choice at that cross roads would make him instead a great man. the call to service is one of the fundamental elements of our national care and culture. it has motivated every great movement of conscience that this hopeful country has ever seen. sometimes as dr. frankel observed in his book, it's not what we're asking of life but rather what life is asking of us chls how often the answer to our own problems so the help others with theirs.

and all of these things, family, farkts work, service, the choices we make as americans, other places are not even choices at all. for so many on this earth, life is filled with orders, not options. right down to where they live, the work they do, and how many children the state will allow them to have. all the more reason to be grateful this and every day that we live in the united states of america where the talent god gave us may be used in freedom. thank god for this country. [ applause ] and so at this great christian institution, you've all learned a thing or two about these gifts and the good purposes they can serve. they're yours to have and yours

to share. sometimes your liberty education will set you apart and always it will help direct your path. and as you now leave and make for new places near and far, i hope for each one of you that your path will be long and life will be kind. the ideals that brought you here, the wisdom you gained here, and the friends you found here, may these blessings be with you always wherever you go. thank you to you all. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. [ applause ] >> and you've been listening to republican presidential candidate mitt romney speaking at liberty university. he's trying to connect with conservative christians and evangelicals. about seven minutes into his speech saying marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. we'll take a look at that with

our political roert shannon travis on other side of this break. [ all ] shh! ♪ why tell the trees what ain't so? ♪ [ male announcer ] dow solutions use vibration reduction technology to help reduce track noise so trains move quieter through urban areas all over the world. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. [ all ] shh! [ male announcer ] solutionism. the new optimism.

presumptive gop presidential nominee mitt romney get chance to find common ground. he just finished his address at liberty university, a school that teaches romney's faith is a cult. shannon travis is there. shannon, it took only about seven minutes for him to bring up same-sex marriage and that a marriage is between a man and a woman. >> reporter: that's right. only a few minutes before he went into that. yesterday the campaign told us

that mitt romney would not specifically mention gay mancht he didn't mention it but he obviously talked about the traditional theme and defending that. let's take a listen to what r.i.m. said just a few minutes ago. >> culture, what you believe, what you value, how you live matters. now, as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate from time to time, so it is today with the enduring institution of marriage marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. [ applause ] >> reporter: now, randi, outside of that sound bite, the speech was not overtly political. there were no specific attacks against president obama, yet he did comment that he's obviously courting those at the

university. he said god so many times i lost track. he trusted in god sending the students off into the work world the first days of their career. take a listen to one sound bite that caught my attention in terms of religion. >> strikes me as odd thaz the free exercise of religious faith is sometimes treated as a problem, something america is stuck with instead of being blessed with. perhaps religious conscience is upset that the highest form comes from government. >> reporter: now, randi, the references to god and religious are noteworthy because as you know, there were a lot of public protests to mitt romney coming to the university because why? obviously the candidate is mormon and this university itself teaching that mormonism is not part of the christian faith. so you saw a lot of students before today's commitment protesting that, but we didn't actually see any physical protesting here at the

commencement itself, randi. >> from what i understand, the commencement facebook page had to be shut down, right, because there was so much -- so many complaints by students there about his coming to speak. >> reporter: that's right. it was a heated debate on the university's facebook page over having him come here, but, again, we haven't seen any evidence of students actually protesting here physically. it's pretty much all been confined online as we know, randi. >> shannon travis, appreciate that. thank you very much. now to president obama. he's honoring the best and the bravest in law enforcement at the white house this hour. the president and the vice president joe biden handing out awarding to the national association of police organization's top hans. first time we've seen the two together. let's listen in here a bit. >> nicholas joseph. give a round of applause for that.

you know, i look forward to this event each and every year because it's a chance to say thank you. every day hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officer keep our neighborhood safe, and, frankly, they don't ask for a lot. they don't ask for a lot of credit. they don't go to work planning to be heroes. they just do their jobs. but when you put on that badge, you assume a special responsibility and every time you put it on, you never know if this day will be the day that you've spent your entire career training for, the day that when just doing your job and being a hero are exactly the same thing. for the men and women standing behind me, america's top cops, that day came, and when it did, they were ready. they didn't flinch, they didn't

back off. there are people who are alive today only because of their courage. # i had a chance to shake each one of these individuals' hands and express my appreciation to them personally. 're a pretty humble group. some of them will tell you they don't deserve to be called heroes. they're entitled to their opinion. i disagree with them. i think they are. what else do you call a team that takes down a deranged gunman and saves countless lives? [ applause ] >> or a unit that fly as helicopter into dangerous winds and pulls off a daring nighttime rescue. [ applause ] >> or an officer who after being shot three times, switches her gun from her right hand to her

left so that she can return fire until backup arrives. [ applause ] i guarantee you that when the bullets were flying, when lives were on the line, these men and women weren't thinking about bravery. they weren't thinking about themselves. instead, they were looking out for their fellow officers and for the civilians that they swore to protect. and when they return home, they'll go back to being just another member of the team. but they've earned this moment. today we celebrate 34 extra ordinary individuals, and we recognize the sacrifices they and their fellow officers make. some of our top cops are still recovering from gunshot wounds. i'm sure that many are thinking of a partner or team member who fell in the line of duty, so we honor their memories today.

