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University of North Texas students have voted down a referendum that would have allowed same-sex couples to be elected as the school's homecoming court starting in 2010. The University of North Texas Student Government Association released the results Monday on its Web site. The referendum was defeated by a vote of 2,836 to 2,059, with 13.5 percent of the student body casting ballots. Get Denton County news and resources If the referendum had passed, UNT would have become one of the first universities in the country to allow same-sex couples to run for homecoming court beginning in 2010. Unlike some...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2009 – The leaders of the Pentagon’s review board on the Fort Hood, Texas, rampage reported for duty here today to begin their 45-day investigation to what led to the mass shooting, a Pentagon official said. The Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center left 12 soldiers and one Army civilian dead and 30 others injured. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced Nov. 19 that the initial review board will be headed by former Army Secretary Togo West and former Chief of Naval Operations Vern Clark. West and Clark met with their staff, which consists...

Rise in kidnappings prompts more who cross regularly to seek training Security training companies in Texas and elsewhere, bolstered by an alarming increase in kidnappings and violence in Mexico, are finding a new niche in clientele: Americans and Mexicans living, visiting and working across the border. “Mexico has been very good for business lately,” said Dan Johnson, who holds a senior position for consulting and training with ASI Group, a Houston-based private intelligence and global risk-management company. Mexico is often seen as the kidnap capital of the world, with the State Department reporting in an advisory for travelers that dozens...

How nine Houston men were assaulted and robbed in the ranchlands of Mexico MEXICO CITY — Like generations of Texans, nine Houston hunters traveled each autumn into northeastern Mexico's wildlife-rich ranchlands for a few uninterrupted days of shooting game, far removed from the workday world. But that ended abruptly last month after the men were rounded up, robbed and terrorized by well-armed marauders. The nine were wrapping up an afternoon of white-wing dove hunting about 100 miles south of the Rio Grande when a dozen men, armed with assault rifles, roared into the grain field in pickup trucks. The businessmen,...

MATAMOROS — Mexican newspapers are reporting the death of a Brownsville woman after a Mexican army soldier in Matamoros accidentally misfired his weapon Lizbeth Marín Garcia, 36, was pronounced dead early Saturday morning at the Alfredo Pumarejo General Hospital. According to various newspapers including El Diario, El Bravo and Contacto, Marín was inside a friend’s house at approximately 11 p.m. Friday at the corner of Primera and Solernau streets when a stray bullet went through a window, through the couch where she was sitting and struck her in the back piercing a lung. The shot was an accidental misfire from...

The defense attorney for the Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood reportedly has said his client will probably plead not guilty and that an insanity defense is possible. "I anticipate that the plea will be not guilty," Retired Army Col. John Galligan told ABC News. Maj. Nidal Hasan will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, the attorney said. Hasan has no feeling from the chest down and has limited movement in his arms. When asked if he would enter an insanity plea for Hasan,...

Is Congress, behindhand on Barack Obama's deadlines on health care and cap-and-trade legislation, and flummoxed by the failure of the stimulus package to hold unemployment below 10.2 percent, prepared to address the immigration issue next year? Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says it better be. The current situation, she told the Center for American Progress on Nov. 13, "is simply unacceptable." We need a "three-legged stool," with provisions to strengthen enforcement, legalize some illegal immigrants and improve "legal flows for families and workers." Ironically, the push for legalization in 2006-07 resulted instead in stronger enforcement measures. Some 600 miles of...

Cedar Creek, Texas (CNN)– Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday that he hopes Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison remains in the Senate and acknowledged that he has spoken with her about challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP primary. Barbour, head of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), would not elaborate on his conversation with Hutchison, but did say he personally hopes Perry wins another term. "I would just hate to lose Kay Bailey in the Senate," Barbour said at a news conference during the RGA's annual meeting. "She has been a great senator. I would just hate to lose a great...

Gov. Rick Perry on Monday defended efforts he once made to have girls vaccinated against the HPV virus that can lead to cervical cancer. "I've always though HPV was an issue of life," Perry said in Dallas. The governor was responding to a reporter's question about the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to stop requiring that immigrant girls and women seeking green cards get the HPV, or human papillomavirus vaccine. Two years ago Perry, in the face of extreme opposition, ordered a HPV vaccination program in Texas. He said it would have had an opt out provision....

