Free Republic

Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern frontier was as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond. President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents – less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol. on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began....

TOPEKA, Kan. – President Dwight D. Eisenhower grappled with topics like relations with Iran and stability in Iraq during an era that was far more complex than thought, newly declassified documents show. The papers illustrate that the 1950s, long viewed as an idyllic time of "I Love Lucy" and cars with tail fins, were fraught with delicate policy challenges. "What's ironic is that the issues that Eisenhower was dealing with 50 or so years ago are the issues that the Obama administration is dealing with today," Eisenhower Presidential Library director Karl Weissenbach said Wednesday. "The records show the U.S. has...

GALVESTON — Another hurricane season is the last thing Galveston wants to think about after last year's devastation from Hurricane Ike.

US President Barack Obama made a major gesture of conciliation to Iran on Thursday when he admitted US involvement in the 1953 coup which overthrew the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. "In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government," Obama said during his keynote speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. It is the first time a serving US president has publicly admitted American involvement in the coup. (snip) Obama also said: "For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to...

President Eisenhower Meets the Aliens? William L. Moore, Gazette, Hollywood, California, March 29, 1989 original source | fair use notice Summary: The story about Eisenhower's February 1954 trip to Palm Springs for a winter holiday, and his subsequent late Saturday night disappearance, has fueled rumors that Eisenhower traveled to nearby Edwards Air Force Base to meet with aliens. One of the best recounting of this rumor was done by William Moore a prominent California researcher who traveled to the Eisenhower Library to do research and actually interviewed the wife of one of the key witnesses to the story. UFOS...EXPLORING THE...

Some nine months ago, as Texas was walloped by Hurricane Ike, many residents took advantage of being stuck at home with no electricity and started making babies. According to the San Antonio Express-News, doctors who work in Houston's busiest maternity ward said they're seeing a 25 percent spike in pregnancies that are due in June. "There’s about a 25 percent increase in the number of deliveries coming up in mid-June to mid-July," a physician at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas said. One pregnant mother who's due June 10 put it this way: "You can only do so much when there’s...

...The Galveston officials also sought congressional support Thursday for more than $25 million in the massive economic stimulus package working its way through Congress. The money, officials said, would go toward "shovel-ready" construction projects. Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison promised to continue to help the city recover from Hurricane Ike. ...Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said he believed that lawmakers could persuade Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to waive a requirement that the community must pay a share of recovery costs, just as the Bush administration forgave Louisiana communities' share following Hurricane Katrina. ...Tom Lizardo, chief of staff for...

It was the storm of the century - the 20th century.  Before Katrina became shorthand for nature's fury, there was the unnamed hurricane of 1900 that nearly wiped Galveston, Tex., off the map. An estimated 6,000 people were killed when the Category 4 storm packing 135 mph winds made landfall on Sept. 8, 1900, making it the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.  Now it could get whacked again by Hurricane Ike.LIVE TRACKER: FOLLOW IKE'S PATH In 1900, Galveston, located on a flat island off the Texas coast, was a boom town with 42,000 residents. It was then the biggest...

County residents next week will have a chance to air concerns to state lawmakers and area leaders about Hurricane Ike recovery efforts. The committee on Hurricane Ike will meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 7 at the Galveston Island Convention Center, allowing the public to tell state lawmakers and area leaders what issues and obstacles they face almost four months after the storm struck Southeast Texas on Sept. 13, causing catastrophic flooding from storm surge and displacing thousands of people from their homes. The storm was the third most destructive to ever make landfall in the United States. The committee has...

KEMAH, Texas - A family of 15 spent their Christmas morning opening presents in a 14-by-60-foot trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, KPRC Local 2 reported. "Normally, we don't go real big, but we allowed them to because we haven't bought anything since the house flooded,"

My aunt, who used to live in Texas City, moved to Austin this summer. I collected these videos for her and thought some of my fellow Gulf Coast FReepers as well as some of those on NN's ping list might be interested in viewing them.

Two large land tracts that had been eyed as possible locations for temporary mobile home communities for those displaced by Hurricane Ike look to be off the table. County commissioners Wednesday deferred considering a plan for the federal government to conduct a detailed assessment of property in front of the County Criminal Justice Center in Galveston and on Monday, the city of Hitchcock rejected a plan to put a community at Jack Brooks Park. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had eyed those two locations to place mobile homes for 319 of the estimated 1,000 people eligible for temporary housing in...

Kemah Boardwalk partially reopens. The Boardwalk Bullet is up and running! Check it out!One of Kemah's greatest assets is its location on Galveston Bay. The Bay and Kemah waterfront draw visitors to Kemah from throughout the world. Hurricane Ike’s storm surge caused roughly $450 million in damage to Kemah homes, businesses and city infrastructure, this does not include the Kemah Boardwalk or Marina. Many restaurants and business have already re-opened and the Boardwalk is opening a few restaurants at a time should be in full swing well before spring break "Better than ever"!

A month later, piles of Sheetrock, appliances, furniture and family mementos dot most streets in this island town. Electronic road signs in southeast Texas flash, "Watch for cows next 20 miles," a reminder that few fences remain to hem in livestock. Blue tarps cover 11,000 roofs for 100 miles from Houston to the Louisiana line. (snip) The storm is the most expensive in Texas history, with an estimated pricetag of $11.4 billion — so far.

Based on data from offshore operator reports submitted as of 11:30 a.m. CDT on October 3, personnel are evacuated from a total of 116 production platforms, equivalent to 16.7% of the 694 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Personnel from 1 rig are evacuated; this is equivalent to 0.9% of the 116 rigs currently operating in the Gulf. From the operators' reports, it is estimated that approximately 48.2% of the oil production in the Gulf is shut-in. As of June 2008, estimated oil production from the Gulf of Mexico is 1.3 million barrels of oil per day. It is...

GALVESTON, Texas - The final hours brought the awful realization to victims of Hurricane Ike that they had waited too long. This storm wasn't like the others, the ones that left nothing worse than a harrowing tale to tell...

Hello all -- Sorry to post these stories much later than they occurred, but things have been crazy around here (Houston), what with Hurricane Ike knocking out power and telephones (to say the least). Part 1: On Friday night (the night of the hurricane) I stopped by a neighboring apartment complex a couple of blocks away to check on two of my new friends. It was about 10PM and the winds had already picked up quite a bit and it was spitting rain in bursts. Pretty much all businesses had been closed and shuttered since noon the day before in...

More Ike pics.http://www.tpicks.com/pictures%20people%20have%20sent%20me.html

Although Hurricane Ike wreaked damage to energy infrastructure and halted oil output, the storm's toll is seen as a partial victory in oil producers' battle with Mother Nature. Preliminary damage assessments indicate that Ike had a smaller impact than past major hurricanes - such as Katrina and Rita in 2005 - on crude oil and natural gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. While it's still too early to quantify the impact, analysts say the hit to oil companies' bottom lines isn't expected to be substantial, and Ike will turn out to be less costly than previous storms. Katrina...

The Texas Department of Transportation, which has alternated between fiscal gluttony and subsistence the past few years, may be about to belly up to a feast again. A feast paid for with money to be borrowed, mind you. Given the state of credit markets, one hesitates to reach for the salt right away. But absent the financial Armageddon that the president and others have been gabbing about, TxDOT might be sitting on an $8 billion stash this time next year. Even in the zero-laden world of government spending, $8 billion would be a significant infusion into TxDOT's budget. Without that...