we honor all those who put their lives on the line in order fro text their fellow citizens, even if they were complete strangers. i hope that we also pledge to learn something from the example that they set because while most of us will never be asked to return straight into a hail of bullet or chase down an armed suspect on foot, we also have responsibilities to meet. for those of us in elected office, that including helps in states and cities to keep first responders on the job. it includes supporting cutting-edge tools they need from high-speed public safety broadband network to a new generation of mobile apps. even as we do everything we can to support men and women like our top cops and to make police work safer and more effective, we do have to recognize one thing will never change. our safety will always depend on the quiet ordinary americans like the ones we recognize

today. we will be forever in debt to those who wear the badge, to men and women with a deep sense of duty, willing to serve and sacrifice on our before. i don't think these individuals don't mind me saying they're representative of the sacrifices and that quiet courage that exists among law enforcement officer all across the country and their families because i know the strains on families is such a difficult job. that's significant as well. and those families, those of you here today, we want to say thank you to you as well. so, again, to the 2012 top cops. thank you for everything you do. god bless you and your families, and god bless the united states of america. >> you've been listening to the president speaking in the rose garden honoring the top cops.

lots of folks there getting some praise, getting a little handshake from the president as well. jurors convict jennifer hudson's ex-brother-in-law for killing her mother, her brother, and her nephew. a jury in the case reveals why some of them had a hard time reaching a decision. just a reminder you can watch cnn from your mobile phone and live from your desk top. just go to cnn.com/tv. ♪ [ woman ] it's like a magnet. pulling us together for different reasons. music. games. photos. shows. we share stories, laugh... and truly engage. it brings us closer and that is my happy place.

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turning to the chilling kidnappings and murders that rocked the nation and shattered the lives of two young girls. investigators say the girls are recovering after being found dirty, starving and dehydrated. we have the details of their harrowing ordeal. >> reporter: we know thalexandr and kyliyah were reunited with their father. they were given check points aunt their home to give them prove sichlt also three more people were arrested in this case. one person arrested for filing a false police report, two others arrested for illegal possession of a fireplacearm, and we learned that this is a husband/wife duo and they

apparently gave adam mayes the weapon he used to shoot and kill himself. also we're learning the cause of death, how jo ann bain and adrienne bane died. we learn it was strangulation. for many people, it's very hard for them. very hard for people to deal with, process. but there is definitely a sigh of relief here in whiteville knowing that these two girls are now safe. george howell, cnn, whiteville, tennessee. >> the tip of the girls' rescue didn't come from a witness but swoun who thought it would be a good hiding spot. there's a possibility he may take home the $175,000 reward offered for that suspect's arrest. after days of testimony, a very emotional moment for the family of jennifer hudson. yesterday they found the former broenl of singer and actress guilty of murdering her brother,

mother, and 7-year-old nephew. h'll be sentenced to life without parole. >> reporter: with her head down jennifer hudson held hands with her sister and fiance in a chicago courtroom where she spent the last three weeks hearing thetown. hudson started to cry. her mother darnell, her brother jason and her 7-year-old nephew were murdered by balfour in 2008. they said jennifer wanted to be t in the courtroom. >> she said this is my mother. if it were me, she would be here every day. >> reporter: jurors say hours before the verdict they were divide 9-3 in favor of a conviction. >> three of us who just needed to see the picture a little clearer. there were still some holes or gasp per se that needed to be filled in.

what we did was we just took what we had and began to break it down a little further. once it made sense we were all able to come to a unanimous decision. >> balfour's defense team says they respect the decision. >> but we do disagree with the verdict. it's always been our position and it still is that william balfour is innocent of these murders and we're hoping the appellate court will take a look at this case with a very critical eye. >> reporter: the defense argued that a lack of dna and eyewitness was not enough for a guilty verdict. the jury said they were ultimately swayed by totality of the case. they say jennifer hudson wasn't a factor. >> this wasn't a case of jennifer hudson for us. it was case about william balfour. for us her celebrity status had nothing do with it. it's unfortunate it was her family but this was not for us the jennifer hudson case.

