Sunday, April 28, 2013

Joe Straus Complete Leadership Failure - Blocks Most Conservative Controversial Bills in Texas House 2013

The email below is from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility:

Thanks to their legislative leadership, conservative House members are preparing to go home in 34 days with no wins, no fights and not much of a record. It’s quite a campaign slogan the House leadership is asking them to adopt: “I did nothing I promised, and we attempted even less!”

That might play at Capitol cocktail parties in Austin, but probably not so well with conservative voters at home... those folks who actually expected policy results.

Texas Monthly blogger Paul Burka has noted this trend, writing that the House calendars have been “innocuous” with debate proceeding “at a snail’s pace.” He writes:

"I do not believe this is happening by chance. It is the strategy of the leadership. The last thing the Straus team wants is a lot of vigorous debate between R’s and D’s and long lines at the back microphone, nor do they want want (sic) to give the tea party members anything to get riled up about. So the calendars will continue to be boring and innocuous under the watchful eye of Calendars chair Todd Hunter. I’m not guessing about this; I aired my suspicions to a Straus insider and got an affirmative answer. No long calendars. No contentious bills that could blow up the session. No chance for the tea party freshmen to do their thing. Let’s just get the hell out of Dodge. That’s the plan, man."
The House leadership wants to avoid debate and an accounting of this session, something they know debate would provide. Perhaps they don’t realize that doing nothing is pretty much the same thing as doing bad, when there was the chance to do good.

I think my Catholic friends refer to it as sins of omission and commission. (I’m personally reminded of the parable of the talents.)

We're headed for the history books: two legislative sessions squandered – one with a super-majority, this with a near-super-majority – and precious few substantive reforms to show for it.

Whether it is protecting religious liberties or defending life, reforming the budget or cutting taxes, this Texas House is doing little to advance anything like a conservative agenda. If the leadership could do less, they probably would.

But as Mr. Burka reports, that’s exactly how the House leadership wants it: nothing bold, nothing substantive, nothing conservative. Indeed, that’s what our House members gave us when they supported the current leadership team. That's what the senior members promoted when they harangued freshmen lawmakers into not fighting for better leadership.

Teddy Roosevelt once said that when faced with a choice "between righteousness and peace," we must chose righteousness. Any fight for right-thinking reform that was in the more senior members has been disturbingly absent since before the start of the session. They have seemed more concerned with protecting their pensions and getting in the good graces of the spendoholic lobby, than in doing what they once claimed to believe. Those swanky cocktail parties and generous campaign donations are just too tempting...

It’s a real problem for the GOP. Voters are going to start asking pesky questions about why they should bother supporting Republicans. (That'll turn Texas purple much faster than the Democratic Party ever could...) Yeah, the politicians talk big as conservatives when campaigning, but deliver precious little to the table when governing. Worse, they don’t even seem to be trying. Or, for that matter, caring.

Texans dearly want real reforms and substantive accomplishments.

When the incumbent legislators and up-and-coming candidates promised to fight for the values and principles that have made Texas great, we believed them. In office, they cowered meekly before a moderate-to-liberal leadership that cares more about cronyism than capitalism, that wants to hand out favors rather than pursue principles. Cowered? Caved? Capitulated? Not exactly how they campaigned, but it is how far too many are governing.

I am reminded of this quote from the late Margaret Thatcher: “To me consensus seems to be: the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner ‘I stand for consensus’?”

Legislators who want to be counted as conservatives need to start stepping up and showing some real fight. There is still time. You and I have to encourage them to do so. They have 34 days left.

It is, after all, what we elected them to do.

For Texas,
Michael Quinn Sullivan
& the EmpowerTexans.com Team

Texas Senate Passes Pro-Life SB 303 to Help Families Protect Loved Ones Near the End of Life

email below from Texas Alliance for Life:


Texas Senate Passes Pro-Life SB 303 to Help Families
Protect Loved Ones Near the End of Life
 
Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Sen. Robert Nichols Deserve Thanks!
 
April 24, 2013
 
Very good news! Last week the Texas Senate passed SB 303, a strong pro-life bill that will change current law to help families protect their loved ones near the end of life. Supported by pro-life Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and authored by Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville), the full Senate passed SB 303 on a decisive 24-6 vote.
Your Texas state senator, Sen. Robert Nichols, voted to support SB 303, a pro-life vote. Please thank Lt. Governor Dewhurst and Sen. Nichols for their support. See sample messages below.
SB 303 is strongly supported by broad coalition of pro-life and provider organizations including Texas Alliance for Life, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, and the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission. 
 
Voting for SB 303 were: Campbell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Garcia, Hinojosa, Huffman, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Rodriguez, Schwertner, Seliger, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, West, Whitmire, and Zaffirini.

Voting against SB 303 were: Hancock, Hegar, Patrick, Paxton, Taylor, and Williams. Senator Brian Birdwell was absent.

Straus Supporter Eppstein Pushes Anti Free Speech Bill that Protects Unions

Straus supporter Bryan Eppstein is pushing a bill to limit free speech in an unfair manner. Why is it unfair? It is unfair becaue it only forces some organizations to follow the regulations but others, including unions, would get a free pass. This bill is seen as an attack on Michael Q. Sullivan's non-profit organization Empower Texans (Texans for Fiscal Responsibility) because of the attacks that Sullivan has made against Joe Straus. Oh, and it is unconstitutional...

from AgendaWise: http://pushjunction.com/l/Cla

Eppstein’s anti-free speech crew
April 24, 2013 | Blog, Featured
It’s almost as if consultant and Texas Medical Association (TMA) lobbyist Bryan Eppstein runs the anti 1st Amendment caucus.
What else would you say about a consultant with so many clients aggressively on the wrong side of the 1st Amendment?
The latest example is SB 346, authored by an Eppstein client and pushed along by a bunch of other Eppstein clients. The bill would unconstitutionally apply reporting requirements to some groups and not others.
One of the armload of constitutional precedents this bill would violate says you cannot treat some corporate entities different than others. This bill carves some corporate entities out of its hefty, unconstitutional reporting requirements – the unions. This is a Republican-authored pro-union bill.
The bill’s author Kel Seliger, like many Republicans in the Eppstein stable, is the kind of Republican that might be a Democrat if Texas weren’t so conservative. A pro-union, anti-free speech bill isn’t such a stretch for this kind of Republican.
Another first amendment precedent SB346 tramples is the “significant purpose” test from the landmark U.S. Supreme Ct. decision in Buckley v Valeo. It established that heavy reporting requirements are only constitutional if the “major purpose” of an organization is the nomination and/or election of a candidate. Seliger’s SB 346 would apply these requirements to groups that aren’t even allowed to directly campaign. What’s his justification? If the group is connected to a PAC, well, it should be treated as part of it.
This is interesting corporate precedent. Maybe Obama could pick up on Seliger’s idea and decide that charities and money-losing businesses set up by people who own wealthy businesses should just be considered part of the business and taxed accordingly.
It’s Seliger’s own logic. If any of the same people are involved in two corporations, treat them both like they are the one with the higher governmental burden, be it taxes or reporting requirements.
Eppstein clients Bob Deuell, Charles Schwertner, and Tommy Williams all voted for this anti-first amendment, anti-corporate bill.

