Free Republic

John McCain releases his first ad for the general election. In it, he discusses his families military service, his military service, his stay in a POW camps, and his hatred for war... Clint Eastwood fires back at Spike Lee over racial comments Lee stated about the number of black soldiers at Iwo Jima. Word to the wise...you don't mess with Dirty Harry...no good will come of it. Baby survives an abortion. Apparently, this is quite common for early tri-mester pregnancies...the babies are so small doctors often fail to locate them and remove them. Lovely. Clinton and Obambi meet up for...

The Texas Transportation Commission sounded the right notes last month in its first meeting under new leadership. Deirdre Delisi, recently appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to chair the commission, and her fellow commissioners finally seem to have gotten the message — the Texas Department of Transportation has lost the public's trust. For those with short memories, here are a few highlights that explain how that happened: •TxDOT fought to keep details of Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor secret. It denied repeated requests from the media and landowners to let the public view a plan that calls for hundreds of miles of...

LAREDO, Texas — The Texas Attorney General's Office sued landowners in Webb County, accusing a couple of violating the state's colonia-prevention law. The suit, filed in district court in Austin on Jan. 7, accuses John R. Daves and his wife, Leonor, of selling three residential lots east of Laredo without installing or bonding for water and sewer services as required by state law. The law is designed to prevent the sale of residential lots in border areas without basic utilities. Such sales have led to so-called colonias, low-income residential communities where unsanitary conditions can result from lack of electricity and...

Secret parts of a contract for the Trans-Texas Corridor have been out for more than two weeks now. So has a development plan that outlines how state transportation officials and a foreign-led consortium plan to plow the countryside with toll roads and railways to relieve growing traffic on Interstate 35. That's plenty of time to begin scouring the thousands of pages — on the Web at KeepTexasMoving.com — to find out what the big secret was. But so far, no one can or will say if there's a detail, some twist or mumbo jumbo that, if found, would blow the...

The Texas attorney general sues a Starr County woman accused of providing illegal immigration services to customers. Irene V. Rodriguez is accused of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Texas Government Code by providing immigration and other legal services despite not being an attorney. Attorney General Greg Abbott accuses Rodriguez or charging people in Starr County hundreds of dollars to prepare legal documents in anticipation of immigration proceedings and misled clients into believing that she was authorized to handle such matters. The AG is seeking a permanent injunction against Rodriguez, as well as Rodriguez Immigration & Office...

The Texas Transportation Commission unrolled Sept. 28 the long-awaited road map for the Trans-Texas Corridor. Release of the Master Development Plan will result also in public disclosure of the full contract between the state and Cintra-Zachry, a private joint venture between the Spanish firm Cintra and the Texas highway contractor Zachry. Both Cintra-Zachry and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) appealed a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s office that the full contract is an open record. A trial was scheduled for Oct. 10 in Travis County district court. The master plan calls for the prompt building of seven segments...

Democratic Texas Supreme Court nominee Bill Moody said Monday that a construction firm may be using political contributions to win favor from the state’s highest civil court in a potential eminent domain lawsuit about the Trans-Texas Corridor. “My opponent and other members of the Supreme Court have taken sizable contributions from the Zachry group, well-knowing there is going to be an eminent domain case,” Moody said during a Waco campaign visit with the Tribune-Herald editorial board. Moody cited contributions from Zachry Construction Corporation’s political action committee and executives to his opponent, Republican Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, and four...

Drivers willing to pay to leave Interstate 35 in the dust could have an alternative as early as the summer of 2013. For 15 cents a mile, drivers could cruise the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor for nearly 100 miles, from Hillsboro to the north Austin suburbs. The rest of the 370-mile corridor could be running in 2017, the report said. That is according to a new 1,600-page master plan for the tollway, railroad and utility corridor that the firm Cintra-Zachry developed as it prepares to build the controversial project. The report said the company’s investment will increase by $3.5 billion, construction...

AUSTIN — Requests from about 160 Texas landowners seeking public release of a contract for developing the first phase of Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor were delivered to the Texas Department of Transportation on Thursday. The contract between the state and a private consortium led by the Spanish company, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, was signed more than a year ago. The consortium also includes the Zachry Corp. of San Antonio. Attorney General Greg Abbott has ruled that the contract must be released to the public, but Cintra-Zachry sued to keep parts of the agreement secret. The suit is...

ENNIS - Corridor Watch, a nonprofit organization designed to inform the public about aspects of the Trans-Texas Corridor, presented its perceptions about the highway project to an Ellis County audience Thursday evening. The event was sponsored by Independent Texans and held at the Ennis Sixth Grade Center. Corridor Watch, which was founded by Linda and David Stall of Fayetteville, is “first and foremost an educational entity,” said David Stall, who added that the group’s “biggest concern is stopping the Trans-Texas Corridor.” Stall, speaking for the anti-TTC Corridor Watch, raised several questions about the TTC, ranging from its origins to its...