it was us, the people of illinois against william balfour. >> there's no death sentence but there is a life sentence. he'll spend the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole. ted rowlands, cnn, chicago. veterans who have risked their lives in afghan on the front line often face a battle when they come home, a fight to find a job. december piratesly looking for work after returning to afternoon and here's part of their is story from the documents vets wanted narrated by j.r. martinez. >> our service members can bring a lot to the work-force and quite honestly they want to work, they want to be independent, provide for themselves. >> their resume has to pop. >> the job i was looking to come back to does not exist anymore because of the cutbacks. >> before he left, chris riley was working full-time for the

georgia national guard. >> so now that that's not there anymore and i'm having to go out and find a regular job in the civilian world, it's a big change, a real big change. >> you want to grab their attention. >> there's not a whole lot of jobs out there. the pressure is on. that's when i sat down and started writing a resume and sending it out. it's getting down to the wire now. the stress is starting to hit both of us now. >> he was making close to $50,000 a year before deploym t deployment. now he supports his family with tips. >> i know the jobs are out there. the thing is there's so many people looking. how it's going. there might be 20 jobs in one place. have great night. yet 2,000 people have applied for it. those aren't good odds. it's almost like playing the

lottery. you get that good job, it's just a toss-up. >> he's running out of savings and time. >> with this job now and the savings, its's going to last us for a couple more months at least. three months is the maximum. if i don't find something in three months, i'm going back to afghanistan. >> this election year cnn takes you on a journey as citizen soldiers struggle to serve country and family. j.r. martinez narrates "voters in america: vets wanted." it's the first of a series. you can watch it sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on cn.

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one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin, designed for many of men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. the south is experiencing wet and wild weather and reynolds wolf is watching it. what does it look like? >> the texas gulf coast was

hammered. houston had 3.42 inches of rainfall, over two inches in paris and lancaster. very close over here. i will tell you at this point what we're seeing is much of that rain moving off a bit more toward the east, but still scattered showers in places like houston, back over to new orleans. we can expect that to continue through a good part of the day. i'll tell you something else we're going to be seeing so i can move the microphone so it won't scratch as much. there we go. we can expect the rain to move over toward new orleans. what that will do, that water is going to pile up. with it as we take a look, you can expect potential flooding in spots. anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rainfall can be expected. that area of low pressure is going to continue to bring rain to ore parts of the southeast including in atlanta and georgia where the high temperature is going to go up to about 89 degrees. your high in new york, 79. 62 in chicago, 62 in denver, 76

in san francisco and warm day for you in portland, oregon, of 83. that's a quick snapshot of your forecast. randi, i'll send it back to you. >> thanks, reynolds. it may be having an impact on your retirement, the struggle for greece to form a new government. [♪...] >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock, the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. [ truck beeping ]

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checking top stories this hour, almost a week after greek elections, there is still no government in place. the president will be asking all party leaders to form a national unity government. that will be the only way to avoid new elections and avoid financial assistance from other european nations. noted car designer carroll shelby has died. his name really is synonymous with speed. shelby may be best known for developing the cobra and several version of shelby mustangs. beside ford, shelby also designed cars for chrysler,

including the high performance viper. carroll shelby was 89 years old. the san diego changes will retire his number. s seau killed himself earlier this month. he was the most decorated. some people believe gay people can be turned straight. you'll hear from a young man who went through a therapy designed to change him from gay to straight. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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th week president obama came out in support of same-sex marriage and some people think it's a choice and when people see their children with so-called feminine traits they hope therapy may cure them. this week california may be the first state to ban this type of therapy. the vote is tuesday. i spoke with someone recently who had to deal with this therapy and how it affected him. when ryan kendall was 13 his mother read his diary and discovered he was gay. that was the beginning of the most painful years of his life. >> for years i thought god hated me because i was gay. >> ryan said his parents were determined to change him. they signed him up with repairable therapy. it's otherwise known as narth.

repairive therapy, changed sexual orientation has been used for decades to turn potentially gay children straight. >> i know i'm gay like i'm short and half hispanic. it's part of my core fundamental identity. the comparative would be saying like sending me to tall camp. >> he said he was treated by dr. joseph nicolosi. as his office outside los angeles we asked nicolosi about treating ryan kendall about 14 years ago. >> i'm not familiar. >> his parents have provided bills. there have been checks to your office but no record.