Straus Chairman Byron Cook Blocking Texas Religious Freedom Amendment

from Texas Values: http://pushjunction.com/l/Clr

Religious Freedom Amendment Being Blocked?

CookandDuncan_PhotosWith less than 40 days left in the session, we are quickly approaching the deadline to protect religious freedom this session. It is saddening to see that in a Republican controlled House and Senate, priority bills of the homosexual lobby have been passed out of committees, but critically important protections of our first freedom have yet to receive a single vote. This is despite the fact that there is wide and growing support among the members for the amendment.
Senator Robert Duncan (R) and Representative Byron Cook (R) are Chairs of the respective committees and have the sole discretion to call for a vote.
The amendment is also supported by leading pro-family, pro-life, and pro-liberty organizations across Texas and is also supported by leading constitutional and religious liberty scholars from across the country. But most importantly – it is supported by freedom loving Texans across our great state.
The Texas Religious Freedom Amendment would provide much needed clear and specific protection in our state constitution for religious freedom. A state religious freedom constitutional amendment provides the best guarantee of lasting protection for citizens’ religious liberties from an overreaching legislature, government bureaucracy, or activist court.

Please take immediate action to support the Texas Religious Freedom Amendment (HJR 110/SJR 4):

2. Call Senator Duncan at 512-463-0128 and Rep. Cook at 512-463-0730 and tell them to vote out SJR 4/HJR 110.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Intruder Dials 911, Afraid Homeowner Might Have a Gun!

from Texas GOP Vote: http://texasgopvote.com/issues/stop-big-government/intruder-dials-911-afraid-homeowner-might-have-gun-0053571





A Portland, Oregon, woman arrived home to find an intruder in the shower!
The Portland homeowner called out “Why are you in my house taking a shower?”
The uninvited shower guest replied, “I’m sorry…my name’s Timothy James Chapek.”
Timothy Chapek, 25, then dialed 911 and told the emergency operator, “I just broke in to a house and the owners came home…I think they might have guns.”
The homeowner also called 911 to report the intruder.
I don’t know about you, but it’s a good day when lawbreakers are fearful, rather than the law-abiding! And guns, or even the threat of the good guys possibly having guns, can make that scenario the norm.

My Army Unit Has No Bullets for Soldiers to Train, While DHS Stockpiles Ammo

My Army National Guard Unit went to Camp Swift in Texas last month to do our annual weapons qualification. As soldiers, we are supposed to be good at shooting right? To be good at shooting we have to practice right? Unfortunately, soldiers in the military have just not been able to get the ammunition needed to do, well, anything in the form of quality individual weapons training. Why? We just do not have the ammunition is what we have been told. So, as the Department of Homeland Security stockpiles ammunition, real soldiers are facing a shortage of bullets.

Last month when we went to the range to qualify, each soldier only had 18 bullets to group and zero the rifle. Then it was on to the qualification range where each soldier only got one chance to qualify. If a soldier did not qualify in that one chance, then they did not get a second chance unless there was extra ammunition at the end of the day. Keep in mind that many of these soldiers do not even shoot a rifle until the once a year weapons qualification. United States soldiers should be given the ammunition required to have more than just a once a year one chance to qualify. They should be able to practice and become proficient. If they need more than 18 rounds to group and zero then they should get it. They should get as many rounds it takes for a soldier to fix what they are doing wrong and to practice enough to be able to consistently pass the minimum weapons qualification score. When soldiers get deployed in a war zone they do not throw flowers at the enemy, they shoot a rifle.

This apparent ammo shortage that soldiers are facing is even more disturbing with the knowledge that the Department of Homeland Security is stockpiling ammunition. Recently, several Congressmen, including Republican Representatives Darrell Issa and Jason Chaffetz, have openly criticized the Department of Homeland Security for having over 1000 more bullets per DHS officer than what the military has per Army soldier. Seriously? DHS officers have a nearly unlimited number if bullets for training while soldiers training for war do not even have enough bullets to qualify at the range once a year? This is ridiculous.

This stockpiling of ammunition by the DHS has mostly been talked about on blogs and conservative news sites. Finally, the mainstream media and even congressmen are starting to notice the alarming amount of ammunition that the DHS has per officer compared to the much smaller amount that the Army has per soldier. This is not just some conspiracy. I know first hand the ammo shortage that soldiers face. I am not speaking for the military, I am only speaking from my experience of going to the range to qualify with fellow soldiers and being told that we do not have enough ammo.

To further put things into perspective, Texas Republican Congressman Blake Farenthold tells Texas GOP Vote that the DHS has more ammo sitting in storage right now than the total amount of ammo that the DHS bought in all of the 2010 and 2011 combined. Farenthold tells Texas GOP Vote, "I was extremely alarmed by these claims. These reports raise many questions – but the most glaring to me is why would DHS need such a high volume of ammunition? My colleagues and I have been actively investigating DHS to get this answer, among others, on its seemingly excessive purchase." According to DHS’ latest inventory audit, it currently has 263.7 million rounds of ammunition on hand.

Average citizens are also being affected by this ammo shortage. The large purchases that government agencies have made recently are possibly creating a massive shortage that has prevented American citizens from being able to buy ammo. I personally have not even been able to get any ammo in months! U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK-3) today introduced in their respective chambers the Ammunition Management for More Obtainability (AMMO) Act of 2013. The legislation would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a report on the purchasing of ammunition by federal agencies, except the Department of Defense, and its effect on the supply of ammunition available to the public. The AMMO Act would restrict agencies from obtaining additional ammunition for a six-month period if current agency stockpiles are higher than its monthly averages prior to the Obama Administration.