The Killeen-based company that promised to protect landowners – for a fee – from potential eminent domain proceedings in connection with the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project agreed to the terms set in a temporary injunction Thursday during a hearing before the 345th District Court in Austin. Attorney General Greg Abbott sought the temporary injunction to stop the business "You Can't Take It" from continuing activity on grounds that the defendants may have violated parts of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act. By agreeing to the entry of the temporary injunction, the defendants agreed to cease all business activity, including...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit to stop three individuals and their organization from falsely claiming they can protect property owners from potential eminent domain proceedings possibly linked to the Trans-Texas Corridor project. The Attorney General’s lawsuit alleges that promoters of “You Can’t Take It” with its associated Web site attempt to scare property into believing their properties may be affected by the future highway projects. The scare tactics then lead to offers to rescue them from speculative eminent domain proceedings for a fee of $600, which will increase to $1,000 by November. The organization also would...

The Democratic candidate for state attorney general pledged on the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse Friday to oppose the Trans-Texas Corridor if he’s elected in November. After a 30-minute speech in which he blasted incumbent Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot and other state Republican leaders, David Van Os put his pledge on record at the McLennan County Clerk’s office in the form of a sworn affidavit. In the affidavit, he promised to “use every legal means available to me by (the office of attorney general) to halt and/or invalidate the unconstitutional and illegal . . . Trans-Texas Corridor.” It...

Who do you support for Texas Attorney General? Democrat David Van Os or Republican Greg Abbott? http://www.empiretribune.comThe poll is on the left-had side of the page.

CHICAGO (AFP) - A college student who led a massive spam e-mail operation has been fined more than 10 million dollars, the Texas attorney general said. "Spam e-mail is not only pervasive in our society but is one of the most aggravating problems computer users face," Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement Wednesday. "Today's crackdown effectively shuts down one of the worst spam operators and sends a warning to others who would engage in spam e-mailing for profit." The former student, Ryan Pitylak, 24, and partners Mark Trotter, Gary Trappler and Alan Refaeli bombarded consumers with millions of...

The Texas Department of Transportation's fight to guard the financial details of the Trans-Texas Corridor has sparked a rallying cry for corridor opponents and resulted in a court battle over open records. Corridor watchdogs argue that the state should make public its financial and development master plans with Cintra Zachry LP, the group chosen by the state to help plan and build the first section of a proposed transportation network that would criss-cross the state with roads, railways and utility infrastructure. “This is the largest land grab in Texas history, and to not let the people see the financial details...

Hutchison choice softens intensity of GOP primary ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN (AP) - With Gov. Rick Perry and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn now strapping up for what promises to be a fiery gubernatorial campaign, expectations of shifting across the Republican primary have all but fizzled out. The GOP holds every statewide elected office in Texas and party leaders had been gearing up for a grand game of political musical chairs in case U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison jumped into the 2006 governor's race. Instead, Hutchison opted for another run at the Senate, leaving most GOP office holders sitting right where they...

Poll is on the left about half way down the page. The anti-Commandments loonies have a big lead on the poll. Let's even things up. Should the State of Texas be forced to remove the Ten Commandments display from the state Capitol grounds? Yes 67.0% No 33.0% votes: 929

'A life was needlessly lost' because of system, he tells Senate panel. AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told a Senate committee Thursday that the state's insanity standard needs to be reformed, citing the case of a Beaumont man charged with murder for placing a 6-year-old in an oven. "Our current laws in how we deal with the criminally insane have failed," Mr. Abbott said. "A life was needlessly lost because of the way our system works or perhaps didn't work." Kenneth Pierott was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1998 for using a dumbbell to fatally...

The attorney general is taking bold action to protect Texans' right to open government. An informed citizenry is essential to the functioning of our democracy. Citizens must constantly monitor the activities of government to ensure that our representatives are responsive to the people. One of the most valuable tools available to us in discharging our civic duty is the Texas Public Information Act, which provides the means to gain access to documents held by governmental bodies. The Act protects the public's right to know about the public's business. This is not a partisan issue, because Republicans, Democrats and Independents all...

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/7254764.htm Posted on Thu, Nov. 13, 2003 Court rules Ten Commandments can stay at CapitolAssociated Press AUSTIN - The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the state's position that the placement of the Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds is not an unconstitutional attempt to establish state-sponsored religion.Thomas Van Orden, a homeless man living in Austin, had sued to have the monument removed, calling it an endorsement of Judeo-Christian beliefs by the state government.The state countered that the 6-foot tall red granite monument is more historical than religious, with key segments of law founded on the moral...

Following the leader? What leader? Thursday, September 25, 2003 The Democratic senators are back in the Capitol. But congressional redistricting isn't a done deal — this time because of the Republicans. They might have a tougher time agreeing on a map than they did getting the Democrats to return. Perry, who declined to call a special session after the Legislature couldn't agree on a map in 2001, could have escaped involvement had redistricting happened in the regular session last spring. But once House Democrats shut that down by heading to Oklahoma, Perry's job forced his involvement — if he considered...

Senators amend federal lawsuit in Laredo BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer Chief U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen will hold the first hearing in Laredo next Wednesday on all pending legal motions involving Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, as the bitter struggle to pass a new congressional redistricting map moves into a federal courtroom. The hearing in Laredo is set for Aug. 27 and will begin at 9 a.m. While both factions remain entrenched in their positions, legal motions filed in federal court and partisan hostilities continue to mount. On Wednesday morning, attorneys for the 11...