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign, not too surprisingly, pounced on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's comment on Meet the Press that if Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner deserves to be fired, members of Congress do, too. "Senator Hutchison finally admitted that she is part of the problem with the out-of-control spending in Washington," said Perry spokesman Mark Miner. "After supporting record deficits, bailouts and earmarks during her more than 16 years in Washington, most Texans would agree with the Senator's statement, 'We shouldn't keep our jobs either.'" Hmmm. Doesn't that contradict Perry's old standby that Texas is better off if Hutchison stays in...

Students at Al Soonobar School greet Soldiers with the 36th Sustainment Brigade out of Temple, Texas, Nov. 18, in Jaber Mohamed Village, Iraq. Photo by Spc. Lisa A. Cope, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). COL ADDER — U.S. Soldiers here delivered supplies and stuffed animals to students at the Soonobar School in Jaber Mohamed Village, Nov. 18. Lt. Col. Clinton Moyer, chief of civil operations with the 36th Sustainment Brigade out of Temple, Texas, has worked with the school's staff and the local community for roughly a year to build a new school.Moyer, a Clearwater, Kan., native, said the new school...

Perry has seemingly begun to build a case of grievances against the federal government. His primary points: -Current administration is “hell-bent” on socialism Washington is now actively punishing Texas through it policies -Health Care Bill would eat up Texas’ $9 billion rainy day fund in 1.5 years -Cap and Trade would cap the entire southern economy Texas may have to reassert 10th amendment protections I will not pretend to know whether Perry is sincere or if this is simply positioning himself for the upcoming primaries. But that’s not the point… certainly these statements indicate the mood of many of the...

A woman accused of holding down a child while her husband sexually assaulted the girl — an act captured on video — pleaded guilty in a Travis County courtroom Friday and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Mariana Garcia's punishmentfor two counts of aggravated sexual assault was part of a plea bargain with prosecutors. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Charges are pending against Garcia's husband, Adrian Navarro, 30. Garcia, 24, showed little emotion during the proceedings before state District Judge Bob Perkins. At one point, prosecutor Joe Frederick asked her whether Navarro is her...

The Yemeni-American imam who's been under renewed scrutiny after the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, preaches against alcohol, birthday parties, black magic and extramarital sex. He also supports armed struggle — jihad — against the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has encouraged extremist insurgents in Pakistan and Somalia. None of that sets Anwar al Awlaki, 38, apart from other militant Sunni Muslim clerics — and even many mainstream ones — in the Middle East. Awlaki uses digital means to spread his views, however, through a blog, lectures on YouTube and Facebook pages with more than 1,000 fans....

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison have agreed to a debate before their hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary next spring. Officials at KERA-TV (Channel 13) said Friday that both candidates accepted a Jan. 14 debate in North Texas. The primary is March 2. KERA says Hutchison might ask for the debate to be reset if it conflicts with a Senate vote on health care reform. The hourlong debate will include an audience and questions from journalists. It will be distributed to all TV and radio stations in the state.

Fort Hood Texas Shootings Free Republic Archives PART IIORIGINAL Fort Hood Archives... If you create a new thread, feel free to post a link to it here as well. If you post a link, you don't have to ping it to me..just take my name out of the ping field. The last time it filled my ping box pretty fast. My thanks to ALL who helped create the previous thread. Our prayers Continue...... Fort Hood's Fallen HeroesBy Freeper La Enchiladita...

November 13, 2009 at 1:09 pm On local Houston radio 2 days ago a private from Ft. Hood called into the AM talk show on 950AM. Since then the host has verified just to be sure that the man was indeed an injured soldier so as not to be fooled. Anyway, the private was with some others that were not critically hurt in a ward. He called in to offer the “difference” between the visit from President Bush vs the visit from President Obama. As you stated, no one knew President Bush was coming, he just showed up. WITH NO...