Zetas laundered millions through horse racing gambling in Texas

American-Statesman Staff
A former drug trafficker on Tuesday testified that he was once picked up by one of the founding leaders of the Zetas cartel and would have been killed had it not been for his knowledge of quarter horses.
Mario Alfonso Cuellar, who is serving time on narcotics charges, sat in a prison uniform as he described for jurors an elaborate scheme that allowed two other heads of the Mexican criminal organization to funnel millions of dirty dollars through the horse racing industry in the United States.
Over the four years he was forced to participate, he said, at least two businessmen involved were killed.
Nearly 20 people are implicated in the money laundering case, which went to trial this week in an Austin federal court. The two drug lords at the top — Miguel Angel Treviño Morales and Oscar Omar Treviño Morales — remain on the loose, authorities say, and allegations have since centered on their brother, Jose Treviño Morales, a bricklayer and father of four who owned one of the most prominent companies in horse racing.
Also on trial are Mexican businessman Francisco Colorado Cessa, professional horse trainers Fernando Solis Garcia and Eusevio Maldonado Huitron, and Huitron’s brother, Jesus Huitron.
Prosecutors will have to prove the defendants knew they were using illicit proceeds to buy, train and breed American quarter horses across the Southwest.
In opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Gardner said the Zetas have emerged as a transnational enterprise under the control of Miguel Angel Treviño Morales that stretches deep into South America, making money through drug sales, extortion, kidnapping and murder. Their elaborate network, Gardner said, ran narcotics from Latin America to as far north as Chicago and then transported the money back to Mexico in large sums of cash.
Those profits would again be sent “north to be invested into legitimate business in the United States,” Garner said. The funds were slowly poured into the accounts of the defendants via wire transfers, personal checks and other transactions, and the payments were structured to be less than $10,000 each to avoid reporting requirements of the Internal Revenue Service, he said.
Prosecutors say Colorado used the money to buy quarter horses from champion lineages at auctions and from sellers, while Eusevio “Chevo” Maldonado Huitron, who lives in East Austin and owns property in Bastrop County, was paid to train them. The Huitrons also laundered money through their other companies, prosecutors said.
Once the horses became profitable, prosecutors allege, they went to Jose Treviño Morales and his wife, Zulema Treviño, who operated Tremor Enterprises LLC in Oklahoma and owned Zule Farms, a ranch with breeding and training facilities.
But defense attorneys said the men implicated were honorable and hardworking businessmen with a passion for horses.
Jose Treviño Morales was not a gun-toting drug dealer, said his attorney, David Finn. The government had failed to catch his relatives — men with huge bounties on their heads — and had instead settled on prosecuting “low-hanging fruit,” he said.
“His brothers are not here right now,” Finn said. “His brothers are not on trial.”

read rest of article here: http://pushjunction.com/l/CkY

Friday, April 26, 2013

Texas Should Take Public Integrity Unit away from Travis County DA

from Rick Perry vs. The World:

Take Public Integrity Unit away from Travis County DA

BOR cogently argues why the Public Integrity Unit of Texas should not belong to the Travis County DA:
Those calling on Lehmberg to resign need to recognize the severity of handing the Public Integrity Unit and the environmental prosecution division over to a Perry crony whose attitude on everything from pre-trial release to the death penalty is likely to be out of touch with Austin's progressive community values.
Executed properly, the Public Integrity Unit invaluably serves all of Texas by enforcing anti-corruption law. Yet our Public Integrity Unit is subject to the whims of white Austin liberals who dominate the Democratic primary in Travis County.* Their current selection Rosemary Lehmberg has shown herself to be unfit for the office in a variety of ways.
Officials who serve all Texans should be accountable to all Texans, not to "Austin's progressive community values."


* One wonders whether moving the Public Integrity Unit to Travis County would pass Voting Rights Act preclearance in the Obama Justice Department.

Bat-Wielding Texas Robber Dies After Shotgun Blast to Chest

from Breitbart.com: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/25/Bat-wielding-Texas-robber

Nothing argues for gun rights quite like a man breaking into your house with a baseball bat. In Midland, Texas, a would-be robber attempted to break into a neighbor’s home. Samuel Pompa, 32, was wielding a baseball bat. His would-be victim, 19, had a shotgun.



Pompa lost. He received a shotgun wound to the  chest and died at Midland Memorial Hospital. No doubt Piers Morgan and company will cite Pompa as just another sad statistic in the American tradition of gun violence.

Man with Concealed Handgun ends Stabbing Spree at Grocery Store

from: http://www.abc4.com/content/about_4/bios/story/conceal-and-carry-stabbing-salt-lake-city-smiths/NDNrL1gxeE2rsRhrWCM9dQ.cspx

"SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. "There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms."

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him."

By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, "This was a volatile situation that could have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten worse. He was definitely in the right place at the right time."

Dozens of other shoppers, who too could have become victims, are also thankful for the gun carrying man. And many, like Danylle Julian, are still in shock from the experience. "Scary actually. Really scary. Five minutes before I walk out to my car. It could have been me."

Police say right now they have no idea what caused the suspect to go on the dangerous rampage. (We will update as soon as we learn new information.)

So far, police have not released the names of the suspect, the victims or the man who pulled the gun. "

David Letterman Pokes Fun at Ted Cruz - Letterman is the Joke

from Breitbart.com: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/04/25/David-Letterman-Sen-Cruz-Is-A-Stooge-For-Opposing-Gun-Control


David Letterman Calls Sen. Ted Cruz a 'Stooge' For Opposing Gun Control

The April 24 edition of The Late Show With David Letterman saw the CBS talker label Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) the "Stooge of the Night" for voting "no on gun control reform."

Letterman then put a photograph of Cruz up on full screen and suggested those rascals at Gun Owners of America and the National Association for Gun Rights purchased Cruz's loyalty with $14,000.
With the photograph still up, he made fun of Cruz's hair and suggested we perform a background check on the Senator's barber.
In short, he tried to make Cruz look like some hick from down there in Texas who really doesn't understand the complexity of the issues at hand.
None of this was funny. But what was comical was knowing Letterman was a "self-described average student" at Ball State University, and that he only went there because he couldn't make good enough grades to get into Indiana University, which was his first choice.
Meanwhile, Sen. Cruz graduated from Princeton with honors, went to Harvard Law School, was "a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review," was an attorney in a Houston law firm that was one of the nation's largest, was the Solicitor General of Texas, was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, and was an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, among other accomplishments.
It's kinda weird that Letterman would be laughing at Cruz, isn't it?

Monday, April 22, 2013

Army Removes Bible Reference from Scopes

from Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/army-removes-bible-reference-from-scopes.html

By Todd Starnes
The U.S. Army is directing troops to remove a Bible inscription that a vendor etched into the serial numbers of weapon scopes, Fox News has learned.
Soldiers at Fort Wainwright in Alaska told Fox News they received a directive to turn in their scopes so the Bible references could be removed.
FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CULTURE WAR STORIES. CLICK HERE TO JOIN!army1
The scopes were made by Trijicom and referenced New Testament passages in John 8:12 and Second Corinthians 4:6. The verses appeared at the end of the scope serial numbers – “JN8:12” and “2COR4:6.”
“The biblical verse (JN8:12) must be removed utilizing a Dremel type tool and then painted black,” read instructions on how to remedy the matter.
After the letters and numbers were scrapped off, soldiers were directed to use apply black paint to ensure the verses were totally covered.
“The vendor etched those inscriptions on scopes without the Army’s approval,” Army spokesman Matthew Bourke told Fox in a written statement. “Consequently, the modified scopes did not meet the requirement under which the contract was executed.”
Bourke said the vendor agreed to remove all Bible references on future deliveries.
“Some of these scopes had already been fielded,” Bourke explained. “Corrective measures were taken to remove inscriptions during the RESET/PRESET process in order to avoid a disruption in combat operations.”
A similar issue came to light during a 2010 investigation by ABC News. At the time the Army and Marine Corps said they were unaware of the biblical markings.army2
Trijicon did not return phone calls seeking comment. A company spokesman told ABC News in 2010 that the inscriptions had always been on the sights and there was nothing wrong or illegal with including them.
The company told ABC they believed the issue had been raised by a group that is “not Christian.”
One of the Fort Wainwright soldiers who received the order to remove the inscription told Fox News that hardly anyone was aware of the religious reference.
“It blows my mind,” the solider said. “It doesn’t help the Army do its mission to take off a biblical reference.”
The soldier, who is a Christian, said he had to comply so “someone doesn’t get offended.”
“We have classes on equal opportunity – things that are clearly irrelevant to our mission – which is to kill the enemy.”
Todd is the author of Dispatches From Bitter America – endorsed by Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. Click here to get your copy!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Obama Refused to deport Muslim Boston Bomber after 2009 criminal conviction violated immigration rules

