Free Republic

Any 'peace officer' can demand i.d. any time, doesn't say exactly who qualifies as a 'peace officer.' Papers please!! The Texas Senate has approved a bizarre measure which would require citizens to show some sort of identification to any police officer who demands it, at any time, for any reason, 1200 WOAI news reports. Currently, it is illegal for a person to give a false name to police, but there is no law rewiring a person to provide i.d. at an officer's whim. And State Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) doesn't like the sound of this bill. "We still live...

Texas State Senator, Dan Patrick, was on FoxNews this morning at 8:45am. He said he had some “breaking news to share”. Boy was it!!! The Texas State Legislature had been trying very hard to get the Obama Administration to respond to a critical situation on the Texas Border. The Administration had not gotten back with Texas as of last night. So the State of Texas told Washington D.C. basically they could go jump, and “we’ll take care of Texas!”. As of last night… the Texas National Guard has been put on High Alert!!! This is the first time in history!...

AUSTIN — Two state lawmakers are requesting formal inquiries into whether the Texas Department of Transportation is improperly spending money on advertising. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, question whether an estimated $7 million to $9 million TxDOT is spending on its "Keep Texas Moving" campaign is a proper use of resources. The lawmakers have asked Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick look into the matter. Paxton said he is concerned that the transportation department is spending the money to argue its case before the public in response to lawmakers' questions about projects such...

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate passed its second bill this session creating a two-year moratorium on privately funded toll roads Friday, a sharp rebuke of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to solve the state's transportation problems. Senators voted 27-4 to approve the bill, which would prevent the creation of toll roads made by public entities contracting with private companies. The Senate passed a similar bill earlier, but that version appears dead in the House. The version approved Friday easily passed the House this month by a vote of 137-2. The bill's Senate sponsor, Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, said he...

For American politics in 2007, the focus is largely on the Democratic Party’s sweep into power on a wave of Republican corruption and failed policy. But just to the west of Rice, the deep-red District 7 bucked the trend, electing conservative talk radio host Dan Patrick to the Texas Senate. Patrick goes beyond the talk radio stereotype of the millionaire egocentric self-promoter who repeats the xenophobic talking points that allow white, middle-age males to think they are an oppressed minority. On air, Patrick cornered the market on attacking not just the usual political enemies — the growing Hispanic population and...

The Texas Senate's Most-Feared Mouth is on the air from Austin. From a nearly empty basement cubicle in a Congress Avenue high-rise, "The Dan Patrick Show" debuted Wednesday afternoon from Austin. Patrick, a newly sworn-in senator from Houston, said he thinks he is the only legislator in the country with his own talk show. "This is the Voice of Texas," Patrick intoned in his radio voice, as he opened Patrick's first show from the capital city began just a few hours after he introduced an abortion bill. His bill would make performing most abortions illegal in Texas, if Roe v....

AUSTIN (AP) - Conservative radio host Dan Patrick got noticed three years ago, when he fired up his Houston-area listeners with impassioned tirades against ever-rising property taxes. Soon those listeners began lighting up the Capitol switchboards at an astounding rate - so incessant at one point that they rendered phone lines unusable for days in the office of Richardson Republican Rep. Fred Hill. His staff fled to a temporary office to avoid the flood of citizens' calls. Patrick's laser focus on conservative issues and the ensuing bedlam his broadcasts can ignite have since become known around the Capitol as the...

Radio personality Dan Patrick on Tuesday joined the 2006 GOP primary field to succeed retiring Republican state Sen. Jon Lindsay in District 7. Patrick announced his candidacy on KSEV (700 AM) radio, during his regular afternoon drive-time show. The two-hour block of air time was a paid political advertisement, by the Dan Patrick for Senate campaign. Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt, Patrick's campaign treasurer, participated in Patrick's broadcast along with other conservative leaders, including physician Steven Hotze, who crusades for conservative Christian values in government. The show was broadcast live from Main Street Crossing in Tomball. Patrick said he...

The sloppy, inaccurate, "class-less", and potentially defamatory journalism displayed today by reporter Dan Feldstein and the Houston Chronicle in their article concerning my property taxes is a perfect example of why both the American public’s esteem for the mainstream media– and the Chronicle’s paid subscription numbers –continue to plummet like a stone. This article was a clear personal attack on me in an attempt to discredit my efforts to reform the property tax system and bring relief to Texas homeowners. It was also an attempt to destroy the trust I have earned with the public over a 16 year career...

AS a host on his own radio station, Dan Patrick has crusaded against rising property taxes. Until this month, however, his taxes hadn't been rising as fast as everyone else's. It seems that Patrick, owner of homes in Katy and Montgomery, had homestead exemptions on both. It wasn't his fault, really. As a professional slinger of zingers, he'd hardly leave himself open to something so easily verified on the Internet. Which is how we checked out the anonymous phone tip. Sure enough, Patrick's home on Lake Conroe has a full homestead exemption, designed to lessen the tax burden on a...