A more assertive Environmental Protection Agency is demanding that Texas tighten its pollution rules, drawing the ire of companies and some of the state's political leaders. At the heart of the dispute is an EPA threat to void some of the state's air-quality regulations, which it says break federal law. The agency also is studying whether oil refineries -- of which Texas has many -- emit dangerous amounts of toxins. Texas is the top carbon-dioxide-emitting state in the nation. State regulators say they have built a system that simplifies the permitting process, for example by regulating emissions from entire facilities,...

An Illinois woman is charged with a hate crime for berating a Muslim woman about the Fort Hood shooting and then pulling at her headscarf. The charge could lead to three years in prison: justice or prosecutorial overkill? In the days after the Ft. Hood shooting, mosques around the country bolstered their security in anticipation of a backlash from Americans angry about a Muslim man alleged to have killed American soldiers on their own turf. Since then, only one alleged hate crime against Muslims has been directly tied to the Fort Hood rampage. Two days after the rampage by an...

A hardware store clerk in Nacogdoches, Texas used his handgun to fend off a knife wielding criminal. Police say that a man in the Cason-Monk Hardware store on the 300 block of Commerce St became upset and was asked to leave. The man reportedly left, only to return armed with a knife, which he used to threaten the life of a store clerk. The clerk is said to have grabbed a handgun, causing man to flee. The clerk, who didn't have to fire a shot, was unharmed. Police are seeking the suspect, who was described only as a Caucasian male...

Note: The following text is a quote: Dallas Resident Uriel Palacios Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison for His Role in Cocaine Trafficking and Money Laundering Conspiracy Related to Mexico's Gulf Cartel DALLAS—Uriel Palacios, 23, of Dallas, was sentenced this morning by Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to 360 months (30 years) in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Palacios pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and one count of conspiracy...

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants awaiting trial for serious crimes in one major U.S. county were instead deported by federal immigration authorities and freed in their home countries. The released offenders include at least 128 murderers, more than 400 child rapists and molesters, some 300 charged with aggravated assault and dozens more accused of sexual assault, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and other grave felonies. The offenders’ newfound freedom came courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that provided a one-way ticket home after bail was posted in their state criminal case. This sort of voluntary deportation to...

One of the BEST ways to stop vote fraud is to volunteer as an Election Judge, Clerk, or Poll Watcher. I need help in Clear Lake, Texas for the Houston Mayoral Runoff Election on December 12, 2009. You MUST be a registered voter who lives within the city limits of Houston to qualify. This election is for practice. When you have the training, you can go on to become an Election Judge, Alternate Judge, or Poll Watcher in a precinct where fraud is expected. There are over 50 precincts just in the Houston area where fraud has been a problem....

A top Senate Republican lashed out against lawmakers of both parties for supporting legislation that would audit the Federal Reserve, accusing the bipartisan group of “political pandering” to populist anger. Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, says he’s worried that politicians on Capitol Hill are sacrificing the Fed’s historic independence because the Fed has become unpopular during the economic crisis. “This move to bring the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy under the control of Congress is a grave threat to our economy. Congress has demonstrated time and again its inability to manage the nation’s fiscal...

by JASON WHITELY / WFAA-TV Posted on November 20, 2009 at 12:56 AM WYLIE - A canister of pepper spray is now at the center of a Wylie dispute after a North Texas man found out what most people don't know, anyone who carries it can face a felony. Jason Simpkins admitted he looked suspicious when a Wylie officer stopped him while he was driving his truck with a jet ski inside his lawn mowing trailer. It happened early on the morning of August 22. "I didn't have a problem with it at first," Simpkins said. "I gave him my...