update about Saudi National who is supposed to be Deported: Beck Breaks Exclusive Information on Saudi National Once Considered a Person of Interest in Boston Bombings

previous story about Boston Bomber who should have been deported but Obama's Policy allowed him to be here:

The Obama administration could have and should have deported Muslim Boston immigrant terrorist after he had a criminal conviction in 2009. This Muslim terrorist should have never had a chance to complete this terrorist attack because he should have been out of the country years ago after his assault conviction. This is what happens when Obama tries to pick and choose which criminals to deport. I am all for people coming to America to have a better life but they should want to become an American, follow our laws, and not become dependent on the government. Obama wanted to give this guy a second chance because his administration did not see him as a threat even after the guy got a criminal conviction. Still think he is not a threat Obama? There are dead Americans and others with no legs who would beg to differ.


From Judicial Watch:

One of the Chechen terrorists who carried out the Boston Marathon bombings could have been deported years ago after a criminal arrest and/or conviction and the other was granted American citizenship on the 11th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old killed in a wild shootout with police, was a legal U.S. resident who nevertheless could have been removed from the country after a 2009 domestic violence arrest and conviction, according to a Judicial Watch source. That means the Obama administration missed an opportunity to deport Tsarnaev but evidently didn’t feel he represented a big enough threat.

Thankfully one of these terrorists has already been killed. The second suspect is still on the loose but it is only a matter of time before they find him too. Hopefully they can get him without anymore innocent people getting killed.

Read more about the Boston Terrorist not getting deported here: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/04/boston-bomber-could-have-been-deported-after-2009-conviction/

This whole situation reminds me of that Muslim terrorist Nidal Hasan who killed over a dozen United States soldiers at Fort Hood Texas. The government knew he was talking to terrorists but they decided not to kick him out of the military because of political correctness. They thought that it might look bad or look like racial profiling to kick out the Muslim even though he was connected to terrorists and they knew it. So they let him stay and he ends up killing over a dozen soldiers. It only adds insult to injury that the Obama administration refuses to call the attack at Fort Hood a terrorist attack. Those soldiers do not even get a Purple Heart for being wounded by the enemy.

Obama is sure to get a black eye over this Bodton terrorist attack. remember at the beginning of this Boston bombing the government had detained a Saudi national here on a visa as a person of interest? They ended up not connecting this Saudi national to the bombings but they still kicked him out of the country because he already had deportation orders due to his possible terrorist activities. So even though he was not connected to this bombing this hurts Obama because this Saudi had a deportation order for terrorist activities and Obama had not deported him yet.

My heart and prayers go out to the people in Boston. May we never let something like this ever happen again due to political correctness.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

West Texas Town ROCKED by Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Many Killed - Part of town LEVELED

from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/18/numerous-injuries-reported-in-large-explosion-at-texas-fertilizer-plant/