A June 2004 meeting between Friendswood school officials and the chief appraiser of the Galveston County Central Appraisal District was to keep the school district from losing state funding because under-appraised homes in six Friendswood subdivisions, said FISD superintendent Trish Hanks. The meeting has become fodder for Houston talk radio station KSEV and its Lone Star Times web site, with allegations that the district tried to bring unwarranted influence to bear on the appraisal district to boost property values and therefore permit a "stealth" tax increase. In the arcane process of property appraisal for tax purposes, Hanks said the state...

Electoral College Projections: Bush 286, Kerry 253 The votes from New Mexico are now showing a Bush victory of almost 30,000 votes with 100% of precincts reporting. Bush currently leads in Iowa by 11,000 votes with only 36 precincts remaining. In Ohio Bush presently leads by a virtually insurmountable 140,000 votes with only 2% of precincts remaining. The facts are becoming clear and now we have an electoral vote total to back it: as LST has called it, President Bush has been reelected with a strong majority. Senator Kerry currently leads in Michigan and Wisconsin, though neither is enough to...

Some of you might have already saw this - if you watched O'Reilly last night, I know you did. Just in case you didn't see it, and just in case you didn't know that there was bias in the media. (if you didn't know that by now, get out of the cave!) In yet another of the endless examples of poor journalism and media bias, a recent interview with a family member of a U.S. soldier, Leroy Sandoval, who was killed in Fallujah shamelessly used the young man’s death to further the liberal agenda within the media. These are...

A friend told me a very sad story about a local TV station lying about comments of a father whose son just died in Iraq in the last couple weeks. My friend is going to talk to the friend about possibly going public. I recall that there was a similar incident in the last few weeks and I'm looking for the story or links to it on FR. As I remember, a step-father (hereafter "father") of a fallen soldier or Marine was approached by a local TV reporter (I think it was Houston, TX). Reporter asked the father if he...

Radio talk show host launches boycott against local newspaper KSEV radio talk show host Dan Patrick went on a crusade against the Houston Chronicle for what he calls a liberal slant. By Tom Abrahams ABC13 Eyewitness News (4/09/04 - HOUSTON) — A local family who lost their son in Iraq recently is upset with the Houston Chronicle newspaper. Marine Leroy Sandoval's family thinks a recent Chronicle article unfairly portrayed the family's feelings about the president. The family's displeasure has now launched a boycott of the paper by a local radio talk show host. Private First Class Leroy Sandoval, Jr., was...

HOUSTON -- Radio talk show host Jon Matthews was indicted on one count of indecency with a child Wednesday, News2Houston reported. A Fort Bend County grand jury handed down the sealed indictment Wednesday morning. Sources told News2Houston that a teenager who lives in Matthews' Sugar Land neighborhood went to police a few weeks ago and made accusations against Matthews. The allegations led to a grand jury investigation. Matthews is expected to surrender to Fort Bend County officials Wednesday afternoon. Matthews has been a staple of Houston radio as a conservative talk show host, most recently on the KSEV AM morning...

Radio talk show host and Fort Bend Star columnist Jon Matthews is being investigated by the Sugar Land Police Department following a complaint from a Sugar Land family that Matthews behaved indecently with a child. A source close to the family told Fort Bend/Southwest Sun that a complaint has been filed in reference to "inappropriate sexual behavior with a child by Mr. Matthews." The Sugar Land Police Department would not elaborate on the complaint, but confirmed the investigation is in progress. AM700 KSEV where Matthews, a Sugar Land resident, had a talk show in the mornings, did not air his...

Conservative local talk show host being investigated by police (10/24/03 - HOUSTON) — Popular radio talk show host Jon Matthews is off the air and we've learned Sugar Land police are investigating him. Houstonians have been listening to the conservative radio talk show host for more than 15 years. He's a former Marine with loyal listeners, but on Friday those listeners didn't hear him because his boss took him off the air. "I think that was the best thing to do," said KSEV General Manager Dan Patrick. Patrick yanked Matthews off the air after learning from Eyewitness News about...

NEW YORK THEATER Bill Maher brings attitude to the stage By ALESSANDRA STANLEY NEW YORK -- "I think women's sports are boring." "I am for mad cow disease." "I think `no' sometimes means `yes.' " "I think Vegas was better when it was run by the mob." Bill Maher concludes Victory Begins at Home, his one-man Broadway show, by reciting that politically incorrect credo. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he has become, if not one of the most outspoken critics of the Bush administration, at least one of the most contrarian. He mocks the country's enemies as well as its leadership....