Amateur fossil hunters Jamie and Jonathan Hiscocks were looking for dinosaur remains in East Sussex, UK, when they instead found tiny spider webs trapped inside a piece of ancient amber. Oxford University paleobiologist Martin Brasier inspected the amber, which was assigned an age of over 100 million years. He concluded that spiders back then were able to spin webs just like today’s garden spiders.The amber-encased webbing formed concentric circles like those that contemporary orb-weaver spiders manufacture. Also evident were “little sticky droplets along the web threads to trap prey,� Brasier told the Daily Mail. He added, “You can match the...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2009 – The director of a Muslim veterans organization said he welcomes Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ announcement today of a Pentagon probe into the attacks at Fort Hood, Texas, calling it a matter of national security. Qaseem Ali Uqdah, executive director of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, and a retired Marine gunnery sergeant, credits military leaders with establishing a climate that’s prevented any backlash against Muslims servicemembers since the Nov. 5 shooting. Gates announced a sweeping review today that will look into events leading up to the rampage that left 13 people...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today announced the Defense Department will conduct a broad review of the Nov. 5 Fort Hood, Texas, shooting that left 13 dead and dozens injured. Former Army Secretary Togo West and retired Navy Adm. Vernon Clark, former chief of naval operations, will head the initial 45-day review, which will inform a follow-on investigation expected to last four to six months. “The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers,” Gates said during a Pentagon briefing. “It is prudent to determine immediately whether...

DALLAS - Dallas police are looking for Tony Romo – not the football player, but a man they believe has robbed multiple area businesses. Police suspect 21-year-old Anthony Elias Romo is one of two men responsible for at least 10 robberies since August 15, including one at the Azteca Meat Market on Forest Lane and one at the Big C Grocery on Irving Boulevard.

Austin man has been charged with killing and gutting a deer in a North Austin greenbelt area. Justin Martindale, 27, is charged with illegal hunting. An affidavit says he headed out in October, dressed in camouflage clothing, after baiting a deer in the Walnut Creek greenbelt behind his apartment. The affidavit says Martindale shot a white-tailed buck with a compound bow, then gutted and quartered the animal. The Walnut Creek greenbelt is city-owned property.

The Great Rift Valley extends some 4,000 miles southward from Syria north of Israel, through the Gulf of Aqaba, through Ethiopia, and all the way to Mozambique in southeast Africa. It harbors a giant fault, which has been under investigation as a model for sea floor spreading. A recent geologic event rent a gaping crack through the desert of Ethiopia, causing safety concerns for locals. These crustal plate motions may foreshadow rifting events further north in the Great Rift Valley...

Barbara Ann Radnofsky,Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state. The amendment declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B: "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage." Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic...

Our high-benefit/high-tax model no longer works, especially compared with low-tax states like Texas. In America's federal system, some states, such as California, offer residents a "package deal" that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. These alternatives, of course, define the basic argument between liberals and conservatives over what it means to get the size and scope of government right. It's not surprising, then, that there's an intense debate over which model is more admirable and sustainable. What is...

Easiest to find video on her site. Great interview with The Judge! She is one ballsy intelligent determined Conservative and just what we need here in Texas! I'm becoming more and more impressed with her knowledge and poise and less so w/ Gov Perry and Senator KBH - the old dogs mouthing a rubber message. Medina is pushing hard for fighting the Feds with NULLIFICATION and INTERPOSITION while interjecting that GUN RIGHTS and PROPERY RIGHTS are the foundation of freedom!

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

She sounds off on Ron Paul, health care, and, of course, liberty. BY MATT SNYDERS Michele Bachmann is a regular fixture on the cable news circuit. When it comes to print, however, she takes a more measured approach; she declined a phone interview with the New York Times last month, insisting on a Q&A via email. She gave City Pages the same deal. Here's what she had to say: City Pages: Your appearance with Rep. Ron Paul surprised some folks. At first blush, it would seem the two of you might come down on very different sides on a lot...

HOUSTON — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has refused to allow additional DNA testing requested by a Mexican national condemned for the gruesome killing of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio. Thirty-six-year-old Humberto Leal, from Monterrey, Mexico, wanted more testing to try to clear him of the May 1994 bludgeoning death of Adria Sauceda. Her body was found on a dirt road not far from a party they both attended.

EL PASO, Texas -- The widespread violence in Juarez is affecting a lot of things in El Paso, including the UTEP athletic program. The basis of UTEP's athletic teams are formed by recruiting student-athletes from across the state and country to study and play in El Paso. And now many of them, especially their parents, are now expressing concern about what is going on across the border. UTEP's campus is located just a few football fields away from Juarez, where thousands have been murdered this year, and that is not easy to hide. "I just recruited a girl from Sweden...