Police say between 5 to 15 people were killed and more than 160 were injured in a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, late Wednesday.
The explosion at West Fertilizer in downtown West — a community of roughly 2,600 residents about 20 miles north of Waco — happened around 8 p.m. and could be heard as far away as Waxahachie, a town located 45 miles north. It sent flames spiraling high into the evening sky and rained burning embers, shrapnel and debris down on frightened residents.
"At some point this will turn into a recovery operation, but at this point, we are still in search and rescue."
- Waco Police Department Sgt. William Patrick Swanton
A member of the city council, Al Vanek, said a four-block area around the explosion was "totally decimated." Other witnesses compared the scene to that of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and authorities said the plant made materials similar to that used to fuel the bomb that tore apart that city's Murrah Federal Building.
Debby Marak told The Associated Press that she noticed a lot of smoke in the area across town near the plant when she finished teaching her religion class Wednesday. She said she drove over to see what was happening, and that when she got there, two boys came running toward her screaming that the authorities had ordered everyone out because the plant was going to explode. She drove only about a block when it did.
"It was like being in a tornado," Marak, 58, said during a phone interview. "Stuff was flying everywhere. It blew out my windshield. It was like the whole earth shook."
Marak called her husband and asked him to come get her. When they got to their home about two miles south of town, her husband told her what he'd seen: a huge fireball that rose like "a mushroom cloud."
The USGS reported that the blast registered a magnitude 2.1, which is comparable to a minor earthquake.
"They are still getting injured folks out and they are evacuating people from their homes," Waco Police Department Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said early Thursday. He added later: "At some point this will turn into a recovery operation, but at this point, we are still in search and rescue."
Gov. Rick Perry will hold a press conference on the incident at 11:45 local time, Swanton said. In a statement released Wednesday, Perry said his "thoughts and prayers" were with West residents and first responders.
“We are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident," the statement read. "We have also mobilized state resources to help local authorities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, and the first responders on the scene.”
Swanton said authorities believe that between 5 and 15 people were killed in the blast, but stressed that's an early estimate as search and rescue operations remain under way. There is no indication the blast was anything other than an industrial accident, he said. At least three firefighters are still missing.
The still-smoldering fire was "somewhat under control" by early Thursday, Swanton said, adding that authorities were not concerned about lingering smoke.
Swanton said a "small amount of looting" has occurred near the blast site, but he did not provide additional details. He said looters are a "significant concern" to authorities and that at least one person suspected of being a looter was spotting running from a damaged home.
"The town is secure," Swanton added.
A weather front is bringing cooler temperatures and thunderstorms into the area. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth said thunderstorms are expected to affect West until about 9 a.m. Thursday, though lightning should become less frequent gradually. Temperatures are dropping into the low 50s.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is sending a national response team to the site. ATF spokeswoman Franceska Perot said Thursday the unit includes fire investigators, explosives experts, chemists and canine units.
West Mayor Tommy Muska, who is also a volunteer firefighter, did not answer questions about his fellow firefighters, but said: "I ask for your prayers."
A search for survivors continued throughout the night, as emergency workers went house to house and business to business looking for people trapped in the rubble.
"We've got a lot of people who are hurt, and there's a lot of people, I'm sure, who aren't gonna be here tomorrow," Muska said. "We're gonna search for everybody. We're gonna make sure everybody's accounted for. That's the most important thing right now."
The town's volunteer firefighters responded to a call at the plant about 6 p.m., Swanton said. Muska was among them, and he and his colleagues were working to evacuate the area around the plant when the blast followed about 50 minutes later. Muska said it knocked off his fire helmet and blew out the doors and windows of his nearby home.
The main fire was under control as of 11 p.m., Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman D.L. Wilson said, but residents were urged to remain indoors because of the threat of new explosions or leaks of ammonia from the plant's ruins.
Dozens of emergency vehicles amassed at the scene in the hours after the blast, as fires continued to smolder in the ruins of the plant and in several surrounding buildings. Aerial footage showed injured people being treated on the flood-lit football field that had been turned into a staging area.
Vanek said first-responders treated victims at about half a dozen sites, and he saw several injured residents from the nursing home being treated at the community center. Swanton said early Thursday morning the injured were being taken to hospitals in Waco and a triage center at high school in nearby Abbott.
A spokesman at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco told The Associated Press the facility received 98 patients, including the five in intensive care. Another 30 have serious injuries, including orthopedic and head trauma. Providence Health Center in Waco treated 65 patients from the explosion, admitting 12. A spokeswoman says those patients had broken bones, cuts, head injuries, minor burns and some breathing problems.
Two patients were also being treated at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
MyFoxDFW.com reports as many as 300 people were taken away from the scene with injuries. Roughly 133 patients, including some in wheelchairs, were evacuated from the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, which was among the damaged buildings.
Up to 75 homes were also damaged, as well as an apartment complex with about 50 units that was reduced to a "skeleton," Wilson said.
Erick Perez, 21, of West, was playing basketball at a nearby school when the fire started. He and his friends thought nothing of it at first, but about a half-hour later, the smoke changed color. The blast threw him, his nephew and others to the ground and showered the area with hot embers, shrapnel and debris.
"The explosion was like nothing I've ever seen before," Perez said. "This town is hurt really bad."
The explosion knocked out power and could be heard and felt for miles around. Lydia Zimmerman told KWTX-TV that she, her husband and daughter were in their garden in Bynum — 13 miles from West — when they heard multiple blasts.
"It sounded like three bombs going off very close to us," she said.
Lucy Nashed, a spokesman for Perry's office, said personnel from several agencies were en route to West or already there, including the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, the state's emergency management department and an incident management team. Also responding is the state's top urban search and rescue team, the state health department and mobile medical units.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said it was deploying a large investigation team to West. American Red Cross crews from across Texas also headed to the scene. Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said the group was working with emergency management officials in West to find a safe shelter for residents displaced from their homes.
Swanton said he had no details on the number of people who work at the plant, which was cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2006 for failing to obtain or to qualify for a permit. The agency acted after receiving a complaint in June of that year of a strong ammonia smell.
In 2001, an explosion at a chemical and fertilizer plant killed 31 people and injured more than 2,000 in Toulouse, France. The blast occurred in a hangar containing 300 tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be used for both fertilizer and explosives. The explosion came 10 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., and raised fears at the time it was linked. A 2006 report blamed the blast on negligence.
President Obama, in a statement released Thursday, thanked first responders in the "tight-knit" Texas community.
"I want to thank the first responders who worked tirelessly through the night to contain the situation and treat the wounded," the statement read. "My Administration, through FEMA and other agencies, is in close contact with our state and local partners on the ground to make sure there are no unmet needs as search and rescue and response operations continue. West is a town that many Texans hold near and dear to their hearts, and as residents continue to respond to this tragedy, they will have the support of the American people."
Click for more from MYFoxDFW.com. 
Click for more from FOX17.
Click for more from KWTX.
Fox News' Todd Starnes, Joshua Rhett Miller and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.


Monday, April 15, 2013

ACTION ALERT: NO on SB 303; the Texas Death Panel Empowerment Act

the following is from Cahnman;s Musings: http://acahnman.blogspot.com/2013/04/action-alert-no-on-sb-33-texas-death.html

Via Texas Eagle Forum re: SB 303 by: Dr. Bob Deuell
"The Texas Medical Association (TMA) is supporting this bad bill: Texas SB 303.

Despite opposition by numerous pro-patient activists, the Texas Senate Health & Human Services Committee passed SB 303 this week. This sets up a showdown on the floor of the Texas Senate, with patient rights in Texas hospitals hanging in the balance.

SB 303 allows hospitals to impose "do not resuscitate" orders and cause their patients' deaths without the consent of patients or their families.

The death panels predicted by Sarah Palin become a reality in this bill, as it authorizes hospitals to set up and control decisions to end patients' lives. As soon as Medicare or Medicaid payments on a patient expire, hospitals can insist on pulling the plug, even when patients could recover. Hospitals will try to coerce physicians to do what the hospitals want, not what is best for the patient.

Whom should Texans thank for this abomination? The Texas Hospital Association and its minion, the Texas Medical Association, insist on passage of this bill, and Senators Jane Nelson, Joan Huffman, and Bob Deuell push the THA and TMA agenda as they do every session.

But there are 31 Senators and this bill can still be blocked and defeated. Hospitals and the TMA have less influence on the floor of the Senate than in the Health Committee. Please contact your Senator and urge him or her to stand up for patients, and join the growing list of opponents to this death panel bill, SB 303.”

Please ask your Senator to VOTE NO on SB 303, the death panel bill."
 Texas Right to Life has more here.

 Contact YOUR Texas Senator here.

Terrorist Attack in Boston! At Least 3 Dead after Explosions at Marathon Finish Line

America Attacked!

the following is from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near-finish-line-boston-marathon-spokesman-says/



Multiple casualties reported after two explosions at Boston Marathon


DEVELOPING: Multiple casualties are reported after at least two explosions rocked the area near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Herald.
Witnesses reportedly heard booms that sounded like two claps of thunder near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel.
The explosions occurred just before 3 p.m. Video of the scene showed a number of emergency crews in the area tending to victims and blood on the ground near the finish line.
"I saw two explosions. The first one was beyond the finish line. I heard a loud bang and I saw smoke rising," Boston Herald reporter Chris Cassidy, who was running in the marathon, told the newspaper. "I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something...There are people who have been hit with debris, people with bloody foreheads.”
A photographer with Fox affiliate WFXT reported seeing a number of victims with lost limbs.
Competitors and race organizers were crying as they fled the chaos. Bloody spectators were being carried to the medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners.
"There are a lot of people down," said one man, whose bib No. 17528 identified him as Frank Deruyter of North Carolina. He was not injured, but marathon workers were carrying one woman, who did not appear to be a runner, to the medical area as blood gushed from her leg. A Boston police officer was wheeled from the course with a leg injury that was bleeding.
About three hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another thunderous explosion could be heard a few seconds later.
Runner Laura McLean of Toronto said she heard two explosions outside the medical tent.
"There are people who are really, really bloody," McLean said. "They were pulling them into the medical tent."
Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race.  "I was expecting my husband any minute," she said. "I don't know what this building is ... it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don't know what it was. I just ducked."
Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report. 