>> no. >> he says that your therapy was quite harmful. he said you told him to butch up, quote/unquote. >> never. that's not my lanch. >> you said, people like others are trying to g it the gay out of people? >> that's a bad way of saying it. i would say we're trying to get the heterosexual out of you. he credits this man. reekers worked as a doctoral student at uyla in the 1970s. in a government-funded experimental program later called sissy boy syndrome. riekers treat add boy called murphy. kirk was repeatedly asked to choose between traditionally masculine toys like knives and guns or dolls in a toy crib.

if he chose the feminine items his mother would be told to ignore him. his outgoing per analyst changed as a result of the therapy. >> it's like somebody turned his lights off. riekers considered him a success story, his feminine behavior was gone, prove that hope oh sexuality can be prevented. they say kirk was gay and never recovered. in 2003 he took his own life. he hanged himself from a fan in his apartment. he was 38. our producers tracked george riekers down in florida. >> what do you say to the family that the therapy you gave him as a child led to his suicide as an adult. >> i would think science tiff ukly that would be inaccurate to assume that it was the therapy. but i do grieve for the parents now that you've told me that.

news. think that's very sad. >> according to the american psychiatric association the potential risk for imperative therapy is great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior. alliances with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce the self-hatred already felt by parents. dr. nikolosi says his therapy isn't harmful and he onto treats those who want to change. not true, says ryan kendall. >> it led me to periods of homelessness, to drug abuse, to spending a decade of my life wanting to kill myself. it led to so much pain and struggle, and i want them to know that what they do hurts people. it hurts children. it has no basis in fact. and they need to stop. >> randi kaye, cnn.

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welcome back. newsroom continues at the top of the hour with fredricka whitfield. good to see you. >> how are you? very busy morning. this is big commencement weekend across the board. we're not going to talk about that so much as we will be joined by our legal guys, of course. >> they are always fun. >> you fly a lot, i fly a lot. there's a case of one young lady that says southwest airlines has not treated her kindly. twice she says she has been discriminated against because of her weight. she had a word or two for

southwest airlines. she says it's time for a policy change. southwest articles has a comment or two for her. our legal guys will weigh in on this case. then, is your commute long to work? do you spend a lot of time on the road? >> no. well, try not to. >> that's good. >> with these hours i don't have much traffic. >> a big difference in your health. 35 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour. all of that could potentially shorten your life. the doctor will be along with us to join us and talk about you what need to do and how you need to curb your commute. >> start biking more. >> maybe. think of the options. in order to preserve your life. >> right. >> then karen lee will be along, our financial guru. she's going to be with us. it is spring still, which means it's still a good time for spring cleaning of your finances. what to dispose of, should you go paperless. are there certain documents you need to let go of or things you

need to hang onto. karen lee will be along to help clean out your financial closet. >> that's good. >> all that straight ahead at noon eastern time. >> thank you, fred. see you then. a high school baseball team for fits the state championship game all because of one player on the opposing team. and if you're leaving the house right now, just a reminder, you can continue watching cnn right now from your mobile phone. you can also watch cnn live from your desktop. go to cnn.com/tv.

we're looking at stories making headlines across the country, chaos in vero beach as they rush to help a woman attacked by a shark. >> what bit her? what bit her? >> a shark. >> it's a shark bite? >> yes, it is. it's huge. >> the woman has under gone surgery but it will be several days before she can leave the hospital. expert say by the size of the bite it was likely a bull shark or tiger shark. they emphasize shark attacks are rare. a man was drunk when he drove onto a horse track and started doing laps. the suspect told police he wanted to drive like he was in nascar. he didn't even stop when police were chasing him. martin mcdonald of texas charged

with driving under the influence. an unassisted triple play. six-year-old ross has really made his dad proud. >> it was bases loaded. no outs. we were just praying that the ball would be hit to the right kid. they hit it, popped up to ross. he snagged it out of the air, ran to third base to get the force out from the runner there. he turned to look to see what was going on at second. he dove and tagged the runner out at second. that was it. triple play. >> you caught the ball. what was did you think? >> i was happy and excited. >> did you think, i can get a triple play? >> yes. i can do it every day. >> don't you love his confidence? just so you know how rare it really is, there are only 15 recorded unassisted triple plays in pro baseball since 1909. and in phoenix, a high school baseball team won a championship by forfeit because

the opposing team didn't want to play against a gutsy girl christine harrington of affiliate ktbk explains. >> i joined baseball because our school does not offer high school softball. i decided why not? >> reporter: she not only joined the mesa prep baseball team but became the starting second base woman and helped the team win its first ever championship. unfortunately their win came by forfeit. >> i don't believe anyone wants to win by forfeit or lose by forfeit. >> reporter: the mesa prep's opponent our lady of sorrows academy refused to play a team with a girl on it. in a statement they said as a catholic church they promote educating boys and girls separately especially in physical education. their school policy rules out co-education in sports. >> you have to admire the stand they take. it takes tremendousal