Brownsville, TX (The Weekly Vice) - Anthony Carrazco, a 19-year-old Brownsville man was jailed Thursday after he allegedly went door-to door trying to sell marijuana until he knocked on on the door of a cop's house. According to police, Carrazco knocked on the doors of several apartment residents until he reportedly knocked on the wrong person's door. Investigators say Carrazco went up to an officer’s door and tried to sell him three ounces of marijuana. The deputy grabbed his badge and placed Carrazco under arrest. Police reportedly found Carrazco in possession of a 9MM handgun, a scale, and three ounces...

CNN is now claiming that Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, is a conservative. On November 10, 2009, CNN Special Investigations Correspondent Drew Griffin called Hasan “conservative,” [Rush] and now that talking point is being spewed again on today’s front page online story. The story, about Hasan’s search for a wife, discusses how two imams told CNN “about [Hasan’s] conservatism.” The story also mentions Hasan’s “conservative” clothing choices.

The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — SNIPPET: "Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver." SNIPPET: "He'd been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada. Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002. They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a...

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is joining Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in publicly declaring that the attack on Fort Hood is likely an act of Islamist terrorism. Cornyn wrote a letter to President Barack Obama today urging the White House not to let "political correctness" get in the way of investigating the Nov. 5 massacre that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is warning parents across the state that violent Mexican cartels and transnational gangs are actively recruiting Texas youngsters in schools and communities. These criminal organizations are luring teens with the prospect of cars, money and notoriety, and promise them that if they are arrested, they will receive light sentences. The gangs are responsible for massive drug deals and related slayings, and authorities say that they will often use youths in their crimes because juveniles are typically treated with more leniency by the criminal justice system.

Police say the man came into the D and A game room on Westheimer at noon Monday, pulled a gun and demanded money from the manager. As the man was leaving, the manager pulled out a gun and shot him. He later died at a hospital. No one else was hurt. Police tell us the manager will not face any charges.

Molecular biologist Michael Behe described a system made of several interacting parts, whereby the removal of one part would disrupt the functioning of the whole, as irreducibly complex. Both creation scientists and intelligent design proponents highlight examples of irreducible complexity in their studies. The very structure of these systems--with their interdependent parts working all together or not at all--demands design, not chance. Nevertheless, a team of evolutionary molecular biologists think they may have refuted irreducible complexity. They recently studied the parts of a particular cellular machine involved in protein transport, claiming that it was actually reducible to its component parts...

DALLAS—Standric Choice, 36, a former Dallas Sheriff’s Deputy, was sentenced today to 180 months (15 years) in federal prison, to be followed by eight years of supervised release, for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. In March 2009, Choice pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and possessing with the intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine while...

DALLAS—Joseph Kelly Lara, 41, who once used the pseudonym “Nick DeAngelis Mancuso,” was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to 240 months (20 years) following his guilty plea in June to one count of securities fraud, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Fitzwater also ordered that Lara forfeit personal property consisting mainly of computer equipment and other electronics, and ordered Lara to pay restitution of $1,058,365. Lara, most recently a resident of Carrollton, Texas, has been in federal custody since his arrest in July 2008 on charges outlined in...

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 16, 2009 – Five months ago, Army Lt. Col. Tim Karcher was in Sadr City, Iraq, commanding the 1st Cavalry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, and preparing to complete the hand-off of the volatile region to the Iraqis. Army Lt. Col. Tim Karcher and his wife, Alesia, leave a physical therapy session at the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio, Nov. 6, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Heather Graham  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Today, he is relearning how to walk. On June 28, Karcher was on his way to...

Commissioner Bassett said the measure failed because of lack of a motion Live Oak County commissioners decided this week not to ban recreational shooting on lots in a subdivision where residents had complained. Commissioner Jim Bassett said the measure failed Monday for lack of a motion. Officials had gathered response from residents in Lake Meadows Subdivision during a public hearing Oct. 15. “It was overwhelming among the residents that they want to keep it the way it was,” Bassett said. Shooting has been a contentious issue in Lake Meadows, where one couple sued two neighbors for shooting at target berms...