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near-finish-line-boston-marathon-spokesman-says/#ixzz2QZ1IXdLo

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Texas D.A. Killed by Former Texas Judge? Kaufman County JP Arrested

Not much information has been put out, but it has been released that a former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace, Eric Williams, has been arrested and held on 1 million dollar bail for making terroristic threats, and this is in connection with the recent murders of the Kaufman County District and Assistant District Attorney.

The Kaufman County District Attorney had prosecuted the Justice of the Peace for theft and this caused the JP to lose his position.

In Texas politics there is alot of corruption, especially in East Texas. Things can even get dangerous. It was not that long ago, right here in Hardin County, the Justice of the Peace Butch Cummings threatened his opponent and illegally forced him to drop out of the election so that the JP would keep his job. This Justice of the Peace even threatened me with bodily injury and it was caught on recording. He did not get into any trouble of course. Good old boy East Texas political corruption. You see, these old politicians see it as their position that they are entitled to have forever once they get in. They do not see it as the people's office. They get offended if you even run against them. It can even get violent.

here are some related east Texas political corruption stories:


MORE ON KAUFMAN COUNTY

the following is from WFAA News regarding the arrest of this former Kaufman County JP: http://www.wfaa.com/news/texas-news/search-home-former-kaufman-county-justice-peace-eric-williams-mike-mclelland-mark-hasse-202764651.html

In a dramatic development during Williams' corruption trial, Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood testified that the former justice of the peace had asked him in a letter to use his influence to call off the criminal investigation against him. Wood declined.
The Post quoted Hasse as saying, "The Defendant did not ask Judge Wood to investigate to help clear this up because he is innocent. In the letter he accepts responsibility. He says I’ve done something wrong, and I’ve learned my lesson, hoping for some kind of back-door favor. He is an elected public servant and he is a thief and a liar. We ask you to find him guilty.”
During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutor Hasse revealed that Williams threatened to kill an ex-girlfriend in Huntsville "involving the display of a handgun," according to court records. He also threatened the life of a Kaufman attorney and his family in 2010, according to prosecutor's records. 
Williams is appealing his convictions. 


the following is from KFDM News regarding the arrest of this former Kaufman County JP:
http://www.kfdm.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/kfdm_vid_4468.shtml

 KAUFMAN, Texas - Kaufman County records show that former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams has been arrested.

Authorities searched Williams' home on Friday afternoon and into the night in connection with their investigation of the Kaufman County prosecutor murders.

Williams, 46, was booked into the Kaufman County Jail at 12:32 a.m. Saturday and charged with making a "terroristic threat." Bond was set at $1 million.

The district attorney's office prosecuted and convicted Williams last year for theft. He lost his justice of the peace position as a result.

Investigators spent hours at Williams' home and that of his in-laws on Friday. The two families live on the same street in Kaufman.

They removed boxes, computers and guns.

It's now been two weeks since investigators found the bodies of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife in their home near Forney. Prosecutor Mark Hasse was shot and killed on his way to the courthouse on January 31.

Eric Williams has links to both McLelland and Hasse but has not been charged in connection with their deaths.

Army Labeled Evangelicals as Religious Extremists

the following article is from Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/army-labeled-evangelicals-as-religious-extremism.html


By Todd Starnes
A U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, Fox News has learned.
CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWSLETTER YOU CAN GET. TODD’S AMERICAN DISPATCH. 
“We find this offensive to have Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church to be listed among known terrorist groups,” said Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization.”
Material presented to soldiers at training session.
Material presented to soldiers at training session.
The incident occurred during an Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief on extremism. Topping the list is Evangelical Christianity. Other organizations listed included Catholicism, Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Ku Klux Klan, Sunni Muslims, and Nation of Islam.
The military also listed “Islamophobia” as a form of religious extremism.
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Army spokesman George Wright told Fox News that this was an “isolated incident not condoned by the Dept. of the Army.”
“This slide was not produced by the Army and certainly does not reflect our policy or doctrine,” he said. “It was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command’s knowledge or permission.”
Wright said after the complaint was lodged, the presenter deleted the slide, and apologized.
“We consider the matter closed,” he said.
The incident was made public by a soldier who attended the briefing. He asked for copies of the presentation and sent them to the Chaplain Alliance.
“He considers himself an evangelical Christian and did not appreciate being classified with terrorists,” Crews told Fox News. “There was a pervasive attitude in the presentation that anything associated with religion is an extremist.”
The Archdiocese for the Military Services was shocked to learn that the Army considered Catholicism to be an example of extremism.
“The Archdiocese is astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist,” the Archdiocese said in a statement.
They want the Dept. of Defense to “ensure that taxpayer funds are never again used to present blatantly anti-religious material to the men and women in uniform.”

read the rest of the article here: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/army-labeled-evangelicals-as-religious-extremism.html

Travis County D.A. Arrested for Drunk Driving: Another Texas Democrat Arrested

I recently posted up an article about Texas Democrat State Repersentative Naomi Gonzalez getting arrested for drunk driving and crashing into people. What is even worse is that the Texas Legislature Praised this Drunk Driving Democrat after her arrest with a standing ovation and some gave her flowers!

Well now, not long after the arrest of Rep. Gonzalez, The Democrat Travis County District Attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, has been arrested for drunk driving. She refuses to resign. How about that for Texas Political Corruption. A Texas D.A. who prosecutes Drunk Driving Cases is a drunk driver herself!

That is the problem with Texas though, there is no real punishment for drunk driving. Even if you kill someone, many times you will get a light sentence or NO jail time at all! I remember seing someone in Texas getting a life sentenc for drunk driving, but that was because it was his eighth time! Why was he not punished the first 7 times?

Drunk Driving is a leading killer of people in Texas and in the nation. When will we do something about it?

from Statesman: http://pushjunction.com/l/Cjv

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, arrested and charged with drunken driving overnight, plans to remain in office and will not resign, according to a spokeswoman.
According to county records, Lehmberg, 63, was arrested by Travis County deputies in Northern Travis County near RM 2222 and FM 620 and booked into the county jail shortly after 2 a.m.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained this morning, a citizen called 911 around 10:45 p.m. Friday, reporting that a motorist was driving a four-door Lexus in the bike lane for at least a mile on southbound FM 620 and that she was weaving in and out of traffic.

At one point, the affidavit said, Lehmberg crossed into oncoming traffic near Comanche Trail.


Texas Legislature Praises Drunk Driving Democrat Who Hurt Innocent Pedestrian

also see: Travis County D.A. Arrested for Drunk Driving: Another Texas Democrat Arrested

Really? FLOWERS? WFAA reports that the Texas House of Representatives gave this drunk driving Democrat State Representative who injured innocent people a standing ovation and some gave her FLOWERS?

They should have given Naomi Gonzalez an orange jumpsuit and said we will see you once you paid the penalty for your crime.

But hey, she said she was sorry, I guess her crime should just be forgiven right? After all, no one dies from drunk drivers right? Drunk Driving is not a serious problem right? It is disgusting that this Democrat State Representative on the ETHICS Committee has been turned into a victim when she is the bad guy who hurt real innocent victims. Hey Joe Straus, you think maybe you should take her off of the ethics committee? If she ran things, everyone would just have to say they are sorry and then they get a prize and have their ethics charges dropped.

She is only sorry she got caught and is facing charges because, well, this is not the first time she has done this. It is just the first time she was caught.

And we wonder why so many innocent people die every day in Texas from Drunk Drivers.... Even if she did kill someone she still would have gotten a slap on the wrist.


from WFAA: http://www.wfaa.com/news/texas-news/El-Paso-lawmaker-deeply-deeply-sorry-for-DWI-arrest-198856081.html

AUSTIN (AP) — A Democratic state lawmaker arrested for drunken driving offered an emotional apology on the floor of the Texas House on Monday, drawing a standing ovation and flowers from her colleagues.
Naomi Gonzalez of El Paso crashed her BMW into another car, which then hit a bicyclist around 2 a.m. Thursday. Gonzalez, the other driver and the cyclist all went to the hospital with minor injuries. The 34-year-old was charged with driving while intoxicated.

Gonzalez sought special permission to address her colleagues and said she did so "with a heavy heart." She explained that the crash occurred as she drove alone to her Austin apartment and, "I want to be clear about this: I made a mistake and I am deeply, deeply sorry for it."

Lawmakers applauded loudly, eventually climbing to their feet. Some gave Gonzalez hugs and high-fives. Flowers were left on her desk in the chamber.

Not everyone deemed the gesture appropriate. The Texas chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving lamented the appearance, saying it made someone charged with drunk driving and injuring others into a victim.

Drunk Driving TX Democrat Rep. Gonzalez Arrested After Injuring Others


AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Authorities say Democratic state. Rep. Naomi Gonzalez has been arrested on charges of drunk driving.
Austin police spokesman Jermaine Kilgore said the El Paso lawmaker was arrested Thursday after rear-ending another car around 2 a.m. near downtown. He says the other car struck by Gonzalez’s BMW was then pushed into a bicyclist. Kilgore said both Gonzalez and the bicyclist were transported to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Records show Gonzalez remained in Travis County jail Thursday afternoon. Aides at her Capitol office declined to immediately comment.
The 34-year-old Gonzalez was first elected in 2010 and serves on a House ethics committee.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Copy of Complaint Against Julian Castro, Democratic National Convention Keynote Speaker

A few weeks ago I posted this article:

Democrat Star and Democratic National Convention Keynote Speaker, Julian Castro, Investigated for Accepting Illegal Campaign Money along with 8 other San Antonio Texas Democrats


some have asked to see a copy of the actual complaint to verify that it is true and to see what the different violations are.

Click on any of the pictures below to view the entire complaint against Julian Castro:






Also read article:

Rising Democratic star TX Mayor Julian Castro backs a deal that sends millions Overseas - Obama Involved?





Texas Senate passes sweeping charter school bill expanding number of charter schools

from KFDM 6 News: http://www.kfdm.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/kfdm_vid_4444.shtml

By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The Texas Senate has overwhelming approved a dramatic expansion of the number of charter schools allowed to operate in Texas.

But what passed wasn't nearly as ambitious as originally proposed.

Sen. Dan Patrick's bill would increase the cap on the number of licenses to operate charter schools statewide from the current 215 up to 305 by September 2019.

It passed 30-1 on Thursday with surprisingly little debate. Democrats and Republicans alike then congratulated Patrick.

The measure now heads to the House, where it faces a tougher road.

Patrick had originally pushed for lifting entirely the cap on licenses, and creating a special board to oversee a flood of new applications he expected would follow.

But Patrick said the bill that passed is "much, much better" than the original.

Hooters gets slap on wrist for serving drunk man who Killed innocent woman in Texas drunk driving accident

Hooters in Beaumont, TX got to choose between a $15,000 fine or a 50 day suspension of alcohol license. The mother of the woman killed says that her daughter did not get to choose and while her daughter is dead, Hooters gets to continue selling alcohol. This is why so many innocent people keep getting killed by drunk drivers every day. There is no real punishment. Heck, the guy who killed her only got 8 years. 8 years for a life....

from KBMT 12 News:

BEAUMONT -
A Beaumont restaurant has been cited by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The enforcement action against Hooters stems from a fatal drunk driving accident in Beaumont last year.
It was on July 30, 2012 that Derek McBride would go to Hooters on Interstate 10 with three friends.
According to a TABC report obtained by 12 News, they would spend just over 4-and-a-half hours during which McBride was served six 25-ounce beers, a Bloody Mary, a shot of Vodka and a shot of Jack Daniels.
On March 18, the 25-year-old McBride was sentenced to eight years in prison for intoxication manslaughter.
McBride pleaded guilty to driving drunk, and causing the wreck on I-10.
It claimed the life of Amber Roussel of Louisiana, but authorities did not just go after McBride to seek justice, they also launched an investigation into Hooters in Beaumont.
Agents with the TABC learned McBride had been at the restaurant before the fatal wreck.
They demanded to see receipts from the day of the wreck.
At first, the TABC agent did not get all she requested and she issued Hooters a warning for failing to timely provide records.
But eventually TABC had what it needed to sanction Hooters, turns out the agency discovered that waitresses had over served McBride alcoholic beverages.
Here's a timeline from that day involving McBride:
11:05 am - served 1 Coors Light Big Daddy (25oz)
11:38 am - served 1 Coors Light Big Daddy (25oz)
12:22 pm - served 1 Coors Light Big Daddy (25oz)
1:07 pm - served 1 Coors Light Big Daddy (25 oz) AND served Bloody Mary with a shot of Vodka
2:09 pm - served 1 Coors Light Big Daddy (25oz)
2:12 pm - served 1 shot of Jack Daniels
3:45 pm - served 1 Coors Light Big Daddy (25oz)
3:54 pm - reported time of accident by Beaumont police department
Hooters fired two waitresses and the TABC gave the restaurant the option to pay a $15,000 fine, or get its liquor license suspended for 50 days.
Hooters chose the fine.  Amber Roussel's mother, Melba Braud, told 12 News, "Amber was not given a choice, Hooters should not be given a choice either, so they can continue to serve people like Derek McBride."
Braud is suing Hooters, but she said, "It's not about the money, it's to show them this needs to stop."
Braud describes her daughter as amazing.  She says she plans to return to Beaumont on the first anniversary of Amber's death and do a candlelight vigil on I-10 near Pine Street, where the wreck happened.
We have been in contact with a public relations representative for Hooters.  He told us he would have a response for us, but we have not received one yet.

read more here: http://www.12newsnow.com/story/21968136/tabc-cites-hooters-for-overserving-man-who-caused-fatal-wreck

ND lawmakers define life as starting at conception, in bid to outlaw abortions

the following article is from Fox News:


ND lawmakers define life as starting at conception, in bid to outlaw abortions

North Dakota lawmakers moved Friday to outlaw abortion in the state by passing a bill defining life as starting at conception.
The bill is one of a series of anti-abortion measures the Republican-controlled Legislature has passed this year despite critics' insistence that they are unconstitutional and violate a landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion until a fetus considered viable, which is usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
The North Dakota House approved the bill 57-35 Friday, sending it to the Republican governor, who has not yet said whether he will sign or veto it. The Senate approved it last month.
The so-called personhood measure bestows human rights on fertilized human eggs. Efforts to pass similar measures in other states have failed, but anti-abortion legislation has had strong momentum in North Dakota this year with lawmakers introducing a slew of measures aimed at closing the state's sole abortion clinic in Fargo and challenging the 1973 ruling, known as Roe v. Wade.
Before the House voted on the personhood bill, the Legislature had already passed measures that would ban abortion as early as six weeks, or as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected, and because of genetic defects such as Down syndrome. Together, those bills would give North Dakota the strictest abortion laws in the nation.
Abortion-rights activists have said that if Gov. Jack Dalrymple signs any of them into law, they will fight them in court.
The threat of costly litigation may be less of a deterrent in oil-rich North Dakota than in other states, however. Booming oil production has helped the state avoid the kind of budget cuts seen elsewhere and left it with comfortable surpluses.
Lawmakers' Friday agenda also included other anti-abortion bills, including one outlawing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the disputed premise that at that point, fetuses feel pain. Lawmakers passed another measure that requires a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges.
Many of the North Dakota bills are modeled on legislation from other states.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/22/nd-lawmakers-define-life-as-starting-at-conception-in-bid-to-outlaw-abortions/#ixzz2QLOEwlD7

Nullify Obamacare Hearing - Texas Legislature - April 17th, 2013

the following is something that a friend posted on facebook:
HB 3785, a Texas House bill that nullifies Obamacare and interposes against the taxes established by it, has been scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday, April 17th at 2pm or upon adjournment of the House, in room E2.036.

It is imperative that we get as many people as possible into that committee hearing to register FOR the bill, and if they are confident enough, to TESTIFY for the bill.

If you cannot be there in person, contact everyone listed below on the phone AND through email and ask them to please pass the bill out of committee.

Rep. Brandon Creighton, Chair, brandon.creighton@house.state.tx.us, 512-463-0726
Rep. Cindy Burkett, cindy.burkett@house.state.tx.us, 512-463-0464
Rep. Eddie Lucio, eddie.lucio@house.state.tx.us, 512-463-0606
Rep. Scott Turner, scott.turner@house.state.tx.us, 512-463-0484
Rep. Armando Walle, armando.walle@house.state.tx.us, 512-463-0924

Please help pass this alert around by sending it to YOUR email list of like minded friends/family and post it to all social networks you are a part of.

If you are tagged at the bottom of this post, it means you have a network you can tap into to possibly help get people to turn out to this hearing. Anything you can do will be much appreciated.

Normalizing Sin & the Decadent Society

By David Lane, American Renewal Project
April 4, 2013
A keynote is defined as being "the first and harmonically fundamental tone of a scale."

Sustainable freedom and a free people require a foundation of moral absolutes that foster biblical truth and restrain vice - the fundamental tone in the Founding of America was laid on the bedrock of "for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith ... " and the Geneva Bible.  
Homosexuality is debauchery. God's loyalty and fidelity - that guard the nation - make sustainable freedom dependent on seeking virtue. There is no "fear of God" from the Republican Party establishment today.   
 
"Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians. 6:9-10
 
Virtue is a key component of freedom.  
What homosexuals do in their bedroom is none of my business, but - politically - someone's values are going to reign supreme.  
R.L Wing analyzing the principles of Sun Tzu observed, "The weapons were quite different, but the armies were nearly as large and the devastation and human suffering just as profound. Today, the chariots and crossbows are gone, but the conflict, throughout the world, is exactly the same: a struggle for ideological supremacy and control of resources."; ideological supremacy - the moral against the immoral - is the current fight within the Republican Party by establishment moderates and the biblically conservative grassroot, precinct-level ground forces.  
Solomon wrote, "Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34

The glory of a nation lies in its righteousness, not in its wealth or military might. The key to maintaining sustainable freedom is righteousness. Moral character is what preserves the nation and guarantees freedom.  
Freedom always faces a fundamental moral challenge; virtue is a key component of freedom. Taking the present Republican leadership amoral route - in the end - will destroy the Republican Party, initially, and then vie for America's freedom.  
It will take nothing short of a cultural revolution for biblical arguments to be heard, much less to become material to the debate. Homosexual desire and marriage is unnatural and - more so - is a symptom of advanced cultural decay and precursor to the collapse of the Republican Party and the nation.
 
Os Guinness' A Free People's Suicide - a must read -, says "Freedom requires truth and virtue. Arnold Toynbee's repeated observation, 'History shows that all great nations commit suicide'. But the theme of this book owes far more to Abraham Lincoln's expressly American understanding of the challenge: 'if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.'"

Iowa Republican Party Chairman A.J. Spiker did a great service to America in his letter to RNC leadership:
 
Fellow RNC Members,  
While inclusion is important, elected Republicans (we all know the most recent example) and National/State Party leaders who embrace so-called same sex marriage are doing grave harm to our Party and the whole of society. 
 
Lets not forget, so-called same sex marriage is an irreconcilable difference with the Republican Party's largest constituency... Committed Christians.  
Take care,
-
A.J. Spiker
Chairman, Republican Party of Iowa
621 E. 9th Street
Des Moines, IA 50309
 
Paid for by the Republican Party of Iowa, not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
 
The RNC Establishment - most likely - will have to decide which constituency is more paramount to them, the estimated 1.5%, "GLBT 4.3M gay, lesbian or bisexual" or the estimated 44%, "born again/ Evangelical 125M" constituency.   
 
Immigration, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment, Global Warming, et. al., can be discussed and good people can - and do - disagree. Homosexual marriage and abortion are inviolable.
 
...the mark of a decadent society is the exaltation and normalization of sin - which leads to the death.
 
David Lane
About David Lane
Evangelical Activist, Conservative Advocator, and Founder of the American Renewal Project. Working to restore America back to its Judeo-Christian roots. Follow David @GDavidLane.